Plastic bags

I don't know how it is with you, but I am against waste. Waste of food, waste of energy, waste of money, waste of just about everything. Therefore I always re-use paper and plastic bags. Paper bags until they fall apart, and plastic bags in a drawer. You know the bottom drawer, that is usually bigger than the other ones. This has resulted in a overflow of plastic bags. Cannot even close the drawer anymore. Bags that I will never need. Been the same in every place I have ever moved from. I have been forced to throw all bags away. Now I have started to do it all by myself. Throw them away. It is useless with all these bags. What am I ever gonna use them for? Can't use them for trash, since Zürisäcke is all they take here. I know it's not good for the environment, so all I can do is to say no thank you when somebody wants to give me one. Most of the time I carry around an empty bag so not a problem. But still, where do all plastic bags come from?

Tolerance, deafness and alcohol

Saw a tv interview with Sarah Symonds yesterday. Never heard of her before, probably because I don't read glossy gossip magazine. Apparently she's been sleeping around with several famous men, and is trying to make a buck or two out of it. She appeared relatively sensible, but it doesn't mean I have respect for her. On the other hand, I do respect her parents. They were in the audience listening to the interview, and on the question how you can stay married for (I think it was) 47 years!! the wife answered: "tolerance and a certain deafness" and the husband "alcohol helps". Cool people!

Sir Lancelot

Young King Arthur was ambushed and imprisoned by the monarch of a neighboring kingdom. The monarch could have killed him but was moved by Arthur's youth and ideals. So, the monarch offered him his freedom, as long as he could answer a very difficult question. Arthur would have a year to figure out the answer and, if after a year, he still had no answer, he would be put to death. The question?....What do women really want? Such a question would perplex even the most knowledgeable man, and to young Arthur, it seemed an impossible query. But, since it was better than death, he accepted the monarch's proposition to have an answer by year's end. He returned to his kingdom and began to poll everyone: the princess, the priests, the wise men and even the court jester. He spoke with everyone, but no one could give him a satisfactory answer. Many people advised him to consult the old witch, for only she would have the answer. But the price would be high; as the witch was famous throughout the kingdom for the exorbitant prices she charged. The last day of the year arrived and Arthur had no choice but to talk to the witch. She agreed to answer the question, but he would have to agree to her price first. The old witch wanted to marry Sir Lancelot, the most noble of the Knights of the Round Table and Arthur's closest friend! Young Arthur was horrified. She was hunchbacked and hideous, had only one tooth, smelled like sewage, made obscene noises, etc. He had never encountered such a repugnant creature in all his life. He refused to force his friend to marry her and endure such a terrible burden; but Lancelot, learning of the proposal, spoke with Arthur. He said nothing was too big of a sacrifice compared to Arthur's life and the preservation of the Round Table. Hence, a wedding was proclaimed and the witch answered Arthur's question thus: What a woman really wants, she answered....is to be in charge of her own life. Everyone in the kingdom instantly knew that the witch had uttered a great truth and that Arthur's life would be spared. And so it was, the neighboring monarch granted Arthur his freedom and Lancelot and the witch had a wonderful wedding. The honeymoon hour approached and Lancelot, steeling himself for a horrific experience, entered the bedroom. But, what a sight awaited him. The most beautiful woman he had ever seen lay before him on the bed. The astounded Lancelot asked what had happened. The beauty replied that since he had been so kind to her when she appeared as a witch, she would henceforth, be her horrible deformed self only half the time and the beautiful maiden the other half. Which would he prefer? Beautiful during the day....or night? Lancelot pondered the predicament. During the day, a beautiful woman to show off to his friends, but at night, in the privacy of his castle, an old witch? Or, would he prefer having a hideous witch during the day, but by night, a beautiful woman for him to enjoy wondrous intimate moments? What would YOU do? What Lancelot chose is below. BUT....make YOUR choice before you continue reading. OKAY? Noble Lancelot said that he would allow HER to make the choice herself. Upon hearing this, she announced that she would be beautiful all the time because he had respected her enough to let her be in charge of her own life. Now....what is the moral to this story? The moral is..... If you don't let a woman have her own way.... Things are going to get ugly!

