Screw people over

Ten years ago I worked for an insurance company here in Zürich and they had a generous policy, invest a number of K a year, the company will double it, and ten years later you can cash in. I worked there for three years, and I invested in the most risky fund. It is now ten years later and my own investments have gone up 40-60% whereas their fund had until last year lost money. How is that possible? When I recently contacted them, I all of a sudden got a statement saying that the fund has increased with 6%. In ten years! Friggin amateurs. My feeling is that they’re screwing former employees.

I base this on the fact that I bought my apartment back in 2009 and signed a mortgage with the same insurance company. They presented themselves as being “like a bank” at the time. When I quit I got a badly written letter saying that they wanted their money back. It wasn’t said how or when. Fortunately my bank laughed at them and promptly gave me better conditions on my mortgage and took it over.

So fuck you Zurich insurance!

Airbnb experience

Since June I’m a host on Airbnb, and so far I’ve had 20 guests. Sometimes one, sometimes two, almost always pleasant people. The best one was an Italian guy from the US who booked and paid for nine nights and never showed up! But seriously, most of the people are really interesting and mindful that they stay in a private home.

Some of them keep to themselves and only want a bed for the night, but many of them want to chat a bit and I always learn something new. They come from all over the world, so far I’ve had people from India, UK, Germany, Qatar, US, Holland, Austria, Israel and even Switzerland.

I only had one bad experience, and that was when I was in hospital and got a booking late afternoon for the next day, and I have had one checking out the same morning. No way could I clean and make the room and bathroom ready for the next day, so I had to tell him no. The money had gone through though, so when he didn’t want a bank transfer for me to pay him back I had to send cash in an envelope and that didn’t arrive (at least he said).

Now I have updated my profile to say that you have to book at least two days in advance, or I have to approve the booking.

But all in all, it’s a pleasant experience and a way to utilize my guest room and meet some interesting people on the way.

The good and the bad (nothing ugly)

Lately I’ve been good and bad.

Good in going jogging 3-4 times a week, enjoying seeing deer, squirrels and other so called wildlife. Fortunately no bears, elks or other dangerous species, which makes it even more enjoyable.

Bad with regards to reducing smoking. I go jogging in the morning, and on the way back I go and buy a pack of cigs. Which doesn’t always last the whole day. But I’m trying.

Sun in Zürich

We have fantastic weather for the season here in Zürich and today I took a stroll up the mountain.

Was sitting on a bench enjoying the sun and the view, sipping on a glass of wine. An approx. 3-year-old came up to me demanding to know what was in my glass, and I responded ice tea. Ha, he said, “that is wine, yikes”. I so wonder how he would know!

Cat story IV

So there I was, with half my arm in plaster, some considerable pain and totally confused over the day’s events. Since then I’ve been back twice for check-ups and after the first day I refused the plaster and was only having a bandage. I also decided day two to have a tetanus shot (which I refused the first day). Somehow I thought I had a lifelong protection, but after using google I realized it was wise to have another go.

I had to take antibiotics for a week and my thumb is not 100%, still a bit swollen and not totally mobile, but it’s getting better every day. And my cats are fine J.

The culprit!

Cat story III

After my tall cat was safely back (and acted like nothing happened) I realized that my thumb was twice the size it normally is and I had a red stripe moving from my wrist up my arm. My friend who lent me the cage and apparently is much wiser than I when it comes to cat wounds, told me to go straight to the hospital. And this time I decided to listen to her. Normally I don’t go running to the doctor unless absolutely necessary.

At the ER they took it much more seriously than I did. I was rushed in there, they applied iodine, gave me an antibiotics drip, a shot to numb the thumb (rhymes!), took a biopsy, gave me a plaster and I don’t know what. I guess I was in a bit of a shock and complained over the fuss they were making.

Then a really authoritative doctor came into the room and said “it’s voluntary to be here, you can leave at any time, but you should know you could lose your hand”. Oops. I then decided it was a good time to shut up. It is seldom that happens!

Cat story II

So two days later I was preparing the cage again. My friend who was to transport her to the vet arrived a little early, and I hadn’t put the cat in there yet. She’s very shy and hides every time somebody comes into the flat, even though that particular friend comes every week. So I grabbed her from under the duvet where she was hiding and I am not sure if it was because she saw my friend or the cage, but she totally panicked. She was fighting for her life.

I would estimate it to have lasted about 20 seconds, and I managed to get her into the cage but afterwards I found six claws and a bit of a tooth on the floor. And I had about 20 bite marks and scratches on my hand, both arms and one leg. Poor darling. I was shaking so much I decided to stay home.

By the time she got back about six hours later it turned out that she didn’t need the operation at all, the bad tooth had come out in the struggle with me in the morning! So why she had to stay at the vets for six hours I still don’t know.

Cat story I

Some weeks ago I decided to take my two cats to the vet for a check-up. They have been healthy for the six years that have passed since they were castrated. It was due to the fact that I had watched too many tv-programs about vets, and they always look into the mouths of the animals they are treating. I never did, which made me feel like a bad person.

So then I did and I could see that the little one had a bad tooth in the corner of the mouth, but since the kitties have never been apart I decided to take the big one too. She’s not actually big, she’s just taller. And it’s funny, the little one weighs 4.45 kg’s and the “big” one 4.5 kg’s. 50 grams apart.

I borrowed a cage from a friend (last time they were small enough to fit into one) and surprised them both. That went fine apart from the miaowing during transportation that nearly broke my heart.

So off we went to see the same vet as six years ago. That went ok, they are used to handle all sorts of smaller pets, so even though my cats are extremely shy (especially the big one) they managed it.

The little one had such a bad tooth (oh deary me, what a bad cat-owner I am!) that it came out almost immediately when the vet fiddled about in her mouth. However, the taller cat got an appointment two days later. One of her teeth had grown abnormally long and had an infection going so she was scheduled to have it out. That’s when the problems began.

Double rainbow!