Working through the rain, Nicholas and Gio are repointing the north wall and Alyosha is going to have a huge set of "port-fênetres" in his office. His room is currently pretty dark and gloomy.

Also we had someone come in and tie together some of the beams on the verandah. A ton of roofing tiles raining down on people's heads is now a nightmare averted.

Oh and I almost forgot. We are doing a little bit of work on the attic. In the future we see it as becoming two adjoining bedrooms and – accessed by a separate set of steps or stairs – a galleried workspace looking down over the living room and Kepler's playroom. So the ground floor would be mostly bedrooms and utility area, the other ground floor – essentially the first floor but as there is a hill there is also garden access – would be the verandah, kitchen and living area and the attics would be sleep/small office area.

For the moment we have got as far as having Richard put in a velux window. This would be Kepler's room. It a little hobbity as it has about 1 foot less head height than the rest of the attic floor but it is a good big space. Stars at night, rain splattering, cosy, with a view of trees and the occasional blue sky.