• writing

    Beth- Chapter Four

    More of my Dora story. This is Chapter Four. Read Chapter One, Chapter Two, Chapter Three The soft ringing of the telephone woke Dora on her first full day in Geneva. She answered her wake-up call then sank back down in her pillows for a moment. The room was dark but she could see a sliver of sunshine through a gap in the curtains. Tempted by the new day, she slipped into her flip-flops and shuffled to the window to pull the curtains open. Did one over tire of this? Dora thought she could stand all day and just look at the lake, the hills behind rising steeply above the…

  • writing

    Dora – Letter in a Bottle

    This is today’s work for the Writers Workshop – today the theme was “Working with writing prompts”. I chose the sentence, “She hesitated at the post box, not knowing if she should really send the letter” and tied it in with my Dora story. This scene will come later in the book, it is not Chapter Four. Earlier chapters here: Chapter One. Chapter Two. Chapter Three. Letter in A Bottle Dora sat, picked up a pen and wrote. She wrote of her disappointment, her hurt, her anger, her fear. Tears welled in her eyes then ran down her cheeks to drip down onto the page. In her head, she was…

  • Switzerland

    Ingredients for Baking in Switzerland – Where to buy Baking Powder, Soda etc

    When we moved to Geneva, one of the things that I found most difficult was finding ingredients for baking in Switzerland. I was used to the issues with baking powder and baking soda, not to mention finding self-raising flour, from my time in Germany, but in time found shops where I could buy these ingredients. Before I could start baking in Switzerland, I had to do a bit of research! Baking Powder – I buy in Manor in little tubs. Don’t be fooled by the sachets by Dr Oetker – they are German style Backpulver which is, I have been informed a one rise agent. You need a two rise agent…

  • writing

    Dora – Chapter 3

    Chapter Three  Start by reading Chapter One and Chapter Two Stuffing her magazine into her carry-on bag, Dora stood and walked to the counter, placing her passport in the outstretched hand of the air hostess. She turned her face slightly so that the other woman could not see her bruises. Though they were less noticeable than they had been a few days ago, she was still conscious of the curious looks of strangers. Handing back Dora’s passport the hostess wished her a pleasant flight. Her head down, her mood sombre, Dora walked cautiously down the steps to the waiting bus. Other travelers jostled for space in the bus, positioning themselves near the doors,…

  • writing

    Dora – Chapter 3

    Chapter Three  Start by reading Chapter One and Chapter Two Stuffing her magazine into her carry-on bag, Dora stood and walked to the counter, placing her passport in the outstretched hand of the air hostess. She turned her face slightly so that the other woman could not see her bruises. Though they were less noticeable than they had been a few days ago, she was still conscious of the curious looks of strangers. Handing back Dora’s passport the hostess wished her a pleasant flight. Her head down, her mood sombre, Dora walked cautiously down the steps to the waiting bus. Other travelers jostled for space in the bus, positioning themselves near the doors,…

  • Switzerland

    Féte de Bonhomme Neige

    Tonight we went to the Féte de Bonhomme Neige – the Snowman Festival – with ritual burning of the snowman to mark the end of winter. Not that there was much of a winter to speak of this year. The ski resorts of Morzine, Avoriaz, Chamonix et al were pretty much bare this year. We had a big dump of snow the first week of December which thawed not long after, then another flurry around Christmas and that has been just about it. The mountains had a bit more than we did, but from what we could see, not much. The snow cannons have certainly earned their keep this year,…

  • Geneva,  Switzerland

    Visiting Geneva With Children – City Walk

    One of the things that we noticed when we moved to Geneva is that the Swiss are very child-friendly. It is a great place to raise a family. Children are a part of everyday life here and are welcomed almost everywhere. You can go into even the most exclusive restaurant with your children and they will be greeted with a friendly smile. Even going for a meal in the evening is no problem. If you are planning a short trip to Geneva this walk will take you around the main attractions of Geneva without boring the children. Parc de la Grange/Parc des Eaux Vives   Geneva is full of parks.…

