Let It Be Winter in Switzerland

Although it is not my wish. The warm over 0°C temperatures can remain as far as I am concerned. I have no death wish to ski on the slopes of the Swiss mountains or plough through walls of snow thinking “how lovely, the snow is here again”. There are some people in this country who have a feeling that there is something missing from their boring Winter life when they cannot watch the flakes falling from a dismal sky. They are disappointed and moan about the Winter not being as good as it used to be.  We need the cold and the pretty ice crystals on the windows. The senior Swiss remember the days when they went to school on their sledge, wearing their long underwear and insulating their hands with gloves. Oh yes those were the days, the Winters are just not like they used to be.

And me - I don’t want the Winters like they used to be I don’t really want the Winter, but it is a necessary obstacle to overcome every year. Up to Christmas I was happy, it was warm, even the sun was shining from time to time and the birds were singing.  I still had flowers in the garden. Ok, the sun is still shining when it stops snowing. My car was happy. Although it had nice winter tyres to brave the icy roads, it was just to show how well equipped we were for the days ahead and if you were caught unaware with the Summer tyres you were in trouble if it did happen to snow. The Swiss police do not look kindly on Summer tyres if there is an accident in Winter.

Yes now we are glad for our Winter tyres. The snow arrived last Friday. This was no problem, Friday all the shops were closed for Boxing Day and we had food and water (even some wine) to see us through until the week-end. Unfortunately it arrived during the evening and persisted throughout the night. The first words from Mr. Swiss on Saturday morning when I opened my eyes from a golden oldie deep sleep were “it’s snowing”. My first thought was remain in bed, it is safer, I might fall on the snow. I then realised the snow was restricted to outside. My next thought was the headline in the local newspaper “Englsh senior citizen lost in a snow storm on the way to supermarket” or “Car found after being involved in an avalanche near the local supermarket: the driver was recovered holding a shopping list in her frozen fingers”.  

Let us be serious. Mrs. Angloswiss does not sit in a car and drive when it is snowing, she has an emergency plan. So Mr. Swiss made his way to the supermarket in the car. Luckily we heard the snow ploughs at six in the morning, so knew that something was being done by the local authorities. Instead of the usual ten minutes, Mr. Swiss needed twenty minutes each way to the supermarket, but we were saved and he brought home food for the week-end.

This was a few days ago. Since it is still snowing. On Monday we ventured out together. I found my special heavy winter shoes, anti slide and anti cold, although I could slip and slide on glue probably. We were both having illusions of ice covered roads blocked by numerous snow ploughs battling their way on the roads, but we were relieved to see that the trusty Swiss had organised themselves. We approached the main road and discovered it was snow and ice free, although temperatures were now down to -8°C (during the night it was -12°C). The actual driving surface was restricted on both sides due to a pile up of the removed snow. 

Our trusty car stopped trembling, everything was OK. Of course with Mr. Swiss at the wheel, there was no problem, after all he is Swiss (did I already mention that). Yes, we were saved, our spirits were high and so I decided to take a few photos on the way as a memory of the first day driving in snow. In the euphoria of the moment we decided that we would venture again into the frozen world on Wednesday for another shopping expedition, after all it was only snow and it melts eventually perhaps. 

The Swiss weather forecast tells us that the snow is here to stay until the end of the week, due to very cold minus temperatures, but it can only get better and next week, everything will return to normal, if it does not snow. Mr. Swiss finds you cannot trust the Swiss meteo, they make is up as they go along.

Pending our survival of the Winter snow and ice, watch this space, there might be more to come.

Word Fix at 56: WFA 45 - One for Sweden

She escaped with the money. Kurt W. was behind her, almost touching her rear bumper. She turned on the ice. Kurt W. made a stop.  He shot through the window, blood everywhere. Kurt W. was killed instantly.

“You can’t do that” said the film director. “He is our star.”

“Forget it, his fees were too high.” 

