In a Swiss valley

today the weather is gorgeous, and lots of people are in their dinghies on the river at the end of our street. So I took some pictures, and have been playing with colours and backgrounds again.

Not brilliant I admit, and all my right column widgets are still at the bottom of the page on the left, but still, better than it was

I was reading today about a trick being played by some Brits in Düsseldorf in Germany. Apparently one of them will act the part of a tourist who has run out of cash, and needs to get home, so is selling his laptop or ipod. He shows the genuine article to the prospective buyer, does the deal, and then with the help of an accomplice, the buyer ends up with a bag of potatoes!!!

It was not explained in detail how this scam was carried out, but one guy got caught when a passerby was watching a transaction take place and saw them do the switch.

Apparently up to that point they had carried out this scam several times. And maybe the one who got away is still at it

so Friday was changeover day here at Hotel Mama. My youngest had to pack to go to France with a friend and her mum. Before that though she had her theatre show in Bern. She had been in theatre workshop all week.
It was a great show. Laura had written her own song for it, which she sang to open the show. Her voice is amazing these days, even if I say so myself
The whole show was great with all the kids putting on a great performance, and they really looked like they were having fun.

so when we got back we packed her case, or actually packed my brand new spinner I had bought in the sale as Rebekka was not yet back from her camp with the other case. She got home at 11.30! whereas Laura was dropped at her friends at 9, so they missed each other totally.

Rebekka seems to quite like her room in the new tidied up version, so my card seems to have saved me from death. She is being very nice actually, and only took a day to notice her sister was not around.

this weekend is also the open air festival on the Gurten in Bern. We have had traditional festival weather, mainly rain. Probably a good job that my friend did not come from the UK after all. Thursday was 30 degrees and gorgeous, Friday was rain all day, major storms, and about 20 degrees or less. Saturday was rain and dry, and today has been actually warm and sunny again. Crazy summer. I went out on my bike today, actually did a good ride.
I actually used my lowest gears as well, and still had to walk!!! Maybe I need to get out on it a bit more often

but bad for the bank balance too

have you see the story about the guy who bought a packet of ciggies at the filling station and was charged $23,148,855,308,184,500 on his credit card

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8152278.stm

Thanks to my various blog buddies who are concerned about me surviving my daughter returning from camp. I still have 5 days until she does.

The first week has been very peaceful. The place has stayed tidier and there is more food in the cupboard, all pure coincidence i am sure.

Today we went on a trip to where the Camp is for visitors day. My daughter was perfectly happy, and pleased to see us. She is having a good time as a camp leader. She has managed to injure her arm, but nothing serious, not as bad as the Vicar in charge, he burnt his face last night!!! He is just glad his beard did not catch fire.

I had a cunning plan as to how to warn her in advance that her room is tidy, so that she gets used to the idea, and might be accepting when she arrives home.
So i wrote a card with 5 items of good news:
1. Her Ipod speakers had been found
2. Her friend ( who is allergic to dust) can now safely enter her room without sneezing
3. All her laundry has been done
4. Her bedding has been changed
5. the cat has stopped chasing spiders in her room

of course with all the good news, I ran out of space to tell her the bad news, but suggested she might be able to work it out.

So i sealed the card in an envelope, and stashed it in her food box at camp, and then mentioned it just as we were leaving.
So maybe she will be cool about it after all.

Mind you, now that my friend is not coming for the weekend when she returns, I guess I could disappear until she is over it

The job I hate most is filing.
But every now and then, usually when the filing pile slides off the tray and onto the floor, it is one of those jobs I have to tackle.

So as I am still waiting for Helpdesk to reset a password, and until they do, I can do no work, I have decided to tackle the intray, and the filing!!!!!!

This evening it should be clear. And then I will be full of good intentions to keep it that way, but we all know what happens with good intentions

oh, and further to my post yesterday, I have just remembered that my brother is holidaying in Jersey, so won't be using the ticket. Anyone fancy a trip over 16 -20 July?

i think I have messed up my blog design

tried everything to remedy it, but it is just getting worse!

can I have the old design wizard back please?

Yesterday evening I accompanied my husband, against my better judgement, to a public talk on Dark Matter at the University in Bern. It was in English, being given by Steven Weinberg, a nobel prize winning scientist from the US.
The lecture hall was packed, and so I sat on the stairs.
I think I was fairly atypical, even if it was a public lecture. I did not get all that much out of it, except learning that Mr Weinberg, for a scientist, has a sense of humour.

What I do now know is that ordinary matter is 5 times lighter than All matter, which somehow proves the existence of dark matter which makes up 80% of the universe, but we cannot see it, or prove it is there!
Plus something about billions of years ago when the universe was forming, after the first 3 minutes it cooled enough to form protons, electrons and neutrons. In 3 minutes!!! How can they know that? I will never get science.
The Professor admitted they could not measure the speed of solar winds, but they do know that after 3 minutes the protons etc formed billions of years ago. And the universe has been cooling after since. Very cold up there now.

So to be honest, once he came out with the 3 minute claim, on which he has written a book, then I was too busy trying to grasp how the hell he could have extrapolated that sort of info than listening to the rest of it.

Actually my husband admitted afterwards that he had not learned much new, and it had been boring for a public lecture. I think it is maybe hard to pitch it right, as any public that go along would normally have some interest in cosmology, and all the rest were students or already physicists.

They are still trying to create or capture dark matter, and that is what CERN will be trying to do this autumn as well. Mr Weinberg felt it would be very exciting if they manage to do it. Me, I am not so sure it really matters

Rebekka that is.

my crime?

