Set of photographs #6

Commentary from Participant

1. This is my back garden, the nasturtiums are in full bloom. I was really keen to have a garden. But there were so many stones. I had to use a pickaxe. The birds love the garden.

2. This is Sweet Pea. We have some trees in our garden and beyond. It makes the garden look bigger.

3. Here are some pots, I have planted with varying success. In the picture you can see also walking sticks, binoculars and boots. I try to go hillwalking. I come from Berlin and it is relatively flat. I love hiking and walking, often with a group of people.

4. I live at the edge of a village. This is a raspberry bush in the back garden. I also have blackcurrants and vegetables. The blackbirds ate all the blackcurrants last year.

5. We have velux windows which makes the house lovely and bright.

6. These are runner beans, growing on a frame we have made.

7, 8. This is a pond near us and then Camlough Lake. Nowadays, it is very busy, people training or cold water swimming.

9. Cherry tomatoes, they have to grow in a greenhouse as it is too cold and there is not enough sun.

10, 11 This is the EU settlement scheme form. We have had to do this since Brexit. I did not feel like a foreigner until that. Now, I have to apply to be in my home of over 20 years.

12. This is the view from Kilbroney - you can see Carlingford Lough [in the Republic of Ireland]. I love the sea, it is mesmerising.

13. The garden.

14, 15 This is Carlingford Lough again, looking southwards.

16. This is a beautiful mountain called Slieve Gullion in south Armagh. [It is part of a little range of mountains called the Ring of Gullion and is designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.]

Participant #12, ‘I agree about the driving. I sometimes take advantage of what is different, for example, using the filter lanes'.

'Everyone here is very close. I remember being invited for dinner, and then we went for a ride – from Ballymena to Donegal'.

‘I am with Participant #6 on settled status. It speeded up my decision to apply for British citizenship'.

Participant #6, ‘It was like somebody had kicked me in the backside.’

Participant #18, ‘I agree with Participant #13. In Italy, driving is more chaotic. My mother found the driving attitudes here strange.

I have been through the settled status process, and I realised how lucky I was to be European and to be able to move freely, able to travel the world with no need for a visa. It is much harder now to travel round the world. I am trying to teach my kids to value these freedoms.

When I requested British citizenship, it took about 6 months. In Italy it can take much longer, you can be in a limbo, not knowing how long it will take.’

Participant #9, ‘I agree about the traffic, but I think nowadays, people are more impatient than they used to be. And if you walk here, people will nod and say hello.’

Participant #12, ‘ I used to live in Dunmurry and I would be one of Participant #13’s customers.’