Mobilis in Mobile

New website address

2008-09-14T15:33:00.002Z

Hello all.

My blog has migrated to a new address which is more image friendly.

You will find it at:

http://marclowe1963.spaces.live.com

See you there!

Marc

Viva Italia!

2008-08-27T20:10:00.004Z

It's Wednesday night as I type this and I'm having the rest of the week as well as today off.

I've just come back from the cinema in Geneva where I saw Batman. Today was just bumming around the house doing odd jobs but Thursday morning I'm heading down to Milano!

A day there walking around the massive newly cleaned cathedral and the wonderful Arcade shopping galleria, then an hour drive to Lago Maggiore (Lake Major) in the Italian Alps. It used to be frequented by the aristocracy in the 18th century and consequently has lots of lovely villas, beautiful charming streets and of course a huge lake ringed by mountains.

I'm just gonna kick back and relax. Saturday is my birthday so something special will be on the cards for that day I think. Other than that, soak up the sunshine and fresh air, read, walk, admire lovely Italian girls....Ah, it's gonna be tough!

The weather is still sunny and warm and the bulk of the tourists have left as the Swiss summer school holidays finished last week and French /other European countries holidays generally finish this week. Everyone either has or is heading back to buy books, pens, pencils and calculators and send the little devils, oops, angels back to classes...

Qantas - not my airline

2008-08-03T07:59:00.006Z

There was a time when every Australian was immensely proud of our national flag carrier Qantas.

It was at the forefront of airline innovations throughout the last 75 years with the early adoption and introduction of leading-edge aircraft of their time such as the Super-Constellation, the all-jet 707 and then in the 1960's the massive 747 jumbo.

But most of all, it was the airlines reputation as the safest carrier in the WORLD, that made us proud. For a nation who new that our country of only 20 million people would never have the economic, political or military bulk to play anything other than supporting roles, being the best to so many travellers throughout the world was a source of national pride.

During WW2, American fighter and bomber squadrons based in the Pacific would routinely send engine parts; magnetos, carburettors etc back to Qantas in Australia for major service or overhaul – something that was often not possible on sparsely equipped jungle bases. They would be returned with the customary manila-beige ticket attached by copper wire stating 'Serviced by Qantas'. Regulations at the time stated that all parts had to be inspected by Air-force personnel upon return, but such was the reputation for quality and accuracy in those days that a part returned with that ticket and those magic words meant it was good to go!

But over recent years there has been an increasingly steady drip of 'minor mishaps'. Not just the recent 747's oxygen canisters blowing holes in the wing root last month, but others such as the jumbo overshooting the runway in Thailand, undercarriage doors not closing after take-off, hydraulic fluid leaking in the air, faulty engines being shut down halfway through the flight. The list goes on.

Management downplays it and calls them ‘mishaps’, ‘technical malfunctions’ or other euphemisms to try to convince us that somehow this stuff ‘doesn’t really count’ in safety or accident statistics. But to those who’ve known the airline for a long time one thing is sure – this stuff never happened before.

http://www.huliq.com/65139/new-qantas-accident-now-door-open-midair

Qantas is becoming just another airline run by bean-counters instead of its people. It started when the government privatised ‘just a small percentage’ of the airline – ‘nothing to worry about’, which was then followed by another ‘small’ sell-off. It used to be ‘our’ airline - now it is majority owned by foreigners. As one local recently wrote ‘would someone please remove the Kangaroo off the tail of the aircraft and stop calling it ‘Australia’s’ national carrier’.

Since then, part of the servicing has been off-shored to countries with cheaper labour costs (but not necessarily similar safety standards) and those domestic engineers with years or decades of experience not laid off had some of their work replaced by local sub-contracted firms who now compete at the lowest price.

The engineers used to be able to go home at the end of every day confidant that each aircraft was fully safe to fly. Now they are having their hours cut, their workloads increased, they are not getting the right tools and management is making them responsible for the work of service technicians in the second and third world. They are not given the time to fully inspect others work yet are being politically cornered into signing the plane as airworthy. Now that is not to say they are knowingly putting un-airworthy planes in the air – but these dedicated mechanics know that there’s a difference between crossing a line at 55% and getting well past it at 85% or more.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23026208-2,00.html

The engineers at Qantas have known for a long time that management is indulging in their salami-slicing tactics - taking a millimetre off here and a millimetre off there. But now even the non-technical flight-attendants can smell something’ fishy and wanting more than being fobbed off with the usual glib assurances from those in charge. After all, they are the ones being asked to go up each and every day.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080803/wl_asia_afp/australiaairlineqantasunion

I have a sinking feeling that it is just a matter of time now before a serious accident happens. Maybe at that point the management will decide that they have finally shaved off enough…

In the heat of the night/Summer in Geneva

2008-06-30T19:40:00.011Z

Anyone who has watched a movie or read a book about 'the South' - be it Sidney Poitier starring in 'In the heat of the night' or Tom Cruise as the southern lawyer in 'The Firm', will instinctively know how sweltering and sticky summer can be.

It is finally summer here in Geneva. After several false starts and rain that seemed to last for biblical periods, the sun has come to stay for the next three months.

Long-legged girls wearing bikinis sunbathe and swim in the lake whilst their tanned boyfriends hang awkwardly around their cars or horseplay a little too self-consciously with buddies.

The businessmen in town are hurrying to meetings in short-sleeved shirts, and ladies of leisure go shopping at a cool pace in bare shouldered dresses and open top sandals that show freshly tanned legs and pedicured feet.

Sunsets bring welcome relief from the intensity of the days heat and the first whispers of a cool evening breeze satisfy almost as much as that first icy cold drink.

The nights can be too warm though and sleeping in the humidity is a restless and unsatisfying affair - I always awaken feeling somehow short-changed and hoping for a cooler night to catch up on that lost sleep the next night.

But summer is full of energy and promise and I look forward to all the wonderful things it brings. Evening concerts in the open-air, sunset walks along the lakefront, the extra-long days where the sun doesn't set until ten, and hikes in the fresher altitudes of the mountains which are bursting with life.

Yee-har!

The American Election

2008-05-20T18:39:00.013Z

Good Lord, is this still going on? Does it ever end?

The highly superficial yet wall to wall coverage of every unimportant move, gesture, cough and wardrobe choices continues. Ad nausea…

Thousands of trees were sacrificed one month so that every newspaper from coast to coast could dissect and trisect the word ‘bitter’ sixteen ways from Sunday…

An informed critique of foreign and economic policy was foregone in lieu of an extended navel gazing exercise as to ‘why doesn’t Obama wear a flag lapel pin’. Erm, I didn’t know it was mandatory to wear one? And is the not so hidden insinuation supposed to be that people who don’t wear one are somehow not as ‘patriotic’ as those who do?

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/05/19/roland.martin.05.19/index.html

Hillary promises to drop atomic bombs on Iran and commit genocide on an entire people just to score political points with ‘national security’ Republicans. Did this strike anyone else apart from me as reckless / insane / war-mongering / pointless sabre-rattling etc.?

We all know that regardless of whom gets in nothing will change...Neither Republicans nor Democrats are going to leave Iraq. Even Obama has conveniently left a back door to duck out by saying ‘That’s my standpoint, but of course I’ll leave it up to the Generals…’. Once elected, whoever's in will be quietly persuaded by the various security, foreign policy, strategy types why the status quo should well, remain the status quo.

National Health care will be strangled at birth by the giant medical industry leaving the U.S. the only industrialised country in the world still without full coverage for all its citizens. Lots of fear talk about 'socialism' and untrue anecdotes about 'long waiting lists'. Not so much talk though about the lower cancer survical rates, higher child mortality rates and ruinous costs compared to those 'awful' Europeans and their 'government' medicine...

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/07/27/opinion/main3105523.shtml

Billions of taxpayers’ dollars will continue to be spent on boondoggle science fiction weapons programs/missile shields that don’t work instead of roads, bridges, schools etc., even though the U.S has a defence budget and more tanks, ships, bombs and planes than the rest of the world combined. And the White House will chastise other nations for ‘worrying’ arms build-ups yet meanwhile continue to weaponise space themselves much to everyone else's concern. It 's a bit like the Elephant saying he's 'really worried' about a little mouse...

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/spending.htm

http://www.acronym.org.uk/space/congo.htm

The President will continue to bemoan rising petrol prices and oil dependency but do nothing to curb America’s outrageously excessive consumption by increasing gas taxes on fuels, implementing incremental carbon taxes on vehciles according to size (especially on monster SUV’s), or offering rebates on smaller economic cars and funding public transport infrastructure.

Dear God just let it finish soon…

Film vs. Digital...

2008-03-29T13:07:00.012Z

I'm an amateur photographer and have I must admit, three cameras and more lenses, filters and accessories than you can poke a stick at. They all even have a special home - a photographers backpack (Expedition 5) made by a company called Tamrac in California. I tell ya - these backpacks are the dogs b*llocks as they would say in the U.K! Waterproof zips, pockets everywhere and super well made.
http://www.tamrac.com/frame_exp.htm

Anyway, I changed systems from Pentax to Canon when I was in Iraq as the lens and flash back-up was just light years ahead with the latter brand, and remember the day that I got my Canon EOS 1V 35mm film camera delivered to Taji APO (digital was only just starting to be taken seriously on the SLR scene).

http://www.canon.co.uk/For_Home/Product_Finder/Cameras/SLR/EOS_1V/index.asp

To feel the heft and shape of that beautiful beast... This was the camera the pro's used and boy it felt like it. All the National Geographics I had read usually had a small note on the last page about the photographer and his/her work and all those spectactular pics - they were made on either a Canon or a Nikon.

Later that same year I splurged out on a Canon EOS 20D digital SLR and man that was one smick picture making machine too. I've since sold that and upgraded to a Canon EOS5D full-frame (equivalent 35mm) so all my lenses will work on both the flm and digital cameras with no lens effect.

http://www.canon.co.uk/For_Home/Product_Finder/Cameras/Digital_SLR/EOS_5D/index.asp

As a learning tool it is wonderful and I love being able to try techniques and get instant feedback - things like slow shutter speeds, fill-in flash, panning, shallow depth-of-field etc.,etc.

The only gripe I have with digital is well, the fact that it's digital. When I take a roll of Kodak Elitechrome (I love this film - so punchy yet still colour faithful) and get it developed, that's it. Finished. I look at those images on my slide projector and see those saturated colours and whoa.....

But with digital, if you really want Elitechrome/Fujichrome results and not some washed out Jpeg image, you have to shoot in R.A.W. and then post-process the file. So you end up spending hours on the computer manipulating the image in Photoshop to get something like what Kodak/Fuji gives you straight out the box. Hmmm....

Now although I'll usually wait until the hullaballoo has settled on new technology (I.E. the VHS vs. Beta or Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD debates) I'm not a luddite and just lurv my EOS5D, but at some point I want pictures that I can show people. With digital you just seem to end up with a computer full of picfiles of various formats...

I don't get to spend nearly as much time as I would really like picure taking but that's another matter. I just had a five day break over Easter in Provence putting several rolls through the EOS 1V and enjoyed every minute.

I'm torn. It's like being married to a hot babe but having a love affair with a flashy newcomer. Like choosing between the elegant seduction of Sharon Stone or the raw energy of a ripped Natalie Portman.

Somebody help me!

Driving with George Costanza and Crazy Joe Davola

2008-03-27T18:55:00.007Z

The popular 90's sitcom Seinfeld had a couple of great characters and I swear their spiritual descendants are alive and well here on French and Swiss roads!

I've just come back from five days driving in the South of France and was reminded of a couple of amusing and not so outlandish stereotypes as I shared the highways and byways with the neighbours and the locals.

French drivers are like George Costanza. Apparently normal people most of the time but when they get behind the wheel, boy they're on a mission! Driving like men and women possessed, happily ignoring world class scenery that other people in the world save years to see as they zoom on their way to 'get somewhere'. Charging hard and hanging on your bumper even while climbing up the steepest of mountains, it's like having an Me-109 you can't shake sitting right on your six!

Meanwhile, drivers from the nearby Swiss Canton of Vaud remind me of the 'Crazy Joe Davola's' of this world. These folks just east of Geneva are from the money belt and between you and me I'm not sure they're entirely stable! Maybe that's what comes from being rich and Swiss and getting your way a little too much eh? These folks are just a wee bit too aggressive and should be taking their medication.. Elaine?!

So whilst your average red-blooded Frenchman or woman is like a tenacious fighter pilot bobbing around in your rear view mirror, anyone sporting license plates with those fateful initials VD (Vaud), always gives me the impression that any minute now they're gonna tie on that rising-sun headband and yell Banzai as their propellor chews off my tail!

Going Postal

2008-03-19T19:15:00.016Z

The last couple of weeks has been really, really, busy. Our fearless leader has been giving us one urgent (?) job on top of another with tight deadlines to go with it and yours truly has been putting in the big hours trying to plough through it all!

After several weeks doing that I reckoned it was time to chill out before I reached my 'going postal' point and started ruminating on the relative merits of putting TNT vs. Nitro in the office coffee machine...

So I took a days annual leave on Friday to have a three day weekend and drive the couple of hours across to Lyon, the second largest city in France and home to amongst other things, several schools of fine cuisine, the silk trade, the home of the Lumiere brothers (inventors of the movie camera) and museum.

htttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auguste_and_Louis_Lumi%C3%A8re

It was a nice time of year with unseasonably early spring-like weather. Lots of nice restaurants to eat delicious food (just dine where the locals do and avoid the tourist places with production-line meals on the main drags).

It also has lots of beautiful boutiques and huge sports shops since it is many times larger than the town where I live. They have one chain called 'The Old Camper' which has separate dedicated shops -one just for scuba, one just for mountaineering, one just for hiking and climbing boots, etc., etc. Awesome.

I managed to get some outdoor gear at a serious end of season discount. I bought a great North Face thermal jacket to go inside my Goretex shell (after my chilly weekend in the Jura) at a really good price as well as some Swedish hiking trousers by Fjall Raven (Snow Fox in Swedish).

http://www.thenorthface.com/opencms/opencms/tnf/gear.jsp?site=NA&model=AA85&language=en

http://www.fjallraven.org/Products/Product.asp?ItemId=101&SectionName=yes&Menu=menu1&SectionId=3785

On Sunday I went up to the Fourviere cathedral on the top of the hill and from there you have a stunning view all the way to the Alps on a clear day.

Lots of cobblestoned streets, laid back people (tourist season and the inevitable coach loads of visitors are still a few months away), charming buildings and walks along the river in the old town. Wonderful.

Back to work on Monday and feeling very Zen again...

With apologies and all due respect to his Holiness the Dalai Lama

Hiking in the Jura

2008-03-10T20:30:00.007Z

Hello again.

Sundays are usually a day for me to get out and about and if you are an outdoor lover then you are spoiled for choice in this part of the world.

I went for a hike on the Swiss side of the Jura mountains just thirty minutes from Geneva. These are another mountain chain separate from the Alps that form part of the frontier here. There are rolling pastures, pine forests, high mountains, x-country and alpine skiing, little villages. It is great and the more adventurous can even connect up a village or possibly two depending on your stamina in a weekend walk.

It was cool and dry back down in the valley but once yet get above 900m, you are in the snowline. This pic was taken just outside a 'buvette' where you can get solid alpine fare and hot herb wine for a well-deserved lunch.

Like most mountain areas, it has it's own micro-climate too. This area was really cold on this day and tends to be a lot colder than other areas in general.

It reminds me of a fascinating place I heard about once in New Hampshire called Mt. Washington. It is not a particularly high mountain by world standards, but has a micro-climate which can have intense (and very unpredictable) weather. Sunny one hour and then a raging blizzard can hit the next. They have guide ropes around the observatory as you can be within feet of the building in a snowstorm and not even see it (and freeze to death in the same distance from your kitchen to the front door!). http://www.mountwashington.org/. Amazing!

