You can forget it!

Picture: copyright Nike.

A nice slogan by one of the most famous sportwears in the world.
It seems to be a slogan also in Switzerland, for sure in the German speaking Switzerland, where the Confederates speak their “Mundart” (Swiss German dialect).

DAS CHASCH VERGÄSSE! (You can forget it!)

The noisy sentence above is quite interesting, especially in the work environment, which is one of the main sources of nice portraits of the most genuine Switzerland.

Whenever a Swiss is cornered by a colleague with a difficult question or a certain activity to complete within a tight due date, he/she starts declaiming the mentioned slogan. Possibly repeating it more than once to chase away any possible doubt!
Are you asking a Swiss something which is slightly outside his/her mindset?
Are you needing something from a Swiss which is not the most common thing he/she was expecting?
YOU CAN FORGET IT!

Swiss… “market” in Singapore

I was quite surprised as I found more than one “Marché Mövenpick” in some shopping malls even in Singapore!

Every shopping mall in Singapore is hosting a great variety of restaurants with different styles and food from various regions and countries of the world.

Switzerland seems to be represented by Marché! In Singapore they probably consider it as the pure Swissness, the “non-plus-ultra” of the Confederate cuisine! But they do not know that Marché, in its home country, is actually nothing more than a normal self-service / buffet diner, you can typically find in service areas on many Swiss highways!

Toblerone… better buy it in Singapore!

Toblerone!

The famous bar of Swiss chocolate, resembling its mountains with its unique triangular shape, is an institution in Switzerland.

It is for sure one of the most famous brands of the Confederation!

Very good! Then I should be able to buy it at the best possible conditions in a Swiss supermarket or specialised shop.

Wrong! Coop, one of the three most common Swiss supermarkets, sells a 100 g Toblerone bar for 2.20 CHF.

While wandering around in Vivo City, one of the most futuristic shopping malls in Singapore (Singapore! One of the most expensive countries in the world… and not just around the corner of the Alps!), I found a great deal!

Basically, in the nice Southeast-Asian country, 100 g of Toblerone were offered at a price of 2 Singaporean dollars, which corresponds to 1.45 CHF! One third cheaper than in the Chocolate Confederation!!

What is it? Is Toblerone a fading commodity nowadays, or do their producers prefer that it is bought far away from the Alps being confused as a souvenir and a specialty from another country?

Enjoy Switzerland… but not in Switzerland!

As Swiss, the national airline of the Confederation, promises, you should enjoy Switzerland not within its nice landscapes, but by boarding the red crossed air carriers.

They meant to emphasize the quality of the Swiss airline, but I like to… misunderstand this ad.

Enjoy Switzerland… by escaping it! By flying somewhere else in the world! You will find: flexible thinking, lively cities even after the sunset, nice food and friendly people…

Falling sky!

Time: 17:20
Place: office window
Day: Thursday

Suddenly a strong wind started blowing, the trees were fighting to remain attached to the ground, the sky became all dark, thick, black, scary!
Immediately the clouds vomited litres of dark grey water and ice onto the soil… 20 minutes of apocalypse… and then quietly the world started again.
The sky quickly turned blue, the sun started blinking again and the rainbow brought its comforting, soft, magic stripes and good mood for everyone!

The “ruin stone”

The “Ruine Stein” is the remaining of an old medieval castle (probably from the 11th century), which dominates the famous thermal town of Baden.
It was a castle… now it is just some stones on the top of the urban settlement.
As everything important in Switzerland, also this stone is proudly having its own flag: the white, red and black ensign of Baden.

The best way to reach this “monument” is by climbing a long stairway, starting, quite hidden, from the city centre.
I faced the long starway last Saturday… sweating and gasping, I succeeded in conquering the top (dramatically overtaken by my two daughters, who where going up light like two Capricorns, while I was trudging slowly behind like an elephant!).

The view from the top or even during the ascension is quite spectacular!

And the nature around offers nice flowers not so easy to see in this part of the Confederation.

