Ein AusLANDER

Something that we do not routinely do in England, well certainly not in Nottingham anyway is wait for traffic lights to change before crossing a clearly empty road. No one really does it - although I always make an exception if I can see that there are children around as I don’t want to be setting a bad example to those younger and possibly less aware than I.

When I was in Hamburg last year and generally in a rush to navigate myself around efficiently on foot I became infuriated and impatient. We were waiting to cross a road and I could see for what seemed like miles in every direction that there were no cars. If one had suddenly spun into view in the horizon it would have taken close to 30 seconds to get to us and yet. Nobody, just nobody would make the 5 second journey across the road when the light was not green. Even in my self induced (at the time) arcade fire listening euphoria I found this incredibly frustrating - the same thing happens (albeit to a lesser extent in Edinburgh, Scotland) but here it feels more frowned upon than a full blown felony.

The weather is starting to get warmer and sunnier in Edinburgh and I am feeling a lot more at home here. A friend of mine is hoping to move here soon and I’m feeling positive about being here for a long time. Work is still missing but I am actively pursuing that everyday and so I figure that everyday I am closer to starting my next job. My relationship with my girlfriend is fantastic and generally feels too good to be true. I feel great about our future.

I live in a pretty good area called morningside. It is about 2 miles from Edinburgh city centre. Obviously, this is not a German speaking area - so imagine my surprise to randomly find a German coffee shop / bakery operating pretty much in German! Below are some photographs.