At last a half way decent sky in the morning, although apparently it will not last. The little bit of sun on the horizon will disappear and it will be a grey day. It is also very cold, -3°C, although will probably warm up a little bit during the day. I even managed to get two birds winging away across the sky on the photo, probably crows.

Yesterday we had a bit of snow, but in the afternoon it disappeared again. At the moment the only excitement is Mr. Swiss sorting out the garbage. He has a mysterious system with the plastic bags. Plastic garbage bags are very expensive in Switzerland as the costs of disposal are included in them. I suppose it has a good side, because you are more thoughtful about how much you dispose of. He seems to have a two bag system with an extra cheaper lining in the bin. When the bin lining is full he puts the rubbish  in the expensive plastic bag and that remains in the garden cupboard until it is full with other cheap plastic bags of trash from the bin. Are you with me? Here is the expensive bag, the 35 liter size. We also have a second bag, the 60 liter size. It is all a matter of logistical training.

Eventually the expensive plastic bag is full in the garden cupboard. That is when No. 1 son takes it to the communal container at the end of the path. Yes it is all very complicated, but it works. I lose the thread now and again.

I often lose threads  because Mr. Swiss does it all. I have now learned again to programme the dishwasher. I discovered I was leaving too much stuff for him to do and forgetting myself how it works. Now I am a perfect dishwasher operator. The next obstacle will be the television. Today televisions are so complicated with hundreds of channels (we have a few extra countries on our system) combined with a recorder programming various stations, it has got far too complicated for me. Basically TV does not interest me, I prefer to read a book, but I should know how to switch it on and off. Another teaching session is required, but I will get there eventually.

We bought a poinsettia at the last visit to the supermarket and after two days it is still alive, which is a wonder. I quite like them at the end of the year, but after a while they begin to lose their leaves and after a month of so you have stalks with a few survivors and perhaps one or two red leaves. I still have my poinsettia from last year. I put it in the garden during summer and it grew very well. It is now indoors again, but no new red leaves. That is another problem. Apparently you must give them daylight and night according to exact times, meaning I would have to put it in a dark cupboard every evening at the same time. So I just keep my nicely green leaved poinsettia from last year and buy a new one again in Winter.

This morning they are letting me out again for a trip to the supermarket and again tomorrow. Mr. Swiss has to go to the hospital on Friday for his back injection which clashes with our normal routine, although strictly speaking golden oldies need no routine. we are now free from any obligations like going to work, we live on our state pensions.

I will now leave you with the usual “have a happy day” farewell and a photo of our strangely cropped trees in the area. Yes the triffids have arrived again.