The adventurous walk to reach the top of the “stone” is nice and worthy… but do not expect to find the fairy tales’s castle, because you would be disappointed.
Just think that you climb a stair to go higher and higher, to reach a stone, which is not just “a stone”, but the “ruin stone” of Baden!
And do not imagine to reach the clouds or the stars at the top of the stairs, because the ascension just take the not so epic time of 10-15 minutes, in a very calm pace!
Quite epic, instead, is the famous “Mr Pickwick” pub (facing the “entrance” to the stairway): for sure not a ruin stone, but rather a milestone in the late afternoons and nights of Baden town!!

My little pony

Picture “My little pony: friendship is magic” from: Variety.com

This post will not speak of the famous series “My little pony” invented by the American Hasbro and very popular among all young girls (including mine!).
You will not hear me speaking of pony characters such as Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash or Pinkie Pie (Having two girls, I am a master of the “Little Pony” nomenclature…).

Instead, I am telling you a unique experience I got today.
While going to the supermarket of a neighbouring village to buy some water, I had this “prime”: in a small piece of land just next to the supermarket I saw a “baby” (almost just born) pony, a real little pony!
I never had the opportunity to see such small animal before!

It was very cute: first, sleeping next to the mother under the sun, and then starting to walk around in an unstable way.

The pony mother was very protective: when the pony father tried to get close, although busy with her “herbal” meal, she gave him a two leg kick, which made him immediately go back to his corner! This is harsh, this is actual reality, this is true maternal protection instinct: well different from the coloured, carefree, timeless, imaginary stories of… “my little pony”!

Wettingen… Raven nest at the roundabout

Today I observed it again… it is always surprising!

In Wettingen, at the roundabout Landstrasse-Staffelstrasse, four ravens are watching the traffic from their nest in a curious and a little scared way.
This is an interesting wooden work made by the artist Alex Schaufelbühl. According to the newspaper Aargauer Zeitung (online article from 16.8.2012), the sculptor was inspired by the hundreds of ravens which are spending the night on the trees near the artificial lake of Wettingen.
The masterpiece is made of driftwood and the birds are not painted black, but their dark colour is the result of a flame-thrower. The sculpture was installed at the end of 2009.

This is one of the street with the highest traffic. The big wooden baby birds of the roundabout are probably reminding us that nature, even if dark, even if sometimes hidden on top of some trees, is always to be preserved and shall not be disturbed too much…

Geography “on the road” in Zurich

When in Switzerland, you should know how many cantons constitute the Confederation (26!) and which are their flags (Because flags are very important in Switzerland!)
You can check, study and try to memorise these details on books or in Internet.

Or, in a better way, just walk around in Zurich on a warm sunny Saturday, precisely in Rennweg, a nice street next to the famous Bahnhofstrasse.
You will find a great “exhibition” of the flags of the Swiss cantons, which are permanently and proudly flying in the wind there…

On these photos, some anticipations.
On the 1st: Solothurn, Graubünden, Ticino, Neuchatel, Schwyz, Schaffhausen, Zug.
On the 2nd: Geneva, Thurgau, Basel-Stadt.

Tax declaration in Switzerland… almost a pleasure!

Finally it’s done! My tax declaration 2018 is completed.
I just brought it to the finance department of my village today, tightly complying with the usual due date of the 31st of March!
In Switzerland the fiscal federalism is an actual reality! As calculated in the declaration, 85% of my taxes will be used in the Canton and the village and just 15% for the state.
Therefore the money will be mainly used “locally” to cover the needs of the population.
As a motivation for the tax declaration, together with the instructions, we, in Canton Argovia, received an interesting letter explaining some facts about our Canton and the use of the tax money in the last five years.

The population increased by 5.4% from 636’000 to 670’000.

The number of children in the primary school and kindergarten increased by 5.2% from 73’500 to 77’400.

The jobs in the Canton for every 1’000 inhabitants decreased from 6.1 to 5.6 since 2013.

In 2017, Canton Argovia could reduce its debts by 67.5 million CHF.

The “Programm Hightech Aargau” promotes innovation with 26.5 million CHF.
Canton Argovia supports companies which are developing innovative products or applying efficient processes.

The offer of digital services of Canton Argovia is continuously increasing with 5G-E-Government projects. For example, now it is possible to register an address change just electronically.

These facts show that the money paid with the taxes is operationally used near us, for us!
In Switzerland it’s happening… in many other countries not really!