After work

After a long working day I was lucky yesterday to be able to relax while walking home.

In 35-40 minutes I could have such a nice way home…

Distances

One of the worldwide actions to fight COVID-19 is (still) the social distancing.

In Switzerland they have been proud for long time having set 2m as distance everyone has to keep from the others to protect himself/herself and the others.

This 2m “mantra” is more than the Italian 1m, or the German 1.5m or the vague “according to the common sense” prescribed in Sweden and France. And the Swiss are very happy for this.

But the fact is that very very very very few people respect the 2m distance in the Confederation (maybe no one knows how does a 2m separation look like?): the distance often becomes 20cm as a practical rule here!

But the most of the people is very keen and honored, unfortunately, on not wearing protective masks! Even the government was and still is very foggy regarding the use of masks! Just 6% of the people use masks on the public transportation!

20 actual cm and 6%! These are the numbers that, for me, confirm the fact that the low COVID-19 infection cases in Switzerland at the moment is just due to luck…

Masked trams in Zurich

Photos taken from 20min.ch

The trams in Zurich wear protective masks, protective masks with the motto “with good example forward”!
This is a wonderful signal and a good message to restart after the lockdown due to the Covid-19.
Public transportation shall be used by the passengers using protective masks, which is the only way to reduce the danger of contageon, being impossible to keep the distances on a bus, a tram or a train!

Great example from Zurich city! Especially because surprisingly the Swiss ministers and the Federal Office of Public Health are continuing to sermonise on the importance of keeping distances and washing hands, neglecting the decisive importance of protective masks!

Maybe big cities like Zurich have more acquaintance with risk mitigation measures than the lovely federal countrysides?

But why, when it’s raining…

… no one is using the umbrella in Switzerland?
Even if the sky is very gray and the clouds are full of rain, the typical Herr Schweiz or Frau Schweiz never take their umbrella before leaving their house.
That’s a mystery. Without protection from the rain, is someone maybe feeling more powerful?

Argovia became the toughest Canton if you want to become Swiss

Source (photo and text): Neue Zürcher Zeitung.

The result is clear: with 64.8% “yes”, the voting people in Argovia has accepted the strengthening of the procedure to get the Swiss nationality in this Canton.
Argovia succeeds in making the hurdles to become Swiss higher than in the most of the other cantons. Who wants to get the Swiss pass shall not have got any social assistance in the last ten years. In the other cantons the minimal requirements are not so strict. An applicant shall not have got any social assistance in the last three years and shall not be dependent on social assistance during the application for the Swiss nationality.

If you wish to become Swiss in Argovia, do not lose your job, otherwise it will be a long(er) way!!

Argovia can become the toughest Canton if you want to become Swiss

Collage of two pictures taken from Wikipedia.

On February 9th, in Switzerland a new referendum, pride of the direct Helvetian democracy, will take place.

Two questions… plus one additional, only in Canton Argovia. The Argovian proposal wants to increase from three to ten years the minimum possible period without receiving benefits from the social assistance (i.e. without unemployment) to be able to apply for the Swiss citizenship.

This strict requirement is even overruling the federal laws which currently accept three years only.

Why? They say that only in that way the possible applicants for the Swiss passport would really prove their “Swissness”. In a country where jobs are quite flexible and the possibility to fire a worker does not require particular justifications, the Argovian statement is quite… disputable!

January 6th’s traditions

The Christmas time is traditionally finishing with the celebrations of January 6th.
In some countries this day is even a public and religious holiday.
The Christian church celebrates the arrival of the three kings to see and adore the newborn Jesus.
Coming from Italy and living in Switzerland, I (and especially the kids) can “celebrate” in two different ways, following different popular customs.

The Italian tradition says that in the night of January 6th an old woman, a kind of witch (called in Italian “Befana”) comes and brings sweets to the good children and coal to the bad ones. In order to get these presents, the kids have to hang an empty sock in the living room, which this old woman eventually fills in overnight…
This year the children got a lot of chocolates from “Befana”. And I can finally say that they deserved them!

The Swiss tradition (Unfortunately in our Canton, Argovia, January 6th is not a public holiday) celebrates this day by eating the so-called three king sweet bread.
All the main supermarkets sell it… or you should even bake it at home, if you can. The bread is sold in a package with a golden crown… Inside one of the pieces of this bread a very small figurine (2-3 cm) of one of the three kings is carefully hidden. The person who finds this miniaturised king (if he or she does not break the teeth) can happily wear the golden crown!
This year I was the lucky one! I was almost swallowing the small king, but I fortunately realised that it would have been better to save it from an inglorious and pathless travel into my bowel!

Happy Halloween!

The pumpinks are smiling also in Switzerland in the night of Halloween!

It should be certainly a trick, rather than a treat…
… especially if you think that one of the most American “celebrations” is very popular also in the Confederation, where the USA are not so beloved and it is very rare to find someone not blaming the US for something!

Red sky in morning, saylors warning; red sky at night, saylors delight

Some days ago my working day started with such beautiful natural spectacle.
The famous proverb tries to explain any… red sky. Depending on the time of the day, if red, the sky is supposed to be a sign of good or bad weather…

In Switzerland there are no sea and saylors (maybe a few at the lakes…): therefore, in front of the beautiful morning red sky, the best option was just to be stunned!

Opening times

The main three and “historical” supermarkets of Switzerland are for sure Coop, Migros and Denner. Nowadays Aldi and Lidl are expanding quickly and fighting with the three “old” ones!
In the Confederation there is a curious specialty. Shops (of course led by supermarkets) open on Saturdays slightly earlier than during the week and eventually close also earlier. If this is logical, considering the need for sleep of a normal working person… I leave to your judgement.

Now, during one of my expeditions to the Swiss expensive shopping world, I noticed the strange sign of the photo. It took me many minutes to read it, re-read it… and accept its weirdness! Is it really so?
I was surprised and even amazed by the emphasis used to underline the fact that that specific Denner has an opening time on Saturday which is… exactly the same as every other day of the week!
Thanks to remind me this! Otherwise I might have risked to confuse the weekend with a normal weekly day!