“Sometimes you wake up. Sometimes the fall kills you…”

“…And sometimes, when you fall, you fly.”

As I write this, I am embarking on my last week at work. Well, at this work, not last working week ever, but still!

It’s always bittersweet leaving a job. You’re keen to start the next challenge, meet new people, take on new responsibilities, but you’re sad to leave the familiar.

Personally, I hate change. I hate the unknown. It’s one of my biggest weaknesses – I even hate surprises! No surprise parties for me, no mystery gift, no ‘pack your bag darling, we’re going away this weekend’, I would hate it with a passion.

So despite having some extreme frustrations with my current job, there’s something comforting about knowing what will happen (even if it frustrates me). Over the past four years I’ve grown enough to be a big fish in a little pond, knowing every rock and plant, every eddy and flow.

A result of my hatred of the unknown is that I tend to over-prepare for things. I’m trying to not do that in this case. I’m preparing, but not over-preparing. For instance I’ve prepared my list of committee deadlines, but I haven’t populated it. I’ve arranged to meet my new manager for a cuppa before I start, but I haven’t planned a list of questions. I’ve gathered some key documents on being an effective manager, but I haven’t planned to do or say anything specific for my new team. This may not sound like a lot, but it’s good for me.

I am thinking ahead to my first week at the new job:

• I want to be friendly and enthusiastic, but not in a cheesy or overwhelming way.
• I want to be a human sponge to take in all the information I can.
• I don’t want to be too reliant on people showing me how to do things; I want to be shown once and be able to do it with only a few specific follow-up questions.
• I want to take notes when people show me how to do things.
• I want to remember people’s names and what they do.
• I want to get a feel for the culture and the team dynamics so I can fit in.

Essentially I want to get along with the people I work with and be good at the job I was hired to do. And only I can ensure that happens.


*Quote from Neil Gaiman

“If such things have not been part of your own experience…”

“…you probably won't understand what Bastian did next.”

I recently spent a few days in Munich with two of my best friends. It’s such a lovely city, small enough to be navigable but large enough to always have options for activities.

I made sure to keep my beer quota up:

Fabulous beer.

Other highlights included the English Garden, which has a fast flowing ice stream running through it (perfect for a hot day) and people surf on the permanent wave at one end! Very hypnotic viewing.

Marienplatz in the Old Town has an amazing clock with moving bits and although the bells are seriously out of tune the song they play is so catchy I was singing it for a while afterwards (much to the annoyance of my friends!).

We also visited the Munich Residence just off Marienplatz which was a long morning of walking but worth it. Beautiful rooms, lots of information, and the Treasury was really interesting too.

Our main reason for visiting was to worship the fabled luck dragon Falkor. Be still my beating heart… And not only can you see the original film prop, you can ride him!

The tour round the Bavaria Film Studios was brilliant actually. We were on a German speaking tour (without knowing much German) but still loved every minute. We had a super nice guide who tried to give us as much translation as possible so we appreciated everything we saw, but really the star of the show was Falkor. Honourable mention to the U-Boat from Das Boot:

But Falkor rules all.

Long live Falkor!


*Quote from Michael Ende

"I saw that my life was a vast glowing empty page…”

“…and I could do anything I wanted."

 It’s taken me a while, but I’ve finally finished CB’s scarf!

It’s really soft and the colours are so pretty and really catch the sun. It’s difficult to photograph the colours accurately but take my word for it!

Something I didn’t immediately notice was how cool the packaging for the wool is. The wool is Possum and Merino blend and the back of the label has some really interesting facts:

The use of Brushtail Possum fur helps New Zealand’s ecosystem! Brushtail Possum consume 21,000 metric tonnes every 24 hours, and native bird species face habitat destruction and nest invasion. The NZ Brushtail Possum population is 70 million, compared with 4.4 million humans.

This is my contact with Possums (other than seeing them as road kill throughout the country):

I’ve been wanting to get this scarf finished as I ordered the wool for my next five projects. Yes five. FIVE. It’s been a test of willpower not to cast on anything else before getting this scarf finished, but now I can jump into these lovely skeins:

Or these beautiful bright shades:

Or these sensible, rich colours:

Mmmmm….wool-porn….



*Quote from Jack Kerouac

"I am not afraid of storms…”

“...for I am learning how to sail my ship."

There’s a much-discussed analogy about life being a piece of music. Something we’re supposed to enjoy while it’s happening rather than focus only on the ending.

Well, Philly-Fans, I feel I’m making the decision to dance along rather than trying to skip the track.

I’ve been living and working in London for about 6 years now. At first it was exciting and fun but over the past 18 months or so it’s dawned on me that I don’t actually like my day-to-day existence very much.

My job is very stressful, my commute is very stressful, and once I get home I just want to sit in my pyjamas and knit. I’m not taking advantage of living in London but I’m getting all the disadvantages. 

So why am I doing this? Wishing away my weeks but being so tired on the weekends I don’t do anything? Never seeing my friends? Always worrying?

Well these are questions CB and I have been asking ourselves for a little while now, and we’ve slowly come to the decision that it makes no sense. This is not how life has to be. This is not a situation we are stuck in. This is our life and we have control over how we spend it.
To that end, we are moving. Moving jobs, moving house, moving lives. Moving, in fact, about 200 miles from where we currently are to live in the north of England. Better jobs with more income, more autonomy, and shorter commutes, in an area known for friendly people, good quality of life, and being more affordable.

And it’s terrifying, my god it’s terrifying, but it’s also really exciting. I’m taking stock of what I have and comparing it to what I want, and I’m turning one into the other.


*Quote from Louisa May Alcott