A day off...

Sunday's ride was fantastic. We headed southeast into the Bieszczady mountains with our host Adam and his little daughter as well as Bogdan, who owns the Valkyrie, and his son of also about ten/ eleven. Nice windy roads, not too much traffic, especially when we headed over the hills that make the border between Poland and Slovakia. There are no border controls there with both countries being members of the European Union.

It is always fascinating to me to see the difference in the look of the villages and town, when one crosses a border. Just like you notice instantly when you cross over into the Netherlands from Aachen where I grew up. Even though the people there have been living side by side for generations. This part of Slovakia is like taking a few decades off the calendar. The 'Easternness' (for lack of a better term as a westerner) of the towns was very noticeable. Improvement are being made, but the task is huge. And I'm not saying that it does not have an enormous amount of charm. The roads through town are still not car sized and straightened out.

Yesterday's workday was a bit of a mixed bag. Hot as ever with the logs getting drier by the day, and the timber framers not getting fresher either. We had some great demonstrations from a Czech carpenter/ scolar in hewing. He has some very interesting axes, knows many different styles of hewing and speaks a very bumpy mix of English and German. Guess who got to translate... What I took from it was his confidence in his swing and use of the eyeball. Yes you set yourself up good and level, and then you snap a minimum of helper lines and work intuitively in the plumb.

The amount of students and their lack of knowledge is getting to me. It seems like there is just ever more distraction on the site, that keeps those who know what they need to do from doing that. And I won't tolerate anybody looking for tools and asking me for my level any more. Maybe it is just my turn in the leadership team to panic, but I am starting to get worried. Also because I can't think of a way to tell people to step up their game. Their focus, confidence and dedication. I hope I'll be able to post with a little more confidence in a couple of days.

Off to breakfast