A Rainy Saturday

Well I suppose you cannot have sunshine every day, but today was what we call in Switzerland grey in grey. This morning started ok, and our hunting trip in the local supermarket was quite successful. I decided to take a look at the English cup final in soccer on the tv in the afternoon.

Cardiff playing against Portsmouth - the cup finals in England are just not what they used to be. The match was not exactly match of the year and thank goodness Portsmouth won. I have no problems myself if a Welsh team would win, but I read that the english football association would, as the winner of the cup final goes to Europe playing against other cup winning teams. How could England send a Welsh team to Europe representing England. After what I saw of the final this year I think a lot of the game has lost its spirit. Glasgow Celtic played against Zenit Moscow in Manchester and apparently there was a lot of blood lost and injuries after the match when the fans went on a rampage through Manchester - the result was 4:0 for the Russian team. Now imagine if a Welsh team lost the UEFA cup winners cup in some far country such as France or even Italy, I am sure leeks would be banned from the grocery shops for a long time afterwards. Anyhow all's well that ends well and Portsmouth won, which was not a bad result considering that the team is managed by a one time West Ham player Harry Redknapp that even grew up in Poplar just a short bus ride from Bethnal Green where I grew up. Who knows, I might even have met him at a dance hall once in my teenager years and didn't even realise it.

My hubby was busy with something or the other on the tv, we now have something called HD on one of the televisions at home so he was naturally examining all advantages from all angles and tv stations. I was busy updating my first aid group Internet pages and then I remembered we have 3 cats somewhere. I had not seen them for some time and knowing that they avoid rain at all times when possible I went on a hunt.

"Well you didn't have to go far, did you Mrs. Human?" and Nera appeared on the scene.
That was true of course, Nera did go outside but stayed near by.

"I decided to take up a pole position on top of the garden refuse bin - Gives me a good view of my territory"
"Ah Nera, just leave that word "my" out of your vocabulary, it is actually OUR territory" and Tabby appeared.
Nera looked a bit annoyed "And where was you Tabby when I was observing to make sure that the red threat called Roschti, the cat from over the path, kept out of my - sorry our - territory. You seem to be otherwise occupied and so I had to keep my eye on everything again."
"I was having a cat nap Nera and a cat nap means that although my eyes were closed, my ears and nose were fully awake and I would have been ready to pounce if Roschti had shown himself in our garden."

"I would have helped as well" and along came Fluffy. "I was awake but inside - If Roschti had come near the cat flap I would have pounced on him and he would have had no chance"
Well luckily enough there was no sign of Roschti this afternoon, so I think he was avoiding the rain as well. I had a small extra job this week-end and was looking after the cat next door, Bobinette, as her humans were away. She was glad to see me when I paid a visit with her food.

"Of course she is glad to see you, Mrs. Human" said Nera. "Just imagine she is on her own all day, which I am sure does not bother her so much, we cats like to be alone and left to our own thoughts. Bobinette needs food and as she is equipped with something called paws, which all us cats have, she cannot open the parcels of food that the supermarket have and put them in the dishes, so Bobinette needs a servant, like you Mrs. Human, to do it all for her."
"You are right Nera, I sometimes think the humans have funny ideas about us cats" said Fluffy. "They seem to think that they are in charge - funny thoughts they have."
"Now you are talking a bit of sense there Fluffy" and Tabby joined in the conversation. "If the humans hadn't wanted always to try something new out we would have still been in the corn chambers feeding on mice. Our paws would have been enough equipment."
"And our teeth and claws" added Nera.
"Yes, indeed" Tabby continued. "We didn't need packets of food with minced chicken, beef and whatever. Our mice diat would have been sufficient. Those chambers had enough to make a cat happy."
"Talking of mice" I joined in "which one of you three corn chamber refugees happened to put that king sized dead mole in front of the door out on the porch yesterday morning. I almost trod on it when I opened the window to go out."
"That must have been Roschti" answered all 3 cats together.
I decided to terminate the conversation. You can never really win against the cats, especially if they all gang up on you.
"But one thing cats" I added "Just don't expect me to organise a corn chamber in the cupboard outside - it's enough when the mice get deposited out on the porch if you happen to catch one, I don't have to organise their living quarters to make things easier for you, now do I."
"Typical human" said Nera
So I just looked into her round yellow eyes and asked if they had tuna fish in the corn chamber as well. She decided to take a cat nap.