86 is China

Got a call today from country code 86 which intrigued me a bit, until I realized it was Bro calling from China. Sounded like he was in the next room, even though when I checked the world clock I realized the place he's in is too small to even be listed there. This is also when I found out that Zürich is the last city on the list, and quite possibly the only list where Zürich is at the bottom!

In vino veritas project

I have a quite pleasant project to finalize before I move. I don't exactly have a wine cellar, but I have collected (read: bought) some wine over the last few years. The cheapo stuff goes quickly, but the better bottles I save for dinners and other social gatherings here at home. Realized the other day that my rather small fridge is harbouring quite a few bottles of things that need to be chilled (why I don't put them on the freezing balcony is a mystery!), a wine holder that takes 15 bottles or so as well as a couple of boxes of wine on the floor. This'll be a pleasure!

Cultivated salmon

Not sure about the terminology in English here, but I refer to fish that is cultivated rather than wild. The salmon babies are held in huge dams, they are fed fish-food, they grow and when large enough killed, packed in containers, transported by huge trawlers, sold to customers in foreign countries to finally end up on a plate. 11 millions meals per DAY is produced only in Norway. I saw one of these conscience programs again, as you may have guessed. The surprising thing is that "everybody" so far have been very much in favour of cultivating fish in order to preserve our oceans. Through a team of investigative reporters the research showed that wild fish is used to produce the fish-food fed to the cultivated fish, and so far so good. The fish-food salesman in Iceland thought so too. He took one fistful of fish-food, smelled it and claimed "the smell of money". Only then the reporters showed that up to 2,5 kg's of wild fish that is becoming fish-food, ends up being a mere 1 kg of the cultivated salmon ending up on our plates! Sounds like a good idea to you? The program also showed 7 fish sorts that are now on the way to being extinct due to "over-fishing", and that the whole eco balance is out of whack because of it. Bigger fish lose their smaller fish to eat, the smaller fish gets fished out so to speak, the even smaller grow in population and the whole thing gets out of balance. It is very hard these days to know which fish one can eat with good conscience!

Stadtpolizei

Whenever I get a letter from ze "Stadtpolizei" I get the shivers, thinking about big strong men in uniform coming to arrest me or something. But it's the good shivers if you know what I mean :) This time it was only a bill for the boat-place. Hmmm.

Two housewives talking

A friend was here the other week, and I told her about my pants where I have safety pins holding the rim of the legs up (with a quiet hope that she would offer to mend them). "Really", she said, "safety pins". "I myself used to staple mine". No help there.

Swiss coolness

A friend of mine was flying home yesterday from Zürich to England. 15 minutes into the flight the instruments stopped working, and the pilot had to turn around and land back in Zürich. Without the instruments. This is Hudson river type of bold move. Very cool indeed. The pilot told everybody what had happened after the landing, and announced “We've fixed the problem with parts from another plane but if anyone does not trust us they can get off now”. Five or six people did. I think only a Swiss pilot would phrase it quite like that. Calm, short and to the point. And I especially like the fact that is was a female pilot. Respect! My friend finally got back to England, late but safely.

Tell me your blood type

...and I shall tell you who you are. This is a Japanese thing I read in the paper. As common as reading horoscopes are in the west. According to this site I am: Type B – The Hunter individualist dislike custom strong optimistic creative flexible wild unpredictable They cannot be terribly wrong, can they?

I'm a bloke with boobs

Which is possibly the best compliment one can get from two English guys. Oh excuse me, one English and one Welsh.

F*** My Life

Mildly funny and very American, although a couple of them are amusing.

Google Earth live

This is where Bro is travelling to tomorrow. Fortunately it's a paid trip. I'm not big on going to places where they try to control you. But hey, I'm going to Dubai in two weeks, and my excuse is that they will give women the right to vote next year. That is something to celebrate. I think. They are only about 100 years late!

