Monday evening.

Still waiting for the promised thunderstorms - a little cloudy now but still hotter than hell.

Went into work briefly to take care of some admin - overheard 2 old women talking about the astonishing effects of a poultice on a cat scratch abscess... very grim.. Wrote the first draft of my academic health report for last year, and it's actually quite good. Too hot for the dogs and had a horrible dinner.

Talking of which, I'm sure everyone is sick of me moaning about my dental inadequacies, but to top everything else I now have a text book case of 'black tongue' - I'd never even heard about it until today. Caused by either the special mouthwash I use, Corsydyl ( why anyone would market a mouthwash with the known side effect of turning your tongue black escapes me ) - or the anti-biotics the dentist prescribed ( again.... why? ) or general stress and a poor diet. Having a stranger put his fingers in my mouth probably didn't help - at least he was wearing latex gloves, but seriously - if you are going to get something like this, I'd have thought the dentist is the ideal place. I'm quite pissed off about it. I've been using interdental brushes and still brush my teeth about 5 times a day. The causes could include 'underlying health problems' and depression. My teeth, it has to be said... look lovely.

I'm at work tomorrow for a couple of meetings, have a few other jobs to do - then on my own time until Friday - when I'm back at work for a heavy meeting and then the PV. I'm strongly veering towards spending all day Thursday in bed reading Muriel Spark novels.

To cheer myself up - I'm watching Dune. Love this film.

The original draft of this post was sponsored by dyslexia and discalcula anonymous