Housewarming - the sequel

Yes, I think the neighbours are up to a good party...

We likey?

One of the upsides of moving is that you are throwing away lotsa stuff. Everybody tells you this is the time to do it. And I listened. Too much as it turned out. I threw away my 2nd telephone since I was planning to go Skype, and it turned out I couldn't (Switzerland is not yet online enough). Then my only phone stopped working so here I am, paying a fixed fee per month for a phone I cannot use.

Then I binned my shoes. Loads of them. Old, ugly but comfortable. I didn't care. Threw them out. Which led to me walking around at my party in high-heels for about 10 hours and then limping the whole day after. So today I bit the bullet and bought new ones. Do we like?

There are kitchens and then there are kitchens

Sun shade

The balcony from various angles.

Behaviour

People never stop to amaze me. And not always in a good way. I'm thinking of when I invited people to my housewarming party. I sent an invite several months before on email and asked them to RVSP before a certain date. There are several types of behaviour that comes into play then: 1. The people who respond to say yes, I will come. 2. The people who respond to say no, I'm sorry but I cannot come. This behaviour is totally acceptable, even if No 1 is more fun :). Then we have the following: 3. The people who first responded No 1 saying yes I will come and then call or sms (the same day actually) to say they cannot come due to illness, or in one case couldn't make it since his partner was ill (she's 80 so understandable). This is fine too. Illness is not something you can predict. However, I'm not so sure some of these people were actually ill... 4. Then we have the people who at first said they would come, but just failed to show. This is totally unacceptable in my book. They will never ever get an invite from me again. In one case the guy emailed a couple of days later saying he was sorry but he was sick, and I am inclined to accept that, especially since he has seen to that I got a lot of discount on my equipment. But in general, accepting an invite and not show up is unacceptable behaviour. 5. The people who never even responded to the invite, even though I know they got it. Go fuck yourselves! When you are generous and invite people to your home, and they cannot even be bothered to answer then it's goodbye from my point of view. But mostly I am very very happy for all the 40 people who did show up and made my day. It was the best party in many years. And I have a lot to thank Bro, his girlfriend and my German friend for all the help before and during the party. They assisted in the kitchen, and with drinks. They allowed me to mingle and talk to my guests. Thanks guys!

Trash removal

So now when the housewarming is over and done with it was time to do a little clean-up of all the leftovers that not only the party generated, but all the boxes, paper and other remains of the move. Luckily Zürich city provides a pick-up service with paper removal twice a month and carton removal once a month. On top of that I have three bags of old clothes and shoes to give away, which they also pick up once in a while. As a matter of fact now in October. I have also made several trips to the glassbank to get rid of all the bottles we consumed last weekend, even though Bro took the four megabottles with Prosecco with him that he brought and we finished without trouble. Think it might have held 12 liters of bubbly. Together with countless beer cans, wine bottles and even soft drinks (I think the one kid drank 4 pet-bottles on his own of Coke). The kid was fascinated by my ice machine, and in the end of the evening it was like a pool around the freezer. He didn't get that you have to deposit the ice in a bucket to prevent spluttering, but what can you expect from an 11-year old? Brains develop later in boys...if at all. It is starting to look a lot like home now. The only thing I am missing is a dining table and some chairs, but I have a cunning plan. Also some shelves I need to buy, but no hurry. And only 3 boxes left to unpack. Mostly with paperwork and photos, for which I also have a clever plan. And tonight it's housewarming at the neighbours! I they allow me you'll see pics later.

Züspa

Visited Züspa today. This is a big autumn exhibition in Zürich, holding everything from furniture to wine. My friend wants to renovate her kitchen, another one wants a new bed and I, I had an invite from my wine deliverer. So we ended up tasting wine, and because my friend decided to place an order I got 6 bottles of wine for free. Plus a gift with the invite...a rotating glass plate. As an extra plus, while my friend was negotiating her kitchen and I spotted some uniformed men in the next booth, I had a lengthy conversation with a Zürich policeman. I used my imagination and pretended I was really worried about crime prevention and break-in's in my new hood. He informed me that I can get a free consultation at home (and here I soooo wanted to ask him whether the police would show up in uniform...but bit my tongue and didn't!). This I will most definitely do!