PS from Wikipedia: The Swiss referendum on women's suffrage was held on 1 February 1959. The majority of Switzerland's men voted no, however in some cantons the vote was given to women.[17] Switzerland was one of the last Western democracies (the other being Liechtenstein) to allow women to vote. Women did not gain the right to vote in federal elections until 1973.

Fuck Vista and Credit Suisse

Or whatever it is that makes my "printer" not picking up that I connect it to my computer. I say "printer" because it hasn't printed since I last bought colour boxes for it. Again. For another 100 bucks. Anyway, I wanted to show you the letter I got from the bank (Credit Suisse). I finally got around to send the hate letter. And I got an answer. Not from the CEO himself but from a minion. "Dear mrs and then my name. We acknowledge receipt of your above mentioned letter to Mr Bady Dougan (I just love that they misspell their own CEO's name!), Chief Executive Officer of Credit Suisse, which he forwarded to us for clarification". Of course he did. He doesn't want to deal with minor customers like myself, especially since I have already moved my business away from them. No, CEO's like to cash in the money for themselves, not having to deal with the people who give them the business. That's a big no no. Then "In order to be able to comment on the issues you raised, we have to investigate. We will let you know the result of our enquiries as soon as possible". And "Thank you for your understanding". Going on with yours sincerely and all. If they were sincere they wouldn't have fucked me and my money, would they? And how do they know I'm understanding? I'm not. Wouldn't have sent the letter if I did, now would I? To be continued...

Züriwine

Thinking about renaming the blog. But haven't tasted it yet, so it's still a maybe.

Present from my guest tonight.

Google Earth

Have my doubts about this product, especially since new flat is not on it. There is nothing older than old information! Nah, I pass.

Travel in style

Well, not exactly travel in style since we're flying monkey class, but Bro suggests we stay here. Works for me.

If I ever were to change political party

...it would be because of this guy. Fortunately I don't live in Norway.

Tonights dinner

A friend is coming over. Tonight I opted for lamb chops, being marinated as we speak with only salt, pepper and rosemary. A big vegetable mix ready to be woked with leek, mushroom, pepper, courchette, carrots and chili. To that a bottle of Di Camillo, a Montepulciano d'Abruzzo. As a starter the Caesar salad I have now perfected and as dessert the "punschkugel" (which btw was a bit of a disappointment. Not the same I bought last time. Had no taste of "punsch"). Have a feeling it'll be a nice evening...

Dangerous

It's a jungle out there.

Food time

You know the rule to never go shopping when you're hungry? Today I think rules are there to be broken, and accordingly came home with a bag of potato chips (a small one but still) and with the excuse of having dinner for a friend tomorrow "punschkugeln" (chocolaty round things with punch inside - delish!). The reason for buying 3 of those is that I have to pre-taste in order to make sure they are nice... It's definitely going to be more labrador and less greyhound on the holiday.

Diversity

When coming home on a Friday evening being really really tired, thinking that nothing fun would come out of it, I couldn't have been more wrong. Sleeping an hour helped. Then meeting with a youngster in town who insisted that we needed some strawberry margueritas, like a liter of it. After being properly invigorated I thought it was a good idea to visit the place where I had my birthday party a couple of years ago. They didn't even ask what we wanted to order, but just brought the Chianti I favour there. Good shit. Then when the youngster got thoroughly drunk and left for home, I had a brilliant idea. Visit my second living room. Where I met this guy, who I hadn't seen for a year or so and who wanted to bring me up to speed. Well it took me some time to extract myself and now finally home. Sleep seems like a good idea...

When somebody cooks at my place

Well, looks pretty good huh? And it tasted good too...

Wanted again

Ok, I feel much better now after the blow-offs earlier this week. Yesterday a friend called who I hadn't talked to in a long time, and today I managed to be invited for lunch incl some alcoholic beverage (!) as well as having a friend on his way to cook for me at home this evening. It's shaping up.

Love my ass

Valentine's day this year didn't render a great take. A skype message from my brother and an sms from an old (and very married) friend was all. Very very poor return.

On top of that I had a friend in Norway who thought that putting a bed together for her parents was more important than skyping with me this evening. To be topped off by friends in Holland who on skype showed me their offspring for the first time, and he took one look at me on the webcam and started screaming his lungs off.