I cleaned her room !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She hates me doing it, but it was calling to me

I pulled out all from under the bed, and the bed, cleaned the walls, cleaned the floor, filled a garbage sack, tossed all the clothes in the laundry, and rearranged the furniture, so the bed is under the window now and there is more space to store stuff and dance.

I hope she is pleased...........

apparently there are proven similarities between teenagers and cats:

Cats and teenagers can sleep for hours on end, only surfacing to eat or use the toilet.
Cats and teenagers can lie on the sofa seemingly motionless for hours.
Both eat odd things at odd hours.
Both stay out all night if allowed to.
Cats are obsessed with themselves and their appearance, as are teenagers
Neither cats nor teenagers turn their heads when you call them by name.
A cat can appear calm and approachable on the outside, but approach it incorrectly and it will strike in an instance. Teenagers......

Rebekka has just left for camp. She will be back in 2 weeks.

this means one less person hogging the bathroom, one less person hogging the television, and more food in the cupboard for longer

Plus fewer arguments. It is like a holiday for me too

There is a case in the news here at the moment about a group of Swiss teenagers, on a school trip to Münich, who went out at night, had a few drinks, smoked some pot, and then started attacking random strangers just for the fun of it. One 46 year old businessman was attacked so badly, that he is now in intensive care. He was walking back to his hotel at about 11:30, when he was attacked from behind by a group of youths, who then kicked him and stamped on his face so brutally that he suffered broken bones, loss of memory, whiplash, and will probably loose the sight in one eye.
3 are in custody and are expected to get long sentences, as they should.
They have shown no remorse!

Germans can't believe Swiss kids would do this, but unfortunately it is becoming a common occurence here. Kids attack strangers, young or old, for no reason other than they are usually stoned and bored.
The police have now started releasing security camera footage to catch them, which is working in most cases.

I mentioned this to my daughter, who is the same age as these young people that nearly killed the guy. She doesn't understand it either.

When I was younger, we used to go Youth hostelling - a lot. A whole group of young people going off most weekends to the hills, and staying in youth hostels. Always with a pub nearby, but of course that was not the attraction

Anyway, one time we went to a Youth Hostel in the Welsh borders somewhere, and it was a castle. When we got there we were told it was haunted ( no 1), and offered a tour to hear about the ghosts.
I did not do the tour, cos I was not keen on being spooked.

That night in the girls dorm, I was lieing in my top bunk, and for some reason woke up. I looked across the room and saw a figure standing by another bunk. A man with fair hair to his shoulders, and a beard, also fair, or ginger. He looked like a Cavalier. However, I thought it was a friend also on the weekend, so I spoke to him. "What are you doing Dave?" and he disappeared.

Now this did make me a bit nervous, but only a bit, I did not really feel scared.
The next morning, Jacqui, my friend who had been sleeping in that bunk, said that she had felt like there was a presence by her bed all night. That was before I had said anything about seeing a person by her bed.
And no she had not done the ghost tour either.

so Number 1 and number 2 are true, and number 3 is false. Cos to be honest, I also have heard spooky drumming at dusk from a cemetary, so there is no way I will go to a sceance, no idea what might materialise!!!

Congrats to those 2 of you who guessed number 3

I know I am late too with the captains challenge, but wanted to join in the fun.
So which one is the lie?

1. I once slept in a castle that was reputed to be haunted.

2. I saw a ghost in the castle that was reputed to be haunted.

3. I attended a Seance once, but apart from making me feel nervous, nothing materialised.

school is coming to an end this week and for Rebekka today was her "Abschlussfeier" again. We went through this a year ago, and that time she got a prize for the best diploma in her class. This year she told me that was not possible as she had only done the classes she needed for her Gymi, and not all the classes to get her average up.
So that was okay, I hadn't expected it last year, so that had been a lovely surprise.
However, the girl who did get the best marks, was the one person my daughter cannot stand in the class. A girl, who actually I feel quite sorry for, as she studies all the time, can only watch TV at the weekend, and has no friends or social life. Her Mum pushes her, and all work, no play may get her top marks, but makes her a dull girl with no friends.
Anyway, my daugher was really upset to have been beaten by her, especially when she discovered that the points difference between them is 0.1.
So she was actually in tears after, and as a consequence is fired up to do well at Gymi. This other girl is the only other one who passed the entrance test from their class, and they will be doing exactly the same lessons.
Rebekka is determined to do better than her, which is good for me, cos that is a good incentive to study. Plus she does not want to have to repeat a year, as it is one repeat only there, the 2nd time you are out.

She also emailed her old school this evening to query two of her exam results, as she feels they are too low.

and now she is out, they are all partying from 9pm to who knows when tomorrow morning. I have to trust she will be okay.
My Mum would never have let me do that, times change so much.

the Bruce Springsteen concert last night was fantastic. It was held at Stadt de Suisse which is a football stadium. They cover the grass with boards and stuff for the concert goers, and it was packed to the hilt. We had seats very close to the stage, a bit too close really, as we could not see the whole stage cos of the angle.
But we could see Bruce, and how he worked the crowd. The people standing at the front must have been in their element, he was right in among them, more than once.

he has amazing energy, and was leaping around all over. The audience were organised and had banners with song titles on, which he collected off them, and then sang some of the songs that were on them.
They did 3 hours with no back up act, and it was energizing for us all.

Of course, today I am dead, but tonight I will for sure have an early night