There are areas where kids slide down the slopes on toboggans and others for hikers and skiers. Easy trails near the village(s) for the Mom, Dad and the kids day walkers and more challenging treks for the mountain hikers/wilderness lovers. There is something for everyone.

Gotta get me a mountain bike for summer....!

Winter wonderland

2008-03-10T20:13:00.003Z

Hey all.

Thought I'd try and attach some video I took with my little Kodak digital.

It's a neat little camera - I bought one from Amazon.com when I was in the sandbox and it manages to take very acceptable snapshots in even some of the most trying conditions. It's got this video mode too which, depending on the size of the memory card, can record several minutes of footage.

This is some movie I shot coming down the mountain and Samoens ski station. A top day.

Free Trade?

2008-03-01T15:43:00.010Z

I was very disappointed to see the reaction to the U.S. Air Force decision to replace its aging tanker fleet with aircraft supplied by the EADS/Northrop-Grumman venture.

EADS/Northrop-Grumman only competed on the basis that it would be a 'free and fair' competition where the best product with the best price won. But judging from the reactions from some in Congress as they howled in protest, in their minds it was a foregone conclusion that Boeing would/should get the deal and that the idea of someone else actually winning a supposedly open bid not only never crossed their minds but was unacceptable.

Boeing workers protested "American workers equals best tankers" and "Our military deserves the best" which implied (and not very nicely) that any product made in technologically advanced countries such as Europe, Japan, U.K. etc., were somehow second rate. But if it was the U.S. Air-Force that awarded EADS/Northrop the tender based on them meeting or exceeding a very strict award specification they themselves had written, then surely it was that same military who decided they had found the best?

They said that Boeing had been ‘building refuelling tankers for 75 years’. True. But complacency in any company breeds laziness and ultimately contempt and once that sets in it is time to pull the rug out from under and go back to a time honoured (and also American) value of having to chase that (taxpayers) buck instead of having it handed it to them on a plate.

Wichita's Rep. Tiahrt said “I cannot believe we would create French jobs in place of Kansas jobs”. Well apart from the very unattractive anti-French sentiment, EADS/Northrop is set to create thousands of jobs in the to be contstructed assembly plant in Alabama and the Governor of that state is as happy as a clam. Besides, these are highly sophisticated aerospace products and there are only a handful of companies (and countries) in the world that have the knowledge, industrial base and money to make them.

Boeing lost the original contract because of illegal/unethical activity. Two Boeing executives went to gaol (jail) and the Chief Executive resigned because of corrupt contracting behaviour which did nothing to dispel oft-stated claims of a sometimes too-cosy relationship.

Perhaps it is a good thing that EADS/Northrop-Grumman won. The U.S. Air Force got a good product that delivers more fuel, more cargo and more passengers than its rival and the incumbent will spend more time, money and effort on the shop floor instead of K street next time.

The days of the million dollar monkey wrench charged to the long suffering tax payer could be coming to an end…

Bits and Bobs

2008-02-26T19:08:00.006Z

Howdy all.

I'be been meaning to sit down at the blog for a little while now and put fingers to the keyboard. I'll give y'all a quick wrap up on the last few weeks or so.

I had a hankering to go to the States and had planned to go on a photo-holiday in June to Montana. I subscribe to (U.S.) Popular Photography magazine amongst others and they, in conjunction with Nikon and some pro-shooters have these two week photo 'safari's' to capture great images and learn compositional technique and digital skills. Man I was SO looking forward to it - the Teton mountains, open spaces, old western towns, cowboys etc.,etc. it was gonna be awesome, but it was sold out in weeks. So I'm hoping that they'll run a second course due to popular demand and will go on that. If that doesn't come through, then there's another one in one of the Carolina's (can't remember if it was north or south and I don't have the mag handy to check), but that looked cool too.

I have to check my passports (U.K. & Aust - I have dual citizenship) to see if I need that new biometric data chip thing in the back, so a phone call to the Embassies in Geneva will be on the cards.

The snow/ski season is alas now just about done except at higher altitudes. I've been going most weekends and went to my favourite x-country place (Samoens - 1,700m) last Sunday. It was quite warm and the snow is just starting to get a wee bit soft. There's another week of mild weather this week but we may get a late final snowfall (I hope!). The lady up there knows me now and just hands me my skis, poles and boots without barely missing a beat.

If it stays warm then it's the 'tween-season' period where you can't ski anymore but it's still too wet to hike, so as the Easter break is coming up soon with a four day break I'll be heading south to Provence to the sun and exploring the Roman villages, Aix-en-Provence and the insides of one or two bars with the locals. The last time I was down there I got chatting to a local at the gas station who couldn't place my 'French' accent with the region indicated on my license plate and when I told him where I was from it turned out he used to be in the Army and had been to Sydney years ago on exercises. Small world.

The building of the apartment(s) is plodding along nicely and since most of the tedious contract paperwork is done they rarely bother me these days except to ask for the next instalment cheque ha,ha!

Work is work. Way too much for everyone to do and not enough people to handle it all. Still, my darn lottery numbers refuse to get picked so yours truly will most likely be among the ranks of the working Joes for a wee while longer!

Later all...

The U.S. Elections - random thoughts...

2008-02-07T18:56:00.000Z

Is it just me or does the U.S. Presidential election campaign seem like it has been going since the start of the Civil War?! Dear God what a drawn out process... I think if I were a U.S. voter I'd be tempted to vote for the Skipper and Gilligan just as long as they promised it would finish!

............................................................

I've been reading the International Herald Tribune lately which draws articles from the New York Times amongst other papers and some of the journalists have been indulging in quite a lot of self-love about how the whole world is 'transfixed' watching this 'great democratic drama' unfold, etc.,etc. Uhmmm, well, not quite... Everyone elsewhere in the world knows that (a) they got thorougly hoodwinked last time with Dubya and (b) seven years of being beaten around the head with Bush's 'my way or the highway' policies means they're watching this like hawks to see they don't get sold another pig in a poke...One can imagine the world is thinking 'Do we send out the BBQ invitations in November to the new tenants or do we pull down the blinds and pretend no one's home?...

......................................................

Who's gonna win? The political pundits tried to prematurely pick (influence?) the winner of a process that lasts for well over a year before even the end of the primaries in New Hampshire and Iowa. So it was with great delight and much solidarity with the average working Joe (and Mary) that I saw the voters go ahead and pick who they (and not the pundits) wanted! On ya!

......................................................

An Anglo wit once said, '300 million people and that's the best you could come up with?'

Thompson - out. A movie actor and political lightweight who had no idea about policies except what was written down on a script for him.

Mitt Romney - Just pulled out. Telling Michigan he can bring back thousands of vanished auto jobs was as irresponsible as telling people he'd bring back jobs at shipyards working on Tea Clippers. They're gone and those days are over. Almost as bad was his wanting to relax gas mileage standards. Everyone is talking about the end of easy oil and the energy crisis that will cause; the U.S. is having all sorts of foreign policy and economic difficulties precisely because of foreign oil dependance/over-usage and he wanted to go and worsen that. OMG!

John McCain - front runner (R). Although his policies are basically Bush-lite, he seems steady, intelligent and prepared to go against the current on issues when necessary. Still too overbearing on F.P. for my tastes by you could at least work with him. But 71 (72 next year)? I think the whole military/POW thing is overdone too. I respect the guy and hey, hats off to ya, but that was half a century ago.

Mick Huckabee - still pitching. Although you tailor your speech and policy to your audience(s), blue-collar steel workers one day, Wall street types the next, he seems like his policies change according to the data from the advance teams demographic surveys. Not this is 'my' message just fine-tuned for you, but rather this is 'any' message that I've been told you're 65% more likely to want to hear. Hmmm....

Hillary Clinton - tied front-runner. Almost all the Americans I know had passionate feelings one way or the other about her which was surprising. Anway, she tap-danced a lot about voting for and then against Iraq. Now prevaricates about pulling out of there but only in a 'partial' withdrawal leaving troops for just this task and just that task and so on and so forth. Well heck, add that all up and that's almost as many as are currently there now. So who's coming back? Private Ryan's nephew? Sounds to me like being just a little bit pregnant? Sounds like he's trying to have a bet both ways - saying she had a troop withdrawal but also saying that she's left soldiers there too.

Barack Obama - tied front runner. Smooth, calm, diplomatic, say he's prepared to work with the world rather than give it orders and demands (Messrs Bush? McCain?). Strong on understanding policy details and the philosophy behind them. Can land the odd jab on the chin when needed, but as one columnist wrote today, 'can he stand up to the attack machine' that will be blasted at him soon? Not sure....

Anyway. Drink lots of coffee 'cause this election thingo will still be going in November.

And it all started off so well...

2008-02-01T18:23:00.000Z

Nicolas Sarkozy has been in power for a while now and everyone - yours truly included - had high hopes.

But a few months down the track and as we say in Oz, there aren't a whole lotta runs on the socreboard.

He promised to do something about the 'we get paid tons but do bugger all work' train drivers/ public servants etc and their retire at 55 sweetheart deals while everyone else has to slog to 65. Final result? A fudge that looks almost the same as the what the situation was before.

He promised to reform the concrete-rigid labour laws so that employers could hire people without being legally wed to them until the end of time or sued otherwise (I'm all for labour protection from voracious capitalism, but no one should expect a job literally for life). Final result? Ermmm. They're still looking into that one...

He promised to do something about the restrictive 35 hour week. Result? A kinda sorta band-aid fix.

He promised modernisation, but instead has re-instated an age old practice where ministers can also run for local government office at the same time. it's like being the Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs (Aus)/Secretaty of State for the Foreign & C'Wealth Office (U.K.)/Secretary of State (U.S.), whilst also saying your the full time Mayor of Canberra/London/New York. It's nothing but a blatant rort and job protection scheme so in case you f**k up as a Federal Minister, you can golden parachute back into the local position. Something no other person in the workforce enjoys. And Besides, isn't being a national minister/Mayor supposed to be a full time job? So which job/which citizens are you short-changing?

He promised to do something about falling purchasing power. You're average Mom & Dad French person is hurting big time in the wallet. Prices are up, housing is up, but wages are stagnant or falling. Result? He went on another vacation (using rich friends houses, jets etc.) to enjoy the dubious charms of the man-eating and arrogant heiress - Miss Bruni - who thinks that monogamy is 'boring'.

His relationship with her has now made him the laughing stock of Europe. Cartoons and jokes are popping up everywhere (Low cost carrier Ryanair being just the latest). Europeans and Brits (and Australians for that matter) are generally very pragmatic about politicians partners/lover affairs. They figure that as long as you turn up to work, do a good job and the relationship doesn't interfere with your job, then que sera sera. But the President of the French Republic could (and should) do better than this ageing groupie.

(Say what you will about old Jacques Chirac, but Madame Bernadette Chirac was the epitome of discretion, grace and manners and the French had a huge respect for their former First Lady).

He's not doing his job, he's taking too much time off and he's descending into Britney Spears/Paris Hilton territory and all in all it's not a good look. His poll humbers are in free fall and if he doesn't do something soon he will be a very short-lived President with no electoral capital.

So Nick mate. Ditch the groupie, get back to work and start going through that 'to do' list. Talking about 'La Gloire' of the Republique isn't gonna wash with Madame and Monsieur citizen for much longer...

Queens of the skies

2008-01-30T21:02:00.001Z

I'm an aviation nut from way back and working here in Europe gives me the chance to see some beautiful aircraft.

I've been to Duxford in the U.K. to see the warbirds and I will be going to the Paris airshow this year to O.D. on everything with wings. Another on my list of 'must see's' is Oshkosh in North America too.

Here in Geneva I get some real treats as well. We had a visit from the Breitling watches sponsored Lockheed Constellation a little while back - one of the most graceful passenger aircraft ever built.

She flew a few circuits around the city and hordes of fellow enthusiasts descended on GVA airport for the open day to gaze upon this beautiful belle. If ever there was a golden age of flying this was it. I love this plane.

Another treat was a visit from a Consolidated PBY Catalina. She was an absolutely pristine example and was treating us locals by flying circuits and bumps on Lake Geneva - gliding in like a white swan and planing in before those Pratt & Whitneys would open up and she lifted off for another trip around. We could here those powerful piston engines throaty roar and it was just a symphony to me (actual photo from the lake).

Even my little local airport which normally has the usual run of the mill Cessna's had a weekend of WW2 classics last summer and I watched on my chair from my balcony a mere kilometre away as they did barrel rolls, falling leaf turns, 360's etc.

There's way too many other favourites to list them all in this posting. But these are in my top ten and to not only see them but watch them fly was unimaginable...

Show me the money...

2008-01-07T18:23:00.000Z

Around year end the company has its annual employee performance reviews and based on that we get (or don't get) a year end bonus.

Well you all know how much fun performance reviews are and the daft questions you have to sit through (I.E. 'Please describe things you think you did poorly this year'. 'Yeah right, why dont I just poke myself in the eye while I'm at it') so I'll spare you that, but will pass on the news that yours truly got not one but two months pay extra for 2007! A very tidy pay packet (and one that will come in handy for that camera tripod I've been wanting to get...).

It's a strange company that is very demanding but pretty sparing with the 'Hey man, much appreciated's', but they said 'Well done' in cash so hey, whilst it's nice to hear the words that's fine. Heck, I must be doing something right. My boss in Iraq gave me a thumbs up and the guys from News Ltd in London were happy. I'd like to think that this confirms their faith in me. It sure is a nice validation (and a big raspberry to Mr. Gonzalez!).

Merry Xmas from me (and my niece/nephew)

2008-01-05T07:36:00.000Z

Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year to all my family and friends wherever you may be - New Zealand, Australia, London, France, Iraq and the U.S.!

I was asked by an online survey the other day what my personal philosophy was of all things and had to stop and reflect on that for a minute before I came up with my response. Instead of some pseudo-intellectual reply about one of the various '-isms', I think Keanu Reeves' reply from the film 'Bill and Ted's excellent adventure' sums it up best..."Be excellent to each other dudes".

Wishing everyone a great 2008!

Stay safe and I look forward to hearing from you all soon.

Warmest wishes,

Marc

You’re gone five minutes and….

2008-01-04T19:12:00.000Z

A day or so after arriving home I started heading out and about, Xmas shopping and seeing friends and family.

Getting around town and boy things have changed in Oz. The place is awash with bucket loads of Chinese money from the resources boom and it was noticeable everywhere.

Salaries have gone way up, people were moving to the city from all over the country to pick up high-paying positions with one of the dozens of primary resource companies or the secondary support industries. License plates from the eastern state of Victoria were quite abundant.

House prices have correspondingly gone through the roof with this influx of people and are now at silly levels – higher than Sydney in places. Historically always the biggest city and accordingly the most expensive. Two bedroom apartments overlooking the casino were going for over three quarters of a mill’! Wow! That area used to literally be the town dump/the back of the cement works! Me and my mates used to ride motocross bikes on the vacant land way at the back years ago and now here it is millionaire row….

The boys have got all the cool toys too, I went down to Hillary’s boat harbour to go out fishing with my buddy Terry and his neighbour Bob – a retired Army and Vietnam vet - and there were all the fellas with brand new Utes (pick-up trucks) backing in brand new monster size wave-runners, jet-skis or brand new fibreglass cabin cruisers. (There's a two to three year wait for berths at most of the major yacht clubs now and folks are buying the boat just to get the pen).

After being used to Europe with expensive fuel and economical compact cars, I thought Oz would be the same too as the Federal Govt deliberately keeps petrol prices pretty high with the fuel tax so we don’t all get a big nasty surprise one day when the oil runs out (and also handily raise a chunk of tax revenue at the same time), but nope, folks are still driving around in big cars. There are the big 6 & 8 cylinder businessman’s expresses, sporty utes (pick-ups), and huge Toyota 4WD’s. They’re all pulling down the big bucks these days so they’ve just soaked up the hike in fuel prices in their big pay packets. (I kinda choked though when I went into a pub (bar) and ordered a beer, a scotch and coke and a packet o’ peanuts for me and my 20-something nephew and I and got slugged nearly A$27!! ‘Sh*t, what’s a round of drinks for all the mates gonna cost me? A kidney?’).

