tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33324731507024439562024-02-20T15:20:43.152+01:00erniemcpeck - Adventures in SwitzerlandA new start in a new country (married with kids)Paul Reed-Peckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15867241645187976687noreply@blogger.comBlogger119125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332473150702443956.post-82915765751320552722013-10-28T19:38:00.000+01:002013-10-28T19:38:00.911+01:00Terrible Twos - definitely not a myth!<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Wow. We thought earlier this year that Lydia's behaviour was typical of a two year old, with the odd tantrum causing some considerable frustration and embarrassment whenever it occurred in a public place. But just recently Lydia's rebellious side has kicked into overdrive.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">When she is nice and playful, it's an absolute joy to be around her, but when she is being obstinate and uncooperative she is absolutely unbearable company. She has taken to telling us off, threatening to put us in the corner (for no reason), complaining whenever the slightest thing goes against her, not complying with even the most simple of requests from us, and generally doing the opposite of whatever she should be doing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">From what I have read on the Internet, this is typical two year old behaviour, in the vein of the oft-quoted "Terrible Twos".</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">We thought we had already gone through this earlier this year, but this latest wave of opposition from Lydia shows us that this stage is not over yet. As I said above, when she is nice and well-behaved it is so much fun, her cheeky, playful, chatty demeanour bringing huge smiles to our faces. But, the other side of her (Mr Hyde) is an absolute nightmare!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">With Lydia, the problem isn't the classic toddler tantrum; thankfully that is fairly rare. However, it's the general refusal to do anything we ask her or simply not listening to us. Particularly frustrating when we are near a road and she refuses to stop when we tell her to.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I had a look around the Internet for any advice, and I came across an article on a website called "</span><a href="http://www.parentingmytoddler.com/terrible-twos"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Parenting My Toddler</span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">". This articles gives a few good explanations for why toddlers can be so uncooperative - basically as part of their development at this stage they want to have their own independence by making their own decisions. This is definitely true of Lydia. Although there is no miracle cure to stop the confrontations and conflicts, the article says it helps to narrow down their choices; for example, offer them a selection of things to do instead of just openly asking them what they want to do. This way, they get to make the decision themselves.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I'm sure certain areas of conflict - particularly getting ready to go out - are unavoidable. If we ask Lydia to put her shoes on and she refuses, then we're pretty much faced with a potential tantrum. I wonder if this could be eased by offering her a choice of shoes to put on and letting her pick the pair she wants to wear?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Hmmm. Maybe it could work. I'll try putting that into practise and see what happens.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">As many articles I have read say, there is no way of stopping the tantrums and obstructive behaviour entirely, as this is all part of their natural development. Some articles say we as parents should concentrate on the positive sides of the toddler phase, such as when the child comes out with a hilarious or unexpected phrase, or the extra cuddles we get as a result of their dual need for us as well as independence.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I know every parent goes through this with their child, and I guess we will just have to grin and bear it. What scares me is that some articles refer to it as the terrible twos <strong><u><em>AND THREES</em></u></strong>... please don't less this drag on for another year! :(</span></div>
