View from my Flat

And here's the view from my flat during the great sunset on Thanksgiving last week.

This is Allermuir Hill in the Pentlands.

If you look closely you can see Arthur's Seat in the centre and a fuzzy castle in the bottom left corner of the picture.

Mittens

My gloves are neither pretty nor waterproof and not even the right size, but they are a quality brand, light-weight, super toasty and a steal at TK Maxx last year. Perfect for cycling.

Happy Anniversary

It was one year ago today that I first met my sourdough. He then lived in Tasmania at Kate's who hosted me via Airbnb in her lovely cottage in Cygnet and introduced us. I took him back to Germany and later to Scotland where he has made me many nice loaves of bread since, and after some months of getting used to each other we are now getting along very harmoniously. When he is hungry (he forms a liquid layer on top - saliva?) I feed him (water and rye flour). When I am hungry he feeds me. He's very accommodating and keeps getting stronger apart from the rare occasions that he's feeling a bit down and maybe under the weather. He never smells bad and never complains. He's been a good flatmate. Happy anniversary sourdough.

One Thousand Comments

After moving to the States in 2010 I set out to write a personal blog (this one!), as time difference and my general refusal inaptitude of calling people suggested that it would be a convenient way to keep in touch with friends and family. I would share pictures and stories, they could read as much as they were interested in and easily interact in the comments. That was my intention. But as it turns out, writing a personal blog about my life really is an indulgence in narcissism. And the comments on my posts only enable me in my self-absorbed rambles. And I love you for writing them.

Funny in German

I just revisited some of my earliest blog posts which were written in German - and man, was I funny! And you guys were funny, too! Check out this short post and the comments: *klick*!

Tested

I went to a temp work agency today for another shot at working for the Scottish Government. The agent who is in charge of me seems quite nice though not overly capable. In order for him to do his job I needed to call him about ten times and send him several emails this past week. But the good news is that they have temporary government positions all the time, and this way I could move around the government departments for a bit. However, this comes at the cost of proper payment.

Scottish Winter

The Scottish winter so far has been much better than expected. It's been mostly dry, often sunny, with trees still wearing their autumnal colours. Edinburgh opened its Christmas market a few days ago, and while it's not exactly like the German ones it does come close (and I now know what was missing: Wham!'s "Last Christmas"). The smells are the same, and the Glühwein signs everywhere make me feel like home. The festive lighting and the setting underneath the castle add a lot to the atmosphere. And it turns out that two Glühweins with a friend are enough to make me perfectly happy, and in such a mood we went to a jam session at the packed Whighams Jazz Club where I was even happier to discover about 15 familiar faces in the crowd. Some of us squeezed around a table sharing two chairs per three people and getting really cozy. Some attempted to dance in the very small spaces between tables, and I walked around and handed out the first batch of Christmas cookies I made this year.

Cultural

When a few months ago my flatmate's mother passed away quite suddenly, my flatmate found a bunch of concert tickets at her place for the current season of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra that her mum had bought for herself and a couple of friends with whom she usually went to these things. My flatmate kept her mum's tickets, gave me one of them, and gave the others to said friends. So when I went to the concert last night two ladies in their eighties (the friends) were seated next to me, Mary and Margaret, who turned out to be lovely concert company. The concert was Schumann's first and fourth symphony as well as a Mozart piano concert. I wasn't impressed by the Mozart, and got easily distracted, but the Schumann symphonies were great! I had been worried about the length (30 min each) and that I might get bored, but when they were over it didn't feel like much time had passed - it was so good! Now here's to hoping that my flatmate can't make the dates of the residual concerts.

Phone

So this was fun. I just got a call from my mobile phone provider who asked me how they could improve their service. I suggested to reduce the prices as I find 25 p per minute outrageously expensive. They asked me how much on average I was paying per month, and I said three pounds. And I know that for sure as I have been closely monitoring my expenses. They asked if that was per month or per week, and I confirmed that it was per month. Then they asked if it was three or twenty, and I confirmed that it was indeed three pounds per month. It seemed hard to believe. They then offered me some contract for nine pounds a month which includes more minutes than anyone can possibly spend on a phone (people need to sleep!), but I explained that that wouldn't really reduce my costs as I now only spend three pounds per month instead of nine, so I wouldn't be interested. They gave up, and I feel like I won a battle against consumerism. And they probably feel sorry for me.

My Christmas Presents Have Arrived!

Yay! It is a nice-looking, snuggly pair of fleece-lined, water repellent winter walking / cycling trousers and a down vest which will help me survive the Scottish winter, outdoor Hogmanay celebrations, winter walks, and chilly Scottish summer nights. Thank you my dear parents!

Is it too early to put them on?

My 'Hood

It's high time I showed you some pictures of where I live (between the Saughton prison and Hailesquarry Park, a former landfill).

Our flat is in one of these, the park is just behind.

