Grand National Saturday

I might be treading on thin ice by showing the above film. This race is held in England once a year and is one of the big races for the betting enthusiasts. One one of the forums I sometimes visit I noticed that there are strong feelings against this sort of racing, which I would actually agree with. It is a cruel race for the horses as well as the jockeys. Today one horse was put down and one jockey is in hospital with back injuries. No-one asks the horses if they want to be made to jump over hurdles, generally they would probably gallop around them. When the horse jumps he knows how high to jump, he only notices in the air that the depth to the ground after the hurdle is more than the height before the hurdle. That is my case against this race.

Now something else which came to my mind. My dad is now 93 and I am sure he had his little "flutter" on the race today. He had his bet every year since I can remember and so did my mum.

So what does this photo have to do with the Grand National. This photo shows my mum on the right hand side with a friend at the races. It must have been taken shortly after the war looking at the clothes. In my family - just me, mum and dad - horse racing was always a topic on Saturdays. My dad would study the back pages of the newspaper with the races and I think he knew all there was to know about the sport. I can't remember how he placed his bets before the betting shop came into being, but I am sure he had his methods. He was not a betting addict and had no such problems, but as a young man he would go to the greyhound races and the natural result was to take an interest in horse racing.. He made (and still does) the most complicated bets that you could imagine. Not just win or place, but then if he won the bet goes onto the next race, where he had picked his horse out etc. etc. By the end of the day he either got the same amount of money back that he had invested, or a bit more. We didn't have so much money to be able to bet in hundreds and when I was a kid it was more in shillings and pence, although I suppose now and again on the big races he invested a pound note.

I remember as a kid that we would go to the races now and again as an excursion. My aunt and uncle would often come as well with their twin sons. It was most degrading as an eight year old to be picked up by your mum and carried into the race course grounds as children in arms were free entrance. I remember the coloured cards that the bookmakers would give out for placing bets. They looked like playing cards and to a kid like myself they were fascinating. I used to collect them after the races as they were afterwards thrown away. You could also place your bet on the "tote" which was a sort of more official place, probably with regular wins. I am not actually an expert, but this is just from my memory. There was (or is) a special language the bookies would use with their contacts in the stand (tic tac men)

"In the eccentric world of British handicapping, tic-tac is the term for the secret signaling between bookmakers. Before each race, tic-tac men will semaphore odds and price changes from the bookies at the rail to the bookies in the center of the betting ring. All their frantic gesturing is accompanied by espionage and counterespionage as complicated as that in a John le Carré novel"

I got this explanation in Internet, but just about sums it up. The tic-tac men had white gloves on and would make strange signs in the air to be read by the bookies - most fascinating to watch.

Then there was Prince Monolulu

If you wanted to place a bet on a horse, he was always at the entrance to the race track and would give you a tip if you crossed his palm with silver (calling all the time I gotta horse). He was well known all over the country. It's a shame the photo isn't in colour as he was quite a colourful person with his dyed feathers in the head dress. I saw him a few times. There are two sorts of racing in England as in most countries probably. Over the sticks (hurdles) and the flat. We often went to Great Yarmouth for our annual holiday in Summer and it always seemed to coincide with the races (no hurdles - flat racing). It was exciting to see the horses race past, although you had to have patience for each race as I think it was at least an hour (or perhaps 30 minutes) between the races.

The last time I saw the Grand National on the tv was in 1985. I remember that so well as it was a week after my mother died. I was in England for the funeral and stayed on and we watched the race on the tv. It was something my mother also liked to see. We now have English tv at home and I watched the race today. Yes, it is cruel for the horses and the riders, but I also have other memories. Perhaps one day the race will be banned. Here is another photo of my mum as I remember her.

Friday evening blog

Sometimes you have no inspiration to write anything, but you just want to write to keep the brain working (I suppose). I wanted to start with a photo, so chose this one which I took when walking home from the town of Solothurn along the river Aare. The white buildings on the left in the distance is the colony where I live.

It was an eventful week, the cats celebrated their birthday with Roschti, the new feline threat in the neighbourhood and since he spent the night at our place he is being carefully watched by 3 pair of cats eyes, me and Mr. Swiss, although it seems to me that the cats are getting a little bit more tolerant. Nera, my big black fat cat, even stays outside when he is in the neighbourhood.