The city has really changed since I have been away. New buildings have gone up all over the suburbs and people are really into the consumer/credit-card lifestyle.

The Aboriginal issue though is still exactly where it was years ago and has not moved on one jot. The native-lobby activists and the well paid lawyers feeding off them are still stuck in a groove of recriminations for things the British did two centuries ago and trying to score political points off the government or secure yet more federal dollars (on top of the billions of un-audited funds they already get), yet doing nothing to make sure indigenous kids go to (and stay at) school to improve their education, nothing to encourage natives to seek regular medical care to improve health statistics and nothing to get kids well clothed and fed or maintain the state provided housing in a fit state. It's nothing to see Aboriginal dads dragging their kids cold and barefoot to the bottleshop in the middle of a cold, wet, rainy winters night to buy a case of beer yet not buy the kids coats, shoes or socks . Sigh….Sometimes I’m glad I work overseas and don’t have to listen to that broken record any longer.

Some things about being back were so simple yet so wonderful. As soon as you arrive at the airport the people and the atmosphere are different. Folks are more relaxed, more polite and less pushy than sometimes crowded and hurried Europe. People give you space in a queue (blink in some parts of Europe and three people will have sneaked in front). Customs officers chat and joke with you about confiscating those tasty Swiss chocolates as contraband! Checkout staff at the stores spend a few moments to talk light-heartedly and ask if you’re watching the footy this afternoon.

That’s one thing Perth people seem willing to try and hang on to no matter how large or glitzy or rich the (now big) city gets – that laid back feeling of a big country town and the sense of community. Folks I know still talk about the old days of going down to the beach all day in summer and leaving the house wide open or parking the car and just leaving the keys in the ignition - no worries...

Long may that feeling linger!

Xmas Holidays - part one

2007-12-31T06:55:00.000Z

Hello all.

Xmas holidays finally arrived and after lots of literally last minute organising I headed off down to the arport to start the long trek south. I was a little annoyed as I had been telling people for weeks that I was gonna be outta there on a certain date, but some persisted in trying to dump stuff on my desk an hour before I was due to go. 'Whaddya expect me to do with this thirty minutes before I go on vacation for the next two weeks?'..Jeez.

So it was Air France Geneva to Paris on a little jet and Paris to Singapore on a four engined Airbus. Nice enough. Departed on time and food OK.

Legroom on the long-haul was disappointing. I am 1.82m/5'11" and a long shanks. The airline had obviously decided to shave 3-4 cm off each row and squeeze just one more row in over the length of economy class. Hmmm...

Arrive around midnight in Singers. Love this place. The Singaporeans are so switched on, well dressed and polite. A lovely clean, efficient airport too. I walked literally off one aircraft down the hall 50 metres, cross over and get straight onto the next one. A Qantas code share to Perth. (They schedules these days are really getting tight...).

Qantas was all smiles, friendly and lots of little nice touches. Great food and enertainment. I watched several comedies and laughed my head off and had a few others in my little section right at the back of the plane switching channels...

The arrival in Perth was at the ungodly hour of 2:00am so after luggage and customs I popped out at 3:00am.

Just as I exited through the automatic doors some thirty-something blonde squeeled with delight, arms outstretched and shouted 'Hi!'. Now after 20+ hours on a plane, several times zone changes and a 3:00am exit, my mind was just a little mushy. So here's me stretching out my arms out of reflex and saying 'Hi!' All the time thinking 'who the Heck are you?!' It was for the guy right behind me though. Drats! She was quite a babe!

Back to the folks place and dozed on and off fitfully, exhausted but unable to sleep.

Tomorrow is another day...

Baghdad by the Lake?...

2007-12-06T19:21:00.000Z

Since Iraq, I thought my time of pulling 12 and 13 hour days were mostly done.

But I’m going on holiday next Thursday afternoon to spend two weeks in the summer sunshine in Oz with the family and friends at Xmas and I have been working like a Demon for the last month trying to get everything in order before I go. Build cash budgets for 2008, get all the field offices paid in USD/EUR/GBP to fund them to early January. Doing the monthly accounting for one of the companies I take care of. Fixing electronic–banking problems, etc.,etc. The list (and it is a long one) goes on….

I worked last Sunday on my all too brief weekend,will probably work this Saturday and only had one ‘normal’ day last Thursday when my brain couldn’t fit any more numbers into it and went on strike so I went home!

The expectation is that since we’re paid big bucks the assigned tasks are ‘our’ responsibility come what may. But there comes a time (hopefully not one hour before you’re due to get on the plane!) when you just have to say ‘OK guys, I am going on vacation now. Y'all are gonna have to be responsible for this now ‘cos I sure as heck am not taking it with me!’

I do hope they don’t expect things to run by themselves. But you never know…

Cruel and Unusual Punishment...

2007-12-03T18:12:00.000Z

In the U.S. constitution, there is a line somewhere forbidding 'cruel and unusual' punishment. Now after living here in Europe for a while and listening to their FM stations, I am wondering whether it is possible for Europe to borrow this phrase or put it in their own constitutions. Maybe even lease the rights to it for a monthly fee?

You see, whenever the tourist board talks about Europe, they talk about lovely castles, sparkling lakes, majestic mountains etc, etc. All valid stuff. But there's one thing that is conspicuous in its absence - the music. How can I sum it up on one word... Uhhhm it's just plain bad!

There's a few stations here and one is called Radio Nostalgia and is syndicated around a couple of countries (France/Switzerland) and I swear to God they must have a sum total of only 30 CD's - tops! Listen more than an hour or two and chances are you'll be hearing numbers 1-30 again real soon! It is spiced up with great tracks from the 80's and 90's by Anglo-Saxon artists, but just when you're getting down to Ray Charles with 'Unchain my Heart', or top-tapping to Rod Stewart and the Faces with 'Maggie-Mae', on comes Betrand 'Can't sing for sh*t' and strangles his way through a song with his (ripped off) guitar riffs. As U.K. expat Stephen Clarke said in one of his books, 'there's not much that would make me leap out of a nice warm bed in the middle of winter on a freezing Saturday morning, but local content blaring out from the radio-alarm does it!'

You see, some of these countries governments subsidise domestic artists to keep a percentage of local content on the airwaves of TV and radio. The taent pool is either pretty small or it is run by a pimply bureaucrat with a pencil protector in his pocket. Straining reedy voices. Dated guitar riffs that are a decade behind. Some of these folks last had a hit in the 70's and they're still dining out on that one song! I'm telling ya', even some of the contestants on Pop-Idol are better...

Any record exec from London to Sydney to L.A. worth his salt would gently put his arm around the shoulder of some of these wanna-be's and quietly say ' Buddy, how can I put this to you nicely?' 'Erm, you suck. Now not just a little mind you. No, you really suck'. Come back when you can play or sing - preferably both...' (Mind you, we won't mention anything about the Spice Girls or Vanilla Ice etc...).

Head off into the country regions of Switzerland and they're still playing Oom-pah music and Yodelling from the '50's. (No wonder the young folks all wear headphones?!)

I'm off to Oz for Xmas. Looks like I'll be getting an I-Pod and downloading lots of my albums...

Gimme the good stuff baby....

2007-11-16T19:08:00.000Z

Hello All.

Sorry I haven’t written much lately but I’ve had a really bad cold last week. I felt like someone who had gone five rounds with Muhammad Ali. I'm usually very healthy, but about every 12-18 months I fall victim to the odd bug going around the office like most folks.

Last Monday I took the day off work and just lay on the sofa in the apartment feeling blah. The rest of the week I dragged myself in to work but, unlike the Energizer Bunny, I only had just enough battery power to get me through to about 5:00 pm. Then I would head for home and have a really early night - ready to do mortal combat with some Venezuelan finance statements again the next day (it’s all in Bolivars so you have to convert the telephone-number long balances back to USD before it starts to make sense!). It was a longgg week!

I went to the Pharmacist here in France and you have to be firm with them about what you want. Tell a French pharmacist what's wrong with you and if you're not careful he/she'll have you loaded down to the gunnels with stuff by the time you leave the store! They certainly believe in tackling whatever ails you from all fronts!!

It's just like when I was a kid and we would go to the annual Royal Agricultural Show (sort of like the State Fair) and all the manufacturers would hand out 'Show Bags' of (back then) free produce to promote their wares. We would walk away with bags and bags of chocolates, biscuits, plastic boomerangs - everything!

Last year I went in just to get some decongestant for a 'flu and came away with nasal sprays, throat lozenges, sinus pills for daytime, for afternoon, for evening and even some weird stuff I was supposed to gargle (half of it is still sitting in the bathroom cabinet untouched).

U.K. medication is pretty watery. When I worked in London, I had a really bad winter cold one year and was so super-congested it felt like I couldn't get a single molecule of O2 into me. Back in Oz a couple o' Sudafed woulda hit that sucker outta the park, but this U.K. stuff didn't even make a dent. I went back to the girl and said 'You gotta give me some industrial-strength stuff here luv - this just isn't cuttin' the mustard', and she told me that was the strongest stuff they had! I don't know what they do with Aussie medicine - must test it on horses I reckon. But by gum it works!

So back on deck ... and just in time for the first snowfall of the season. Whoo-hoo!

The Burb's

2007-11-01T20:00:00.000Z

I've been here for a year and a half now...going on two and a half if you count all the trips I made here whilst I was still working in London and 'commuting' on a lot of weekends to my 'second' home.

This area is so beautiful with the Alps, lakes, the Jura mountains, beautiful cities and culture and history going back before even the Romans. There are times I can't believe I am really here.

Italy is two hours away down the expressway, as is Germany. All of Europes major capitals are less than a mornings travel away by either the extensive high-speed rail or the numerous cheap flights.

And so I finally bit the bullet and bought myself an apartment. Having my friend Krissy there was certainly a great moral support that day as I nervously put my John Hancock on what was to be the first of many documents that will eventually make me a French apartment owner. Geneva is mere ten minutes away and the border to Switzerland is half that. It is a brand new complex and completion/move in date is Q3/08.

I have dreamed about something like this for ages and in fact got really close to having a second property (in the south of France) once before, when I was working as a Finance Analyst in London and we were earning ridiculous amounts of those mighty Pounds in the heady days before 9/11 came, the economy stumbled and we (along with contractor rates and property plans) fell back to earth.

But patience and dogged persistence paid off and here I am, looking forward to getting somewhere of my own where I can bang a nail in a wall and hang my pictures. It has been as the Beatles once sang, 'A Long and Winding road', but what a bloody interesting one!

Now all I need is someone to share it with... I wonder if Michelle Pfeiffer is still single...?

A tale of two citizens

2007-10-17T17:45:00.000Z

I saw a couple of news articles this week from Aus about two very different people.

One was the first Australian Trooper killed in Afghanistan last week serving with the Army he loved. His country, his family and the Anzac tradition were what were important to him.

This man had the strength of character to volunteer to defend others and his mates depended upon him when the bullets started to fly.

The tribute in a national newspaper read 'Australians owe a debt of gratitude to a man or woman who dies serving their country that can never be repaid. Today 'The Australian' honours the sacrifice of Trooper David Pearce...'

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,,22601666-2702,00.html?from=public_rss

The other person was a rising national football star who had everything - money, girls, fame, championship trophies and the adulation of every kid in the state.

He was a state-wide icon and a national hero. He had it all but was arrested (yet again) on drug charges and was finally sacked in disgrace by his AFL club.

The Herald Sun wrote 'He has brought disaster on himself, letting down the people who tried to help him...'

There were a lot of people at home who were very disappointed. A generous public had forgiven him time and again and now look and just shake their heads at how someone who had so much could choose to throw it all away on self-pity, drink, drugs and bizarre tattoos destroying a promising career and his club's future.

This post is not to deify soldiers or add to the critiques of a fallen idol.

I don't know, it just really struck me that while Trooper Pearce was in the dust and the mud on the other side of the world getting shot at because he wanted to help others, this former football star was sitting in his comfortable suburban lounge room navel gazing and feeling sorry for himself.

I hope he read the article about that Digger this week and decides to do something positive with his life. He should for the sake of Trooper Pearce and all those like him.

National Geographic and Cousteau

2007-10-14T18:32:00.000Z

I saw a great bit of news the other day. The members of the Calpyso society - the guardians of Jacques Cousteau's work - are restoring the original ship 'Calypso'.

As a little kid it was our big Sunday night event. After dinner and the news, my brother and I would it down in our PJ's on each side of Dad and watch the weekly National Geographic documentary.

That famous music of the NG society would start - Da, da, da, da-dah, that yellow logo would appear and I knew I was soon to be transported to another world.

Captain Cousteau and his 'equipe' would dive in their futuristic wetsuits and helmets and take us to tropical paradises, Arctic havens and Mediterannean treasure troves.

As always the photography (both stills and movie) of the NGS cameramen was a cut above everything else. As a kid it was a dream to grow up and be a N.G.S. staff photographer.

When I had an American girlfriend few years ago, I visited her in the States several times and on one trip to D.C., bugged her to go to one special place. Not the Lincoln Memorial or Ford's theatre or the usual top ten. Nope, I wanted to go to the HQ of the National Geographic Society - still my personal 'Mecca' all these years later.

I saw stills photographs at an exhibition called ' the ones that didn't make it' - pictures that ordinary photographers would be proud to say they'd made - but they didn't have that N.G. 'something extra'.

When I got older I learned to scuba dive, travelled the world and got into photography (I now have enough camera equipment to start my own shop!), and my living room is still full of N.G. magazines and DVD's.

From that little kid sitting on the lounge room floor half a world away - thank you Cousteau and thank you National Geographic. You opened up the world to me and many others.

Perhaps somewhere in the world there are other little kids picking up a National Geographic magazine for the first time or reading about the adventures of the Calypso and who will one day grow up to be tomorrow's oceanographers or travel photographers.

Long may you both continue to explore!

Down time...

2007-10-10T18:30:00.000Z

I took this picture a few weeks ago on a Saturday hike in the mountains an hour from where I live.

It is a place called 'Le Col des Aravis' in the French Alps and there are several hiking trails there to follow.

The weekends are valuable time for me to decompress and get perspective again. To get some exercise and chill out - something I can do simultaneously in such majestic surroundings!

Yup, I've been working pretty hard and from the time I get in to the time I pull the plug ten odd hours later it is non-stop. No time to call friends, send the odd email or even chat to my fellow workers in the office - it's just go, go, go.

Come Friday I feel the need for some fresh air and as the autumn weather at the moment is perfect, I saddle up and head out and spend a day one and half kilomotres up seeing the big picture.

There are so many trails to explore and a lot of the locals of all ages use them - young couples, families with kids, older folks. The trails are of varying lengths and degree of difficulty so you can go as easy or hard, as short or as far as you want.

Last weekend was funny - I saw one youth group leader chasing after his charges on his mountain bike. 'Have you seen a bunch of kids go past here?' 'Yup, about ten minutes ago M'sieur'. Fit as this guy was - the little tackers had roared off over the summit on their bikes and were half way down to the next village! But everything was cool - its almost impossible to get lost and they were in world class scenery out exercising in the fresh air. Some very lucky kids and the good thing is I think they appreciate how lovely their region is.

Being an amateur photographer, I'm gonna have to lug up my big gun SLR to get some serious snaps of the mountains one weekend instead of the quick-pics from my pocket digital.

Trouble is - where to start? It's all so Wow!

Doing business with the world...

2007-10-02T18:08:00.005Z

In my job I have to call all sorts of different places around the world and you get a little insight into each nation from something as simple as a phone call and get some strange results.

Russia is funny when we need to call to chat about this or that. A few decades of communism with state-guaranteed jobs and no customer relations training means you get something like this...

"Hyello, XYZ Pyetroleum, Moscow orf-eece'.

"Hi, this is Geneva. Can I talk to the Finance manager please?"

