Zurich - Open Air Season

Opera for All

Well, the longest day has come and gone and it’s officially summer. It’s time to enjoy the warmer weather.

Open air events are now starting in Zurich, which I love, since in the UK you don’t get so much of these – likely due to the rainier climate, although with the hotter summers over there recently, maybe that will change.

Anyway, I finally braved my first open air swim. Well, I wasn’t really that brave because it was in a heated outdoor pool. Nevertheless, last year, for some reason I got it into my head that 24 degrees was far too cold, so hardly swam outside at all. I’ve reasoned to myself now that the sea is probably a few degrees colder than that, so I need to kick myself into order.

The first day I went, it was a really hot day. I was on my way to the indoor pool when I changed my mind as I suddenly felt myself in the mood to be outside and in cooler water. Consequently, I got off the bus early and went to the outdoor pool instead. It didn’t feel as cold as I was expecting (the water was 25 degrees, and I do find the extra degree can make all the difference) and was manageable in terms of business (it got busier closer to lunchtime as I left).

The next day, it was overcast and started to rain, but I decided to go again. The joy of swimming in the rain is that not many people go, so I had a whole lane to myself and there was a spare lane beside me, too. That’s just how I like it – no pressure to swim fast, no waiting for the lane to be clear to start my next length; I just go whenever I’m ready. Also, there’s somehow a sense of daring and adventure in swimming outside when it’s raining.

But it’s not just swimming, of course. I went to a classical and folk music festival in Lenzburg after work; well, I went to the classical section. It wasn’t your typical concert, but themed, so this year it was in conjunction with narrated ghost stories (just up my street!). It’s usually held outside in the castle grounds, but unfortunately this year they decided the risk of rain was too great, so it was taken inside. But it was good to see inside. The concert was a mixture of stringed instruments and something else that I didn’t know what it was. However, looking it up on google it appears it’s a hammered dulcimer. Well, now you know! It was beautiful but I have no idea how the guy managed to play it so well. I can feel a new ambition coming on, since apparently it’s one of the easiest instruments to learn (but sounds so complex!) …

And then, on Saturday, the Royal Opera House held its yearly Opera for All where they transmit live a performance from the Opera House for free to a screen in the square outside; you could buy camping chairs for 15 CHF. The photo above was taken with my phone, so it didn't take the video capture very well, but maybe you can just about make out the crowd reflected back. This year it was the ballet of Romeo and Juliet; the choreographer / ballet has just won an award that’s the highest accolade in ballet, apparently. It threatened to rain for most of the evening, but it held off apart from during the interval, so we were lucky. Some interviews with the ballet dancers and the people who work behind the scenes were shown beforehand. It was very interesting. 

The usual joke is that you don’t get anything for free in Switzerland, but this is one occasion where it was indeed possible!

Zurich - Trip to London

Close Up of Exhibit at Summer Exhibition

I decided last-minute to take a quick trip to London. The main reason was to attend the AGM of a company that I’m invested in (Iofina, IOF), since I felt it would be interesting this year as they’ve just done a fundraise, are planning to finally execute on their expansion plans and also possibly to enter the Cannabidiol market. It’s also been over a year since I was last in the UK and actually I can’t remember when I was last in London.

The more I looked into it, the more excited I got – the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition was on. I used to go there as a child / teenager with my parents, so it would be a trip down memory lane. There was also a BP National Portrait competition on at the National Portrait Gallery. Then I noticed that Cinderella was playing in the round at the Royal Albert Hall as a ballet. There’s just so much to do in London and I was fired up with excitement.

“Unfortunately” (well, not really the right word), I was booked for the ballet in Zurich on Saturday so I was unable to stay for the weekend. However, I decided it was still worth the quick trip.

I’d forgotten how expensive hotels were in London, but I got a room at the Assembly Hotel on Charing Cross Road for around 155 GBP a night, which was just 20 minutes’ walk to the AGM venue. I was delighted at being so central; I don’t think I’ve ever stayed right in the middle of London before and it was so convenient. Even better, there were a couple of chippies round the corner and a good Indian restaurant just two doors down. This was everything I wanted.

When I went in the chip shop to indulge my desire for proper British chips, I was confronted by the fact that it had been ages since I was last in the UK. I pulled out two coins that I thought were pound coins, but it turned out they weren’t. Then I gave the guy serving me a five pound note, having given up on the coins. He looked at me and commented that it was obvious I hadn’t been in the country for a long time. The five pound note wasn’t valid as they’d switched to plastic instead of paper notes. I had heard about this from a friend, but had forgotten. Subsequently, I tried a twenty pound note (for a bag of chips!), and apparently that was OK. I felt like a foreigner in my own country.

