Owner: The Swiss Job URL:http://theswissjob.wordpress.com Join Date: Wed, 23 May 2007 03:33:17 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: The Swiss Job details an Irishmans futile attempts to settle into Swiss life. Having moved to Basel for a new job, the blog compares the Irish to the Swiss and everything in between. Site statistics:Click here
Where is Justin now? 2007-08-24 04:14:28 Van Morrison may be a grumpy, morose, eclectic, eccentric old geezer but the man can write a song. I was surprised during the week by a package from home. It wasn’t my birthday or any other significant time of the year but its always great to get something in the post.
My brother sent me a copy of Van the man’s album Enlightenment. It’s a lesser known of his albums I think as I’ve found it difficult/impossible to find in a record shop. Also the iTunes store doesn’t stock it but has about thirty of his various others albums and compilations. It is however on Amazon but I never really got round to buying it.
The album has a lot of sentimental attachments. My Mum had it when we were younger and it, along with Dire Straits, Kenny Rogers and Andy Williams always seemed to be on in the car. I know the words to all the songs without even realising it. But the brother found a copy on Ebay and sent it over. His brownie points have gone up. I might buy him a pint (o Read more:Justin
Do you come here often? 2007-08-31 04:06:11 I suffered an incredibly long “awkward pause” yesterday and I’m still cringing from the stupidity of it all. Here’s how it happened. My department is holding interviews for potential students to come to the various labs to do PhDs. But the scholarships they’re offering are quite good so something like 400 people applied for the 8 -10 positions. So, they’re narrowed it down to about twenty who were invited to come give talks on their work so far, meet the lab leaders and see the department.
So during yesterday we had a steady stream of incredibly nervous/frightened/tired students coming through the lab waiting to speak to the boss. I tried to engage them in some small chat to take their mind off things and to relax a little. That’s when it happened:
Student: I’m here for an interview with the professor, is he free?
Me: It’ll be two minutes, I think he’s still talking to another student. Take a seat and it won’t be too lo
Hookers 2007-08-30 08:00:37 I knew that title would get your attention. Of course I’m talking about the rugby position but I’m interested to see the traffic I get to this post!
One of the finest hookers I’ve ever had the pleasure of watching - Keith Wood aka Fester!
Anyway, the rugby world cup is a week away, I’ve been scouring the news and statistics while writing my posts on “The Fear of God” blog (what do you mean you haven’t read it? Go, now!) and my jersey has arrived. It’s safe to say I’ve entered the zone, the rugby state of mind and for the next four weeks it will be all consuming, to the detriment of my sanity, my liver and my general well being.
But to tie it all together, The Swiss Job, the Fear of God blog and the rugby world cup, I thought I’d give you a little taster of what’s happening rugby wise in Switzerland. The Swiss rugby union was set up in 1972 and they played their first international in ‘73. Notable results include
Hit the dirt… 2007-08-29 03:11:34 This was the headline that greeted me this morning:
Swiss rapped over poor data on gun ownership
Switzerland has the fourth highest guns per capita ratio in the world behind America, Yemen and Finland (any comment TBF?)! But now it seems that the Swiss aren’t exactly sure how many guns there are here. Somewhere between 1.2 and 12 million supposedly! That’s a little too big of a margin for my liking.
So I’m writing this from the concrete bunker in the basement. I’ve stocked the shelter with baked beans, a spare toothbrush, four crates of beer and my Swiss army knife (obviously). I should be good for at least three days.
For a “neutral” country, Switzerland seems ready for something!
Read more:hellip
Gets my goat… 2007-08-28 05:43:05 I’m not a violent man and would rather avoid confronatation where possible. I also believe that there’s still a place in society for manners and a touch of chivalry. It’s never killed anyone, has it?
Last night I stopped to pick up “the messages” from the supermarket. Fruit, breakfast juice, clothes hangers&hellip
;the usual! It was rush hour at the tills and everyone was flat out. So with no obvious advantage to any queue I picked the closest and took my place behind a girl with a trolley. As we edged further I realised she had difficulty moving, her legs were deformed and she was relying on the trolley for support. Her crutches were in with her shopping.
As we got closer to the checkout, with about three people to go, the woman at the till put up the “Closed Till” sign and motioned to the other queues. There was a collective weary sigh and we started shuffling over. Then out of no where two lads arrive over, each carrying three cans of beer an
Oh God… 2007-09-21 16:37:55 I’ve just been to see Ireland fail badly against the French in the Rugby World Cup. I was in an Irish pub in Switzerland in the middle of a crowd of French? How do I get myself into these situations?