"Hyee eez not hyere. Please to be calling byeck lyater., Bye." Click....brrrrrr...... and they just hang up. No "can I take a message" or "he'll be back in an hour", just 'I have done only exactly what was needed and that's it' - bang!

Call the U.K. and you'll invariably end up chatting with people about the weather (given that there's is oft times disappointing) It's easy, quick, efficient and I'm sure I'll be bought several pints if I ever have to go there on business!

If I call our French bank everyone wants to try out their English on me (just don't try and call between 12:00 and 13:30-14:00 - lunchtime is sacrosanct and you'll be talking to no one but voicemail! Not that I'm against it - sure beats the Anglo-saxon business practice of guiltily scoffing a soggy supermarket sandwich at your desk!

The Netherlands and Norway to a lesser extent sometimes speak English so damn well I forgot it is their second language...Stunning. Switched on folks.

And when I get a Scandinavian business woman going 'HI, this is Helga here' in that sexy Nordic accent, I have to try darn hard to stop thinking about the Swedish bikini team and talk about finance instead.

Trying to get things done in Venezuela is an altogether differnet story. Here the word 'Manana' (tomorrow) springs to mind...

"Hello, this is Geneva. Can I talk to the auditor please"?

"Ahh, senor. He ees gone on holiday. But 'e will be back soon".

"Then could I talk to his 2-IC please - it is urgent"

"Ah senor, she ees gone on holiday too" But don't worry, they will be back soon - a couple of weeks at most!"

"Can I talk to someone in their department"?

"Oh ees Friday, everyone gone to lunch and then leave early 'cos 'ees the weekend. Can you wait to Monday"? It pays to have a large time-buffer when these folks are on the job!

Now if ony I could find a Swedish businesswoman who spoke excellent English and wanted to take me to lunch, buy me a pint after before offering to take me away to Buenos Aires for a couple of weeks...

Mates

2007-09-26T18:48:00.000Z

I had a friend of mine around for a final visit last week.

Her name is Krissy and we’ve been buddies since I moved into a flat (apartment) in Mile End Road in London with her and two other New Zealand girls. I first I thought they asked me to be the new addition to the household because of my charm, wit and good looks – only later did I find out the more sanguine version that what they really wanted was someone who could hold off any crazed madman at the door for a few precious minutes so the girls could make their getaway out the back door! Ah well, ha, ha.

We’ve stayed close for over seven years as I moved to another flat and she did too when the lease ran out (my budget having a little extra padding in it than hers – we chose different housing options).

Our friendship has survived through many moves, girlfriends, a trip back to Australia before unexpectedly heading out to Iraq and now Geneva. We had numerous vacations all over Europe and a few times to the States together and plenty of fun nights hitting London pubs and theatres.

When I moved to France/Geneva, we stayed in touch and as London is only an hour’s flight away on a cheap charter airline, we could still hook up a few times a year.

Krissy is headed back to the land of the long white cloud and her family in Christchurch New Zealand at the end of September so that’s a long, long way away and I feel I’m losing a part of me.

I couldn’t say at the airport how much I’ve appreciated her companionship over the years or how much I’ll miss me best mate - it must be the Australian upbringing coming out in me where we give a highly understated 'Yair yer 'orright' to someone we'd gladly give our right arm for - but I will miss her - big time. But I remind myself this isn’t goodbye – just au revoir as they say here.

Bon voyage Krissy, I’ll be in touch…

The 'season' begins in Geneva

2007-08-16T18:34:00.001Z

I've just been into town (Geneva) after work today. It's late night shopping Thursday and I wanted to have a look around and get a few things.

There are a lot of Arab women in the city at the moment. Some in very chic designer outfits with Chanel headscarves and some in just plain black Abbayas, and then of course I remembered - it is 'the season'.

Each summer the French and Swiss sides of Lac Leman play host to some of the wealthiest people from all over the Middle East. It is said (and not all that jokingly) that half the worlds oil deals are done at the Four Seasons hotel lounge where they rent entire suites for a dozen or more family, friends and employees.

Outside the lobby there is always a continuous flotilla of top-of the-line Mercedes and stretch limousines. Not just your average businessmans expresses, but the sort reserved for Heads of State complete with immaculately attired chauffeurs.

During the day the men take care of business and the ladies and their extensive entourages go shopping and boy do they shop. Gucci, Rolex, Louis Vuitton, you name it, it is here.

One of the ladies I know used to work in a jewellery store in Geneva and told me that it was not uncommon for one of the men to come in with the extended group of family plus staff and look at some of the most expensive Swiss watches (Omega, Rolex, Piaget, etc) anc if they thought they were nice would say 'Very good - give me twenty' just like that. One hundred thousand Swiss Francs (about the same in $) without even batting an eyelid!! Other sales of diamond rings and necklaces can run into millions!!! There is some SERIOUS cash here during August and September.

Most of the time I feel pretty content that I'm doing AOK. But when I see these folks and the attendant lifestyle, I realise they and I live life on entirely different planets! Ah well, maybe if I saved reallly hard...

Holidays and highlights…

2007-08-14T20:33:00.000Z

I’ve just got back from holidays a few days ago and it was fantastic.

Lots of sunshine, beautiful scenery, good food and friendly folks. I felt so relaxed and really enjoyed the pastel colours of Provence and its history, cuisine and culture.

I went to Avignon to see the Pope’s Palace (the Pope was resident in the South of France several hundred years ago), then Aix-en-Provence - a beautiful and charming city in Provence where Matisse once painted, then down to Marseille and with a final day just across the border a couple of hours away in Italy, at Pietra Ligura a coastal resort.

It was all wonderful but the highlight of highlights for me was to see, just off the coast of Marseille, the island fortress of Le Chateau D’if, made famous by Alexander Dumas in his novel ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’.

I loved this book as a kid and read it over and over. Then when I learned French, I read the original and delighted in the novel once again in its original language. To see the actual fortress was awesome. Imagining Edmond Dantes in his cell and the Father Faria next door. To see the Mediterranean where our hero swam after his escape. Too cool!

Pietra Ligura was nice and had a charming town square where husbands and wives, boyfriends and girlfriends strolled cobble stone streets or ate outdoors in the local bistros in the cool of the summer evening.

At the end of the vacation it was time to head back through rolling Italian countryside to the Mont Blanc tunnel. Drive through several kilometres of tunnel with the highest mountain in Europe (4,808 metres of solid rock) right over your head to emerge back in France and head down the valley back to the apartment.

Well worth the trip and definitely worthy of another look later on and explore some more of the Roman history, the Gorges at Verdon, the markets etc.,etc.

I recommend the region and it is a great antidote to the workaday grind.

It’s a European thing…

2007-08-14T19:32:00.000Z

Living in France near the Swiss border, you meet people from all over Europe. Italy is two and a half hours away as is Germany. In the Swiss city of Basle the river forms the northern border. Drive over the bridge and turn left and it is France. Drive over the same bridge and turn right and ‘Guten Morgen’ you’re in Germany! And of course come winter the whole place is full of Brits looking to go skiing.

With so many different nationalities all living in close proximity you get to see your European neighbours ‘up close and personal’, and have to learn to deal with their national oddities. So at the risk of entrenching stereotypes here’s my list of personal amusements!

The Germans are organised hard working people and that continues into their holidays. Go to a beach resort in Italy, France or Spain and there are lots of Goethe’s descendants soaking up the sun. Only problem is their national habit is getting up at the crack of dawn (very solid work ethic!) and putting towels on the beach chairs to ‘reserve’ them. They return for breakfast, get changed and eventually saunter out 2-3 hours later wanting to lay on ‘their’ lounge. In Germany this is perfectly reasonable – ‘I got up early and so bagged a chair – you didn’t’. The early bird catches the worm. This drives Brits crazy though as through their eyes ‘use it or lose it’ is the primordial ‘quasi-legal’ concept. Needless to say there are the odd discussions between Joachim and Henry as each side argues the merits of their case!

The Spanish are easy to spot – just close your eyes and listen for the loudest people around. They are passionate! Alternatively, Spaniards lurvvv to party and although they start later in the evening, anyone still going strong when their EU cousins are tucked up in bed counting sheep is probably from the land of Don Quixote!

The Brits love drinking pints and singing songs and discussing the merits of football (soccer) matches going back years, sometimes decades. These guys can’t remember their wives birthdays or where they put the car keys last night but can tell you Manchester United’s starting line up for the 1955 F.A. cup final like it was yesterday!

The French are the worlds family oriented gourmets. Come lunch time, they stop whatever they are doing (skiing, hiking, sailing), and adjourn to return to base and catch up with the family over something delicious. Afterwards, all is the well with the world and they head back out to jet-ski, bungee jump or hurl down mountain ski slopes.

The Italians on the way to their holiday remind me of George Costanza from a Seinfeld episode where was racing upstate (but had lost the others) yet was ecstatic to be ‘making good time’. It doesn’t matter if you are passing world class scenery, look at the car flashing past you on the auto route and it’s probably Luigi determined to get to Cote D’Azur in 2 hours neat!

The Swiss are outwardly confident but sometimes wonder whether they should be more organised like the Germans, gregarious like the Spanish, or have more ‘joie de vivre’ and ‘panache’ like the French They wonder though why everything isn’t quite as neat as it is back in Switzerland…

But everyone gets along because at the end of the day, the boss is Italian, the wife is Swiss, the mother-in law is German, the company is British and the main market is in

France

It's like the annual family get-together complete with all your weird relatives!

Dr. Strangelove and friends

2007-08-06T19:01:00.000Z

My apologies for the cliched image, but has anyone been watchin the U.S. presidential nominations lately?

Anyone getting very worried about the 'I'm so much tougher than you are' rhetoric coming forth from some of these wannabes?

In the last two weeks, we've had some sort of highly dangerous bidding contest where each nominee is trying to outdo each other on national security to appear tough.

'I'm prepared to invade Pakistan'. Errmmm. Aren't they an ally?' And 'How would you feel if Russia invaded and bombed New Jersey because there was a Chechen terrorist cell there?' What's good for the goose is good for the gander after all.

What got me was the automatic assumption Obama had that he felt he could just invade/bomb any country whenever he felt like as if it was no big deal.

Another candidate says 'I'm prepared to drop nuclear bombs on Mecca'. Ermmm, wont' that completely p**s off the other one billion Muslims worldwide and start WWIII?

One nominee said 'I'm prepared (and will discard the unwritten 'no first use' rule that's stood for the last 50 years) to use tactical nukes in the battlefield'. Just like they are normal munitions! The world is trying to stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons and to prevent some countries using them as they 'could be potential threats', but yet these candidates are suggesting tossing atomic bombs around as casually as hand-grenades. Bit of a double standard wouldn'tcha think?

Pakistan has already protested saying that nominees should not use their nation to indulge in political chest beating.

Being 'strong' on national security has turned into a one-way ratchet where potential Presidents keep dialling up the rhetoric, are never allowed to talk to enemies, must act with extreme aggression to all and any threats, are prepared to authorise more invasions of privacy, more wiretappping, more state powers, more weapons, more spy satellites , more, more, more. Both parties are at it too.

If I were an American I would vote 'none of the above'.

At least Kennedy et al, despite all the public bravado over the Cuba crisis, had the good sense to go round and knock on the back door of the Soviet embassy and say 'Hey fella's, what say we work something out here before this thing gets outta control'.

Holidays

2007-07-25T19:15:00.000Z

It's finally here after marking days oh-so slowly off the calendar. Come Friday night I'm heading south out of Geneva and down towards Provence and the south of France and the lavender fields and sunshine.

Not that Geneva and environs aren't amazingly beautiful - just that I want to go elsewhere and discover...

I've become a bit of a zombie lately - just working, working, working and I've not had time for all the things that make life nice - art, photography, exploring, music (looking at beautiful French girls) etc., etc.

So I'm leaving the wrist watch and alarm clock at home, packing my way too many cameras and lenses, putting a bottle of bordeaux and a corkscrew in the picnic hamper and driving off into the sunset.

Five whole days off Mediterranean bliss. Whoo-hoo!

There's Avignon where the Pope once was headquarted, Nimes with one of the last/only bull-fighting rings in France, then Aix-en-Provence which is charming, and finally the regional capital Marseille and the Chateau D'if - a former prison fortress. I've always wanted to see it as it was featured in the novel 'The Count of Monte Cristo' which was/is one of my all time favourite books.

Well, as I used to say in the sandbox, one more day and a wake-up!

I'll catch you on the flip side with all the news. A bientot!

Ground Hog Day

2007-06-29T07:12:00.000Z

Perth is a nice city but there was one thing about it that started to drive me crazy after living there for so many years - the weather! Every night at 7pm the forecaster would repeat exactly the same phrases over and over. “Tomorrow will be sunny and fine and 24 degrees”. (Celcius of course). Week in, month out, year after year after year.

Now a little sunshine is nice, but man I really started to feel like Bill Murray living Groundhog Day over and over and over there. “What’s tomorrow gonna be like?” “Hmmm, same as frickin yesterday, and the day before, and the day before that..”

That’s what I like about living here in Europe and amongst the high mountains especially. We get awesome thunder and lighting storms; we get beautiful spring days with white fluffy clouds; nice cold winters with enough snow to go skiing but not so much that your drive-to-work vehicle has to be a snowplough! There are spring sun showers and autumn downpours, but spread between enough sunshine and lovely days to make it all wonderful. Basically, we have weather...

When I was a little tacker growing up I read all these kids books that were mostly from northern hemisphere publishers. About when the autumn wind would blow and it was time to put on rain coats and scarves and galoshes and tramp in the puddles. Winter was the time to make snowmen and snowballs and then drink hot chocolate at home after a walk through the forest listening to the Robin Red Breast in the snowflake covered trees. And spring was a time to watch the trees and flowers come to life again and see the birds start to sing. Something that isn't as obvious in Perth where the unique flora and fauna is mostly perennial.

Each day here is a postcard and a surprise and much like Monet in the French countrysidepainting haystacks in the ever changing light, the same beautiful vista here can have a hundred different visages depending on the time of year.

I just love it and when no one's looking...I jump in the puddles!

Can I stop please Sir? My brain is full!

2007-06-26T17:57:00.000Z

Well, as some of you know I have just come back from an exam in London for the 9th (of 12) of my MBA units.

Man I studied so much preparing for this exam and would end a nine or ten hour day at the office and then start the evening shift - hunched over my finance books and going through to ten or eleven at night or until my eyes went blurry - whichever came first!

Although I was starting to get cabin fever there after a while, I really enjoyed the unit as with maths based subjects once you understand the concepts behind the formulae, you just plug the numbers in the right slots and crunch it through. Sweet.

The exam was in the morning so I got to spend the afternoon visiting some buddies from my old contract position at News Limited near Tower Bridge in London and then caught the evening flight back to Geneva from Gatwick (there was one helluva queue for security screeeing but that's another story).

I finished the exam with 20-25 minutes to spare and thought I'd missed a question, but nope, I must've just been well up on the unit and zipped through it. Cool!

So hopefully another one in the bag and getting closer to the finish line. I always liked the feeling when you get to the very last exam (as I did for my Diploma of Business or my Degree in Business) - that feeling that when those three hours and five minutes reading are up - that's it. Finito! As part -time students everyone compares how many units they've done/got to do, and it's a nice feeling to say 'that's it'.

Only trouble is - with all this free time now in between semesters - what do i do with myself?!

Happy Anniversary...

2007-06-04T17:56:00.000Z

Well, it has been a year since I first started working here.

A lot of folks tell me 'Oh, you are sooo lucky to be working in Geneva..' etc. And indeed I am - it is a lovely city in a beautiful region of France/ Switzerland. But boy were the first few months fun and games!

I got a phone call confirming the job and giving me just four days to pack up my whole life in London and start a whole new one in Switzerland. I arrived off the plane with one suitcase and a laptop and that was it.

