Two men looked through prison bars, one saw mud the other stars

At this, the darkest time of the year, pictures of the Manse are dark, grey and foreboding. The white render has lost some of its crispness and - to be honest - it all looks a bit grim. So here are some brighter, whiter, clearer pictures of how it was and will be. 

 

 

 

The forecast looks bad for getting on and off the island during the Christmas period but my next trip will be around the middle of January. Here's hoping it's calmer then. Season's greetings to anyone who happens to see this.

 

Are you really sure that a floor can't also be a ceiling? M. C. Escher

We visited a nearby retail outlet in Aberdeenshire where they had used sarking for the ceiling, skirting board and architrave and than painted it all with some trendy Neptune paint. With this in mind, the next job was to refurbish the bedroom next to the bathroom. From above, this is what it looked like when we bought the place.

This was the repair

  

and then we started to put up the sarking

and insulation

and electrics

and there it was done 

"Nothing is better than waking up in the morning and being excited to go into work" Caprice Bourret

One of the positives of the winter gales on Eigg is that you sometimes get stranded. Well, two cancelled crossings meant I got to work 4 extra days on the project, which is looking and feeling increasingly more like home.

After measuring what seemed like a hundred times, I  finally felt confident enough to order two sash windows and two doors from Blairs. With the help of my new aquaintance, friend and Man Friday - Owain, I repaired the beam above where the new windows were going.

There were feelings of relief and pride when we offered up the windows and they were, to all intents and purposes, a  perfect fit;

while inside, with the original surround replaced, I think they look quite impressive.

Next we set about fitting the new back door. This again turned out to be "made to measure" and slotted in after a few minor adjustments to the seat for the frame.