Zurich - Same Old, Same Old

English Marigold

I’ve written this blog for so long now, it’s hard to find something that I’m doing that I haven’t reported back on before. It’s open-air cinema season just now, so I have tickets booked for both the Allianz cinema (by the lake) and for FilmFluss (by the river). I’ve yet to visit the open-air cinema at Uto-Kulm, so I should look into that. There’s also one at Xenix, I think. So, it’s not as if I’ve done absolutely everything before ; there are some new things for me to try out even now.

I went to Basel to meet up with Steph (been there, done that) and had brunch at the Uto Kulm (but with Candice and Hye-Youn rather than with Geraldine this time).

I seem to be having a bit more luck with my balcony plants this year. Last year, I bought them as ready-grown plants, but for some reason, all the ones in the built-in planter on my balcony shriveled and died. Maybe they had some kind of insect attack?

This year, I planted from seed. I realize now that the seed packets show very magnified pictures of the flowers; they aren’t exactly misleading, but the plants that grew also weren’t quite what I was expecting. I suppose reading the packet more carefully might have helped because some of them were predicted to be 60cm tall, which isn’t really what I wanted.

Moreover, I was a bit surprised that two out of the three plants were marigolds. I had no idea that I’d effectively bought the same thing twice or that marigolds were so diverse (or the English language so poor!). In German, one was called Tagetes. I’ve actually seen these for sale and wouldn’t normally have chosen them, but I only looked at the picture on the seed packet; I didn’t even think to look what they were called. Having said that, they are actually very pretty and they’re doing a good job of blooming profusely, so I’m fairly happy actually. In English, these are called marigolds (or more specifically English marigold).

The other one was called Ringelblume in German. When I looked it up, this was also called marigold (or more specifically pot marigold). It looks completely different from the other one since it has different leaves and a completely different shape flower, so I find it very surprising that they’re both the same plant. And, to be honest, who’d have thought that Ringelblume was the German word for marigold AND Tagetes was the German word for marigold? For once, I think the German language is better since at least you expect two different plants with two different words. Rather aptly, whereas the other one was an English marigold, the Ringelblume turns out to be native to Egypt. It was meant to be! The Ringelblumen were a little slower to flower but are now doing very nicely, although they don’t seem to be able to stand up straight. Maybe I should be tying them up in some way, but I’m leaving them to do their own thing.

The final one was a chrysanthemum; these haven’t bloomed yet, but they’re almost there. Next year, I’ll sow these first and start them off three months earlier if I can. These started off growing tall and straight and looked nice and strong, but we had a storm and it was enough to break one of them in half and for the other one to lie horizontally and never to recover. I have that one propped up at the moment, hoping it will learn to stand straight again. They didn’t look that delicate!

I’ve got loads of seeds left, so next year, this will also be a “been there, done that” moment. However, I’ve learned quite a bit from this year’s attempt, so maybe next year will be even better.

Zurich - Property Market

Out of My Price Range (If it Were For Sale)

For Zurich, my current rent is fairly reasonable and at one point I decided that if I kept my flat on throughout retirement, it would probably cost me less than buying somewhere. Moreover, by renting I’d have more capital available rather than having it tied up and not ready to hand if I wanted to move.

However, recently, quite a few people have been asking me why I haven’t bought, and since I’m a bit of a property addict, I came to question this earlier decision. Property in Zurich is extremely expensive. To have a reasonable choice of apartments, you’d need about a million CHF (if not more); however there is the occasional property still just below 500k CHF or between 500-600k CHF.

The mortgage situation in Switzerland is very different from the UK. In Switzerland, you generally have to put down 20% deposit (although you can pledge your private [not statutory] pension fund for 10%).

Once you have the deposit, most people have two mortgages (yes, two mortgages!) to cover the remaining 80%. One covers approximately 60% of the cost of the property and has an indefinite repayment period (around 1% per year). It’s not really expected that this mortgage ever gets fully paid off. The other mortgage covers the remaining 20% of the property price and must be paid back in 15 years (or before retirement age, I believe).

For those who are used to a system like in the UK, where the idea is that you buy a property and then you don’t have any costs in your retirement, the idea of having a mortgage still to pay until you die is a bit daunting. What’s the point in owning, if you never actually own it?

To add insult to injury, the Swiss system then decrees that once you’ve bought your property, you have to pay income tax on its rental value (even if you’re not actually getting any such income). I’ve heard people say that this is offset by the costs of repairs etc, but it still seems rather weird to me. In addition, your property is regarded as part of your wealth (minus your mortgage / debt), and you are taxed on your wealth.

