Mea culpa. The Active Amputee has been hibernating. It’s been ten weeks since the last article went live. That feels like a long long time in which this page has been dormant. Similarly my social media accounts have been rather unimpressive (read hardly any new postings and long delays in responding to your questions). And some of you asked me if The Active Amputee had closed it doors and feel silent for good.

The answer is: No! The Active Amputee is still alive and kicking. And from next week onwards I hope to be back to my original schedule of two posts per week, to regular updates on Instagram and co and to one new podcast episode each month.

The last three to four months have been hectic, to say the least. Physically demanding and emotion ally exhausting. For some time we have been contemplating to leave the UK and move on. Most likely to Germany. Try to find a place that is good for us as a family, where the kids feel at home, where my wife and I have the chance to earn a living and where we are close to nature so that I can keep continue with my outdoor lifestyle with - hopefully - plenty of adventures of all forms and sizes. And as with all big steps in my life, things seem to stay in the concept stage for a pretty long time and then - suddenly - things move fast. Very fast, that is. Same this time.

We have been playing around with the idea of moving for some time. Assessed the pros and cons, the mid- and long-term implications, started to list out favorite places to move to and thought about the practicalities of starting from scratch in a new country. And just to test the waters, we had a look at one house that was available for rent - and and were offered the property within 24 hours. So within a few short weeks we registered the kids in new schools, prepared them for the big move, packed our stuff into boxes, become regular visitors to the local recycling centers and charity shops, found a cheap truck rental company, shipped all of our things across the Channel, prepared the house and garden for the handover and finally said goodbye to a place that had been home for the last eight years.

Within 24 hours of arriving in Germany, I was back into the money-earning game. I had managed to bag a few new contracts, right here in the area. Ideal, really, as I could leave the house in the morning together with the kids and was - in many cases - back with nightfall. Great to see that there is a demand here for my skills and expertise. And not just a theoretical demand, but one that translates into new clients.

In order to give these developments the time and energy they deserved, in order to give the kids the attention they deserved to start in a new place, in order to make sure I leave a good impression and satisfied new customers I decided to withdraw from The Active Amputee for the summer months. And while we are still far from having settled in and even further from having established a new routine, I can feel that we are on track back into a less frantic pace. Having pivoted it’s now time to concentrate on The Active Amputee again and provide you with stories full of reliable information, inspiration and opportunities for engagement.