As far as I'm concerned, living in Switzerland has one distinct disadvantage.
Income tax.

When I first started working here, my boss was almost apologetic, when he informed me that I would have to pay Quellensteuer - source tax.
What he was trying to tell me is that, where taxes are concerned, foreigners are discriminated. Workers with a permit of residence class B or L are obliged to pay tax on a monthly basis!
Just imagine - your tax is deducted from your pay cheque every month!

How strange- isn't that how they do it in England, Germany, France, Hungary ...
... and everywhere else I've worked?

Not so in Switzerland. Swiss nationals and foreigners that can be trusted (residence permit C) pay their tax annually!

Our Head of Finances at work asked me last year, if I could please apply for a C permit - he was fed up of having to send my taxes to the taxman every month and, after all, it would mean that I could reside in Switzerland indefinitely!
So how should I pay my taxes? Set up a bank account and put money into it every month! Then every spring, when my tax bill arrives, give the money to the taxman.
What I discovered was - he got paid for taxing me directly!
The tax office paid him CHF 600 a year!
I also discovered that if I pay my taxes on a monthly basis I get to get the CHF 600!

I know a few people that get into financial difficulties every spring because the taxman holds out his hand and the taxes have already been spent.
Wouldn't it make more sense to tax people on a monthly basis and lower the taxes a little in the process?

Can someone please explain ...

Yesterday I won $500,000.00!

Really, it's true, they wrote to tell me!!
Yesterday I received a mail from the Japanes Lottery to inform me, that I had won the above sum in a lottery and would I please phone to confirm, that I was really me and to inform them where I wanted the Toyota, which just happened to be part of the winnings, shipped to!

Well, of course, you can imagine how excited I was, especially as I have to pay last years income tax soon, and was wondering where the money should come from. Just imagine! My mail address was picked out by a computer, from 2,5000,000 other mail addresses and mine won! Of course, I reached for the phone immediately ...
... you bet I did!

First, they can't even spell 'Japanese'! There were two or three further spelling mistakes and a couple of wrong tenses.
Well - just to give them the benefit of the doubt, you can't just go around distrusting the 'Toyota Claiming Security Agency' (all capitalised) I sent a copy of the mail to Scam-O-Matic at www.joewein.net - Imagine my disappointment, when they informed me of twenty good reasons, why I hadn't won after all!

* The sender address of that email has been used in a known fraud before.
* An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
* The following fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
• "toyota car international promotion program"
• "toyota fortune lotto"
• "toyota claiming security agency"
• "www.luckyjapan.com"
* This email looks like a fake lottery scam. Consider the following facts about real lotteries:
1. They do not notify winners by email.
2. You can not win without first buying a lottery ticket.
3. They do not randomly select email addresses to award prizes to.
4. They do not use free email accounts (Yahoo, Hotmail, etc) to communicate with you.
5. They do not tell you to call a mobile phone number.
6. They do not tell you to keep your winnings secret.
7. They will never ask a winner to pay any fees to receive a prize!
* The following phrases should put you on alert:
• "claim agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
• "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
* This email lists mobile phone numbers.
• +8613711016724 (China, prepaid mobile phone) (Why would Toyota use a Mobile Phone Number in China?)
And so on, and so on ...

Spoil sports!

If you are allergic to Nuts, then you had better take the Easter eggs you just bought, back to the shops!

Talk about 'Post Early For Christmas' - Christmas is just over and already Cadbury is recalling Easter Eggs because they do not carry the correct nut allergy labelling!

If you are not allergic to nuts, by the way, the eggs are entirely safe - just continue as if I hadn't said anything ...

There are a number of blogs that I read when I have the time.

These last few weeks I have, on a number of occasions, read:
"On my other blog, I have written about ..."
These are people who purportedly have a profession to practice or studies to follow!

I often lack the time to maintain a single blog or I feel there is nothing profane enough to put down in writing.

How do they do it?

When I first took a look at the room I'm sitting in now, my reaction was:
"That is going to be my office!"

The window, which is in front of me when I sit at my computer, looks onto a meadow that slopes down into a valley. The opposite slopes are covered in pine trees and there is the occasional clearing, where a farmhouse and meadows can be glimpsed.
Between my window and the valley 'my' meadow is flanked on the left by a coppice of trees ...
... it was, that is, until last week!

This tiny wood withstood two cyclones and a hurricane. It was unable to oppose the chain-saws.
To say that the coppice has been 'thinned out' would be an understatement.
All of the pine trees and a number of birch have been removed. Left standing are two dead pines, two larch and about 25 beech trees.
I can only imagine, that bad weather interrupted work and the dead pines will come down next.

