I understand that there is some debate between people from different countries as to whether one should wear outdoor shoes inside. I grew up in a shoes off household as did all of my friends in the UK. I personally find the idea of walking filth from the street into your house quite revolting especially if you have carpets. When I lived in Berlin my feet would be filthy after a walk in flip flops in our relatively clean neighbourhood so imagine how much dirt builds up on shoe soles!

So I had no problem when our first landlords in our Danish apartment stipulated shoes off whilst we lived there. It is the norm in Denmark for both residents and guests to remove their shoes at the door and either go in socked feet, your own slippers or borrowed ones from the host. I hear people, mainly from the US, complaining they are ashamed of their socks or feet. Easy answer – throw out old holey socks or do an at home pedicure. They also argue it feels too intimate but isn’t being invited into someone’s home an act of intimacy? Even tradespeople such as chimney sweeps take off their shoes or put on little plastic covers when entering a Danish home.

There were a few reasons our landlords gave, as perhaps they felt they needed to justify their demand, firstly they had spent a lot of time and money on their beautiful wooden floor and didn’t want scuffs or heel marks. Secondly the sound of shoes on the floor is disturbing to the neighbours below. Finally it is the cultural norm in a country where it is wet or snowy a lot of the year. Although they didn’t say so it’s about respect and also comfort.

I know people argue that as the floors are generally uncarpeted that they are easy to clean. Yes this is true but unless you run around behind people with a mop, there will be a build up of dirt. Danes entertain at home a lot but it’s more about the people, the food and the hygge than image so forget about showing off your Laboutins and get yourself a pair of hyggelig slippers – no one says they need to be boring!

Yesterday this was our view as we enjoyed a warm(ish) walk on the beach near where we live. It was a sunglasses, coat open kind of day and we even saw some brave kids paddling bare-chested in the sea (this was a bit of a stretch as far as I was concerned). We have been wearing winter coats for the last six months and for the last few months it has been sub-zero and snowy. We woke up on the first day of the summer term with more snow coming down and actually settling, in April! My son summed it up this morning when he said that yesterday at the beach was the trailer for the forthcoming Spring. A ‘look what you can win’ glimpse into the future. At least I hope so.

I read somewhere that instead of jokingly asking what is up with the weather, we should actually consider what is happening to the climate and think about actions, big and small, that are impacting on the changes in our climate and those actions we can take to try to make positive change.On another note we had a lovely relaxing Easter break, although I think I indulged more over this holiday than Christmas. My husband loves to cook when he has the time and we enjoyed a homemade beef and ale pie, homemade hot cross buns (which were amazing and as they are something I really miss from the UK, very welcome) and a sous vide leg of lamb, which finally converted me to enjoy this meat. Easter holds a lot less expectation than Christmas and therefore seems much more relaxed. Unless your expectation is that the winter will be over!Anyway, we are into April and hopefully warmer days are ahead. I have been feeling a little disconnected with the city so I have a long list of places to explore and share once it warms up so watch this space. Finally I invite you to join my mailing list, I usually send out a couple of emails a month; one is a newsletter type one with lots of interesting stuff happening around the city, news etc and then the odd one through the month if there is something relevant to share. I don’t use your information for anything other than this purpose and you can, of course, unsubscribe at any time (but as I have said before, hopefully you will find it all useful stuff that you want to see in your inbox).

To subscribe click here and follow the instructions (if it seems a little onerous that is so I can make sure I protect your data), I look forward to welcoming you!

First up I’d like to say that I think the actual content on the Oatly marketing campaign popping up all over Copenhagen (and other European cities) is inspired, eye-catching and disruptive. However my beef is that the adverts are all written in English regardless of which country they are in.Every time I see them (and it is every day at the moment) I feel slightly irritated by the in your face nature of the English language in a country where it is not the first language. I asked on Instagram what people thought about this and the comments were interesting. One person agreed that the blanket use of English in the adverts was lazy but as someone who doesn’t speak a lot of Danish she appreciated being able to understand an advert. It is comforting to see something you understand in a sea of things you don’t but surely the target audience isn’t a minority of people who can’t speak the local language. Others weren’t that bothered and others felt it was incongruous.