How to keep cool in the warmer weather

When I moved over to Switzerland from England I didn't really expect that life would be full of fish and chips and yorkshire pudding as I was going to a different country - so I decided when in Rome do as the Romans do. However there are certain things I have never got used to. I took the photo yesterday from the office window, and as can be seen it is a warm sunny day. I feel honoured to have such a nice view from my office window, nature pure and sun and fresh air.

We also had warm sunny days in the East End of London. Obviously the view was not the same, but the sun was there and reflecting from the concrete buildings and pavements, it could get quite hot. We had windows to let the light in, with curtains to draw in the evening. In Switzerland we have blinds on all the windows, also perhaps curtains, although my curtains are at a minimum. When I was at home my mum would open the windows to let some fresh air in and also leave the door open to let the fresh air circulate. Perhaps it is Switzerland, or perhaps modern discoveries, but I quickly had to learn that here if your open a window then definitely not when the sun is shining. This can cause the heat to collect indoors and it will get too warm. The door must be shut as if you open the window and the door is open there is a draught and draughts must be avoided at all times.

This was the beginning of my training to keep temperatures under control indoors. So the general picture is that when it is a hot summers day, the windows are kept closed and the blinds that we have are kept drawn. This keeps the inside of the house cool. I must admit there is some sense in this, but I just don't enjoy sitting indoors with the electric light on during the day. I would mention that in the kitchen at home, the room where most of our existence takes place, the windows are open as they lead into the garden. So generally in Summer I am either in the kitchen or out on the porch.

This state of affairs is carried on in the work place, especially if it is an office.

My colleague in the office is not practicing his daily gymnastics but is helping to keep our office cool on a summer day. We have windows in the roof of the office and on a sunny day the sun shines through and disturbs the computer screen views, so I have been told. I myself have no problem. My screen is always clear and I have never noticed a reflection, probably my eyesight is accustomed to normal daylight. However, as soon as a ray of sun shines through the window in the roof the blinds have to be closed. Yes, even our windows in the roof have blinds. We even have special instruments for closing these blinds. Not an easy job as can be seen, but with practice the blinds are closed. The next step is also to shut the blinds on the widows which can be seen in the background. I would add that this operation is only performed in the afternoon as in the mornings the sun is on the Eastern side - these windows look towards West.

So there we have the perfect Swiss office in the afternoon, all windows closed so that no hot air enters and complete darkness as the blinds are down. The next step is to turn artificial lighting on. This has been one of my biggest problems living where I am now. I suppose I grew up at a time where light and sun were considered as being good for you, and a draught was not a draught but fresh air. I would add that the house I grew up in went through two world wars and there was no door in it that fitted into the frame, probably due to the vibrations from the bombing and the fact that the house was built in 1884 and had shifted a bit on its foundations.

I don't even have health problems due to growing up in a permanent draught and being singed by the sun. Am I a bit strange in these views?

Guess what the cats had today - Yes, tuna fish

Well they all had their noses in their dishes this evening, although Nera looked a bit aloof.
"What did you expect, Mrs. Human, I was waiting for my tuna and you gave Tabby and Fluffy their fish first of all. I am not used to be the last, after all I am the oldest and most beautiful."
"Hold you squeaks Nera" said Tabby, "it just so happens that since you run away from Roschti all the time and I have to do the chasing your status has gone down just a little bit".

Although the argument between my cats didn't last very long. Tabby soon had her nose in her fish dish and Fluffy did not even bother to join in the conversation. Tuna fish is tuna fish. And what did Nera do, she waited a couple of minutes and could not resist the fish any more and started munching. Afterwards they had a relaxing hour out on the porch.

I had an interesting meeting after lunch today. I parked my car at work and was walking over to the office building, loaded with a shopping bag and two pots of herbs (chives and basil) which looked very nice. Then I looked down and saw a butterfly in its last hours. I had never seen one that colour before so I put my bags down and took the camera out. Unfortunately the butterfly was moving so the photo did not show the result I would have liked.