Nera: Of course, Mrs. Human, after all who is afraid of a mangy red and white Garfield lookalike.
Tabby: Did you say something Nera? You was always first in the cat flap when he arrived. You didn't even wait to see him, as soon as his smell was in the air you was gone.
Nera: And you were not far behind me, but on our birthday he caught up with us and even got through the cat flap.
Fluffy: He slept on our cat play centre, his smell is still on the cushions.I just don't understand why you two cats hid in the back room when he was there. He just relaxed a bit. He didn't bother me when I was walking around.
Nera: Fluffy, did you actually notice that he was sleeping in the same room as you that night.
Fluffy: Not really, I though there was a different smell around but he didn't bother me. Sometimes there is an advantage when you don't see everything.
Tabby: Well I still think he is after my fur as a trophy. I don't like him.

Well I noticed that Tabby does not like Roshti, the new cat. Yesterday evening I though Tabby was being murdered outside, but Roshti just came a bit too near and Tabby ran in the wrong direction. Nothing actually happened, except for the fact that there was an excited Tabby indoors afterwards with ears pinned back almost flat to her head. It seems to me that the situation is getting a bit relaxed. Mr. Swiss told me that Roshti was walking around today and Nera was even sitting outside, although she was watching him to see what he was doing. Who knows, perhaps there might be an improvement in the situation.



I was out yesterday evening on one of my first aid evenings. We meet once a month on a Thursday evening and usually deal with a special item. Our meeting place is in the building on the right at the front of the picture. It belongs to the local school house and is usually used for various gymnastic exercises and the village kindergarten. The room we use is for music lessons amongst other things.

Yesterday we had a talk on household remedies. One of our first aid profis gave a couple of demonstrations and a talk. Actually it is all very unofficial. We all live in the two villages which are next to each other and it is quite an enjoyable evening sometimes as we know each other so well. So what did we learn.

How to keep your silver clean (if your have any). Take a glass of warm water and dissolve a layer of salt in it. Then take some aluminium foil, roll it in a ball and put it in the liquid. Take the tarnished silver and put it in the liquid touching the aluminium foil and leave it for a few minutes. When you take it out it is no longer stained. The only problem is you have to keep renewing the foil - somehow it hangs together with the ions that are released from the foil. I am sure there are a few scientist amongst you that can explain why.

We also learnt that bananas make you happy if you eat them. They have some sort of substance which affects the human substances. Probably why I don't always feel so happy - not allowed to eat bananas because they have too much sugar.

Another good one was for sweaty feet. We had an abc answer of your choice to the question what is the best remedy. We all chose the third solution, red wine and it was correct. Apparently if you have a foot bath in red wine your feet don't sweat, but it has to be wine of the best quality matured in wooden casks. And this was not even an april joke. However, seems to be a bit of an expensive remedy that one. Aspirin is supposed to be quite good for removing blood stains. So if you are going to kill someone make sure you have enough aspirin in the house (it is a blood-thinning medicine after all).

Eventually we all went home after discussions about who might be interested in first aid service at the EU 2008 football occasions. I asked if you get to see a match free, but this is not the case. We are expected to be outside the games. In the local towns screens will be organised with the matches live and we have to make sure that no-one gets overexcited and has a heart attack, or alcohol excess etc. etc. As I work, and most of the attendances was during the night until four in the morning, I declined. Now if I lived in Basel I might have the chance of working in the stadium, that would have been interesting. Had sort of visions of curing one of the profi footballers of cramp in the legs, although I don't think they would let me get that near.

This evening I have to catch up on two episodes of the East Enders, put a wash in the machine and do a little bit of accounts work for our first aid team. I also have to keep a watchful eye on the cat flap that Roshti does not make an appearance, although I think he will spend the night in his own home tonight.

We have a problem

Bringing up kids was never easy, but if you had problems with them in school or otherwise and other kids were involved you spoke to their parents or the teachers and the problems were nearly always solved. Now what do you do when the problems arise with the cats. I will begin at the beginning.

I have made a few blogs about our new cat in the area, who I call Garfield. Well today I found out that his real name is Roschti which is the Swiss German equivalent of Rusty - a good name for a mixed ginger cat you might be thinking. So how did I discover his name - I had a conversation with his human. The next question being how did I get into a conversation with his human. Perhaps the following photo will explain it - it was taken at six o'clock this morning in our living room.