I suppose I am playing devil’s advocate somewhat as I’m not Danish. However as someone who moved here almost ten years ago when there was hardly anything written in English  (for example now many websites have the choice of English or Danish this simply didn’t happen then) it forced me (although I was a willing participant) to learn Danish to be able to understand most things. With the move towards more English language materials and also the spoken word, the perceived need to understand Danish as a foreigner is diminishing.

There is a question mark about what this means in the long-term for the Danish language. With freedom of movement in Europe, more and more companies are operating in English to attract talent, which economically is understandable. But at the same time when the choice comes between a Danish speaker (but not necessarily a Dane) and a non Danish speaker the former often gets the job in some companies.

I’d love to hear your thoughts about this especially if you are from Germany or France where these adverts also appear in English. Is it a worrying precedence or doesn’t it matter? Should it be considered inevitable that the languages of smaller countries will become second to a more widely spoken language such as English? Tell me what you think.

Happy New Year!  I hope the holidays have left you refreshed and ready to tackle the new year.2016  in the wider world was something of a tough year but to all those people breathing a sigh of relief that the year is over, we can’t kid ourselves as the decisions made in the US election and Brexit referendum will define the year we are now in even more than they did 2016. I think that for the first time in a long time the events of the world really stressed me, it felt like it was one thing after another last year and very few good. This year I need to try to take a step back and concentrate on what is close to me and what I can have an impact on.

So I’m back after a two week break from this blog however it feels a lot longer. The end of last year was hard for me in many ways and I have neglected this blog somewhat.

I have been lucky enough to be busy with Dejlige Days Welcome and some other PR consultancy work in the last quarter of the year. We also moved from our apartment into a temporary place and then we’ll move again in March to our proper new home. Whilst old hands at moving it is still time consuming and disruptive. I also made the decision to stop taking morphine for my pain and there were certainly a few Trainspotting moments (showing my age here) as I reduced the dose. So 2017 sees me clean of opioids, much more refreshed and ready to take on 2017.

I don’t believe in resolutions but I do believe in goals. It is a coincidence that my health is improving as the date changes but I am now in a position to make further health changes. I am making a green smoothie from this book to have each morning in an attempt to get lots of vitamins and also to stop my habit of a coffee and an apple tart from Andersens in the morning (if you are not trying to be healthy they are amazing and you need them in your life!). I also want to lose a little bit of weight, this is again for health reasons but also vanity. After my accident I put on a fair bit of weight and due to my medications this has been had to shift. I don’t look how I like to and so that will change too. I have been letting little health things slide in the face of a bigger health issue so these will also need to be tackled.

I have been feeling that my creative side needs more of an outlet. I am a big believer in the idea that if you want something no one else is offering then do it yourself. You may know that I am now the organiser for Craftenhagen (check our Facebook page for more info) and we have some fun, informal monthly events planned. However I am extending Craftenhagen to offer more formal taught craft and creative classes in 2017. These will be offered in English. The first one is scheduled for April. If this sounds like something you might be interested in I have a mailing list you can add your name to here.

Finally Dejlige Days Welcome. My relocation service has been growing slowly over 2016 but this year I hope to see it flourish even more. I am dedicating the first quarter of this year to this, promoting my book and my blog. I will have more news about the changes to my packages and also extensions to the current service in the next few weeks. Also be sure to like my Facebook page as I shall be sharing a lot more about news and events in the city there. I am also on Twitter and Instagram (and very active on both) in case you’d like to follow me there too.

So all that leaves me to say is here’s to 2017, treat us kinder than 2016!

