Damned efficient Swiss

[The Phantom Pieman]

On the comments about the swiss character, they do seem to like strict adherence for their rules. Basically, if you look at how the authorities here view speeding, that is how the swiss view most things.

They have some rules that to me seem weird, such as it being illegal to mow your lawn or wash your car on a Sunday, and, in some places, it being illegal to flush the toilet after 10pm if you live in a block of flats.

I saw a guy dragged off the bus by four police once, and assumed I'd seen an anti-terror arrest, but it turned out that he just did not have a ticket. Everyone seemed very law-abiding when I got there, but after a while, I realised that in the whole, this was mainly because someone would report you if you were not, and the authorities would always act.

On the whole, I do much prefer the French side of the border. Most of my friends who work at CERN have houses on that side, with the only exception being the one who married a Swiss girl, as she just acts bemused when you ask why they are on the swiss side.

Ok, may be I'm wrong and Geneva is staffed by the remnants of the Gestapo ....
The after 10 thing was common courtesy - and sits with Swiss culture and the fact they all go to bed then ... but I very much doubt in the German speaking side you will find these applied. It was a post WW11 thing to stop the italians partying until late into the night ...
If you don't pay for a bus ticket / train ticket , you will be fined 100 chf on the spot. And why should they !!. If you don't pay, get aggressive then they will chuck you off.
They don't like gobshits and believe a lot in respect.

It's sort of interesting as it seems to be what most people in Britain complain about, and yet when they see it in action, they mock it

I can park up my bike, and leave gloves and helmet on them . They haven't been stolen yet. I don't need top carry a bike lock with me ( I do if I go to France or Italy).

If you have an accident , the police will turn up. Normally in a few minutes. They take details, so that both parties are known to be insured , taxed , etc ....

Obviously, running around in a country where no-one sticks to the rules, crime is rife, respect is low, women cannot walk around on their own at night, and every town centre turns into a drunken brawl on a Saturday night is far better
They can be frustrating fu(kers but its kind of a good quality of life. Blimey, kids still even walk to school

 

[mrsroynie]

As an aside, if you ever happen to be using a Swiss autoroute around January/February time, you may be stopped and asked to pay their annual road tax. It happened to me a few years ago, driving a British registered Landrover from Meribel (France) to Geneva Airport to collect my husband off a flight. It wasn't a huge charge, but we had just returned from a round-the-world trip, and I didn't have any Swiss francs. There was no use arguing. The man in front of me tried and failed.

To give the enforcement officer his due, he did have a sense of humour. I explained my situation and said I had only had a purse full of foreign change on me. He said he would accept any currency, and didn't bat an eyelid when I emptied a whole load of US, NZ, Australian and Thai coins into his palm. I couldn't have given him more than half the cost of the tax sticker, but he gave it to me anyway with a smile and a reminder that it was valid for the whole year!

 

[MattW]

I'd say pay.

If you intend to go back there to work (CERN?) then definitely pay - it'd be a bummer to be turned away because you have a 'record'.

just my 2p

M

 

[NorthernBoy]

It's sort of interesting as it seems to be what most people in Britain complain about, and yet when they see it in action, they mock it

That's pretty wooly thinking. I complain about losses of freedom in the UK, too, but find it utterly stifling here.

I also am often amazed at my swiss friends' complete ignorance about their ugly 20th century history, and the financial parasitism that allows their current standard of living. It is as though their schools speak about their country the way that ours did in the UK back in the '50s. Despite being lovely people individually, they seem to not understand the doublethink that says that they could never be invaded, yet they were completely unable, through weakness, to take a moral stance in 1939.

No, I am not a fan of Switzerland, I'm afraid. I lived here when I worked at CERN, and may do so again if I decide to go back into banking, but I much, much prefer the other side of the border.

 

[Deleted account 230523001]

Switzerland is just somewhere that you have to pass through to get to another interesting place, it is a shame that it has no interest in it`s own confines, it just happens to be in the way somewhat.
Even my sat nav was most unhappy with chavvie CH.

I say feck `em...They even feck up the most basic of foods and that is cheese.....You can`t trust a nation that fecks up cheese..

 

[SkyGod]

I think Switzerland is a fine country with many social values we should envy.
Anyone that does not agree is a big gay bear and they want cutting.










This post is sponsored by Remy Martin.

 

[NorthernBoy]

It is also too hot. 6:30pm, riding back into Geneva, and the temperature guage on the bike was showing 38 degrees (100F) on the autoroute.

It felt like when you open the oven door.