14 | October | 2020 | Chronicles of an Anglo Swiss

I was scootering my way home from the stores and when I left the town I saw this gathering of uniformed men with the accompanying various transports. It was the Swiss army doing something that seemed to be just standing around. I immediately made a detour to get a little closer and take a few photos. Unfortunately the path was blocked so I could not get any better photos and only had a view of their backs.

Although here they had turned their heads, I saw they were all masked. I thought they might have camouflaged masks in earthy-forestial colours, but they were all wearing white. I suppose they do not need to hide when masked and covid is everywhere at the moment. This was probably just a sort of exercise, or they had found somewhere to park their various trucks. As they get paid for the job, i suppose they are professional, although they are only working for 3-4 weeks in a year as soldiers. Otherwise they pursue their normal work (perhaps as students, office workers of manual workers). All able bodied Swiss men have to do it, my No. 2 son did it for many years, although he was in the administrative office making sure that the food orders were organised.

RDP Wednesday: Professional

It seems I stopped hugging the bed at the right time this morning to catch the sun rising and bathing the surroundings in its glow which does not often happen. Wednesday is a less stressful morning: no cleaning lady arriving to get me earlier out of bed and otherwise nothing planned for the day, except for a shopping trip.

No excursion into town yesterday for shopping, but just a short visit to the local supermarket along the road. I only had a few items to get- I had planned on hamburger for lunch which I had alrady bought in the town store, I decided we had eaten enough hamburgers lately, but on Monday there is never a good choice. However yesterday in the local store I discovered they had got a fresh supply of lamb racks, which is a level higher than hamburger and they were even on special offer, so that is today’s lunch. In the meanwhile I froze the hamburgers for a later date.

There is not a great opportunity for stunning photos at the local store, but this building always fascinated me next ot the store. The windows are regularly cleaned and it keeps them nice and shiny capturing the reflections of anything near. This time it caught the clouds and I noticed a flock of birds winging they way past on the left. It is a very good store, just as big as the one in town, but has no butchers department, only packed meat, but also that can be OK. I also needed a cucumber for a salad in the evening to go with the cold cuts.

I was also expecting the big delivery yesterday. The time given was from 4.30 p.m. until 9.00 p.m. He usually arrives around 6.00 but yesterday he only came at 8.30 in the evening. I was getting a little worried whether he would actually be coming. I had ordered quite a lot, but No. 1 son and I organised ourselves and within half an hour we had everything stowed away in the cellar laundry room where I have it all organised. The deep freezer chest is now quite full and I have enough provisions for the next month at least. It gives me a secure feeling to know that we are covered with food for any emergencies. We even have 60 rolls of toilet paper in store, just imagine. After the experience made at the beginning of the first attack of the hairy pins, I discovered that as long as you have toilet paper you will survive according to the panic buying that was then being carried out at the time.

Otherwise a quiet relaxed evening, although I had a bit of a job with the computer. I had to update my credit card on the computer for one of my regular subscriptions, jus 2 Swiss Francs a month. It was for youTunes and I had really forgotten the password, so I had to organise a new one, then everything was OK. This time I recorded the new password on my list of passwords, which is now already on the fourth page. Don’t you love all these passwords, and woe betide you if you happen to forget one.

Having solved that small drama, I settled down to the TV. Since discovering Channel 4 on the BBc programmes, there is always some sort of film to watch. The nice thing is they repeat them throughout the month, so I can always catch up on the parts I miss due to a visit perhaps to the washing machine or hanging the wash and even falling asleep in front of the television. The films they show are sometimes quite good.

And now I am off to further fields, like organising life in the apartment. Keep well and safe and try to take it easy – not always possible I know.