Zurich - Taking Advantage

Zurich, Limmat

I think I arrived here with a total of three suitcases (brought at different times), so the most I can go back with is also three suitcases. One suitcase will have to be returned when I go back to Egypt for Christmas; the other two will have to come with me on my final return. I hate not travelling light. Consequently, I made a promise to myself not to buy anything while I was here. I have no room or capacity to take anything back with me.

Oh dear.

I’ve bought a microwave. Well, I can tell you now, this isn’t coming back to Egypt with me! Denise can have it if she wants it, or I’ll give it to someone, or even throw it away. I’m glad I have it.

I’ve also bought my books for learning Arabic. The main one is quite a hefty tome, but I will probably want to take it back with me. Having said that, I’ve run out of space on my bookshelves in Egypt, so heaven knows what I’ll do. I always forget to take a notebook with me to my class, so I’ve been scrawling inside the book (sacrilege!), thus immediately making it not re-sellable.

More deliberately, I’ve bought 5 summer dresses for the beach so far. It’s not so easy to find a reasonably-priced dress in Egypt. The European stores are generally European prices and in the Egyptian stores you have to barter. Also, rather surprisingly, a lot of the summer dresses in Egypt are rather immodest. There’s not so much choice either. So, I’m taking advantage of the sales and the wonderful ease of shopping over here (I tell you, those marketers, they know a thing or two!).

Despite trying on every single dress in Zurich, I haven’t found one that is perfect and in my price range (I’m not paying 150 CHF for something that’s only for wearing to the beach!). I comfort myself with the thought that the ones I’ve bought are at least better than some of the ones I already have (which, by being wrong, have helped me set the criteria I require: easy to put on, light fabric [weight and colour] but not see-through, below the knees, not too low-cut, not too strappy as my shoulders are rather broad, and not body-hugging). I’m not asking a lot, but try to get that at a reasonable price and it’s impossible. Still, I have 5 compromises (mostly on length).

I’ve purchased a new electric toothbrush. How bizarre, you might think. Indeed. Especially as I already had a rather fantastic Oral-B electric toothbrush. But I’m converted. This new one is from MegaSmile and is supposed to make your teeth a shade whiter without chemicals etc. I really do think it works and I’m convinced that my teeth aren’t quite as yellow as they used to be. It’s a bit loud (I wonder if I’m waking the neighbours at night), but it’s great. I don’t know why they don’t advertise it more. Having said that, mine seems to have a fault now, and they seem to have taken them off the market until October. I’ll now have to make sure I take enough replacement heads back with me. More luggage.

I was happy to find a plug-in sonic mosquito deterrent, at long last, so I snapped that up as quick as I could, but obviously have yet to test it out in Egypt.

Weirdly, I’ve bought 2 pairs of flip-flops. I’ve no idea why. I bought some before I left Egypt so that they’d be waiting for me when I got back (my old trusty pair was looking rather worn), as they are cheap over there. Consequently, I didn’t really need to get more and pay Swiss prices for them (albeit only around 20 CHF, I think). But I was finding it irritating putting on my faffy sandals to go swimming; flip-flops are so much easier. That still doesn’t really explain why I got two pairs, but never mind. It’s done now. They will also have to fit in my luggage, somehow.

Talking of which, I also bought another bag – a beach bag. Yes, you see, my list of purchases just goes on and on. I don’t know what’s got into me. Maybe I’m pining for Egypt. I’m not even one of those girls who has a thing about bags. In fact, I find them rather boring.

But the bag I was using as a beach bag (actually, it was a shopping bag that folds up tight – thank you Pam, yes, it was the bag you gave me as a present one year!) has broken. It wasn’t really large enough for my beach towel, drink, kindle, etc. I’d looked for one briefly in Egypt but hadn’t seen anything I liked and they weren’t so cheap. And the bags over here, well, they’re all so nicely presented, and no-one is hassling you, and there I am, thinking about Egypt, and, somehow, I found myself getting my gym stuff out in the shop and stuffing it into the bag as a test to see if it would all fit. And it did, really easily, and so I ended up with this big blue bag that’s all ready for my beach towel. It will also now be my new hand luggage for the flight. I hope they allow bags of that size.

I went through a phase at one time when I seemed to lose swimming costumes on a regular basis. I’d somehow forget to pack them in my bag after swimming, I’d go back to collect it, and it would have disappeared into thin air. I even got to buying really ugly swimming costumes specifically to deter theft. I can’t think what people would have wanted with my old ones (I can’t remember which country I was in at the time, but it wasn’t Egypt). Anyway, now it seems to be sunglasses.

It can’t really be humanly possible to lose them at the rate I do. I didn’t bring any over with me and I’ve already lost one pair and purchased my second pair this last week. And this is in Switzerland where you don’t really need them as much. I also bought a swimming costume for good measure, not because I thought I might start losing them again, but because my current ones are getting old. Moreover, they are very much functional swimming costumes rather than anything for the beach, so I don’t feel so bad about that purchase. Hopefully the days of me losing swimming costumes are over.

