Who'd've thought it?

 

Thre I was, browsing through the Blue Moon Fiber Arts site when I saw : this . Silk. Spun in Switzerland! Shame it'll have to go to the States and only then will I be able to get it in my new home ;0)

Remember all that snow we had almost 2 years ago? Makes me feel chilly just looking at it. Mind you, last winter was wierd. And disturbing. I don't like cold weather, but when it's meant to be cold and it isn't....still, this year had seen a few bitterly cold days, so that's ok :0). Wonder what it's doing in Zurich?

16 days to go. Did you get that? SIXTEEN DAYS!

AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I'm sure I've has this kind of title before, but now it is ARGH! +++++++

I'm sure that many folk are the same as us - there are things that need doing to the house, that would have been much better done at the time so at least you get the pleasure of the completed work. But life gets in the way. Before you know it, 3 years have passed. And you're moving. Not necessarily to Zurich, mind you, but THOSE JOBS still need to be done.

I shouldn't complain - my mum and I had a very pleasant weekend - yarn shopping, lunching, having coffee, driving by lochs, more coffee, more driving, dinner at Kember and Jones , visit to Jennifer, going to the Tramway for knitting ......

Meanwhile my dad and Number Guy were installing a new bathroon suite.

This morning the thrill of having heating and hot water palled just a little when I realised that the house looks like 10,000 Gremlins were doing their worst.

So apart from telling myself to get a grip and appreciate that I don't have to do a 10 mile round-trip to carry water home eaach day, I'm doing the other obvious thing. Leaving it all behind to buy a pair of Mary Janes

Emergency Survival Kit

 

Here are the bare essentials:
Large milky coffee
novel
knitting
Gimble- essential for knitting whilst reading
Scrabble
Sudoku puzzles
Relocation information

Believe me, dear reader, when I say that these are things which make a six hour (yep, SIX hour)stopover at Luton bearable... Fying with budget airlines is all well and good, but as you will probably know if you miss a connecting flight it's too bad, so sad. Hence the four hour stopover going, and the longer one coming back. All in all, not too bad - I even managed without any diazepam - yay!! And that was even after I reported an unattended bag (I know, Iknow, the bag was in the airport, not the plane....but when you are scared witless by flying like I am, these little hiccups really matter).

So, where was I last weekend? You mean you really have to ask? I was here, of course. This was the first of our days with a relocation agent, looking at properties -we saw 10 in all and have so far said we are interested in 4. Now we have to wait for a week since in Zurich the landlords are very particular about tenants. We have chosen two houses and two apartments.

Whether a flat or a house, there are things common to all: underground parking space, cellar space for storage, nuclear bomb shelter, open wood fire...Sorry? What was that? Nuclear bomb shelter? Yep, you read right. They are mandatory. Most of them have been divided up into compartments for storage. They make great wine cellars, it would appear.

Of the 10 places we saw on Monday, only 2 were rejected out of hand. The others were all great but the commute was just too bad for Number Goy. It isn't really the time - he wants to do no more than an hour door-to-door - but the way some of the commutes would be organised. eg 15 minute walk, bus to station, train to main station then tram for the final stage.

The Swiss aren't keen on discussing money, but let's just say that some rents seem to be the equivalent of the GDP of a small country. As people who are used to mortgages it is a little painful to part with lots of money for rent instead.

Before we had our day with the relocation agent we spent two days travelling all over the city to get an idea of places we did and didn't like. Will it surprise you to know that I stumbled upon one of the best yarn shops I have ever seen? Right up the street from an organic food shop :0)

Due to the season, we saw lots of this: I explained to the chap that since men in kilts in Scotland have to put up with tourists taking their picture, it was only fair that I got a shot of Mr 'Marroni' And since we had just bought some chesnuts, he seemed happy to oblige. But you know, roast chestnuts are in the same category as honey - I was about 18 before I had my first taste of honey (deprived childhood) and although I love it now, at the time it was such a disapointment. Nothing at all like I thought it would be. Same with roast chestnuts - they were great for keeping my hands warm, yet.....hmm, just not what I was expecting.

