Life // A room with a view

Summer has arrived in our side of Europe this week, and I've been suffering with it. I've been reading a lot again lately which has been enjoyable. Today I started Letters from Egypt by Lucie Duff Gordon and in the blazing heat I was a bit baffled by the notion that everyone thought her health would improve if she just spent more time in more tropical surroundings. I'm not sure if it did that much for her because she did kick the bucket in a rather untimely manner but maybe there is a point in it for some? I think I would probably die on the spot mere seconds after having left the airplane. 

Aside from that today I also finished The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie. I had wanted to read this after having finished a lovely biography about Agatha and I did feel the need to continue with her for a little while longer. Those vintage pockets are just lovely, very snappy reads. Actually I did feel the need to go for another pocket of hers after but I decided on Lucie after all. I've been dying to start in one of my fair few books of letter collections, reading correspondence is so fascinating. 

I was just speaking to a friend of mine from Nafplio (Greece) and I told him about Gerald Durrell, he was a naturalist who spent his childhood in Corfu in the 1930s. As a child I've been to Corfu as well, and it was just the most gorgeous island. Now that I am typing this I realize that when I was at my parents house this afternoon I should have taken a look at our photographs from that holiday. Perhaps next week! Anyway my friend will look into Gerald, he had never heard of him before.

The point of that was actually that I also have a lovely book with letters from Gerald to Henry Miller. The cover is rather unusual though so I think I will not be reading that book in public.

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The point of the title was something entirely different though, but it came across my mind several times as I was reading in the comfy velvet chair that I have in front of my bedroom window. I've just been enjoying my room so much lately, and I'm concerned about the future. So far in my life I've been rather lucky and I've always been able to enjoy homes with a view.

In my parents home my bedroom looked out over the garden and over the typical canal with some house boats there as well. In my next home the living room also looked out over a rather large canal, and I was able to see real boats. At night in the winter from the balcony you could see the trains going towards our central station as well. It was just the most lovely feeling.

And currently, it is just the best. My bedroom is rather long and thin but at the back I have windows that go from the ceiling to the window. I have a lovely French balcony which I decorated with fairy lights and two hanging baskets for plants. I am afraid the plants are dead right now, murdered brutally by the sudden summer. Soon there will be something alive in there again though.

The view itself is of the side of a church, you can see the lovely multipaneled roof and the brickwork which is just so nice. In between the church and my building there is also a courtyard, it's one floor lower than my bedroom. I love looking out over it and seeing my neighbors pottering around. I was just chatting with one of them yesterday whilst I was taking out some disposables, and I've understood we are getting a new tenant there too.

An apartment below me on the left side was recently freed up as the previous tenant was moved to a care home after she had tried to set fire to her stove, that was a very exciting evening. The courtyard smelled like burned chickpeas for a few days. Anyway she is happy in the home now, and I've understood a lovely retired Middle Eastern man will be moving in. He's supposed to be very nice so I am looking forward to meeting him.

Anyway I'm just concerned, what will be view of my next home be like? I wouldn't want it to be disappointing because I'm just not used to that. I want to see something lovely, something green. I'd love to have a garden but who wouldn't? In the city that's a wild dream though, but I'd love just a little patch of grass for my cat. I am sure she would love it. 

I think that was it for now though because I'd like to get back into Letters From Egypt.

-Lily

Life // Start again

It's been a while! Though I can gladly say that it's been a positive few months for me, in which I found my routine again. In the last post we had just welcomed in the new year and I was still a little unsure of what the future would hold for me. At that time I did already know that I had a few job interviews lined up but I didn't know that the very first application I made would be the one. Even through out December I breezed though their process, and I had the final interview in the middle of January.

Visiting the office for that interview was like a dream. A bit of a weird dream I suppose, realistically speaking I don't really dream of laboring under the machine. But I think I wanted to try my hand at finding a position that suited me a little better, and I found the entire office to be very relaxing. There is a lot of light inside, and a great many plants. There are lots of appealing shapes, the building is round so there are a lot of curves which add a lot of charm to the building.

