Time off from work

This morning I was not very happy. When I drove off to work there was actually snow flakes falling from above. By the time I got to work and during the morning the snow stopped and it brightened up. I was glad as I had an appointment at the docs at eleven. I arrived 5 minutes late and he actually seemed to be waiting for me. It was just a diabetic check up to see if I had been good and kept to my diat. Most of the time I forget to take my tablets and write all the details down. He wasn't very happy about that, but the results were ok so we had a talk about just in time deliveries in connection with my work stress and the medicine he gets from other countries within 24 hours.

On the way back to the car I made a few photos - as usual

Deutsch: Heute morgen war ich nicht sehr glücklich. Es hat tatsachlich ein wenig geschneit während der Fahrt zu der Arbeit. Bis ich in Geschäft war und durch die Morgen hat der Schnee aufgehört und es war ein wenig heller geworden. Ich war froh, weil ich ein Verabredung mit der Arzt hätte um 11 Uhr. Ich kam mit 5 Minuten Verspätung an und ich glaube er hat tatsächlich auf mich gewartet. Es war nur ein diabetiker Kontroll zu schauen, ob ich schön gefolgt habe mit meine Diät. Meistens vergisse ich meine Tabletten zu nehmen und die Detail in Buch schreiben. Der Artzt war nicht sehr glücklich darüber, aber die Resultate waren i.O. so wir haben ein Gespräch geführt über "just in time" Lieferung in Bezug auf meine Arbeitsstress und noch über die Medizin er bekommt innerhalb von 24 Stunde von andere Lände.

Auf dem Weg zu meine Auto ich machte ein paar Fotos - wie immer.

I parked my car in an underground car park on one of the large town squares which has been modernised over the past few years. It used to be a parking lot, now it is flat with the entrance to the park house and a restaurant that is always closed. However there is a telephone cabine there for anyone that might need one today - if you don't have your mobile with you.

Deutsch: Ich parkierte meine Auto in der Untergrund Parkhaus auf eine von unsere Stadt Plätze, etwas modernisiert über die letzten Jahren. Es war ein Parkplatz, jetzt ist es flach mit die Eingang zum Parkhaus und ein Restaurant, welche immer zu hat. Jedoch hier ist auch ein Telephonkabine für irgendjemand zu brauchen - wenn sie kein Handy dabei hat.

For those that do not understand the sticker on the window it says "this is a new Publifone and accepts only change" although I have never tried to put a note in a telephone. It probably means you cannot use one of those telephone cards. I wonder how long it will take before someone breaks the glass.

Deutsch: Ich habe ein Übersetzung gemacht von der Kleber auf dem Fenster für die Englishsprechende unter uns (wie ich). Warum nur Münz, Banknoten nimmt kein Telefon, aber wahrscheinlich wollen wir Schweizer sagen man kann kein Telefonkarte brauchen. Ich frage mich nur wie lange es geht bis die Glass kaput gemacht wird.

This area of Solothurn is known as the "Vorstadt" which translated means actually suburbs. It is a small market town, so the suburbs here are just two streets away from the centre. Although there is only one restaurant on the square opposite which is always closed, here there are 3 restaurants always open, so the people do not get as thirsty as you may think. In Summer they turn themselves into street cafés.

Deutsch: Diese Bezirk von Solothurn ist bekannt als Vorstadt, zwar die Stadtzentrum ist nur 2 Strasse weiter - es ist ein kleine Marktstadt. Zwar es hat nur ein Restaurant gegenüber an der Platz was immer zu hat, hier sind 3 Restaurant, fast immer offen, folglich leiden die Leute nicht so viel unter Durst. Im Sommer sind sie Strassencafés.

Meanwhile back to the office - at approximately 3.30 in the afternoon our computer went into a sort of coma and didn't wake up any more. Was I sad - well it was a bit frustrating. One printer was working but need five minutes to think it over before it printed anything, and as we were five people sharing the printer - well work did sort of come to a standstill. It will be fun tomorrow if the computer decides to come back to life.

Deutsch: Und jetzt zurück zu dem Büro - um 15.30 unsere computer ging in ein Coma-artige Zustand und war nicht wieder Wach. War ich traurig - es war ein wenig frustrierend. Ein Drucker ist noch gelaufen aber hat 5 Minuten gebraucht zum überlegen bevor es hat etwas gedruckt. Wir sind 5 Leute mit ein Drucker - Arbeit hat doch ein wenig Stillstand bekommen. Es wir lustig morgen wenn die Computer wieder zum Leben erweckt wird.

The Days before Christmas in the Office

It was cold this morning.There were even very small snow flakes falling (although more like little ice crystals) so I was hoping on my way to work that we didn't have a layer of ice on the road by the time I got there. I dropped my son off at his workplace on the way and continued listening to warnings on the radio about being careful when driving, it could be dangerous. Our area seemed to be clear of ice and I arrived safely in the office.

Today was a quieter day as up to now and I think that slowly the business world has realised that we will be closing down until the new year. Our office has also started to look a bit more on the Christmas side. One of the girls collects angels, so she decorated her workplace accordingly. Although I found why collect them - after all us girls in the office are mostly all angels (except when we get a bit catty).

I went through the usual morning routine, scanning yesterday's records. Files don't exist any more - everything electronic - I have often wondered what would happen ifsomeone pulled the plug out. I was then offered a Christmas biscuit. One of the colleagues mother had been baking for Christmas. They were all Italian style bisuits as the mother is Italian.

