Zurich - Winter Returns

My Suitcase as a Snow Plough

I was a bit petrified of returning to Zurich. Everyone I know seems to have come down with a horrible flu-like virus at least once over the winter. I felt nice and safe in Egypt sitting outside on my balcony with the sun shining and the palm trees waving gently in the breeze, but in Europe it appears that you don’t know what’s lurking invisibly in the air. The idea of getting on a plane, bus or a tram with all those people potentially spreading an illness was pretty scary. I don’t really understand why it’s not on the news. Before, when we’ve had reports of bird flu, the media has made it appear that millions of people are suffering but I haven’t known anyone to have it. Now, everyone is ill, but the media is silent.

Another reason for being scared about returning was the reports of temperatures of -17 degrees. I don’t do cold any more. My last memory of being in the freezing cold was when I came over from Egypt for my interview for my current job, which is about three years ago now (or is it four, I can’t remember). I’d thought I would go shopping afterwards, but my ears froze as soon as I stepped outside and I couldn’t bear the thought of staying out in that, so I sat in my hotel the whole time instead.

Anyway, this time I got off the plane and overheard one guy phoning a friend to say that the public transport was a disaster with all the snow. I fretted about whether I’d be stuck in the airport for long (it’s not the worst place to be!), but it turned out that my bus was running to time. Thank you, Switzerland!

I had a hat and a warmish jacket with me but no gloves; to my surprise, even though it was snowing as I got out of the bus, it didn’t feel so cold and I was perfectly fine without anything on my hands as I pulled my suitcase. My shoes weren’t really designed for the snow (those shoes are in Switzerland and not in Egypt), but they coped surprisingly well and I trod carefully so as not to slip. As I turned down my road, one guy skidded on his moped and fell into the middle of the street amidst all the traffic. The moped driver was OK, though, I’m happy to report. Well, he got back on his moped again and drove off at any rate.

Again, it felt as if life over here was fraught with danger: invisible germs floating around, freezing weather to give you frostbite, perilous ground conditions. My life was at constant risk and yet people say that Egypt is dangerous and Switzerland is safe!

I dragged my suitcase along behind me and it acted as a snow plough – every now and then I had to pick it up and lift it over the heap of snow that it was gathering in front of it. It’s such a different life and I was wondering if it was a wise decision to come back a bit earlier this year.

But as usual, I was happy to be back in my Zurich home. My flat was surprisingly clean and warm. There was a lot of post waiting for me, but only one thing was urgent (an unpaid insurance bill). I always worry that there’s something critical that I’ve missed.

I’ve had the usual problems of adapting back – this time, I couldn’t remember how to operate my TV streaming device (not helped by the fact that the battery suddenly stopped working), I keep on forgetting that you have to separate out the rubbish (my rubbish bag has quite a bit of composting stuff in there now), and, as usual, I couldn’t recall what I did or didn’t have or where exactly I might keep some of the stuff (such as spare batteries).

Staying inside seemed to be the safest strategy for my first day back to ensure I didn’t get the flu straight away, so I settled down and did my Swiss tax return. Well, quite a lot of procrastinating was also involved, but once I’d got started, it was hard to stop, and I ended up going to bed far too late. At the moment, staying inside and seeing snow are both things that have a certain novelty factor, so it wasn’t a great hardship and I was glad to be able to do my tax return without thinking I was missing out on a good opportunity to snorkel.