… Just as the sun was ri-ising …

I was lucky on Thursday.
We were not woken by the sound of the snow plough and there was no eerie silence after switching the alarm clock off.
A glance outside showed that no fresh snow had fallen –
life could commence as usual.

They have promised us a hard winter this time round. I don't know what that is supposed to mean, but I might have an inkling:
When I went to climb into the car to go to work, it was covered with a thick screen of ice. The temperature was minus ten degrees!

Not a great deal by Siberian standards, but we are in Switzerland and it is only November. The cold months don't arrive until February!

Luckily I'd thought to put one of those Aluminium blankets over my windscreen so that, at least, was free of ice.
I was, however unable to see out of the side windows.
Well, I sprayed the side windows and rear screen with ice remover (I don't even want to know what's in those bottles) and went back inside for a cup of coffee.

A few minutes later, I removed the sludge from the side windows with a squeegee and set off for work.
I arrived at work just ten minutes later than I had intended.
When I went to lift the hatch to get something out of the boot, it wouldn't lift on its own – there was a centimetre thick sheet of ice across the whole of it, except for the deep hole, where the wiper had been working.

Quite cold, I'd say …

We had snow last weekend, the first real snow this season.
Yes, we had an inch or two mid-October that lasted for a week, but that doesn't really count.
This weekend we awoke to a foot of fresh snow …



This part of the world is called Switzerland. We get snow here every year without fail. Lots of it.
You can always expect the first snow around mid-October – just a smattering to remind you what you are in for – but the same thing happens every year: You always get a number of drivers on the road that have never, ever seen the stuff before in their lives.
And that's just how they drive.

Some still have summer tyres on their cars, because, well, who would have expected snow at this time of year? (They've only been telling us ten-times-a-day-for-a-week, just what we are in for.)
They creep along the roads at a snails' pace. And you can guarantee to find one crawling along in front of you exactly on that stretch of road that you won't be able to overtake on for the next three kilometers.

Luckily the Swiss are well equipped to deal with snow.
If the snow fall is less than a meter overnight, you will be awoken at five in the morning by the sound of a snow plough. More snow, and your 'wake-up-call' will be earlier.
This means two things:
a) You should rise a little earlier than usual, so you don't get into a rush clearing the snow off your vehicle.
b) The roads will be clear of snow (unless you are still in the middle of a snow storm) and you will be able to drive to work in safety.
If you happen to wake up to a total, eerie silence, panic!
This means there is a meter or more of snow and the snow-ploughs are still trying to cope with the snow down in the village – you are going to be late for work. Occasionally even a day or two!

Of course, you still get the odd patch of ice here and there, once the roads have been cleared, so you do have to drive carefully, but the worst of it will be gone.

Imagine my surprise then, when I climbed into the car to drive home from a party on Saturday night – the motorway was encased in three inches of solidly packed snow!
I had always envisaged snow ploughs racing up and down the motorway, 24 hours a day. They don't !
Enquiries have revealed that the drivers of said snow ploughs get tired at some point and finish work at around midnight. After that you're on your own.

Now I presume that the Swiss are aware of such facts. So why then, do so many of those still using summer tyres wait until after midnight to use the motorways?
They block the middle lane, stationary, with their wheels turning on the spot and looking utterly helpless behind their steering wheels. If you could hear them, I'm sure they bleat like sheep.

If you wish to get home, you have to weave in and out of them in an elegant slalom through the snow, secure in the knowledge that the rescue services will be along with blankets and hefty fines before too long …

Americanisms removed 30.11.2008

Did I mention that I like this time of the year?
I think I did.
Did I mention that I live on a hill 1000m high?
That's three quarters of the way up Snowdon, for those of you that can't imagine how high that is...

Apart from being extremely quiet, living here has other advantages too. I can, for instance, usually see what the weather is doing down below me.

I took this picture this morning:



Go on – click it!

Something I really enjoy is Asian food.
Japanese sushi;
Chinese stir-fries;
Vietnamese Pho (noodle soup);
Philippine chicken;
Indian lentils.
But best of all is Thai Cuisine because it is the spiciest...



I really enjoy spicy food, so why is it that so many restaurants refuse to serve it?
There is/was an Indian restaurant in Ludwigsburg that offered three choices of meal:
Mild, Hot or Normal.
Mild is, well, mild.
Hot is spicy – German spicy.
Normal is spicy – Indian style!
Why can't they all do it like that?

I went for a Thai meal the other day.
You could choose meals with zero, one, two or three chilli peppers from the menu.
I ordered a meal with three.

When my meal arrived, I was certain they had brought the wrong plate to our table. I'm quite sure even the most coddled Swiss person would'nt have found it spicy.
I called the waitress and complained. "Oh, but that is the spicy one", she assured me.
"In that case, I need chilli", I said.
"We no have Chilli,“ she said "only fish sauce"
"Then I need the fish sauce", I replied.
(Fish sauce is fish extract with raw chilli peppers)
She called something into the kitchen and I recognised the word 'Farang' which means 'Long-Nose' denoting a European/American.
The fish sauce arrived but there was hardly any chilli in it. By the time a portion of the food was anywhere near 'hot', it was too salty to eat.
I gave up and ate my meal as it was.

This happens to me all the time – even if I visit a restaurant with Thai friends who will tell the waiter/waitress "He can eat as 'hot' as we can!"
The waiter invariably scoffs and I get a watered-down version of what I ordered.

Good to have Thai friends – I get invited to dinner every now and then and am served the normal version.
Yummy!