  • writing

    Dora – Chapter Two

    Chapter Two  Read Chapter One here first . Dora put the last folder in the packing box and gazed at her office. She had been working here for the past four years and it was strange to think that this was the last time she would cross to the window and look out at the London streets, busy and bustling as ever. The old man across the road was shutting up his flower shop, emptying the buckets into the gutter, putting the tables into the shop. She remembered when she first started working here, she would often pick up a small bunch of flowers for her desk. That was when she had…

  • writing

    Beth – Chapter One

    Beth- Chapter One  Beth opened the door of her apartment. Tilting her head she listened to the sound of Ravel’s Bolero filling the small space. “Shit”, she muttered under her breath. She knew what that meant, and she was NOT in the mood.   Frowning, she wondered how Finlay could have known that she was on her way home. She had not let him know that the meeting had been cancelled. She hung up her coat, took off her shoes and put them in the shoe cupboard, automatically reaching for Finlay’s shoes and jacket on the floor, where he had left them. Untidy bugger.   She stared at the second pair…

  • writing

    Dora

    I started this a while ago and never went back to it. Hmm. I quite like it and think I will carry on. What do you think? Dora opened the door of her apartment. Tilting her head she listened to the sound of Ravel’s Bolero filling the small space. Finlay must have come home early from work, just as she had. She should be happy that they had an unexpected afternoon, but she had a lot of thinking to do and wanted to have some time alone to do it. That afternoon she had been offered a new job. A great new job, furthering her career, it was exactly the…

  • Switzerland

    My Atomic Bunker

    Not long ago I wrote a light-hearted post about our Nuclear Bunker. Who would have thought that not even 4 months later, I would be envied for my bunker. And not in a joking “ha, isn’t that a cool thing” kind of way. All over Europe concerned citizens are watching the developments in Japan and asking themselves if a similar incident could happen here. The risk of an earthquake on that scale, combined with a tsunami is incredibly low but there are other scenarios – from aircraft strike, terrorist attack or human/technology fail. As we wait for news from Japan, the German Chancellor has reacted – the announcement that the government…

  • writing

    American Triangle – A Short Story

    Our assignment for this month’s Writers’ Workshop was to write a short story, based on the lyrics of a song, using the words of the song as our title, and the lyrics as the plot. I found this quite a difficult task. The first song I chose, Abba’s Slipping Through My Fingers about children growing up too fast turned out to be too twee and cheesy when written as a story. So I flicked through my iPod, looking for good songwriters. My finger stopped at Elton John and I listened to this track from the album American Songbook, one of his less well known songs, but one of his most…

  • Switzerland

    Chateaux Chillon

    The Chateaux de Chillon, near Montreaux is, according to their website, the most visited historical monument in Switzerland. The weather was sadly not great today, cloudy and overcast so the pictures are not as stunning as they could have been. On a clear day there is a fantastic view of the Alps from Chillon, as you can see on the website. We went with our two children, 8 years and 6 years and I would say that it is a good age for visiting a castle. They were fascinated by the dungeons, the secret passages, the latrines (as only 6 year old boys can be). I was slightly disappointed that the…

  • Parenting

    Do you have a Lego-Whoosher?

    Ok. It is half-term. He is bored as his sister has been ill this week so we have been stuck at home. My son is a Lego-Whoosher. First, he builds a lego airplane, that I dutifully praise. Then he “flies” it around the room, whoooshing around corners, letting it climb into the sky (aided by him standing on the couch) then divebomb towards the long suffering dog. Swooping low over the living room floor, the stealth lego plane soars again before discharging a load of bombs on the pilot’s sister. Whoooooooooooosh, brrrrrrrrrrrrrmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, ssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, boomboomboombooomboom, crasssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, brrrrrchhhhhhhhhhhhhh. According to Twitter friends this is normal behaviour for a 6 year old boy…

  • Gadgets

    Technology – Help or Hindrance?

