Shortly after I woke up this morning, my cold and my hangover started competing for control of my body.

I had an unexpectedly boozy night with a friend last night and despite waking up feeling surprisingly perky, it wasn't long before I was starting to feel pretty damn rough.

This is a phenomenon I've experienced on several occasions before, which for want of a better name, I've decided to call the hangover honeymoon.

I'm sure there's a perfectly good biological reason for it — perhaps while you're asleep there are certain natural chemicals floating around the body that temporarily mitigate the inevitable post-excess pains upon waking — but the hangover honeymoon is the blissful first few minutes spent basking in the false dawn of a symptom free morning.

Of course the double whammy of disappointment is that as soon as the unpleasantness starts to kick in, you suddenly recognise the hangover honeymoon for what it is and feel stupid for ever thinking that you'd magically escape the repercussions of an overactive drinking arm.

In such situations I feel the symptoms need to be fought on two separate fronts and I recommend one sachet of rehydration salts mixed with one sachet of Lemsip Max in a mug of hot water, followed twenty minutes later with lots of stodgy comfort food, preferably featuring egg and baked beans.