Daily Archives: 11/11/2016

Flower of the Day: 11.11.2016 Poppy

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Poppy

PoppyI was shopping today and took a few photos of flowers I would like to feature here. Whilst I was choosing I realised that today was 11.11. the date when World War I officially came to an end and a date when we think of the fallen in the great war. There was nothing really great about a war that caused millions of deaths because in Sarejvo, somewhere in a Balkan republic, Archduke Franz Fedinand was assasinated by an unknown terrorist. Afterwards  a chain reaction occurred and everyone fought against everyone else. My grandfather was one of the chosen for Great Britain. I am sure he did not know the actual reason why. His country was involved and he was called up to join in and in those days you did not, or perhaps could not, say no. Grandad was in the medical core and returned afterwards to his wife and kids when my dad saw his father for the first time, saying to his mum “who’s that man?” after seeing them arm in arm and my grandmother told him “that’s your father”, at least that is what my dad told me. He was three years old.  What was grandad doing – he collected the dead in the trenches. He was already too old to fight.

So today I wore my poppy on my coat when I went shopping. I usually do on this day and other years I have been asked why. Switzerland is a neutral country, although they also lost members of their army now and again, but the meaning of the poppy on this day is not so well known. I bought my poppy some years ago in London when I was visiting my father, and have kept it since. My dad also served in World War II as a normal soldier in the Royal Artillary on the big guns.

May this never happen again in Europe.

Flower of the Day: 11.11.2016 Poppy

Daily Prompt: The “Or?” Tribe

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Feldbrunnen to Langendorf 28.10 (13)

Life can become complicated. Shall I continue, or think it over. It does not look very clear on the road ahead. I am one of the non “or” people, no alternative so carry on regardless. The fog will clear, it can only get better, but there are groups of people where the word “or”  forms part of the local language and I met them on my first days in Switzerland. I was one of the english “wot” cockney people, and did not realise that there is a similarity in other languages.

I had arrived in Zürich. It was my first week and was exploring the landscape, finding my way around. I could speak German, but very basic and the German spoken in Germany, not realising that every corner of Switzerland has its own dialects and habits. For the colonists in the States someone from Texas wll have a different way of expressing himself than say someone from California, there is a great distance in between which would allow the language to adopt various different methods of expression.

I was sitting in a Zürich tram, one of my first exposures to the Zürich way of life and two middle aged gentlmen were having quite an intensive conversation. I noticed that every sentence ended with the same word “oder?”, translated as “or” with a question mark, signalised by the voice raising a note or two higher. . There was even a hand movement to match this word: not a great disturbance of air, just a slight outstretched hand “or?”. As time passed in my new surroundings, I realised that all the German I had learned at school was for nothing. One word sufficed to get you through life in Zürich “or?”. Just add that magical word at the end of the sentence always with the question mark. Your conversation partner will acknowledge you with a friendly gesture of nodding his head and might add “I know, or?”.

This was the “or” tribe. I asked my landlady and friend in Zürich whether this word had a hidden meaning, would I be excluded from the country and my work permit cancelled if I did not absorb it into the daily structure of my existence. She gave me a strange look and found “but you can speak German, or?”. They were against me, I realised there was no return, either you joined them or would be a foreign outcast. However, this “or?” is not always applicable. “Or?” is a assertion, and not a question. You go to a restaurant and want to take a seat. “This seat is free or?”. You are welcomed, acknowledge as a genuine member of the Zürich population, but do not make the mistake of combining “or” with a question. “Can I sit here, or?”. The result is a strange look, there is no choice. You are taking possesstion of something that has not been confirmed that it is yours to take possession of. Be careful of the usage of this word “or?”. My apologies to all Zürich people reading this piece, but as an innocent english person with only beginners knowlege of Swiss German and its habits, it can become very confusing-

You walk the streets of Zürich and the word “or?” is in your ears constantly. You are glad to escape to your own four walls and recover. The “or?” echoes follow you along every street in Zürich.

“I would like a kilo of apples please.”

“The red ones, the green ones, or?” I was thinking of a visit to a local psychiatrist, but realised that I might be locked in a padded cell screaming “or?”, I might have the “or” syndrome for which there was no cure, so I gave up and just pointed with my hand to the apples I wanted.

