"Two European nations emerged with credit from the Iraq disaster: France and Germany. Both had the courage to withstand the Bush administration and oppose the U.S.-led invasion" Martin Jacques

But from now on only one of them can retain their seat on the high moral ground.

Yes these two look just like a normal couple of tourists, enjoying a relaxing picnic in a shady spot on a beautiful sunny day... but there's more to this than meets the eye.

Having returned from a trip to the post office I returned to The Manse to find these two sitting on a tree stump in the front garden. I smiled welcomingly - "Hello, lovely day for a picnic," I said distracted by a feeling of nagging familiarity in the crockery they were using.

"Zees eez ze ostel no?" 

"Errr no!"

"Oh we saw ze 'ouse and sought it was ze ostel. Zere was no-one in when we phoned and when we arrived and zere was no one ere we sought zees must be ze place"

(Thought to self - classic case of naturalist fallacy)

"No this is my house, the hostel is just the other side, over there (pointing) but don't worry please stay and finish your picnic"

"Errr, ah am so sorry but we sought zees was ze ostel."

"Yes you said, don't worry about it. You're not the first"

"And so we put our sings in ze kitchen" 

(And so they had - their bags on the settee, some of their food in the fridge, [some of it in a saucepan, some splashed on the cooker and some in crockery from the cupboard] How best to handle this potentially incendiary diplomatic incident?) 

"Would you like tea? coffee? a glass of wine? maybe a dram?" I said struggling to maintain a straight face and some semblance of dignity.

"Err no ah sink we will be going to ze ostel. Sank you vairy much"

Exeunt

"Creativity is a mansion. If you're empty in one room, all you have to do is go out into the hallway and enter another room that's full" F. Gary Gray

During the last short visit I managed to paint the hall (and the architrave) we got from the salvage in Edinburgh

Most of the time was spent preparing, cutting and laying the tiles in the porch. The hardest part was deciding how to orientate a regular quadrilateral on a floor which wasn't. We settled on it looking as follows

So next week it's full steam ahead with the dining room

"If your work isn't mission-driven or emotionally resonant to you, it will be very hard to maintain passion and focus over a long period of time" Jennifer Hyman

One of my failings in life has been my propensity for temporary obsessional behaviour. I get heavily involved with something for a while but can suddenly find myself obsessing in a different area, losing interest in the previous one. However, Manseadventure has proved to be an enduring passion and focus for me. It is the best and most rewarding work I have ever had - I just can't get enough of the problem solving and manual labour. I love learning new skills, making mistakes and correcting them. I know it's not as good as if I'd paid a professional to do it but everything I've done has been to the best of my ability - and if it's not perfect then at least it's my not perfect.

I've just completed a three week stint and am reflecting on how much has been achieved. I've cut joists, insulation and floorboards before laying the hall floor

I've measured cut and fitted a plasterboard ceiling

remembering to install the wiring for a light

re framed, moved and rehung the front door

added a wall, made a door frame and hung a door to make a utility room

cut out two panels from an old door and glazed it using beading I routed in the workshop

and plumbed in the dishwasher

I ran out of time to take pictures of the finished, painted hall and of the developments outside including in the war on bracken; more of that next time