WordPress Daily Prompt: Road Tripping

Tis the season for road trips — if time and money were out of the equation, what car-based adventure would you go on? (If you don’t or can’t drive, any land-based journey counts.)

Heaven forbid, no I am not doing that again, never. Every year Mr. Swiss and family Angloswiss, with 2 kids, took a road trip to arrive at a holiday destination. Where did we go? We are Swiss, and we stayed in Switzerland in one of those wonderful holiday places with sun, fun and nothing to do. The problem was that you had to do a road trip.

Mr. Swiss and Mrs. Angloswiss were working in the office on Friday, although preparations had been made during the week for the big journey. Washing, ironing, organising what to pack and eventually we were free. We had three weeks holiday, two of which were spent away from it all. It was usually the last week in July, first in August, the so-called watch-makers holidays when the factories in our area were all closed. This was our heat wave season, when daily temperatures were soaring and a good night’s sleep was impossible due to the heat.

Where did we go?: to the Italian part of Switzerland of course, silly question. Where everyone goes because you know you will have good weather, you know that it is the place to be and it is still within the borders of your country, although Italy is perhaps 30 minutes away by car over the border, so you even have the opportunity to make further road trips while you are there. There are a few problems connected with this South Swiss holiday. You have to cross a mountain range to arrive, known as the Gotthard. There is also the San Bernardino, we chose the Gotthard as we generally spent the holiday in places near Lugano or Locarno where you knew it was the place to go and where it was more or less a direct route via Gotthard. Unfortunately thousands of other Swiss, with their families, had the same idea. What was usually a four hour drive could develop into a eight hour drive as everyone was taking the same path to the glorious South.

To ensure avoiding the chaos we left early in the morning. It was not even morning. Dawn was breaking and we parcelled two very sleepy kids into a fully luggage packed car and this was fun? So we began the journey and first hour to Lucerne was OK. It was on the motorway and traffic was flowing. After Lucerne it was no longer flowing so much, now and again it stopped. This was in the days before we had a fantastic, modernised network of motorways and tunnels. We had a choice to either drive over the Gotthard, which now at least had a new motorway, or to load the car onto a train and get pulled through the tunnel. It made no great difference. Either you had long waiting times for the train, or you had to climb up a narrow road to reach the top of the Gotthard where you could afterwards drive down to the sunny side off the mountain leading to the Ticino, as the Italian part of Switzerland is called.

The choice we made varied, but our four hour travel timetable had already been used up and we were approaching the fifth hour when we eventually left the Gotthard behind us and arrived in the glorious South of Switzerland. Now the road trip became a torture. Lugano or Locarno were in the south of Ticino and we had to drive through the complete valley to arrive: the sun was beating down, you had two frustrated kids in the car and we were in a traffic jam. Not just a jam, it was a stop. Now and again we moved a few centimetres, but the view from the window was the same. Remember these were the days when Mrs. Angloswiss had not yet taken her driving test and Mr. Swiss had to do it all by himself. We had left our beds at 3’o clock in the morning. We departed an hour later and it was now around 11 o’clock in the morning and our nerves were no longer awake and ready to go. Our patience had terminated some time ago when one of the kids decided he had to go somewhere. We found one of those rest places along the motorway so we all made the most of it and that problem was put on one side. The motor road through the Tessin is accompanied by many little villages on the way. They would be very pretty and picturesque, but we just did not find time to appreciate them.

Now we were feeling hungry and we made a lunch stop. Actually lunch was planned when we arrived in our holiday apartment/house, but it seemed that lunch in the new place would become evening meal, which it did. Eventually we arrived, some-time in the late afternoon. We must have been suckers for punishment as we did this annually for approximately four years.

One day we decided this Italian sun and fun was enough and we changed our route to the Bernese Overland. It was 2-3 hours away, up in the mountains, and although there were a few bottle necks with traffic, it was easier on the nerves. By this time I had taken my driving test (I was a late beginner) and I had my own car, so we often took both cars, dividing the kids between us. Mr. Swiss had the more powerful car, I had a little Fiat 127, but it was OK, small and handy.

Today we go nowhere. Swiss roads have developed positively over the years and there is a complete network of tunnels, motorways and good wide roads connecting everything. They have even built a new road tunnel through the Gotthard, and here is a film. It takes about 15 minutes, so the film is boring and all you see are tunnel walls. We have done this a few times, and as long as there are no accidents it is OK. If there is an accident it might be closed and only one lane can be used.

I would not advise anyone to travel through Switzerland in Summer. We have snow and ice in winter which causes damage on the roads and also makes road repairs impossible. The repair work is carried out in summer which means a few detours and traffic jams to allow the repair work to be done. I noticed even our local road/street at the high school is closed at the moment because things are being done. So tourists, please no road trips just for the fun of it in Switzerland in Summer. It can become frustrating for the natives who have their own traffic problems.