Paul Reed-Peckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15867241645187976687noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332473150702443956.post-26923734167312421042013-10-22T12:30:00.000+02:002013-10-22T12:30:01.559+02:00Run Forrest, Run!<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">On Tuesday 8th October I ran the furthest I have ever run in my life.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I managed <strong>10.2km</strong> in 1 hour 17 minutes, which included some pretty tough inclines. </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I'm not someone who is particularly fit, given that I rarely do any exercise, so for me this was quite a tremendous feat.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Back in May this year I bought myself a new pair of trainers, having decided after two jogs in April that I ought to replace my 10 year old pair that were falling apart. The plan was to jog two or three times a week, to build up some fitness and generally be healthier (it's important for me to make sure I'm around - and mobile - as Lydia grows up).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Unfortunately, I didn't really keep it up.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">My new trainers stayed in their box until early July, when I managed to go for two jogs in the space of two weeks. After that, summer got in the way and I kind of forgot about exercising (save for one game of squash in September).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Following one or two jibes from my wife, I decided to start again in October, and have now managed two jogs in two weeks again, including the personal record-breaking 10km run. Truth be told, that run took it's toll on my legs, as by the end of the run I could barely feel them or my feet. Strangely I felt as though I could have run further as I still seemed to have some energy and breath left in me, but my legs gave out on me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">It took a few days to recover before I was walking normally again! I followed this run up with a 6km jog a week later, although I think I didn't stretch properly as my right calf was pretty sore during (and after) this run. Despite this, it was still my fastest 5km ever.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">That night I had a scratchy throat, which slowly evolved into a full blown head cold over the next couple of days. I'm still suffering today so I don't think I will be able to make it three consecutive Tuesday jogs. I might have to delay to tomorrow, see if I'm feeling better.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Given my past uselessness on the willpower front, I am determined to make it work this time. If I can at least manage one jog per week that will be a good start. Then I can slowly crank it up to the two/three per week that I am aiming for.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Of course, this is all speculation at this point, and it remains to be seen how well I hold out during the cold winter months... that will be the real test of my willpower! Thinking ahead, I don't know how people manage to jog on the extremely cold winter days with icy roads...?</span></div>
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Paul Reed-Peckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15867241645187976687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332473150702443956.post-77009601653861918172013-10-07T18:07:00.000+02:002013-10-22T11:19:16.609+02:00A little bit of both<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I wrote recently about giving Lydia egg and soldiers for the first time (see "<a href="http://erniemcpeck.blogspot.ch/2013/09/egg-soldiers.html">Egg & Soliders</a>", as part of my mission to replicate some of the fond memories I have from growing up in England, as I felt getting her involved in British things would help her appreciate her Anglo origins.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Well, she also stays in touch with her Swiss side as well.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">We recently had a fondue meal with Chris' parents, and Lydia loved it. She particularly enjoyed dipping the bread in the cheese and giving the pot a good stir!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Living in Switzerland she is bound to pick up the local habits, and appreciating cheese-based meals (fondue, raclette, etc.) must be built into her genes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">It's my job to stick up for the British part though, leaving me scheming of other traditional British meals to try... </span></div>
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Paul Reed-Peckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15867241645187976687noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332473150702443956.post-72034893084509223272013-10-06T22:21:00.000+02:002013-10-22T10:54:34.448+02:00Lydia Da Vinci<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Lydia likes to draw, she likes to colour in pictures, she likes to paint. She also likes to glue shapes onto paper, and she likes to cut paper into pieces. In short, she seems to quite like arty things.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">At two-and-a-half her artworks cannot really be regarded as masterpieces, but she is at least showing signs of progression. Here is an effort she did recently at the crèche during some circus-themed activities they did:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">She seems to have managed a nice mixture of colours there!