It's a year since the Gibbons Family became Swiss Family Gibbons. As expected, a lot has changed for all three of us since we arrived here in a new apartment in a new town in a new country where they speak a different language and drive on the wrong side of the road.
But I think it's fair to say that we've settled in, and what better time to reflect on the things we've come to appreciate and enjoy about our new life here on the shore of Lake Geneva.
1. Being on the continent
There's something quite special and almost tantalising about being at Geneva train station and seeing destinations like Milan, Berlin, Paris, Vienna and Madrid on the departures board. We're pretty well located for visiting all of these places and thousands of other fantastic destinations by rail with minimum hassle. I've also come to realise that there is degree of continental 'culture' that is lacking in the UK, despite the superficial attempts to create one by tweaking the opening hours and allowing pubs and restaurants to put tables outside in the rain/traffic. This cultural difference manifests itself in the clothes people wear, the way in which they socialise and spend their time, and the abundance of cultural 'events' that are both plentiful without being pretentious - from air displays of old aircraft at the local air field, to the Nyon international film festival, to the spring market to the Paleo music festival to circuses and the Swiss national cycling championships passing through town. Having so many television channels from different countries around Europe and the world, also adds to the feeling of being part of European culture, rather than slightly detached from, and in many cases, disdainful of it. OK, so the TV is far better in the UK, ...but maybe that's telling in itself.
Well, lets face it, it's not hard to beat the British weather. But the weather here has been more interesting than that to which we seem to be subjected in the UK, as well as 'better'. We had a hot summer last year where it would be early-to-mid 30s during the day, with some fantastic electrical storms in the evenings that refereshed the air and prevented the heat from becoming muggy or oppresive. And even when it's raining, the weather here still be stunning - sometimes we can't even see the Jura mountains behind our apartment for the low-hanging clouds, nor the other side of the lake from the rain. But the view in such variable weather only serves to reveal and complement another aspect of the scenery.
2. Seasonality
The weather here also corresponds to the seasons, which in turn are played out on the beautiful scenery. In contrast to the UK, we seem to get all four seasons here 'properly' - fresh springs that get increasingly warmer leading to hot, sunny (and stormy) summer months before autumn blows in to make way for cold and snowy winters. The other plus side of this is that we get truly seasonal produce in the supermarkets. Back home, you can get pretty much any produce any time of the year and it will always be in the same place in the supermarket. When we first went shopping on arrival in Nyon last year, we were surprised that there seemed to be very little choice of potatoes (an important consideration, I'm sure you'll agree). But a month or so later, there was an abundance of potatoes of different varities, many of which had been grown locally. Indeed, this area of Switzerland - 'La Cote', where the land slopes gently from the base of the Jura to the shores of the lake - is very agricultural and in addition to the extensive vines that produce some decent white and rose wines, there are apples, plums, apricots, peaches and soft fruits grown here, as well as many types of vegetable that all make it into the supermarkets and are sold proudly as being 'from the region'. The seasonality also extends to meat - venison will be on the menu of restaurants in the autumn, and though lamb is difficult to come by, there is more of it available in spring. All produce is also of exceptional quality ...and price. One result of this mix of seasonality, variability in produce and price is that we have become 70-80% vegetarian - seasonal produce just tastes better!