We're simply the best!

I was at a party the other weekend. Not my own, but the previous weekend I attended a gay party. If you want diverse, that's the place to go. There was a 17-years-old mixing with 55-years-olds, there were low-educated people together with almost-professors, there was a blind guy with his dog, a deaf couple, and even some straight people. Fantastic! Downside was it was almost 2 hours travel out of Zürich. And I got accused of being an arrogant Zürcher, an arrogant person from Zürich. Hurray! I made it. I took it as a compliment. And in todays "Blick am Abend" we have reason to be cocky in Zürich, we are simply the best. FCZ (Football Club Zürich) kicked the asses of AC Milan yesterday. We have the highest quality of life in Switzerland and are second in the world (after Vienna...where is that again?). We have the best public transportation system (recently in a study it was concluded that ze Swiss travel most kilometers by train in the world). We are the most gay city, as an example was given the police boss who's a lesbian (not sure this is something to brag about though). We have more than 80 infrastructure projects going on in Zürich just now and in the end it was mentioned: The best things about Zürich cannot be measured: the pulse of the city, the lake and the most beautiful women in the world. I could'nt agree more.

Suck-peter and I

We are getting to know each other slowly. I ask him to do his thing, and he does it but sometimes I ask too much. Like this evening when I decided to lock him in my bathroom and let him clean the new bathroom mat. It's full of fluff that sticks to my feet, and since I do not have a tumbler I thought suck-peter could help. He did a good job, but then I asked him to do the bedroom and he was just full. Full of yellow fluff, and I had to clean him. Then he was happy as a fly in shit and continued happily to suck. When I think he's done I open the door for him to go on to the next room, but he tells me he's not finished and continues. He has a strong sense of responsibility. What a guy!

Plants

Remember I told you about the creative ex. This is the result. Pretty good if I may say so myself. I had to tie gazillions knots of transparent string...

Bathroom

When you have a bathroom with white and grey tiles a little colour is needed. Makes it look warmer, doesn't it?

Balcony

At last I got a balcony floor. And ceiling. What more can a girl ask for?

My very first fire

This'll be great in cold winter evenings!

TV installation

Realize I am a little bit behind on blogging, so here some pics from the tv installation on the same day I moved in.

After

After the party with about 40 people visiting, mingling, drinking, eating, talking and having fun I ended up waving the guests who stayed over off on Sunday.

It was a bit of separation anxiety after all that I must admit. All that life and fun, and then all of a sudden quiet and empty.

Good thing I was left with a whole table of presents! Wood for the fireplace, a box of Barolo (one of my favourite Italian wines) and a box of champagne, a fancy-schmancy corkscrew, 6 large cocktail glasses, some interesting cups, some posh paraphernalia for the bathroom, a whole bag of chocolate and loads and loads of wine bottles. My friends know what turns me on!

Thank you everybody for making the party so memorable!

A girls best friend

May I introduce to you: my new best friend saug-Peter. "Suck-Peter" runs around on the floor hoovering. Sometimes he thinks he's finished and stops, but then when I press a button he gets going again.

On and on he goes, into corners, around corners, into all rooms. He's fantastic!

I think saug-Peter is a girls best friend.

During cont'd

During

Before

The calm before the storm...

What a party!

Wow. What a party last night. Around 40 people from 6 in the evening to 4 in the morning. It was absolutely fabulous, my flat is like made for mingling parties. Pics to come later.

