A new job, a new house, a new local supermarket, a new hockey club: it’s remarkable how easy one gets into a new routine. At least, in my case. I would say that my new life in Edinburgh is full on. Except for an uninvited mouse pet, I think it is fair to say that I have hit the ground running.

I say running, but I am more into cycling here. That in itself is not worth mentioning, unless put into context. My friend in Australia told me once that cycling in Melbourne is like risking your life every single day. Cars not being mindful about cyclists and bad cycle paths throughout the city. Well, I can tell you now from experience that cycling in Edinburgh is equally dangerous.

Cycling culture

There is no way of sugar-coating this. First of all, my bike has the thickest set of wheels, just to cope with the endless patched up road bits and cobbled areas. The badly paved paths, if there are any, are particularly narrow and often treacherous to use. Second, there is really no way of knowing where to go by bike and how to share the road. It’s should therefore come to no surprise that cyclists annoy either pedestrians, car drivers or bus and taxi drivers. Cyclists are considered a plague. A shame really, when all cyclists do is reduce traffic jams.

So, to sum up: cycling here is a hazard. I am even considering getting a helmet. That alone should say it all.

But I do cycle. Despite the many ventures. It took me a few weeks to figure out the best way to cycle to the University campus. The shortest route is a beautiful bike trail along the river canal. Unfortunately, also the most challenging route. There are no banisters to protect you from the waterside and paths hardly allow two-way cycle traffic to go through the many bridges and viaducts along the way. As a result, confrontation is constantly close beneath the surface.

Up close and personal

As a newbie, it is important to blend in with new culture. To familiarise yourself with all possible demographics in the city. Something I take to heart. My second week in, I crashed into a M.A.M.I.L. on my way to work. M.A.M.I.L. is considered a very dangerous species in the city and stands for Middle Age Man In Lycra. The M.A.M.I.L.s have no sense of caution, like their speed and are often geared in a fashionable bright yellow Jersey bib. Due to the crash, I fell down on the pavement. When it happened, I was mostly worried about my new bike. Fortunately, the bike was fine, I had a few minor bruises and I didn’t fall into the ‘juice’. It could have been worse. This time I was lucky.

This incident did however confirm I was in need of another route. I am happy to say that I found one. The only hazards being wind and rain (‘een echte polderweg’ as the Dutch would say). Wind and rain are both elements to control and therefore good enough for me.

Political chat

On one of my first days at work I received a digital ‘Hello to Yoni *wave*’. Is it me, or is British humour just the best? It suits me well, that’s for sure. I already knew that, but nice to have it confirmed. The other day I caught two people chatting about work in the bathroom. One of them was actually standing in the toilet booth itself. I smiled at them because of the remarkable setting chosen for this particular chat. In response to that one said: “There is nothing like toilet politics”.

Linguistic foodie

I am sure I will come back to this in future blogs, but the English language is fascinating. Absolutely delightful. I daily catch on new words and phrases. I have found, yet again, that there can be multiple words for the same thing, with a very delicate difference between one another. It is a very clever language and this ‘linguistic foodie’ is happy to be here. Although, I am not yet fully adapted to hockey lingo on the pitch. And there is nothing like swearing in thy own language (no matter the context…).

So, with my life in order here, I guess the honeymoon is over. This calls for a celebration. What better way to do that than to enjoy a family weekend back home sometime next week? My thoughts exactly 😊