Stoneshop and I spent most of the day working on my bike. We managed to get some good stuff done:
he swapped the whole rear suspension for used but less tired parts that I had on stock, and I swapped both of the tyres for a fresh pair.
I'm curious about the handling now, I've been told that the rear shock wasn't working as it should, and it's never been any different for as long as I've had the bike (which is almost 10 years, and almost 100.000 kilometres). At the very least, we'll have gotten rid of the *squeak* that the bike's had for as long as I know, and which caused me to name it Rubber Duckie.

The old rear tyre had gone very inflexible with age (but don't we all?) and I had a hard time getting it off. Of course, I could have cheated and used the angle grinder. But I was actually enjoying myself, and when I finally had the new tyre on I felt rather good about myself. :-)
The new tyres are Michelin T63, also named Desert, and for a reason. I've tried them in the desert, so I know what I'm on about.

I love having plenty of space to tinker, lots of tools to do it with, and also having a companion who will encourage me to do so, and give me a hand when I need one. It's a great thing that we can do stuff like this together and enjoy it.