The arcane renting laws in France and Switzerland had this Kafka-esque quality to them - to rent an apartment you need to have your EU frontalier working permit, but to get your frontalier permit you need an address and hence an apartment. But you also need to prove that you are from a border region by showing that you have telephone/electricity bills etc., but how can you get those if you don't have an apartment. And round and round it went - for a longggg time.

Eventually after many migraines and lots of to-ing and fro-ing between the town-hall and the office and the rental people, I got my work permit complete with photo that showed my amusement at the situation (or rather the lack of it!)

The days were long as I had to catch a bus to the border, then take the tram to the city, then catch another bus to the office. At night repeat the whole process only backwards. Each (ten hour) day had another three hours of commuting added to it so I would start at 5:00am and collapse into my cot somewhere around 10:00pm for some sleep ready to start the next day. Needless to say I looked forward to weekends with great enthusiasm!

But as the weeks went by I slowly got organised and got the phone connected, gas switched on, bought furniture, a TV/DVD, a washing machine ( no more cold, late night rainy trips in winter shlepping to the Laundromat), and eventually a car. Each purchase was a tiny victory - especially since it was all done in a foreign language.

Each successive purchase made life soooo much easier - especially the car which gave me freedom, and I have never appreciated the little things as much as I do now. One of the major lessons in life that I learned from my time in Iraq was how little stuff you actually need. Nowadays the car trip is just ten minutes through the back roads instead of the hour and a half long dog-leg through the city on the public transport.

I have finally achieved a very long held dream of working in Europe and have even conducted an entire audit of one of the companies subsidiaries (including written correspondence) with the Paris auditor completely in French so my language skills must be doing alright…

Of course, my supervisors are nowhere near as good to work for as my boss in Iraq or London - that I really do miss - and there are times when I could cheerfully put a needle in my current bosses voodoo dolls. One of these days I’d love to have paid off my houses, be working for myself and have a sailboat to take friends on and go fishing and diving off. But for now I have ticked off one of those major personal goals, am making a good quid, and am set up comfortably enough to enjoy weekend drives through lush mountainous countryside on sunny days filled with singing birds and get to delve into the treasure trove that is Europe.

Happy anniversary…

Watch this space

2007-05-29T15:31:00.000Z

It has been a few weeks now since Nicolas Sarkozy has made it to the Presidential Palace.

The Unions immediately made the predictable early warning shots across the bow like ‘touch anything like our super early retirement or gold pensions and you’ll be for it’, but he didn’t bite. This guy is going to be one to watch. Whereas Margaret Thatcher took the way too powerful British Coal Miners unions head-on in a ‘we’re gonna to see who runs this country’ fight to the death, N.S. I feel is using a different tack and is going to out-manoeuvre them. He’s cute and I feel he’s going to leave them flat-footed.

This guy is like the Energizer bunny with a computer for a brain. He’s already got his ministry lined up including strategic centrist placements to defuse the Socialists whose pitiful rallying cry is now reduced to ‘join us - not because we have any real policies, but just because we want to try to block this person (who quite convincingly beat us) out of spite’.

I think the French people realise that the Socialists were still offering more of the same tired old formula which hadn’t worked in the past (and they had many years to prove it did), and that something new is needed. The GDP has slipped in ten years from 7th in the world to 17th! Clearly something is wrong and more ‘regulations’ (there are already volumes as thick as telephone books full of them) are not the answer!

There’s talk of lowering corporate taxes to encourage corporate investment and stop the transfer of head-offices (and profits) to European tax havens (Luxembourg, Switzerland, etc.). There’s talk of loosening the labour laws so bosses can hire people without being forced by the state to be ‘married’ to them ‘til death do us part’. There’s talk of laws to provide a minimum service level for all state utilities and stop the endless annual public service strikes. (It is a common joke in Europe that May and school holidays is when the Airlines/Trains/Air-traffic controllers/Students etc., go on strike). It's an annual event that you can set your watch by. Each airline has it's own nickname in the industry - British Airways or 'B.A'. is known as 'bloody awful' and the national carrier here it's 'Air France - take a chance'. There are a lot of good things in France, but the Unions are not one of them and have held this country to ransom for far too long.

As for Franco/U.S. relations, I think both sides need to pull their heads in on that one and get past the silly ' Freedom Fries' era slinging match and work together on what they do agree about.

There’s talk about all the right issues and all the right ideas to do something about them. Let’s just hope that unlike his predecessor, he won't be the first one to blink. It’s going to get interesting…

Americana and days gone by...

2007-05-26T10:36:00.000Z

I bought a book a few weeks ago by an American expat living in Britain named Bill Bryson.

I'm a big fan of Bill Bryson as he seems to possess a synergetic combination of both American enthusiasm combined with wry British wit from his adopted home.

The book was called 'The life and times of the Thunderbolt Kid' and recounts his days growing up in mid-west Des Moines in the 1950's. Whilst parts are obviously more familiar to those who grew up in that country, it is a universal narrative of youth that all of us can relate to wherever we were.

He tells of the innocence of youth and the era where children had lolly-rolling escapades at character-filled giant old movie theatres, of arcane Department stores with Eagle-eyed elderly sales ladies just waiting to pounce on little boys using pens and papier-maché pellets as blow guns from strategic hiding places on the wooden mezzanine floor. Of trips to Burger joints and long finned cars and sodas and music that just jumped with positivity.

Of comic books of all types of super heroes (and ocassionally 'zapping' his annoying older sister with his 'laser-vision'!).

He strikes a sober note in one chapter reflecting on the shoe-box multiplexes we visit today, the sanitised, compartmentalised shopping experience, the safety warnings on everything it seems now from dental floss to a cup of coffee, cars that all look like they were squeezed from the same tube of toothpaste and how we now run to lawyers looking to lay blame instead of accepting to take responsibility.

I couldn't put the book down as he took me back to those days and the innocence and promise and excitement of the 1950's.

Bill Bryson said he had the best growing up experience in those golden years a kid could ever have and compared to the complexities of today's world where kids are forced to grow up at age five, and wouldn't trade it for the world.

I'm inclined to agree with him.

Point me to the Tropics if you please...

2007-05-26T10:09:00.000Z

It's now official. I've decided that working for a living has knobs on it

You may not have twigged, but today I'm not exactly feeling in a warm and fuzzy mood today about the 9:00-5:00...

Maybe it's just me, but don't you also tired of getting up at the crack of dawn, working all the hours the Big-Fella sends, seeing sunlight only sporadically and attending long-winded meetings about stuff you were never all that interested in in the first place?

Our owner came in yesterday - man he's a squillionaire and when he gets bored (poor bugger), he just takes a Net-Jet down to Florence or Ibiza and books into a 5-star hotel to chase away those negative vibes for a few days.

But, I've still got a little while longer before my plans come together (I sound like George Peppard as Hannibal from, the A-team!) and I can do something remotely similar albeit on a smaller scale! So I guess in the meantime I just keep plodding and studying away. As Mao Tse Tung once said, 'the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step'.

So in the interim, my lucky lottery ticket for 25 million Swiss Franc sits in my wallet just waiting for the draw to tell me the good news and let me buy that glass-fibre sailboat and sail the islands in the tropics - bikini-clad lovelies helping with the ropes between sunbathing spells on deck...

Excuse me Boss, which way to the exit. I got a life waiting for me...

Election time

2007-04-14T14:37:00.000Z

The French elections are all the news on every channel, newspaper and radio station and even here in Switzerland where the French speaking cantons in this region feel more in touch with Paris than the German-speaking Suisse-Allemandes in the east.

I think everyone can feel this is a very decisive election. The choice to be really blunt is down to:

Miss 'Vote for me because I'm a woman' (yeah...and?) tax and spend socialist who's going to spend her way into a full job market (?) and promises everyone an almost guaranteed job for life. (Ségolène Royal). Watch over-taxed and over-regulated businesses and individuals leave the country in droves.

Mr 'Vote for me because I'm actually going to do something to shake this country up. It may be painful but it's the only way forward' (Nicolas Sarkozy). Everyone knows he's right but heck change is scary and the socialists are running a scare campaign trying to convince everyone that instead of instituting some overdue medium-level reforms to the social system and labor market (like scrapping the ridiculous 35 hour week), he's going to turn France into an exaggerated US model of ruthless Darwinian capitalism.

Mr 'Vote for me because I am a farmer, I know how to pat a cow and I'm a safe middle-of-the-road option plus am neither of the above two people. (Francois Bayrou). Watch the status quo go on for yet another decade as soon as he's won and he turns into 'do nothing, say nothing, be nothing' President.

The country as a whole really needs the middle option (Sarkozy) but no one wants to (personally) make any sacrifices. It is a vicious circle. The more severe the consequences should you lose or not have a job the more protected people want their jobs to be, so the more rigid the labour market becomes and hence the more dire things are should you lose that job and round and round it goes.

The next two weeks will be very important.

Long time, no write...

2007-04-14T13:58:00.000Z

Hello all.

Well it has been a while since I have last posted. I guess that tells you a little about how life has been the last few weeks.

My work day starts between 7:30 and 8:00am and doesn't stop until 6pm or even later so ten hour days à la Iraq - albeit without the heat, dust and the unfriendlies!

Added to the hectic work pace, I have my 9th (of 12) MBA unit to do so I stop my day job in the early evening and then head home and start the night shift for another hour or two, well except for last night when I was so dog-tired I just sat back and enjoyed the top value show CSI-Miami and a glass of Chianti I'd brought back. (CSI Las Vegas and Miami are hugely popular both in France and Switzerland as well as Australia by the way. I guess folks appreciate intelligent TV for a change instead of the endless reality shows that seem to be all the rage these days and cheap for studios to make - no 'stars' to pay - just nobodies who don't even get actors equity rate as it is a 'contest').

The Easter Break was very welcome and I had a very pleasant four days away in northern Italy which is a three to four hour drive south east from here. Lakes, mountains, beautiful Italian villages with cobblestone streets and the local town hall and Piazza. Nothing to do except soak up the sunshine, not think about work and enjoy some of that 'La Dolce Vita'! If I had a spare half a mill' I woulda bought a villa here in a shot it is so nice. A lovely place to retire to and only 35kms from a major city (Milan).

Spring is here after the bareness and grey of winter, and life is positively bursting forth everywhere. Birds are singing, the trees are sprouting new leaves and flowers are blooming in a riot of renewal as the French local councils plant Daisies, Tulips and Pansies on median strips, traffic circles - everywhere. Just being outside makes you feel like walking, creating, painting. I enjoyed winter and going to the mountains for skiiing, but it is also nice to have that wonderful warmth seep all the way back into your bones.

It is a perfect day in France here today. 26 degrees Celcius and people just out having lunch, a cup of coffee at the local cafe' and there is the odd market gardener in his gardening clobber tilling the soil ready for planting now the frosts have gone.

Swiss and French drivers

2007-02-08T08:11:00.000Z

Working over here and commuting backwards and forwards across the border every day, gives me the unique opportunity to see drivers from both countries strut their stuff. It’s always interesting to be an outsider looking at other countries as you see things the locals may not. ‘Wood for the trees sort of thing…’

There are mainly three types of drivers around here. Those from Geneva canton whose plates start with GE, those from Canton Vaud, whose license plates unfortunately are preceded by the initials VD (which is obviously not quite as mirthful to Francophones as it is to us Anglophones!), and French drivers from my ‘Departement’ whose plates end in 74 denoting the ‘Haute Savoie’ region.

Geneva drivers are fairly representative of Swiss drivers and the national psyche in general in that they tend to be very (sometimes overly) efficient. Be a second too slow off the lights when they turn green and they are soon leaning on the horn. ‘The light is green, you should be going!’. Commit a minor offence such as drift into what they now consider to be their lane on one of those ‘3-into-2’ merge roads, and they will sound their horn at the transgressing driver with the same outraged indignation as if you had just suggested copping a quick feel of their sainted mother (the fact that the car concerned may sport a yellow (French) license plate seems to be an added incentive to double the length and intensity of any klaxoning to show their wounded feelings). No doubt the French comfort themselves with the idea that their nuclear ‘’Force de frappe’ could be much more usefully engaged targeting that pesky Genevois bureaucrat in the green Audi!

People from Canton Vaud are of an altogether different genre. This Canton is the one that runs along the north shore of Lake Geneva (the south shore being the French side is called the Cote D’or or ‘Golden coast’) and is where the Swiss well to do live. These folks are all the investment bankers and wealthy industrialists of the region and boy do some of them have the attitude to go with it. Check the plate of the Porsche roaring ahead of you at the lights only to come cutting back in front a micro second later and it’s probably from Canton Vaud. The BMW blasting down the fast lane of the auto-route and flashing at you when you don’t get back in the medium/slow lane fast enough…Canton Vaud. It’s as if they all have this genetic ‘I’m rich/important/Swiss - get out of my way' attitude. I occasionally have visions of gilded 18th century carriages carrying the upper classes galloping through the cobbled streets and scattering the proletariat before them. Feel free to throw in the term ‘Peasant’ at the end of the ‘make way’ statement now and again. ‘Beggin’ your majesties pardon Milord…!’

French divers male and female , by contrast, come into this world with the inborn knowledge that they are the true legitimate heirs to the great Juan Manuel Fangio. They attack tights bends with the same ‘brio’ as the master himself, leaning into the turns of the local auto-route off ramp with the gusto Fangio would as he twisted around Le Mans. People using the pedestrian crossings are sometimes seen with the same bewildered amusement one would have if seeing spectators walking across Daytona mid race.’ Dammit granny, I had to stop for you – do you know that you obliged me to drop a gear?!’ Moped and scooter riders of both countries seem to be on apprenticeships to Honda racing and wring impressive performances from their tiny 50cc engines!

Generally though, they are predictable and don’t do anything too stoo-pid, not like Arab drivers in Iraq or the United Arab Emirates whose road manners, skills and attitude are of another dimension.

Dubai taxi drivers?! That’s another story for another day…

2007-02-03T09:29:00.000Z

I left work yesterday at 5pm. I had done everything and was heading out. I drove contentedly past Lake Geneva and the elegant buildings as the sun was setting casting golden rays across the water, and the Jura mountains glowed warmly in the afternoon light.

What a beautiful place I thought to myself. I am so lucky to be here (I also worked damn hard for it too!). Yet an hour earlier I had read an article that popped out at me on the BBC news website and it cast a tinge across the drive.

A chopper had gone down near Camp Taji and it was not looking good for the occupants. I looked for names hoping I would not see any fellow contractors I knew. From what I could make out, it was mostly military personnel on Ops.

You spend a year with these people - contractors and/or service personnel, eat with them, crack jokes or grizzle about the heat/the dust/the mud. They look after you on chopper flights at night across 'Indian territory'. You don't just walk away and forget it all never happened.

There's a lot of emotions I have about this and I won't go into them here - it is private. Suffice to say my thoughts that evening were with others, not just myself.

L'Or blanc est arrive' ! (The white gold has arrived!)

2007-02-02T14:15:00.000Z

I went to La Clusaz last Saturday as it was the first weekend after our recent major snowfall - and boy was it popular! Everyone was off to the mountains to go (mostly) Alpine skiing to get some of that white powder.

I went around the easier (Green) circuits a couple of times to warm up and then I thought I was ready for the harder stuff - the red circuits! They are a lot longer and the track went over the crest of a ridge before going down the other side to the valley below. It was fantastic! A long winding descent that was fast enough to have me going 'whooooooaaaaaaa…' most of the way down, yet still be in control and able to enjoy it.

It was awesome, but the only drawback with cross-country skiing – unlike ordinary skiing – is that you are expected to make your own way back up as there are no chair lifts!! D'oh! So I skied back up in a herringbone fashion zigzagging my way steadily higher and higher.

The scenery was just fantastic and every now and then I would stop to admire it (and truth be told to take a breather from climbing that big-ass mountain! Phew!). The circuit was a long route of about 9.6kms so when I got back to the start I was pretty durn tired!! I gave my skis and batons back to the hire place and the guy asked 'Had I finished?'. I gave him a weary but very happy smile and replied 'Oh yeah!' Now I'm gonna get me a Vin Chaud (warm herb wine) from the Brasserie - soak up the scenery and toast my accomplishment.