All this put me off buying property in Switzerland.

However, mortgages are cheap and will often work out as less expensive than rent. So, I would be saving costs. And the old argument still applies that you can sell the property at some stage and thus “save” your rental costs during the period where you lived in the property, whereas rent is lost forever. And although you don’t pay it all off, this also means that actually you still have access to the capital rather than having it tied up in the property. This made me reconsider recently my decision not to buy.

Affordability for a mortgage in Switzerland is judged assuming a 5% interest rate for the mortgage(s), your repayments, plus includes other costs you will have such as maintenance and insurance; you won’t be able to buy if affordability is more than 30% of your income. Interest only mortgages don’t exist.

I saw a property near where I live for less than 500k and that got me thinking. However, it sold really quickly. This is what I’ve observed in Zurich, at least. If a property seems to be very good value, it will usually be off the market within a week or two or sometimes even faster than that. I once saw one disappear in two days.

But all this is still a lot of money and also put me off buying property. For the amount I’d need for deposit, I could buy a property to rent out in the UK and have extra income instead.

And then I realized that if I was prepared to move out to Schaffhausen, which is a town I really like about 40 mins away from Zurich, property prices are about half the price vs Zurich. So maybe I should move? However, tax is higher and the properties do not move so quickly as in Zurich. Having said that, I did view one that I got quite excited about, but this one was sold within about two weeks. At least this means that I have a good eye for which properties are good buys!

I’m a contract worker and I’m still unsure whether I could even get a mortgage. At the moment, I’d also struggle to get the deposit together, even for somewhere in Schaffhausen. This is mostly because I’ve recently started putting any savings towards paying off my UK mortgage (and I’m not sure if my UK mortgages would be a further hurdle to getting a mortgage in Switzerland, although I have equity in the property). I started to ask about whether I could get a mortgage when I don’t have a permanent position, but when the bank started to probe, I realized that my situation is quite complicated and I didn’t have the energy to go through it. I probably need to wait until I have more savings and maybe I need to pay off my UK property first.

It’s all a complicated thought process and I think in the end I need a bit of realism as to my actual current financial situation which doesn’t really match what I need to have. It’s back to “Next year, Rodney…”

Zurich - Swimming Lessons

A Clip from My Swimming Video!

When I spent the month of May in Egypt, I was swimming about 1.5km most days, stretching to 2km at the weekends. I’d hoped that this endurance training would make it easier when I got back to Opfikon and I’d be speeding along for my usual 1.3km. However, to my great disappointment, my swimming speed had decreased while I was away.

Over a few sessions, I gradually returned to my former speed, but I concluded that I was getting faster not because my technique was improving but because I was putting in more effort. I really wanted to swim faster because I was swimming better, not because I was constantly racing with myself.

I’ve watched tons of videos online of swimming drills and I started to do them myself. However, I found it really difficult to work out what I was doing wrong or what I should focus on most to improve. Moreover, even when I did the drills I watched online, I was never entirely sure if I was doing them correctly. I felt I’d reached a plateau and the more I tried to improve, the more confused I got.

So, I decided to take some swimming lessons. I’d been thinking about doing this for a while, but had always been a bit nervous about it. I think in my head I’d got having lessons a bit mixed up with having a training practice. I didn’t really want to have someone forcing me to swim faster than I really felt comfortable with and I didn’t want to have to say that I just couldn’t do it. In the end, I rationalized that I was paying for it and no-one could force me to do something I didn’t want to do.

As it turned out, my fears were unfounded. I’d also been a bit concerned that it would be a young guy in his 20s with high expectations that my energy levels could match his when I’m thirty years older. However, it wasn’t someone in their 20s, and if anything, on my first lesson, I was a bit surprised at how long a break he gave me between lengths.

Anyway, I’m learning loads and he’s videoing me so that I can see for myself what it is I’m doing in the water. The most astonishing thing for me was being told that I don’t look down in the water, when I could have sworn that I was doing this perfectly well. However, once he said it, I could understand what he meant. Another eye-opener was that I use my left leg only 25% of the time when I’m kicking. I also have problems extending my arms. Yes, there’s a lot to improve (that wasn’t such a surprise)!

