I went into my office for the first time in 18 months. The university set up a mandatory ‘return to work’ Moodle course last summer, but the requirement to work from home was only lifted on 1 September. It was a warm, sunny day, possibly the last warm, sunny day…
Category: Blog
The flag in the window
When I first arrived in Glasgow in the summer of 2017 – an unusually hot summer for Scotland – I spent my lunch breaks wandering the streets around the university department where I now worked. Transplanted from rural Australia to lodgings in north London to an ex-council flat in Maryhill…
The in-between space
The trains are getting busier, another sign of ‘normal’ life resuming. Since January, I’ve been catching an off-peak train from Glasgow to Edinburgh on Fridays to see Bear. Back in winter, I sometimes had a carriage to myself. Now, every table is occupied by a single person, a couple or…
Walking with strangers
When I moved to Sheffield to do a PhD, I didn’t know a single person in the city. Even my supervisor was a stranger. On the very first weekend, before I could lose my nerve, I signed on for a walk with the local Ramblers group. There were no logistical…