D Day (decorating day)...

The downside of John doing the shopping on Monday is that my fridge and cupboards are full of things I didn't have on the list - I have a fridge full of bacon but apparently Back Bacon was on offer so Back Bacon came home to Droushia.  The plus-side is that our breakfast this morning (which was designed to fill us up and negate the need for lunch) was big fat bacon butties filled with really lovely back bacon.  This set us up for the remainder of the day and the remainder of the beef spare ribs.

Today was the day that the tiling was going to happen in the toilet and I was going to be John's gofer which is a recipe for disaster if not divorce.  It is no easy task being apprentice to Mr Perfectionist I can tell you!!!

Although John had taken most of the tiles to be professionally cut the wall is not square - surprise surprise and something got a bit lost in translation so some of the tiles needed to be shaved slightly and some needed to be completely re-cut and sadly the new blade that John had purchased in readiness gave up the ghost part of the way through so he didn't get quite as far with the tiling as he had hoped.  Tomorrow he will have to get a new blade so that the job can be finished to his satisfaction - I am going to Polis tomorrow morning anyway so he can come down with me.

I didn't dare wander too far from the decorating zone just in case I was needed so I had to lurk in the kitchen but heyho whilst I was in there I took the old bananas and made a banana loaf which could act as a peace offering if I managed to really pee John off by deserting my station which was bound to happen at some point today.  We were a bit naughty and had a slice of the cake straight out of the oven just to check it was edible as it seemed to brown on top a tad quicker than I had anticipated - probably because I had used brown sugar instead of white.

I had a lot of hanging around to do which I hate - the weather was changeable and when it was cold it was bloody cold and when the sun shone it was lovely.

The garden is confused - around Christmas I had some narcissi out in bloom and it looks like I am about to get some again but I have no idea why they should be flowering three months' apart.

I did managed to get washing out and reasonably dry and have the luxury of being able to ensure it dries by hanging it in the conservatory - I don't like having washing hanging around but needs must and we weren't expecting any visitors!!!

During lulls in the tiling I was allowed to pull up a few weeds and do a bit of sweeping up - the recent storm had brought down a load of leaves and we have finally burnt all the logs we had stored under the covered walkway but there was a lot of debris left behind so it was a good opportunity to get it tidied up.

My main job was washing the tiles ready to go up onto the wall and to make sure I gave the tiles in the correct order and to facilitate this I had them all laid out on the garden table - just had to ensure Boris didn't send them crashing as he tends to run along the shed onto the wall and jumps down into the garden via the table.

The day did not go without hitches and it is such a small room for John to be working in so nigh on impossible when there are the two of us in there.  By the end of work today John had got most of the back wall tiled but couldn't go any further because of the tiles that needed to be cut.

We are really pleased with the tiles.  Even though we really like the original ones we purchased which were a much softer colour and a much softer tile as it turned out, the shades in those we ended up with go so well with the colours in the kitchen and as they are right next door that is good although I don't intend to leave the door open we sometimes do to allow the warm air in the lounge into the toilet which is a bit like a morgue at times.


Our reward tonight was to devour the remainder of the beef ribs which we did with relish or more particularly with coleslaw and a jacket potato.  This was washed down with a small glass of wine from a cheeky little bottle that John had picked up when he was allowed to go wild in the aisles.

We completed the meal with a warmed slice of banana loaf and a smidgen of cream before settling down to watch a little TV before retiring to bed - we finished watching Taboo and then started watching The Replacement - woah if the first episode is anything to go by this is going to be a corker - the main character feels she is having her job, friends and life slowly taken away from her by the person who replaces her when she goes on maternity leave.  It is devastating when someone works really hard to create a life only for someone else to walk in and take it all away without any effort- it will be interesting to see how this pans out.