2023 has been a year of waiting for the German bureaucracy to get its act together. Most of it is now sorted and we have mostly moved into our new flat. I joined the Blaue Ampel, a group of photographers which I enjoy very much. Both boys have changed their …

One year has passed since I left Edinburgh to live in Germany. There were many reason why we decided to move to Berlin and not all of them had to do with the Tories and Brexit. Much has happened and it is time to take stock. I absolutely enjoy living …

After an uneventful start, apart from the now sadly traditional strike for better working conditions, the year 2022 turned out to be full of change. I stumbled across a job advert for a position at the Charité University Hospital in Berlin. Berlin has been on our list of places to …

It is now more than three months since I left Scotland, time for an update. I arrived at the end of August. The weather was lovely and everything was new. I had a long list of things to sort out, official appointments that required signed and stamped papers that produced …

We are well into the process of rearranging our lives. It is now also time to work on my digital migration. I have never used facebook and see no reason why I ever would. I do have a presence on linkedin which I don't really use. I don't quite see …

The day has come when I bid farewell to Scotland. I have lived more than half my life in Scotland. I have always felt very welcome here. I love the place, the sea, the mountains and I have many good friends and colleagues. I leave with a sense of betrayal …

After having lived more than half my life in Scotland, it is time to pack our bags and move on. In the summer we are going to relocate to Berlin where I will take on a new position at the Charité hospital. Unsurprisingly, this is a very difficult decision with …

In the small town where I grew up there were essentially two places where you could buy records and CDs. They also sold personal stereos, TVs and washing machines. They had a pretty good selection but nothing unusual. I had to go to the city for a specialist record shop …

Another year in the grip of the pandemic has passed. In many ways it was a very uneventful year filled with work and local walks. We seem to be getting the hang of the pandemic and ended up with 3 1-day self-isolation periods while we waited for our test results …

We are now well over a year into the Covid19 pandemic. So far we, personally, have escaped relatively unscathed: We have our jobs, an income and a large enough flat so that all four of us have their own space. We have technology to access the internet and each of …