2017 was a year of highs and lows as far as The Mandarin was concerned. The beginning of the year saw snow, the like of which in Tursi is only seen every 20 years or so. Temperatures of minus 8 every night for a week and well over a foot of icy, slipperiness. Followed by the inevitable burst pipes and influenza. Work stopped for a month. The Mandarin was just a shell; a husk with nothing inside. Problems too complicated to explain meant further halts in the work to iron out '