Plan C

24.09.2009 19.08 Down to plan C re network. Despite all the fancy advertising and commercials for easy internet access it turns out I still have to keep my landline in order to get an access that works. Orange advertised wireless internet without need for landline, but sales guy said it doesn’t work. So much for believing large companies. But because I am an Orange mobile customer I at least get 10 francs discount per month. Only the wireless extra cost 5 francs so effectively only 5 francs less a month. Ah well, the world is not yet connected in an easy and cheap way. And Orange takes 2 friggin weeks to deliver! I thought I was gonna go home with a box under my arm. Think of the revenue they miss out on by having shitty logistics! It didn’t help that the guy said he loved Scandinavian women with blonde hair (very good thing I came straight from the hairdresser and her little bottle of peroxide!) for getting me speedier delivery. So two full weeks until I can get blogging on a normal basis again…

Plants

23.09.2009 20.52 The ex is an inventive guy. I was thinking of how to have my big plants displayed around the windows instead of curtains. The plan he came up with is to use the curtain slides hidden in the ceiling, little plastic hooks, some string and two long thin metal pipes in order to drape the plants around the windows. This way there is no need to have even one nail in the wall. Excellent. One has to think of these things now it’s my own flat…

Sun shade

23.09.2009 20.45 Discovered the other day that a sort of sun shade was installed on my balcony, but it just looked like a big roll and I couldn’t work out how to get it out. Until today when the ex came to rescue and located a stick that could be hooked to a thingy and then manually rolled out. It is yellow (incidentally the same yellow I now have in my bathroom…or at least I think so since it was kinda dark) and great. Rolls all the way over to the end of the balcony. A little extra I wasn’t aware of included in the buy.

Bathroom and plan B

Tuesday 22.09.2009 18.32 Been chasing a big fluffy bathroom mat with matching towels for a long time. I don’t know why I did, since I knew that Manor has what I wanted all along. So from today I am the proud owner of a rich yellow, thick mat with equally yellow towels. It just so turned out that the mat and one towel cost 99.80 CHF, and at purchases of 100 CHF you get a voucher worth 20 CHF. But of course the voucher isn’t valid until tomorrow so couldn’t use it, but fell for it anyway and bought an extra small towel for 6 CHF to get me over the limit. After all I have two bathrooms now. And normally I would’ve posted a pic here, but guess what? 1. I haven’t located the cables for the camera and mobile yet and 2. the friggin network is still not working. Plan B will now be executed. I am caving in and getting a network from Orange the next few days. From what I, the technical idiot, understand, you can get a usb-stick with a wireless network for 49 CHF a month. This way I at least get away from Swisscom, and can ditch my landline and only use Skype for phone calls.

In vino strawberry veritas

Saturday 19.09.2009 00.02 What are friends for? I tell you, they are for bringing your favorite wine. If you haven’t tasted Swiss strawberry wine, it’s about time. It’s absolutely delicious. Friend brought 6 boxes, with 6 bottles in each. Wonder how many there will be left for the party?

Promises, promises…

Friday 18.09.2009 23:55 I like my new neighbors, I really do. However, I’m getting a tad impatient with one of them, promising full access to internet from day 1. We’re now on day 18 and it still doesn’t work. I, who have practically been online since internet was invented. Or at least since 1997. It is getting to be annoying. And funny at the same time, when I get sms’s from friends asking if I’m still alive. It’s like if you’re not online you don’t exist. I know the feeling.

All bets are off

Friday 18.09.2009 23.45 Bro has met a girl. Finally. And I wasn’t supposed to tell, but from now on all bets are off. First of all, new girlfriend will come to my housewarming party, and I’ve made the guest bed up nicely with a big furry pink heart placed prominently on the bed. Ok, so I got the heart from an ex and didn’t know what to do with it, good thing it came to use. Second, they have already been visiting Scandinavia together and met my cousin. I’m afraid she has gotten the wrong impression of the family already, but I will set her straight next weekend. Third, spoke to Bro today but forgot to ask about his teeth. He mentioned some time ago that he had troubles with his chewing equipment. So I sent a nice sms tonight saying “btw, forgot to ask about your teeth today. And have a nice weekend with the impolite guy”. He mentioned he was going out with C, the guy who insulted me. The answer was “Message from C: How are you , you dirty little whore?”. So apart from embarrassing Bro with the pink heart on the bed, I have also placed an empty glass on the nightstand with a sticker saying “For Bros teeth”. An eye for an eye…

I love my new home

Thursday 17.09.2009 20.32 I just love my new flat. It is a pleasure coming home, exchanging a few words with one of the neighbours I seem to often meet outside. Today they were planning for the plants around the house. There are a few details left to fix, but I’ve got my balcony floor, they fixed the garbage disposal thingy that was broken and other stuff that was missing. I enjoy cooking in my new, shiny and spacious kitchen (rolled 100 meatballs this evening for the party). It’s a pleasure taking a shower. I sometimes just walk around, enjoying. The view is great, city life and the Alps at the same time (at least when the weather is clear). Best investment I ever made!

