Yes it is again daffodil time, There were none in my garden and then suddenly I had a complete crop, planted some years ago and always returning annually.
It brings back memories from my younger school days. We were given a daffodil bulb in Autumn with the idea that we should plant it at home in a pot. When Spring arrived and the daffodil had grown and was showing its first flowers, we would take the potted daffocil to school. It was marked with our name and they were judged by the teachers. The successful daffodils won a certaificate and were exhibited on a table. I had won many certaficates, but I think most of us school kids did. It was a good experience, living in London with very few flowers to see.
I now have my bed of daffodis in the garden that regularly appear every year.
My eggs in the fridge in the kitchen, nothing special. from the chicken as she laid them.
There used to be times when the kids were still kids. Easter Saturday afternoon was filled with pots of water boiling eggs with herbs from the garden tied to the shells with thread as an ornament on the shells, or pots of coloured water waiting for the eggs to be dipped to change their colours. There would eventually be at least 20 eggs in all colours and designs, hard boiled and ready to be eaten over the Easter holidays, mainly for breakfast on Easter Sunday. It was fun for the kids, although Mr. Swiss and I were exhausted after the ceremony of colouring them. Those days are now gone and my eggs sit in the freidge waiting to be boiled and eaten by just me and No. 1 son at home. Yes, the good old days have gone, I do miss them a little. The kids have now become grandchldren and now exhaust my No. 2 son and his wife with their colourful eggs.
One of the small problems living on the ground floor is that anyone that lives above may lose their washing hung on the balcony to dry. However, no problem for me. It could also happen to me if I lived up on the top floor and so I go outside and pick it up and put it on the stairs and my neighbour comes to collect it. This time she was lucky, as I gathered it just as her son and daughter were outside and they thanked me and took it up to their mother. We help each other in our house, no problem.
Today I had again one of those telephone calls, actually I got this twice this week, and have had it before. First of all a guy speaks, in English, actually Amrican imitating a voice from the FBI very strict. His telephone is a Swiss Number, a private number (silly man) and then he begins to tell me that it has been discovered that I am dishonest and am being investigatated by the Swiss Police. It was obviously a recording, not a real person, but he said to dial “1” to be connected. And why the Swiss Police would report it to the FBI have no idea. We have our own FBI.
I have had these calls before and generally hang up, but this time I got curious to see what happens and dialed further. I was then connected to a lady who was probably speaking also Ameican although I absolutely did not understand what she was saying. It was probably English, but not clear so I told her I do not understand. She repeated whatever she said, I got annoyed with this rubbish and told her to “F” off. It is lovely to be able to use these expressions on people that deserve it. I hung up the phone, blocked her number and that was that. No further calls and peace.
It was probably a duplicitous case, although I have never heard this word before, but it sounds good. Another one I had to reserach in Internet to see what it was. My English is really suffering as I griow older.
I had good news from my weekly online delivery from the store. They usually arrive during the evening, but today will be earlier. That will give me time to organise it all for the Easter and cook the evening meal without stress – spachetti al sugo (minced meat, tomato and all the Italian spices).
The sun is shining, the weather is warming up and it looks like it will be a pleasant Easter week-end. Son No. 2 will also be arriving tomorrow for a short visit and everything under control, what could be better.
I remember watching this video many years ago in England. My mother’s remark was “I didn’t know spaghetti grew on trees”. Of course she didn’t know, she was a Brit. Did I believe it? No really but it did not surprise me that spaghetti actuially grew on trees. I think most of the Brits were not surprised.
It was on 1st April that the film was shown on a BBC political programme, featureing the havest which actually took place, according to the film, in the Italian part of Switzerland. Since living in Switzerland I wanted to harvest spaghetti, but ever foud the plants.
No hissy fit photo, I no longer have my hissy fit photos. I had to cancel my photo programme some time ago, and have lost them all. I can now show photos that are new. Yes, I threw a hissy fit when I lost my thousands of photos. However, life goes on and I have to deal with todays problems.
