- walking to the train station at 5am through a serene snowscape, losing my train card and going home, then finding it in the snow on my way back
- a playlist to combat sleep deprivation featuring Billy Joel, Loggins & Messina, The Bellamy Brothers, The B52's, Ananda Shankar, Glen Hansard, Jon Cleary, Chris Stapleton, Gary Clark Jr., PJ Harvey and Iggy Pop
- finishing Carrie Brownstein and Patti Smith's memoirs in one day
- train delays in January, leaving me stranded at unfamiliar stations and sending me to my destination at unpredictable hours
- mourning the loss of one of my all-time favourite artists
- the melancholy of saying goodbye to a city I had fallen in love with in all its apparitions: the autumnal beauty, rain-soaked, the peace and quiet of the morning, enveloped in darkness, the surprising midday sunshine in the middle of winter, desperate cyclists trying to get home amidst the frantic tourist masses, the overflowing pubs and terraces
- the last weeks at my internship: a near-empty office, smoothie runs, recapping SNL at lunch, musings on life while walking to the station, making new temporary friends, bonding over music while listening to Spotify radio, treating co-workers to homemade cupcakes that were a big hit, last hugs goodbye with people I'd grown attached to (one in particular)
- coming to terms with the closing of a chapter while house sitting for my sister and brother-in-law & drinking every bottle of red wine available
- travelling back to my old home in England, by spending 30 hours out of 72 in buses and trains
- catching up over lunch with Micha & his housemate Elena at a 50s-themed American diner
- carrying two suitcases + two bags worth of belongings from my old home to my hotel through the storm, giving up and calling a taxi midway through, then carrying my belongings up five flights of stairs
- sheltering from the rain while watching Happy Days in my hotel room
- meeting up with Micha & Elena in the evening, watching Star Wars at the cinema and going for dinner at Nando's afterwards; another chapter closed
- binging Bored to Death and Curb Your Enthusiasm
- conquering anxiety and going to a concert by myself again, Starbucks in hand, reading eBooks on my phone while waiting, then being swept up by the energising music of Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, capering and dancing home joyously, feeling free
- spending carefree spring days by going for long walks and listening to Sleater-Kinney
- finally discovering a love for documentaries and going on long binges
- feeling excited by the prospect of becoming an aunt for the first time
- going to the local liberation festival with my sister for the first time in years, snacking on ice-cream, pizza and beer
- spending the remainder of spring listening to Fleetwood Mac, Joni Mitchell and Joanna Newsom
- a series of failed job applications, job interviews and a particularly disastrous job trial at an Italian restaurant
- taking matters into my own hand by providing freelance writing and translating services online
- finally breaking the cycle by getting a temp job at an educational publishing house, going to celebrate afterward by buying new records at the flea market (Fleetwood Mac & Bob Dylan)
- working regular hours at an office in the summer months, feeling like a stable human being again
- making new temporary friendships, eating lunch outside in the sun with a clique of temporary workers, musing on travel and life and family and work, being the last one to leave the office on Friday after completing a 40 hour work week
- trying to salvage my lack of reading by spending the summer with Borges' short stories, in the back yard and by the pool, but never finishing
- lamenting another cycle of unemployment, made better by the strange and wonderful world of Stranger Things
- finally reading Lewis Carroll and feeling inspired by words and childhood dreams again
- meeting my friend in her motherland, travelling from the local airport by myself to arrive in a city where no one speaks English, but ending up in the right train anyway, anxiety-ridden and head buried in Through the Looking Glass
- wandering through Warsaw for three days, seeing new-old architecture and museums and churches and lavish parks, attending a baroque concert, eating quality food at cheap milk bars, discovering pączki, eating Indian food with more temporary friends from diverse backgrounds
- welcoming my baby nephew at Halloween, cuddling and singing and bottle feeding him
- long wintry walks home from my sister's new place, accompanied by fiery pink skies and frost-tipped grass
- taking a solo coach trip to Copenhagen, sailing past German cities and Danish seaside villages
- strolling through hygge Christmas markets in the evening, sipping hot cocoa from a straw and browsing shops
- marvelling at French paintings at Statens Museum for Kunst, the hippie community of Christiania, picturesque village of Helsingør, the view from Kronborg castle, multi-coloured houses at Nyhvavn/Christianshavn, deserted streets and sunset over lake near Louisiana Museum, fairytale scenery & Christmas lights at Tivoli Gardens
nov 19 2016 ∞
oct 21 2019 +