I've been taking small black 20 litre day pack for the last few weeks to put in my snacks when I stop for lunch in the forest, a spare fleece, water bottle and maps etc. Last year no one used to ski with these but these last few weeks I've noticed more and more folks wearing them. Most were using these trendy spandex leggings and tight tops with the usual sponsor logos. Now there are more folks going Classic Nordic style without the fancy 'Gucci gear'. I was introduced to the sport by Norwegians who thought the 'condom suits' as they call them and the fancy gear were hysterical. Show up in the remote mountains wearing that stuff and the locals would nod and smile. They are fine for racing but for a day in the back blocks?... Perhaps we've started a trend back to the origins of the sport!

I'm going back again this weekend for another go and am booking myself on the Nordic Skating -style cross-country skiing for March. It's going to be awesome. Roll on the next snow fall!

Greenacres

2007-01-18T08:03:00.000Z

Greenacres is the place to be… Farm living is the life for me…

Geneva can sometimes be a strange city. It is well known of course for the obvious things like banking, luxury watches and obviously rich people, but it can also have a sometimes charmingly rustic side too.

In the mornings, when everyone is getting their coffee, one often sees Armani clad bankers on their way to impressive offices driving Mercedes or BMW’s. But it is also not unusual to see farmer Pierre atop his tractor phutt-phutt-phutting next to him through the main streets of Genève on the way from ploughing his own fields to perhaps pop over to the other side of town to plough a field for a mate.

You see, they have what is called here ‘la ceinture verte’ or in English ‘The Green belt’. It is a very jealously guarded ring of small farms, vineyards and orchards that surround the city and keep a relatively high amount of well, greenery, within the city limits keeping the place very liveable.

Apart from the obvious aesthetic benefits, the other more aromatic side-effect is that during spring time and occasionally in the winter, one’s nasal passages are often heartily embraced by the colourful odour of the cow sheds being mucked out and the fields being fertilised with Mother Nature’s own ‘Gro-Fast’. Opening the office window would put hairs on your chest!

Apart from the obvious visual benefits, I also think a little bit of agricultural reality helps stop the city from becoming too …‘pompous’ from all those bankers. You soon get used to it and I think it is very charming. Each time I see it I can’t help but think of Eva Gabor and Eddie Albert. It’s a hoot.

‘Land spreading out, so far and wide.. Keep Manhattan, just give me that countryside..'

Aaaa-tchoo!

Life in the Chocolate factory - Trouble in Paradise

2007-01-12T15:00:00.000Z

Switzerland has an image of tranquillity, cleanliness, efficiency, etc., etc. But once you work here and see the day to day news you see that there are one or two 'issues' bubbling away.

I was watching a documentary last night on TSR (TV Swiss Romande) and it was talking about the battle between the cantons (like states) and Communes (like counties). It seems that they do not have a standard federal tax rate here and that each canton and commune is free to fix their own rates as they see fit.

O.K. So what's wrong with that you might say - perfectly reasonable idea. However, the devil, like most things, is in the detail.

It seems that there are certain cantons and communes that are considered 'prettier' than others (although the whole place is generally very attractive), and they set themselves up as a 'tax oasis' with degressive, not progressive taxation. I.E. The more money you have the less you pay!?

Needless to say the rich flock to these places like bees to honey, but it creates a lot of animosity as some of the 'oases' are micro-cities with few facilities that are next to normal large cities that have standard tax levels. In one case cited last night, thousands of people drive over the hills each day from their luxury retreats in nearby tiny Canton 'X' to larger Canton 'Y' to work but also to benefit from all the infrastructure, subsidised hospitals, subsidised arts, multiple govt. departments etc paid for by the less well heeled and it causes a lot of animosity as the rich are seen as getting a free ride on the working mans back. It doesn't help that one Canton is Swiss-German and the other is Swiss-Romande (French) and so you get a little bit of the 'Zurich (the eastern regional capital) is screwing us (Geneva - the western capital) over again' feeling.

If there is one thing that the Swiss take seriously it is money. As one resident put it last night, 'It's like someone coming into your house every week, eating all your food, drinking all your booze, monopolising all the women, maing a mess of the place and then leaving without paying or bringing anything.

The one side (the rich), say it is a healthy competition between Cantons and they are just making the most of the law as it is. The other side (the working Joes), say you should contribute your fair share to what you are obviously using.

The capital in Bern is still to rule on the whole 'flexible taxation' thing.

In the meantime, there are a lot of unhappy campers!

Fete d'Escalade!

2007-01-05T10:53:00.000Z

This is a description of one of the annual celebrations that happened here recently. The youngest and oldest staff member smashed our chocolate marmite. Chocolates and mulled wine was had by all!

On December 11 and December 12, 1602, the forces of the Duke of Savoy, launched an attack on the city-state of Geneva. The troops marched along the Arve River just outside the walls of Geneva, at 2 o'clock in the morning.

The original plan was to send commandos to open the gate and let the troops in. The Geneva citizens defeated them by preventing them from scaling the wall (climb in French is escalade). The night guard Jacques Mercier raised the alarm, church bells were rung, and the Genevois people were alerted and fought alongside their town militia. The 2000-plus mercenaries were beaten.

According to legend, Catherine Cheynel, originally from Lyons and the wife of Pierre Royaume, ("Mère Royaume"), a mother of 14 children, seized a large cauldron of hot soup and poured it on the attackers from where she lived just above the town gate. The heavy cauldron landed on the head of a Savoyard attacker, killing him. The commotion helped to rouse the townsfolk to defend the city. After the defeat, Duke of Savoy was obliged to accept a lasting peace.

Celebrations and other commemorative activities are usually held on December 11 or the closest weekend. A large marmite (cauldron) made of chocolate filled with marzipan vegetables and candies wrapped in the Geneva colors of red and gold. It's customary for the eldest and youngest in the room to smash the marmite, while reciting, "Ainsi périssent les ennemis de la République! " (Thus perish the enemies of the Republic).

Other traditions include mulled wine, a large serving of soup, and children dressing up and singing for money.

Since 1978 there has been another element to the celebration of the Escalade, with a road running event being held the weekend preceding the night of the 11th. The run traditionally starts in the parc des Bastions and goes through the Old City of Geneva, before finishing near the start again.

Great White Xmas!

2006-12-26T15:35:00.000Z

Flying down from ‘Singers’ (Singapore) on the Qantas flight and I was telling my fellow passenger about how much I was looking forward to getting some dives in over my holidays.

Then, almost on cue, when I started watching the Qantas Oz news and catching up on what was going on in the great south land, there was an article talking about a bloody great White Pointer cruising off the W.A. coast! Attracted no doubt by both the swarms of baitfish that had been blown onto the coast and also by the smell of a recently defunct whale that was now getting decidedly whiffy decaying in the shallows, it was in no hurry to move on... Oh great! Just my luck!!

Not to worry though – it’s at least a couple of kays (kilometres) up the coastfrom where I will be diving and I’ve always got my back-up diving knife I told various folks.

"Dive knife?" "What good d’ya think that’ll do against a couple of tonnes of hungry shark" they would ask.

"Absolutely none" I replied. Our dive teacher told us they were a lot more use putting a few holes in a dive partner you didn’t like all that much before you started to swim like buggery!

Very practical people Aussies...

Breakfast with sister Sue and family

2006-12-17T14:38:00.000Z

In my very hectic schedule I had a great Sunday morning breakfast on the South Perth foreshore with my sister Sue and her family (husband Murray, and my nephews Andrew and Simon (third nephew recently married Richard was on holiday in Queensland). I was a touch sunburnt from the prior days fishing but hopefully the pic doesn't show my red Indian face!

It was a lovely sunny morning and with a wonderful breakfast you couldn't leap over. It was so good to see them all and catch up. Thanks for taking the time out guys.

Holidays in Oz (part one)

2006-12-17T14:22:00.000Z

Well I finally made it back home after a two and a half year interlude with a few setbacks on the way.

The trip from Geneva to Paris was delayed due to fog at Paris airport so we got there two to three hours later than expected (and unfortunately an hour too late to catch my Singapore connection). Myself and thirty other people heading off to destinations all around the world were not impressed – especially since there didn‘t seem to be any trace of fog when we got in… Hmm…

Air France responded with a Gallic shrug and a ‘what do you want us to do about it’ point of view. Guess the whole ‘customer service’ thing still hasn’t sunk into a state run airline. So I had a day to amuse myself in Paris before catching the same flight at 11:00 pm the following night ( they wouldn't book us on another airline).

Got into Singapore AOK and caught the Oz flight with minutes to spare – I literally walked off one plane and straight onto the next, and had a great flight down chatting to a fellow Aussie about cricket and trips and all sorts. It was so good to hear a familiar accent and rediscover that easy laid back friendliness that is most Australians.

M & D were at Perth airport was and I was pleasantly surprised to see my sister, her husband and one of their sons meeting me at 2:00am in their wedding clothes. They’d bought as they said ‘what was left of the wedding to me since I couldn’t be there’. Very nice. I was really touched.

I had a great two weeks. Apart from the business stuff like go to the Doctors and Dentists etc (and get a clean bill of health from the Dentist – much to every ones else’s chagrin!), I had a good holiday catching up with friends, fishing, having dinner(s) with various members of my family.

We all went to see the new James Bond film ‘Casino Royale’ – something of a Lowe family tradition dating back to when my twin brother and I were wee little tackers - only now we’re taking my nieces and nephews to see the films!

All too soon it was over and time to start wending my way back to the chilly north. True to form, my flight to Singapore was delayed due to late aircraft arrival from Europe, plus the need for a tyre change. Seems flights these days are so tightly scheduled for economic reasons that any setback has a huge domino effect. Anyhow, we got in to Singapore at midnight and by the time we got new tickets reprinted for connections it was between 2:00 and 3:00am. Big difference though was the service and hospitality. Air France had left us to figure everything out ourselves and WE had to constantly ask them for updates and in turn get bullshitted with various differing stories. One girl in Geneva was studiously ignoring a hundred passengers while she chatted to her boyfriend about what he had for dinner! Some of us were ready to leap the counter and strangle her! By contrast, Singapore/Qantas airlines provided us with constant updates, we were treated so well and so politely and got a four star hotel and world class breakfast instead of the two star motel and bread and water b/fast Air France reluctantly coughed up. At Changi airport, we were literally led by a staff member every step of the way from the airport almost to our rooms. It was awesome.

The Oriental hotel in Singapore treated us like Kings/Queens. It has been so long since I’ve had service like that I had almost forgotten what it was like. So ten points and more to the Singaporeans (Airline/Hotel, Taxi et al) and boos for Europe and Air France. To paraphrase Oscar Wilde ‘Considering how badly she treats her tourists, she doesn’t deserve to have any’.

Gone fishin’!!

2006-11-30T11:57:00.000Z

Hi Everyone.

Well the date has finally arrived and I head of to Oz for just under a couple of weeks holiday in the Great Southern Land.

I fly Air France Geneva- Paris-Singapore-Perth. I feel a little like Indiana Jones flying on one of those China Clippers and carving a red line across the globe!

It’s summer down south so looking forward to getting some beach and/or boat fishing in, plus a dive or two from on e of the charter boats that does dives on the Marmion Reef marine park.

It’s been two and a half years since I’ve been back so my once little niece and nephew will be looking me in the eyes!

I’ve been spoiled by short haul European flights so the long haul south will be a bit of a change – I’ll be buying a lot to read on the plane!!!

Well, I’ll be posting as and when during the vacation. See you all on the flip side!

Warmest wishes,

Marc

Montreux

2006-11-27T13:07:00.000Z

Hello again.

Well making the most of the unseasonably warm-ish weather on Sunday, I headed to Montreux about 65kms away at the other end of Lake Geneva to see the Xmas market. It is a beautiful town/city with the lake right in front and with the Alps climbing into the clouds right in front of you on the other side of the water. Tucked around the corner is Château Chillon which is really interesting and so beautiful and has a couple of resident white Swans who glide serenely around looking very elegant and doing very nicely courtesy of the tourists.

The town itself has a Casino – very bijou by Vegas standards - but with all the usual bells and whistles one normally sees. There were lots of the usual folk in the slot machine rooms (Man! How much cash must this place take in every hour – the folks were pouring cash into those suckers).

The room with all the baccarat and roulette tables for the high rollers is closed off to keep the unmoneyed masses (like me!) out ha, ha! That room is for those with serious cash. I’ve heard corroborated stories in the press about Australia’s richest man and multi-billionaire Kerry Packer (a physical giant of a man who recently passed away at a fair old age from Kidney related problems) who would drop millions in Las Vegas in a night without blinking. To give you some idea of how much cash this guy can afford to play without worrying, there is one tale that recounts how he was gambling and a local U.S. millionaire (no offence to some of my favourite foreigners) who, instead of just moseying up to the tables and playing a few hands with the boys, was doing a lot of huffing and puffing about just how much money he had. Kerry eventually got fed up with this fellow and finally asked him how much he was worth. When he proudly told him the amount, Kerry then just said ‘Tell you what, how about one game of double or nothing?’ Just goes to show how much some people’s wealth goes into an altogether other dimension...

Anyway, I digress. There were lots of wooden log cabins set up along the promenade as stalls and selling Xmas and Swiss knick-knacks. A few CD’s playing in the background playing yodelling music which the local youth thinks is sooooo uncool – they’re all into hip-hop etc these days.

From the lakefront you can see around the corner and on most days can see the mighty Matterhorn and surrounding peaks. It is just such a beautiful place and really makes you feel relaxed and content like there is not a care in the world…Walking along the lakefront or just sitting on the flagstones and soaking in the scenery is the best balm to the soul I could prescribe anyone.

Here is a picture or two – but is just doesn’t do it justice…

Snow on the Jura mountains

2006-11-27T09:58:00.000Z

Hi All. Apols for not posting for a little while.

The weather is getting colder here and we’ve had the first snows of the season! Going to work one morning and I could see on the top of the Jura mountains the first real fall – it was so beautiful. I spent the whole journey just staring out the window taking it all in (it’s OK, I was on the bus!). The snow lasted most of the day, but as daytime temperatures were still getting to 10-12C from the overnight minimum of 1-2C, it still isn’t quite cold enough to stick just yet.

The second snow fall came about a week later and was a lot heavier. At lower altitudes it was very heavy rain – I should know, I was trying to drive back to town through it and it was so heavy I almost needed a person walking out the front with a flag to lead the way! It was one of those nights when you lean forward, hanging onto the steering wheel trying to peer through the gloom. But anyway, at about 1,500-2,000m up it was a thick blanket of snow which lasted for a few more days this time. The next time we get snow, it will begin to stay on the ground now.

Apart from an unseasonable blip we are having at the moment of cool-ish temperatures, it is slower getting colder and closer to real winter, and after the first snows, all the sport shops were madly stocking skis, boots, doing re-waxes and adjustments on clients equipment ready for this season.

I joined in and got a couple of clothing items to add to my ski gear and can’t wait for the season proper to commence. Some stations open in about 2-3 weeks I believe.

Here are some pics to give you an idea..

Trip to Paris

2006-11-12T10:06:00.000Z

One of my long term friends was in Europe on a business trip a few weeks ago.

I haven’t seen Terry or his wife Julie for a couple of years so it was a great opportunity to catch up since he was relatively close. I caught the high speed train up to Paris CDG airport but we were delayed slightly (highly unusual for the efficient French train service) so I missed Terry at the airport. No problem – I just caught a taxi into the city through the still pumping traffic on the ring road and met him at the hotel.

It was great to see Terry. Even under the weather as he was from a dodgy schnitzel he’d had the night before in Bavaria he was great company and you feel comfortable as you do with old friends.