It got a bit blurred around the edge. It was a bit of an uneventful day. Nothing special actually happened. My value in Facebook has increase, it seems I have now been bought for L$500. I have also collected 3 colleagues from work as my friends in Facebook who have been there for some time. It's a small world really I suppose.

I now have to water the garden, Fluffy is telling me he wants to go inside and it is no longer so warm out here on the porch so I think I will now call it a day.

Today was my lucky day

Admittedly I am not an Madonna lookalike and my days of Barbara Streisland look alike also seem to be disappearing, but for my son I am at an interesting age (?) and today I discovered I am worth something. Well up to now exactly L$400 . I now belong to an individual that I do not know, have never met and is 30 years younger than I am. Things are going so fast that I cannot keep up, but I believe my value has increased by about L$200 since this morning.

Where is this all happening. On Facebook of course - thankyou son. I had a visit from my son for a few days and he told me he was on facebook, so his stupid mum had to join as well. This does have its advantages, son sent me a virtual rose for mother's day and I sent him a glass of beer.

However back to my value. Now I must say I am completely new to this Facebook/Myspace teenie thing, but what we mothers do to keep up with the kids knows no boundaries. Mr. Swiss tells me not to speak to loudly when I talk about being sold and buying people. A web colleague bought me today (when she reads this she know who she is). Basically I was flattered, but then I didn't realise that I could be sold again. Since the initial sale I have been bought and sold three times. I am not very happy with my owner at the moment, not my sort of thing, but who knows perhaps the Brad Pitt lookalike will find I am the woman of his dreams and then you can be certain that I will buy him.

Thank goodness Explorer 7 has the tab system. I can open spacebook at the same time as Multiply, so while I am writing this blog I can see what is happening to me.

I have also joined the social me tournament. I don't really know how that happened, I just did a click somewhere and there I am. It seems that if I invite 20 friends I get a bonus of 40,000 Bonus Points and highest priority placement within search results, fun. I started adding up on my fingers and found I must be a very lonely person as I really don't have 20 people I would count as my friends, at least not in the Facebook average age group.

At the moment I only have four friends in facebook, but I am already stressed with those four. At least I was not surprised this evening when my son phoned me from Brussels airport to say he was waiting for the plane to Ljublijana. I knew he was going some time, but saw his plans on facebook.

You can also send human gifts to people, perhaps a leg, an arm or a new nose (that would suit me - mine was always a bit on the large size, hence the Barbara Streisland thing).

There are lots of things you can do, but unfortunately I have not yet discovered all of them. Am waiting for the next visit from son No. 2 that he can fill me in. On the other hand after surfing around a bit on facebook I have discovered that I have four colleagues in the office that belong. Must ask few questions tomorrow.

The Handbag

My 6th cousin in Canada sent me this one. I think there is a lot of truth in it.

Have you ever noticed girls who sit their handbags on public toilet floors, then go directly to their dining tables and set it on the table? Happens a lot! It's not always the 'restaurant food' that causes stomach distress. Sometimes 'what you don't know will hurt you'! Read on...
A mother got so upset when guests came in the door and plopped their handbags down on the counter where she was cooking or setting up food. She always said that handbags are really dirty, because of where they have been. It's something just about every woman carries with them. While we may know what's inside our handbags, do you have any idea what's on the outside?

Women carry handbags everywhere; from the office to public toilets to the floor of the car. Most women won't be caught without their handbags, but did you ever stop to think about where your handbag goes during the day.

"I drive a school bus, so my handbag has been on the floor of the bus a lot," says one woman.
"On the floor of my car, and in toilets."
"I put my handbag in grocery shopping carts and on the floor of the toilet," says another woman "and of course in my home which should be clean."

It was decided to find out if handbags harbor a lot of bacteria. A test was made at Nelson Laboratories in Salt Lake on the average woman's handbag. Most women said they didn't stop to think about what was on the bottom of their handbag. Most said at home they usually set their handbags on top of kitchen tables and counters where food is prepared. Most of the ladies said they wouldn't be surprised if their handbags were at least a little bit dirty. It turns out handbags are so surprisingly dirty, even the microbiologist who tested them was shocked. Microbiologist Amy Karen of Nelson Labs says nearly all of the handbags tested were not only high in bacteria, but high in harmful kinds of bacteria.

