In a Swiss valley

did you read about the Swiss employee of National Suisse insurance company who was fired for being on Facebook on a day off sick?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8018329.stm

Crazy! Interestingly though, on the same day this story hit the national free paper, in the same paper National Suisse were advertising apprenticeships for new young people. Might be difficult finding one who does not have a Facebook account though .

I found a great website today when surfing for some pictures for a presentation I was putting together. For all of us who want to break out of being an adult now and then. Check it out. Click on the logo below.

thanks to those of you who sent me greetings. I had a great day, okay, I was at work in the morning, but everyone was wishing me a great day, and this afternoon I sloped off for some fun on my own This evening I had dinner in one of my favourite restaurants where there was not only gluten free food but also live music.
New Management from next month though, and they are getting rid of both, which is a real shame.

and now I am home, catching up on blog news, and being totally bugged by the cat who is trying to tell me she is hungry

once I get some time i will post some piccies from our UK trip, which was great.

Bis dann

once I get my camera hooked up I can post a piccie I took on the train today from Sheffield to Lincoln. 2 carriages, totally packed, people standing all the way down the corridors. My brother tells me that they only ever put 2 carriages on that line, and it is always packed. So why is that? Are they short of carriages?
The one from Liverpool to Sheffield only had 2 carriages as well, but at least no one had to stand. Beautiful scenery as well once we were through Manchester. Lots of lovely lambs bouncing round ( everyone say ahhhhhhhh)

so, we are now about halfway through our visit to the UK. We are now in Liverpool, where we are promised sunny intervals. Tis raining in London, so i am glad I decided against going there.
So far, no rain on me the whole time and we have had a great time. We spent time with my brother and family, walked the dogs,visited Chester, had high tea at Crewe Hall, and yesterday visited the Tate modern here in Liverpool. I must admit that most modern art can be difficult to appreciate. My brother likened all of it to " a load of old bollocks" so I reckon he was not impressed, but at least the entrance was free. He is going to try and create a few pieces of modern sculpture from the mess in his garage now.

I did like the Jackson Pollocks, and rebekka reckons she can recreate something similar for me to hang at the end of the hall.

Today we are going shopping in the Liverpool one centre. First challenge is getting the girls out of bed. I have been up an hour already, and we are all sharing a hotel room, but they have managed to stay sleeping, so it allows me to come on here a bit, and read a few posts. I have resorted to switching on radio 2, and I am amazed that Terry Wogan is still there, does he not want to retire? Anyway, he has done the trick, cos now rebekka is in the bathroom, so we might manage to get down to breakfast sometime in the next hour. Trouble is we are picking up my nieces from lime street in an hour and a half, so maybe breakfast will be a rushed affair.
This is one of the not so great sides of travelling with teenagers, they do like to sleep, and eat. They also have now fallen out after the strain of being well behaved has become too much, so now won't share a bed, so I have to double up with the youngest!
Anything for a quiet life

the trials of going away for a few days. Tomorrow the girls and i will fly to the UK, and work has been incredibly busy in the run up. I worked Sunday for 4 hours, plus extra long days this week, and finally can see light at the end of the tunnel. I will go into work tomorrow, with case, until lunchtime, to do all those last minute things,
And I think I need to take the laptop with me, but I suppose the plus is I can pop on here.

anyway, I have been dreaming of difficult journeys recently, not surprisingly, and things have been conspiring against me. I applied for a new credit card at the beginning of March, from my own bank, and the website promised it takes a week, so when it did not arrive after 2 weeks I called them up. "Es ist unterwegs" which i translated as it is on its way. One week later, it had still not arrived, so I called again, a different woman, and no it was not on its way, it was still in the centre for some reason, and she would tell them on Monday and someone would call me. Monday came, no one called me, I called them, and got someone else, who put me on hold, while I was on my mobile, so I hung up and called back, and got someone else, who looked into it, and said it was still there, no reason why, he would talk to them and call me back. So the next day he called me, nothing wrong with my application but they had no one to deal with it so that I could take the card to the Uk with me. I was most peeved, what the hell do they do there all day? But it was not his fault, and he was apologetic, but I will be writing to complain.
And then when packing, I could not find my switch card!!!! I have transfered a bunch of money to the UK, and was in danger of not being able to withdraw it. Lucky I found hubbies switch card, that will do for cash. He can't remember his pin, but hopefully it will be the same as mine was

So wish me luck, the girls have to get themselves and their cases to Bern tomorrow, by 12.45 to catch a train, they should get up in time.
Oh, and I see rain is forecast, but then again, it is a bank holiday weekend, what should i expect?

well he is coming to Thun to be precise, which is just up the road from where we live. In May we have the Swiss Economic Forum, and Richard Branson is a special guest.
Kofi Annan has been a guest, as well as Bill Clinton.
It would be great to go, but tickets cost a couple of thousand, and there are all sold out.

Just been reading Richard Bransons autobiography actually, and it is very impressive how he has built his career, it would be interesting to meet him.

Maybe I will send him an email and invite him to dinner, anyone got his address?

well that is the expression anyway, but hopefully it does not fit totally. My youngest had her first piece of reporting in print last week, an article in the local Church newspaper. This was an exercise as part of their religious education, (or what passes for religious education here), and she decided to write a piece on what happens after death.
Now this was a piece from the perspective of a 13 year old, looking at what various people believe happens after death, in all faiths, or non faiths. There was no definitive answer.
But it stirred some people to write her letters telling her where to look in her bible for the answer to her question. Well 2 people anyway.
Personally I have no problem with this. It is a religious publication after all, and it is a Christian publication, so there will be mainly Christians reading it. The letters were very polite and well.. Christian, but they did annoy the oldest. ( but she is an atheist anyway, so they would.)
Such is the life of a columnist