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Pin The Tail On The Puppy
Dec. 5th, 2020 08:52 pmIt has been a week of mixed emotions, but I am starting to detect a sense of optimism creeping back into my psyche. News earlier in the week about a COVID vaccine has brightened the mood, leaving aside all of the willy waving that has been going on from the ultra-hard Brexiters. The lack of a Brexit deal, and time very much running out, is causing me worry as although we will be protected by the Withdrawal Agreement by living in Germany, many of my family and friends will be directly affected. The contrasting emotions was highlighted by a phone call to my mother on Friday where she reminded me that I may yet see my 91-year-old grandfather again provided everyone remains sensible for the next three months. Offsetting that is that I won't be able to see anyone at Christmas, with my family still meeting up as they are all within the same support bubble. They won't be seeing my grandfather, except to wave at him from outside, but the hope is that by next summer, things will return to normal and we will be able to see everyone again. I haven't seen my grandfather since July 2019 and my mother since February, and I am missing them far more than I thought I would. I guess being in a different country has exacerbated that. Anyway, I am going to send a Christmas card to my grandfather and write a letter too - he's not expecting anything, knowing that I am in Germany - which means I need to navigate the German postal system. It seems straightforward, but we'll see.
Things are bubbling along on the bureaucratic front - I rang HMRC on Thursday and they needed to call me back on Friday, but ultimately I don't need to worry about my relocation until I submit my next tax return. This won't be until deep into 2021, but everyone in the UK has now been informed at least. This full-time position is becoming increasingly likely, and through it I'll be able to sort both my tax and health insurance, with my tax number having been sent to me mid-week by the German authorities. On Monday, we have a meeting to get our driving licenses switched, although it is only in Wolfie's name and not mine. We're trying to work out whether I can get mine swapped out too (which to be fair is far less important than Wolfie as he drives and is likely to need a car for work in the future), but there was a similar state of affairs for the Anmeldung so it may be the same here too. This should then mean only one form is needed to be completed and we are done with the bureaucracy. I am just hoping I am not missing anything.
The new job is going well, although this week has been busy due to that 25 hour commitment plus another client as well as my usual bits and bats. Furthermore, there was a US-themed conference on Tuesday and Wednesday which went on well past midnight. For this reason, I missed the Leeds Coffee Meet, which took place on Tuesday. I have been very tired as a result, but I am starting to feel more fulfilled with my professional life too. There is still much to be determined, but I feel the trajectory is positive. The only issue I have is the loud banging upstairs, with Tuesday being particularly bad. Most days it's fine, but at certain times it is preventing me from working and I hope I don't have to say anything.
With lockdown still ongoing here, we haven't really done much else. I've been exploring other parts of the local area, particularly the Kurfurstendamm area, which is home to most of the high-end shops. On Monday, I saw them erecting a huge snowman with a crane, while all of the Christmas lights have started to appear, which makes the area look quite magical. They seem to have gone up last weekend, Advent Weekend, which seems far better than early October, which is the case in the UK. We were back down there today, with Wolfie with me, although his foot suffered something of a relapse late last night. Still, he got to see Siegesaule and the Tiergarten, as well as the bombed out church I had discovered a few weeks back. The replacement brutalist 1960s construction was as awful as ever, but the blue light stained glass interior was as stunning as I had remembered it. I was also delighted to see some German Christmas market stalls dotted around the main square, selling candies and sausages, crepes and beer. It was like a traditional market but just more spaced out and socially distanced, and at least it was something in these trying times. When I was around here, I also managed to get passport photos for my new driving license and my granddad's card. I even managed to take Wolfie to a modest craft beer shop I had discovered.
Socially, it has been a quiet week. There was talk of meeting some locals in Tiergarten today but that didn't go ahead. Last night, Gothi's Catnip Radio set started off incredibly strongly, but descended into dance music and video game soundtracks towards the end of the evening. This at least enabled me to go and speak to Maximilian Robespiere's Discord server crew, which Stray is a heavy part of. I met Max himself last night and we had an enjoyable two-hour pan-European conversation with about fifteen of us, including people from Bulgaria, Finland, Spain and Scotland. As ever with Discord servers after they get larger than about ten people, at times it did become a shouting match but ultimately everyone did manage to have their say and it was coordinated really well. I have noticed this problem also happening in Stray's Jackbox games on a Saturday evening too. Now we are hitting fifteen, it's becoming something of a free-for-all and there are two or three people now on the server who either won't stop talking, or talk aggressively loudly over everyone. This got so bad last weekend that I had to take a thirty-minute break from proceedings and if it happens again tonight, I may just log off. It just does my head in. Aside from that though, last week's Jackbox was fun, with the usual litany of taking the piss out of Lupe pictures due to the games' palette having the exact shade of Lupestripe pink.