Todays hissy fit was due to our supid idiotic Swiss Telephone company. I had two bank accounts. Son No. 2 said it would be better with just one, and he was right (him being the jurist in the family). However not so easy as I had a couple of accounts with direct debit that I had to organise, easier said than done. The biggest problem was our national telephone company who are so stupid that they sent me twice the wrong document to complete and my telephone invoice was still charged on the account I want to cancel. At last after two months, I had someone on the telephone from the Swisscom that understood what I wanted and she sent me the corrent document which I sent to my bank and they have confirmed that everything is now in order. Today I got a telephone from the Swisscom telling me that I had the wrong IBAN No. on the form I completed. I then threw my hissy fit on the phone and told the lady that I now have the right No. thanks to receiving the correct form, and the bank confirmed this to me on the telephone and everything is OK, so she should check this as they sent me the wrong docment twice. They will call me back in a few days to confirm this. How stupid can you get, and I pay these people to look after my telephone invoice and organise it for me.
Life is really difficult when you are on your own and have no-one to support you in such official business. I just hope that my other two accounts with direct ebit are now in order. I am slowly losing my temper with these people. I know I am not perfect with official matters but I am not stupid and I am gradually losing my temper.
And the photo above was also a problem, although thre smoke is no longer to be seen. At midday the alarm siren sounded in our area, very loud and unless it is an exercise to see if it is operating, it is an emergency. As we had no previous waring for a siren exercise I realised it could be something dangerous. Checking on my iPhone I saw that there was a smoke alarm in a few villages, South from ours, so for us no big problem. However, the warning was on my phone and people living in the area were instructed to close their windows and doors and stay in due to possible problems with smoke suffocation. It seems that now everything is OK I am glad it was not in our direct area.
One of my neighbours brought me this wonderfull Easter Arrangement. I gave it water and a day later I had the first daffodil flowers. It is a miniature daffodil but just perfect. The water seemed to be the right tonic to bring it to flowering.
It is certainly perfect for brightening up the dull weather days we have at the moment. There were also a few miniature chocolate bunnies in the arrangment, but they are now waiting to be eaten.
The clouds wander scross our Jura mountains opposite with no bother.
Not a care in the world except for the fact that I still feel the bruises from my fall two days ago, but a couple of tablets cure all evils I hope. And so I am having a relaxing Sunday, not planning to go anywhere, it is safer but, yes, I had a telephone call from the golden oldie home where Mr. Swiss is.
Again he fell out of his bed. Luckily no damage done and no injuries, but they always tell me when something happens. It seems that falling is something that happens in our golden years. Mr. Swiss seems to fall out of his bed quite often, although I know why. He still has the feeling he is twenty years younger and can do everything on his own, like leaving his bed to get into his wheelchair instead of calling for assistance. He sometimes does not even realise that he needs a wheelchair.
It is going to be a busy week with the Easter holidays approaching. Holidays are an inconvenience for me and I am glad when they disappear. Coping with the extra shopping is annoying, especially as veryone seems to have the feeling they are suffering from hunger and buy everything. but I have already got my Easter chcolate bunny.
Yesterday it was time to have another accident, although I did no want this accident and for a while I had to make sure that I was still a person and not just a body laying on a cold concrete floor in darkness.
I was busy unpacking my grocery delivery from the store and this week, being almost Easter, I had quite a large delivery. There were a few items I had to prepare for freezing and luckily I have two refrigerators in the apartment, as well as a deepfreeze in the cellar, although it all needs organisation. My No 1 son was not at home, he was at a concert in town, although I was glad. I did not have to rush, could take my time and cooking an evening meal was not neessary, I had already eaten my lunch at midday and my son was eating in the restaurant. Then came the final work to take a few items into the cellar for the freezer. I took the lift, arrived in the cellar and it happened: the light went out, I was in darkness. We have a timer on the light. I knew where I was, at least I thought so. I felt ny way along the wall, at least I though it was a wall, but no, it was a corner and after the corner, there was ……… nothing. I fell, landed on my back and bumped my head. When I fall in such a way there is no way I can stand up. I was laying helpless on the cold stone floor and had no idea where I was.