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">One thing we have remarked with her is that she has, for the last few months at least, exhibited a drawing style of small circles and shapes, accompanied by squiggly lines that are her imitation of real words. Most other kids do big shapes with their pencil running wild over the paper, but Lydia spends her art time neatly drawing little circles and sort of peanut-shaped objects. It's a curious trait, but I'm hoping it means she will quickly jump to drawing real objects (as that's much more fun!).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Just in the last few weeks or so, she has started to draw little people. You have to stretch your imagination a bit to see them, but she does a circle for the head, adds eyes, a nose and a mouth and then draws legs and arms as well. She even recently started adding moustaches to them! Here is one of her recent men: </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">As I said, you have to concentrate to see the man, but in the circle at the top we can see the face fairly well, then the legs coming off the bottom. OK so he doesn't have a body, but it's not a bad start for one so young!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I'm looking forward to all the future fun that this can bring because art can be drawings, paintings, collages, crafts, basically an endless assortment of things to do, and this will be particularly handy when the cold, wet winter months set in.</span></div>
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Paul Reed-Peckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15867241645187976687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332473150702443956.post-88243658888349191362013-09-22T14:05:00.000+02:002013-09-30T08:14:26.317+02:00Expats Unite!<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I wrote a while back about the good people at </span><a href="http://www.genevafamilydiaries.net/"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Geneva Family Diaries</span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> taking an interest in my experiences since I moved to Switzerland (see Expat Dads Who Blog - </span><a href="http://erniemcpeck.blogspot.ch/2012/10/expat-dad-who-blog.html"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Part I</span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">, </span><a href="http://erniemcpeck.blogspot.ch/2012/11/expat-dads-who-blog-part-ii.html"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Part II</span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> and </span><a href="http://erniemcpeck.blogspot.ch/2013/01/expat-dads-who-blog-part-iii.html"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Part III</span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">), and my blog was also mentioned during a World Radio Switzerland segment about expats who blog (see </span><a href="http://erniemcpeck.blogspot.ch/2013/03/world-radio-switzerland.html"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">World Radio Switzerland</span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">But I'm not only interested in sharing my own story. I also like to find out how others have coped with becoming an expat, how they fared in moving to another country and what they did to overcome any obstacles. As someone who likes to travel, other peoples' stories about their new countries can be a great way to get tips on places to visit. </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">It's for this reason that I am a member of sites like </span><a href="http://www.expat-blog.com/"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Expat Blog</span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> and the </span><a href="http://www.englishforum.ch/"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">English Forum</span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">While both these sites are great sources of information, I recently came across another site that is more of a global community for expats from all over the world, where people can share their experiences and organize social gatherings, among many other functions.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-YnpWDRO0QXdD7YYwpkqG9DoUxLplc80NQdwZr4I095v8IBUj5wLNCgWXsb3rEfwFxZaVbg-nB6Va4KZQ6ANaCU1vhyC2rnXALN_YgFUuUaACGTzW6YZPfdrccl-Hh8wN3AUn35tHd9A/s1600/greyBlueINLogo.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" closure_lm_392795="null" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-YnpWDRO0QXdD7YYwpkqG9DoUxLplc80NQdwZr4I095v8IBUj5wLNCgWXsb3rEfwFxZaVbg-nB6Va4KZQ6ANaCU1vhyC2rnXALN_YgFUuUaACGTzW6YZPfdrccl-Hh8wN3AUn35tHd9A/s1600/greyBlueINLogo.png" ysa="true" /></a><a href="http://assets.in-cdn.net/static/bundles/internationslayout/frontend/images/logo-6th-birthday-v2.png?a24d138976fa9bc6e3979ae265228f8157e3f885" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"></span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">This website is </span><a href="http://www.internations.org/"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">InterNations</span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">They have excellent, informative country (and city) guides that provide a wealth of information, covering everything from settling in your new country, driving rules, what to do to find a job and life in general. As well as this, they have forums that cover cities and countries, and discussion groups to provide social interaction on an unlimited range of topics. I only signed up to the site in August this year, but I'm already enjoying interaction with my fellow expats.