I am back with my geraniums (Storchenschnabel – stork’s beaks translated from german). I have three varieties. The red ones are now finishing and the white larger flowers have now appeared. I have a mixture in one of my borders.
Daily Archives: 06/06/2016
Share Your World: 2016 Week 23
What was one of your first moneymaking jobs (other than babysitting or newspaper delivery)?
Perhaps the question might be better formed as to “Why did you work for money?”. Of course a Saturday job was always something lucrative for a young teenager, to boost the pocket money, but I had a target behind working every Saturday in the male clothing department of a local small department store. I was at school during the week and Saturday morning I would arrive to sell shirts, ties, socks and also trousers and suits. Yes, I did get some cheeky remarks from the young male wannabe funny ones about measuring them up for a pair of trousers, which left me speechless and of course, they did a silly giggle. Today I would probably tell them, “why not” produce the tape measure and move towards them, which would probably drive them into retreat. When you are 17 years old it can get embarrassing.
And this is the reason why. Me on the left with a school friend on board a cruise ship bound for the Baltic sea. We had the chance at school to go on a two week cruise of the Baltic Sea making stops in Helsinki, Stockholm, Copenhagen and Leningrad. This was in 1964 (note the fashions of the day), my last year at school. The ship had been converted into dormetries for sleeping and there was a canteen for the food. We had to make our own beds, no luxury cruise care. Two of our teachers also accompanied us. It was exciting seeing Leningrad (today St. Petersburg) as it was in the communist days and life on board the MS Devonia was exciting.
My parents did not have the money for this cruise, so I earned it all myself with my Saturday job. I think most of us girls from working class families had to find the money to go on the cruise, but it was worth it.
What is your favorite month of the year?
I would say anything between when it stops snowing until it begins to snow again. I don’t mind cold or even rainy weather, but please no ice or snow. Of course Switzerland in the summer is a wonderful place to be. Photo taken from my village towards the Jura Mountains.
What three things in nature do you find most beautiful?
To many to make a choice. I think this photo sums it up.
List at least five of your favorite spices? (excluding salt and pepper)
The spice must suit the food. If it is Italian, then origano, if Chinese then some ginger and soya. If it’s Swiss then it should have some Aromat, no Swiss eats without Aromat. Otherwise I have my own herb garden, so I choose what I want from sage, rosemary, thyme and lemon balsam with some fresh chives that grow in a box.
Daily Prompt: Playtime for playful me
This is really the only game that I play today. I used to be a gamer, an addicted gamer: you name it and I played it and all connected to facebook of course, where else. I blogged in many places, places that no longer exist. Most of the games I played in facebook no longer exist, and that is just as well. I would be glued to my computer building farms, restaurants and even a town. I also had a couple of islands. Basically it cost me nothing but my time and one day I woke up and realised time is the most precious thing you have so I gave it all up and began to blog more.
The only playful moments I now have are with Candy Crush, one of those bird brained obstacle courses where there now exist over 2,000 levels. I am only a beginner with my level 245 and have been stuck there for the past six months, but it does not bother me. Why should it? I only play when I have nothing else to do, just a time passing episode in my little Angloswiss life. I am a little playful now and again, to release the tension of every day life. The world is not very amusing when you are only cleaning windows or ironing, there must be more to it. And so there is candy crush.
I have been revising my knowledge of the Russian language since I discovered something called Duolingo. It is an app, costs nothing and seems to have more languages that I have ever heard of, Russian being one of them. I play on my iPad and even have the russian keyboard so no problem, it is all combined. I could also play it on my computer, but why should I. To much organisation with the cyrillic letters. Just 10 minutes a day on my iPad regularly does wonders.
Today the world is not full of games, but apps. If you are online with a phone, iPad, computer, or whateveer, then you can download an app for something or the other. The word “app” is apparently the shortened version of “application”. The first time I heard this word was when Mr. Swiss had his first iPhone and No. 2 son was visiting. It was a new world for me and they were comparing apps. Son was telling Mr. Swiss the various possibilities and I was sort of listening wondering which language they were speaking. It was spiked with a lot of english, but not the sort of english I knew.
