The new bathroom is a huge improvement over the old one. It's so much more open and cheerful! (Any better shots of the floor?)

I have a wide-angle lens for my old Sony camera, so when I have time to dig it out, I'll take some more photos. The floor is tiled too, with matching non-slip ceramic.

The bathroom is really nice! And, yes - that would be very weird about the murder thing.

I love those towel warmer/radiators... A friend of ours has one (our friend who put us up forever, like, in the whole moving-to-athens-thing), and it's gorgeous to grab a nice heated towel after a shower on a winter's day. Plus, a great place for drying the handwashed items.

It all looks great, Jan.

Now, what's what with the murder thing?

Eep. I'm sorry to hear about your friend and chuffed (did I use it correctly?) to hear about your bathroom. I hope it gets straightened out to everyone's satisfaction.

Hang on! You don't know Michael Barrymore, do you?

Yes, TheDonF.

Wow! Now I have all kinds of questions, but 1: it's an active murder enquiry 2: I'm thinking it might be AA related so I know you can't mention that. For non-UK MeCha folks, this is a news story that's being going on for years.

Oh! Nice bathroom, BTW!

Great bathroom, Essexjan. But you've done away with the tub. No long soaks?

(Me, I'd have done the same, as I don't fit in tubs, really, unless they're made extra deep, like the ones in Japan, though those could be a bit wider too).

As for the murder bit, wow. Close friend? A not-so-close friend (but very good friend of my other friends) murdered a girl back when we were in high school: crime of passion? Heat-of-the-moment? Anyway, he was robbing a local convenience store to get money to fund his step-dad's prison smack habit and the poor girl behind the counter was his very estranged recent ex-girlfriend; he went spare and stabbed her twenty-two times, then helped a customer with her blood on his hands and shirt ("I cut myself on the deli slicer"), and then fled to my friend Will's house, where Will's parents convinced him to turn himself in. He's still in jail.

The press had a field day with it because his step-father's last name sounded just like a common synonym for "cold-blooded," which made great headlines, though he really went by his mother's name.

He had been in my Boy Scout troop when we were younger, where he was a creep and a bully, and I never trusted him like my friends did.

Pardon my gruesome story; I hope everything turns out for the best. And anyway, you'll still have a nice new bathroom no matter what.

have been arrested on suspicion of serious sexual assault

I try never to cross that line. . .

Hugh: I don't like soaking in the bath, I much prefer a shower. And this is a power shower. It almost put me through the glass, it's so strong, until I changed the setting to 'champagne spray'. As you know, I'm very nearly a dwarf, and the standard UK bath size is too big for me, I almost drown if I try to lie down. If I'd had a smaller tub, there'd have been too much 'dead space'. As it is now, I've been able to move the basin and leave space for storage.

If I feel I want a soak, I'll use the hot tubs at the gym.

Yes, very close friend on the murder charge. It's been ongoing for six years. He was drunk/high when it happened, and (he says, and I believe him) he was elsewhere in the house when the man died.

Mmmm. Re-reading my post, I think I came across as a bit of an ass, for which I apologise. It's none of my business and he's obviously a close friend.

Baths are also very, very drying on ("for"? "to"?) the skin... so even though I now have a nice tub (with feets!), and love the idea of a nice relaxing bath with nice smellgood stuff in it and candles, blah, blah, I don't do it, so tub space is wasted for me. I'd rather have a nice stall in less space, and then room for a bidet - which my bathroom used to have, apparently, but it was removed to make room for a washing machine... and since there's no other space for the washer, that's how it is.

And, may I nominate this for surreal thread of the day? Sorry for this happening with your friend, Jan.

No need to apologise, TheDonF, it's in the public arena and the press has been following the story with an air of schadenfreude for several years. On a similar note, I was outside NBC in Rockefeller Square on Friday when it came up on the news ticker that Paris Hilton had been sent back to jail. Everyone cheered, high-fived the person next to them, whooped, etc.

the standard UK bath size is too big for me

I wish I had that problem. An annoying thing about most American apartments I've seen is that they come with a combination shower/bathtub, but the bathtub is far too small to be comfortable in. I don't normally take baths anyway, but occasionally it's nice, especially when you're sore (or cold).

What a lovely bathroom, ej!

I am sorry to hear about your friend. I hope it all works out.

I really need to email you, don't I? We have more in common than I realized.

Did you check your Vox email, goml?

Yes, yes I did. Check your gmail.

Dang, essexjan! That definitely fits the description of odd day.

But your bathroom is, indeed, lovely.

Nice bathroom - we are putting heated towel rails in the bathrooms of our new house and (probably) heated floors as well - it all seems a bit posh to me, but I guess I'll get used to it.

Yrrr,ej! ....the owner of the building ripped out the radiators when he remodeled. I prefer soaking in a tub, but I like the hand-helds too.