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">My long term goal - as with the other sites mentioned above - is to make new friends in Lausanne and Switzerland in general, outside of my Swiss wife's circle of family and friends. I truly believe that InterNations could help me achieve this, fingers crossed! :)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I would recommend any other expats, wherever you may be, to have a look at the InterNations website and see if it is something that would interest you, even if only to serve as a forum for football banter!</span>
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Paul Reed-Peckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15867241645187976687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332473150702443956.post-46133312201936294242013-09-17T18:37:00.000+02:002013-10-16T11:16:46.170+02:00Egg & Soldiers<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">It's a simple yet classic British dish, that requires very little culinary skill but still delivers a tasty result. There are only a couple of ingredients and the whole thing can be ready in 5 minutes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><strong><em>Egg and soldiers</em></strong>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Strips of toasted bread that you dip into a boiled egg. Simple, yet delicious. This was a cherished childhood memory for me, as I fondly remember having egg and soldiers as an occasional lunchtime treat.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Following on from my desire to make sure I pass on my heritage to my daughter (see "<a href="http://erniemcpeck.blogspot.ch/2013/05/instilling-britishness.html">Instilling Britishness</a>") I decided to make this for Lydia for the very first time. As you can see from the photos, she liked it!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: x-small;">She finished off the whole egg and all her soldiers, and she seemed to enjoy every bite.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: x-small;">An easy meal to make that children really love - if you are stuck for ideas and don't have much else in the fridge / cupboard than egg, butter and bread, you can't go wrong with egg and soldiers!</span></div>
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Paul Reed-Peckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15867241645187976687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332473150702443956.post-50308053224658337802013-09-08T11:53:00.000+02:002013-10-16T12:03:23.959+02:00The Nati almost there...<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I've written articles in this blog about my past trips to watch FC Lausanne Sport play (see "</span><a href="http://erniemcpeck.blogspot.ch/2010/05/following-lausanne-fc-sport-to-final.html"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Following FC Lausanne-Sport to the Final</span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">" and "</span><a href="http://erniemcpeck.blogspot.ch/2013/03/allez-lausanne.html"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Allez Lausanne!</span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">"), both of which resulted in me witnessing a disastrous result for the team I was there to support.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Well, this time I made the step up to watching the national team, nicknamed the "Nati", as they battled for qualification to the World Cup tournament in 2014. The match saw Switzerland playing host to Iceland in Qualifying Group E. The Swiss were flying high in their table and at the time had the best defence in international football in 2013. Pretty impressive.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I travelled with friends to Bern to watch the match, and after a nice pizza and a couple of beers, we took our seats to watch the match unfold. Switzerland were comfortably top of their group and favourites to defeat Iceland, who trailed the Swiss by 5 points in the group and had already lost to the Nati in the reverse fixture back in October 2012.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">However, things didn't go exactly according to plan.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The expectant crowd had barely settled into their seats after the national anthems when Jóhann Gudmundsson struck first blood for Iceland to stun the Swiss crowd into disbelieving silence whilst the travelling Icelandic contingent were roared into life.