My Mum's Birthday Blog - Fountainbridge

As part of a birthday present to my mum and in preparation for my parents' visit in September I am going to dedicate a series of Edinburgh-related posts to my mum. And the places she likes from my blog we can then visit in real life.

The Union Canal connects Edinburgh with Falkirk, which is a town in the middle between Glasgow and Edinburgh, and which is famous for the Falkirk Wheel, a rotating boat lift connecting the Union Canal with the Forth and Clyde Canal. The Union Canal goes by my neighbourhood and features a cycle path that leads all the way to the West End of Edinburgh's city centre. The Union Canal is very pretty, with the best sections in Harrison Park and in Fountainbridge. It also featured in my story about the death of my smartphone.

London Is a Village

Coming home from an excellent weekend in Germany I find two text messages on my phone that make me smile.

My Mum's Birthday Blog - The Meadows

As part of a birthday present to my mum and in preparation for my parents' visit in September I am going to dedicate a series of Edinburgh-related posts to my mum. And the places she likes from my blog we can then visit in real life.

The Meadows are a big park south of Edinburgh's city centre and close to Edinburgh University's main campus (E6 on the map). They remind me a lot of the Prinzenpark in Braunschweig, because of all the BBQs, people playing cricket, football, and frisbee, or hanging out, playing music, drinking, frolicking.

My Mum's Birthday Blog - Fish & Chips at Portobello Beach

Today is my mum's birthday. Happy birthday!!

And for this occasion, as well as in preparation for my parents' visit in September, I am going to dedicate a series of Edinburgh-related posts to my mum. And the places she likes from my blog we can then visit in real life.

It's Sexism Week!

• The division head (male) after a big and well run conference I had organised to my team and me (all female): Well done, girls.
• A public figure in Scotland on land ownership (I'm paraphrasing): Is it fair that most of Scotland's land is owned by very few people? Maybe not, but is it fair that your wife is prettier than mine? Or that this  guy wins the lottery and I don't?
• Bike shop guy to me after I told him that I rather fix my bike myself than pay 5 quid for him to do it: Maybe you can ask a gentleman friend to change your tyre for you.

Silly Pics

At last weekend's dance event, the first ever Edinburgh Balboa Exchange, the organisers had a photobooth with props. And an excellent photographer. And since the pics are on Facebook and I am not anymore, I might as well put them up here.

Carsten and me.

What I Do When I'm Not Working, Walking, or Dancing

Saving the World (Scotland) - Month 3

As you can imagine, saving the world is quite a big job. And even little Scotland needs more saving than you would think. Also, my second job has been keeping me on my toes (no, not the talking-dirty-on-the phone one. That, I do for fun). But enough with the excuses. I'm back from my unplanned hiatus and will hopefully bore entertain my many readers from now on more regularly.

Saving the World (Scotland) - Day 5

Happy Pi Day everyone! If it wasn't for my lent diet I would totally stuff my face with all kinds of pie right now. So thank you Jesus or whoever invented dieting. After my first week of full-time employment and three out of five work nights out I am looking forward to having some alone time with my flat, to be spent in the kitchen.

Saving the World (Scotland) - Day 1

First impressions of the new job:

• I am now in possession of THE KEY TO THE SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT!
• My job is easily explained: attending meetings.
• Don't ask me what I'm actually doing - I still don't have a clue.
• I'm on flexi time. That means if I work an hour longer every day I could take every other Friday off.
• Related to that: I'm now open to holiday planning. Iceland anyone? I decided that winter is for dancing, and summer is for walking.

Lent

It's Pancake Tuesday today, and Lent starts tomorrow. I've never done Lent before, or any fasting for that matter, but I will give it a shot this year. Choosing the Lent period instead of any other time of the year is rather arbitrary, it could have been January or Ramadan really, but other people do lenty stuff and document it on Facebook these days, so it should be fun to jump on the bandwagon. Reading about others' successes and failures might also remind me of my own project and provide encouragement.

Bits and Bobs

• I'm still not working for the Scottish Government, but I have finally a start date: 10th March. One more week of leisure.
• I received my first payment for self-employed work: 26.74 Euros.
• The first time I walked up Calton Hill many years ago I witnessed a marriage proposal. Today, I walked up for the second time to top that and witness the Northern Lights but sadly I couldn't see them. Was nice up there anyway.

Question Time

I can't wait to work for the Scottish Government. But since I have to while the FBI customer service is taking their time with my criminal record check (boring, I know - but hey, they have debited my credit card, so at least they are processing my request), and I can't start work before I am all cleared, I visited the Scottish Parliament today again. For the third time. And I got told off twice before even entering the premises. First, I parked my bike in an inappropriate position and locked it to "Government furniture" (which was a sign that said "Scottish Government"), and then I went for the exit to enter the building - although I swear that that exit used to be the entrance the last time I had visited.

Anyway, I had booked one of the very popular tickets for the First Minister's Questions session, where Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) ask the First Minister questions. The First Minister is the big boss of the Scottish Government, like the chancellor in Germany, the prime minister in Westminster, or the US president. The questions he is asked by the MSPs of the opposition parties are neither nice nor neccessarily very productive. But it is great to witness how he deals with them (or doesn't), and how the different factions respond to each other's polemics. These sessions are all filmed and available online, but to be there and experience the atmosphere, the ridicule and hostility is great fun.

Winners and Prizes

Now, that I got my blog mojo back and the comments keep coming in I'll have to think about the grand prize for the 1000th comment. As I am not rich yet it will have to be something hand-crafted or homemade. A poem, a jar of pickles, a loaf of sourdough bread, a sonnet, a German cake, a short story, a painting, a dinner, a photo collage - any preferences or other  ideas?

Saving the World (Scotland) - Day 0

I got confirmation about my new job in December, but it's only sinking in now. Whenever I told friends and family that I got the position they reacted way more excited than I was feeling in that moment, and it was almost as if I needed their reaction to remind me of how much I had actually wanted it, and that I had been working towards it, in a way, for about two years. But I was feeling a bit numb. Satisfied that I got the job, yes. But still a bit unsure whether it really was what I wanted to do, or if I had only focussed so much on exactly this one job so that I wouldn't have to figure out something else. And I already missed all the free time that my travels, unemployment, and self-employment allowed me.

Little Helpers: Pocket

Have you ever found yourself wanting to check the weather forecast quickly, doing a short detour to Facebook, and ending up finding all these interesting articles that you're starting to read although you don't really have the time for them just now? Well, you could just bookmark them, but then you'd have to have some kind of system of bookmark folders or labels to find them again later. I did have that, but it wasn't great and always took some effort to place the URL somewhere where I'd find it again (if I even remembered to look for it later). One place for all the stuff that you want to read later would be really useful, wouldn't it?

Durham

Before starting to work again I am trying to get as much dancing in as possible, and so I went to DJam, a dance workshop in the northeast of England, in the university town of Durham just south of Newcastle. I shared a cheap hotel room with two other dancers from Edinburgh and we had a jolly good time. Over the course of four days I danced my feet off, but also got a chance to have a look around town which lies prettily on the river Wear and features a cathedral, a castle, one of England's oldest universities, and many wee alleys and secret staircases - well worth a visit.

My Second Dance Performance

...happened only one hour later (enough time to change).

My First Dance Performance

Changes

It's time to stash away the interview attire, unsubscribe from career newsletters, file the resumes and cover letters. It's time to be a useful member of society again. It's time to make a change and the world a better place. Starting from February, I will be making Scottish policy.