Anyway, all this shopping does make me wonder if I’m being a bit obsessive. But it’s part of the point of working after all!

Zurich - Swimming Season (Lake)

Badi Enge

It’s swimming in the lake that I really love and this year the temperature of the water already reached 30 degrees in June – I’ve never seen it so hot (it usually reaches a peak of 26 to 28 by mid-August).

Having said that, I’m always surprised at how quickly the lake temperature changes. I had thought that once it was 30 degrees, it would take ages for it to cool down, but within the week the temperature of the lake was back down to 22 degrees and we’d continued to have good weather for most of the time.

It works both ways, though. The temperature can rise by at least a degree during the course of the day, so if the water’s a bit cold sometimes, I just delay going until the afternoon.

Swimming in the lake is as beautiful as it always was, particularly when the water is as warm as it has been so far this year.

Unfortunately, I can generally go only at weekends, since it takes about 45 minutes for me to get there from home/work. The place (lido) I most like has a kiosk selling some nice drinks (iced coffee, prosecco, beer, etc), cakes, and salads, plus some super-delicious shortbread. That’s really my main reason for going there.

You go across a little bridge to get to it and it’s a wooden square floating on the lake with a square cut out in the middle with a platform below for those who aren’t good swimmers and metal railings round the outer sides. People pack themselves round the edge, squeezing their beach towels on the platform wherever there’s a spare place. It has a shower taking water from the lake for you to acclimatise yourself to the temperature beforehand, and there are steps hanging down off the platform for you to enter the lake.

I thought it might feel strange to be barefoot and not to be wearing swimming shoes, but actually I didn’t even notice. Instead of looking for fish, I look for the swans and the ducks. I remember the first time I ever swam in the lake and I was fascinated that the wildlife would just swim right with us, not bothered at all by this sudden human activity in summer and completely ignoring the boundaries for the lido set out by the buoys. Sometimes a whole family of ducks would even swim into the non-swimmers section of the lido completely oblivious to the fact that this wasn’t their section of the lake. Bathers, meanwhile, would be grabbing their phones to try to take a photo.

I usually swim outside of the bounds of the lido and weave my way past the moored boats towards town, and then back again. I feel a little nervous, because there’s a risk that boats coming in to dock or that those about to leave won’t see you, so I’m always pretty attentive as I swim. The lido has lots of funny bright yellow notices on the buoys to remind you of the dangers. I get a bit freaked out if I feel some seaweed below me, so I try to avoid those bits of the lake.

The lake is always a hive of activity and I enjoy seeing everyone having such a lot of fun. Stand-up paddling (aka SUP) is very popular just now and there are loads of people out doing that. Then there are the sailing boats, the swimmers, the pedalos.... it feels as if the whole of Zurich is out and having a good time. The lake police drive about in their boat and chase the youngsters off when they’re found to have climbed on board a yacht they don’t own. People sit all along the lake, some getting in the water from the side of the lake rather than using (and paying for) a lido’s facilities (which include changing rooms, showers, etc).

I felt privileged to be treading water beside a duck and her newly-hatched babies – they were so tiny! The mother looked very proud. Another time, I had to swim round a boat because there were so many ducks just bobbing around and sleeping that I didn’t want to disturb them. I also need to watch out for the boats moving about in their mooring spot as they can turn quite sharply and their engine blades look as if they could do some damage if the boat swerved into you. So, there’s plenty to keep me occupied even on the lake and it makes for a more interesting swim than the pool.

Here, if I accidentally get a mouthful of water when I’m swimming, it is freshwater and tastes pretty good. The water in Lake Zurich is supposed to be of drinking water quality. It’s much nicer than in Egypt where I end up swallowing disgustingly warm salt water. Not that I make a habit of this, of course, but Lake Zurich in this respect is a true joy.

I don’t know what it is, but for some reason the pool where I go and the lido where I swim both have a place just by them where birds are kept and put on display for the public (eg, parrots, cockatoos, etc). You can go in for free, which is unusual for Switzerland, or you can wander round the outside, because the birds may be on either side. I quite often take a look, but I’m not really sure why they’re there and what it has to do with swimming. It’s a nice idea, though.

I also like the fact that at both at the lake and the pool, there’s a clock hanging up so that you know what the time is. I did buy myself a waterproof watch for Egypt, but the battery ran out before I could use it, and then it turned out that in Egypt time didn’t seem to matter so much anyway. Here, I like to make sure that I always swim for at least 30 minutes, just so that I know I’m getting enough exercise. On some days, I may do as much as an hour.

It’s times like these where I wish I wasn’t back at work. Swimming in the open air in a natural environment is just the best! But I’m so lucky to be able to do this and it also makes me yearn to live for eternity, if eternity could be composed only of these moments.