But I have to say I love the atmosphere when watching rugby games. There are no bad feelings, a lot of camaraderie and some good banter. Even when it was obvious there was no way back, the fun continued and the singing and slagging reached a peak!
I’m incredibly disappointed with the Irish team, proud of them that they tried but in disbelief at how badly the Irish team played. It asks many questions of the team and management and it does not look good in the short term.
It also makes the trip to Paris next weekend to see them play Argentina not as pleasant as I had envisioned before the tournament began. But, a few days in Paris will be good for the soul and hopefully the Irish team can play for pride if not for the bonus point they desperately need.
Read more:hellip
Learning, the hard way. 2007-09-21 03:17:40 Never leave your squash racquet in work, it won’t save you time.
Never decide a whole ham and mushroom pizza thirty minutes before playing squash is a good thing, it’s not.
Never realise fifteen minutes before the game and fifteen minutes after the pizza that you’ve left your racquet in work, see it didn’t save any time.
Never be late for your game of squash, it’s rude.
Never think things like, “I’ve got gastric cramping, stitches and enough to gas to float a zeppelin” before starting the game, it’s only an excuse.
And finally…
Never, under any circumstance, think you can slip a quick fart out mid-rally to relieve the crippling wind and get away with it, you won’t. You’re now in a sealed and very warm room that smells like the deep recesses of your bowels with mushroom and ham undertones.
Do apologise profusely to your playing partner and leave the room to “settle” before continuing the game.
Read more:Learning
Swiss-ness 2007-09-20 06:43:32 We’re lucky where we live in Basel. We came across our apartment in a very fortuitous way and having seen the best part of ten before that I knew it was the one. I managed to convince The Golden Shrimp and now almost a year later we’re both still really happy with it. But in Switzerland there are a few more factors involved in picking a place to live than maybe in other countries.
One of the big factors is laundry. The Swiss
prefer a system of communal washing machines, so an apartment block will have one or two for all the inhabitants. It works differently depending on the building. We have six apartments in our block so we have one day a week when we can do our washing (no washing on Sundays). We got Wednesdays when we arrived. Which is pretty good when you think about it. If you get Friday or Saturday and you’re away for the weekend, you miss your weekly laundry! But once a week is a good rate. We’ve heard horror stories of people only getting one day in ever
Avast ya blagards 2007-09-19 04:35:01 Ahoy, me landlubbin’, bilge scrubbin’, rum swiggin’ mateys. It be International talk like a pirate day, so it is. So, brace the main sail, grab yerselfs a hearty wench and annoy the crap out of your workmates!
For ideas, piratey inspiration and something to do check out the website.
Review of All Bar One 2007-09-18 06:52:42 All Bar One
It’s been too long since the last review which means we haven’t been working/drinking hard enough. My “partner in crime” has been on holidays (I question his dedication for the cause sometimes) so the weekly beer has been shelved for the last fortnight. In between a holiday to Tuscany and a trip to Phoenix he did make a guest appearance last night and we headed to All Bar One (the same chain of pubs as in the UK) for a swift half. Onwards…
Date and time: 18/09/07 around 9.20 - 11.20pm
Location and ease of access: On the main cinema/entertainment street in Basel right between Heuwagge and Barfusserplatz. Ideal location for trams and buses and whatever else you’re having. 8/10
Beer selection and prices: Five beers on tap including Sam Adams, the American beer. So a good, eclectic selection available and reasonably priced. Didn’t look too closely at the bottled beers as I was happy to work my way through two draught Weiss Beers
Tyred. 2007-09-17 05:49:38 Answer me this. When is someone going to invent a puncture proof bicycle inner tube? Men have walked on the moon, we now have sliced bread and glow in the dark toilet seats! There are particle accelerators, bullet trains and channel tunnels. Surely it can’t be that difficult to design a puncture resistant tyre? Have bicycle tyres changed that much since the early 1900’s?
After two punctures in the same wheel in as many weeks I think there could be a huge market for this. I’m fed up taking the tyre and tube on and off. After the first puncture I bought a new tube and then the tyre wouldn’t go back on. Turns out the tyre was also knackered so I bought a new one of those. A day and a half later the new tyre and tube were flatter than Holland.
