Living the Corona Life

It's been a while..... and because I'm trapped at home, an update!

What is Coronavirus like with the "Lockdown" (it's not truly a lockdown or at least not in my opinion)....?

Firstly, the whole shopping experience - for food of course - is borderline tolerable.  I say that because I only use my small local Coop and, bar the long lines and odd person with a mask on, it's relatively OK.  Plus they finally stocked up massively on toilet roll and guess what - with a mass of toilet rolls on pallets outside, people realise there is no shortage!!

All I wish is there were some restaurants and bars to visit.  That I could play tennis and go to the gym.  And that my new bigger screen for home office was here already!!

More to come soon including a description of the process and steps for non-facilitated naturalisation..... I am nearly done!

Swisscom InOne

Swisscom has finally woken up and is offering some very nice packages for Internet, TV and Mobile.  Gone is the old time where it was high-priced and uncompetitive - now you actually get good value for your monthly subscription!

The stand-out thing for me is the new mobile subscriptions that are seeing fit to include some roaming.  Given Switzerland is not in the EU and that we all travel around a fair amount, this inclusion is excellent.  I'm tipping towards the S package for myself as it covers just what I need.  My thought is that 45 days and 2Gb per annum is enough for me and is 20 Francs less than the next subscription; if I need more, I can buy a top-up from the Cockpit.

Try it and see what you can get!

If you think Swiss health-and-safety is average, check this out....

A bar in the red-light district in Amsterdam.  Visit the toilets.....

Wash your hands too energetically and .......

Interesting aspects of the Swiss driving licence

Here it is:

It is important to know whether your licence should has something in column 12......because if you get stopped by the police, they will ask some questions.

If Roland had "01.06" in column 12 and was stopped when driving and was not wearing glasses or contact lenses, he'd be in trouble and would not be permitted to continue driving.  Why?  Because when he got that entitlement on his licence, his eye test showed that he needed correction (in the form of glasses or contacts).

Let that be a warning to people......have a look at your licence now and check.  And if you have laser surgery to correct your defective vision, you will want to get your licence updated otherwise you'll have a problem that you really don't need.

More information here on the licence.

Switzerlanded

It's amazing what a single, funny, made-up-word can do when a news organisation is bored.

Economisto coined the phrase back in 2010 as a humorous retort to someone paying lots of money for film processing.  As social communities can do, they adopt such language and it becomes a commonly-understood saying.

If you're Switzerlanded, it means you are subject to an event which seems to be unique and specific to Switzerland.  Being charged high amounts for seemingly basic goods and services is the obvious usage but you can also conclude that the price of a loaf of bread being the same as it was 15 years ago as being another.

Being Switzerlanded could be when you lose your wallet and have it returned to you with contents intact.  Being Switzerlanded could also be when you're swamped by people not letting you get off the train or bus before they get on.  Switzerlanded is also when you order something from an online vendor with whom you have no relationship and they send you the goods and a payment slip.

My experiences fall into these categories.  In the 90s, I spent 6000 francs on a TV and DVD player and they were sent to me with the payment slip.  I remember many occasions where I was not allowed to get off trams by those getting on - even when I was walking with crutches after breaking my leg.  I've been Switzerlanded when filtering on my motorcycle.....a car beeps the horn at me because <shudder> filtering is illegal.  I stopped and confirmed this to be the reason.....!

Heck, I've even been Switzerlanded at 6am when coming home from events like Street Parade and Fete des Vendanges - the street cleaners are out in force at that time to clean up the mess from the evening before.

Being Switzerlanded can suck - but it doesn't have to!!

Foreigners - out!

Seriously.

It's not going to happen.  But thanks, Switzerland, for the message.  I'd say this has been brewing since 2007/8 when everyone began suffering in the downturn of many economies - and even I'm protective about what I have.

What I would welcome though is the reduction of the thousands and thousands and thousands of cars coming across the border each day and blocking up my roads.

Daytime Running Lights from 1st January 2014

An interesting thing driven by the Via Secura group to make the roads safer.  A second set of measures (see the PDF on the right hand side of the page) includes a requirement for Daytime Running Lights from 1st January 2014.

I don't know how they will enforce this or punish non-compliance but if you have a new car, it will have LEDs and be compliant.  Those are cars from 2011, I think....

I've installed some Philips DRLs I got from eBay - very easy installation indeed.  So I'll be OK...........

In addition to the DRL requirement, there will be limits on the alcohol certain groups of drivers can have and still drive - watch out for that if you're a new driver!!