That is not one of our cats sleeping on the special cat play centre, that is Roschti, the new cat in the neighbourhood, also known as Garfield by me. This morning I was awakened by my alarm clock at six as usual. My first movement (after the visit that we all make first thing in the morning) is to see if my cats are at home and where they are. When I arrived in the living room I saw that Fluffy was walking around on his way to the kitchen and then I saw Roschti sleeping peacefully on my cat's play centre. He didn't even move his ears, he opened his eyes, saw me and closed them again. I had to alarm Mr. Swiss, whose first reaction was - take a photo. We Swiss have to keep every thing on record, so I took two, just to be sure.

Tabby and Nera the other two cats had retreated to the spare room/office and were sitting there waiting to see what Mrs. Human was going to do with this intruder. First of all Mr. Swiss and I tried to get friendly with the newcomer, but he seemed to be on guard and answered with a pawing movement as if to say if you come nearer I will scratch. My next reaction was to clap very loudly. This seemed to do the trick as Roschti was back to ground level in no time and marched direction window which we opened and let him out.

I then went to work as everything seemed to be more or less back to normal. How did he get in? We have a cat flap which is closed for the cats indoors, meaning they can only go out if we open the door. This meant that when Roschti was in he was in and no chance he could get out on his own. The cat flap is steered by a magnet system. There is a magnet on the flap and our cats each have a collar with a magnet. When they come in the flap automatically opens, basically only for cats with the magnet. Roschti does not have a magnet. However, Roschti is stronger and a bit bigger than our cats and our stupid cats run away from Roschti and Roschti chases them. If he uses his full strength he can probably push his way through the cat flap when our cats are trying to escape. It was really a wonder that we didn't have a full cat fight at home through the night, but everything seemed to be quiet.

Next part in the plan of action was to visit Roschti's human. Mr. Swiss found this was something women can do better than men (I always knew if women ruled the world, it would be a much better place). Anyhow when I got home from work I went on the search for Mrs. Roschti. Suddenly the source of all feline evil crossed my path, so I following the ginger cat to his home and rung the bell. Roschti's human opened the door - a very nice woman (a bit younger than me, which is not so difficult) and we had a nice discussion about cats. I found her opening sentence was really sweet. She said that Roschti was a real renegade and yesterday night he didn't even come home. I explained that he stayed the night at our place and we both had to laugh. She told me his name is Roschti, because of his rust coloured coat, and also mentioned that his days here are numbered in this area (I had to suppress my smile of delight). Roschti actually belongs to her daughter who will soon be moving to where she can have a cat. The idea is that Roschti stays at home through the night, but mostly he is out for a moonlight stroll and does not come home.

Roschti has been operated and is a tom cat. His human did mention that they used to live next door to a dog owning family, but even their dog was frightened of Roschti (which didn't surprise me). At least we now know who this strange red haired cat belongs to, although I am not planning to stay up all night to see what happens. Mrs. Roschti did say that he does not like being drenched with cold water (already been done) and loud noises like clapping with your hands - also tried out. I really felt back to the days when my kids were at school, talking to their parents.

Perhaps my cats might get used to Roschti and sort of adopt him as big brother, but I don't think so. Funnily enough the only cat that is not frightened of him is our Fluffy. Perhaps it is because he is blind and just doesn't see him. Mr. Swiss told me that Fluffy was having a good sniff at the cat centre today where Roschti spent the night. We hope that Roschti finds his way home this evening and does not decide to make a sleepover at our place.

Any suggestions for an improvement of the situation are gladly accepted.

Happy Birthday Cats - Tabby and Nera

It's their birthday tomorrow, although with cats you can never be too sure. They will be 6 years old, born in a small Swiss village called Luterbach, about ten minutes drive from where I live. It was a bit of a coincidence actually. I wrote about Lady our first cat that only lived until she became six months old. Both Mr. Swiss and I were devastated but we missed her so much that we decided to take the chance with taking in a cat again, although I found that two cats were better than one. After the experience with our first cat, I decided that we would not be so focused on one cat. Lady was an Autumn cat, and it was now Spring, when most cats are born. I got Lady through a friend of mine in the office and as coincidences would have it, Lady's mother had yet another litter with four kittens, so we decided to take the chance. I went to see the kittens. One kitten was staying with her mother, another had already been "adopted" and I could have Tabby and Nera. Although they were litter sisters, they were completely different.