Now, obviously, if you’re a tyre manufacturer you don’t want to make a puncture proof tyre because people will buy one and that’ll be it. No returning sales. But think of the initial interest! Millions would
Dry me down Scotty… 2007-09-12 06:25:18 I’m a sucker for a bit of good design. I like to believe that a team of people have sat down, figured out what is needed in a product and then set to work designing the best possible version of it. Not the cheapest, or the most mass produced, or the easiest, just the best.
For the stag do at the weekend we were staying in a hotel in Cork. We went for a few pints, dinner, a few more pints and then got back to the hotel about two in the morning to give the residents bar a test drive. Feeling nature calls I headed to the toilet. And in their was a piece of industrial design that I spent ten minutes playing with.
Now, before you carried away let me explain that it was a hand dryer for after washing your hands. Built by Dyson, it’s called the Airblade. I took pictures of it and everything, but it’s just easier to go the website and have a look. This is a very clever machine. Supposedly quite a few places in Ireland have them now.
You stick your wet hands down into the cavi Read more:hellip
, Scotty
Painful. 2007-09-10 07:19:21 That’s how I’d describe my head on Saturday morning and Ireland’s display against the Namibians in the rugby world cup. I didn’t see the game as I was en route to Basel from Cork where the stag do was on. We had a great weekend and I was glad that there were no serious plans in place.
It meant we could go for a few pints and then sleep in and watch the rugby during the day. Everything was at a nice steady pace so I feel relatively fine today. But I can’t believe the result in the rugby! I don’t know how our team of professionals (who seemed to be on every advert in Cork at the weekend) can be given a run for their money against a team of part-timers. It doesn’t bear thinking about and now I have serious doubts about the France and Argentinian games. I don’t want to go to Paris to see us throw it away in the last game against the Pumas.
To cheer me up I did get the latest Ross O’Carroll Kelly book and read the majority of it on the w
Am I here or there? 2007-09-08 02:00:32 Still on autopilot but I imagine at this stage of proceedings (if I’ve survivied) I’m going to be feeling a little worse for wear. I hope I made it back to the hotel and I hope I’m not awake yet. I hope there’s a cooked breakfast downstairs. I hope I still have my wallet. and valuables and didn’t try to pawn them off for an extra few dutch gold last night. I hope the stag survivied but his dignity took a hammering. I hope Argentina beat France in the rugby and that they sustained heavy casualities at the same time. I hope the room isn’t spinning.
I hate hangovers, but I’ve found that the older I get, they don’t get much worse just longer I think. It depends on how you cope the minute you wake up. If you can drag yourself to the shower, get changed and down to breakfast before you feel sorry for yourself, then you have a fighting chance. If, however, you wake up, feel sorry for yourself, roll over and try to make the bad pains go away, tha
A little something for the weekend 2007-09-07 02:00:56 The blog’s on autopilot this weekend. At this point in time I’m somewhere in the air on the way to Ireland. In eight hours time I’ll possibly be having a Guinness, definitely watching the rugby and wishing a friend all the best as he’s getting married in a little
while. Another good soldier cut down in his prime and all that. Anyhoo, as I’ve written this two days ago I haven’t a clue what’s happened now! If you know what I mean?
So I’m sticking up a video to keep you and my other reader occupied! Wish me and my liver luck over the next few days and everything should return to normal on Monday. By then I’ll be needing plenty of water!
Read more:something
, little something
Checklist 2007-09-27 03:52:18
Clean underwear
Toothbrush
Can of lynx deodorant
French phrasebook
“101 funny Spanish/Argentinian insults” book
Official Irish World Cup Rugby Jersey
Rather large Guinness Novelty Hat
Tickets for the Ireland v. Argentina Rugby world cup game
Hip flask
Passport
Euros
BOD’s autobiography for the train
Camera
Singing voice
Strong belief we can win by four tries and more than seven points
Right, I’m off. Bring on the Argentinians.
Read more:Checklist
Prickly pronoun problems 2007-09-26 05:27:31 The difficulty, for me at least, with learning a new language is that it’s taken for granted that you have an excellent understanding of your mother language! This is a problem because while I have a good vocabulary and I has good grammar (!), I’m terrible at remembering what things are. Pronouns, adjectives, tenses, contexts, similes and adverbs all confuse me and have done since school.
So when it comes to learning these terms and how to use them in German, things get very messy. At the moment we’re tackling personal pronouns in German. A veritable minefield of exceptions, rules, tables and sometimes complete non-conformity. The personal pronouns in German can take four different forms although we’re only learning three for now. They are, the accusative, the nominative and the dative. Still with me? Good.
