Our shower rose has dripped for ...

... nigh on as long as we've lived in the Brown Mouse House. That's quite a while.
Now, when you work where I work (don't ask, won't tell) you tend to become a little wary, nay, terrified, at the idea of tradesmen and renovations. Add to that the Jinx Factor (last time we renovated, we moved within 12 months I think it was), and you have a Mouse who tends to put these things off.
However, dripping water is a torture method for a reason, the sound of it drives one mad, so last week I called a plumber (having extracted a recommendation from a trusted local and checked his licence and history on the Fair Trading website ALWAYS do this people, always). All we wanted was a little light reseating, since regular applications of new washers did not appear to do the trick. We'd attempted this before, the plumber said the tap thingies (not his term mind you) were "too deep" for his tools. When I spoke to our charming new plumber I mentioned this, he said he'd bring an extension whatsit (again, not his term) with him. He did try, I'll give him that, but it turns out the Brown Mouse House had bespoke tap whatsits that rendered all modern attempts to reseat, pretty pointless. They were, and I'm not bragging here, about 2 to 3 times longer than the usual.Thus it became necessary to pull off tiles, dig trenches in walls and put in bright new shiny copper pipes, close to the surface, and new brass tappity things, and, what the hell, we're spending money, a new shower contraption. Cost quite the proverbial! But hey, the shower rose NO LONGER LEAKS or DRIPS. And I, nosey beast that I am, got to see the underside of the poor old house's brickwork. I came away feeling a bit sordid, like I'd been looking at her underwear. Not that that stopped me posting a picture on the intertubies!
This, of course, means we can put of renovating the bathroom (reassuringly praised by the lovely plumber as "not the smallest he's worked in") for years to come!