Up: Soy came to visit us.

Down: We had stupidly early flights to Berlin and were in Dublin Airport for far too long.

Up: Berlin was fantastic. Weather not as great as last year but it picked up, although we did get a drenching.

Down: I only managed to obtain single solitary döner from Mustafa's.

Up: I saw, amongst other things, "Netherlandish Proverbs" by Brüegel. It was wonderful, and I noticed so many more details that I've never seen before. I need to go back again to have a look at all the other pictures in the exhibition.

Down: I ran out of time at the museum.

Up: We met some lovely people.

Down: It was over far too soon. A long weekend isn't long enough.

Up: The weather when we got back to Ireland was stunningly hot.

Down: The weather when we got back to Ireland was TOO hot. Sleep fail.

Up: Lovely day at Cong with Soy and the dogs, meeting nice people. Think was actually chatted up by a fella, but his wife was there, and for all he knew, I was "with" Soy. Didn't get his number, though.

Down: I realised my car tax had run out and was therefore driving it illegally. Landers' car from now on!

Up: We bought a fan to help with cool-downage.

Down: Landers had to go away with work until Sunday.

Up: Excellent day at Silverstrand beach yesterday with Soy. The water was so clear, it was like something from the Caribbean. We caught a crab, and named him Jean-Clawed van Crab and fed him a worm. Also made several wondrous sculptures and excavations.

Down: Due to lack of sun cream, am now a marvellous shade of bright red. And quite sore. Also, the lovely clear sea was full of jellyfish.

Up: We had milkshakes at Eddie Rocket's on the way home - Oreo cookie FTW!

Down: When we got home, we discovered that Huw (manky cat) was very unwell. A trip to the vets got him booked in for tests and possible operation the next day. He had some kind of blockage that appeared to be in his bowel. Either mass of food (ew) or tumour (gah!).

Up: We had a barbecue.

Down: I didn't use enough charcoal and we had to finish the food off under the grill. In my defence, it's a new barbecue, and it said explicitly in the instructions to only use a small amount of coal. They also said I'd need a screwdriver and pliers to put it together though, and I didn't, so I should never have trusted them.

Up: Big Brother started last night.

Down: Big Brother started last night.

Up: Huw went in for his operation to sort him out this morning. This is only a tentative up, but is obviously far better than him not having an operation and being put to sleep.

Down: Laura went home today.

Up: But we took the scenic route to the airport. And ate crisps. And also, we passed through a Garda check, so if I'd been naughty and driven my own car, I'd have been fined. Woohoo for not breaking the law!

Down: The petrol gauge in Landers' car is playing up. Apparently, I used no fuel driving from Tuam to Shannon and back again, via Claregalway, Kinvarra, New Quay and Ballyvaughan. This is not possible. I have no idea how much fuel is in the tank.

Up: Huw is home, but very groggy from the anaesthetic and painkillers. It was actually his bladder that was blocked and that's been sorted. Fingers crossed he will pull through.

Down: Huw also has a very bad infection. I have to give him antibiotics, and he may not make it through the night. If he does, he'll be pretty much ok. Also, the vet rather worryingly kept referring to him as "she".

Up: I remembered that we have cocktail cherries.

Down: I only have diet coke to put them in.

Up: It's only one and half days until Landers comes home.

Down: It's one and a half days until Landers comes home.