Zurich - My New Flat

Living in Zurich Again!

I’m really enjoying my new flat and, even though it’s not really mine, it feels like home.

I think moving into a furnished flat is different from moving into an empty flat. You’re not faced with seeing the failings of your own furniture, you’re not looking at an empty space that looks so bleak, there’s not so much unpacking and work to do before you are settled.

The woman I’m renting from (Denise) left her plants and her pictures (with my agreement) in the flat, so it really is complete. I’d have thought this might make it all feel a bit as if I was invading someone else’s space, but actually it just seems homely. I think her taste and my taste aren’t so different from each other, even though I would never have chosen what she has, so maybe that helps. In a way, the flat feels like “me”.

On the other hand, it comes with a great responsibility. I’m pretty petrified of scratching the floors, ruining her pots and pans, not managing to keep the oven and hob to the exacting standards in which they were left. I’m worried that all her plants will die.

Part of my worry, or maybe even most of my worry, about keeping the flat in pristine condition stems from the fact that I understand that I am in Switzerland. I’ve been through the official handover procedure of a flat and I know how the tiniest flaw can result in a fine. I don’t expect it to be so bad now that I’m dealing with an individual person rather than a faceless company, but I fully appreciate that she won’t want to pay fines later for any carelessness on my part.

Also, the Swiss, at least compared to the British, are very particular. I got caught out in my last flat because I hadn’t read the small print in my rental contract that I had to have my washing machine and dishwasher serviced once a year or face a fine (I got the fine). Here, Denise explained to me how to use the salt in the dishwasher, how to decalcify it, how to put in special stuff to make the glasses shine, how to clean the filter, etc. Wow. I used to just put in the powder and that was it.

Since the flat comes with a dishwasher, she apparently has no need for a drying rack for dishes. Having got used to washing up each evening in Egypt, I found it hard to adapt back to a dishwasher and it felt like trying to fit things into the dishwasher took up as much time as washing them in the first place. Also, due to the lack of microwave, I used the pots up too quickly to be able to get a full load of cups and plates. As a result, I’d find myself washing my pots up in the interim and then wondering where to leave them to dry. Maybe it’ll be better now that I have a microwave.

I’d forgotten that Swiss flats have regulated heating – that is, your heating is included in your rent, but it gets turned on and off centrally, so you don’t have much choice as to when your flat has heat and when it doesn’t. Most of the time, it’s fine, but on the occasional early cold snap or in an unexpected hot period in early spring, it can be frustrating as you either freeze or swelter. It also means that if you get a particularly cold day, you can’t turn the heating up; you just need to have some electric heaters to see you through. It’s a bit weird, but generally it works.

There are always some peculiarities in every flat and to be honest this one doesn’t have so many. I now know why Denise was so keen to tell me about the small little light in the lounge – the largest one buzzes if it’s on for too long and you can’t really use it.

It took me a while to work out how to open and shut the blinds. In Switzerland, it’s not uncommon to have those heavy-duty, wooden shutters that close over the outside of your windows. The flat was handed over to me with the bedroom shutters already closed for the night. On the first morning, I jumped up and down outside like a child trying to get to something that’s just too high up as I attempted to open them. Then, my neighbour stuck her head out of the window and started to watch. I was too embarrassed to ask how to do it, so I dashed quickly back in. Eventually, I worked out that I could open the window in my bedroom (doh!) and close the blinds from there.

When I tell people that the flat has absolutely everything, I often get the joke of “so, has she left her husband and the cat as well!”. Well, the husband (partner) hasn’t popped round yet, but actually most days the cat is sitting outside and looking at me through the French windows from the garden. Obviously, it hasn’t fully understood that it needs to live with the neighbour for now. It keeps on trying to sneak in when it thinks I’m not looking. So far, it’s managed it only once and it’s a bit of a scaredy-cat and runs if I make even the slightest of movements.

The most exciting thing was having a television with UK TV channels and being able to watch it without the reception disappearing every five minutes. I looked for some Arabic channels, but there didn’t appear to be any. I will miss the UK TV access when I leave!