I’m also understanding that just swimming distance alone isn’t the best way to improve. It’s better to have rests and to do drills that help you swim a good stroke (your stroke will deteriorate as you tire, so then you’re just practicing a bad swimming style). I’ve put this into practice; I’m now resting after each length; of course my speed is faster (because I’m less tired), but that feels a bit of a cheat, since my wish is to swim even long distances faster (and with better technique). However, despite all the rests in between laps, I’ve been exhausted after my practice sessions and my arms have been aching, so I guess it’s doing something. I just need to be able to keep that speed up consistently, so I’ll go back to incorporating the occasional distance swim, I think.

I know my speed will go down again when I do swim further, but I need to have some confidence now that I can still do distance and that I'm not relying too much on all those rests! Incidentally, I’ve found a great calculator that tells you how much time you will need to swim, eg, 1km without rest, if you input the time it takes when you swim, eg, just 100m in one go. The calculator doesn’t just take the speed at 100m and multiply it; instead it decreases the speed incrementally using a formula to allow for the fact that you will tire. It was pretty accurate for me when I compared my "fast" 400m swim in my last lesson with my "steady" 1km that I'd done just the day before.

He’s warned me not to expect miracles (swimming takes a lot of practice), but it’s so enlightening that just the learning is reward enough. Here’s his website for anyone in the Opfikon/Ruemlang area who may be interested: www.besser-schwimmen.ch

Zurich - Milan

Market on a Sunday in Canal Area, Madrid

I finally got myself into gear and hopped onto a train to Milan for the weekend. Well, it’s never quite that easy, but it sounds good!

I went with Lena and in the end we decided to leave on Friday mid-afternoon and stop over in Lugano for one night and then go to Milan the next morning and stay until Sunday evening. This meant I could do some work in the morning, go for a swim and then catch the train, so I was happy with this plan.

We intended to meet on the platform but actually we bumped into each other at Starbucks beforehand, so that was a good sign that things would work out well. It was a beautiful 27 degrees when we arrived in Lugano and this, along with hearing Italian all around me, was enough to make it feel like a holiday. 

It was an evening where Switzerland was due to be playing in the World Cup, so the square in the town centre had a stand set up to show the match live and more and more people started to pour into the streets as the time of the match approached. We managed to find a rooftop restaurant – Seven – that seemed to be World Cup-free and was surprisingly quiet. We didn’t get a window seat, but the view we had over the lake was still wonderful. The food was amazing and I’d recommend it if you are ever there. It was my favorite meal of the trip.

We heard a roar, a happy roar, at one point and concluded that the Swiss must have won the match and, checking online, they scored a goal at the very last minute which won them the game. We wandered through happy crowds to get back to our hotel, but they weren’t rowdy or drunk or even particularly elated as you might see in the UK. However, cars tooted loudly in jubilation as they drove past and the atmosphere was definitely celebratory. It was a warm and fuzzy ending to the day.

The following morning we got the train to Milan. We were a bit puzzled by the tickets we got from the machine. They seemed almost impossibly cheap but stated that the route was restricted to use of regional trains. However, it is impossible to get to Milan without taking an international train. It turned out that we had to pay a supplement (not a fine) because we were on an international train, but we still couldn’t understand how they could sell a ticket that was impossible to be used in itself. This mystery was never solved.

It was my first time in Milan even though it’s only 3.5 hours from Zurich. It would be worth going for another trip, since we didn’t want to spend time queuing. Consequently,  we didn’t get to go inside the cathedral or climb up to the spires, and we didn’t get to view the painting of the Last Supper, which has to be booked in advance. Of course, there were other things we didn’t manage to do either, such as the botanical gardens or any museums, although this was, in part, because the weather was too good to be spent inside.

We did take a sightseeing bus tour, so we saw the highlights of the city. We spent quite a lot of time in and around the castle and the gardens just behind. There was a large security presence (here and by the cathedral). Music seemed to be everywhere in Milan (it reminds me now that Sheila said that the Italians have a habit of just breaking into song). There was a free band playing in the park (which had a pond with turtles!) and a number of good buskers.

Our main starting point was usually just by the cathedral, so we saw that many times even if we didn’t go inside, and we were also in the galleries in the same area where we enjoyed some wonderful cakes just before we left. I hadn’t realized before that the Italians were good at cakes. Pizza, pasta, and coffee are a given, but cakes was unexpected for me.

By the cathedral, there were lots of very persistent Africans giving bracelets away touting for money to support their country. There were also two bananas walking around giving out free samples as an advertising campaign.

