Rules, Rules and more Rules

OK - found out another rule yesterday. There are so many, sometimes I can't keep up.

I was teasing one of the ladies in our Bible Study yesterday "Must you clear every inch of snow off your car?!" To which she replied "Well, yes, it's the law."

OK. It snowed quite a bit yesterday morning so the Autobahn was a mess as were most roads and we all had about 3 inches of snow on our cars when we were done with Study for the morning. I am content to take the "snow brush/scraper" and clean off my windows and I'm good to go. No extra thought or effort - plus I'm too short to do the top without a step stool.

C informed me that, in Switzerland, should you be driving on the A-bahn with snow on your vehicle, insurance will not cover you if you get into an accident. Nor if your snow causes an accident for someone else. Now, I suppose, that argument is difficult when there is 4 inches of snow on the A-bahn in the first place. Not to mention the guy who HAD to get to Zurich at 100km/hour in spite of just passing a 3 car pile-up on the opposite side.

This rule was confirmed by someone at school who said the polizei can pull you over on the A-bahn for having snow on your vehicle - 200 franc fine. HELLO! For snow. Yup!

Now, that's not the reason I took the Seestrasse home instead of the A-bahn but... I had plenty of snow on my car. Quite honestly, the pile-up I passed in the morning included a flipped vehicle and I just didn't feel up to trying my luck while the snow was still coming down so heavy. There was only about 3 inches at Lake level compared to the 6 -8in. at the A-bahn (similar to where our house sits) elevation.

Speaking of Rules: I am getting a little "Swissy" as the English say. I've been here too long perhaps. No, maybe I am just considerate and happen to have a sometimes not considerate neighbor. Yeah, I'm going to complain here just a little.

See - my neighbors below us don't always "do" things by Swiss standard. Even though the husband is Swiss. The picture below is of the 1st of 3 stair landings we go down to our garage/car - somewhere in the neighborhood of 120 steps. Yes, our biggest nightmare is breaking/injuring any lower limbs. There is a funicular/lift but there would still be 20 odd steps to manage and it's slooowwww.

We are at the top and therefore have to pass the other 5 neighbors on the way down. We are all responsible for clearing our steps - for ours and others safety. See the cleared steps. I did all that. My neighbor actually cleared their entryway just up to the point where it meets the 'sidewalk' - stopped at those bushes to the right. Why???? I think they've figured out that they don't have to shovel their steps off because the American lady upstairs will do it. Because I don't want my family to slide down them perhaps????? I even shovel off our joint garage entry because it looks bad when everyone's space is cleared except for their right next to ours. I'm a weenie/softy/sucker. Strong words but - Bart would tell me to leave it. :)

Oh wait - the neighbor did shovel the inch that fell last night. And left the small pile at the bottom of our steps. Yeah - right where we have to step through to hit the landing. ????? I just don't think they care or pay attention. We had a few weeks where it was just so cold, it didn't snow but the moisture in the air from the Lake would create enormous amounts of frost - Mom call it Hoarfrost. It's beautiful and the girls said it looked like we live in Narnia. Without the centaurs, fauns and talking animals.

This is a ski piste/run. Look closely at the sign - yes, beware of cars crossing.

I love this. A little Kaffee Huette in the middle of the ski run. One thing they know how to do here is Apres ski. Often the restaurant on top/middle of the mountains are better than the ones at the bottom. It is normal to ski a while, take a coffee break, ski, have a nice lunch - no greasy hamburger/hot dogs - ski and then sit for coffee/apero for a while before heading home. It is a social culture, not just a "get as many runs in" and go atmosphere. I like it.

Why the switch to skiing theme? That's where we're headed - just in between those mountains now completely white with snow down to the Lake.

My mom flies in tomorrow morning and we are headed off for Ski Week. So I will be silent and without computer for a whole week. We'll ski, play games, read and are praying no one gets the flu that seems to be rampant right now. Not fun when you're on vacation.

God Bless!