I was pretty much on the go the entire time. The AGM was well worth attending even if I didn’t really get the chance to meet anyone. I dashed straight off to the Summer Exhibition afterwards. For those who don’t know, this is an open art competition that happens every year. Your grandmother can submit a painting alongside Banksy. The submissions are judged anonymously; indeed one 12-year old boy had a self-portrait with dog accepted (and Banksy had his entry on Brexit accepted). The exhibition is crammed with art of different styles and most of the pieces are available for sale. It’s a fun place to go.

I thought it might take me all day, but actually I had enough time afterwards to see the BP portrait competition. This was smaller and comprised only around 42 portraits. The National portrait gallery was only 3 minutes’ walk from my hotel; the Summer Exhibition was about 10 minutes’ walk in the other direction. Really, it couldn’t have been better. And there were plenty of cafes around for me to stop and gather up my energy again.

Just walking round London reminded me of so many things – the New Year’s celebrations I’d had with Rachel, Alastair and Sheila, my student days in the second hand bookshops on Charing Cross Road, the time when I was young and shocked that a cup of coffee cost 60p in London, and when my dad bought us all tickets to see a ballet one Christmas. It was quite strange to reconnect with my younger self.

In the evening I went to see Rosmersholme at a theatre just five minutes’ away. The play was good, but I was quite tired after my busy day and the play was quite heavy, so I might have preferred something a bit lighter. I didn’t really have enough brains left by then. But I’m not complaining – the acting was brilliant and it was wonderful to soak up the London theatre life.

The next day, someone at the AGM had recommended the Science and Magic exhibition at the Wellcome Foundation, so I went there. I used to work in this kind of area, so again it was a trip down memory lane and it was nice to see names of people I know and to learn a bit at the same time. It made me a little nostalgic for the academic life.

After that, I went off to the Royal Albert Hall to meet Geraldine as we had the ballet booked. I got there early as I didn’t want Geraldine to have to hang around unnecessarily, but the bar where I said I would meet her wasn’t open yet. I went for a coffee and walnut cake (another thing ticked off my list of things to do), then headed back to the entrance. I popped into the toilet and lo and behold, there was Geraldine!

After the ballet we went to see the Diana memorial park, which neither of us had seen before. And after that, we went for a curry. I was really surprised to discover how close Green Park was to Picadilly Circus and how close Picadilly Circus was to Leicester Square and I’d forgotten that Charing Cross is that same area as well.

But for all that, the thing that most impressed me about London, weirdly, was the underground system. I’d read beforehand that I could now just use my debit card on the card readers by the entrance and exit gates and you’d pay a cheaper fare than getting a normal ticket. Moreover, you would be charged a maximum of a day ticket if you travelled several times and used the same debit card. It made using the tube so easy. I didn’t have to queue for tickets or stress about what ticket to buy, nor did I end up with loads of change. I felt a surge of happiness each time I used my debit card in the station – such a sense of freedom to travel around without worrying about what ticket I’d bought. It was great.

It was a full-on two days, but I’m so glad I did it.

Zurich - Boring Admin

Detail of Operahaus

I’ve managed to see Giselle (ballet) at the opera, been out to eat in the beer garden in Kusnacht, and saw Almodovar’s Dolor Y Gloria at the cinema, but somehow, subjectively, my life seems to have been dominated with admin since I’ve got back.

The first thing was to extend my lease on my flat in England. Fortunately, my friend Julie informed me that at some point the law had changed and now, rather than less than 60 years, it’s now less than 80 years remaining on your current lease where charges for extension rise dramatically. It had been something that I thought I’d leave until I was in retirement, but now I only had 7 years left to wait instead of 27 years. I don’t know why it’s not obligatory to inform all leaseholders of such important changes!

Anyway, I wanted to start the process while I’m still earning. As usual, these things somehow explode in scope once you get started. First of all I had to find a solicitor. This wasn’t so difficult. But then to officially hire the solicitor I needed a copy of my lease. I was just going to get them to do it for me, but then it turned out I also needed to appoint a specialist valuer for the lease. In the information they sent me, it turns out that you just have to look on a website to do it yourself. I thought I’d do that, but of course, I couldn’t work out how to find it and had to contact the registry. Maybe I should have just let the solicitor do it for me.

Then my solicitor also wanted a copy of my passport and one utility bill. Because I’m not in the UK, it had to get certified by an English-accredited solicitor. I ended up going back and asking if a notary would be OK (it was). Inconveniently, it seems most notaries close for the entire lunchtime. I looked to see whether there was one near me; there was one in Wallisellen and one in Oerlikon. Someone had given the one in Oerlikon a really bad review saying they’d refused to do their simple notarisation and had been rude and arrogant. I remembered that I’d found them unfriendly and daunting when I used them years ago, so I decided to try the Wallisellen one, which had really good reviews.

