My brother asked me the other day if I still had a blog. Yes, I said, but I haven’t updated it in ages. Probably high time I got around to doing so.

What exactly have I been up to for the last five months, you ask? For a couple of those months, I was hard stuck in to my dissertation. In taking it down to Birmingham for submission, I caught a really terrible case of the flu, then spent the rest of November submitting my residency request. My husband broke his finger and the weather was terrible, so that was most of December…and January, well, I’ve been looking for work, now that I do have my leave to remain and permission to work full-time.

I think I’m still a bit in winter mode, like Glasgow’s Buchanan Street. Despite periods of gorgeous weather in January, the Christmas lights there are still up. It makes for a pretty sight in the evening, but when there’ve been days of spring-like wonder, you sort of get past that stage and into a different mindset.

That, and the fact that I’m still trying to find my way, here in Glasgow. Settled in, yes, perfectly sorted, no.

Anyway, none of these things make for particularly interesting blog posts, more for pithy updates on Twitter. That doesn’t really prove to anyone that Paige Can Write, and that Paige Has Interesting Things To Say. But I can and I do.

So yes, hello. Hello from the near-top of the world. The days are getting longer and the weather is getting warmer. May that bode well for me and for you.