When we decided it was time to move to a house, it was a decision I was happy to make and I am looking forward to the changes it will give us. But I do have a soft spot for the kind of Copenhagen apartments we have lived in. I don’t think any have been less than 90 years old and that gives a certain kind of charm. So what is it about them that is special?

High ceilings – I love the high ceilings we have had in all of our apartments. It means that the special pictures, and my stag horns,  can really be seen and enjoyed. It allows the light to really come into the rooms. Although the features on the ceilings such as the rose around the lights are not original they give it a certain vintage charm. Plus you can really go wild with a Christmas tree with high ceilings!

Big windows – it is universally accepted that I am something of a nosy bonk so I like being able to look out and see the world go by. I also love the feeling on a dark winter’s evening of being able to see the warm glow of our neighbours’ windows (as no one seems to bother with curtains) but at the same time I don’t feel that there are eyes watching me as I add to that warm glow in the street.

Wooden floors – Danes love that connection with nature and wooden floors are an example of this. I don’t find having carpetless floors makes the home feel cold, if fact it seems more welcoming and bright because of them.

Tiny bathrooms – this one may seem odd but over the years I have come to like having a small and cosy bathroom. It is the warmest room in our apartment and not a shock to the system in the morning. I am looking forward to, possibly, having a bath in our new home but will miss our miniature bathroom.

The ratio of living to sleeping space – this was something I only realised that I appreciated when we started looking at houses. You spend the most time in your living and dining room and the kitchen and in apartments these spaces take up the larger percentage of the floor space.

Community – now I will admit this is something lacking in our current apartment building and it is something I see as an important element in successful apartment living. In our first apartment building we had a lovely community of kind-hearted and welcoming people, and in our second one the same was true but to a slightly lesser extent. They still had a Christmas tree in the hall downstairs and everyone gathered for the lighting of it complete with gløgg. 

Proximity to life – living in an apartment in Copenhagen means you will most likely live in a busier area and that means life – in the shape of shops, coffee shops and playgrounds. Living in Frederiksberg I loved our local shopping streets and the business owners there. Whilst in the city it was like being part of a village. I haven’t found the same connection in Østerbro.

Drying rooms – a quirk of living in an old apartment is having a drying room in the attic or basement and for some reason these places fill me with pleasure.

Things I don’t love…

I do try and be positive about life but as time has gone on in our present apartment I have found there are frustrations associated with apartment living and I think they are mainly related noise and where we live at the moment.

Noise – I have never lived in an apartment building where I have heard my neighbours as much. I am not sure if it is mainly a practical thing – the acoustics of the old building makes noise carry down walls, the selfish nature of neighbours or simply that I am at home more. As we have less of a community feel in this building I feel less able to say anything about it. But I do moan about hearing Game of Thrones through the floor, the stomping on my upstairs neighbours and general door slamming.

Street outside – we live on a fairly busy road in Østerbro. This is the first time we have lived somewhere with constant traffic noise. As we are on the route to the docks at Nordhavn we have lorries passing by in the early hours of the morning that make the bed shake. We also seem to be on a route for lively inebriated people on a Saturday night who shout, sing and play loud music from boom boxes on cargo bikes. The cars on the road also mean that we have a constant fine black dust settling and it seems that it is a never-ending task to dust (one I am not that diligent about!)

Community – one thing moving to this apartment in Østerbro has made me appreciate is the level of community we have had in other places, even Berlin. I barely see my neighbours and whilst I have forced some to become more than just people who pass with a nod and a brief hej, I am not feeling that there is any level of community. I know that neighbours can change once you move in but if I were to ever move to an apartment again I would want to find out more about the make up of the building. We have too many rental units in our place with people changing on a regular basis and with young people who have no interest in being part of the building. In a way this makes the move to a house on a street a lot easier.

So weighing up both sides of apartment living – it feels that now is the time to move onto something more quiet and private. We have done the apartment living thing and enjoyed it but unless I can capture and relive that time on Bulowsvej in 2008-11, it is time to start a new era of life.