I am now the aficionado in the home. In February Mr. Swiss moved to a golden oldie retreat as he was no longer able to live without professional care and I was left alone at home. As I suffer from MS (multiple sclerosis) I could no longer care for him as I should and now we have to face the consequences. I am glad that he now has the correct care and I was always ready for something new, even with 75 years it is no longer too late. Mr. Swiss with his 85 years could no longer.
I am now the official accountant at home, dealing with the family finances. My No. 1 so still lives at home, but being an autist, it is not possible for him to take over. Luckily my No. 2 son studied law and takes care of many problems that can arise, acting as power of attorney for his brother and my right hand when I need help. My life has changed completely. I deal with the tax forms and details, and if anything goes wrong at home, I have to find the solution.
This week-end, on Saturday evening, my dishwasher gave up the ghost. It was 10 years old and so another decision to make. I called them to organise help and the lady on the phone said someone would come on Friday. There was a time when this was a great problem, five days to wait, but I discovered there was no rush. This was quite strange, as due to this problem, I realised I no longer need this machine so much. My autistic son is a big help at home and we are only two people in the household. Over the week-end I realised with his help, we manage perfectly without a dishwasher and everything is cleared away quickly. We really do not need to use electricity or gallons of water to wash two plates with the cutlery. Pots and pans I aways washed myself in any case, so do I need a dishwasher?. i suddenly got a call from the company this morning later, to say the guy had time as someone had cancelled and he would arrive in a quarter of an hour. The guy arrived to have a look (see photo) and told me that the dishwasher was leaking. A repair would cost about 600 Swiss Francs and it could not be guaranteed that it would hold for another ten years. The cheapest machine would be two thousand francs, but this was OK with me. Do I need this machine? I had to think it over, but we own our apartment and the machine belongs in the kitchen, so I decided yes, it was affordable, but we will probably no longer use it so much. The current world situation due to a few wars is that gas and electricity are now something to be considered with their costs as well as the amount of water needed. I really do not need to let this machine run every second day.
I have also learned to run my washing machine only twice a week and that the temperature is also a cost point. A hot wash of 100° C is really not necessary. 60°C does it just as well, needs less time and uses less energy. Yes I am becoming an expert in financial matters. I am even now dealing with our insurances.
I must say life has become interesting and I am discovering new interesting aspects. Mr. Swiss used to deal with it, but is now glad he leaves it to me. I keep him informed in his golden oldie refuge, but he told me yesterday he is glad he no longer as to deal with such matters and I am doing a perfect job. And I now vote by every opportunity. Voting is a national past time in Switzerland. We vote for everything being a direct democracy.
FOWC with Fandango: Aficionado
Chronicles of an Anglo Swiss 
It all keeps the little grey cells healthy and active – though having spent 50 minutes on the phone to sort out my husband’s tax (he’s dyslexic and panics), I find I – like your Mr Swiss – would be quite happy for someone else to take over. As we now have our third Prime Minister in as many months – I wish voting was a national past time here so we could all have a say in who runs the government. They seem to forget they actually work for the general public and not for just for themselves and their mates.
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I do not mind taking over. After Mr. Swiss “forgot” to pay one of the tax bills (I discovered it after getting a reminder) I am glad to have things under control, although I am not getting any younger.
Being one of the few Brits in our area I am always being asked what I think of the political situation in Britain and I am often at a loss for words. I grew up in East London and at that time Harold Wilson (who?) was my hero, that family all being so-called working class. I even went to a speech held by Harold at the local town hall. Today they no longer seem to be very British (although I live in a country where we share four different languages) but I must say (and don’t laugh) Bojo would have been my choice. At least you could have a good laugh at his punker haircut and he is a character. However, may the best man (woman?) win – Oh Harold Wilson what happend in the meanwhile?
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My dad always voted Tory and when Harold was elected he brought us all to Australia where the Whigs had ruled for 22 years. I voted Labor as soon as I was old enough, by that time we had had 27 years of Whig(Liberal) rule.
Now the Labor Party is Ruling, Albanese was a scoundrel years ago but I guess people forget. We also play musical P.m. but we don’t get to vote for them they coup d’tate each other.
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Harold Wilson was Prime Minister when I was a child. In fact when he first stood as MP for Huyton (Liverpool) my auntie was one of his campaigners – knocking on doors and handing out leaflets.
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