This update has taken about ten months longer to write than I thought it might.
Life has been a tad hectic this year but, though it doesn’t promise to slow down in any way, things have at least hit a certain stride. There is a skeleton of a pattern to most days now, meaning I can start to see how I might scratch out a little more time to share a few updates here.
In January 2024, we moved into our new home in a village on the Black Isle, in the Highlands of Scotland. Though we’ve covered most of the length of the UK between us over the years (well, Kent to the Mainland of Orkney, at any rate), this time we only moved a few handfuls of miles from the other side of Inverness.
The house is going to be a work in progress for some time. A “many-year project”, as I describe it to friends. But it already feels like home.
The first month was a challenge, moving into our house in the middle of winter, only to find the central heating didn’t work. We lived out of a single room, heated by electric radiators. When we needed to dash to the kitchen to get something to eat, we could see our breath in front of us by the time we got there. We picked up the keys on Auri’s fifth birthday, and Elfi had only turned one year old the month before.
There were (and continue to be) other less than great surprises. I’m sure I’ll mention them over the months that follow. But at no point – and perhaps this reflects more my underlying optimism than the reality of the move – did we regret moving. We love our new home, and we are enjoying bringing her back to life after a few years of being unloved.
I’m hoping to share some updates here a couple of times a month. After taking a step back from social media and whatnot in recent years and archiving a lot, I have now decided where and when I want to be (digitally, and for now at least). The easiest way of finding me elsewhere is by checking out my Inventory or signing up for my newsletter ((re)launching later this month.