We stayed at the hotel he and his boss were at and explored Paris over the next day and half. I’d been to the city several times so knew how to get around quickly to maximise our time there. We went to The Champs Elysee, went inside and on top of the Arc de Triomphe, walked over to the Eiffel Tower, then saw Napoleons’ tomb.

We had a hoot one evening going up to see the Moulin Rouge cabaret in Montmartre (which also coincidentally abuts the red light district). Terry and Graham and I were invited umpteen times to sample some earthly delights raining from dances to ‘art films’ to more ahem, 'advanced' relaxation techniques…We all politely declined – persuasive as they were. I had to give one hawker ‘A’ for effort in her sales pitch though. “C’mon in, one drink and if you don’t like the girls you can leave after ten minutes…”. No doubt many punters once surrounded by a bevy of delightful females in alluring costumes and with a brew in hand tend to stay….! “Awww, heck five minutes more…” Cute.

Anyhoo, we also saw the Notre Dame cathedral and the Louvre as well as The National Assembly and other stuff. The photo Graham – Terry’s boss, fishing for my camera case which fell out of my hand. We made a fine sight – three weird Aussies - one climbing the grill (me) trying to get a view of my case trapped on the ledge below, Terry taking photos laughing and Graham who’d managed to stick his head through (my nut being too big), doing a Rex Hunt and fly-fishing for me.

Gotta go fishing with this guy, if he's half as good with a rod and reel as he is with a camera strap and bent paper clip, we're in for a good day!

All too soon it was back to normal life and the workaday week and we took the train down to Dijon where they got off and I continued onto Lausanne before backtracking to Geneva and getting home around midnight. Terry and Graham are back in Oz now, Terry in Perth and Graham in Melbourne, but I've got a long overdue trip home coming up in three weeks so shall see Terry and Julie and the gang again at a BBQ.

Catch you soon guys.

Put a bottle of wine in the fridge to chill...

Rememberance Day

2006-11-11T19:12:00.000Z

Today it's November the 11th and rememberance day. A cold, windy late autumn day but all the old soldiers were out to honour those who fell in WW1.

It was interesting to see - given how used to the Anzac day dawn and midday services I am used to seeing and ocassionally going to for all the Diggers * (Australian Infantry) who fell in WW1, WW2, Korea & Vietnam.

The mairie (town hall) was bedecked in flowers and had the flags of France, and fellow allies Britain, and the U.S. flying, as well as the modern German flag which I thought was a nice conciliatory gesture.

The vets were there in Blue balzers and Navy berets, and a few of today's serving soldiers in Green fatigues.

I had a quick chat with one policeman who at first was a little brusque with me thinking I was just some gawking tourist intruding on a sombre ceremony, but when I said I was interested in their rememberance commemoration, he warmed immediately and gave me heaps of information.

It is a public holiday today so it was very quiet apart from the speaches from the Mayor and the dignitaries.

It is interesting to see the differences between the two cultures, approaches and ceremonies. I enjoyed being able to see it. It is certainly still a very important event in the national calendar here and it was good to see people of all ages turn out to pay homage.

* Diggers - a term that originated in WW1. The first thing the (Australian & New Zealand - ANZAC) infantry soldier did on arriving at the front was to dig a foxhole or add to the extensive trench network so he didn't get his head shot off five minutes after getting there. Given the advent of the maxim machine gun and the close proximity of trench warfare, soldiers did a lot of digging. The term has stuck ever since.

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

2006-10-21T09:47:00.000Z

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!

Dorothy and Toto make a stand

2006-10-21T09:24:00.000Z

India has its sacred cows, South America reveres the mighty Condor, and Europeans, or rather European ladies just adore their little dogs.

One of the curious things about Europe is their love for pets and in particular the ‘cute’ little dogs Toy Poodles, Silky Terriers, Chihuahua’s and other pocket breeds. Some of these things furry pipsqueaks could fit into the palm of your hand, let alone a ladies handbag where I’ve seen some of them being propped up in whist being shuttled around by their doting owners.

What started the recent kerfuffle was an incident a few weeks ago where a little girl unfortunately got bitten by a Rottweiler and had to have a lot of stitches to her face. The Swiss being Swiss, a very strict law was immediately passed to deal with this problem – everyone agreed with that - only trouble was that the legislation was more like a sawn-off shotgun in its approach in that it introduced a blanket ban on any dogs being in public without a muzzle, and it was not enough ‘laser beam’ targeting known aggressive breeds such as Pit-Bulls, Dobermans, Rottweilers etc.,

This caused no end of practical problems as firstly stocks ran out of all standard muzzles and secondly since there were no muzzles even being made to adapt to little ‘wind up toy’ sized pets like these – some of these tiny dogs would nearly fit inside the entire muzzle!

But not everyone was happy to buy a muzzle and there was revolution in the air! Middle-aged ladies were threatening to defy the ban, others said they would complain directly to Bern (the Capital), whilst others in a more defiant mood, declared their revolutionary zeal by saying they would ‘move to France’ before they would ever make ‘Fluffy’ wear one of those awful contraptions.

It was quite interesting to watch – taxes and the price of petrol could go up and people would grizzle, traffic fines would be heavier during the holiday season and it would get a resigned shrug, but inflict this indignity on Madame’s little ‘Toutou’ and well, that was beyond the pale!

All countries and their peoples have their ‘red line’ issues – politicians touch them at their peril. It was very interesting this month to find one of Switzerland’s.

There’s already talk of ‘fine-tuning’ the regulation…

Bordeaux and back

2006-10-16T17:14:00.000Z

I had to go to Bordeaux on a business trip last week. I was there to assist with an audit for a prior joint venture the company had – there were some costs in dispute with Exxon and, with oil companies, the money involved soon adds up pretty quickly.

The company booked an Air France fight for me from Geneva airport out to Bordeaux on the Atlantic holiday coast. It was a nice regional jetliner and the lady ‘of a certain age’ at check-in must have thought I was cute as she gave me a big smile and gave me the best seat right up front – almost like flying first class in an executive jet! Although it was more comfortable than flying Mil-Air choppers over Baghdad at rooftop height at 1:00am in blackout conditions, it certainly wasn't nearly as interesting!

The flight was simple enough and didn’t take overly long, but the long drive through dark coastal pine forests to the hotel on a dark moonless night had me scanning for Deer left and right (shades of ‘roo-spotting on country roads in Oz at dusk).

The building was huge but they had closed most of the operations in this regional city and relocated the majority of the staff. It was like a ghost–town – there were only a handful of people left and there were only two cleaning ladies otherwise shuttling steadily backward and forward emptying the contents of the dozens of now empty offices into either storage boxes or the dumpster outside.

The finance contacts we met were very business-like and sharp as a tack, but heck, good business doesn’t stop a Frenchman having a nice lunch and we spent a few pleasant days at the local brasserie eating way too much good food and wine at wonderful prices before getting back to the grindstone.

At one point soon after we entered on the first day, this barrel-shaped Frenchman with a walrus moustache and huge hands came out and starting shaking my hand (and the rest of me up and down) and wishing me ‘bonjour’, ‘bienvenue’, and ‘bon apetit’. I must have had this stunned mullet look on my face that said ‘who the heck is this strange man shaking me up and down?’ One of our hosts said ‘Ah, zat is ze chef – he likes to say hello to special guests!’ The bonhomie and cooking was certainly darn good because the place was packed every day. As they say - never trust a skinny cook!

Wednesday was a late afternoon flight back from Bordeaux that I almost didn’t make after trying to negotiate the monstrously large car park where I had to return the AVIS rental – but as it turns out the flight was delayed for 20 minutes anyway. The only other car park I have seen of such huge proportions was in Baltimore airport when I used to go and see my American ex-girlfriend. Man that thing was the size of Maine and had bus routes to get you back to the terminal!

Back to the office for Thursday and Friday and heap of emails (and much smaller lunches!). I may have to go back again this week and pass judgement on whether the claims have merit and should go to arbitration or not - quite a responsibility. Just hope I can handle the lunches!

2006-10-16T17:03:00.000Z

Come on snow...!

The weather is slowly changing here. It is dark in the mornings and the long twilight nights are now closing in a lot quicker. I used to wake up to bright sunlight, now it is dark when I head to work and just getting light when I get my first coffee of the dark at Starbucks before heading to the salt mines.

I got all excited a day or two ago - I thought I saw my first snow flake of the season but it's still a month or so too early. Darn!

Another few weeks and I'll be getting my big London great coat and scarf out - it sure was a life saver in the U.K. my armour plate against those icy blasts one gets in the city from Nov to Apr.

A few more weeks after that and hopefully I can head up to La Clusaz and get some snow flakes flying behind me. This was a pic from a trip over last season where I went x-country at La Clusaz. It has some great runs for alpine skiing to the right as well as some awesome off-piste skiing too.

Tick one more day off the calendar....

2006-10-02T15:32:00.000Z

I went to the Olympic Museum in Lausanne last weekend which is about 80 kilometres (50 miles) east along the auto route.

It is an amazing museum with lots of sporting equipment signed by famous Olympic athletes going all the way back to the founder of the modern Olympics himself – Baron Pierre de Coubertin.

They had lots of audio-visual displays and you can choose any number of opening and losing ceremonies going back to the 1920’s by tapping on the touch screens. I was there with my friend and we first selected the 1936 Berlin opening. It was weird – it was like going back in the ‘Time Tunnel’ seeing the Fuhrer and all the cronies strutting around in full uniform. Stranger still was seeing all the athletes from all the countries dipping the flags and returning the ‘Heil’ salute…

There were a couple of older generation Europeans standing behind our open booth watching and when they saw Adolf you could tell it was a very personal moment - I could hear them suck in their breathe when they saw him and almost ‘feel’ their unease seeing him again.

We moved on to the next video which was ski-jumping from the 1952 Oslo winter Olympics and saw people in wool jumpers, leather boots and bindings, all mounted on big wooden skis, jumping hills. Today of course it is all space age clothing and ultra-light equipment - how times have changed. Still, just looking at them, you can see these folks were a different generation –possibly a better generation? Men like these trekked to the north or south poles with nothing but Sealskins and mitts, no GPS’s, laptops or satellite phones – just a sextant, their navigational skills and their brains. Men like these dragged wooden sleds up and down snow drifts for days and weeks and all with typical Victorian stoicism and dry humour. If ever you want a tale of courage, leadership and courage in the face of adversity, read or even better get the DVD, of (Ernest) Shackleton’s Polar team and their struggles. The BBC did a docu-drama with Kenneth Brannagh as Shackleton and it was awesome.

Anyhow, I digress. Here are some pics of the museum and the gorgeous gardens and stunning view of the lake. Not that we got to see much of it of course – it was bucketing down that day so all we saw was sheets of rain!

There were also the Olympic torches from many of the games and memorabilia and news reports going back to Munich and the kidnappings, the boycotted Moscow and L.A games etc. Remember all that?...

What was also cool was all the stars of each Olympics - Nadia Comaneci in the gymnastics getting a perfect 10. Mark Spitz on the U.S. team getting a record seven gold medals. That man was one amazing swimming machine (but oh that 1970’s hairstyle)!

As a side note I used to work for Conoco-Phillips in Perth and we had a visit from the Oklahoma office guys one month – one of who used to be in the U.S. national swimming squad. He joined me and my office buddy in our ‘lunchtime legends’ pool session one day and proceeded to blow us out of the water – going back and forth like a White pointer on cruise control without even raising a proverbial sweat. He told us later he used to have ‘drag races’ in the pool with the great man himself – Spitzie. Now he tells us!!

Anyway, a top day.

2006-10-02T10:33:00.000Z

Ssshhhh!!! Be vee-wy qwiet! We’re huntin’ Wabbits!

Yep, it’s that time of the year. Hunting season was declared open a week or so ago and thousands of red-blooded French and Swiss men and no doubt Italians etc, are taking to the hills to enjoy a bit of game sport.

I was driving back from the local beauty spot last weekend with a friend of mine (Krissy – my flatmate from London days) when we saw some of the guys strolling out of the forestry track with shotguns folded over their forearms looking well pleased.

It’s an annual tradition in the hill country here in Europe and one of the additional benefits is that the first couple of weeks of the season usually make for good reading in the local papers of the various mishaps.

Hundreds of sportsmen, trigger-fingers itching after months of waiting, are as keen as mustard to get into ‘them thar hills’ and bag ‘emselves some Rabbits, Wild Boar or Dear etc, but it doesn’t always go according to plan….The trouble is, they’re just a bit too keen to bag something ‘before the other buggers get ‘em all. Add to that the other annual tradition (taking along a hip-flask with a snifter or two of Brandy), and we’re in for some hi-Octane fun!

Let me paint you a picture…

Ol’ Georges or Pierre or Giuseppe and their dogs are out there alert to the slightest movement.

Something rustles in the undergrowth…"Zut! There’s something moving over there! "

Blam, blam!

Sounds of indignant yelps. "Oops, that was Pierre’s dog".

"Wait, there’s something else in the brush to the left!"

Blam, blam!

More indignant yelping. "Oops, that was Pierre!"

Time to get that Brandy out!

The local hospitals (and vets waiting rooms) are usually sprinkled with hunters and their dogs, all having buckshot tweezered out of their behinds… One can almost imagine the unimpressed nurses who ‘just don’t get’ hunting, losing patience after the umpteenth patient and almost throwing the ol’ tetanus shot – dartboard style - into bare behinds. "Oh sorry, did that hurt?"

So, if ever you’re in this neck of the world around September/October, wear a big orange safety vest if you go into the woods. In fact better yet, give it a wide berth for the first couple of weeks!

Me? I'll just stick to one of the village restaurants and try some Wild Boar and roast vegetables. Much safer!

2006-09-15T14:58:00.000Z

A great way to start the weekend...

What a greatway to start the weekend. I just got my results online from Uni (University) and I passed my eighth (of 12) MBA exam and with a distinction to boot! It was a three hour exam I took in London. I had to fly across for one day on one of those cheap charter flights (Easyjet for European readers or ValueJet (?) for U.S. readers).

My Uni has reciprocal arrangements with other campuses in several countries around the world and I chose the U.K. as the closest and easiest (having worked there for several years I know the place and the how to get around like the back of my hand).

There were some tough questions - six short answer essays and three long answer essays and I did an absolute brain dump to get all that valuable info down on paper. As often happens you doubt what you wrote but I must be being way too hard on myself (but they say Virgo's are perfectionsists...)

On top of that great news, I've got all my work done and have even started to get ahead of the game. The filing is all done and my desk is as clean as a whistle. Hoo-ar!

So I'm off to relax and enjoy a well-earned break, but having said that I will temper that sentiment with a thought for some other folks... I read an online article appearing in TIME magazine today about troops stationed in Afghanistan and what the write so aptly termed 'what seems like the end of the world'. Having seen a little of their life in Iraq I can relate in my own small way to what the writer is conveying. These folks have to put up with being hot, dusty, stuck in basic accommodation, are often incredibly bored and on top of that have to go out and get shot at.

Whatever your personal opinion may or may not be about this situation, it shouldn't detract from the fact that a lot of these people are doing a sh*tty job at the very frontiers of civilisation with the thought that they are trying to make a difference for someone else andI take my hat off to that. I get to live and work in a beautiful and peaceful part of the world. I have it easy by comparison.

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1535064,00.html?cnn=yes

2006-09-14T15:20:00.000Z

Life in the chocolate Factory – bring a dictionary, in fact bring several!

Switzerland is a unique country in that it has not two languages but four. French, German, Italian and Romansch.

Swiss- German or Schweitzer Deutsch is the most widely spoken and largest grouping in Switzerland. It’s slightly different to normal High-German, and a lot more guttural. I listened to a half-dozen Swiss-Army reservists (like the National Guard) chatting on the train on the way to/from a training session and it was very ‘Achh, ach..ach’.. I thought they were getting ready to all hawk a lugey out the windows at times!

Politicians are usually fluent in several languages too – mostly French and German or German an Italian. Most even speak English as well which puts the rest of us in the shade! And they switch back and forth like turning on a light. Whoa!