It was obvious from the beginning that Nera, the black one, was the boss.

Tabby: What do I hear Mrs. Human. I was supposed to be the boss.
Nera: I was born first, and the first cat out is the one in charge.
Tabby: I was ready to go out and you pushed me with your back legs, so I had to take the second place.
Me: Is that true Nera?
Nera: Well not really, Tabby was in the way and I wanted to have a look at my mum from outside.
Tabby: Nera you pushed me, it was the same with the milk supply.
Nera: Tabby, it was every cat for him/herself. Can I help it if you were sleeping most of the time.
Tabby: It was only because our mum pushed you away that I managed to get on the milk tap. You were hogging all of the milk.
Nera: First come, first served Tabby. Anyhow you must have got your ration, you are still here.
Tabby: But noted I am a head smaller that you. That was because my milk ration was only a ration and not the full amount. On the other hand I am nice and slim and not so fat like other cats I will not mention.
Nera: Hisssss
Me: Stop hissing Nera, they say that kittens that are overweight when they are small always stay overweight when they get bigger.
Nera: I am not overweight, I have long fur and it gives the illusion that I am big. Just take a look at the photo that was taken when I had my haircut.

Tabby: You look a bit miserable there Nera.
Nera: So would you if you had your fur shaved off while you were put to sleep. But see how slim I am.
Tabby: You look like The Lion King.
Nera: I didn't feel like the Lion King after that haircut. Couldn't eat for a whole night.
Me: That was because of the anaesthetic Nera, but you soon recovered and your fur grew nicely back afterwards.
Tabby: Yes and she didn't stink so much any more.
Nera: I did not stink, any talking of stinking you don't smell like a rose either Tabby when you roll in the catnip in the garden.
Tabby: I would rather have catnip than snails in my fur Nera.
Me: So cats, stop arguing. You both have a wish for your birthday food, or is that a silly question.
Nera: Yes, that is a silly question. It is our birthday on Wednesday and what do we have on Wednesday?
Tabby & Nera together: Tuna Fish.
Tabby: And it will be a double portion this time as it is Wednesday and our birthday, won't it Mrs. Human?
Me: If you think you can eat so much Tuna fish.
Nera: No problem, I can always eat Tuna fish.
Tabby: I remember a time when you didn't eat anything a whole week long and had to go to the vets. That was when you ate a long piece of string.
Nera: Well it looked interesting, so I just swallowed it - I thought it was a worm.
Me: Yes you were quite ill then Nera and we had to leave you at the vets for three days.
Nera: I remember, I didn't like that bit at all. But as soon as I came home I felt a lot better. I even had my appetite again.
Tabby: I remember that Mr. and Mrs. Human were looking in our cat box every time you went there to see if the string appeared.
Nera: that was most degrading. I mean we cats do bury our business - that was an invasion on our privacy.
Me: It was for your own good Nera, we had to make sure that you would recover and what you swallowed had passed through you.
Tabby: Nera, if you was as intelligent as you are bossy, you would have realised it was for your own good.
Nera: Tabby, I am the most intelligent cat here, I was the first born.
Tabby: So there we are again. I seem to remember this part of the conversation. Mrs. Human just make sure you give Nera a little bit more Tuna fish that me tomorrow, so that she keeps quiet and stops showing off.
Nera: Tabby, I just can't help it if I am the most beautiful cat here.
Tabby: As I said beautiful but who has the brains around here? Do you remember when Mrs. Human shut you in the cupboard because she didn't know that you were in the cupboard. What did I do? I laid in front of the cupboard and kept pawing at the door until she came to see what happened. Because of me she let you out. So who has the brains?
Me: Ok cats, tomorrow is your birthday so look forward to it.
Tabby & Nera: We will Mrs. Human, so time for a few hours sleep until tuna fish time.

Loosing an hour's sleep

I didn't seem to bother my cats that we all had an hour's less sleep from Saturday to Sunday. They seem to spend most of their lives sleeping. It was a nice sunny day on Sunday and so I spent some of the morning on a photo session with the cats. Tabby walked into the neighbour's garden and stopped for me to take a photo in the hyacinths.