    Our dishwasher is broken. It finally gave up this weekend, which was most inconvenient as we had guests. For some months now I have seen that the end was near – the wheels kept falling off the baskets and the top basket regularly fell out altogether. Our landlord visited a couple weeks ago and I mentioned the trouble we were having, and asked if the wheels could be replaced. The technician sent last week expressed his surprise at the age of the machine – I believe it is about 30 years old – and advised that it would probably have to be replaced. I nodded sagely while inwardly doing doing…

  • Parenting

    Home Alone – Bringing up independent and confident children

    There was a shocking story in the news this week – about a woman who left her 14 year old in charge of her 3 year old while she popped out for 30 minutes. There was no “incident” but she was cautioned for “cruelty” and automatically banned from working with children younger than 10 years old or vulnerable adults. The woman lost her job as a nurse, she was basically unemployable in her field. Last week she had the ban lifted. This is not an isolated case. As reported in the Sunday Times (behind the Paywall), it is an example of the problems being caused by rulings of the Independant Safeguarding…

  • Parenting

    “I have Bless You on my Cardigan”

    When my daughter was about two years old, she had a bad cold. After several days of sneezing and snot, she was grumpy and irritable. She sneezed noisily then started sobbing. It took me a moment before I understood why she was so upset. She wailed, “I have BLESS YOU on my cardigan!” In a two year old’s mind it is a logical conclusion. Every time she had sneezed, I had exclaimed, “Oh, bless you” and wiped her nose. She thought that bless you was the word for the slimy green stuff that is expelled when one sneezes. Since then, snot is called Bless You in our house. Just as the evening…

  • Switzerland

    As Swiss as Chocolate and Mountains – The Swiss Nuclear Bunkers

      Want to come into my cellar and see my nuclear bunker? That’s quite some chat-up line, right? Not so much here, since the Swiss nuclear bunker is just a part of life here, and everyone has one. Not sure why it has a window Air filter Door   We live in a small detatched house near to Geneva and the Swiss/French border and in the event of a nuclear incident, we can serenely skip downstairs and enter our safe little Swiss nuclear bunker. Up until recently every house built in Switzerland had to have a bunker; a communal one for apartments and a individual family bunker for houses. Anyone…

  • Social Media

    Simple Steps to Learn Twitter

    So you signed up to Twitter. Welcome. Just joined Twitter? It is confusing, isn’t it? The first impression is often that we are reading several half conversations, there are unfamiliar abbreviations, strange characters like #.  Don’t panic, and don’t give up. These six simple steps will help you learn twitter in a very short time.    1. Profile Let’s start with you. You have chosen a name, preferably a reasonably easy and short one – the shorter your name, the more space you leave anyone tweeting you.   2. Followers and Following Do you have any hobbies or interests? You can enter any search term in the search box to…

  • Switzerland

    The Swiss School Run

    That when we were young, almost everyone walked to school. I can’t remember any school friend being driven to school, even one friend who lived quite far away walked. Today, when doing the Swiss school run,  I had the impression that quite a few of my childrens’ classmates were driven to school, and from what I hear from friends in UK, I would imagine that most British parents drive. According to the UK Department of Transport,  road traffic accidents involving taking children to school have doubled in the past twenty years. Today on Twitter, I undertook a very unscientific study, and found that although some people lived too far from the…

  • writing

    Rambing Minds -Writers’ Workshop

    From my Writers’ Workshop Damn. I have left it too late. I should have started earlier. Now I have to pick the kids up from school in an hour.   An hour is long enough to write a short story on the topic, Rambling Minds. No bother.   Hmm. Rambling Minds. I could write about the Ramblers, the walking group that my parents belong to. First, I will check how many members they have, they are a UK nationwide group so it must be a lot.   www.ramblers.co.uk Wow. 123,000 members. That is a lot. I can ask Mum about her group.   Email: mmelindtsmum@pretendemail.com   Hi Mum,   Am…

  • writing

    Aufwiedersehen Uncle Dave

    The driech start to the day suited my mood this morning, as I walked the dog along the banks of Lake Geneva. Today I would rather be in Scotland where my family are gathering to say goodbye to Uncle Dave, the patriarch of our clan – in recent years he has been called “The Laird” due to his penchant for carrying a large walking stick. He was the eldest of 10 children born to my Granny and Grandad Mac, and since the passing of his parents has been the head of the family. A fierce defender of his family, he attended every family event and was the life and soul…

  • Photography

    Favourite Photos of 2010

    Today I was thinking about the passing of the year 2010 and thought I would gather some of my favourite photos in one post. These are the ones that I particularly like, or which bring back memories of a certain moment in time.      