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The lead lasted all of 12 minutes, as Stephan Lichtsteiner equalized for the Nati, and the match swung back in the hosts' favour as Fabian Schär and a second goal from Lichtsteiner made it 3-1 to Switzerland at the interval. They were playing well with plenty of style, swagger and intent, and fully deserved their lead at this stage.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">A beer at half time was happily consumed amid a buoyant Swiss crowd, with their team on course for victory and another 3 points to cement their lead in the group.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Less than 10 minutes after the restart, Blerim Dzemaili made it 4-1 to Switzerland from the penalty spot, and the Swiss were in dreamland.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Indeed it seemed that some of the Swiss players were still dreaming as only moments later a goal from Kolbeinn Sigthórsson reduced the deficit to 4-2, and give the visitors a glimmer of hope.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Still, at 4-2 up you would expect Switzerland to hold on for the win. Then again, football is a funny old game.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Instead of tightening up the defence and killing off the game, the Swiss players suddenly forgot how to play. It looked like they were doing a post-match warm down exercise as they could barely keep hold of the ball and were hopeless going forwards. Iceland, buoyed on by Sigthórsson's goal and their vociferous supporters, pressed the Swiss and relentlessly surged forward, hitting their opponents with some fluid attacking displays.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Their pressure was rewarded as Gudmundsson scored his second of the night with a little over 20 minutes left to play, and suddenly the full comeback seemed on.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Could the unthinkable happen? Could Switzerland really throw away a 4-1 lead?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Yes. Yes they could. And they did, as the man of the moment Gudmundsson finished off his hat trick in style, smashing in the equaliser in added time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The final whistle blew and it ended 4-4, as Iceland deservedly took home a point.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">It was practically the stereotypical game of two halves, with Switzerland dominating the first half and Iceland running the second.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">As it turns out, second placed Albania lost their game against Slovenia, so gaining 1 point from this match meant Switzerland maintained their 4 point lead in Group E, but it was undoubtedly 2 points dropped.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Full credit to Iceland for taking the game to their opponents, but it was worrying to see the Swiss switching off for half an hour or so where they really struggled. They simply got complacent and practically treated the game as though it was over, even when Iceland scored their third goal. If they do that against other teams, particularly the likes of Spain, Brazil and Germany, then they would end up being completely slaughtered.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">All in all, I actually quite enjoyed this experience, which gave me a far better impression of Swiss football than the last two debacles I witnessed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">It was a match full of action and goals with plenty of attractive football to keep the crowd entertained. Obviously I supported the Swiss so was naturally very disappointed at the end result, but I can imagine this would have been a cracking game to watch as a neutral.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I saw signs of how Switzerland play, and - barring the disastrous second half - think they might be able to surprise one or two teams at the World Cup next year (provided they seal qualification in the upcoming matches, of course).</span></div>
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Paul Reed-Peckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15867241645187976687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332473150702443956.post-71013556534291076302013-09-03T20:30:00.000+02:002013-10-17T11:49:48.604+02:00A fun family weekend<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">This weekend my parents come over for a visit, and we had a great time. Luckily the good weather continued as it was sunny and warm, making it much easier to find things to do!