In a Swiss valley

in our household we have way too many gadgets. MP3's, digital cameras, mobile phones etc etc. And they all come with various power leads, and usb leads etc. We have a drawer full of them, and I am too lazy to wind them up when I put one back, so it is a bit of a rats nest in there.
Anyway, when I was in Nice I came across a Virgin store, and in there they had this nifty little bag to transport cables with 6 pockets in it. But it was €20!!
But it gave me the idea of getting a curtain or hanging storage thing with pockets in it, to store all the cables. I could hang the curtain on the back of the door, and label the pockets with the gadget the cable belongs to.
But now I am back, I have searched high and low, to no avail. All I can find is a shower curtain or postcard display with pockets. But cables are a bit fatter than postcards.
Looks like I might have to make one for myself.
Unless anyone has any better ideas?

some of you may have heard that the Pope, dear old Benedict, has invited all Anglicans who can't deal with women bishops or priests, or open homosexuality to come en mass to join the catholic church again. A brave try, and one that probably most bloggers could not give 2 hoots about. But today, I did come across an interesting article that shows that Benedict may be ahooting himself in the foot with this one.

Catholics and Anglicans: Some Unintended Consequences
By Kenny Moore

(Moore is a former Catholic priest and co-author of 'The CEO and the Monk:
One Company's Journey to Profit and Purpose')

For the last twenty years, I've worked in corporate America. Prior to that,
I spent fifteen years in a monastic order as a Catholic priest. Oddly
enough, the work has proven to be quite similar, though the Incentive Plans
varied greatly. I left the monastery because I wanted to get married. Now
that I'm married and raising two teenagers, I'd like to go back. And
presently it seems all I need do is join the Anglican Church. According to
the recent announcement from Rome, I'll even be able to bring my wife along.
Unfortunately, there's still the problem of the kids. The monks often said
that the Almighty has a wicked sense of humor.

With one wave of the Vatican's almighty hand, Anglicans who don't like women
bishops or gay priests are now welcome in the Catholic Church. Even their
married clergy can come along. But there might be one small difficultly.
These disenfranchised Anglicans will now be sharing the pew with a growing
number of disenfranchised Catholics: folks who are increasingly pushing for
women's ordination and a more Christian response to the gay community. And
don't be surprised if the priest celebrating Mass is himself gay. They
haven't disappeared, you know. They've only gone underground to survive the
Witch Hunt of the present Administration.
When the Bishops recently requested that Catholics start returning to the
confessional, it didn't seem to improve the numbers. Likewise, their PR
program 'Welcome Home' hasn't moved the masses to return to the fold.
Perhaps the broader Catholic community knows more than the hierarchy. The
Church leadership continues to be hostile to gays, indifferent to women and
intolerant of the meddling laity. The recent sex scandals have only
confirmed the people's suspicions: the hierarchy is not to be trusted.
Bishops believe it's better to have a diocese declare bankruptcy, as
Wilmington, Delaware and others have recently done, than release documents
revealing their ethical malfeasance. A growing number of the laity is
looking to leave, but havn't had a place to go. This may all be changing.

What the Vatican may not have realized is that in opening the door to the
Anglican Church, that door swings both ways. Why wouldn't our gay Catholic
priests switch to a religious group that treats them with dignity and
respect? Even the straight priests might be willing to cast their lot with
a liturgical tradition that at least allows them to marry and have the
support of their wives, since they seem to get so little of it from their
Bishops. Women, who continue to make up the vast majority of church-goers,
might also stop complaining to an all-male clergy for equal rights, and
embrace the Anglican way of celebrating their gifts as a valid ministry?
The Pope's recent decision could just prove to be the 'Law of Unintended
Consequences' played out in a divinely mischievous way.

And wouldn't it be refreshing for Catholic couples to finally find a
religion that allows them to be in harmony with their Church's teaching on
birth control without having to wait for the onset of menopause?

While Rome's at it, how about inviting those disenfranchised Mormon
polygamists over to our side as well? The number of their kids alone would
boost Catholic school enrollment tremendously.
And what about extending another free pass to those bonus-laden Wall Street
Execs? The Vatican could always use some help with its cash flow, and
buying Indulgences might be just what's needed to reinvigorate our faltering
global economy.

I'm sure we could get President Obama to endorse it as part of his Stimulus
Package. Even Tom Friedman might cast a favorable vote. I'm less sure
about the Dalai Lama.

While I've never been a big fan of Rome, I'm already liking this Anglican
thing a lot. It may be one of the few Papal pronouncements I'm willing to
support.