I'm starting to think I'm not wanted anymore. Booo-hooo.

Don't know why but it made me think of this pic that a friend in Singapore just sent me.

Bursting bottle

Yes, that blonding of the hair went very well thanks for asking. I was a little worried that I would end up looking too blonde, or just fake, but it looks exactly like it does when I've been to the hairdresser. Because I have relatively little hair, very thin, I didn't need the whole bottle. Well there were two bottles, one with something liquid and a creme to pour into it and mix before using. I only used half of it, and was planning on saving the rest for another time. Next day when I got home I noticed the bottle had tipped over. It had kind of expanded and become rounded. V. weird. Until I read the instructions, saying expel of any leftover liquid immediately. Oh dear. So I shucked it in the bin and then promptly forgot to take it to the trash container outside. It is still there, and I'm kinda waiting for it to pop. Yeah, I live my life in the fast lane! I realize it created some sort of chemical reaction, but have no idea why. Aussie girl?

This is me in hmmm years

Patience is a virtue.

How sweet is that!

In 3 weeks this'll be me (without the fur and the tail), floating in the water while all the suckers in Europe freeze!

He finally got away

Charity

I've always been wary about charity, but I have been a member of various "do-good" associations. Last one was Red Cross. Only this year after all the articles about how much the top-guys (because they're always guys!) put in their own pockets I sent an email to them asking how much the top manager in Switzerland earned. I didn't get an answer.

Needless to say they won't get any more money from me.

Party

Went to a party last Friday, and met some new people. It's always exciting to get to know people, especially from other countries. This time I ran into an Irish woman, who was way cool. She presented her boyfriend as "and this is the guy I sleep with". But he seemed to be man enough, despite the fact that she is 1.85 tall and towered over him. I like couples who do not follow the standard template.

Ashblonde

I've always been blonde, except for when I just was born and had black hair, I have always always been blonde. Therefore it's a bit disconcerting to discover that with age I'm getting darker and darker. I'm one of those who, except for a few brief years in the 80's (hello poodle perm!), always have had the same hairdo. Babyhair, nothing to do about it. If I spray or mousse it, it stays good for an hour, then it looks the same again so why bother? I don't like when I don't recognize myself in the mirror, so the past few years I've been taking help from the hairdresser in getting strands of blonde back onto my head. However, now my hairdresser has moved to suburbia, so I've been a little lost. Until I realized that I can do it myself! With a little help from a box of "Ashblonde" from Migros, I am currently waiting with gooey in my hair to enforce blonde so that I'll recognize myself again. Oh the excitement I create on a Sunday!

A looong evening

Will tell ya later, but in the meantime I show you somebody who didn't want to be exposed...

Socialist Swiss

I guess there is a reason for having red in the Swiss flag. Today after meeting with the auditor I understand why. When you own an apartment you are penalized with taxes, i.e. you are paying taxes like you rent out your flat even if you live in it yourself. This comes back to the old days when owners had tax deductions and renters had not. This was not considered fair, and therefore an additional tax was thrown upon owners to make people more equal. Meaning if you had the brains, worked hard, saved money and invested it, you were punished. Whereas the slackers got a tax break without working for it. Can you tell I'm right-wing? Since ze Swiss are slow changers, the system is still the same. So now I'm gonna have to tax like I rent out my flat, even though I paid premium price for it and live in it myself. Good thing my auditor told me that my area of Zürich has become just as expensive as Zürich city. Now I can frown upon all the losers who have not invested here!

Wisdom

I have all my four wisdom teeth left. And all the other teeth too in case you wondered. Now, one of the wisdom teeth has started to grow. At my age you expect not only the wisdom but your teeth to be fully adult. So is apparently not the case. Which is why I'm in my sleep have been chewing on the flesh next to the growing tooth. So not a pleasant feeling in the morning when I wake up. I guess the philosophical question is: When are you supposed to be a grown-up?

