T.G.I.F.! (Thank God its Friday)

One thing is certain living here –you certainly earn your keep. Maybe it’s the company or maybe it’s just the fact of being here that everyone has absorbed the Swiss work ethic, but man I get into the office and five minutes after I’ve had my morning coffee and checked emails, it’s head down and tail up. I just keep working through my ‘to-do’ list steadily ticking things off from morning until late afternoon/early evening when I finally pull the pin and head home.

People working here are certainly not paid for their good looks or charm – you’re here to get the job done and most people come in a little early or put in a little extra in the afternoon to keep on top of things.

Come Friday everyone starts heading home around 5:30pm onwards - after having had the foot flat on the throttle all week long, you can feel people (slowly) easing off the gas very late in the day in anticipation of the two day break.

I know for me that Friday night/Saturday morning sleep-in is the most important part of my week. The time I get to replenish my batteries and not have my life revolve around alarm clocks, deadlines, replying to emails or looking at cash flows worth millions and making sure I haven’t missed anything. I just get up when I want around 8:00-ish and have a cup of coffee and ease in what is usually a calm sunny Saturday.

There’s a definite rhythm to life here in France/Switzerland. Saturday for most folks is the coffee morning with a leisurely newspaper read in the brasserie, or catching up with friends, then the grocery shop to stock up for the coming week before adjourning to the sacrosanct lunch which marks the apogee of the days’ calendar. Then a little later shop-window lights start blinking out, window-shutters start clanking down and people slowly drift away back to their homes.

Come Sunday, both France and Switzerland are as quiet as a churchyard - families having lunch together, couples strolling in the park, only a few cars on the roads. You can almost hear both nations breathing a contented relaxed sigh.

And then all too soon it’s Monday morning again – up and at ‘em!