Wannenstrasse Building Site and other tittle tattle

I have been reminded that it is time to write another blog. No shortage of ideas, but there is a danger of rehashing old themes. My powers of observation of absurd or ironic situations seem to have diminished, if not entirely eliminated…. And perhaps Grumpy was getting too political (or perhaps not enough).

Perhaps today, I will stick to some mostly personal anecdotes.

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A NEW KAT

So before I go further, I should introduce you to our new cat, named Kellogg. I was slightly uncertain whether “Kellogg the Kat” would be a breach of some patent or name protection law. He is a new addition to our household, having been discovered at the local garden centre, and is made out of recycled oil cans, at least according to the blurb that came with him. Ed, my son, says that if I persevere, he will eventually answer to his name.

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DUPLICATE PIECE

I have had something new come up in the jigsaw line, using my grand piano as the “table”, as usual (http://colinhawker.blogspot.ch/2012/12/the-various-uses-for-grand-piano.html.  

I had a duplicate edge piece. Not so sensational, you may think, especially if you were expecting something more exciting from Grumpy. However, very unusual, in fact, a unique experience for me.

 

This might seem a small thing to you, but it plays havoc when trying to fit the edges together. Some of you might have guessed the next thing. At the end, we found that we had a piece missing. What are things coming to?  Just the end of the world as we know it, like the Swiss railways not running on time.

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MULTI-TASKING

Hazel and I continue to work on the “Watch the Whole of 24 Series” project. (The Black Adder series has had to go on hold.) We are now on series 4 (out of 8). The great thing about “24” is that you can multi-task. The whole thing rambles forward at such a slow pace that you can do a number of useful things at the same time, like do a jigsaw, read a book, reply to emails, check your bridge notes, go on the cycling machine or even write a blog.

Included in this series is the free “Spot the most annoying woman” competition. Fortunately these mostly get killed off one by one.

One interesting point is that having watched three series, you can understand how U.S. troops behaved the way they did towards Iraqi prisoners. Jack Bauer is quite a poor role model for impressionable, but poorly educated young soldiers. He is made out to be a hero. The soldiers were sent to prison. (At the moment in 24, the “good guys” are torturing the son of the Secretary of Defence, without his lawyer being present.)

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WANNENSTRASSE BUILDING SITE

If watching 24 is an evening activity, then listening to the noise from the “Wannenstrasse Building Site” has become one of the main daytime activities. The Swiss inclination to renovate, maintain and rebuild is one of the characteristics that makes Switzerland the country that it is.

We have three work projects going on at the moment within 100 metres of us, with a fourth due to come on line in 3 weeks, within 200 metres.

The house, two doors away, is being knocked down and six apartments are going to be built. Although the mandatory crane has not yet arrived, the comings and goings of the digger have managed to cause some minor inconvenience. Not nearly enough noise coming from here yet.

The local Gemeinde (council) has decided to dig up the road again, the whole road this time, although not all at the same time. They say that they are laying down new water pipes, but I think that they are installing bugs so that they can watch me plan my blogs and check the number of pieces in my jigsaws.

The owners of one of the apartments in our block have found the cause of some problems with damp. The remedial action includes drilling the outside wall at 07.01, causing the entire building to shake. (Swiss building work starts at 7.00 am until they stop for their 11s at 9.00 am, therefore known locally as 9s)

Also due to start in about three weeks is some (i.e. considerable amount of) maintenance work on the railway line, which runs 200 metres from us. The best bit is that much of this will take place at night and will go on for six weeks. The circular from the SBB, the railway company, concludes with the usual “We thank you for your understanding”. Great, isn’t it.

As good Swiss people, we think that this is all very admirable and don’t mind at all. All right.

(Remember: In England, the water companies have a program to replace broken water pipes. In Switzerland, there is a program to replace them before they’re broken. Why do the English love the expression “If it isn’t broken, then don’t fix it” and then complain, when it breaks)

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DO TELEVISION PROGRAMMES BREED?

Going back to television and films, have you ever wondered how it is still possible for a Midsomer Murder program to come on television that you have not seen before. Do these programmes breed? Exactly how many villages are there within a 10 mile radius of Cawston?

Perhaps when they were filming, they made two per day for a year. Do they have actors, villages and houses lined up? By the way, it is admirable the way Mrs Barnaby takes part in the village fair at every one of these 1,000+ villages. It all makes a change from watching repeats of Morse.

I reckon that we will have completed the 24 series before we see all the Midsomer Murder series. Perhaps they are still making them in secret.

By the way, I can’t believe that neither “Midsomer” nor “Cawston” are in the Microsoft spellchecker and that I have to put these in myself.