Of course after a year I was accepted. I knew when and when not to to use this two lettered word. I even pratcied the hand movement to match the “or?”. I was accepted. I got some strange looks on holiday in London when I spoke to mum with the words “I will take a trip to the local shops, or?”. She was unsure of the answer she should give and I was confronted with silence. Perhaps not a good way to converse in England.

Today I am cured, I speak basically Solothurn German and the word “or?” does not occur so often, alhough it might arrive now and again but in a sly way and not to be noticed, it is just a way of speaking “or?”.

Daily Prompt: The “Or?” Tribe

Good Morning

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english shop

At last my/our parcel arrived from the British shop with goods we ordered last week. Basically I am Brit but after living for the past 50 years in Switzerland, you get a little separated from the english way of life. I do not really miss the english way of life. When dad was still around I would visit him once a year and realised each time how much the english ways of life were becoming more and more foreign to my Swiss way of life. I even had problems with the food. It seemed to me that you could buy everything aready prepared. Even the fresh vegetables were sold packed in plastic bags already cut to sizes for ready cooking, nothing seemed to be in its original state.

However there are still some things that the Swiss do not have, so I had a look through the British shop catalogue to see what I am missing. My first choice was lemon curd, a sort of spready jam made from lemons and egg. It is also something I can make myself, not really difficult, but you cannot keep it very long. I decided to order a jar, expensive on the jam price list, but why not. Mr. Swiss also added to my choice with some special english marmalade of which he was always a fan. The english marmalade does have a more genuine, unique, bitter taste than the cheap copies we get in our local supermarket – another expensive variation.

Tea making spoonI am a tea drinker, mainly because drinking coffee does not agree with me. I might have a coffee in a restaurant if we have a drink somewhere, because if you order tea in Switzerland you get a glass of hot water and a tea bag on the side. The rest is do-it-yourself and the tea sorts in a restaurant leave a lot to the imagination, wondering if it is really tea or just chopped dried leaves. I am a Twinings fan, that has a real punch, and when I saw the little Twinings tins with my favourite tea sort on the design I just had to have them. They were also filled with loose tea. I am a tea bag person, but I do have one of those special spoon nets for filling with loose tea and putting in hot water in a cup. Since yesterday I am drinking real tea-leaf tea and am loving it. Am now rethinking my tea drinking habits.

Of course the British shop does not only have food and I saw a selection of pie dishes which I also decided were missing in my kitchen. They are shown on the top photo, five different sizes. My days of pie making are long gone, but I do miss a good old english pie, although not the steak and kidney pies you can buy in the pie and mash shop in England. That is  something I Iiked less in England. The pie was OK, filled with steak and kidney, but served with mashed potato and a green parsley sauce known as liquor. The liquor and the mash were not my taste. Anyhow I got my pie dishes with a recipe for a chicken pie according to an old english recipe, as well as instructions for making a classic english apple pie. Guess what, Saturday lunch will be chicken pie – results follow in a later blog if we survive.

Mr. Swiss also ordered himself a new english cap. That is his style and the last one he got was the one I brought him from England a couple of years ago. We also ordered a large english biscuit tin with Christmas design and we are very happy with our choices. That is now our Christmas present to us both.

As the english shop has a branch in Switzerland, the order ran smoothly. Many companies are not so Swiss friendly. We are a small country and not in the EU, so can be lucky if we can order anything. As I already mentioned, our cooking glass top is being renewed and we decided to order two ceramic glass covers for it with a nice pattern to protect it from further crashes with things that fall on them. We found the ideal solution with some nice designs in Amazon. Amazon are not in Switzerland. Although I can upload my books to my Kindle with no problem, as soon as I want to order something I am told that it cannot be delivered from Amazon Germany, and so we have to order it from their english branch, or even elsewhere which we discovered costs a lot more.

This morning I have the bird show in front of the window. I discovered a new solution to the unwanted bread rests. I chop it in small pieces and put it in a dish with some milk. My first attempt was just a few pieces of bread which the crows and magpies soon discovered and were flying from my garden with chunks of bread in their beaks. The sparrows, tits and finches could only watch. I did see a sparrow struggling with a large piece of bread, but he dropped it on the way. I now make the pieces smaller and put them in a dish with some milk. It seems to be a favourite with the birds. They also like variations on their menu, the seeds can get boring and it also uses up my unwanted staler bread.

And now to go, otherwise I will set up a record Good Morning post which already has more than 900 words. Take care, have a nice Friday and see you around on the flip side later today.

 Magpie 10.11 (6)
Mr. Magpie