29/365

We went to Potsdam on Saturday. It was really lovely, but very cold. We will return when it's warmer and greener, and I imagine that the gardens round Sansoucci Palace will be beautiful.

28/365

An afternoon nap perched on the end of the sofa. Precariously.

27/365

Which school of architecture is this then? I'm struggling with why someone would want to create a building that looks like an ugly part of a municipal swimming pool. I've walked past this building a lot in the 7 months I've been here, and weirdly, it's growing on me. I'm quite taken by the angled windows on the side, and at night you can see in the windows and some of the apartments look pretty nice.

26/365

I saw this run down hotel on the way to the doctors today to pick up my prescription. It's just off the Ku'damm and had that lovely run down neon signage and door details from decades past.

25/365

The beauty of U-Bahn stations. A delightful palette of acid yellow and orange.

24/365

Visual response to being told you can only have yoghurt after dinner when what you've asked for is ice-cream.

23/365

Post-dinner happiness (for once)

22/365

I ran out of time and inspiration yesterday for my 365. I went out with Stevie and the kids and we had some late afternoon drinks in the top floor bar in the KaDeWe while the kids had a play in the creche, and it was lovely, and lit really nicely and we were sat right at the central atrium where you could look down and see all 6 floors and look across and see the people going up and down in the glass lifts. Lots of opportunities for some nice photos, but I forgot my camera.

I only remembered I hadn't taken a photo at around 10:30pm, and had no inspiration. Stevie suggested I photograph my bookshelves which are "always interesting". I am sure there are some other ways of describing them, but thankfully he was too tired.

21/365

I'm getting back into my illustration groove. It's long overdue and I'd forgotten how relaxing I find it - as long as there aren't constant 2-minutely interruptions from the kids.

20/365

Portrait of the photographer as a commuter. That's me in the white jacket. I only noticed these screens the other day and wondered whether it would be possible to catch myself on them. Ta da!

19/365

I have a use for one of my 'pieces' (if you will) from my pottery class. It's now being used as a toothpaste holder. Perfect.

18/365

I really like this building. It's 1960's social housing and it's really run down but there are lots of interesting aspects to it.

17/365

Saw some postcards outside an old shop today. They looked like they had been on sale since before the Wall came down.

16/365

Dinner time. Casual dress required. Especially if you keep spilling your food and have to keep removing clothes.

15/365

Yesterday I did nothing. And it was really nice. I read next months book group book pretty much in one long session. 'The Kite Runner' - it's great. Didn't even have time to post. Lovely!

14/365

Before bed. after bed. It's still not a perfect tidy up.

13/365

Fehrbelliner Platz U-Bahn station. Sneaking photos of moving people.

12/365

I ran out of time yesterday to upload, but here it is: my unhappy boy at Kita, waiting on his sister.

11/365

This could be the last shot from my Canon A95. I really liked that camera but something has gone wrong since yesterday. Every photo I took today has either bled (like the portion with the number 33 in it) or the colour has gone a bit funny (the doors are grey, not purpley violet). Schade!

10/365

First day back at German school, it wasn't as horrific as I thought it would be. I really love the railings around the escalators in Fehrbelliner Platz u-bahn, even if they are covered in a million coats of funny green paint.

9/365

We went to the Deutsches Technikmuseum today. That's the one with the plane hanging off the front of the building. We didn't make it round the whole museum as the kids decided they really had to leave and get some cake. But what we did see was excellent; I just have no desire to photograph trains and boats. This is more me.

8/365

Makes you realise you need a wig.

7/365

It's a hard day to take photos. Everything outside is so dull and grey and I'm not getting out much anyway with Hamish still feeling so tired. I took him to the Lego shop for a look around and saw this: the night the wall came down done in Lego. How clever. Dreadful photo though.

6/365

A familiar sight: This is "our" shopping trolley. The Germans are so good at removing leaves in Autumn and snow in Winter as soon as they land (practically). But noone seems to want to take away this shopping trolley that has stood in a number of locations outside our nearest U-Bahn station. 7 months. The kids have decided it's "ours" now. I'm thrilled. It's just the kind of souvenir I wanted to take back to the UK at the end of our 2 year stay here.

5/365

Our Christmas in Scotland finally arrived back in Berlin. All 60kg of it. There was an even split between toys and half price kids clothes and some books and DVD's thrown in for good measure. I wish I had stuffed in some food items as well, Hamish's shortbread addiction is going to have to go cold turkey in a few days time. The kids and I were all over the moon to receive them. Perhaps me especially, as I've been tracking their progress on the internet in a slightly obsessive manner wondering how it can only take a couple of hours to get from the UK by road to Frankfurt, but 12 hours to get from being loaded on a delivery vehicle in Berlin to my apartment in Berlin.

4/365

Stuck in the house today I started playing around with tilt-shift photography effects. I practised with a shot that I took in the summer when we first moved to Berlin and were living 11 floors up in an apartment in Mitte.

Then I got to wondering whether it would work on images of things that were already minature. I tried it out with the Playmobil Zoo, but it's not really doing it for me.

3/365

Just another sick day: my throat aches, the kids feel rough, Calpol & Nurofen are the drugs of choice. And on top of that I'm clearing out cupboards. What I wouldn't do for a copy of 'heat', a babysitter, and my bed. Aaahhh!

2/365

The aftermath: Today was our first day out of the house since New Years' Eve. The streets are a mess of used fireworks everywhere you go. I read that it's a German tradition to set off fireworks outside of your building and wish your neighbours a happy new year while drinking champagne or sekt. From what I've heard the west of Berlin never has anywhere near as much fireworks going off as the east, so I can only imagine what the streets there look like. A friend told us that the streets will be littered with this debris for a few days and then all of a sudden it'll all be gone. I hope they take the snow and slush away too.

1/365

January the 1st: We're all a little bit tired. Something tells me those little chubby baby fingers will have turned into proper big boy hands by the end of this year.