Daily Prompt: Right to Brag

Tell us about something you (or a person close to you) have done recently (or not so recently) that has made you really, unabashedly proud.

View of the River Aar in Bern, our capital city.

Does anyone have a right to brag? Funny title for a prompt. I could make a list of things, but whether it is a right I am not sure.

Anyhow today Switzerland is voting for a new parliament, although we are not all marching bravely to the various voting centres in each village and town. Most of us, like myself, already voted by post. It is much easier to sort it out at home and choose the correct smiling face from the various leaflets sent in the post where the political parties apply their convincing argument, “Choose us, we are the best” etc.

So about a month ago I decided to do it seriously. Mr. Swiss had made his choice and as his choices are usually mine, I left him to it. Of course I did keep an eye on the situation, not wanting my future to be in the hands of someone whose face did not please me. Ah, you mean I should not let looks affect my decision? It does not, although if a bloke has shifty eyes he will not be on my list. Voting is a serious matter, at least the media are convinced.

Today my iPhone has been telling me constantly the newest results. It makes a peeping noise every time something happens. There is even a so-called live-ticker on my iPad to keep me in the picture of who is losing and who is winning: a photo of a candidate shedding tears, tears of joy that he won a seat in his local parliament. Not a member of one of my favourite parties, but at least he is happy. On our TV we even have a contribution showing the part that Twitter and Co are playing in the elections. I did not realise that Switzerland, with its 8 million population, was such an important aspect of Twitter and Facebook life.

It seems that our voting event will also be reported in other countries, as what the Swiss decide seems to be a big thing. I suppose we should be happy that we can actually cast a vote without having to worry that we will be attacked, or that fights will break out if you happen to choose the wrong party. Being political today can be a dangerous thing in some countries. A snippet of information would be that there is a general movement towards the right.

In our local town of Solothurn, you can go to the Reithalle (a public building) and watch it all happening live. Our local radio is there bringing up to date reports of developments, although it seems to me everything is more or less the same. They will be offering something to eat and drink during the exciting developments, which is probably the reason why most people attend.

A quick addition: our live ticker just informed that a certain lady has managed to be electedas a member of parliament. Not one of our locals, but there seemed to be a slight disagreement to the result on Mr. Swiss part with an exclamation confirming that this lady was not in his good books and he was very unhappy, not exactly a profanity, but something in that direction. Yes, life in the Angloswiss household during the elections can get very exciting.

I stayed at home today. It was raining and the only thing to brag about was dinner which we all enjoyed: Wienerschnitzel, cauliflower in a white sauce and french fries. 

WordPress Daily Prompt: Right to brag

Tell us about something you (or a person close to you) have done recently (or not so recently) that has made you really, unabashedly proud.

I was quite proud of this photo of one of my Sweet William flowers. It came out well, but I am also proud of the actual flower on the photo. I love doing things myself from the beginning and one day I decided they would look good in the garden. I visited the local supermarket and bought a paket of seeds. Believe me, these seeds are not large, they are tiny, and sewing tiny seeds is an effort for a golden oldie. If you just distribute them in the seed tray, they begin to grow hugging each other and fighting for space. This means that eventually you have to space them out in nice organised rows so that they have room to spread their roots and breathe.

I did all this a few years ago and eventually, despite backache, tired legs from squatting and not being very good at standing again, I did it. I planted them in my garden. I now have a bed of Sweet William that blossom every year in June, colours ranging from pink to deep red with some crimson in the middle. Unfortunately some wandering grass seeds decided to interrupt the bed of flowers, meaning more backbreaking work to remove them, but undaunted, year for year the grass is pulled out.

There is another proud moment. Not all of my photos are perfect, it is more luck than judgement, but I believe this photo was a success. I am not an Ansel Adams rival, he specialised in black and white photos, but nothing and no-one is safe from me and my camera. It accompanies me everywhere.

Admittedly Mr. Swiss sometimes gets slightly annoyed when we take a walk together and he finds that together is quite a distance behind on the path taking a photo of a grasshopper, a mushroom or just a bunch of weeds. It can also become embarrassing when shopping and he is deciding what to buy, and I am taking photos of the goods on display. I explain that the photo might be useful to illustrate a blog, one of my prize suspicious contributions to the WordPress world. He shake his head in sympathy.

Of course I am unabashedly proud that Mr. Swiss has remained by my side for so many years. I even annoy myself now and again, but he remains, undaunted, despite my rather loud voice. Most people hear me before they actually see me. This afternoon he has made me proud. He decided to bake a Swiss style apricot flan. He lined the baking tin with pastry and arranged the halved apricots in a pretty pattern on the pastry (of course he professionally removed the stones first of all). Cornflour, eggs, sugar and a mixture of milk and cream were whipped together in the kitchen mixer. The oven was already set to the correct temperature, he poured the mixture over the apricots and put the whole creation to bake at the right temperature. All this was happening whilst I was writing this fantastic blog about how good and proud I am of myself. As I sit on the porch, I smell the scent of a apricot flan baking à la Mr. Swiss.

I am also quite proud of my dad. He is now 98 years old, had a pacemaker fitted about a month ago and lives alone in London in sheltered housing. He has his own apartment and has a carer that makes sure he is OK. I spoke to him on the phone today and asked how the pacemaker is going. Despite my loud vocal organ, I have to repeat the question a few times as he no longer never heard very well. He said “fine, no problem, I forget that I have one.” He has now understood the intricacies of a micro wave oven, which he never wanted. He now walks with the aid of a zimmer frame, which he never wanted. He is now glad for his television, which never really bothered him, but it is now regularly switched on at eight in the evening when the World Cup Soccer matches are shown from Brasil.

Just a fleeting thought. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a proud moment about the world, that we would have no disagreements with each other. I live in such a lovely country, it is small, picture book similar, and although we have 4 national languages and two basic religions we have no fights, women and men, French, german, Italian and romantsch speaking citizens live side by side, even the food pakets in the supermarkets are printed in three languages. There is so much suffering in the world that I sometimes feel a little guilty.

And now to prepare the evening meal: the apricot flan is a success, Mr. Swiss is satisfied and I can take over the kitchen again.

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