One of the men in the office who is usually on the road as a rep, said he was surprised that we women in the office didn't put weight on all the time. Everytime he was in the office he noticed we always had plenty of cakes and sweet stuff around. I must say that Christmas is no big exception in our office. There is always something to eat.

It's just that at Christmas there is a bit more. The above picture shows the croissants left over from the coffee break, together with the peanuts and chocolate that always seem to appear in the office towards December and stay until January (my desk on the right with the open drawer where I keep my handbag). I myself am not supposed to eat the sweet stuff but even I do now and again get tempted. Just don't bother to measure the carbon values on those days. Now here we have something typically Swiss.

On the lefthand side there is a paper bag containing Basel Läckerli, a Christmas speciality of the town of Basle. Two of the Läckerli can be seen in front of the bag. They are very spicy and naturally calory bombs. It is better to keep the bag closed, otherwise they can become very hard. The tin box has a general mixture of sweet stuff, to be found in the office all year round.

Of course, we also display the various Christmas cards we get. Not so many any more as a lot of companies have decided to send electronic ones. My desk can been seen in the photo on the extreme righthand side.The one with the cat pictures pinned to the divider. So that is Christmas in our office. Tomorrow is the last day before the holiday and I was pleased to hear today that all orders stop at lunchtime. That means processing and sending and everything finished by four in the afternoon, so it looks like we will have some time to have a drink of something or the other (for me just mineral water) and to wish all a Happy Christmas and New Year.

Diversification in the office

Christmas is coming and so is the stress at work, although sometimes I have to laugh at the situations that appear in the daily routine.

This afternoon there was a loud noise in the office, reminded me of home, until I noticed that it was a vacuum cleaner being used by the mechanic who was repairing one of the office printers and had brought his own portable vacuum cleaner with him to do the job properly. In Switzerland there is always a lot of cleaning going on, and naturally if a Swiss mechanic does the job properly he has to make sure that everything is clean and tidy when he is finished. We women found it quite amusing – the mechanic was doing the job and was naturally being watched by one of our co-workers from the responsible department. I suppose it always needs two to make sure it’s done properly. One of the girls found it was worth a photo, so I didn’t need being invited twice, and here is the result.

Yesterday an office friend arrived with her dog. Mind you not just a dog, but a big dog. My colleague actually lives in the next village down the road to me and at the moment her house is being renovated so she is staying with relations and naturally had to take the dog with her. I have known the dog, with the name of Taps, since he was a little dog. At that time she also brought him to work now and again where he had a quiet corner in the office and everyone patted his head and spoilt him. Even when Taps was young he was always walking around with a rag doll in his mouth and woe betide anyone that wanted to take it away from him. Anyhow going back to the present day, Taps was again in the office yesterday, the difference being that many years have passed and he is no longer the sweet little doggy, but now a big dog. Of course when he arrived we all wanted to say hello dog, but we didn’t have to greet him he greeted us in his canine way. Now Taps is a very big dog, lovable but big. He still carries his toy is his mouth, but the toy also seems to have grown bigger with the years.

One of the other girls decided she would take a walk with Taps through the office on the lead, which was quite funny. You suddenly saw a large dog taking my colleague for a walk. She was sort of hanging onto the lead and Taps was showing her which way he wanted to go. Taps also seems to get tired very quickly and it did seem that most of the time he was sleeping. His owner had brought his blanket with her, but Taps preferred to sleep on the office carpet.

Otherwise it was a tough long day, but the small events in the office do help to get the day behind you.

Bits and Pieces

What will happen when Nera meets Big Tom and will Mr. Grey disgrace himself in front of his father? Will Bobinette’s plan succeed? I am afraid you will have to wait until the week-end as being a working woman I don’t always get round to doing what I would like to do.

We had some fun in the office this week. It seems the management are never happy about how we are positioned. We have had a change round at least 3 times this year and there were even a few people that “voluntarily” went to work on Saturday to help with the moving. This is the latest view of my working place. I am very happy with it. I try to avoid moving too much and now I have the ideal situation. First of all the computer on the desk and cupboard space surrounding me which means everything is within reach. I even have a nice office chair with wheels on which means I don’t have to stand up, but just give a push and off I am. The printer and fax are also bordering on my work complex which means just give the chair a shove, roll along, reach out with your hand and you already have the printed sheets or fax in hand.

I only wish I had such a good system at home, although working is for money and what you do at home are really hobbies. Take ironing for an example. We women love to iron. There is nothing better than a shirt that has been washed. I have a record of two minutes per shirt. First of all the collar, then the right sleeve and right front, followed by the left sleeve and left front and to finish the back. Having 2 sons and a husband this has been developed to perfection over the years, although since hubby is retired the shirts have decreased. Another problem coupled with having too many males in the family is the sock wash. The men go with the times and fashion. Perhaps white socks are “in”, and then it might be that the fashion changes and black socks are back again. It’s fun after a sock wash to put them together in pairs, especially if they are all the same colour and different sizes. Personally I prefer the fashion to be with various designs then at least you know what socks belong together. For a really big triumph it is fun when the linen is changed on the beds. Sheets now fit on the beds, so that little job has disappeared. However we have the continental duvet covers to iron. Unforunately the ironing board big enough has not yet been developed, so you have to do that in two halves. I am really a lucky woman as I can actually carry out that hobby outside. We have a plug in the wall and my ironing is often done outside in Summer. On the photo you can even see my hobby room in the background known as kitchen.