We have high hopes for the season and are making two new rooms which will be called the Diawando and the Minianka: these are the remaining tribes of Mali which have not yet found a home at Djenné Djenno. The mud façade rises rapidly, and it is fascinating to watch the Djenné masons handle the mud in their time honored way, with a precision, speed and finesse which will be totally lacking once the plumbing and electricity phase of the building work arrives. There is no need to supervise this stage: it works like a dream, and I watch just for the pleasure of it. Once the electrician arrives I have to watch like a hawk, otherwise the air conditioner will be mounted at a sloping angle and the switches and plugs won’t be aligned. Why is this, when the façade decorations are so precisely aligned? A great mystery.