Now I'm off to strip - wallpaper, that is. Now that we are leaving, we are doing all those things that we've been putting off for the last decade - typical, eh?

It's all sorted - I can move now !

 

Look what I just joined

Decisions, decisions....

 

..so, lots of folk have been asking 'What are you going to do when you move to Zurich?'

And I always answer 'Nothing!'

But that isn't actually true. While I will not be seeking paid employment, I will be busy, busy, busy. When we decided to move to Zurich we had lots of discussions about my career. We thought it unlikely that there would be much call for a Gaelic-medium nursery teacher in Switzerland, which is the path my career was taking. So we have decided that I would hang up my teaching hat.

We've always been a good team and we decided to play to our strengths. While Number Guy is working hard, I am going to be our PA. And I do mean 'our'. My role is going to be to make life as easy as possible for the pair of us. As I won't be working, I will have the time to deal with the difficulties that life as ex-pats throw at us.

When I am not working out how to do X, Y or Z, I am going to craft. And travel :0) I plan to have a big map of Europe on the wall with pins in all the places I want to visit. When Number Guy is busy with work, I am going to jump on a train to wherever the fancy takes me.

In the meanwhile, in preparation for our move, I am going to stop teaching ahead of time. Again, there is so much to do here, and so much Numner Guy has to do at work that this seems to be the most sensible thing to do.

One of the 'must-do' tasks is to learn some German - classes start next week. I have had a mixed reaction to this - some folk are quite negative 'Well, they don't speak German anyway!' Not true. While Switzerdeutsch is the language of native-born Swiss, High German is also spoken - and it is the language of the written word. Makes German kind of compulsory IMHO

Of course, when I am not learning German, getting cats vaccinated, visitng friends to say 'Auf Weidersehen' etc, I have lots to do in the house. Hard decisions about what is going to Zurich and what is going in the bin. But when I am not doing tany of those things I am going to indulge in some sewing. I finally plucked up the courage to sut out the linen for a pinafore that I am making. Yes - a pinafore. But it's going to be a cool pinafore (if it isn't, then there'll be a lot of linen cushion-covers about the place).

So on that note, I'm off to sew, see y'all later

Currently listening to ....

 

Radio Zürisee.

I know this will really surprise you all, but I can't understand a darn word....;0)
I begin German classes fairly soon, but of course this does not help with Schweizerdeutsch. However, I am determined to be able to speak some of this dialect eventully. I just need to try to ensure that if I pick up any books on it (strange, really, as it isn't a written language) that I get the Zurich ones. I mean, imagine the frustration of picking up some Basel Schweizerdeutsch!

Moving On

 

I am going to feel such a mix of emotions when we go - In fact I'm feeling many of them already ...

And though Number Guy and I fully intend to keep in touch with our friends - whether they want us to or not! - I'm sure there'll be some tears from me along the way. It's been great to have my friends' reactions - delighted for me, but going to miss me, too.

But I was just a bit worried by one friend's reaction. Heather -
"Great! We'll have a party!........;0)

Zurich here I come!

 

we're moving - to Zurich! Yep, you read that correctly. And I can't wait :0)

It'll be a few months yet - notice period to work, accomodation to arrange, cats to get Pet Passports for.... German to learn

We're nervous - but sooooo excited!

Zurich

 

This is where I had planned to dazzle y'all with some great pictures, but as I said in the previous post, the card on my camera isn't playing - it's taking the pictures, but the computer can't read them...

All I have is about 4 pictures, including this one of a tram* ...and some toasters.

Toasters? Yep - but boy. they're some toasters...

I'm sure that anyone who has been to Zurich will agree that it is a beautiful place, and clean to boot. Safe, friendly, excellent public transport, great food...wonderful yarn. Yep, I didn't let my lack of German hinder me ;0) I tracked down some great silk/merino but for now you're gonna have to trust me.

The weather faeries had been out in force and espite the fact that the weather recently had been awful we had a wonderful few days - can you believe I was actually too hot? In the shade ?

But I'm not complaining. Nope. I loved it. Now I just want to know - when can I go back????

* It's my blog, so if I want to put pictures of trams on it, I will!