Kenny Moore
Kenny Moore Consulting, LLC
Author of 'The CEO and the Monk'
www.kennythemonk.com

feels like confession time!

so I will be posting some piccies at the weekend from my holiday I had in Nice recently plus from the visit to the new bear park that opened in Bern at the weekend. Bears are to Bern, what chocolate is to Bournville. Bern was founded on the spot where a bear was killed apparently, and they have always kept bears in the city. Up to now it was in a concrete pit, not at all nice, with some of them enjoying more space at the local animal park. But now, at great expense, we have a new park for the bears, by the river, with even somewhere to swim.
On Sunday 40000 people turned out to view their new home and have a Fest. The bears however, stayed hidden in their sleeping quarters, hardly daring to venture out. I guess they have to get used to it.

I am trying not to get too bothered about swine flu, and won't be having the vaccine, but this arrived from HQ today, so I thought I would share it on here:

Fever is rare with a cold.
Fever is usually present with the flu in up to 80% of all flu cases. A temperature of 100°F or higher for 3 to 4 days is associated with the flu.

A hacking, productive (mucus- producing) cough is often present with a cold.
A non-productive (non-mucus producing) cough is usually present with the flu (sometimes referred to as dry cough).

Slight body aches and pains can be part of a cold.
Severe aches and pains are common with the flu.

Stuffy nose is commonly present with a cold and typically resolves spontaneously within a week.
Stuffy nose is not commonly present with the flu.

Chills are uncommon with a cold.
60% of people who have the flu experience chills.

Tiredness is fairly mild with a cold.
Tiredness is moderate to severe with the flu.

Sneezing is commonly present with a cold.
Sneezing is not common with the flu.

Sudden Symptoms: Cold symptoms tend to develop over a few days.
The flu has a rapid onset within 3-6 hours. The flu hits hard and includes sudden symptoms like high fever, aches and pains.

A headache is fairly uncommon with a cold.
A headache is very common with the flu, present in 80% of flu cases.

Sore throat is commonly present with a cold.
Sore throat is not commonly present with the flu.

Chest discomfort is mild to moderate with a cold.
Chest discomfort is often severe with the flu.

I missed out today it seems. Our local internet auction site ricardo.ch is brilliant normally, and far more popular and successful here than ebay. Today I opended my emails to be informed that the Saturday bargain, to be available from 10am was the following "must have"

The description is as follows:

Lav Nav - Lavatory Navigator

Da ist sie endlich, die Lösung für eines der alltäglichen Probleme: Lav Nav
(kurz für „Lavatory Navigator“ oder auch zu Deutsch „Wegweiser für die Toilette“).
Das Lav Nav schaltet sich von selbst ein, wenn man im Dunkeln die Toilette aufsucht und schaltet sich ebenso von selbst wieder aus, sobald man sie verlässt.

CHF 19.90 (inkl. Lieferung) UVP CHF 39.90

Which translates for those of you who are not so hot on German, as:
Finally here for you, the solution to one of those daily problems. Lav Nav (short for lavatory navigator). The Lav Nav turns on by itself when you are looking for toilet in the dark, and turns itself off when you leave it:

Okay, a question, how does the Lav know you are looking for it, if it is dark?
Do we whistle? or is it noise activated?

Unfortunately I will never find out, for this bargain of a lifetime, only Fr 19.90 incl delivery, was in limited numbers, and as I opened the mail at 11:20, they were already all sold out.
Maybe I will find one later on ricardo itself - only slightly used

great word isn't it? Huggermugger. It is English apparently.

and who knows what it means without going off and checking?

I discovered it today on the Leo German/English dictionary site. I went to look up the word vertuschen, as it had come up on the news.

Vertuschen means:
to camouflage
to cover something up
to gloss over
to huggermugger
to hush up
to suppress

so now you know. Huggermugger apparently means to cover something up, but can also mean a mess, which according to the forum there, is the most common use of the word, especially in cooking.

So my word of the week is huggermugger, and I will try and use it everyday this week
Mind you, no one will understand what I mean, whatever their nationality

Today we took our photos to the Gemeinde as the last stage in getting our Swoiss citizenships. Wihin a week, we will have our Swiss ID, and on 1 October we are invited to receive our papers officially at their office
I am very happy about this, and have already changed my CV to say dual nationality.

But maybe we will not be Swiss for long if Colonel Gadaffi gets his wish. He has seriously fallen out with Switzerland, and has now put a motion to the UN in New York for thier meeting this month that Switzerland should be divided up and given to neighbour countries. Apparently we are a rogue state, and sponsoring terrorism. Well he should know.
Libya is opening the conference apparently, so he can actually bring the motion forward.

