So, word is

they're starting with the new heating installation tomorrow which means we can get into the house this Friday !
Tomorrow R. is having a final discussion with the expert on the total amount of the damage and he is frantically collecting all sorts of bills now in order to prove what the items we lost costs.

The front door can still only be opened by kicking it in, so I hope something can be done to that quickly too. Then the painters have to do their thing, the wooden floor in the kitchen has to be sanded and painted (meaning we'll have to move out again for a couple of days) and ofcourse the cellar simply had to be restored.
But at least we can shower!

Yesterday at the course we had a very boring discussion about pixels and a very interesting one about the cohesion between ISO, diaphragm and sluitertijden, whitebalances and stuff like that.
In the back of my mind I do understand it, but I'll need a lot of practice to see it for real.
On my way over to R'dam this morning I tried to shoot a picture of one of the storks on a lamppost next to the A13 and almost bumped into my neighbor.

The pictures that I saw of my fellow photographers at the course are so much better than mine!
I really wonder why they are taking this course and sometimes feel like an idiot myself.
On the other hand, I've got lots of room for improvement (and I will, really, that stuff about light and diaphragm alone will get me there) and I cannot imagine they have that much opportunity to improve.
I hope.

Typical case of cognitive dissonance.