Aside from that, there isn't much to report, beyond the fact we have been going to the bakery nearly every day and we tried the bacon we bought last week, which was excellent, thick-cut but could have been more smoked. Meanwhile, I've been a little frustrated with Wolfie this week, largely around the driving license issue as we need to resolve whether I am included in this or not. It's a three-hour roundtrip on a workday and I'd rather not waste my time, particularly as I will need to work around the appointment. To be fair to Wolfie, he has emailed them, but his laissez-faire attitude to things is frustrating, particularly when I am someone who worries about everything. Indeed, this sense of worry has been exacerbated over the last few weeks and I fear I am starting to frustrate him with my nagging. It's like he is Kevin and I am Pink Wolf from the excellent Awoo comic, whose two main characters I have now ordered plushes of. Exciting times.
Things are bubbling along on the bureaucratic front - I rang HMRC on Thursday and they needed to call me back on Friday, but ultimately I don't need to worry about my relocation until I submit my next tax return. This won't be until deep into 2021, but everyone in the UK has now been informed at least. This full-time position is becoming increasingly likely, and through it I'll be able to sort both my tax and health insurance, with my tax number having been sent to me mid-week by the German authorities. On Monday, we have a meeting to get our driving licenses switched, although it is only in Wolfie's name and not mine. We're trying to work out whether I can get mine swapped out too (which to be fair is far less important than Wolfie as he drives and is likely to need a car for work in the future), but there was a similar state of affairs for the Anmeldung so it may be the same here too. This should then mean only one form is needed to be completed and we are done with the bureaucracy. I am just hoping I am not missing anything.
The new job is going well, although this week has been busy due to that 25 hour commitment plus another client as well as my usual bits and bats. Furthermore, there was a US-themed conference on Tuesday and Wednesday which went on well past midnight. For this reason, I missed the Leeds Coffee Meet, which took place on Tuesday. I have been very tired as a result, but I am starting to feel more fulfilled with my professional life too. There is still much to be determined, but I feel the trajectory is positive. The only issue I have is the loud banging upstairs, with Tuesday being particularly bad. Most days it's fine, but at certain times it is preventing me from working and I hope I don't have to say anything.
With lockdown still ongoing here, we haven't really done much else. I've been exploring other parts of the local area, particularly the Kurfurstendamm area, which is home to most of the high-end shops. On Monday, I saw them erecting a huge snowman with a crane, while all of the Christmas lights have started to appear, which makes the area look quite magical. They seem to have gone up last weekend, Advent Weekend, which seems far better than early October, which is the case in the UK. We were back down there today, with Wolfie with me, although his foot suffered something of a relapse late last night. Still, he got to see Siegesaule and the Tiergarten, as well as the bombed out church I had discovered a few weeks back. The replacement brutalist 1960s construction was as awful as ever, but the blue light stained glass interior was as stunning as I had remembered it. I was also delighted to see some German Christmas market stalls dotted around the main square, selling candies and sausages, crepes and beer. It was like a traditional market but just more spaced out and socially distanced, and at least it was something in these trying times. When I was around here, I also managed to get passport photos for my new driving license and my granddad's card. I even managed to take Wolfie to a modest craft beer shop I had discovered.
Socially, it has been a quiet week. There was talk of meeting some locals in Tiergarten today but that didn't go ahead. Last night, Gothi's Catnip Radio set started off incredibly strongly, but descended into dance music and video game soundtracks towards the end of the evening. This at least enabled me to go and speak to Maximilian Robespiere's Discord server crew, which Stray is a heavy part of. I met Max himself last night and we had an enjoyable two-hour pan-European conversation with about fifteen of us, including people from Bulgaria, Finland, Spain and Scotland. As ever with Discord servers after they get larger than about ten people, at times it did become a shouting match but ultimately everyone did manage to have their say and it was coordinated really well. I have noticed this problem also happening in Stray's Jackbox games on a Saturday evening too. Now we are hitting fifteen, it's becoming something of a free-for-all and there are two or three people now on the server who either won't stop talking, or talk aggressively loudly over everyone. This got so bad last weekend that I had to take a thirty-minute break from proceedings and if it happens again tonight, I may just log off. It just does my head in. Aside from that though, last week's Jackbox was fun, with the usual litany of taking the piss out of Lupe pictures due to the games' palette having the exact shade of Lupestripe pink.
Aside from that, there isn't much to report, beyond the fact we have been going to the bakery nearly every day and we tried the bacon we bought last week, which was excellent, thick-cut but could have been more smoked. Meanwhile, I've been a little frustrated with Wolfie this week, largely around the driving license issue as we need to resolve whether I am included in this or not. It's a three-hour roundtrip on a workday and I'd rather not waste my time, particularly as I will need to work around the appointment. To be fair to Wolfie, he has emailed them, but his laissez-faire attitude to things is frustrating, particularly when I am someone who worries about everything. Indeed, this sense of worry has been exacerbated over the last few weeks and I fear I am starting to frustrate him with my nagging. It's like he is Kevin and I am Pink Wolf from the excellent Awoo comic, whose two main characters I have now ordered plushes of. Exciting times.