Pseudomonas can cause eye infections, staphylococcus aurous can cause serious skin infections, and salmonella and e-coli found on the handbags could make people very sick. In one sampling, four of five handbags tested positive for salmonella, and that's not the worst of it. "There is fecal contamination on the handbags" says Amy. Leather or vinyl handbags tended to be cleaner than cloth handbags, and lifestyle seemed to play a role. People with kids tended to have dirtier handbags than those, with one exception. The handbag of one single woman who frequented nightclubs had one of the worst contaminations of all. "Some type of feces, or possibly vomit" says Amy.

So the moral of this story is that your handbag won't kill you, but it does have the potential to make you very sick if you keep it on places where you eat. Use hooks to hang your handbag at home and in toilets, and don't put it on your desk, a restaurant table, or on your kitchen countertop. Experts say you should think of your handbag the same way you would a pair of shoes. "If you think about putting a pair of shoes onto your countertops, that's the same thing you're doing when you put your handbag on the countertops" - Your handbag has gone where individuals before you have sneezed, coughed, spat, urinated, emptied bowels, etc! Do you really want to bring that home with you? The microbiologists at Nelson also said cleaning a handbag will help. Wash cloth handbags and use leather cleaner to clean the bottom of leather handbags.

Whit Sunday and mother's day combined

After a week of non stop sunshine the heavens grew grey this evening and there was rain. Not that it bothered me much as I was just thinking I would have to go and water the garden and some work was saved. We had a bit of a light show accompanied by thunder so my cats decided not to go out.

"That was a bit of an inconvenience" Nera the big fat black cat complained "I decided to sleep most of the afternoon to save my energy for this evening and just as I woke up and had a lick to prepare myself for the evening - you never know who you might meet on the way - it started raining."
"You should do it like I do" said Tabby "Have a sleep during the day outside in the shade of a tree, then if it starts raining in the evening there is no problem. Even Mr. Grey decided to take a rest in the shade of our apple tree."

"I thought you didn't like Mr. Grey" answered Nera.
"Nera, since you told me to treat him nicely and not scare him away any more I just have to put up with it don't I?"
"You know Tabby just think a bit, he does not like Roschti the red cat that is always putting his nose into our territory, so I thought if it comes to scratches and hisses, he could be a help to us if we treat him right."
"Nera one thing is quite clear and that is when Roschti arrives on the scene we only see your wonderful bushy silky tail disappearing through the cat flap, so I suppose it is a good idea to keep Mr. Grey on our side."

"Mrs. Human said that I have a nice bushy silky tail as well" piped up Fluffy.
"Fluffy, I have told you before, Selkirk Rex cats should be seen and not heard"
"But Nera, I don't run away from Roschti and I even frightened him away yesterday."
"Fluffy, just because Mrs. Human makes a photo of your tail, it does not mean that you are the best looking around here."

So at this point I had to intervene before one of those snappy hissing cat disagreements broke out. I had to leave my cats for a few minutes and go and visit Nuschi the cat upstairs. I have known Nuschi almost eight years. She was then an older lady and is now 18 years old. My neighbour was on holiday in the french part of Switzerland when a little kitten kept turning up for food. The kitten seemed to be homeless so she took him home with her and Nuschi (her name) has been living with my neighbour since. Nuschi is an indoor cat and when my neighbour goes away for a few days I usually look after her.

As Nuschi is now very old (in human years about 100 years) she is naturally no longer as healthy as she could be. She lost her sight gradually and now has kidney problems so needs special food.

I usually spend a few minutes with her for a stroke and a cuddle. She now sleeps most of the time, but is eating well and seems to be doing fine in spite of her health problems.

I made the most of the week-end and as tomorrow is another day free for Whitsun Monday it means there is no stress this evening. I even received a virtual rose from my son in Belgium. Since we are both connected on face book, we often meet on internet.

The storm has now passed over, and now I should visit my washing machine and fill it with some bits and pieces. Yes, a mother's work is never done, but thanks to modern installations we do get it done a lot quicker these days, and let us not forget, we now have emancipation (and so do the men).