Dirty dancing

Thursday 17.09.2009 22.45 Seems like blogging this month has to be on hold for bit, still haven’t got permanent access to the net, but I can tell you that watching Dirty dancing dubbed to German is no hit even though the dancing bits are still quite magic. Guess they showed this film again due to Patricks tragic passing. Makes me miss dancing.

Steep learning curve

I am adopting the strategy of try-and-error in my attempts to learn all my new fancy equipment. No way I'm gonna read all those thick manuals in German, Italian or French. Right now I just wanted to wash my feet and after carefully checking the maneuvering panel (top thingy controls the rain shower and the shoulder shower, bottom thing the massage beams and the hand shower) and actually managed to pull the correct lever the right way. Only I held the shower the wrong way, so water spurted all over the place including on me. But last weekend I managed to cook really crispy chicken in my new fancy steamer/microwave/grill/whatever oven thing. Also inaugurated my new stove. All that is left now is the big oven, but how difficult can it be?

The dead duck

Back online! Unfortunately I have a date and must rush soon, but I wrote a little something yesterday. Monday 14.09.2009 20.45 After a little outing to suburbia, where I purchased a beautiful fluffy Mediterranean blue bath towel, I arrived outside the house finding the newly graduated neighbor, most of his family and three policemen. Turned out the other neighbor had called the police on account of a dead duck in front of the garage entrance. Three policemen to take care of a dead duck! I tell you, they cannot be too busy here in Zürich. Mind you, not that you will hear any complaints from me having two gorgeous uniformed men (and a woman) asking me for my alibi. It was funny, since I before I realized he was joking, immediately told him “I just came home from Effretikon”. Like having been in suburbia was a good alibi. Graduate guy told them his father saw the duck falling dead from the sky. Police guy asked if his father had a shotgun. Haha. Nothing like a little drama on a Monday evening. I wonder if a couple of dead pigeons will attract more uniforms?

Internet access?

Rumour has it that we're gonna get internet today, but after all delays I wouldn't place a bet on it. However I have been informed that my balcony floor is currently being put in place! A small step for man...

Progress

Wednesday 09.09.2009 There has been some progress on the flat too. The electrician has fixed the dimmers for the spotlights in the kitchen. The shower door has been installed I noticed when coming home today. They even put a tape strip over the door saying “Stop, do not use until 10.09.2009 12.00” in English. Very accommodating. In the meantime I have been using the guest bathroom shower and I must say it’s a treat. It’s a rainshower, adjustable in height, which I’m sure even the most critical guest will like…hello Norway! The blinds have arrived and are stored on the balcony. Hopefully they’ll be up before the weekend. Unfortunately there is no news on the balcony floor yet, but I have stressed that I really do need it for the party. 18th of September is when they promised, but considering it is imported from Italy I do not completely trust the Italians to deliver on time. I really do look forward to the weekend when I made no plans whatsoever, so that I can start enjoying my place. And on Friday a friend is coming over bringing wood, so we plan to inaugurate Venus, my fireplace. Only I did start browsing the net for a new dinner table, and it turns out I have to venture out to suburbia on Saturday to a place called “Wohnland” or something. End of a tram line which has a furniture center with at least four different stores. One of them really should have a granite table. Bro is worried it’ll be too much granite, but I think he should start to trust me. It’s the only type of table that will fit. But I might pace myself, and wait a bit. No need to have a perfect place at once. Waited 20 months for the flat, so I can wait another couple of months for a table. Patience is a virtue...