So the accusative (i.e. the, a, my…) and nominative (i.e. I, you, he she…) are understandable. We have them in English and as long as you trans Read more:problems
A classic 2007-09-25 04:01:50
Two goldfish, in a tank…
One asks the other, “how do you drive this thing?”
What a classic! This was a favourite joke in college and it generally got funnier the more beer was consumed, the later in the night it was and how many times it had been told before. You had to be there, I guess!
It never fails to make me smile though! I feel better already!
Pottered 2007-09-24 02:53:56 I’ve just finished the last Harry Potter book and with some relief I’m glad to say it’s all over. I found the last one very hard going. It was long, boring in a lot of places and I think the first of the books to be written directly for the film screen rather than the book.
Characters are killed off for no apparent reason, other characters are introduced for no apparent reason, the plot is confusing and somewhat jumbled, the initial magic and novelty of the Potter world had already worn off by the fourth book and the ending has to be one of the most disappointing I’ve encountered in a while.
But, I’m glad I’ve read the series, I think the first three maybe four books were very enjoyable and captured the imagination brilliantly. I think when the pressure was put on Rowling to produce the follow up books and the franchise became the monster it is, the books have suffered and no longer hold any appeal for me. I think it was stretched too far and died a
VIP…oh yeah! 2007-10-02 04:22:08 Just a brief scoot back to last week before I launch head first and at length into our trip to Paris. We were invited along to the Kaserne, an old military barracks in the heart of Basel that’s now a collection of pubs and concert venues and a mosque strangely enough! The Raveonettes were playing and a colleague of Eva’s said we should come along and have a listen. It’s only the second time in my life I’ve been on a “guestlist” and so I breezed up to the door, got my free green wrist band and sauntered in! It’s amazing how power goes to your head!
The Raveonettes sounded familiar but I’d never knowingly heard any of their music so I went with an open mind. It turned out to be a great concert. They’re a three piece Danish band who I find hard to categorise musically. They have elements of Goldfrapp, Blondie and the White Stripes but with two part harmonies. They consist of two lead singers/guitarists and a drummer. The female lead gu Read more:hellip
Heavy heart 2007-10-01 08:39:19 Words don’t describe the disappointment from the weekend. I came away from the game full of vitriol for O’Sullivan and Co., but reading the various reports and articles today I realise that I’m not as angry. I think having been there and seen the effort the team put into it, it’s tough not to sympathise and offer up excuses. It didn’t work out for us this time, let’s leave it behind, make a few changes and focus on next years fixtures. What else is there left to do?
And it had started off so well! We arrived in Paris late on Thursday night and spent Friday doing the touristy things and watched the England v. Tonga game in the hotel. Saturday was more of the same and watched the Wales v. Fiji through the window of a bar from their terrace across the Seine from Notre Dame. The Fiji win gave me hope that the impossible was possible and things boded well for our game. Sunday, the tension mounted.
We went for the first pint around lunch time, then had the Read more:Heavy
Derby council XV 2007-09-30 02:00:16 In honour of the game this afternoon I thought I’d treat you to the one and only M0nty Python’s take on rugby. Sheer genius.
Titter… 2007-10-15 04:28:11
A Swiss guy, looking for directions, pulls up at a bus stop where two Irish men are waiting. “Entschuldigung, können Sie Deutsch sprechen?” He asks. The two Irish men just stare at him. “Excusez-moi, parlez-vous Français?” The two continue to stare. “Parlate Italiano?” No response. “Hablan Ustedes Espagnol?” Still nothing. The Swiss guy drives off, extremely disgusted.
The first Irish man turns to the second and says: “Y’know, maybe we should learn a foreign language…”
“Why?” says the other, “shure that bloke knew four languages, and it didn’t do him any good.”
Read more:hellip
Thinking outside the pizza box 2007-10-12 04:31:00 Having the place to myself this weekend also means I can get into some culinary magic. I like to experiment in the kitchen and try things that are a “little outside the box”. Fusion cooking would come close, I suppose, to describe the attempts being made! I’ve currently got a few projects in the pipeline and this weekend may be the time to start the practical work.
Unsuprisingly, most of these gastronomic ideas revolve around pizza. The first one is inspired from a pizza place I used to go to when I lived in Boston. They had a pizza with potato on top and I instantly had the idea of merging shepherds pie and pizza! I think I’ll call it Shepherds Pizza. Now bear with me here.
