With the snow, ice and cold finally gone the work on the dormer could start yesterday. So now we have a hole in our roof on the front of the house with a dormer-shaped frame sticking out. At the moment I'm writing this the workmen are already throwing stuff from the roof into our garden (poor plants..).

The glaziers also arrived yesterday morning to provide us with hr++ windows. They only did the front of the house so today they'll do the back. We spent half the day shivering in our work room when the windows were out yesterday. Today they'll do the bedroom and spare room. When it was freezing so 'hard' last weeks we had ice on the inside of our windows....

Last weekend was the balfolk weekend. It felt shorter than last year, but it was very good. I learned the beginnings of the polska, how to get into the proper stance and frame for dancing, the beginnings of the Bourre Auvergnate and I did some wild dancing with the Saturday evening workshop. Unfortunately quite soon after that my left knee started troubling me with short bursts of pain. So I had to sit out the rest of the evening and thus miss the ball. When it was 'finally' over at 01:45 I was more than ready to go back to our hotel (which was very good).

Sunday morning I spared my knee by only watching one of the workshops. It was hilarious, I picked the right one. Then afterwards I did a few waltzes and a mazurka on Narragonia but with a scottish near the end of the ball my knee protested once again. The cleanup was done limping. After Matthijs had taken care of the Gonnagles' logistics (driving equipment to a storage, unloading etc.) we left for home at about 17:45. Got some fries when we were home (Chinese was closed, drat) watched two episodes of Rome and went to bed to be 'fresh' in the morning when the workmen would come.

Today the workmen started earlier so I'm still a bit sleepy. However, tonight we'll sleep in a snug bedroom with insulating windows.

I dislike snow and cold, especially when I have to travel through it to get to somewhere. I am very lucky to be working at home, but for Amersical and dance I need to cycle through the cold and slippery streets to the other side of Amersfoort. Evil!

The cold also has another downside. This week work on the dormer would start, but because of the cold it has been cancelled. People are not allowed up on the roof in temperatures below -6 degrees Celsius. Drat! And we had just finished removing all the paneling (schrootjes). The container was also already placed in front of our house, but for now the roof will stay as it is. Next week the contractor will be on vacation... so no work then either. And I was just getting excited about it all.

Can spring come early this year, pretty please?