Order & Progress

It's been a while coming, so you'll have to bear with me if I tend to ramble and get things out of order.......although that may be the wine...... Life's been a bit crazy (I got the promotion and now I'm doing 3 jobs at once........)

Unlike in Britain it has stopped snowing here and has become, again, unseasonably warmer. That should have been good news on the cycling front, however, the business trips have started again so absolutely no chance to get on the bike.

On the 2nd of February the village sports groups organised the first of four parties in the valley leading up to Fasnacht (this week was Zuzgen) which is the Swiss version of carnival. The party is a lively affair running from 6PM to 6AM the following day. Amazingly some people manage to work the next day. Being a member of the Damen Riege (woman's group) Fi was press ganged into helping. She had to work in the kitchens from 11:30PM until 4:00AM serving hot dogs. I did do my best to wait up (by building some Ikea furniture) but gave up at 2:30.

Most villages in the region are now "decorated" ready for Fasnacht. It's a bit strange because they put up bunting made from old rags and hang effigies from the lamp posts. The effigies are called "Waggi" and are meant to represent people from the Alsace region in France. Still not sure about that.......what happened to diversity and inclusion?

Last Saturday I flew to Sao Paulo in Brazil (no Sunday flight possible!!!) which is a real shock to the system after Switzerland. Fortunately I had been before so was prepared for the fun. The good news was that it was hot (32°C) and humid which was a pleasant change. The bad news was the constant distraction caused by the seasonal attire of all the Brazilian ladies........it would also appear that Wonder Bra's are in vogue this year.......

Actually I think I was lucky to get in since the immigration official was having a bad day and trying to have a fight with someone else in the queue. He didn't stamp my passport and ran off to confront the other guy, so I walked into Brazil, not sure if I was going to get out again. Sunday was spent working in the hotel room which was better than my colleague who went to the roof top pool and came back scarlet after only one hour.

Brazil is definitely a land of contrast. Sao Paulo, with a population of around 16million is the second largest city on the planet and, funnily enough, has the largest Japanese population of any city outside Tokyo. The traffic is terrible and the security situation dubious but the people (at least those that I met) are really friendly and helpful. Food is excellent (fruit and veg definitely fresher than Europe) and drinks pretty good too (hic!). As usual with these sort of trips I manged to contract an air-con induced cold. Bloody wonderful.

Work was quite tough (not because of the ladies) and it was quite a relief to be back at the airport drinking draft German beer (can't do that at Gatwick). I left as I arrived - in a thunderstorm which we bumped away through for a couple of hours. Actually slept on the plane for a change so was up for a night out in Basel with some colleagues.

The main reason for the night out was a visiting colleague from England. Unfortunately he got stuck at Heathrow (seems to be a regular thing these days) so we all had an extra drink for him! We went to the Fisherstubbe in Klein Basel which is a micro-brewery with, in my opinion, the best beer in Switzerland.

Today I took the day off (probably shouldn't have......soooo busy) but I did work all last weekend! It was a beautiful day so I headed off down to Basel for a spot of Geocaching. Managed 3 caches, although I would have done more if there hadn't been so many people around! I'll have to go back after dark (or at least on a Sunday). I sat outside Starbucks in short sleeves and enjoyed a Frappachino and cheesecake watching the trams go by. Ahhhh, it's good to be home.

Now looking forward to spending the weekend with Fi and maybe reacquaint myself with the bike. We may even get little Brum out for a spin, global warming permitting! Feeling better just thinking about it........