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Our architect visited this morning to look at the remains of the terrace before it’s rebuilt – he turned up at 7.30am. Fortunately, I was up. Yesterday’s rain fell as snow on the peaks around the village, and the mountains are dressed in white this morning.

The Covid tests that we had yesterday will permit us to enter the UK, assuming that the results come back negative of course. Unfortunately, we have to fly via Frankfurt, and the 72 hour RT-PCR test that the U.K. requires isn’t good enough for the Germans, who require an antigen test within 48 hours of departure. Time to pop into the doctors to get tested yet again, and collect more paperwork. We could do the antigen tests ourselves at home, but crucially we need a letter from the doctor confirming the results before we can fly to Germany. That’s 2 tests in 2 days so far, with at least another 4 before we can get out of U.K. quarantine and return.

What with the scarcity of flights and all this testing, travelling is really, really hard at the moment. Dinner at Colin’s tonight.

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It always comes as a surprise when we wake up to rain – somehow we take nice weather for granted. Even when the forecast says it’s going to be wet, we tend to plan for dry weather so as not to miss a good day. Today however, it has rained all day.

Clouds swirl around the village, and it’s cold. It’s just our luck that we have an appointment at the doctors to have our PCR tests for our flight on Sunday. The tests take less than a minute, but we got pretty soaked walking there and back. Still, it gave us a chance to get used to the rain – I guess we’ll be seeing a lot more of it over the next few weeks.

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At the end of every winter season, Wengen’s builders get to work. Building is not allowed during the holiday season, so everything has to be squeezed into the gap between winter and summer. The unloading area at the station is packed to the rafters with materials and scaffolding.

Meanwhile, Val is off for her final dental appointment. It’s overcast today, with rain forecast, but the train ride along the lake is still stunning.

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After the noisy demolition of our terrace yesterday, we were hoping for a little peace today. Not a chance. It’s time for our heating oil delivery.

The oil has to pass up a 20 metre pipe to get to our tank, and the pump doing the work is noisy.

I have lots of little jobs to do today. Telephone Lufthansa to add luggage to our booking (I forgot first time around), book a taxi from Birmingham airport back to Shifnal on Sunday, go to the station and buy our summer passes, etc. We did find time for a wander this afternoon, and we bumped into Emily who was taking her bike down to Lauterbrunnen for repairs and a service. Bikes are popular here, but they have a very hard life, as most routes are either steeply uphill or downhill, meaning chains, gears and brakes all wear very quickly.

There are no tourists at all now, and the village is very quiet. Still, it’s a lovely afternoon in the sunshine.

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Emily came up with another lovely fish pie last night.

This morning we needed to be up early. The renovation of our terrace is due to begin, and the Swiss start work early. Here they are.

This is likely to be very noisy, so after shopping we headed over to Grütschalp and had a walk to Mürren. There’s still a lot of snow along the path.

Crocuses. Millions of them.

We caught the cable car down to Stechelberg, a bus to Lauterbrunnen and then the train back up to Wengen. Our terrace is….. gone!

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Super Barbecue at James and Julie’s last night.

We needed blankets later on – it’s still April.

Ginger is invited to the barbecue, but despite her best efforts to beg, she can’t have anything to eat.

Today we’ve been putting all the winter stuff down in the cellar and up in the attic. I also cleared the terrace as the renovations are due to start tomorrow. Emily is cooking tonight.

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There’s a saying here, that we only get 2 seasons in the mountains – winter and summer. Yesterday we were skiing, and this afternoon we’re off to a barbecue at James & Julie’s. Off to Interlaken we go to buy meat.

It’s busy everywhere, the fine weather tempting people out. On the way home the train was full of day-trippers on their way to the Jungfraujoch. Everyone wants a snap of the waterfall, and even though I see it every day, I can’t resist.

Back in Wengen the meadows are turning a vivid green. The livestock will soon be arriving.

The chicken wings that I bought at the Co-op are marinating in garlic and chilli, and the beer is chilling in the fridge. It’s a perfect day for the first barbecue of the summer season.