I left the hotel in for the last time today. Except for my flat in Oslo this was the place I had spent most nights the last few years. I have never lived long-term in a hotel before, but I could get used to it. The reason I left was that I had finally gotten the keys to my own apartment, signed the lease, paid the rent. I miss having a reception so that I didn’t have to carry my keys around, the two keys to my door are fine but the key to the entrance door is a huge brass thing that seems more appropriate for ceremonially giving someone the key to the city rather than actually unlocking a door.

Having an apartment on your own adds a sense of freedom, having two is better, but I am really not a home-bound person. Whereever I sleep is where my home is. I use to call a small bag with my laptop, chargers and other work equipment my office, and a slightly larger bag with clothes and toiletries my home. Having your office in one hand, your home in the other, and not really having decided where to go next, that truly adds to your sense of freedom. In that respect I don’t have homes, I have forward bases.

Another definition is whereever my subscription to New Scientist goes is my home. In that respect the Opera headquarters has been my home for the longest time, but not anymore. I have now officially moved to The Wineyards (Vinohrady) district in Prague, in the vicinity of Žižkov, Vršovice, and Strašnice. With the huge Prague cemetaries to the north the neighbourhood itself isn’t among the liveliest, though I can claim living next to the permanent recidency of Franz Kafka for instance, but the communications are great and it is a short walk to the widest variety of what Prague can offer.

The transition into a remote worker isn’t too hard as I haved worked from the beyond before, but there will still be some days before everything is in order. Making it work should be fun.