Today, many years later, I realise what it was all about and now my problem is how much room does a mobile phone/iPad have for how many apps. This is important because if your mobile whatever it is does not have enough room, then you will be missing out on valuable games to play. There is also to be taken into consideration that not all apps are free, there are some that cost money and the ones that I generally avoid. “Look at my iPad and you see my playground” would be a good motto. Mine actually only has one game, the rest is comprised of various WordPress pages and radio stations and of course Facebook with its messenger app.
My son told me I must have “what’s app” so believing in everything that No. 2 son says, I downloaded this fantastic app and discovered I did not need it. I have a good arrangement with the Swiss telephone company where I pay monthly and everything is included, with free SMS. If you belong to Facebook you have the messenger which is free. Needless to say “what’s app” no longer exists on my mobile devices.
I used to have Skype, but also something the Facebook messenger has replaced for me. I noticed when I used it as a telephone that either the connection was lost now and again or the other person could not near what I was saying.
My mum always complained when the cigarette prices increased saying “what other pleasures does an old boy have in life” (she was a cockney), although I found that there must be more to the life of an “old boy” than cigarettes. I could now modernise these wise words with “what other pleasures does a golden oldie have in life when she does not have her digital connections”.
Good Morning
It’s Monday morning again, time goes quickly, not only when you are enjoying yourself, but when you get older. Life passes you by somehow and I always seem to be doing the same thing. Although I remember my working days. Mondays were not a happy day because I had to get up early, I had no choice. I had to get myself ready for the daily task of earning money and in the process taking No. 2 son with me in the car to his workplace. Yes, it was a “had to” day.
This is now a thing of the past and I can watch my garden growing, complain if it is raining or not and tend to my home. These are the things I used to squeeze in. If a some sort of electric apparatus needed a repair, this was a major tragedy and had to be organised into the smallest detail.
“Hello, my washing machine is kaput. It has a number showing in the glass window 443??”
You know these days with the electronic brains you do not talk about the motor making strange noises, not working, or a puddle of water on the floor. This does not interest the mechanic, he wants to know the number for his diagnosis.
“OK, I will have a look.”
“When”
“Today or tomorrow.”
“But I am working and have to organise this at work.”
“I cannot tell you.”
“I cannot stay at home for two days until you appear, my company will not understand.”
How well I remember those problems which never took the work force into consideration. Usually Mr. Swiss and I worked it out between us that someone would be here and that we would eventually get a firm time with the mechanic. This was not an easy task, but we did it combined with a few threats accompanied with an argument with the repair man to ruine his weekly plan. I also had a weekly plan and so did my company. Now we are golden oldies and have nothing better to do than wait for a repairman to arrive. Although it seems to me that since being retired these electronic masterpieces no longer break down as much as they did when I was working.
We lived for many years, about 20, in rented aparments before we eventually bought our own. We were too old for a house, as the kids were no longer kids and we knew that one would move out eventually and so we found a ground floor appartment with front and back garden instead of a balcony. At last I had my own garden.
In the meanwhile our bones and body are no longer so fit and the gardener does the hard work, but I still tend to my own herb garden. This was always my dream to have herbs growing near the kitchen. It began with a sage on the right and the top, then a rosemary at the front in the middle. There is also a second rosemary on the left with larger leaves, a different sort probably. I also have thyme in between the rosemary and the sage at the front. I keep the chives in a large box as they grow better I find. I also have some lemon balm and marjory in between, so I am equipped fpr all dishes. It depends on what I cook, but often I take a selection, bind it together and let is cook with the meat. By popular decision I do not let them swim separately in the sauce as my dish is then full of various leaves. I also had parsley but gave up as I discovered I was feeding the slugs. Now and again I might plant basil, but it is very sensistive to cold weather and another ingredient on the slug menu.
And now to further fields. It is shopping day today and I have no idea what to buy or cook, but it will be flavoured with my herbs.
Think of the work force and be glad if you can be at home and play with your computers. Have a good beginning to the week.
Chronicles of an Anglo Swiss 