I got to Wallisellen and I just couldn’t find the office. In the end, I arrived, sweat running down my face, just as they were shutting their doors at 11.30am for their long mid-afternoon break. Fortunately, they were indeed very kind and made no fuss at all about notarising my documents for me, even though they were supposed to be closed. I thanked them profusely.

All my documents are in Egypt, so even answering questions such as who is your freeholder was quite difficult and I had to turn to my letting agent. I also had to admit to having installed a new door and windows without consulting the freeholder (I hadn’t realized at the time that it was my obligation to do so). I hope this won’t come back and haunt me. And then there was the request of proof of funds (not so difficult, but it always seems a bit personal!).

The second admin thing that’s taken up time is a leak in the flat above my Edinburgh flat wrecking the ceiling and walls in the hallway of my flat. My letting agent advised me to get my insurer onto it. Again, my documents were in Egypt and I couldn’t find my policy number. For most people, phoning up the insurer and asking wouldn’t be a problem, but I’m not the sort of person who likes to be on the phone, so I probably made things difficult for myself.

Anyway, after spending an inordinate amount of time trying to work out how much the call would cost me and then how to top up the phone, I did finally get in touch. However, they couldn’t help me because I had an old policy from a company that they’d acquired and therefore it wasn't on their main system. I had to phone again at an earlier time of day (and top up my phone again).

In the end, I suspect I may have even contacted the wrong company as, after a lot of to-and-fro-ing, I eventually phoned another insurer. And since I was dealing with my lease extension at the same time, I initially gave them the postcode for the wrong property, so no wonder they couldn't find it. It was all too much. Then I discovered that my policy was home insurance rather than landlord insurance (I must have forgotten to change it), but they kindly swapped it over for me (I had to pay extra, but I was relieved that it wasn't totally null and void).

All of this is still ongoing, but it sucks such a lot of time and energy!

Hurghada to Zurich

Goodbye, Beach (For Now)!

And that was my quick month back in Egypt already over. The good thing about leaving my Egypt flat is that I only need to tidy up; it doesn’t matter if it’s dirty because I’ll have it cleaned before I return. The hardest things on leaving are getting rid of any remaining food (I handed it in to reception, but it was Ramadan, so not sure how useful it was and, in any case, the staff are provided all meals) and coming back with relatively little luggage when I have three laptops that I need somehow to cushion. In the end, I decided I’d put the laptops in my hand luggage. With any luck this will be my last trip with 3 laptops.

My taxi arrived early. The taxi driver was a bit exhausting. I think he thought he had to put on a hyperactive, extrovert, exuberant act, whereas I really just wanted to sit in silence and contemplate. His English wasn’t very extensive. He asked me my name, and then spent a good ten minutes repeating over and over again that Fiona was a very nice name, very nice name. Fiona (he flourishes his hands in the air). Very nice name (more hand flourishing). Fiona, yes, Fiona. Very nice name….

I asked him if he’d been busy, but he didn’t understand, so then I asked in Arabic whether there were a lot of people here (I was just making conversation and trying to switch to something other than my name being nice). However, I didn’t inflex my tone of voice properly, so he understood it as a statement, agreed, and then told me again what a nice name I had. He asked me in Arabic if I was on my own, so I said I was (I really wish Egyptians wouldn’t ask women this question!!) and he then started telling me with a huge smile and an emphatic hand on heart that his family was now my family.

After that, he insisted that I ask for his taxi when I’m next in Egypt and proceeded to write his number down on a bit of paper while he was driving! I suggested he wait until we’d got to the airport, but he didn’t understand. I could see him struggling to think how to write it in our alphabet, whereas I’d rather he put his attention on the road (which was thankfully straight and empty). He did pay more attention to the road once we got to a busier area. Anyway, he was harmless enough, and I got there safely.

At the airport, I got stopped at security as they discovered two steel cake forks in my handbag (“not allowed, not allowed!”). I had no idea they were there. Actually, before I left, I’d made an attempt to clear my handbag of superfluous items to make it less heavy. So much for that! Anyway, the forks were confiscated (I realized in the end that they were left over from my trip to the Wildnispark with Stephanie) and so my cake fork collection (or Stephanie’s) is now two short.

The flight went smoothly, but a little delayed. It was strange arriving in Zurich and finding that all the trolleys bore adverts for Aberdeen Insurance. It made me wonder if I’d arrived at the right place, particularly since I’ve been thinking recently about perhaps spending a little more time in Scotland next year. On the other hand, it was exciting to see a place set out in Zurich airport for the forthcoming KFC and also a large unit being prepared for Pret a Manger. At this rate, I’ll want to live in Zurich airport. They just need a swimming pool, and I’ll be sorted!

My Zurich flat was in good shape on arrival, my seedlings had all survived and not used any of the water in the slow drip feeders, indicating that it had indeed been a wet May while I was away. I evidently brought over the Egyptian weather with me, because it’s been sunshine and blue skies ever since I’ve got back.