  • Switzerland

    Montreux Christmas Market – Merry Christmas Freddie Mercury

    We headed to Montreux today to take my parents to the train. They were traveling with the Goldenpass Express to Gstaad then onwards to Bern. The children and I took the opportunity to wander around the Christmas Market and check out the Freddie Mercury statue. When we arrived in Montreux today we parked at the railway station and walked down the stairs to the Christmas Market to be greeted by some friendly faces – and that was just the animal sculptures.  Freddie Mercury statue on the lakeside, where there are always flowers from fans.

  • Feminism

    Being a Stay At Home Mum – My Choice

    I discovered this blog today through Twitter. Retro Woman Revolution, which I hope she will not mind me linking to as it is seems a good starting point. To be honest, I am a bit confused by the post – being a working mum means I would be a cold, emotionless shark but being a Stay at Home Mum turns me into a vacuous, easy manipulated zombie. Is there a third option? For our family, several factors contributed to the decision that we made. I am at present a Stay at Home Mum (SAHM) but that may well change in the future. Having time to spend with my children is…

  • writing

    Twitter Magic Moments

    So excited about our holiday. Off with the family to sunny Spain. Two weeks of sun, sea, sand and… UKMum Sat. 5th June 2010 at 6:50 @UKMum have fun, enjoy the s… sangria Tunnockslover Sat. 5th June 2010 at 6:52 @UKMum don’t forget to bring me back some sun, hope you have a fab holiday. Shouldbeironing Sat. 5th June 2010 at 6:55 Checking in. Massive queue. Could do with that sangria right now. Daughter being a pain, is tired and fed up. UKMum Sat. 5th June 2010 at 7:30 @UKMum *offers glass of chilled Sangria* Dogowner Sat. 5th June 2010 at 7:32 @Dogowner *downs Sangria in one gulp* UKMum Sat.…

  • Switzerland

    The Swiss Vote

    The Swiss have a unique voting system called direct (or half direct) democracy. This means that basically any Swiss citizen can propose a change to a law. Around four times a year votes are cast on local and national level – this can be anything from a major change in the constitution to a local “minor” issue. Today the Swiss voted on several issues. We were aware that a vote was imminent as there were placards up around the town. This poster caught my eye: The Genevoise were voting today on the issue of longer store opening hours. This poster exhorts citizens to vote NON otherwise the poor sales assistants…

  • Food

    Quick and Easy Salmon Coulibiac – inspired by Hairy Bikers

    This is one of my OMG,-forgot-to-defrost-something-for-dinner-what-can-we-have-meals. It was inspired by the Hairy Biker’s recipe but is made from store cupboard and freezer ingredients. From start to finish, including baking time this recipe takes about 45 minutes and is really delicious. The day I took the photos, I used Uncle Ben’s Lemon and Rosemary Rice so I left out the lemon. Normally I make it without the prawns as my husband is allergic to them. Quick and Easy Salmon Coulibiac You need: Packet of ready made Puff Pastry One egg Packet of frozen salmon Couple of cubes of frozen spinach leaves, defrost a little so you can separate them. Uncle Ben’s…

  • writing

    Writers’ Workshop – Neighbours

    My second Writers’ Workshop was just as enjoyable as the first. Here my story. Old Neighbours “Morning, Dad. How are you today?” “I would be fine if it weren’t for that crazy witch next door interfering again”. “Dad, have you been arguing with Mrs Gibson again? Why can you not just ignore her? You know she has been slightly odd since Mr Gibson died”. “Odd? Completely off her rocker, you mean. She was out in her garden at 7am deadheading roses. At 7 am!” “Perhaps she couldn’t sleep and wanted to start on some chores. After Mum died, you had trouble sleeping. It is not unusual after bereavement”. “I didn’t…