We're not in California any more, Toto

Yesterday I saw a bumper sticker that said: " Tobacco man and darn proud of it". For those of you who don't know, Philip Morris has it's only European factory in Neuchatel. I think they employ ~2000-3000 in Switzerland. All I know is that our health insurance is at least twice that of the rest of Switzerland.

California's cool

Maybe it's because everything's made in China now, but all the chidren's clothing here has English on it. Usually with an American slant: "Rockin'", "I'm Cute", "Boyz Rule" etc. I came all this way to have my children look European... da*#it! Califoria makes a big showing too. There's a California bike for kids, a line of haircare products and the most recent one I've found- 'California Sun' scent washing up liquid. I bought it on sale (introducing a new scent), and it's flourescent pink with a weird fruity/institutional smell. There's a picture of a woman in sunglasses, laughing on the front. Walter has also pointed out the graffiti. All the curse words are Engish. Plenty of 'F*$# la police'. I guess we're exporting something after all!

Jerry Springer

Is it really so wrong to learn one's French from the Jerry Springer show? We're getting valuable insight into colloquialisms, pop culture and slang.... that's our excuse.

ciao ciao, mecs!

You can tell it's spring by.....

....the smell of the dog poo! Now that it's warming up, all the petrified poop is thawing. People here aren't very enlightened about their dogs. They let them poop all over the place. It's disgusting. Morons. There are special bags and bins everywhere for the disposal of 'ca-ca de chien', and even when people use the bags they leave them in the street, making a nice poo bomb if one perchance steps on it... while chasing a running child down the hill....

On to nicer aspects of spring- Walter's birthday!!!!!
Sadly, he was travelling all last week (on his birthday), but it gave us a chance to prepare. There was a "hot and cold' treasure hunt for his presents, suggested by Allie. We had a nice walk in the countryside near Hauterive, followed by beaucoup de birthday cake, then birthday fondue......mmmmm.

It started so nicely, pottering along together.


Poor Toby got very tired and had to lie down a few times.


By the 'lake park' there's a cool, steel sculpture that all the children play in and climb on. They regularly scale up the 12 ft to the top and Allie is on his way too.

The Meat that we Eat

The Swiss are good at meat. The 'charcuterie/boucherie' section of the big Migros up the road, has the following on offer:
beef (for humans and pets), veal, lamb, chicken, pigeon (and all those wee flying animals), turkey, duck, goose, deer, rabbit,horse, pork (for humans and pets), goat, a HUGE selection of sausages and dried meats. I found at least 5 'different'ways of curing and drying pork. When we first arrived, we thought that 'civet du cerf' had something to do with the civet cat (big in the news in Asia at the time)and thought the Swiss really were exotic. Civet actually means stew. I have developed a taste for rabbit, but it took a while to get used to preparing those little haunches. Just shows how far removed we are from our food now. My mum learned how to skin and prepare rabbit when she was young...... I've noticed that the meat also has a more intense flavour here, more 'meaty'. It's also really expensive, so we eat less of it- a good thing. I think animals are treated a bit better here, although I haven't looked into it.

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety Gig

On Wednesday we watched the sun go down over LAX with Norm and Helen, then got on the plane to Zurich... What a sad bunch we were. On the up side, the flight was pretty uneventful. Our baggage weight came in under the maximum- no charges this time! Allie slept on the floor, Toby slept, cried and fidgeted and people around us were nice through it all. Next time I swear I'm drugging him. Any suggestions? We arrived a good half hour early, picked up all the bags (before some business class people..hahaha) and made the train to Neuchatel. The poor wee boys only lost it half an hour before we got in. The house was even in one piece with no bad smells! Apparently, for a couple of days before we came home there was snow "the likes of which had not been seen in a long while". It was rained away before we could see it, but it's been snowing off and on since. The wind's not biting any more and the temp's above zero ;) The jet lag is a real bugger going in this direction. The boys were up from midnight to 4am last night. Walter and I finally went to sleep at 5, and we all woke at 11. Hooray for TV I say.

We're watching the movie "Chocolat" at the moment. I've never seen it because the hype put me off, but it's actually very entertaining. The village reminds me a lot of Saint Blaise! We need a chocolotarie with a saucy wench.

So, here are some last pics of an absolutely fab trip. Thanks Helen and Norm, for everything. The boys and I feel like totally new people :)

Toby loooves cats, especially Sangi, a Laffery cat.


Drew celebrates his 14th birthday. Toby is really the one who blew out his candles.


The boys on Redondo Beach pier, scene of many an "O.C" episode.


There's a really cool aquarium called SEAlab beside the 2nd street beach (Hermosa Beach) that Helen likes to take the boys to. It's a super place, with plenty of hands on stuff (sea slugs feel revolting!).
Allie beside a pool of native California fish.


Walter and Tobe at the pool


Grandma and the boys enjoy a last trip to the beach

Time Flies

We're winding down our whirlwind visit to Cali. We didn't see nearly enough family or friends, and yet are totally knackered from all of our comings and goings! We're sad that we missed a lot of people, but hey, it's more incentive to come and see us ;)
Here's a snippet of what we've been up to.

Cousins Drew (14), Brendan (16), Toby (2), Allie (4) in Redondo Beach.


Grandma Helen and Grandpa Norm enjoy a beautiful day at Veterans' Park in RB


Friend Kim and her adorable son Loic (8 months). They'll be on the same plane back to Zurich!!


Grandpa and Tobe- what a team!


Cousins Wini (5) and Anna (11) in RB. Wini just lost her first tooth :)


Bathtime for wee cousins.


Helen and babby Elliot (4 weeks) enjoy some Berkeley sun.


Two Witort men.


KyeeeeeeOooot!


Elliott tells a stunned audience what time it is.


Soccer with Allie.


Allie's new girlfriend Kate.


Matt and Ranas' new dawg 'Zinc'. Trop cute aussi!


A jaunt up Indian Rock. The pinnacle of a lovely day.


We return in 3 days. I'm very sad.