First of all a quick body check. Yes my head had the beginnings of a small bump, it was manageable and no blood on my fingers when I touhed it and there I was alone in the dark at 9.00 in the evening. What do you do? I shouted in a loud clear voice “HELP” actually “HILFE” in German. Not once, not twice, but often. I was alone and must admit, scared. And then I head steps and voices. Someone had heard my call(s) for help and my wonderful neighbours appeared, him and her. The first reaction was that the husband asked if I was badly hurt and if he could help lift me into an upright position. He tried and it worked and I was standing on my feet again with my walker which I had with me.
They both helped me to the lift and brought me to my appartment where I at last could sit on a chair and check my body, although I was more shaken than anything. And then I realised I was prepared for such an occasion and was wearing my emergency watch. I pressed the button and almost immediately had contact to the central station for help. The lady greeted me by name on my watch and asked what has happend. I told her the problem and she said she would immediately inform our helper. A few minutes later I had a telephone from the local first aid, we call them Samariter, with the promise she was now on her way and would arrive in the next 15 minutes. My neighbours then left me as they also had to be somewhere else, although they called me after a while on the phone to ask how I was. By then I was sitting on my chair waiting for the arrival of Samariter help. Luckily my appartment is never locked and I also had an extra key in my postbox under a code that the helpers have to release the key-
Everything under control and the help had arrived in my appartment. It was a young lady and she knew exactly what to do. She first of all did a body check and attended to the bump on my head. There was a small cut there, but not too bad and she treated it for me. After a body check there were no broken bones, thank goodness, although I had a bruised feeling on my back. I was completely shaken by the experience. Eventually the Samariter lady stayed with me and helped me to get ready for bed. By then I was feeling more like a human being. I managed to get ready myself and clean my teeth. She had a look in my medicine cabinet and found exactly the right medicine to take, helping with pain and also for the swelling. Somehow I managed to have a quite night. I just had to be careful how to lay in bed.
This morning I awoke not knowing how it would work, but luckily I felt able to move. Of course I had a feeling that I was bruised all over, my head hurt when I touch it, but the bump had gone. I just had to be careful how I moved, my back was huring, but I had no brusing and now I am sitting at my desk writing. My usual morning help arrived to help with my shower and as he also works for the Samariter organisation he was full in the picture what had happened yesterday.
What did I learn from this experience. The main thing was to take my telephone with me everywhere, especially where it could become a dark place, as it has a built in light. The main problem was that I fell on my back and that could have had dire consquences. It seems that my injurues were a bessing in disguise (at least I think that it how it is said) and apart from my nerves, the injuries were manageable.
I have now bored you enough with my stupid accident and now look forward to a peaceful normal evening with no excitement. My no. 1 son is back home, but I deided not to tell him what happened. He is autistic, would not really understand the seriousness of what happened. Having MS is not so good sometimes.
I think Santa had shaved off his beard after Christmas so he was hiding his face from the camera. His carriage is ready to return him to wherever his lives during the year. It used to be Greenland, but there were rumours that it will be invaded from another would be Chief, with red hair and not a beard. His deer is waiting for the journey to pull the carriage.
I am Ahmed Abdi, a Wordpress blogger and storyteller who searches for stories that inspire people. I love writing because it’s a reflection of how I perceive the world around me. Lost in a world of endless chaos in my childhood, Unforgettable moments of tragedy and triumphs taught me the art of storytelling where I found myself through letter writing and then turned into stories but then sadly had lost everything I wrote for years. In 2018, I decided to create a Wordpress blog site that would allow me to store and retrieve every piece. Stories from my community, city and people are what make my writing so interesting and inspiring! I’m a tea lover so a cup of tea sometimes makes my blog.
"Summer is the Season of Inferior Sledding" -- Inuit Proverb. Martha Ann Kennedy's Blog, Copyright 2013-into perpetuity, all rights reserved to the author/artist.
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Chronicles of an Anglo Swiss 