Three bottles, three possibilities, three different outcomes for three things that are the same. When these are filled, each will be different from the other two. Each will contain something appetising and exciting, yet for now they remain the same and I remain fascinated by their beauty.

There are lots of things in our world that remain un-filled and waiting to be made into something appetising and exciting but the background work has moved on a lot today and we are getting nearer to creating something rather than just making a mess.

Our hearth now has its brick surround (I am completely certain the fireplace won’t be in action by the end of November) thanks to DMs bricklaying and my mortar mixing. Tomorrow a concrete filler will bridge the gap between what’s in the fireplace cavity and the brick surround, then hopefully on Saturday, the levelling compound can go in. Who knows if all of that will go off in time for us to spend the last day of our holidays laying quarry tiles?

The lobby now has about half of the work done to the ceiling that we need to finish before the room can be decorated. We’ve got about 1/3 of the cladding to do and then the finishing off, which I’m guessing will take as long as the remaining cladding. If it’s not raining tomorrow, that’s the job of the day. Once that’s all done, I can decorate….though that will now have to be when I’m back at work, so it’ll be fitted in between day-job and all of the rest of my chores. Joy!

As for building – who knows when or if the bits we are waiting on will ever get done – all I know is that if we are to enjoy Christmas in a sane, clean, tidy home then this needs to be finished pronto and at the moment it’s absolutely nowhere and the builders have gone awol.

One little oasis of good came our way today – a chap called Sid…..a true Cornishman but someone who seems to be able to show up not just when he says he will, but in advance of when he said. He turned up a day early and set to clearing rubbish from our garden – hopefully by the end of this weekend (almost) all of that will be gone – I say almost because I’m too scared to hope it’ll all go this time.

I’m still fed-up (in case you couldn’t tell) but I’m hopeful that by the time I go back to work, the positive stuff in the house can start.

Last year, I was celebrating being here with a shot of Brunel's Tamar bridge.