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WordPress Daily Prompt: Memories of Holidays Past

What is your very favorite holiday? Recount the specific memory or memories that have made that holiday special to you. 

Photographers, artists, poets: show us BELOVED

Daily Prompt sometimes wants to know too much. I like writing my blogs, but avoid telling too much of my private life and this is asking for too much private so I am not going into too many details.

My favourite holiday? I do not do favourite holidays, they happen and I do what everyone expects me to do. I think in this case Christmas is the holiday that is asked for. I am an athest, but find having a celebration once a year with all the trimmings is OK.

Christmas was a good holiday when I was a kid. They were what I call the black and white holidays, because if we had any photos (and we do not) they would be in black and white, coloured films being too expensive in the fifties and beginning sixties. It was a family Christmas, it had always been that way and so it stayed. The family being mum’s family with a short visit to dad’s mum and dad and sister before the party started. Me, my five cousins and the aunts and uncles gathered at the biggest house in the family where my aunt lived. She had the tree, in silver plastic, we had presents and all the aunts gathered in the kitchen to make the tea. Evening was a party with music, dancing and singing and plenty to drink. Of course it was fun, I had no work, got presents and we kids were left to ourselves.

So let us fast forward to my days when I had young children of my own. My mum and dad would come from England to Switzerland and spend the week with us. We had a tree, done Swiss style with real candles. Mum was a bit nervous on that one, thinking that the house would probably burn down if we were not careful. We celebrate in Switzerland on 24^th December in the evening, another problem for mum. She was used to a real good old East End knees up party on 25^th. Switzerland is more into the real meaning stuff of Christmas. We have fun, not exactly a carnival celebration, more on the quiet side.

The evening meal is the meal of the holiday, meaning mum cooks it and all the others eat it. Not like the ham sandwiches from the good old black and white days, no you prepared it. and cooked it. Perhaps a chateau briand with the trimmings, meaning making a sauce to go with it and various vegetables. It was work in the kitchen. Of course you supply a desert, could be ice cream and fruit, or something with a delicate sweet sauce. After the meal the kids are to produce something, perhaps say a poem or play an instrument and sing. Then they get the presents from the tree. Just not the happy go lucky Christmas from the good old days in London, something completely different. I think it was then I realised that Christmas could be hard work and it was probably similar for my aunts when I was younger.

Time goes on, the family grows up, and the kids are no longer kids. I now like my quiet Christmas. It is now on a smaller scale, the work is less, the stress is less and the presents are less. 

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3 Kings Day - 6th January

So now Christmas is really behind us. 6th January is the day when the Christmas decorations are removed and put back into the cellar or wherever they remain for the next 11 months. It is also a day in some countries in Europe where the visit of the 3 Kings from the Orient is celebrated in the shape of a cake as above. It is something like a sweetish sort of bread and made in segments for a purpose. In one of the segments a plastic king is hidden (I think the original many years ago was a bean). The person who gets the part with the king can then take the crown and tell everyone what to do the rest of the day. I always buy one as it is a custom. In earlier days it kept the kids happy wondering if they could push me and Mr. Swiss around, although if they had bad luck me or Mr. Swiss would get the King. This year as the 6th was on Sunday I had to buy the cake on Saturday. There was a special offer going and as you came into the shop and it was seen that you had one in the basket, you were offered a free piece from one of the shop assistants. Now if this free piece happened to have a King in it you got another 3 Kings cake free of charge. I didn't get all this as I was actually busy trying to buy stuff to feed the family for the week-end. Mr. Swiss, however, saw all this going on and as he was pushing the trolly (I mean he has to be occupied with something) he was offered a piece of Kings cake. Now guess who had a plastic King in the piece of cake. So Mr Swiss got another 3 Kings cake free of charge. We ate one yesterday (Mr. Swiss got the plastic king again) and we had the other one today and guess who got the 3rd plastic King again. Yes well sometimes there is more luck than judgement isn't there.

A small tree, but our cats are not to be trusted with anything bigger, otherwise they would probably demolish a tall green tree within a few minutes, or it might come crashing to the ground in the middle of the night. As the family gets older, the presents get smaller, and those few envelopes that are distributed have enough room around this tree - although there were a few other parcels.

We also have something called a Christmas wreath. The four candles represent the four Sundays of Advent, and on the four Sundays before Christmas one candle more is lighted, so the Sunday before Christmas all four are burning. Actually the idea is real fir tree twigs and red candles, but I always was a bit different to the rest. We have plastic twigs and the real ones tend to catch on fire. We often hear the fire engines on their way in Winter putting out a blaze in a house caused by such a wreath. Also I found that blue is a nice colour.