Click here for more

The Ice Age

Hello everyone, Nera the chief cat reporting from a small village in Switzerland where I live with Mr. and Mrs. Human. This picture shows my footprints in the snow, no sorry ice. On new years eve it snowed and then the temperatures dropped below 0°C which means that since that day the snow has frozen and not gone away. Mrs. and Mrs. Human are not very happy as they fall down on the ice - they are not as well balanced and clever as us cats. Mrs. Human is not here at the moment so I will tell you what happened on the Saturday after New Year when the humans had to go shopping again, although I don't know why they bothered. Us cats have our food at home and the cupboard is full of tuna fish in tins.

Anyhow Mr. and Mrs. Human got into their car and drove out of the garage, at least that was what they wanted to do. Unfortunately the driveway from the garage slopes upwards and was covered in a layer of ice with snow on top. Mr. Human gave gas and the car wheels turned but didn't go anywhere. The car was stuck. He then drove backwards and made another attempt, but with no good result. In the meanwhile the garage door descended onto the car. Luckily it has rubber on the edges and did not damage the car. Anyhow it went up again. Eventually Mrs. Human had to climb out of the car and guide Mr. Human backwards into the garage again. Third time lucky, and Mr. Human got the car out of the garage. This was really exciting. We cats were watching from behind the window. So now we have the car outside of the garage with Mr. Human and Mrs. Human in the garage. Mrs. Human tried to walk to the car but slid back over the ice. Mr. Human wanted to help her to walk out to the car but he fell down on the ice. Result was that Mr. Human went shopping alone and Mrs. Human gave him instructions per telephone when he was in the shop about what he should buy. Those humans can really be amusing sometimes.

Now things are gradually back to normal. Someone cleared the ice away from the garage and now it is easy to drive out of the village. Problem is no-one can walk out of the village very well as everything is covered in ice. Another piece of good news is that Mrs. Human's overgrown kitten (she calls him son) has now left us. He was here for two weeks at Catmas (sorry Christmas) and New Year, sleeping in our bedroom - we cats have our own places to sleep. I heard Mrs Human saying it was nice to have him here (she didn't ask me) although she did not see very much of him as he seemed to be away most evenings and spent the day eating and sleeping. So what - that's what we cats do all the time. Of course we now have our Winter programme. It is too cold to spend nights outside, so we just take a quick walk to freshen up the fur and then return home to sleep.

We are now all back to normal, more or less. Mrs. Human is now working all day, but I heard only until the end of February and then she is retired. That is great, then her and Mr. Human will be looking after me and my sister Tabby, and our colleague Fluffy. Although we cats are quite independent, but humans come in useful now and again for filling up the food troughs, giving us a stroke over my (our) wonderful fur and opening tins of tuna.

Another good thing about the cold weather is there is a lot of bird life in the garden looking for food. The problem is we cats cannot walk so fast over the cold stuff called ice and so they get away. As soon as spring comes we will get them.

So that is my news from our Swiss village at the moment. I can hear Mrs. Human coming so I will now come to an end. Tabby and Fluffy send their best feline wishes and so do I.

See all those birds sitting on that wire - Mr. Human took that photo from where she works. A sort of high wire cat canteen.

New Year's Eve - Swiss German, Sylvester

There were a few things to get done today - the last trimmings to our food supplies over the New Year holidays - here in Switzerland everything is closed until 3rd January as besides today and New Year's day we also celebrate St. Bartholomew's Day on 2nd January. The problem was I had an appointment with a big machine at the hospital at eleven in the morning so had to do some strategic planning, although Mr. Swiss was available for any help.