And the office itself was filled with their products, and just fascinating characters. I felt like it would really suit me, so I felt a bit off after the interview. Up until that point I had thought well if it doesn't work out I'll go for the next one but on the way home I did think, well I really want it now? Thankfully the next day I received the call that I was hired! It was just a very liberating moment, I did not expect to have something new that fast.

I've been enjoying myself ever since. The training started on the 1st of February and it was a joy! Really funny trainers, and the material was easy to understand. Once I met the team I felt comfortable as well since it was such a diverse bunch of people. I've been really enjoying the work as well, it is still customer service work but since it's essentially for a beauty brand it's much more relaxing. I also have the chance to really chat with them about the products, so it's not just resolving problems! 

Overall, it's just been wonderful. I've had a few meetings with my manager and with mentors who all indicate my numbers are excellent so I'm really happy with this. I feel like the pace is so easy going, or maybe my last job was just hellish? Nobody knows, but I am very relaxed everyday! 

Aside from this not much has happened I suppose! I've obviously cut down a bit on my reading but I do hope to pick it back up because I'd love to finally get through Wuthering Heights. I'm also still hard at work on finishing the full Father Brown stories but god they're so dull. The person who turned that hellscape into a cosy and cute television series should receive all the awards. 

And next month The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman should arrive in paperback form. I haven't read it yet, as I only have the paperback versions and I didn't want to get an odd one out. So next month I can finally get my hands on that. In the mean time I've been soothing myself with the idea that by the time I am done he'll be at least seventyfive percent through to the next one! Although I can imagine I'll finish it in a handful of days like the others...

- Lily

Life // Joyful New Year!

I thought it would be nice to write a new post on the first day of this fresh new year. I hope everyone (Who is reading this?) had a really nice transition into 2026. Well I guess none of us really noticed it that much because time has been a bit of an illusion since 2020 hasn't it? I am hopeful that 2026 can be a really nice year for a change, that would be great.

The entire past year wasn't really the best one for me, although I can't say I noticed it that much while I was going through it. The first half of the year was marked by an ever increasing workload at the office with a project manager who'd be better of working with numbers than people. It was also plagued by the ever present gloom of a reorganization, which unfortunately took my job from me at the beginning of August.

It's a fairly bitter end to a eleven year career but I am trying to see it in a positive light. After having worked in one place for such a long time it feels natural to become a bit stuck but also to become unhappy with the changes in the company. Yet I don't know if I could have made the decision to leave on my own? I guess I couldn't since I didn't.

I received a few months of garden leave, and now I have been officially unemployed since the first of December and 'enjoying' my time in unemployment benefits. However I am in the final stages of a really interesting job application so it would be nice if that could work out.

It's weird to think in 2026 I will be essentially starting over and becoming the new one again. It'll be weird to have to think so hard about everything again when I was so comfortable in my knowledge before. It will be a real change but maybe it will be a good one? A change of scenery is always good right?

Aside from finding my way into a new job I don't have any incredibly clear New Years resolutions because in a way I find that they're a bit stressful. I'd like to spend more time in nature and pay more attention to my diet. Perhaps spend a little bit more time rummaging around in bins for vinyl treasure too.

So, here is to a hopeful 2026! 

- Lily

Life // Rainy days

Fall has well and truly arrived here now and for the past week it has greeted us thoroughly by providing day after day of rain. The change has been a bit sudden so it's been difficult to adjust. Just last week I had been saying to friends that having such nice weather in November wasn't right but this sudden switch has been a lot to deal with. It came together with gloomy skies, flurries of wind and lots of damp leaves.