Credit Suisse still sucks

Finally sent the letter to Credit Suisse. I marinated it a bit, contemplating whether I really should send it but Tuesday it was time. Off it went. Attached my name and full address, as well as my email. Not surprisingly I haven't heard anything yet. Banks like to get your money, make themselves rich but not do anything to help you. Remember this people. UBS for example went to the government for support (and got it!), then announced bonuses of 2 billion CHF, and now want to pay out 4 billion. Who raised these people with no conscience? And why I ask, are they always men?

Audit

Went to see my auditor today. She has done my tax returns for the last couple of years, and she's thorough and correct. Lightened up a bit today when she heard I bought an apartment and that I will stay in Switzerland. It's nice with people who like us foreigners. Just like it's nice to hear that Switzerland voted for having an extended EU cooperation, even though "funny" countries like Bulgaria have now joined. Bad news were that the pension fund I cashed in last year, meant to be a part-payment for the flat is now going to be taxed. 10% of it will go to the government. This despite the fact that I took all the risk and paid all the admin fees. When it's time to cash in the government wants a piece of the pie, with no consideration for my need of the money to pay for my investment. At my question whether we should "forget" to tell the government, she said they will find out and that I would then have to pay twice the amount plus a penalty. Not something I want to risk being a Swiss fan and somebody who wants to stay here. Guess I have to be grateful that other countries would have sliced a bigger piece of the cake. She also informed me how much I should borrow and how much I should cash off. Nice to know that it coincided with my thoughts. Think we're the same kind. We don't like having debts, unless it's tax beneficial. The only good news were that the taxes I prepaid is more than going to cover the final ones. And the government gives 2% interest rate on the surplus, which is way more than the corrupt banks are giving. I like my auditor.

No 1 and No 2

I have a friend who has stomach problems. She's been to the doctor and was asked to give a pee sample. This led to a discussion when she had to give a stool sample and was given a minimal cup to do it in. Which in turn led to quite a hilarious discussion about how you are to know how big the turd will be, minor "stone", medium "sausage" or a real biggie. Or in fact if you are departing with a lose version of No 2. And why you are not given the appropriate cup to make your deposit in. I would've loved to have had this discussion during a wine session! Anyway. Her problems now are more of an intermittent nature, and so she's been asked to give a urine sample whenever she has problems. Not only one, but over a 24-hour-period. Hence the cup sized portable-toilet they gave her. Is she now supposed to drag this around with her? Yeah, I'd like to see that happen. NOT.

Greyhound vs labrador

Told Bro when we are going on holiday I will look like a greyhound, having hopes of that diet working out. Now, it's easy to make those statements in December when you're still eating like well hmmm a dog, thinking that 1st of January will make you stop and go on rabbit diet.

Today I had to tell him that he might be going on vacation with a labrador rather than a greyhound, but hey, who wants to look like one of these when you can be a cute lab?

You the man!

Full moon

Had trouble sleeping last night, and couldn't understand why until I read that it was full moon last night. Time to howl like a wolf!

It's raining men

And yes, my dinner guests allowed me to post their pics.

M&M + Luna

Why not repeat a success? So tonight when having dinner for other friends I decided to have the same menu. Why change a winning concept?

Had a really nice evening once again (even though I ended earlier than last weekend, but what can you expect from men?) and this time including my new friend Luna.

Vernissage II

Didn't have high expectations about tonights vernissage. Thought it would be only a few people looking at art, but whaddaya know. First of all I did like the art. Not all of it but the variety. There were 67 pictures, and one in particular caught my eye.

It was a tree in front of a savanna showing black bad weather behind it. This is how I feel sometimes, when the world is against me. Me the tree against the world. It somehow appealed to me. And me being the tree surviving despite everything and everybody else. In short a survivor. Yes, that appealed to me very much.

The other funny thing was that I was stuck with gazillions of Swiss-speaking people. Or so I thought. Until I realized that one of them spoke English. Which in turn attracted other English-speaking people. I had a really nice eve with amongst others an 80-year old who spoke 5 languages. And it was very nice to feel fantastically young when they were talking about the 50's and 60's like it was yesterday.

When you make an attempt to talk to people you are almost always positively surprised!

And look, they were happy to meet me too!

