Costa Del Mucho Agua

It's very wet here at the moment. Heavy rain had been forecast for this weekend for a good few days prior and, as usual, the forecasters are not wrong. A dim and dismal day which is expected to stretch well into tomorrow followed by showers or rain all through next week.

Yesterday I collared Cristina and showed her a damp, mildewy, patch developing (again) just outside my frontdoor and then I brought her inside to show her the wall in my kitchen, where the previous leak had been sorted, actually weeping water. I won't tell you what she muttered except to say that it began with "Mama Mia!" What I wasn't expecting though was her rapid follow-up......at 1810 she knocked.
"The man is here to fix things"
"But I'm, going to work shortly"
"He has to do it now"
I lost and retired to my sofa allowing Mr Plumber to set to work with his damn Cold Chisel. But that didn't happen before Cristina had told him exactly where the leaky joint was with total disregard for his "expert" opinion that it might be elsewhere. "Don't dig it elsewhere, dig it right there!" she commanded. He did. He made his hole within a millimetre of where she was saying because she was over his shoulder with "left a bit, down a bit" instructions before the hammer was allowed to be brought into play. She was right, she must have Divining Twigs for arms. It took him an hour-and-a-half to put things right and now the wall, 20hours on, is drying out nicely. I allowed him to wash his hands in my bathroom after and now I have crystal clear images of the soles of his boots stamped all over my freshly laundered bathroom mat in a mixture of plaster and brick dust. That's why it's raining of course; the communal washing machine is upstairs on the roof and I don't have indoor drying facilities. Good 'ere init. Two pictures of the hapless Plumber and his forewoman which show the first strikes and then the precise wielding of a plasterers trowel.
BTW, see the glow beside his rear-end? That's the light in my Kitchen and if it is on (as it is) I'm in and probably sitting at this computer on the sofa, of which you can just see the left-hand armrest in the bottom right of the pictures, covered in a white throw-over.

It seems that I am suffering a bout of Palsy. Headaches, tingly skin and droopy muscles (in my case an eyelid) are symptoms described on the Net. Austen says that I should go to the Doctor but I've also read that there is no useful treatment available yet and that it will take 2 to 3 weeks to clear on its own. I'll wait . A couple of Paracetamol Pills at bedtime gives me a restful night and that respite lasts until midday or so the next day (ie about now.)

Smoked Salmon today for dinner. I bought a nice piece of fresh fillet yesterday which has been marinading in the fridge since. I'm going to smoke it myself later over some Lapsang Souchong tea and serve it with a cream sauce, about which I'm still thinking. Might be back at 5pm if it turns out to be worth writing about.