Hugs All Round for the End of Swiss Family Gibbons

So, it's official - the Swiss Family Gibbons adventure is coming to an end. In fact, there is only one Gibbons left in Switzerland (apart from those who might be in the zoos, or might otherwise have the name Gibbons - I can't profess to know much about them though). It has also been the uncertainty of our situation that has led me to be so remiss at updating this blog in recent months.

Well, the news is that I have accepted a job back in the UK, and things look like they will move quickly - by mid-October, we'll simply be 'Family Gibbons' again. Mrs Gibber and The Bug therefore decided to stay on in the UK, leaving me to return to Nyon to pack up the apartment.

As I arrived into Lausanne by train on this occasion, knowing it will be one of the last times I make this trip - during this period of living here, at least - Switzerland felt like a foreign country again, rather than home.

So as the train wound through the Jura, the trees tinged with the amber of an approaching autumn, the orchards set to burst forth with apples, the corn ripe for shucking, I thought about what we hope to take with us from here, and what more I can cram into the remaining time before I leave.

Such a shame that we can't take this scenery with us. But it looks like we'll be in a different beautiful place, albeit not one on the shore of an alpine lake with the Mont Blanc looming on the distant horizon. And having got into cycling again, I'm hopeful that that will be a portable element of my life here, enabling us to maintain a healthy work-life balance than would be afforded if I have to join the long commute to and from work.

As for things I still hope to do before I leave, the list is dauntingly long. We had hoped to spend a few more years here, so were perhaps less diligent about going away and exploring the country at every opportunity. But I still aim to take the boat (preferably one of the 100-year-old paddle steamers) over to France, go to the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, ride from Nyon to St Cergue (from 400m to 1,100m altitude in around 20km), see the inside of Switzerland's parliament building, and the inside of Nyon's chateau, and spend a weekend in Zurich. I'll post updates if I manage to any of those, but with such a short time remaining, I'll have to prioritise.


So, my ambitions for the next few weeks decided, I arrived in Lausanne for my connection to Nyon. As I was having a quick bite of food at the station, I noticed someone holding up a sign in French and English offering "Free Hugs" - just walking around outside Lausanne train station in the early evening twilight. My initial assumption was, obviously, that he was either some kind of loony passing the last few minutes before curfew on a not-too-subtle attempt to get some of the close personal contact only normally available from the night nurse, or a particularly sinister ruse for pick-pocketing. But as I watched this hug-hungry chap, I was increasingly heartened to see lots of people warmly obliging (and observed no dodgy wallet-removal movements).

Well, when in Rome... He's perhaps not the most appealing hug-prospect in the world, but when asked the obvious question of "why", his rather endearingly genuine response was that "I like it, because it makes people happy". With people like that around, what's not to like - and miss - about this place?