Been back in this town for a little over a week now, and nothing has happened……absolutely nothing!
I haven’t even been to Ikea in nearly two weeks, but then again as the flat no longer really resembles what we moved into in terms of décor may be I don’t need to pop down there for a while..although I’m not 100% sure on that – may have to make my task for tomorrow morning a thorough review of the catalogue. (That’s an hour knocked off my day)
So let’s see the highlight of the last week… sharing a rotisserie chicken with my husband with a beer that he had bought from the garage just a five minute walk away (false dawn there – no way would the Swiss so openly condone drink-driving, and yes my husband needs more French lessons, sans alcool, means just that no-alcohol!!) But to be fair the chicken was amazingly good and a treat to have so much meat in one meal….and hey isn’t it good not to get a hangover after sharing a case of beer??
I was browsing the local paper the other morning (yes another attempt to put off the pile of ironing that I have now moved into the living room in an attempt to goad myself into switching the iron on) when I spotted a job advertisement that blew me away.
There is a small property firm in Geneva on the look out for a bi-lingual secretary…not all that exciting you may be thinking, and then I read on, they want a very particular type of person to apply for the job. And guess what she must be between the ages of 40 and 50 – you’d never get away with that in the UK now would you? What about all those bi-lingual men with great audio typing skills who are just desperate to work in and estate agency in Geneva and who just happen to have turned 52 last birthday?
Probably not committing Hari-Kari with a swiss army knife it would seem….a helpful site all about swiss army knives specifically points out that you shouldn’t “use Swiss Army Knives to hurt people. It’s illegal and highly antisocial to do so and the blade would probably break too.” So there you go perhaps why the Swiss decided not to get involved in conflicts…armed with knives that break when you try to hurt someone with them, would you?
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
Thursday, September 15, 2005
If there's red meat on the menu, don't think twice, just eat it!!
There is something strange going on here.....I haven't seen a cow in a field once since arriving in switzerland. Where are the purple milka cows? And are they the cause of the cost of red meat being so high? Are they high maintenance cows? Does the cost of their feed really have to be passed on to the poor unsuspecting consumer?
I write this looking at a recent supermarket receipt, bear in mind that the exchange rate means you get approximatley 2 Swiss Francs to the Pound, but since when did a small (and I mean really small) steak cost you £5 ?? My receipt clearly states that a steak cost me just that a whole SFr 10.75!
And then whilst we're on the subject - you know those baby sweetcorn things that are so popular in stir-fries and thai curries, well you'd not pay more than £2 a pack in the UK - but then I don't believe that Tesco import them from Thailand as my local supermarket in Switzerland feel it necessary to do!
Oh and this country so hyped up on its ability to recycle just about anything has the cheek to make you pay for easy to recycle paper bags, but you can have as many of the plastic enviroment choking ones as you like free of charge....please who makes up the policies??
But back to meat.....its ludicrous that in this day and age that meat should be such a rare treat! And thinking on this some more, I now know why the restaurant we went to at the weekend keep back half of your meal and serve it to you as a second helping - its portion and cost control gone mad, conditioning you to think that you're getting a lot of red meat - but you're not! They're busy trying to pull the wool over the consumers eyes again! Where's Anne Robinson when you need her?
Oh yes I know...she's on the Weakest Link on BBC Prime - but they only bought one weeks worth of programming - I know all the answers to that week now that I have seen it twice!
But I'm sure she'd have something to say about the diminutive chickens and dwarf lamb chops that are display in the supermarkets here! How can a nation be so diametrically opposed to its neighbour France, where vegetarianism is regarded with deep scepticism and vegetables served up, tied in neat meat-secured bundles?
Can someone send me steak parcels? I'm ok I take multi-vitamins so that should ensure that I don't become too pale and Swiss looking, and my husband was sent to work with the line ..."whatever you do if there is red meat on the menu, don't think twice, just eat it!" ringing in his ears.
I write this looking at a recent supermarket receipt, bear in mind that the exchange rate means you get approximatley 2 Swiss Francs to the Pound, but since when did a small (and I mean really small) steak cost you £5 ?? My receipt clearly states that a steak cost me just that a whole SFr 10.75!
And then whilst we're on the subject - you know those baby sweetcorn things that are so popular in stir-fries and thai curries, well you'd not pay more than £2 a pack in the UK - but then I don't believe that Tesco import them from Thailand as my local supermarket in Switzerland feel it necessary to do!