On Sunday, we strolled down to the canal area. Probably in any other European country it would have been called little Venice, but I guess they don’t do that in Italy! There was a huge range of market stalls  and it was buzzing with people; the wares were mostly art, antiques, and clothes. We didn’t have enough time to see all of it.

We enjoyed ourselves so much that we ended up not leaving enough time to get the train we’d planned to take – partly because the queue to get the tickets was so long and partly because the machine was telling us that the train was sold out. We got a train an hour later, so it wasn’t so bad, and we had time to buy some food before we boarded.

It was a very enjoyable weekend and it was refreshing to go somewhere new. I’d definitely go again  and maybe plan tickets for things where you need to be a bit more organized in advance. But for this first trip, it wasn’t a hardship as there were plenty of things to see.

Zurich - Social Events

Storchen - My Brunch Location

I feel I haven’t really organised myself properly since my return; on the other hand, I keep on forgetting that I’ve only been back for just over two weeks. It feels like I’ve never been away!

I have a list of things I want to do – go to Milan, Lichtenstein, explore more of Austria, visit Idette, go to the UK, have a trip to Basel – but I haven’t arranged any of them yet. I’m not really very sure what’s stopping me, other than that I dislike going away from Zurich in the summer in case the weather is really good and I could be swimming in the lake instead.

So, my impression is that I haven’t really done anything since I’ve been back, which makes writing my blog difficult. However, when I think about it a bit more, I’m maybe being a bit hard on myself.

Just as I had to squeeze in Faust – The Ballet just before I left to go to Egypt, on my return to Zurich, I was keen to ensure that I got to see Nutcracker – Reloaded! This was at yet a different location from the two ballets I saw a month or so ago, which just goes to show how good Zurich is for places which hold events. This time I went with Caterina and it was in the Maag Halle.

I’d forgotten that this time of year is full of thunderstorms, particularly in the evening (which is quite handy if you want to swim during the day, not that I did on this occasion) and the night of the ballet was one of those nights. The rain chucked itself down and the thunder rumbled. I got there before Caterina, so I watched everyone running in with their umbrellas. With this being Zurich, which is not so large as cities go, I saw Florence and Nada from my old workplace as they ran in to come to the ballet as well. It can be quite hard to do anything here without seeing someone you know. Eventually, Caterina turned up, her umbrella blowing inside out.

We had to turn two people out of our seats since they were sitting in the wrong place (it took a bit of persuasion, enlisting the help of the people behind as well, but we got there). I thought the ballet itself was brilliant – very creative and very different. There was a guy introducing it making himself out to be from the Swedish Ministry of Culture and only there because he was the only one who could speak German. He explained the story as we went along (since it deviated from the normal Nutcracker quite extensively, it was a welcome interjection and he was very funny). I can’t even remember the proper Nutcracker story now, but this version was about how a rich woman needed a heart transplant using the heart from a poor orphan girl. Rich woman’s son falls in love with poor orphan girl (there’s also a side story of the parents trying to find poor orphan girl). Anyway, if it comes near you, I recommend seeing it!

Apart from that, I’ve looked after my stomach. I had brunch out at the Storchen (it was OK, but I think there are better ones out there), sampled the cuisine at New Bombay with Lena, met up with a former colleague (Marta) for after-work drinks, and, not least, in memory of Pam (it’s been a year now since her death), I had a meal out in Tito’s with Hye-Youn, since Pam often liked to go there. And I organized a publication team lunch at work, and also had lunch with a group of people from work on one other occasion.

So, if you put all that together, I guess I’m not doing so badly after all!

Zurich - Opfikon Overhaul

Opfikon Festival - 50 Years

It’s the year of Opfikon’s 50th birthday this year, so there are plenty of things going on. It was the main festival last weekend (and the weather has continued to be good, luckily for them), so there were fairground rides erected just by my local swimming pool, a mile of international food stalls, and various games you could take part in (such as a bucking bronco). I took the opportunity to wander round and saw a few bits of Opfikon I hadn’t noticed before.

At the open-air pool they had a competition as to who could jump and make the biggest splash. I was going to take a photo for this blog (if I could catch it just right), but I got called out on the megaphone with an instruction not to take photos. So, I thereby made my own metaphorical splash.

Although it was Opfikon’s main event last weekend, they are organizing things all year, including an ice rink from October through to December I think. They now have some funky wooden benches down by the river, too, so presumably that was also an initiative to mark the 50th celebrations.

