Lost count of wrecked bandages long ago -- three today anyway. So today, for the first time, I left Bertie at home wearing the "bucket". When he knew I was getting ready to leave he starting following me around, pressing the bucket against the back of my legs -- "Hey, hey, you forgot something! Get this thing off my head!" Poor devil. The vet gave me some antiseptic gel and wadding; I'm nearly out of it all and the next appointment's not until Saturday. I'm so sick of this! Just as well I'm only dealing with a dog, if it was a child he/she would have plenty to tell a psychiatrist.

I had a good weekend off, went on some wonderful walks, mowed the lawns, had a shopping spree at Ikea, worked hard on a new website design and ate well -- all home cooking, no carry-outs. The Ikea visit was mainly for furniture, so I had a great time building it. It's like adult Lego, following the diagram and ending up with something that looks just like the picture. One chest of drawers had a bit missing, but it was only one of the back panels so I'm not bothered. It works, it looks ok, it was cheap.

Faye is coming up to visit, hurrah. I've got three days off the week she's here (I was planning to visit her in Oxford!) so I've invited ourselves to the farm. That should be good fun, we'll be able to do some sightseeing while we're there. Cawdor Castle, I think, and Loch Ness. Oh, I wonder if she'd like the Cloutie Well? It's an amazing spot on the Black Isle, a natural spring that has a reputation for healing. You take a piece of clothing from the afflicted area, wet it in the springwater and hang it nearby. Every tree and shrub around the well is festooned with bits of cloth, from scraps to whole garments, some new, some rotting away. I left a pair of knickers there when I visited (not the ones I was wearing!).

Speaking of illness, we were hit by a computer virus at work yesterday. The whole system creaked and groaned as picture and story files vanished willy-nilly. I had one error message that read "Serious Problem: Is your network still alive?" We managed to get the paper out, but only with the help of the top IT guys and a lot of hair-tearing and running around. I'm so glad I've got virus protection at home, she says smugly. We have it at work as well of course, but it wasn't able to detect this one. And when Trevor got a virus it actually destroyed his anti-virus software! So I can't be too complacent.