It's beautifully sunny and clear outside, as I sit glaring through the window of our living room. Of course, the rain couldn't have disappeared before Nika's big walk, oh no....!

But it's hard to hold a grudge with so much sunshine pouring into the room, and it's been a good day (even including the rain-drenched walk). I had a good PhD meeting with my supervisor, decided to restructure my thesis, and, amazingly, felt better for the decision.... (I'm not changing the main points, I'm just reorganizing the chapters so that I don't have to cram so many unrelated things together and try to draw parallels between them.) I wrote about six pages of my novel this morning and will probably finish Chapter Twenty-Three today. And best of all, there was a two-for-one sale on apple strudels at Tesco this afternoon, so I get to practice eating them before leaving for Vienna.... :) Happy day.

I also read a German-language article for my thesis this morning, and felt enormously relieved to be able to read it. It had been a while since I'd had to read German, and I was starting to get a wee bit paranoid, especially as I'm jetting off in two weeks time. Luckily, the all-out language amnesia doesn't seem to have hit yet after all....

Pretty soon it'll be time to start cooking Dhal for dinner (and heating up the strudel in the oven). Patrick ought to be leaving work about now, and the sun is finally, finally shining.

A good start to the week!