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoeV80FQPUQQ-UkJ9pCl_IUzvIOA6ZRc5kwf0BPK-YMtJaqYXP8Z8m74COO8AesKn7pdRVesKCXmykOlsvpSR5cXC1Gu_l7V6WecnRU-_0sZuo7RG_ym6ZorltWa3ixlZjdte_P-UkYxQ/s1600/various+003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" esa="true" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoeV80FQPUQQ-UkJ9pCl_IUzvIOA6ZRc5kwf0BPK-YMtJaqYXP8Z8m74COO8AesKn7pdRVesKCXmykOlsvpSR5cXC1Gu_l7V6WecnRU-_0sZuo7RG_ym6ZorltWa3ixlZjdte_P-UkYxQ/s200/various+003.jpg" width="150" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy8Ty6vVmyM9qKpPs_iquxS_EfkTvIACvgLJtJTBebG9cCCs5yhraOAUieJnCrEdMeiL72FWbYMsz90Ud9hPRSVwF5OzqJAGcOVMACmZ5rrYU6-qP7U8MRx4SGXyNkhhdYO9Q0k3uQoGg/s1600/various+002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" esa="true" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy8Ty6vVmyM9qKpPs_iquxS_EfkTvIACvgLJtJTBebG9cCCs5yhraOAUieJnCrEdMeiL72FWbYMsz90Ud9hPRSVwF5OzqJAGcOVMACmZ5rrYU6-qP7U8MRx4SGXyNkhhdYO9Q0k3uQoGg/s200/various+002.jpg" width="150" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">On the Sunday we decided to have lunch in one of my favourite restaurants in Vidy (see "<a href="http://erniemcpeck.blogspot.ch/2011/11/review-restaurant-les-berges-de-vidy.html">Restaurant les Berges de Vidy</a>"), and I enjoyed their delicious filets de perches for the umpteenth time. My mum opted for the "<i>salad de soleil</i>", which turned out to be a salad with sunglasses sitting on top! How random!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg8hT8bBgd8XM3gd-rHqdfVX4tP2Mlv_OqJUMYmBSyFMavAH3mAqJBRRnRmn66FlAPXhiSmFCwSr3aI90IqdFjsDEX3eT2CLL-d4CoMg52nQeTnEhgM6KARBbRHIPHr2JrfK6N9-RZK0c/s1600/various+004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" esa="true" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg8hT8bBgd8XM3gd-rHqdfVX4tP2Mlv_OqJUMYmBSyFMavAH3mAqJBRRnRmn66FlAPXhiSmFCwSr3aI90IqdFjsDEX3eT2CLL-d4CoMg52nQeTnEhgM6KARBbRHIPHr2JrfK6N9-RZK0c/s200/various+004.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAUVfmA6P-rVjC0MpQsyM88LeeLwQ45Y2A8879aIqw8MOfM6cfv6MWeWzfiWOT0QvkC4i-L-eYqDR3K-lJuzuAxzEPkBKo4i0A-OESz16GfbHhQ5kTYwJLAUHKm-j7aQTlFyWDtUvCYXU/s1600/various+001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" esa="true" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAUVfmA6P-rVjC0MpQsyM88LeeLwQ45Y2A8879aIqw8MOfM6cfv6MWeWzfiWOT0QvkC4i-L-eYqDR3K-lJuzuAxzEPkBKo4i0A-OESz16GfbHhQ5kTYwJLAUHKm-j7aQTlFyWDtUvCYXU/s200/various+001.jpg" width="147" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">After lunch we had a stroll along the lake in Vidy, taking in a pit stop at the playground for some fun before both Lydia and I had a go at climbing a tree. From my point of view it was an incredibly uncomfortable branch to sit on, but I stayed up long enough for a photo or two.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">We continued our stroll and we all decided to paddle our feet in the water to cool down. Lydia took this one step further and began walking out into the lake until her trousers were soaked! She probably would have carried on even further if we let her, but as we didn't have a change of clothes that would not have been such a good idea.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj72tS_N6YEbXZHK2oB1yblRpuA4HTOZvfGUPDaO69kLm3CE_MxLsNx6SgJq66s16wILu9tcRFkJeXeCYzjEy_1L9YT8lYxzYBQsvx-7RkK16vF9eThfSfyhpOOba4qx4VVm7OAKXzmaMc/s1600/various+005.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" closure_lm_998488="null" esa="true" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj72tS_N6YEbXZHK2oB1yblRpuA4HTOZvfGUPDaO69kLm3CE_MxLsNx6SgJq66s16wILu9tcRFkJeXeCYzjEy_1L9YT8lYxzYBQsvx-7RkK16vF9eThfSfyhpOOba4qx4VVm7OAKXzmaMc/s320/various+005.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">All in all, a very nice weekend spent with my parents.</span></div>
Paul Reed-Peckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15867241645187976687noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332473150702443956.post-83527430138086849172013-07-17T20:21:00.000+02:002013-08-30T11:27:31.323+02:00Birthday Treat<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">This year I turned 31. That officially puts me firmly in the brackets of a thirty-something. Earlier this month I filled in a survey online and noticed that my age bracket was listed as "30-50". That, my friends, is middle age.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I'm not quite at the point of having a mid-life crisis, running out and buying a motorbike and then taking off on a Europe-wide drive to nowhere in particular. I am, however starting to take stock of what I have in my life, and just how lucky I am to have it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">First of all, I'm married to an amazing woman in Christelle. She has stood by me and supported me for the last eight years. She has pushed me to be the best I can be, and helped me grow from a shy, ambitionless boy into the man I am today. I know I am not yet the finished article; I still have plenty of growing up to do, but I feel confident knowing that Christelle will be there to share the journey with me.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Then there's Lydia. Words cannot describe how lucky I am to have a daughter like her, so cheeky and so funny and yet so intelligent. She has never been an easy child, and - as I have said many times before - there were countless moments of frustration and exasperation on both her side and ours as she grew from a helpless baby to a near-independent toddler. I swear, if she could change her own nappies she would have moved out by now. Yet every second I have spent with Lydia is another cherished memory, and I would not have them for the world.