2. Seasonality
The weather here also corresponds to the seasons, which in turn are played out on the beautiful scenery. In contrast to the UK, we seem to get all four seasons here 'properly' - fresh springs that get increasingly warmer leading to hot, sunny (and stormy) summer months before autumn blows in to make way for cold and snowy winters. The other plus side of this is that we get truly seasonal produce in the supermarkets. Back home, you can get pretty much any produce any time of the year and it will always be in the same place in the supermarket. When we first went shopping on arrival in Nyon last year, we were surprised that there seemed to be very little choice of potatoes (an important consideration, I'm sure you'll agree). But a month or so later, there was an abundance of potatoes of different varities, many of which had been grown locally. Indeed, this area of Switzerland - 'La Cote', where the land slopes gently from the base of the Jura to the shores of the lake - is very agricultural and in addition to the extensive vines that produce some decent white and rose wines, there are apples, plums, apricots, peaches and soft fruits grown here, as well as many types of vegetable that all make it into the supermarkets and are sold proudly as being 'from the region'. The seasonality also extends to meat - venison will be on the menu of restaurants in the autumn, and though lamb is difficult to come by, there is more of it available in spring. All produce is also of exceptional quality ...and price. One result of this mix of seasonality, variability in produce and price is that we have become 70-80% vegetarian - seasonal produce just tastes better!
3. Commute
When we lived in the UK, my commute was either 90 minutes (each way) into London on an overcrowded, invariably late commuter train, or a (minimum) 90 minute journey - mostly travelling at single-digit miles per hour - around the M25 from Dunstable to Godalming. For those readers unfamiliar with the M25, it is anathema to the concept of mobility - you may as well stay at home, set fire to a tank of petrol and then sit around looking at a photo of the tail end of a truck for an hour or so. Here, I can either stroll down to the station (14 minutes) to catch a train one short stop (4 minutes) where I have another short (6 minute) walk to the office. The more pleasurable alternative is to cycle - the quickest route takes a little over 12 minutes, but I often lengthen this to take in a more picturesque route into the vineyards on the hills, which also has the benefit of giving me something more like a 30 minute work out each way to and from the office. Add to that days so clear that you can see the Mont Blanc shining out of the Alps on the other shore of the lake, and you can see why this is a vast improvement on
commuting in the UK.
The Swiss are famed for it, and rightly so. You just don't see litter, let alone dog turds on Swiss streets, and the recycling regime here is so comprehensive that they have different recycling containers for used and unused batteries ...though why you would need to discard unused batteries is perhaps a more pertinent question. Just last week, we received a letter from the regie saying that some residents had been putting bags of rubbish in the communal bins that had not been tied well enough, resulting in bad odours coming from the bin room. Swiss bin rooms are presumably supposed to smell of new born babies rolling around in alpine meadows... OK, so the cleanliness and good order are perhaps taken a bit too far at times, but it's just a pleasant, clean place where things work and where, therefore, you can rely on them to work.
5. Swiss National Pride
I've mentioned before that the Swiss are fervent fliers of flags. But this is just one manifestation of helvetic pride. What's as noticeable are the stickers and labels on things proclaiming 'Swiss Made', or 'A Swiss Idea' although I dispute the latter on many occasions, such as the clothing shop 'Switcher' which it claims is a 'swiss idea' when I'm fairly sure they can't really claim to have invented either clothing or shopping. Still, there appear to be many products, aside from chocolates, multi-bladed pocket knives, watches and finance products that are Swiss and which seem to be very popular with Swiss shoppers, and as mentioned above, there is also a good deal of pride in local food produce. But we have 'Buy British' in the UK, so why should we be so impressed with the Swiss equivalent? Well, I think it's because the Swiss and Swiss produce have invested a lot of time and effort in making sure that they are associated with with the concept of quality to the extent that Swiss products are now pretty much synonymous with it. Also, they have built up this association with high-value and luxury products - and tangible products at that, rather than 'service' products.
6. Other Things...
Bread and pastries, skiing in the stunning winter scenery only 25 minutes' drive away, finding out about Swiss history and politics, seeing the flow of streams I cross on the commute to work change through the seasons, Lake Geneva being a 15 minute walk away...All in all, we like it here because of the comparably better quality of life - we live a better life here than we did in the UK. That's not to say that everything is pefect here, or that we never want to return back home, but we're thoroughly enjoying being here, and are a little apprehensive about what we would lose out on when we return to the UK. No news on when that will be, so we'll just continue to enjoy it while we can...
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