The Story Of An O-Ring
I have a very unusual skin, as is partly shown by these pictures.
Note.
- There is a scar on the back of my left hand, where I cut it on the glass bathroom door in my bedroom.
- But with skillful gluing at the Royal London hospital and TLC and stern words from the practice nurse at my GP’s it healed perfectly.
- If I give blood samples or have an injection, I don’t need a plaster.
- My left foot is a deeper shade of red to the right. No-one has given me a reason for this.
- My previous now-retired GP, always took his own blood samples, when he needed them and had smiles all over his face. Perhaps, he was proving to himself, that it was happening?
- I wrote about my skin before in My Strange Skin, in 2020.
- One therapist said unusually for someone, who had a left-sided stroke, that my left leg is the stronger.
As my ancestry is part-Jewish and part-Huguenot could it just be that only the strongest genes survived from their poor living conditions my ancestors endured in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries?
My Cardiologist And His Wife, Have Suggested I Use An Emollient In My Bath
I am now adding Oilatum Emollient to my bath water, which I get delivered by Ocado.
It is not cheap, but my feet are now more made for walking.
I put three cap-fulls in a bath and lie in it for about 10-20 minutes.
An O-Ring Failure On Bad Friday
A rubber O-ring sitting in a groove on the plug, should keep the water in the bath, but as this picture shows the O-ring had seen better days.
The picture of the new O-ring shows how it should look on the plug.
On Bad Friday, the O-ring finally gave up and any water put in the bath, went straight down the drain.
A Fruitless Bad Friday
Internet searches proved fruitless in my search for a shop that was open on Bad Friday.
So I vowed to try again today.
Searching For cp Hart At Waterloo
cp Hart, from whom I bought the original bath, appeared to be open at Waterloo, so after breakfast on Moorgate, I made my way to look for the branch of cp Hart at Waterloo.
Note.
- Why does South London and its trains have to be covered in graffiti?
- Most of it, is not even good graffiti.
- In my view, the Bakerloo Line should not get new trains, until the graffiti has stopped.
- I wandered round Waterloo for about ninety minutes before I found cp Hart, with the help of two police constables.
- And when I finally found cp Hart, they didn’t do spares.
- I tripped over the uneven pavement in the last picture. But as I usually do, I retained my balance and didn’t fall. Is that all the B12 I take for coeliac disease?
My mother always used to say, that you shouldn’t go to South London without a posse.
Eventually, I had a coffee in Costa and took the 76 bus home.
Success At Last!
To get home on a 76 bus, I have to change in De Beauvoir Town and whilst I waited for the 141 bus to take me home, I checked out the local builders merchants.
The owner was his usual self and fitted my plug with a free new O-ring.
I was now able to have a bath.
And watch the snooker.
I can certainly recommend a television in your bathroom.
Note the vertical handrail, that allows me to step easily in and out of the bath.
Smart Lavatories Could Spot Tumours Before They Form
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on page 14 of today’s copy of The Times.
With bowel cancer being a big killer, I can understand how it might work there, but how will it spot brain tumours.
Perhaps all those school bullies, who put unfortunates’ heads down the toilet and pulled the chain, had it roight?
A Tale Of Two Taps
I saw a Franke tap, that I liked in a plumbing shop, but the price of £240 or so plus VAT was too much.
So I looked in IKEA, where I got this very similar one for £80.
I shall add some more pictures when it is installed.
Details Of My Bathroom
I’ve now got some of the bathroom as want it.
Note.
1. The hooks and the towel ring are stuck on with a special epoxy. The tiles are so hard to drill one hole costs at least a tenner in drill bits and the good temper of the driller. So far the glue is performing, as I hope it will.
2. The grab rail is positioned in line with the right side of the bath, so that it steadies me, as I get in and out.
3. I probably need a shorter grab rail on the other side of the bath low down for my left hand, as I sit and stand up.
4. My bathroom is off the front hall, so it doubles as a wet clothing and umbrella room.
5. The stool is one of Suffolk Six and one was in our last bathroom in Suffolk. I’d sit on it, whilst talking to C, as she luxuriated in the bath.
6. The towel ring stuck by the side of the bath is big enough to hold a towel, that a lady with long hair might use after washing it. To get the towel size right, I asked an assistant in John Lewis for her opinion. She tested the size, whilst serving me at the till.
7. I use a ceramic tray for my soap and shampoo, as until I find the right one, I’m not going to drill the tiles and so avoid Jerry’s problem.
7. I never use a mirror in the bathroom and forget to put one in. My stupid builder didn’t spot the omission either! So now I’m looking for a compatible stick-on mirror, so that the tiles don’t have to be drilled.
The fittings are the Bond range from Miller of Sweden. They look good and are very easy to put up straight. They supplied the special epoxy.
This bathroom has been a long time coming, as work started in Oct 2012 and I even had my first bath in the new bath in December 2012.
Decadence?
I took this picture with my waterproof camera this morning of the newly installed Aquavision television in my bathroom.

Decadence?
What the picture doesn’t show is the two naked blonde handmaidens giving me glasses of champagne and gluten-free bacon sandwiches!
Trying Out The Bath
I thought some people would like to see a picture of my toes in the bath.

Trying Out The Bath
The only problem so far, is when it starts, you get a few jets of cold water, that has been in the pipes, since you last used the bath.
My First Bath In The New Bath
I gave the features of the bath a test.
Everything seems to be fine.
Obviously the television and the side of the bath still need to be fitted.
Should I Put A Camera In My Bathroom?
My bath, which is on the ground floor, takes about thirteen minutes to fill and usually I time it by the clock on the BBC Breakfast News.
I’ve had the odd overfilling problem, but normally it’s spot on!
I did think about putting a camera there so I could watch it fill from upstairs, where I normally sit, whilst it was filling.
But such a camera, might make guests think, I had a dark side!
On the other hand, it would certainly make filling a bath easier, but it wouldn’t be as good as the self-filling bath, I proposed earlier.
I wonder whether and if so where I can get an Internet enabled load cell?
It would be wonderful to click a button on my computer screen and then a few minutes later be told that my bath was full.
January 2015 Update – As the television is now working properly and I generally have a bath during BBC Breakfast, I now have a reliable clock in my bathroom.
I Want One Of These!
I saw this tap in John Lewis today.

I Want One Of These!
I’m going to have one in my kitchen. It’s a Franke Belfast.
You’re Always Close To A Rat In London
It is always said, that in London you’re never far away from a rat. This article on the BBC asks if we’re never more than six feet away from a rat.
Six feet is a large distance compared to the close encounter, I’ve just had during my bath.
My bathroom isn’t completed yet, despite being started nearly two years ago. The bath works, but the toilet hasn’t been fitted yet and there is just a hole into the drains.
As I sat up in the bath, something brown and moving caught my eye on the floor.
It wasn’t a very large example, but I know a rat when I see one. In fact, it looked pretty healthy compared to some that my cats brought in, whilst I was living in Suffolk.
But it was probably less than a metre away from my eyes.
I was just on the point of thinking I should get out of my bath, so I pulled the plug and my only slightly dirty bathwater went down the drain, hopefully showing the rat where to go.
I suspect I should turn myself into the RSPCA, as I’ve probably been guilty of inflicting pain and suffering on an animal.
At least if he or she does come back, they”ll have had a good bath in reasonably warm water!














































