The Stripper

A deathly sick Oscar Wilde reportedly once declared “This wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. Either it goes or I do.”

Whilst not deathly sick, I had grown rather sick of the dated, textured wallpaper in the hallway/landing area of my house, so with forthcoming home improvements in mind, I had decided that today was the day to start doing something about it…

First, I needed some stripping implements, so headed to B&Q for a couple of scrapers and a knife/chisel type thing for those fiddly areas. I am absolutely thrilled to report that at the checkout I was asked for ID!! I’m 43 (just)!! Granted, I was wearing a hat and a facemask, BUT I still got asked, so I’m calling it a win.

The rest of the day was spent in the tedium of effectively holding a kettle and scraping the monstrosity from the wall, but I was quite surprised to find a brick-effect tile behind the offending wallpaper. I am hoping not to have to strip that off too…

I was glad of the break when Russ texted about having a wander, I’d also not seen him for a while, so we wandered around town chatting and catching up. I had to laugh when I saw his walking boots, which just so happened to be the exact same ones I had bought yesterday. It was the “same jacket” snafu all over again!

Returning home I finished the hallway stripping before tidying up and settling down to watch The Father starring Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman. It was an exceptional study in dementia, completely disconcerting, touching and disturbing. Hopkins in particular was absolutely superb. Highly recommended.

Certainly beat staring at the walls.