Oh and this country so hyped up on its ability to recycle just about anything has the cheek to make you pay for easy to recycle paper bags, but you can have as many of the plastic enviroment choking ones as you like free of charge....please who makes up the policies??
But back to meat.....its ludicrous that in this day and age that meat should be such a rare treat! And thinking on this some more, I now know why the restaurant we went to at the weekend keep back half of your meal and serve it to you as a second helping - its portion and cost control gone mad, conditioning you to think that you're getting a lot of red meat - but you're not! They're busy trying to pull the wool over the consumers eyes again! Where's Anne Robinson when you need her?
Oh yes I know...she's on the Weakest Link on BBC Prime - but they only bought one weeks worth of programming - I know all the answers to that week now that I have seen it twice!
But I'm sure she'd have something to say about the diminutive chickens and dwarf lamb chops that are display in the supermarkets here! How can a nation be so diametrically opposed to its neighbour France, where vegetarianism is regarded with deep scepticism and vegetables served up, tied in neat meat-secured bundles?
Can someone send me steak parcels? I'm ok I take multi-vitamins so that should ensure that I don't become too pale and Swiss looking, and my husband was sent to work with the line ..."whatever you do if there is red meat on the menu, don't think twice, just eat it!" ringing in his ears.
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
Life-lag it's a bit like jet lag......
Geneva’s suburbs are a million miles from London – well I know that’s not technically correct but believe you me it’s a really really long way.
This country of cuckoo clocks and holey cheese, ski-slopes and picture postcard views hides an underbelly of vicious, strangling red-tape….
Did you know that it’s impossible to put on a load of washing before 12.30? That you can’t put your rubbish out even a few hours early without a letter through the door? (Oh yes and they’ll have photocopied anything that proves it is your rubbish and include that in the letter.)
You can sit in your garden on a Sunday, but you aren’t allowed to tackle that weed that is taunting you from the flowerbed, and please don’t think you can run the washing machine on a Sunday…oh no it just won’t turn on at all!
The Swiss are not efficient….they have just settled into a routine and daren’t question it or rock the boat, no one ever complains about the lack of customer service, so in fact I think they have sat still so long they wouldn’t know how to rock the boat.
The house we live in convinces me that they may even be suffering from second world war envy – they have buildings that make the post-war building in the east end look attractive and they don’t have the excuse of town planning by Goering!
I’m not so much suffering from Jet-lag this past week as Life-lag, I am missing my life in London and failing to appreciate the “swiss-way” at all, their never ending bureaucracy drives me mad…..oh and my next door neighbours have no taste or sense of decency – the thing they have put up in the hallway is a form of aesthetic torture, lurking out there in the hallway collecting dust on its fake flowers and little ducks….it must contravene some Swiss law…I must look into it!
We’ve moved here from London, and I have given up my job in order to live here…..and its not the easiest move I’ve ever made, so I’m going Stepford in Switzerland, the land of expensive red meat – can anyone tell me if the Swiss suffer a higher rate of anaemia than other countries in western Europe?
This country of cuckoo clocks and holey cheese, ski-slopes and picture postcard views hides an underbelly of vicious, strangling red-tape….
Did you know that it’s impossible to put on a load of washing before 12.30? That you can’t put your rubbish out even a few hours early without a letter through the door? (Oh yes and they’ll have photocopied anything that proves it is your rubbish and include that in the letter.)
You can sit in your garden on a Sunday, but you aren’t allowed to tackle that weed that is taunting you from the flowerbed, and please don’t think you can run the washing machine on a Sunday…oh no it just won’t turn on at all!
The Swiss are not efficient….they have just settled into a routine and daren’t question it or rock the boat, no one ever complains about the lack of customer service, so in fact I think they have sat still so long they wouldn’t know how to rock the boat.
The house we live in convinces me that they may even be suffering from second world war envy – they have buildings that make the post-war building in the east end look attractive and they don’t have the excuse of town planning by Goering!
I’m not so much suffering from Jet-lag this past week as Life-lag, I am missing my life in London and failing to appreciate the “swiss-way” at all, their never ending bureaucracy drives me mad…..oh and my next door neighbours have no taste or sense of decency – the thing they have put up in the hallway is a form of aesthetic torture, lurking out there in the hallway collecting dust on its fake flowers and little ducks….it must contravene some Swiss law…I must look into it!
We’ve moved here from London, and I have given up my job in order to live here…..and its not the easiest move I’ve ever made, so I’m going Stepford in Switzerland, the land of expensive red meat – can anyone tell me if the Swiss suffer a higher rate of anaemia than other countries in western Europe?
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