:: what lies beneath

Today I finally bit the bullet and stripped the tiles off from around the bath. No wonder it had been leaking! The tiles were held on by grout and mould. Here's what it looked like:


And here's a sample of what I scraped off:


I sprayed the lot with mould-remover and scrubbed away, got it reasonably clean:


I'm not going to retile straight away because the wall was pretty damp under the tiles. Also, I've filled some great gaping holes in the walls, so that needs to dry. There was a bit of bad news in the small print on the grout packet: "Leave at least seven days before wetting." I have to leave the tiles for at least 24 hours before grouting, so that's no showers for well over a week, depending on when I get the tiling done.

Bertie is still suffering torments of boredom and pain, though he was limping less today.

He's developed a weird obsession, which might be injury-related. When he goes out into the garden he heads for the corner where he cut himself digging a hole, and tries to dig again, despite having painful, bandaged feet. After I shout at him for that, he moves on to attacking the blameless shrub next to the spot, biting its branches and tearing them off. Weird. Maybe he thinks the shrub bit him.

This is what bit him: a piece of glass and a chunk of solid wire:


Here are some pics of the wedding I went to the other weekend:

Colin in his kilt. "I'm a married man!" he kept shouting.


Colin and Jillian in the first dance. My camera's terrible for taking pictures like this, the flash isn't strong enough I think.

I got my payrise, by the way. But not the backpay. That's the one bit I never ever got in writing. I'll have to approach my old boss and see if he's willing to confirm that he promised me backpay.

And the coffee maker! That arrived this morning. It works and everything.