However, I’m a bit gutted that they are closing my local pool for 18 months (18 months!!!) to refurbish it. That’s a long time for it to be closed and it means that next year I won’t be able to use it at all. This is a major dent to my quality of life.

The pool at Kloten, which I think is the nearest one has leafleted all the flats (well, mine at any rate). They are offering 13 months membership for the price of 12 to those in Opfikon. That’s not much good for me, since I’m not here for the entire year and they charge those who aren’t residents of Kloten more. I think they should give us the discount that the locals get, given that it’s now our nearest option! 

As it is, my swim will no longer be just a ten-minute walk and finding a new pool to use in the interim will mean that I will have to organize myself and possibly – horror of horrors – have to get up earlier, too, if I’m to fit my swim in before work. This isn't the life I'd envisaged!

Anyway, I’ll have to work out what to do about that next year. For this year, I can probably use Seebach as long as the weather is good (it’s only 7 minutes away by bus and it’s a heated outdoor pool [25 degrees], but still not much fun in the rain and they sometimes stop you from swimming if it looks too stormy). My pool shuts at the end of July, so Seebach should be fine for the most part, but next year I’ll definitely need some swimming time at Kloten.

That’s just as I was thinking how ideal my flat was because it was so close to the pool. Pah, no longer so ideal! 

Zurich - Back for Four Months

Balcony Cleaned and Seedlings Planted Out

Well, I’m now back in Zurich for the next four months. My flight was at 6pm, so I managed to squeeze in one last swim before I left. I’d made a list of things to bring back to Zurich with me, but unfortunately I lost it, so I couldn’t quite remember everything. However, there were some odd things in my luggage such as a funnel and a tray for baking cup cakes. I’d packed my electronic stuff mostly in my main luggage so that I wouldn’t have to haul it out during security, but unfortunately at Hurghada they insisted you unpack even laptops etc in your main luggage.

In addition, I had my TV streamer, which I’d forgotten about, and that was in my carry-on luggage, so I didn’t take it out. I got stopped the first time, and they looked at it, but they didn’t ask me what it was and seemed happy enough. When I went through the second set of checks I was stopped again and this time it was my baking tray in my hand luggage that flummoxed them (my hand luggage was a bit like one of those magician’s hats where all sorts of weird items are pulled out once you look inside). They hauled it out of my bag and the guy asked a colleague what it was. The security chap then asked me, and I explained. He nodded, since I’d just confirmed what his colleague had told him, and let me through. They probably thought it was a really weird thing for me to bring with me to Egypt on holiday! Anyway, this distraction was enough to make me forget to pick up my passport after putting it down to repack my luggage. But that too I got back. Phew.

I’ve found a café at Hurghada airport that does a nice carrot cake, so that’s usually my pre-flight treat. My excuse for indulging is usually that my flight is only economy and I deserve a treat of some kind. This time, because I’d booked myself on a business flight, I had to resort to the excuse that it was my last chance for a proper café latte for the next 5 hours (and really, I don't get to have cake that often do I?). That’s the advantage of having studied philosophy and the art of argument.

Since my flight was at 6pm, it was one of the flights where I’d drunk the most alcohol for maybe a few decades! I didn’t over-do it, but I was happy enough to have a few refills of champagne and to have wine with my meal, followed by another champagne (they were small glasses). I do like an evening departure.

I didn’t get back to my flat in Zurich until about 11.30pm; in my magician's hat luggage I also had a litre of skimmed UHT milk as I knew all the shops would be closed on my arrival (although it seemed a bit immoral taking food from Egypt to Switzerland). I had been a bit anxious that this item would cause me some problems during security checks, as I had no idea what it would look like on the security machine, but I needed it for breakfast in the morning. As it was, it was the baking tray that was the problem. Who would have thought?

On returning, I was curious to see whether my seedlings, which had had to survive on their own during my 27-day absence, had survived. Some of them I'd left in the germination container; others I had planted out really much too early. To my delight, they needed a bit of water, but were almost too big for the germination container and even the ones outside had survived the elements – even one that I thought had died before I’d even left!

My balcony was filthy so I spent Monday morning before work sweeping and cleaning it, as well as transplanting all the seedlings to their final containers so that they could finally be happy plants (I hope). I was surprised the balcony needed so much work as I’d spent a lot of time cleaning it before I left for Egypt, but a load of pollen had carpeted the ground, my windows, and my furniture. The weather was a beautiful 29 degrees or so, so I wanted to start using my balcony as soon as I could.

But once that was done, all was good!