During my lunch break’s walk, I found the last apple of the plantation…
Forgotten or just… lucky?
The last one
Swiss life
The Korean mosquito
I was just reading about a new variety of mosquito, aedes koreicus, which can live at low temperatures, and which is now present in Europe, after arriving from Asia with the globalisation…
Yesterday one of these new insects was just resting outside of my window, enjoying the fresh clean air (5 degree C!) in the morning.
Red sky at night, shepherd’s delight!
Sunset
After work, a walk in the village to see the cold nice sunset…
I was hoping to find a lot of corncobs on the field, but they had already been harvested.
The number plate
His number plate could not probably fit in the right place and so he decided to use it as a belt, a very high waist belt!
Swiss fashion…
The “oder”
When you hear “oder” you might think of the famous German river (see the Wikipedia’s photo above).
But, if you live in Switzerland, “oder” is definitely the most common refrain of every Swiss German spoken sentence! It has a kind of (useless) meaning like the English rhetorical questions “isn’t”, “don’t you”, etc. at the end of a sentence.
Some days ago a colleague (I calculated them!) used multiple infamous “oder”s with an average of one every 30 seconds during a two hours’ meeting! Unbelievable! The small “o” word really became like an unbearable noise to my ears!
By the way… the most international Swiss, to stay consistent to their proud “oder”, even when speaking a foreign language, have absolutely no problem to declaim in English sentences like:
It is quite hot today, or? (Aka: It is quite hot today, isn’t it?)
It was very nice, or? (Aka: It was very nice, wasn’t it?)
Next time it will be better to attend the meeting with ear protection, so that the colleagues will understand my sensitivity to the “oder” word, … OR?
“My” match of the century!
All European football fans, including me, are excited for the soccer European Championship “Euro 2020” which is played in these weeks.
Some days ago the match I had been waiting for for 20 years finally happened: Italy-Switzerland… and Italy won 3-0!
I come from Milano (Italy) and I have been living for 20 years in Switzerland, Canton Argovia. As probably many other emigrants, I feel well in the Confederation, but when Italy shall be supported I have no doubt about my homeland and the national Italian pride is at its top. Equipped with the tricolour flag at the window, Gattuso’s shirt from 2006 and a lot of enthusiasm for our soccer heroes, I watched a great show on the pitch.
By now the passport can be both Italian and Swiss, but my “heart” remains white, red and green!
Two positive kids in the same class but… show must go on
Image from VectorStock
In the small village where I live, in Canton Argovia, two pupils in the same primary school class (the 6th) were tested positive to COVID-19 some days ago. In the relevant communication, the director of the school (which is attended also by my two daughters) quickly declared that everything was decided by the competent Cantonal authority, as if he himself, as school director, were just an observer.
And this was the brilliant decision of the relevant authority: The school continued as normal, as if nothing happened without additional protective measures. Absurd!
This example shows the hideous and alarming Swiss situation on the pandemic…
Switzerland becomes “normal” with the snow
This week Switzerland has been crossed by snow storms for days. Some mountain cantons have many villages isolated…
And even Zurich city is blocked: trams and public transportation are stopped.
The snow, with its silent white cover, makes everything the same. Even Switzerland, the organised country, where everything is planned, is shut down by the snow like every other “normal” country…
Red wine or chemical potion?
Last night we had a nice dinner with a good bottle of red wine, which was in my Company’s this year’s Christmas present.
Very good wine, a blend of Malbec and Cabernet-Sauvignon, from a local Argovian producer.
It was also quite strong. I checked the bottle and I saw the “magical” number: 13.2% vol. alcohol! Thirteen POINT TWO!
Have you ever seen this? I would have expected either 13% or 13.5%. But POINT TWO was an absolute prime for me.
Maybe even the percentage of alcohol in Switzerland is calculated and indicated on the bottle in their own unique Swiss way…
Real Swiss 