Isn’t she lovely?
Flower of the Day; 08.07.2017 Hortensia
Daily Archives: 08/07/2017
Daily Prompt: Jingle and Jangle
We have a village church, a catholic church. Every village and town in Switzerland has a church somewhere, whether catholic or Swiss reform church, there are even a few other religions. It is an unspoken law in Switzerland that on Saturday evening at 8.00 p.m. all the church bells ring everywhere for a quarter of an hour. This is no big problem, you know it and if you happen to be at the top of a Swiss mountain somewhere, it can be quite a sound effect.
However there is a new arrival of jingles and jangles, call it what you want, but somewhere a smartphone or an iPad is making itself noticeable.
There is even a symbol on our online instruments in the form of a bell showing how loud it is organised by a row of lighting effects beneath the bell. On the photo it is half strength, just to show how it works, but on my iPad it is usually completely black with no tone. This has a reason. Mr. Swiss made a suggestion, or was it a threat, that I could perhaps turn the sound down and then followed up with switching it off completely. Of course I understood his problem, it was jingling and jangling often, telling me that someone somewhere in the wide world had commented on a blog. There was also a problem with Facebook. Now and again I have a look to see what is happening in my little world and one of my 900 Facebook colleagues might post a video. Of course I keep these videos on the silence button, as they automatically start running if I tune in.
Unfortunately it can happen that I inadvertently might make a movement in the wrong place and the video on Facebook begins to run with sound and all the bells and whistles. If you happen to press the wrong button at the wrong time, it can lead to a small misunderstanding in the family.
And so it jingles and jangles most of the time. I have now been trained to keep eveything to a low level of noise or completely switched off. Mr. Swiss left Facebook a couple of months ago so there is no problem from his facebook page. He is also not a member of the blogging community. He just listens to his iTunes by headphone.
We cancelled our telephone fixnet some time ago and the only connection we both have to the outside world is our iPhones. Some say it is more expensive this way, but we both receive so few telephone calls, or make them, it is no big deal. Of course, in this case, I switch my telephone off when I got to bed, at night and after lunch. My smartphone is always next to my bed and no problem to re-connect in the morning when I am awake and also recharge it. If someone wants to call me in the night he is unlucky and there is no emergency in the middle of the night where I could help in any case.
Mrs. Swiss keeps his telephone next to his computer in the living room and never disconnects it. Sometimes during the night or in the lunch sleeping session I hear the sound of a telephone in the living room – not my problem. It can jingle and jangle as much as it wants to, but Mr. Swiss sleeps through it and I ignore it.
Life has become one big jingle and jangle today although there are other sound effects. I am awakened by the sound of birds from the online devices in the morning. If someone calls me a duck starts to quack and if I have a programmed action to take, it is usually some sort of haunted house theme. Mr. Swiss has a jazz theme. Modern life can no longer exist without a jingle or jangle somewhere.
Good Morning
It is always difficult to get a photo of a brimstone butterfly because they appear from nowhere and disappear again. Yesterday I was sitting in my “office” opposite the front garden and Mr. Swiss appeared in the garden for some reason or another and he pointed out the brimstone butterfly flying around. They are actually the first butterflies we see after Winter and I believe they do some sort of survival training through the Winter to arrive and be first. There are even presidents that use the same training programme. Ok, I am diverging. So to continue, the photographer, Mr. Swiss, did not have a camera, but I did, so I handed him my mobile photo camera through the window and he shot a few photos. We did have a lively discussion about taking a good photo and getting as close as possible, but instructions were followed and this is the best photo he produced, although the others were also quite good. In German we call them “Zitonenfalter” – lemon butterfly.
As you can see I am organised. I have to be as I tend to forget stuff now and again. Why have an iPad and Smart Phone if you do not use it to its full abilities. Actually I do have a little thing about these cyber helpers and it is fun programming stuff. The clock is really a good invention as I remember not to forget. I tells me when to go to bed, although that is only an added gimmick. I tried it out and now every evening at 11.15 it gives me a signal to say not to forget. It even organises my sleeping time of 8 hours, although that is questionable. During those 8 hours there might be one or two “pit stops” for human necessities. Then I have the question of the right tune to play to wake me. I settled for bird song, as it is not so agressive and I am used to the real thing outside in the garden. And then there is the volume to be considered. I always go for as loud as possible, not wanting to risk sleeping through the alarm. Do I really need an alarm being a golden oldie? Of course not, but why not, it does no harm and completes the picture. Yes, I am organised.
I depend more on more on these modern helpers. As I get older, I tend to forget stuff that is actually important. I have programmed my MS injections for every second evening to be sure I do not forget where and when. I also write this in a notebook to be sure. You never know when smartphone decides not to be so smart, and that is important for me.
Not to mention details that you forget. You have a conversation would really like to remember the name of that song, or when it was recorded, or is that guy still alive who was in the film or made the record. For that we have google, no golden oldie forgetting sessions, It might be when you are eating or other actions, but the iPad/iPhone is never far away. Just a quick look and you have the answer and no longer feel so uncertain in your golden oldie phase.
Anyhow this morning we sent No. 1 son on his way to the station for his annual holiday. Of course Mr. Swiss needed no reminder to get up in time, he is always the first to circulate in the morning. I wanted to be sure so programmed it on my smartphone. However everything went well. I said goodbye to No. 1 son and Mr. Swiss dropped him off at the local station in Solothurn for the first step of the journey. From Solothurn he travels to Olten which is about 10 minutes. In Olten the coach will be waiting to take him to Jesolo in Italy where he will be for the next two weeks. It is an organisation for holidays for handicapped specialised for the individual needs. No. 1 son is autistic, so he can spend the holiday for those with no physical disabilities. He has been going on this holiday for the past 10 years, perhaps even more. He is well looked after, can choose whether he shares his room at the hotel or has his own room. He is now over 40 years old and so prefers his own room. He is very well looked after and being quite independent, can do his own thing. He just has to be back to the hotel at midnight which is no problem.
And now I have things to do. We (actually I) decided that this morning we will do something completely different. It is such a long while since I went to our town of Solothurn on Saturday morning when they have the weekly market. I have time, have decided I am also now on holiday, and so we will combine it with lunch. It will also be an opportunity to take my camera for a walk.
Enjoy the week-end, I will be back – no stress, just taking it easy. Oh, yesterday I bought an orchid again. They were the cheapest I have ever seen. A special offer for only 5 Swiss francs and I even got 10% off that at the supermarket. They usually cost at least 10 francs on a good day.
Chronicles of an Anglo Swiss 