Start with a normal pizza base, top with the minced beef, tomatoe sauce from a shepherds pie (carrots optional) and finish off with thin potato slices sliced. Sprinkle with cheese and maybe a few herbs and I think you’re onto a winner there.
Next up was an idea inspired from Tuesday ni
The itinery 2007-10-11 07:33:14 This weekend I have the place to myself. Here’s the plan:
Friday evening:
Order Food (not sure what to go for?)
Watch France vs. New Zealand rugby game from last weekend
Watch more TV
Saturday:
Sleep in
Help a friend dig a hole
Do some shopping
German homework
Watch Australia vs. England from last weekend
To the pub to see France vs. England semi final with a few pints and random rugby supporters
Sunday:
Sleep in (11.30am-ish)
Cooked breakfast (black pudding, toast, bacon, lots of ketchup)
General moping about (have to roast a chicken)
Watch South Africa vs. Fiji game from last weekend
Tidy up the place
Have the roasted chicken with the Golden shrimp
Watch South Africa vs. Argentina game
Go to bed a contented man.
I can’t wait! Anything I should include for the perfect manly weekend? I have left out the scratching and belching that should be taken for granted!
Dipping my big fork 2007-10-10 08:31:02 Yesterday was the last day with the visitors, they’re on a train as I type on their way back to Holland. We had a great few days including the trip to the Alps and it was all topped off last night with the first fondue of the season!
It doesn’t matter how many times I have it, I will never tire of fondue. There is something so good about plunging a cube of bread into the bubbling deliciousness, seductively swirling it round (a figure of eight we have been told is the most efficient), letting the excess drip off and then gorging yourself on the creamy goodness!
I was trying to put a touch of “Nigella Lawson, softcore food-porn lingo” on the paragraph above. Did it work? Anyway we had a cracking fondue with the works, salad, pickled onions, fresh cracked pepper, wine, kirsche, good company and a late night. I love this time of year because it means there’s plenty more fondue, raclette and rosti to come. It’s important to stay well fed during the wi
Geography lessons 2007-10-09 08:26:11 The walks at the weekend were fantastic to get a look at the Alps close up. I was constantly reminded of my geography lessons from back in school. I can remember quite a bit about those classes and sometimes wonder why I didn’t take up geography as a career. It was one of those subjects, and there weren’t many, that seemed easy to learn and to understand.
Anyway, we had a teacher called Ms. Fox and while she had her moments (I remember learning line dancing at one point), overall she had a great enthusiasm for all things geographical. We learned about volacanos, the different types of rock, rivers and lakes, the weather systems in central France, freeze thaw erosion and so on. While Ireland is equipped with some fine examples of the geographical features Ms. Fox taught us, I only realise now why she was so excited about them.
When you see the glaciers coming down the slopes, the valleys they have carved out many thousands of years ago, the rock layers in the cliffs, the mor Read more:Geography
How steep is 28%? 2007-10-08 07:37:20 Ex-hill-erating! See what I did there? Oh never mind!
I experienced what I was told was one of the steepest roads in Europe at the weekend. The 28% gradient mentioned on the signpost means nothing until you’re going down it in a bus load of people with a trailer full of luggage behind it. Think of it as a slow and not so steady rollercoaster through carved rock walls with forests and waterfalls all around!
The road in all it’s glory! Breathtaking in every sense of the word!
For our alpine walk at the weekend we stayed in a tiny place called Griesalp at the top of this daunting slope. There’s a hut/hostel there that was a fantastic place to stay. We got up early on the Saturday to be greeted by dense fog and so had a lazy morning sitting in the common room and waiting for the weather to clear.
Around midday we set off and had a great day in the mountains. Saturday evening was spent drinking beer by the fire and playing poker and a memory game we found on a she
Alpine bound 2007-10-05 08:55:29 Yes indeedy! Eva’s brother and his girlfriend have arrived for a few days and so we decided to take a road trip down south and have a weekend of hiking. I’ve packed the horn (the Alpine
variety of course) and all other essentials and we’ll be off around six this evening.
We’ve planned to stay in a mountain hut close to Kandersteg and see what routes take our fancy. The weather forecast looks favourable and it’s good to be getting some time in the mountains before the weather turns for the winter. We’re a bit disappointed this year with how little time we’ve spent in the Alps. We’ve been walking a few times in Jura close to Basel, but the two to three hours to get to the Alps have put day trips out of reach. So if you’re going to go it has to be for a weekend and they seem to be always in short supply!
So we’ve made more promises to get more trips in next year and this weekend is a good excuse to scout out some new areas for us
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