My son also departed today on his way back to Belgium where he works. He was out and about while he was here, meeting his friends, practicing his pool billiard talents and going to parties, although now and again he did eat at home. At the moment when I write he is probably sitting in the plane winging his way back. Just had a telephone call, he is still sitting at the airport as the flight has been delayed.

Oh yes, and before I forget, Mr. X noticed on his way down to the garage today, that the curious sock incident was sort of solved. Some time between 10 yesterday evening and 10 this morning, someone had removed the socks, although I didn't see anyone walking around with two feet in different sizes. Mr. X also pumped up the tyre of the car that was losing air, and it seems to hold, although a visit to the tyre merchants will be made tomorrow. It doesn't seem to be too serious, probably someone drove over a nail in the road. Here is a last glance at our Christmas table.

Christmas has gone and now for the New Year

I do look pleased with myself don't I. The photo was taken this morning after we had been in the supermarket behind me. The shelves were once again filled with food meaning that someone somewhere had to work after Christmas to ensure that our life could continue with no interruptions. Everything being a special offer. The photo shows a joice of ham which can be cooked in the bag (a sort of European speciality at Christmas and New Year), the advantage being that you can buy it a couple of weeks before you actually eat it. Sort of convenience food. Did I buy one - of course, that will do for lunch over the New Year.

Not only did I survive Christmas but am ready to go for the New Year, basically because I know at New Year I will be at home, sending everyone else to celebrate somewhere. Christmas was quiet. We barricaded ourselves indoors, at least me and Mr. Swiss, and as we had enough provisions we managed to survive quite well. . We had our main celebration on Christmas Eve with giving presents and good food, and afterwards Mr. Swiss and I were two of the millions watching East Enders on tv which made the programme record breaking in England. Even our sons were at home on Christmas Eve. On the 25th there was a party somewhere in town so we were then alone. I had to think back to my earlier days in the East End of London when we celebrated Christmas.

The family would meet at my Aunts house in Dagenham, as that was the biggest house of all of us and there was plenty of sleeping room. As busses and trains stopped at four in the afternoon, we had a 30 minute walk down to my aunts house from the underground station. No problem, there was always a cup of tea waiting when we arrived. I remember my mum and my aunts preparing the food in the kitchen. That was usually cold meat, cheese, bread and butter, and some salad. We kids (me and my 4 cousins all about the same age) used to look forward to "afters" (desert these days). A sort of jelly base with fruit and custard in a little wax form. The aunts and uncles would wash everything down with cups and cups of tea - we kids had our tizer (who remembers that?) and lemonade. That was the serious part of the Christmas evening.

Afterwards the merry stuff started. Grandad sat in the chair in the corner with his glass of whisky, as sort of chieften presiding over the clan. We kids would disappear in another room and had our own grammophone where we could listen to records one after the other (78 rpm naturally with sort of throw away needles which would last for ten records). The "grown-ups" would have their own party going, which we joined when things got boring. My mum and my aunt would lead the fun with "knees up muvver brown" and I had two uncles who always did a perfect impersination of Bud Flanagan and Chesney Allen singing "Underneath the Arches". When things got serious my aunt was called upon to give her rendering of "My yiddisher mama". We were not jewish, but for some reason it was my aunt's favourite song. Nearly forgot, we also managed a "hokey kokey" as well.

About midnight we kids would disappear into bed, not without having some sausage rolls first of all, which one of my aunts always had ready as an in between food. Of course there were nuts in abundance to eat. Walnuts, Brazil nuts (almost disappeared), hazelnuts and almonds. The white plastic tree with the tinsel was in the corner and had real electric lights. Sleeping arrangements - you slept where there was room. This meant that I shared the bed with my mum and my aunt (my aunt was the heaviest of all aunts - it was a wonder I survived) and my cousin. My other aunts and cousins also found an empty bed and slept four to a bed. The men all slept on floor space or armchairs (except for grandad of course, he had his own room).

The next morning the female brigade of mum and aunts were busy making breakfast for all. As soon as you sat down a plate of bacon, sausages and eggs was put in front of your. Afterwards we left one by one going home again. I now have only one aunt and my dad still alive and Christmas is no longer as it was. I have contact with two of my cousins when I go over to England. Another one is in New Zealand, so thanks to e-mail we hear from each other once a year and another has sort of disappeared, contact has been lost over the years.

So getting back to the present day I was out again stocking up on food again. It was a very cold day and I was glad to get back home. Even my frog in the garden looked like he would be pleased when Spring arrived again.

It was very cold over Christmas, no big snow falls, but frozen. Son No. 2 managed to fall over yesterday on the ice on the way home from town and he had only had a coffee somewhere. This morning at the supermarket the parking space was also frozen over, and being accident prone I had to be very careful. So how did I spend the first afternoon after Christmas. What all good housewives do - I did some cleaning. I won't be sad when the New Year arrives, at least I can forget about the housework and take it easy again. Now where did I put my book?