A Seamans Prayer

Dear Lord, help me to become the kind of Chief that my Company would like me to be. Give me the mysterious "something" which will enable me at all times to satisfactorily keep the engines running without spares and help. Help me to teach and train the uninterested and dim-witted without ever losing my patience or temper. Give me that love for my fellow men which passeth all understanding so that I may lead the recalcitrant, obstinate, no good crew into the path of righteousness by my own example, and by soft persuading remonstrance, instead of throwing spanners at them. Instill into my inner-being tranquility and peace of mind that no longer will I wake from my restless sleep in the middle of the night, crying out "what have other Chiefs got that I haven't and how did they get it"? Teach me to smile if it kills me. Make me a better Chief of the ship by helping me develop larger and greater qualities of understanding, tolerance, sympathy, wisdom, perspective, equanimity, mind-reading and second sight. And when, Dear Lord, thou has helped me to achieve the pinnacle of my career as prescribed by me and when I have become the paragon of all that is virtuous in this earthly world, Dear Lord, move over. Amen. Found here.

Zürich HB next

One thing that was better before all the technology invaded earth was the real voice on buses, trams and trains. A person actually speaking to you, all sounding different, some only stating the station, some making jokes or wishing people a good day. Now it's all computerized, and it's always the same voice. Technology is there, so why don't they have different voices? Why not change once in a while? Sometimes in Zürich they bring out the good ol' trams which are like 80 years old and drive them around town with conductors in uniform and all. The conductors step off the tram at every station to allow people in and announce each station in person. This is a nice whiff of the personal service that used to exist. These days it's all about cost, but I still think they could have different computerized voices!

InstaMapper

New service where you can track mobile phones, but only if the phone is GPS compatible. Tip: "borrow" your friends phone for a couple of minutes. Register number with the website. Wait for the sms to confirm. They you will have the id, and can check at any time where your friend is! Clever huh?

Ever felt like this?

Trainer Todd reappears

Ok, so maybe I underestimated trainer Todd...

Drunk

Met a friend tonight who said he hadn't been drunk in 17 years. Until last night. They apparently drank something called Orgasm.

Apart from the fact that I thought he was talking about something else, I actually believe him. Every time we had dinner he sipped on one glass of wine. Only. I had to finish the bottle. Yeah I know, not a big job but somebody had to do it.

Pic from this site which is rather funny.

Vernissage I

I am invited to a vernissage on Friday. I will enjoy a bit of art, as well as the wine I hope they will serve. They don't have their own website but this is it. Me and art, we're like hand in glove :)

A fabulous gift

...from one of the fabulous friends. I adore this strawberry wine!

Only I lost the link to the place where you can buy it. But my friend brought me a box, so at least I'm covered. For hmmm some time...

Kreisbüro

Still a lot of hits from people trying to find the kreisbüros in Zürich. Here's the new link. Don't forget your official papers like passports and permits. Bring some money since every document or stamp they give you will cost. Good luck and welcome to Zürich!

My fabulous friends

No water

So was looking forward to the evening. A lot. Was busy preparing, frying the veggies, having a glass of wine, making myself pretty. All at the same time. Then my first guest arrived, exactly on time like she was a military person. I continued to cook, having my guest sitting on the throne in my kitchen (the 19 CHF folding chair from IKEA), me slaving away. Yeah ok, perhaps I exaggerate a bit but anyway. All of a sudden there was no water. No water?!? So called my landlord. Now, my landlord is about 80 years old and have a company that does the admin for him. That didn't stop him from saying "hello miss, how are you?" when I called him at eight o'clock on Saturday evening. Told him I didn't have any water. He promptly said: "I will come". My thoughts were like doesn't he trust me? Does he not believe me? Well, my Swiss friends told me that this is the thing to do. Nothing to do with trust, but the fact that he voluntered to come visit was just to show support. He did. And in between me calling him and my one of my friends arriving telling me about the burst pipe and a whole block being under water. So he came, shook hands with my friends. And left. And this item makes absolutely no sense but it is 3.32 in the morning. Pls send any complaints to somebody else.