Deutsch: Es hat meine Katzen überhaupt nicht gestört, dass wir ein Stunde weniger Schlaf von Samstag bis Sonntag hätte. Es scheint das sie schlafen ein Grossteil von Ihren Leben so oder so. Es war eine schöne sonnige Tag am Sonntag und ich verbrachte ein Teil von der morgen mit ein Katze-Fotosession. Tabby spazierte zu die Nachbar Garten und warterte auf mich für ein Foto zu machen in die Hyazinthe.

Fluffy and Nera decided to stay in the shady part of the garden to watch what might happen. It could be that Garfield, the new cat from next door, might take a walk in their territory and they were nearer to the escape route.

Deutsch: Fluffy und Nera entschied in die shättige Teil von Garten zu bleiben und zuschauen. Es könnte sein das Garfield, die neue Katz von nebenan würde ein Spaziergang machen in Ihre Terrotorium und sie waren denn näher an die Flucht.

I had another important job. I am looking after Bobinette, the cat next door, for a few days. She has just come back from a holiday in the Swiss mountains with her humans and is now back home.

Nera: Hey Mrs. Human why can't we go on holiday to such nice places. Bobinette said there were lots of mice where she was staying.
Tabby: Nera stop bothering Mrs. Human. You know you don't like going on long journeys and Bobinette was staying in the places where there was a lot of snow.
Nera: Hissss - Tabby. You know what a showoff that cat is next door and I want to do something where I can show off.
Me: Nera tell Bobinette about the extra portion of tuna fish you will have this evening the next time you see her.
Nera: I am getting an extra portion of tuna fish this evening. Meow.
Me: Was that a thank you meow Nera.
Nera: We cats do not say thank you - the word does not exist in our language. We take what we can get.
Tabby: Well Mrs. Human, you have been allowed to live with us cats a couple of years now, so you should have learnt that lesson by now.
Fluffy: I have to agree with Tabby and Nera. We cats are here to be spoilt, fed and given a nice comfortable place to sleep. Of course, our ancestors had it better in the corn chambers, but as long as we get our regular ration of tuna on Wednesday and sometimes an extra one, we are quite happy to allow you to live with us.

I gave up on that conversation, it seems I don't really know everything about cats that I thought I did. Cats are not selfish, we just have to make sure they are satisfied with the way we look after them.

Deutsch: Ich hätte noch ein wichtiger Arbeit. Ich muss schauen zum Bobinette, die Nachbars Katze, für ein paar Tage. She war gerade zurück von Ferien in die Schweizer Berge mit Ihre Menschen und is jetzt wieder zu Hause.

Nera: Hey, Frau Mensch, warum könne wir auch nicht in Ferien gehen in solche schöner Ortschaften. Bobinette sagte es war viele Mäuse wo sie war.
Tabby: Nera tu Frau Mensch nicht so belasten mit solche Frage. Du weisst du gehst nicht gern auf lange Reisen und Bobinette war dort wo es viele Schnee gab.
Nera: Hissss - Tabby du weisst was ein solche Angeberin die Katze nebenan ist und ich möchte etwas machen wo ich auch angeben kann.
Ich: Nera erzähl Bobinette von die zusätzliche Portion Thonfish du bekommst heute Abend, die nächste Mal, dass du sie siehst.
Nera: Ich bekomme ein Extra Portion Thonfisch heute Abend? Meow
Ich: War das ein Meow Dankeschön
Nera: Wir Katzen sagen nicht Dankeschön - diese Wort existiert nicht in unsere Sprache. Wir nehmen was wie kriegen kann.
Tabby: Also Frau Mensch, du darfst mit uns leben seit ein paar Jahre jetzt, so dass solltest du wissen.
Fluffy: Ich muss da zustimmen mit Tabby und Nera. Wir Katzen sind hier um verwöhnt zu werden, gefuttert und ein schöne bequeme Platz zum schlafen gegeben. Natürlich unsere Ahnen hat es besser in die Kornkammer gehabt, aber solange wir unsere gewöhnliche PortionThonfish kriegen am Mittwoch und ab un zu ein extra Portio, du darfst weiterhin mit uns wohnen.

Ich gab auf mit diese Unterhaltung, es scheint ich weiss eingentlich nicht alles über Katzen, was ich meinte. Katzen sind nicht egoistisch, wir müssen sicher sein dass sie sind zufrieden mit uns?