Totally incredible. What is even more incredible to me is that while a 2 year old child is not allowed to fly to the US with Visa carrying parents ( my joy of flying post), a despot like Gadaffi is allowed in.

The row with Gadaffi started when one of his sons was arrested in Geneva for abusing a maid servant. Probably totally normal back home. The Geneva police did go over the top apparently, and sent in 21 armed police, which was rather overdoing it. In retaliation Gadaffi took 2 Swiss men hostage who were working for ABB in Libya. They have been held months now, and it is coming to a head. President Merz went over recently trying to get them out. The son of course has all charges dropped, there has been an official apology, and who knows what else going on behind the scenes. Unfortunately the Colonel has not stuck to his word, and although he promised to release the hostages, only their luggage has come home so far. They are still there, and now Gadaffi wants money to let them leave. President Merz is coming in for a lot of critiscm for believing Gadaffi would stick to his word, although at least he tried, and I am not sure what else he could have done.

Gadaffi must be laughing at us all. First he gets his Lockerbie bomber back, and now he can make the Swiss wait, and even threaten the country with being broken up.

Apparently Tamoil is owned 40% by Libya, so I won't be filling up there anymore, and I think not many Swiss will now either.

We had another Church booksale today, something we do 4 or 5 times a year. We raise money for Church, plus it is a great service to the English speaking community, or those who like to read English.
I am supposedly in charge of these sales, which seems to mean advertising for books, and then sorting through them. Every advert I ask for books in good condition, paperbacks only. Every sale we fill my car to the brim with unsellable books, and take them to the dump, and we always have hardbacks being donated. It amazes me what rubbish some people will send our way, thinking they are doing us a favour.
We did the sorting yesterday, complete with trip to the dump. Today we did the selling, and it went really well. I was a bit amazed though when one lady came in, a regular attendee at our sales, and told me she has 1 book to give. Ok I said. Then she asked me what I would give her for it!!!!
She reckoned we used to, but I have been doing this several years now, and it hasn't been on my shift
then she gave me the book, after I had explained the system. It was paperback, but the cover and the spine were parting company, and it was brown on the edges. Straight to recycling with that one.

and at the end when we cleared up, we still had a pile of stuff to go to the dump.
ah well. Tis all for a good cause.

whilst browsing blogs, the TV is on, and my husband is watching the tennis. Federer versus Murray. The commentary is in german, and he keeps talking of mini breaks, and even double mini breaks.
Made me smile anyway
No idea what a mini break in tennis is, and at what point it becomes a proper break.

heh, Federer has just won. He is so brilliant.
Even with sleepless nights

Yesterday I was sitting on a train in Germany, heading south, and I wrote this while sitting in the restaurant car. The sun was shining, I had been working a little. This is not a bad way to travel.

The trains in Germany, intercity at any rate, tend to be busy, and so sitting in the restaurant car is a good way to secure a seat for the journey Or I could reserve one, but I like to remain flexible

Anyway, generally I enjoy the train journey. But yesterday, there was one thing that soured it for me. German Train conductors, especially female ones, do not have a good reputation. I have read of children being kicked off trains if they forgot their travel pass, and having to walk miles home alone. I read of one mother who was turned off a train whilst the children could stay on, not sure why she left them behind, maybe she had no choice.
Well today I met one of these fearsome female conductors. On the train from Frankfurt to Mannheim, I managed to find a seat, and along she came. I proffered my ticket, which was a print out from the computer, with which I already travelled from Basel to Frankfurt without problem. She looked at it:
“Was ist das?” she asked, what is that? So I told her that it was a printout of my ticket from the Swiss system. She was not happy, apparently there are regulations. I had printed the ticket in landscape format instead of portrait. All the info was there, including where she must scan, but it was the wrong way round!!! It was in her view invalid.
I did try telling her that it came out of my printer that way, but she thought I was bullshitting her, leastwise, I think that is what the expression she used meant, it was something to do with taking trousers down!!!
Anyway, I decided the best approach was to apologise immediately otherwise she would make me buy a new ticket, or kick me off at the next stop, which actually was where I needed to change anyway.
After she had gone on, muttering under her breath, I did think of some brilliant rhetoric, in perfect German, about why would I deliberately print out the ticket in the wrong format, whether I would do that just to annoy train staff?

Ah well. I think next time I will print it twice, once the right way, and once in landscape, and carry both with me