Busy life

Wednesday 09.09.2009 Still no internet access, but we’re closing in. Telephone now working so a technician is coming in the morning I’m told. But it’s been less irritating being without internet than I thought. Just have been too busy. Monday was the rock pub in Zug. Brought an American with me, and he was asking me before “is it the type of rock my son listens to?”. I took one look at him and assured him that I only listen to good music. We had good fun. Yesterday was an apero with a large bunch of people at Aqua, the place by the lake that is semi-posh and not my favourite, but what can one do when it’s free food and drinks? Then I took an American and an English with me, fled the party and persuaded them that a visit to my place was a good idea. Indeed it was with the American standing on a chair singing along. Ended up showing them my fabulous flat, and they were duly impressed. They probably didn’t dare not to. Tonight I gave the chief analyst at one of the biggest Scandinavian banks my view of Swiss economy. I do expect to see my analysis in their next newsletter. Free food and drinks again. Very good for my private finances, since the flat buy kinda left me a bit on the red side in my bank statements.

Toilets

Friday 04.09.2009 Love my new toilets. Except for that yesterday evening one wouldn’t stop flushing. No matter what I did it kept on flushing. Construction manager told me to remove the thingie that sits in the wall that you press to flush, which I did after some guidance. Didn’t help. It was a good thing I was exhausted so that I could sleep with that thing flushing all night. But the lids I love. You give it a push and it closes itself. Beautiful. Only now I think I will get so used to it, so that I do it in other peoples places which probably means I’ll crush’m. Not everybody has a luxury apartment, hehe.

Men in uniform

Friday 04.09.2009 There have been a few hiccups with the new flat. Quite a few to be honest. Not only the lack of internet access, but little things that make handymen run in and out of my flat all day. Ok, so not all negative. Because of their screw-ups I have taken the opportunity of asking nicely if they would mind helping with things like carrying a shelf down to the basement, adjusting the shower curtain to the right length, removing a table, fixing a dimmer lamp, that type of thing. They have all complied. Men in uniform I tell ya, even if it’s men in blue-collar workers uniform.

Doctors visit

Friday 04.09.2009 Went to the doctor the other day, thought it was time to check on my lowered energy level (read less inclined to party 4 times a week) and discuss some other minor issues. Turns out that no way women are supposed to give blood once a quarter like I have the past 4 years. Twice a year tops doc said. So no more passing out and puking. From now on I will only volunteer to donate blood every 6 months. My aching arm turned out to be epicondylitis (tennis arm…yeah I know I’ve been overdoing it with sports lately:) and I asked if that would get me a sick note for the next 12 months. Doc lit up and proceeded to tell me that my health insurance company has an offer right now, involving 3 months in the Caribbean. Wh..? That’s as far as I got before I realized he was pulling my leg. Hmm. And because I had blood pressure 120/70 when at the docs office (even though he’s quite tasty) we agreed that I can stop with the pills. We both think that’s why my energy level is lower than usual, and even when I brought up my cough (I was so certain it was my smoking) he said that’s a possible side effect of the medicine. Hurray! The only downside is that if my blood pressure goes up I can die. But who cares? At least I’ll die with lots of energy and no cough. And in a fabulous flat!

No access

Still no access to internet from new fab home, but I wrote this offline. Friday 04.09.2009 Still not online! It’s like living in the dark ages. Mind you, I have been really, really busy. It is hard to imagine all the stuff I collected over the past 7 years. Only 7 years, and the shit I have stored. Well, this no longer is. I have binned cubic meter after cubic meter of junk, dusted and cleaned everything including every cable, every piece of stuff, every lamp, every chair, every shelf, every table, every dvd (300+) and and and. Flat is finally starting to look like a place to live in. In the beginning it was confusing with about 50 boxes, but the last few days it’s been a treat to find things. Things I didn’t remember I had. Was also very pleased to locate the bathroom stuff. The first morning I showered and cleaned myself with kitchen cleaning spray (extra fat-remover, which I call tell you didn’t help at all, still the same weight) just because I had no clue to where the soap or shampoo were. But today I even found the curtains from my old place and realized they fit perfectly to the bedrooms. It is starting to look lived-in here…