So, the first section is complete! The dark area around the tree trunk was the most difficult, but there were no large areas that were exactly the same, plenty of variety in colour. I managed to lose two pieces.

I’m pretty sure I know who’s to blame, though:

I used to empty the container of my new Roomba straight into the trash, but at some point, I became suspicious and started using a small plastic bag instead:

That way I can easily pat down the bag to check that there are no puzzle pieces in there. And it works, I rescued at least six pieces this way!

I already rolled it up.

It will be some time before I start the next section, because I’m leaving for Dortmund in about three weeks, and won’t be back until September. I’d rather do smaller puzzles until I leave. There will be no puzzling this weekend because I’ll be practising long-distance driving – I’m driving my car to Dortmund (first, I take a ferry to Stockholm), and I need to get some practice in.

Oh wow, just as I was complaining about how it’s slow going, I somehow got into a phase where the pieces were just flying into place. The big palm trees are almost done (just the trunk left), and only a few missing pieces in the sky. I had to switch some sky pieces that I originally had placed wrong, although no problem because the pieces were the exact same shape.

From now on, it’s going to get slow again, the remaining areas are pretty dark, but there are only about 600 pieces left, I think. I had no intention of posting twice in a row about the same puzzle, but this just sort of took off!

I’ve been working mostly on the palms, and it feels sooo slow. Also, I really wish the temple weren’t so dark. I think there’s about 1000-1500 pieces to go.