The Colour Grey

Has been the main shade of Denmark this past week or so. A few days of warmer weather (the heady heights of 6degC) has meant that a lot of the snow has melted away, exposing the layers of rubbish that had been gradually buried underneath. An army of litter pickers seemed out in force this morning, can't have it grey and dirty, that would make me homesick! I kind of miss the white, it made the days seem somewhat brighter, not that I think winter is by any means finished with us yet.


I had a good wander around the various side roads of the main shopping street Strøget this morning, many of which are more interesting than Strøget itself, I prefer Strædet which runs parallel, it's more original and there aren't many big chains, plus the street itself is more picturesque. I had intended to take a few pictures but the light was so rubbish, so you will have to settle with a picture of my brunch at Lakagehuset back on Strøget, fresh orange juice, bread and cheese, coffee and Danish pastry for 55DK (£6ish) a relative bargain by Copenhagen standards. I know I went against my usual rule of not eating Danish pastries unless I am with one of our guests. Needless to say I haven't quite started that diet yet, and it's probably their fault that I need to go on one anyway...

Things are really quiet at the moment, hence the lack of excitement in this post, and I for one am happy about that. It was so hectic last year, and these calm weeks ahead are just what we what the doctor ordered. We are also being much stricter about guests this year, as as much as it was nice to see people, having constant visitors can be quite exhausting! I have also decided to give up a voluntary post that took up quite a bit of time. This wasn't for a charitable cause, so nothing to feel guilty about, and I am looking forward to having slightly more time to myself, I think I am going through a selfish phase...

Anyway, I will leave you with this, spring's not that far off...see?

Being Put To Good Use

Back to school after the Easter Holidays and the weather is getting better. We have spent quite a lot of time outdoors over the last couple of weeks, and you can really notice the garden still gradually "waking up"... lots of bulbs coming up and blossom trees starting to show us what colour they are! I love the fact that the garden turns into an extra room in the warmer months, and the kids drastically spend more time outside. I think we also win the award for the most barbeque's so far in our neighbourhood this year, will just put it down to an over-excited husband wanting to break out the Webber because "it's not raining" but really wanting to try out his new gadget rotisserie thing... the neighbours also definitely know we are English now!!...

We are planning a last minute trip to the UK to see the baby, and to spend time with family members who are celebrating birthdays, April is a very busy birthday month for us!.. Will be back soon x

Waking Up...

Today was so gorgeous, it really really felt like spring for the first time this year! It was so warm that we didn't even need jumpers outside, and much to my son's joy, the sandpit was given it's first airing of the year (we couldn't open the lid before with about a foot of snow on it!)! He spotted an early mumblebee(!) and quite a few butterflies who are beginning to wake up and make an appearance after the long winter. It's now quite hard to believe we endured so many weeks of snow! Note our dead looking grass on the pictures, luckily the whole lawn doesn't look like this and hopefully it won't take long for this to recover! The departed snow has also revealed all sorts of things we had forgotton about, hula hoops, balls and strangely lots of firework cases from New Years Eve, not ours though, that night was far too cold to be stood outside letting off fireworks, instead we enjoyed the lavish displays of our neighbours! It seems that the Danes believe that no-one is more important than anyone else, except when it comes to fireworks, then it's time to try and out-do each other! It made Divali and Guy Fawkes night displays in South London look quite tame!

On a separate note, I had a nice suprise waiting for me when I got in this afternoon, as my lovely Danish friend and neighbour had left me some tea from Perch's as a little gift, a Kenyan black tea and Pouchin tea, which I first had at her house. It's a really lovely perfumed tea the scent of which reminds me of my grandparents house for some reason. It was really kind of her, tea for an English girl - the perfect gift! I am planning on taking my Mother-in-law to Perch's when she visits later in the summer, a trip to La Glace will also be in order I think! In fact I might take every visitor we have there, then there may be a chance that I can try a slice of every single cake that they do before our time is up here!

It's the first day of the Easter holiday for my daughter tomorrow, two weeks of weather like today's would be incredible, but I am not holding my breath! Looking forward to two weeks of late starts though, no early morning panics to get out of the house on time and no lunchboxes to make...and relax... as much as you can with two small children!

6 Months

Today, we have been here exactly 6 months. I can't quite believe it to be honest. In some ways it feels like we have been here much longer than that, but in others it only feels like we have been here a couple of months. I believe that we have settled in well, after the initial hell of my daughter hating school, she looks forward to it now (wonder how long that will last, if she's anything like me, not much beyond the age of ten I expect!). My husband is enjoying work, he's really busy and enjoying the challenge of working in a foreign environment. He has a natural talent for languages and can speak quite a lot of Danish already which is great and very helpful!! I have made new friends and pushed myself to do things out of my comfort zone, such as the driving etc. My three year old is still waiting for a nursery place, so for the time being we are enjoying each other's company with frequent trips to places like the Squarium Tarium and the library to keep us occupied! He has to accompany me to various school meetings and the like from time to time but I can usually blackmail him with a cup of milk and a croissant or a danish pastry! I can usually be blackmailed with a Danish Pastry come to think of it!

After an incredibly long winter (it snowed again briefly on Tuesday!), the promise of spring is definitely in the air, which is so nice! Where the snow is beginning to ebb away on the lawn, small yellow anemone type flowers are beginning to appear and I spotted catkins today too! The red squirrels are back too, they are a real novelty for us, we only have mangy old grey ones in London... Speaking of London, I do miss it, I really do, I miss having that familiarity and the ease of knowing a place inside out. We are getting there though with Copenhagen, and by the time we leave, I am sure we will know it really well, it's not that big after all! Of course, I also really miss my family, especially as my sister is about to have a baby any day now. I am going to attempt to do a mad-dash back to be with her, flights depending of course, I really hope this will be possible, with BA about to go on strike it might not be as easy as I had originally hoped. We will see what this week brings. Let's also see what the next six months bring! x