I suppose I'm lacking the degree in forestry, that is needed to understand the mess that has been made of my view.

Switzerland is a neutral country. There is a quite simple reason why Switzerland has never been invaded ...

The day before yesterday at precisely 13:30 Alarms went off across the whole of Switzerland, just to remind us just what we would hear, if someone actually did press The Red Button.
By chance I heard about the tests on the morning news. Therefore, when the alarms went off, I was able - along with my Swiss colleagues - to pretend that nothing was happening. See Mind over matter.

On my way home yesterday evening, I encountered a large group of armed men dressed in jeans and anoraks and armed to the teeth with Assault rifles and submachine guns. After the initial shock, I realised, that they were members of the Swiss Army on their way to shooting practice.

Military service for Swiss males is obligatory. At the age of about 20, every Swiss male goes through 118 consecutive days of recruit training in the Rekrutenschule. By the Federal Constitution of 1874, military servicemen are given their first equipment, clothing and arms. After the first training period, conscripts must keep gun, ammunition and equipment an ihrem Wohnort ("in their homes") until the end of their term of service.
Enlisted men are issued a SIg 550 automatic assault rifle and officers a semi-automatic pistol, Each reservist is issued 50 rounds of ammunition in sealed packs for emergency use.
Crimes, committed with army guns and ammunition, are almost non-existent - after all, it is against the law to crack open the boxes of ammunition!

Over a soldier's career he also spends scattered days on mandatory equipment inspections and required target practice. Thus, in a 30-year mandatory military career, a Swiss man only spends about one year in direct military service. Following discharge from the regular army, men serve on reserve status until the age of 50 (55 for officers).
After discharge from service, the man is given an assault gun free from registration or obligation. Officers carry pistols rather than rifles and are given their pistols at the end of their service. When the government adopts a new infantry rifle, it sells the old ones to the public.

it might be noted that there are about 420,000 assault rifles stored at private homes, mostly SIG 550 types. Additionally, there are some 320,000 assault rifles and military pistols exempted from military service in private possession, all selective-fire weapons having been converted to semi-automatic operation only. In addition, there are several hundred thousand other semi-automatic small arms classified as carbines. The total number of firearms in private homes is estimated minimally at 1.2 million; more liberal estimates put the number at 3 million.

I have heard it said, that no army in the world can be mobilised as fast as the Swiss Army. I presume, that when the alarm goes off in earnest, they run down to the cellar, jump into their uniform, grab their assault gun and jump on the next bus for the front.

The Swiss do not have an army, they are the army, says one government publication. Fully deployed, the Swiss army has 15.2 men per square kilometre; in contrast, the U.S.A. and U.S.S.R. have only .2 soldiers per square kilometre. Switzerland is 76 times denser with soldiers than either superpower. Indeed, only Israel has more army per square kilometre.

In 1847-48, liberals throughout Europe revolted against aristocratic rule. Only in Switzerland did they succeed, taking control of the whole nation following a brief conflict called the Sonderbrund War. (Total casualties were only 128.) Civil rights were firmly guaranteed, and all vestiges of feudalism were abolished.
Despite the hopes of German reformers, the Swiss did not send their people's army into Germany in 1848 to assist popular revolution there. When the German revolution failed, autocratic Prussia considered invading Switzerland, but decided the task was impossible.

During World War I, both France and Germany considered invading Switzerland to attack each other's flank. In World War II, Hitler wanted the Swiss gold reserves and needed free communications and transit through Switzerland to supply Axis forces in the Mediterranean. But when military planners looked at Switzerland's well-armed citizenry, mountainous terrain, and civil defence fortifications, Switzerland lost its appeal as an invasion target. While two World Wars raged, Switzerland enjoyed a secure peace.

Switzerland is also the only Western nation to provide shelters fully stocked with food and enough supplies to last a year for all its citizens in case of war. The banks and supermarkets subsidise much of the stockpiling. The banks also have plans to move their gold into the mountainous center of Switzerland in case of invasion.
Every new home that is built, is required to devote an extensive potion of its cellar to provision of shelter.
A number of Swiss citizens I know are not really happy about this 'waste of space'.
I recently looked into the shelter at the house of friends - it was full of bikes and the geraniums spend the winter there.
Uuhm ...
... this just happens to be against the law.
What will they do if someone really presses The Red Button?

Reference: The Swiss And Their Guns; David B. Kopel/Wikipedia.