I decided that before doing anything I would go shopping first of all. Yesterday in rained a little bit and through the night we had temperatures of -5° C. This morning it was a bit warmer with -2°C but as it was a clear sunny day I decided to make my way to the shopping centre. That was mistake No. 1 as I nearly got killed on my way. Well not exactly, but when I drove out of the garage I turned left as usual. My car didn't seem to want to turn left, although it did at the beginning but then went right and left again which made things rather scary. My car was in perfect condition, the problem was that there was one ice surface leading to the main road. Being alone in the car with no Mr. Swiss to advise, I had to make my own decisions. I am not the praying type, but if I was I think I would have offered a couple upwards. I decided that putting my foot on the brakes would not help, I switched on the "W" programme for Winter, but I think you should only use that for snow etc. Eventually I crawled up the hill turned 3 corners and was still in one piece (and the car) by the time I reached the road. Afterwards it was all main road to the shopping centre although I had a very careful foot on the accelerator. When I arrived at the shop I met a neighbour who lived in the top half of the village. He told me they had -6° up on the hill and he had the same problem. We then had a discussion about how to get home again afterwards, and decided if we were lucky it might be a bit warmer. After getting my shopping I drove home and it was a bit warmer, but not perfect. I let out a sigh of relief when I arrived back in the garage.

Afterwards Mr. Swiss took me up to the hospital, which is also on a hill (everything seems to be on hills in this country), but the roads had warmed up a bit. Eventually he picked me up and we drove home where I could have more fun cooking lunch. Son No. 2 is staying with us at the moment for 2 weeks holiday, as he actually works in another country in Europe. It is nice to have him home, but I am glad to say that home for him over the last week and this week is hotel mama. Sort of a place to sleep and eat and relax, otherwise he does seem to be on the road a lot, catching up on his pool billard skills most of the time. Today he left us to spend the New Year in Lichtenstein (where?).

We had a bit of excitement after lunch. In this cold weather my cats are usually at home. Nera, the boss prefers to just observe various situations from a high place somewhere.

Tabby was sleeping on the bathroom floor (floor heating on a nice soft bathroom carpet) and Fluffy decided to go out in the garden in the sun. As Fluffy is blind he is usually kept on a long lead attached to a pole. We then had a visit from the new cat in town. The cat keepers (cats don't have owners, do they?) moved in about 2 months ago and since we have constant visits from a ginger/white cat who is exploring the neighbourhood. Although not a kitten, we would judge him as being about 8-9 months old. Old enough to go out on his own, but not old enough to realise that he doesn't own the place. I then noticed that Fluffy and new cat were getting a bit closer to each other. Up to now there have only been negative remarks between my cats and the new one, more like "clear out or else" from my cats.

Although Fluffy is completely blind, he knows exactly when his territory is invaded. It came to the point where the new cat growled and my Fluffy screamed or hissed, or whatever cats do. I just wanted to separate them (dangerous work) when Bobinette from next door arrived on the scene and chased ginger/white cat out of the garden. Although she doesn't like Fluffy and Fluffy doesn't like her, I suppose it's a sort of territorial thing. I mean Saddam Hussein didn't like the Iran, but even they got a bit closer together in the first war about Kuwait. Anyhow to get back to the feline war raging in my garden, Bobinette from next door positioned herself outside in her garden and began observing the development of the situation. Her human came out and we had one of those neighbourly discussions and wished each other a happy new year.

I spent part of the afternoon having a talk with No. 2 son about the music we used to listen to. He gave me a few good ideas and so I spent part of the afternoon developing my new play list that I have now fitted up on my blogging sites. I am sure that it gets on most people's nerves, but if you go to the top lefthand corner there is a device on it where you can switch it off. I find it quite fun, although to be quite honest there are some sites I visit where other music does nerve me a bit, but you can always turn the sound off.

This evening it will be No. 1 son, me and Mr. Swiss for our evening meal. No. 1 son will then go into town and we will see him again next year. I am not unhappy. If I happen to be awake at midnight I will have a small glass of champis to welcome 2008. In any case I wish anyone reading this day in the life of me a very happy new year and may 2008 be a wonderful blogging year for all.