Likin' this lichen

And I'm particularly likin' this lichen that's like the surface of the moon, or some martian lifeform. Perhaps I've been watching too much Torchwood. Speaking of which: that last half American series was pretty raunchy - has it all been like that? Have I been missing out on Capt'n Jack action by focussing on the family-friendly Doctor Who?

That hot flush aside, a much calmer day. Kids at school so rushing around at a minimum. Painting this morning at the MBH (which makes the place sound much more finished than it really is) then helping Mr B not kill himself while he used a wrecking bar to, appropriately, wreck a bedroom ceiling. (Katherine's bedroom - she's not happy.) It was riddled with damp and most of the floorboards above her room were rotten, and were therefore not doing a great job of holding up the six inches of dirt and cement and thick quarry tiles above (no, I don't know what they're doing in an attic either. We had much discussion today about this being to sound insulate servants' quarters, or protect nice rooms from the effects of leaking from a rubbish roof - which may I just say has not worked if that is the reason for it.)

So now Katherine's room is (again) full of soil, tiles and broken lathe and plaster and (again) has been swept clear (five wheelbarrows full this time). Tomorrow we will begin to rebuild it (that's a lie, told for the benefit of Katherine who is upset about her ceiling. In fact tomorrow we will destroy more of it so we can measure up properly for new beams. Oh joy. More sweeping.)

Lunch was, delightfully, at MacDonalds. Fast food it was not. My burger took nearly 20 minutes. And still at the end I was left with the familiar post-MacD feeling: still a bit hungry, a bit sick, and in need of a really big burp.

MacD's was the closest 'restaurant' to the Audi garage where our car was apparently lying in pieces. Instead of (as agreed) letting us take it away with all the broken pieces in the boot, they had rebuilt it and charged us for that. So they charged us nearly 200 euros to tell us exactly how our car is broken (they did fix a brake light but still, you know, 200 euros. Really. You can see why I want to take it to the non-marque nice (cheap) garage man down the road instead of back there again. Sigh. And I'm sure - like all the other marque garages I've used before - they will have broken the car in a million untraceable ways, necessitating more visits. Bitter, moi? Ripped off too many times by the Edinburgh Merc garage, moi? Perhaps.)

Where was I... oh yes, being ripped off. Back then to the MBH for more shovelling of rubbish out of K's room, then the plumber arrived - just wandered in after an absence of what feels like two months (and is in fact probably about that) and got straight to work. Makes the house, despite the lack of ceilings (and therefore floors) feel nearer to being habitable.

Katherine had an extra lesson with her headteacher today to try and help her along in school a bit (at last) so lots of toing and froing at the end of the day. Mr B meanwhile was cooking up a fab new 'chicken a la Casa' recipe and now I can relax in front of the last Torchwood before an early night to prepare for tomorrow morning's homework. (I know I said the school said homework wasn't really important... but no-one actually believes that... do they?)