Expensive wine cellars indeed - still, for all the premium, there remains some minimum value in anticipatory infrastructure. And if there's any society mad and rich enough to do it, it's the Swiss. ;-)

1. The price of cold weather...the North East of the country is resembling the mid-90s Montreal ice storm - with power outages and cold-related deaths. Hereabouts, the central valley is declaring a 75% loss on this year's citrus harvest (prices on oranges are expected to rise $0.50 a pound), and a total loss on this month's artichoke harvest...and ( Read more... )

Unsurprisingly, the vote has supported the stiffening of requirements for asylum seekers to Switzerland. And a rejection of the 'KOSA Initiative' which would have also increased the barriers & gates for foreigners in Switzerland ( Read more... )

1. On the morning's train commute the other day... One young man (circa age 18) was chatting up a girl. I didn't pay much mind expect that they were talking in High German, and the girl was talking rather loudly with poor pronounciation (I suspect she was partially deaf. Also - she committed the apparent fashion faux pas of white socks and black ( Read more... )

1. Driving past Bern, listening to Shakira's "My Hips Don't Lie" on the radio, signs indicate Wankdorf - nuff said ( Read more... )

So, with phone calls to friends, the Thommens managed to secure a place to crash at in Crans-Montana this weekend, and arranged so we could see some of the European Masters tournament in Crans-Montana. All in all a very nice experience. Got to see some of the very best in golf, in an exceptionally pretty setting, enjoy good pizza (if with some dire ( Read more... )

The most important part of the trip first:A truly lovely time reconnecting with childhood friends and family-friends I haven't seen in 18 years! Sharing old memories with Francesco and Giovanni Riva, refreshing others (as Franz puts it, his brother has "an elephant's memory" - his memories of details was shocking!), and picking up where we had left ( Read more... )

So it's been one wave of rain after another - very far from the Swiss summer I was expecting. Oh well. The suede shoes are going back in the bag, and I've already bought a new raincoat. Actually, I've been on quite a shopping spree - I also ordered a couple of new glasses! Woot! I think I'll have my yuppie credentials next. ;-) Actually, these ( Read more... )

An interesting flight in. The S-80 (which I'm convinced is an MD-80 built from McDonall-Douglass's past glory) was designed for small-assed midgets, and the economy seats on the equally run-down connecting flight's 767 were little better. There's this much to say about those ass-numbing seats though: they do distract from the utterly dire American ( Read more... )