At some point I went for a walk in the park, maybe not the brightest idea. I had taken a turn left after going down a little hill and found myself staring at a newly created miniature lake blocking the sandy path going forward. On the side of it there was a mixture of what I can only describe as partially grass, partially marsh land and a lot of mud. Thankfully with my sturdy boots I managed to slowly make my way around the water and managed to tread on ahead.

As I went on I passed a very neatly dressed man in sparkly white sneakers. So as one does once I was a little further ahead I pretended to take a few photos of the trees on the side so I could sneak a peek to see what he decided to do. In the end he decided not to double cross his shoes and he turned around. I would have done the same if my shoes hadn't been on what is very likely their last winter..

And today I did briefly brave the weather in order to go to the local chain of a second hand store. I had wanted to see if they had some Midsomer Murders dvds for a good price. Unfortunately they did not have any at the moment. There is another branch all the way behind the park but at the moment I am not sure if I want to make the journey there in this weather. It's perfectly alright in the spring and summer.

Anyway, my intention is to collect Midsomer Murders at the very least up until season 13. I do find it visually annoying that all of the boxes are different sizes and that seasons are occasionally split up but I will find my own solution to that. 

For now a nice cup of tea and a slice of lemon cake will suffice to cheer me up and I'll figure out if I'd like to do anything else today. 

* As a little edit, I did end up going to the second branch of the second hand store but unfortunately there was nothing there that I wanted to take home with me. Maybe next time.

- Lily

- Anytime it's gloomy and rainy I am mentally transported to Victorian England for some reason -

Life // Come, tell me how you live

I had wanted to write a new post yesterday as I had some things in my mind that I thought would be fun to share but unfortunately I really don't remember what those things were. They were things that I did think of while I was trying to finish my most recent book. You know you always get to a point in books where you have to push yourself a little bit to get through to the end, even if you are having a good time.

And I was reading a collection of short stories. You'd think that those would be reasonably easy to get through but personally I always find that they are the most difficult. It's not within the reach of every single writer to be able to jot down an attractive -and- convincing story in that time while also trying to make you care about the characters (Who are, due to the medium, all introduced terribly fast). Thankfully this was a series of short stories written by Agatha Christie.

She is rather marvelous isn't she? I have to say it's been a while since I feel like I can say that I actually enjoyed most of the stories in a collection. This time I went through the 'Miss Marple Mystery: Over 50 stories' collection. A few years ago I had already read the Hercule Poirot version of that collection, and although I don't really remember it I have to say it was probably even better than this one! I do love Poirot as a character, probably more than Miss Marple. But they'd both be lovely to have as friends.

Anyway, I did finally finish it. It wasn't as much of a chore as I make it out to be, but when a book is over six hundred pages after a while you do think that it would be nice to move on. After all, I have a bookcase full of books that still need to be read.

In the same series as this collection there is also another one that collects short stories from all other characters that have popped up in her stories. But I'm not quite ready to delve into another large collection right now, I need a few shorter books to settle the brain again. Just a few minutes before opening the editor to write all of this down I picked up 'Come, Tell Me How You Live' which is noted to be an archeological memoir writing by Agatha Christie herself. I think it should be interesting.

I've got a fair amount of books summarizing travels from lady adventures though. I think most of them are filled with their own writings on the topic. It's something that interests me wildly. Personally I don't really enjoy leaving my city but I sure do really enjoy reading what some random lady was doing on a boat on the Orinoco back in 1860. Half of that sentence is a reference to something Captain Hastings said, I am sure someone will get it.

Well the weather for reading is coming along nicely now. I've understood from some close friends that the warm weather is over and that winter is going to slap us across the face soon. I'm not super enthusiastic about that but I had been thinking that it was awfully warm for the middle of November. I'll have to make sure that my winter wardrobe is up to scratch, otherwise I may have a few less toes next summer.

- Lily

- Somewhat related, it is the Greenway Estate where Christie herself lived. The screenshot is from the Hercule Poirot episode 'Dead Mans Folly' which was filmed on location! -