Meanwhile, while I’m on my water theme, if any of you haven’t seen my request for you to rank my suggested covers for 25 New Year’s Resolutions – for Fish!, please feel free to visit the survey site and place your votes! It's completely anonymous and I won't know who's said what or even who has responded. The survey is completely open, so just pass on the link to anyone you like (or even don’t like!). Thank you.

Zurich - Swimming Season (Pool)

The Badi (Open-Air Pool) in the Early Morning

After much deliberation, I finally decided to buy a summer season subscription for the swimming pools in Zurich. The season card is great as it covers entrance to all indoor and outdoor pools and to all lakeside lidos in Zurich. My intention, however, was only to swim outdoors, and to cover the cost I think I’d have to swim at least 15 times, or maybe 16 times. At the beginning I wasn’t at all sure that the weather would be nice often enough, given that only weekends were feasible for me to swim, since I’m working the rest of the time.

In my previous job, I used to take half-days off to go and swim in the lake, but I have only 5 days’ holiday left now (I’m booked to return to Egypt for Christmas), so I don’t feel I have days to spare. Having said that, as soon as the weather is hot, I can't stop myself from wondering if I should just take an afternoon off anyway (although my contract says I have to give 4 weeks’ notice of vacation – life was much easier in Egypt when life was nothing but holiday and I didn’t have to plan all this stuff out!).

I’d forgotten how long the days are in summer over here. In Egypt, it gets dark at around 5pm or 6pm whatever the time of year, so the days are quite short (unless you get up early). Here, it’s still daylight at 8pm and starts to get dark at around 10pm.

If I don’t shut the blinds to my bedroom, bright sunshine streams through the curtains in the early hours and wakes me up. So, much to my surprise, I do occasionally go for an early morning swim in the outdoor pool (heated to 24 degrees) just 5 minutes’ walk from where I live. It opens at 7am and I’ve even been known to queue.

I’m tempted to say “how very Swiss” at the thought of queuing at 7am, but I do remember that in Horsham the pensioners would often be at the pool early in the morning, too. It tends to be younger people here, though.

In the morning, there are only around 15 people there and no children, so you can swim fairly peacefully. It’s a bit of a functional swim, because I have only around 30 minutes, so it’s straight in and straight out. No hanging about. The schools seem to come at around 8.30am.

Surprisingly, I didn’t mind the chlorine, and I was surprised at how warm the water felt. I’m sure 24 degrees seemed pretty cold when I last lived in Zurich, but now it seems OK. Each time the sea in Egypt felt cold, I’d persuade myself to go in by telling myself to remember that I’d swum in the much colder Swiss lakes before. I now think I was telling myself lies. When I get back, I’ll just have to tell myself that I’ve swum in the Red Sea in winter before, so I can do it again. This time, at least it will be true.

If you go to the outdoor pool after work, which I sometimes do, you get all the families, and the pool can be a bit hectic. Surprisingly, given the general sense of order in Switzerland, people don’t really stick to their lanes. Maybe it’s a way of showing their sense of freedom now that they are in their leisure hours? Some will decide to swim underwater beneath you, children (and adults) will back into you. Others will swim in pairs taking up three lanes as they chat to each other. The person in front of you will suddenly stop and decide to swim back instead. Some spot people they know and cut over your path without looking. It’s like driving in Egypt.

It felt a bit strange at first to swim lengths up and down, up and down (or zigzags, depending on the time of day), rather than making my own route across the sea as it took my fancy at that particular moment in time. But I soon adapted back to the old routine.

Having said all this, even at the busiest times, there’s probably no more than 10% of the total there actually in the pool at any one time. I think a lot of people must simply go to have a lie in the sun. And you can usually get a decent swim (they are 50m lengths), even if you do have to dodge about a bit. It’s not really that bad – just a bit different from the Red Sea, that’s all! There are lanes sectioned off for the serious swimmers, but I don’t really swim fast enough to go there, so I am in the “fun” section of the pool, to be fair, and my comments need to be read in that light.

I never used to mind having to lie on my towel on the grass, but I do miss the sun loungers now. When I have time to dry myself off in the sun, I keep on changing my reading position, but eventually get uncomfortable at some point. I’ve obviously got spoiled.

The hot weather brought back memories of my childhood in the UK on the occasional sweltering sunny day that we’d have every few years. Our parents would take us off to one of the few outdoor pools in the region (there may have been only one). My memory is of people shoulder-to-shoulder in the water with no room to move. It’s not like that in Switzerland – it is still a swimming pool!

I also remember that for the indoor pools where I lived in the UK, you used to be given a coloured band and 45 minutes were allocated to each colour so that the pool was never too crowded. I don’t know if that still happens now or not (I think there weren’t as many swimming pools around in those days), but I do appreciate having the freedom to stay in for as long as I want.

Swimming in the pool is pretty good and I’m glad I live so close that I can still get some outdoor swims in during the week even if I can’t take time off work to go to the lake. The pools are generally situated in large green areas as well, so it’s all very pleasant. Actually, the more I swim, the less I miss my life in Egypt!