Today we got the best possible news: we took Nika back to the dermatologist today, and he was really pleased. He said there's about a 50% improvement, and he's much more optimistic now about her chances. We all breathed a huge sigh of relief in the car going back home. (Nika most of all--she really loathes veterinary offices!)

I spent a lot of my free time today desperately scrambling to catch up on stuff that was due/overdue - a review for Interzone (reviewing Alma Alexander's Embers of Heaven) and edits of "Foxwoman" for Aeon. Gaah, I hate having to do last-minute scramble...but my head has just been gone these past couple of weeks. Stress over Nika, and the hot weather doesn't help - it's been in the 90s for the last couple of days and was predicted to be 102F today (how?? how??? isn't this still England???), which means that I don't sleep...there's absolutely no ventilation in our bedroom, which was built on the principle that hot weather would never happen here. Sigh. All in all, I've felt in a bit of a daze lately, and I don't like it.

Luckily, we're leaving tomorrow afternoon to spend a long weekend down in Bristol with Patrick's mum. I'm really looking forward to slumping in the garden (or in the Boston Tea Party, in downtown Bristol!) and just forgetting about all the worries that have been piling up. And - knock on wood - getting a bunch of revision done on CoS, which would be a huge relief.

Hurray for having a car...