Dear reader, are you still out there? It might seem like it’s been a really, really long time since I pressed “publish” on a post, but it’s only because it has been a really, really long time since I pressed “publish” on a post.
Do you even care that I was gone? Probably not. Writing a blog, while enjoyable and sometimes informative for you, is mostly about me and helps me in the long run. So, to think that any of you particularly missed me during an unexpected, unexplained absence, is pretty damn narcissistic and I honestly don’t blame you for not noticing I disappeared.
I spent the summer doing the same thing everyone else seemed to do: travelling, having fun and trying to ignore the fact that this winter will leave us all cold, sick and bankrupt. May the odds be ever in your favour.
It’s been challenging to get back to writing for pleasure again, but in the same way I threw myself into starting a blog, I’m throwing myself back into the deep murky waters of blogging once again. What you’re reading right now is probably a huge pile of steaming shit. But we move.
Anyway, let’s dive in, shall we?
Chapter 1: Work, Berlin and Deutsche Bahn.
In case you missed it, I started a new job at the beginning of this year. I work remotely now, but it was part of my negotiation that I had to go to Berlin (where the office is based) approx. once per month.
During the first 5 months of my work, a lot of covid restrictions were still in place and everybody in our office was still under WFH orders, so it didn’t make sense for me to make any trips to Berlin during this time.
But once the restrictions relaxed a bit and the company implemented “team days”, it meant I could finally hop on a train and head to Germany’s capital for the first time ever.
I’m now one of those arseholes that works furiously from her MacBook on a train while occasionally looking wistfully out of the window as if deep in thought (spoiler alert: I’m thinking about lunch).
All this travel has allowed me to experience the true beauty of Deutsche Bahn. That is, rude staff (classic German Kundenservice), delayed/cancelled trains, changing platforms six (!) times and one train driver who missed AN ENTIRE STATION because he pressed the brakes too late. I did, however, get to see an Italian man pull out a litre bottle of olive oil from the drinks section of his rucksack to use on his dinner. Amazing.
The other positive side to all of this travel to Berlin is that I have managed to meet internet friends IRL and it has been nothing short of wonderful and wholesome 💕
Chapter 2: Heimweh is disappearing fast
Every once in a while, I get a deep aching for home. I combat this by planning and executing a trip back.
Sadly, this year’s trip just didn’t live up to our expectations. Both Zac and I found ourselves repeatedly frustrated and upset with England and the English. The icing on this frustration cake was the insane damage the British roads did to our car (hello €1500 repair bill).
There were some shining moments during this odd period. The wedding of my friends, Rhi and Matt, being one of them. Axe throwing with the fam. A full day of shopping with my bestie. A lunch with my childhood pals. And a cute getaway with my little sister. Plus local Hereford cider, natürlich.
But the madness continued as my country elected a new Prime Minister none of us voted for, which subsequently tanked the Pound and sent the British economy spiralling so far south, I can only assume it’s somewhere near the earth’s core now. Oh yeah, and the Queen died, turning hundreds of thousands of people into raging royalists for a few weeks.
After all this, I think it’s safe to say, we’re both reluctant to return for a proper holiday to England next year. Perhaps not at all. I need a break from Britain.
Chapter 3: Two Brits attend a Croatian wedding.
When I first moved to Germany, I had a terrible job working in the warehouse of Jeffrey’s website. It was just as awful as the other stories you’ve heard, but I needed work and they had it. I’m not a snob about my jobs.
The best thing to come from those agonising 2 months was a beautiful friendship with a Croatian girl named Ana. I always seem to make friends with the most gorgeous women, I honestly don’t know how I do it.