The language barriers can be very clearly defined. I went to Fribourg in Central Switzerland a few months ago with a friend who was working on a start-up company and had asked me to create his budgets and finance plan etc. Fribourg is a lovely town that sits just on one side of the river ‘something or other’ and they speak French. Walk 15 metres across the bridge though and it’s nothing but Swiss-German. It’s that quick! All the road signs change, the menus, everything. It’s a trip!

The attitudes change too. The French and Italian sides are noticeably more laid back and liberal - 'life is for living' - whilst the German side is much more conservative and serious - 'we have rules for a reason' - it is like separate countries but they are all very proud of the 'Helvetic Confederation'. But the Swiss are all still very Swiss and it doesn’t pay to mess with a Swiss Policeman. But if you must, just do it in the French or Italian cantons – then you’ll only spend one night in jail – not the whole week!

Au Revoir, Guten Tag, Arrivaderci, Bye....

2006-09-14T14:32:00.000Z

The usual suspects

It’s getting towards election time here in France and as an outside observer and long-time watcher of the country; it has been interesting to see what has been going on. One thing really stands out though – it’s the same old faces being repainted and repackaged and wheeled out yet again to the electorate. It’s like musical chairs – the same people just in different positions!

Here’s a quick thumbnail sketch of the political landscape.

The big battle at the moment is between Nicholas Sorkozy on the right and Ségolène Royal on the left for the Socialist party.

Sarkozy – wants to reform France from the roots up and get rid of the 35 hour week, liberalise markets and the labour laws and get the economy moving. Recently quoted on a U.S. trip as saying ‘it should not be a sin if people want to work harder'. Under the prior Socialist government, their solution to unemployment was not to create new jobs or stimulate the economy -just share the existing jobs around. They reasoned that if everyone was limited to 35 hours a week, then employers would have to employ more part and full timers to fill in the shortfall. Talk about the tail wagging the dog not to mention downright inefficient. Work 35-40 hours and you get whacked with tax. Work 40 hours plus and it gets really painful.

Ségolène Royal is, despite being a member of the Socialist party, one of the elite. Well off and educated at the Sorbonne. Also a graduate of E.N.A. (Ecole Nationale d’ Administration) whose graduates are nick-named 'Enarques'. It’s sort of like a Harvard for future business and government leaders - super bright people but ENA is very, very elitist. She’s what we call in Oz a ‘Champagne Socialist – talks a big game about helping ‘all those poor people‘ whilst being ferried from her luxury country retreat to her spiffy inner-city apartment in a chauffeur driven limo. Doing it tough eh Ségey? Having to buy domestic brand caviar instead these days to save a quid or two? Poor devil!

She’s been running despite not getting the backing of the old guard (which has p*ssed them off mightily), but her platform is basically nothing but vague, warm, fuzzy statements like ‘I want everyone to have choices and live the lives that they want to’. Well no sh*t Sherlock! Who doesn’t want that? But how ya gonna do it? Who’s gonna pay for it? What are the details? Nada…One half of her other platform seems to be ’Vote for me – I’m an attractive successful woman’. The other half of the platform is ‘Vote for me because well, I’m not a man’…Cool…

Jacques Chirac – in a similar situation to say second term U.S. Presidents in the last months of their mandates - considered a lame duck just treading water until he finishes. Has been tainted by endless campaign financing scandals going all the way back to when he was Mayor of Paris. Journalists and investigators could never nail him until recently it got so he couldn’t deny it any longer and just said ‘I’m the President - under the law I am immune from prosecution’. Probably followed by a Bart Simpson-esque look that said ‘So eat my shorts!’

The French people are fed up to the back teeth of seeing the same old faces and hearing the same old spin and are desperate for some positive leadership and new ideas, and yet curiously are very concerned about globalisation, market economies, job insecurity etc., and want protecting from change at the same time. This double-edged sword presents a bit of a conundrum for any party!

France has always had loads of very bright, talented and ambitious people. History is full of their scientific discoveries, philosophers and mathematicians. Today, it still has some of the best scientists, artists, designers, manufacturers and business-people in the world.

They just need to get a government that will let go of the park brake that’s been put on the nation…

2006-09-06T13:23:00.000Z

Steve…

I guess like a lot of Australians I was just stunned to hear that Steve Irwin had died. It was all so sudden. I felt like I had lost a friend and all of a sudden I felt a long way from home.

He was over the top and with an accent you could cut with a knife, but you couldn’t help but like the guy and get caught up by his enthusiasm and interest for nature.

He joined us in our living rooms all across the country and we grew up with him -taking a fresh look at creatures and our island home that we had long since taken for granted. Like a lot of Aussie icons, he was a part of the national furniture. One of the family.

Our country has sometimes struggled with the cultural cringe - coming to turns with its identity after leaving the empire and then soon after overwhelmed by the tidal wave of emerging U.S. pop culture. But these people let us know it was OK to be just who we were – a nation of self-deprecating, friendly, laconic, occasionally a bit daggy, self-reliant people wanting to live quietly and peacefully in our little corner of the Pacific.

The list of his fellow icons includes many names known mainly to ourselves – like entertainer Ricky May, Shirl ‘the Curl’ of iconic 70’s band Skyhooks, Graham ‘Gra-Gra’ Kennedy, Ruth Cracknell of ‘Mother & son’ & continues back to Simpson and his Donkey at Gallipoli who died ferrying others to safety.

Our pantheon of heroes doesn’t worship Mammon’s disciples, nor those who win medals in flashy displays of glory, just ordinary men and women with a lot of courage who helped define a nation or who quietly helped others instead of themselves with a characteristic ‘she’ll be right’, and just ‘got on with the job’.

We lost Steve this week. I just hope we don’t ever lose what he and a lot of other great men and women stood for.

Advance Australia Fair…

2006-09-01T17:12:00.000Z

Le Culture shock...

Boom. Boom.Boom. It’s 8:00pm and I‘ve got a throbbing headache which won’t go away. I’ve had it all afternoon. I turn off the apartment lights and decide to turn in and let nature fix it instead of taking any tablets.

8:30pm. I’ve tried relaxation, lying on my left side, my right side, imagining tranquil ocean waves, heck I’ve even tried picturing blissful images of Flipper cavorting in the big blue. Nada. Now I just feel like some stupid hippie with a migraine.

9:00pm. Boom. Boom. Boom. Nope it’s still there…Darn. Oh well, get up and get some aspirin – you’ve done your best. Aghhhh!! No aspirin! Rummage everywhere and not a single capsule to be found. OMG! Man my head hurts…

Get up and get dressed and decide to walk into the town and find somewhere that sells Neurofen or Tylenol but this is where the fun begins! Here in France/Switzerland everything is closed after 7:00pm. And I mean everything.

Ah-hah! Brainwave! The local hospital is only a few hundred metres away – they are bound to have an all-night chemist next door to the casualty department. They do in Oz and the U.K. So off I trudge. Boom. Boom.Boom. Ay carumba my head hurts…

Get to casualty and their pharmacy is closed. A night-security person tells me that they can open it, but only if they wake the owner and he must be accompanied by a local Gendarme. Yup, I sure do look like some wild-eyed, gun-toting deranged druggie. All I want is aspirin.

So trudge over in tunnel-visioned ‘douleur’ to casualty. ‘Can I have two aspirin please?’ ‘Ah non’. You must see someone first… ‘Fine, whatever..’

So I wait and wait…and wait. I look around. How come I’m the only person in here but they all manage to somehow ignore me and try (?) to look busy.

Someone finally comes over. ‘Can I have two aspirin please? I’m new in town, have a splitting headache and all the shops are closed’. Ah non’. ‘C’est pas permis’! ‘What’s your name and address?’ Ten minutes filling forms and showing my passport… ‘Wait in here’.

A half hour passes in some waiting room trying to read children’s books (all there was) to kill time and take my mind off the heavy-metal drum-solo going on in my head. Boom. Boom. Boom. At last - someone enters. ‘Can I have two aspirin please?’ I’m new in town, have a headache etc, etc.’ (I have the speech memorised by now.) ‘Ah non. C’est pas permis’. ‘Can I take your blood pressure?’ They call it pouls, which is pronounced ’poo’ in French. Even though my head hurts like heck I resist lots of ‘poo’ jokes that she probably won’t get anyway.

Nurse Cruella de Ville eventually discovers the blindlingly obvious – I’m healthy, sober and just have a really bad headache. ’I just want two aspirin…’ ‘Wait here’, and off she trots to studiously ignore some other patients.

Another half hour. ‘Is this worth it?’ Boom, boom, boom. ‘Yup! I’ve got this far…hang in there’.
Finally a female doctor comes. ‘Can I have two aspirin please?’ I’m new in town etc, etc.’ ‘Ah non’ ‘Cest pas ….’ etc, etc’. Sigh….

I explain to her that in every other Anglo-phone country in the world I could have gotten aspirin at the local shop, all-night chemist, the supermarket or even the local gas-station and been home by now. ‘Ah non. In France only pharmacists can dispense ‘medicine’’. Man this is exasperating. It’s just aspirin for Krissake! Not medical grade morphine.

Near 11:00 pm and she finally stops prodding and probing and asking questions and then suggests I get an appointment for a cat-scan of my head! Yikes! ‘A’ I can do without the mega-medical bill, ‘B’ I have a whopping headache now, not Tuesday next week at 9:15AM, and ‘C’ I don’t want some quack injecting me with a horse-needle full of that nausea-inducing low-level isotope they use to make your blood vessels light up like the 4th of July on the monitor! Been there and done that umpteen years ago as a kid for some unrelated matter and I’m in no hurry to do it again! Man, I spent twenty minutes in a claustrophobia inducing, coffin-like tube trying heroically to resist the overwhelming urge to hurl for all I was worth (brought on by the injection), all whilst being told to ‘hold perfectly still dear’.

A couple of minutes of convincing her its not a brain-tumour and just a simple bad headache and she finally relents and says she has them too and gives me some headache powders and a glass of water. BOOM. Boom.Boom. Boom. Aahhhh…..

Midnight I finally make it home and sleep the sleep of the pain-free and victorious.

Turns out that in Europe the Pharmacists guilds all got together some years ago and indulged in a bit of job–protection scheming and got the Government to make it law that only they could sell even the most basic stuff (‘Cough syrup is very, very dangerous you know - only we can be trusted’).

So my advice to anyone visiting Europe? Buy plenty of Tylenol before you get here. I now have several packets at the office, at home and in my travel kit. Like the American Express card – don’t leave home without it!

2006-09-01T15:36:00.000Z

Life in the chocolate factory - Swiss Country Villages

Ever seen one of those westerns where there’s the ghost town and to give the viewers a sense of the emptiness and desolation, a tumble weed rolls lazily down through the main street? That is a Swiss village on a Sunday. Not a car to be seen. No kids playing soccer in the street or games in the park or throwing a stick for the dog to catch. Not even someone washing the family car (actually it is against the law to wash your car with the hose on a Sunday in Switzerland. Don’t ask …). Nothing. It’s silent. Empty.

What do they do? Where do they go? Are they all inside asleep or are they watching the TV in a marathon sitting?

It’s like those other films where the day after the neutron bomb has been dropped all the people are gone but the houses are still standing perfectly intact but eerily quiet.

It’s weird.

2006-09-01T15:10:00.000Z

Life in the Chocolate factory – ‘Darn foreigners…’

Every morning when I take the tram from the border to Geneva, and then the bus to work, I read one or two of the local free commuter papers printed by and using articles from the main Swiss newspaper – ‘La Tribune de Genève.’

There are the usual round ups of day to day life but the Swiss have a peculiar local way of reporting very quaint pieces of news. In the U.K. or anywhere else, the stories are mostly about a lot more grittier problems and they will just tell you the facts, but here each story starts ‘An Italian non-resident banged into Madame. Le-Clerc at 9:00pm whilst walking home inebriated last night….’ or ‘A resident of Portuguese origin, had discussions last night concerning his shouting at 2:00 am whilst looking for his lost dog – when questioned by Police he later remembered the dog died last year.…’Yesterday a Czech man collided with a scooter…’

Fellow Swiss are not exempt from this approach either - other articles always quote ‘Fred Boggs (from Berne province) set fire to his neighbours barn in a fence dispute last night…’ or ‘Joe Bloe (from Ticino province) was charged after trying to defraud the insurance company for a new tractor to replace his WW2 era relic …’

There’s a feel that after centuries of isolation and neutrality there’s something deep within the Swiss psyche that manifests itself in their still being very wary of anyone outside their own neighbourhood, let alone the next Canton or country.

But if most of the problems are just Georges and Pierre getting plastered at the local tavern and making dicks of themselves, then I’ll read that news any day.

2006-04-11T20:26:00.000Z

Cheese eating surrender monkeys? No, just more bad government…

Don’t get me wrong, I love France. I speak the language and I adore the place. The weather, the people the food, the way of life – in short most everything. So I’m not gonna take any cheap shots over WW1 or WW2. After all, France bled to death in the first war and with Germany literally right next door and the country being without the natural defences Britain has with the channel, couldn’t do much about the Blitzkrieg in the second. I don’t think anyone in their right mind really expected the might of the Wehrmacht and dozens of 50 ton Panzers to be stopped at border crossings by the wooden barriers you find at your local parking lot.
But there’s one thing I just can’t get over and that’s the absolute weakness of the recent government who, with not one but both eyes shamelessly focussed not on doing the right thing but simply saving their own political hides to get re-elected, handed over the governorship of the entire country to a bunch of students protesting about – and get this – the mere possibility of not being promised a job for life when the new first flexible employment contracts for under 26’s were proposed.
Now I’m the last person to subscribe to the ‘hire ‘em and fire ‘em’ brigade, but without going into the already well covered details of the contracts, surely no one in their right mind expects to get a gold-plated guarantee they will have a job for life. Hullo!?
Economic and productivity growth in France is almost zero, unemployment hovers between 11 and almost 13% (more if you ignore the ‘structural adjustments’ made to lower the numbers), public spending is huge and they have an aging population still able to retire way too early (55 in some cases) on gold-plated social benefits schemes. Money’s flowing out the door like water and very little is coming back in. Something’s gotta give…
Their original societal model was to soften the sometime brutal forces of market competition with a ‘managed’ economy, but it has become so restrictive now it is more like a sclerotic one instead. Companies can’t fire workers (too hard or too costly), so they just simply don’t employ them. Entrepreneurs move to other countries because doing business in France is just too hard (areas in Kent resound to the sound of French ex-pats who crossed the channel and take their money and the jobs with them to be welcomed with open arms instead of volumes of regulations at home). Young plucky citizens who speak English trek to London to chase work where as one young lady said ‘At least here they’re prepared to give you a go’.
What the country needs drastically is less regulation and more incentives to manufacture, sell and employ, but instead for about the third (or is it the fourth?) time, the Government has once more buckled and all the country got was yet more restrictive employment laws, more taxpayer funded subsidies and yet more dead-end ‘training programs’ that in the end will result in very few jobs.
France (and Italy and Germany) desperately need their own Margaret Thatcher - someone in for the long haul who will take on the Unions and the students without blinking. The people need to be re-educated that no-one owes them a job for life and that by protesting these very minor reforms, they are just making life worse for themselves and indeed their children’s future. But no, like King Canute trying to hold back the tide, they all pull up the shutters, pile on the regulations and just want the bad, bad world and globalisation to go away.
The managed economy in its present form is not working. That doesn’t mean they need to adopt the limited social welfare U.S. model either – they could opt for a hybrid like the Scandinavian system with open markets financing a realistic social system. But at the moment, all they are doing is what the British called in the twilight days of Empire, following a policy of the ‘orderly management of decline’.

2006-04-04T19:25:00.000Z

Hello all! Welcome to my weblog or blogspot.

I'll be making postings on various things and putting forth my personal take on various matters from the weighty to the trivial.

Feel free to drop by and have a read, be stimulated or hopefully have a chuckle.

Chat to y'all later.

Marc