Bobbles

It was strangely satisfying to produce a large pile of lint when shaving the bobbles off my old fleece. I can now relate to my former flatmate Sally's excitement when confronted with the task of shaving a whole couch. (At the time, she seemed nuts, sitting in front of the sofa, buzzing away for hours.)

Old Shoes

The other day I set off to get myself a new pair of light walking shoes for easy hillwalking and everyday use. I wanted them to be light in feel and actual weight, robust, with some grip, comfortable, breathable, and pretty. The closest I got to my requirements was a pair of Merrell shoes (*click*) that looked nice and featured some new design with extra little arch support, a low heel, and lots of wiggly space for the toes. But I just couldn't buy them. Even though I have a budget for them (Christmas - yay!), and the sales person was really helpful, and I wanted to buy them. But they weren't perfect, and I very rarely spend as much as 90 quid in one go for stuff these days, and what I really want are these: *click*, which are not available in the UK.

Good Things (Pt. 2)

So I had signed up for this dance workshop with my favourite teachers (*click*) way too late as I originally had other plans for the weekend, and I ended up in the dark place that is the followers' waiting list. And then, having no hope left, resigned myself to having a quiet weekend, maybe do a little autumnal walk in the Pentlands, one day before the workshop started another follower cancelled and I got offered their spot! Yay!

Choices

I went to the Scottish Government a couple of days ago to meet with a policy adviser, the very friendly boyfriend of a friend of a super helpful friend, to get my overly romantic ideas of how policy is made shattered by reality and then get a decent and well-paid job in industry and stop dreaming about saving the world.

Good Things..

So I'm cycling home from a meeting and there is this car on the cycle path with DrBike written on it and a few people standing around looking helpful. I stop and they give me a free back light, inflate my front tire, readjust my brake handles, and all I have to do is fill out a survey :)

December Coming Up

I have a very exciting December coming up but without the Christmas stress working people might encounter. To get ready and prepare myself appropriately, I bought a Lindt advent calendar for my flatmate and me to share. She picked the even numbers so she would get the big chocolate on the 24th, but I get to go first. I already warned her that as a child I used to take the chocolates early and cover it up by closing the doors again - I hope age has provided me with a little bit of self-restraint.

I am looking forward to Edinburgh's Christmas decoration, Glühwein offerings, Christmas cookie bake-offs, two visits by friends from Germany, a week in Germany where I'll be bothering my family with my inept piano play, and an Edinburgh Hogmanay.

Things Falling into Place

Sometimes, people are astonished by my capacity for cheerfulness and optimism regarding my job search seeing that is has been going on for a while and turned out to be more difficult than expected. But I think there is no point in being depressed about things that can't be changed if I can help it. I can't force employers to employ me. All I can do is meet people, network, write job applications, ask for advice and take it, keep an open mind, and do all of this as best as I can. And as Kat has said to me, eventually, things will fall into place. Or as Dirk has said to me, so far I've always managed to achieve what I want. Sometimes you maybe just have to adjust what you want.

More Old Friends

My laptop, a T500 Thinkpad, has now reached the ripe age of four, and apart from the fact that it is running on its second battery (the first one failed after 3 years) and its third charger (the first one failed five months ago, the generic replacement gave up the ghost today), it has been working smoothly and reliably. It still feels rather fast and high quality, like a modern machine, and while I used to dream of new computers when my current ones reached the age of two at the latest, that has never happened to me since I bought my Thinkpad. The only criticism I have is that it is quite heavy, as with a 15 inch screen it is rather big. So today, after my most recent computer scare (battery died and wouldn't recharge) and me digging out my flatmate's voltmeter, confirming a broken charger, and running around town to find a replacement, I started looking at other computers. Just in case. Because computers sadly don't live forever. The thing is, I never want to own anything else than a Thinkpad, because of the four or five computers I have had in my life it is the only one that has never failed me, and its quality and robustness have won me over. But I could probably live with a smaller screen for the sake of better mobility, and I certainly haven't used my DVD drive enough to justify having one. I also like the idea of  having a solid state hard drive, and I have been quite happy with Windows 7. Unfortunately, the simplest model for my requirements isn't simple at all, but costs over £1000. I guess I'll use my good old brick laptop for a few more years then.

National Library of Scotland

The National Library of Scotland is a reference library, which means that you can read books there but you can't take them home. Membership is free, the reading rooms are very nice, warm, and quiet, there are lockers and a cafe downstairs (and should you ever order a hot chocolate there you will get mountains of marshmallows and chocolate sprinkles), and I have spent some time there studying Scottish public policy without distraction. However, today I found out about the multimedia room. The multimedia room is filled with microfilm readers as well as computers with free internet access, and as my book was in transit between shelves and therefore unavailable, I found myself in front of one of the rather fast computers, not studying or doing career related stuff, but procrastinating again. I also found an online version of my policy book, which I am now trying to read in-between surf breaks. At least I can't go to my kitchen to distract myself, or watch telly.