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I have an amazing extended family with my own family in England and that of Christelle's here in Switzerland, and I know I can count on them all in times of need. My parents have always supported me in everything I have done, and I cannot begin to imagine how I might have turned out if they had not instilled me with such a strong sense of right and wrong, respect and manners. I am lucky to have them in my life, and even though several hundred miles now separate us I feel closer to them than ever before. And as for Chris' family, they could not have done more for me since I moved here, making me feel welcome and showing me their country and their culture.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">To make things even better, I have a nice apartment, a car I like and a job I love. What else could a 31-year old man ask for? Well, maybe a little win on the lottery couldn't hurt, but aside from that I really feel like a man who has everything.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgou2sQv4bFuaG9e23iVarZeKah78fvI_KqlVfOqx3UgZfz6s1yqkZp8E6CRSonuO1cL2YowjtrWs8dk5DiohgEqrT7I7vXEs97melSC3HaOVCnBTM41dkXa1vxQDX3grv075Qpk1JpOWw/s1600/various+029.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" osa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgou2sQv4bFuaG9e23iVarZeKah78fvI_KqlVfOqx3UgZfz6s1yqkZp8E6CRSonuO1cL2YowjtrWs8dk5DiohgEqrT7I7vXEs97melSC3HaOVCnBTM41dkXa1vxQDX3grv075Qpk1JpOWw/s200/various+029.jpg" width="150" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">So what do you get for the man who has it all on his birthday?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Lydia knew how to answer that question, as she made me a present with her own fair hands (see photo).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">She painted a canvas herself and stuck down shapes over the top, creating a colourful piece of art work. This was a lovely present that she was so happy to give me, and it really made my day.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: x-small;">Although she had a little help from Christelle's parents, they included photos with the present to prove it was really Lydia who made it (the little photo hanging under the canvas in the photo). Next step for me is to find the perfect place to hang this in our apartment...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">My happy birthday was further enhanced by a lunch at one of my favourite restaurants, the Restaurant des Berges in Vidy. I love this place because they serve delicious filets de perches with fries and tartare sauce, and they are right on the edge of Lac Léman in Vidy allowing for a gentle post-feast stroll by the lake. To top all this off, it was brilliant weather with hot sun and blue skies.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I had a wonderful birthday this year, and couldn't be happier with where I am in my life. The mid-life crisis will have to wait until another year.</span></div>
Paul Reed-Peckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15867241645187976687noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332473150702443956.post-20143438252088720622013-07-15T12:34:00.000+02:002013-08-30T11:03:27.995+02:00Lac de Moron (almost)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">This weekend our usual mixture of scenery, picnic and good friends was on the cards, and we decided to go somewhere different that we hadn't been before. For this reason, we ended up heading to the Lac de Moron, which straddles the Switzerland-France border in Neuchatel.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">We headed for the Lac des Brenets, where we had planned to take a ferry ride towards Le Saut du Doubs. We eventually made it - having lost our friends Sandrine and Brian who we were trying to follow, leading to a fair bit of guess work and the use of a temperamental Google maps - and parked our car. I couldn't help thinking that things would be so much easier if I hadn't lost my TomTom...</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidRae81XwBokwdUjQYHvTlkwmKdBRyjwOrgBpAw4xxuORYi_f2RKGdVDlsyRv4bcnErmsQsReWUHei1rUtLnMBJjvOGJ7gpen4gn-JQEuBb7Ch13LTF5R5R5-pZ0xqoRsO36NXhXvAO9M/s1600/various+020.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="200" osa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidRae81XwBokwdUjQYHvTlkwmKdBRyjwOrgBpAw4xxuORYi_f2RKGdVDlsyRv4bcnErmsQsReWUHei1rUtLnMBJjvOGJ7gpen4gn-JQEuBb7Ch13LTF5R5R5-pZ0xqoRsO36NXhXvAO9M/s200/various+020.jpg" width="150" /></span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Anyway, we bought our tickets and patiently waited our for the ferry to show up. When it did - exactly on time - we climbed on board and Lydia seemed absolutely thrilled. She loved looking out the window and saying "woooow" at pretty much everything! She also went out on deck to enjoy the view, playing with her friend Matys the whole time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The trip lasted for about 15-20 very pleasant minutes, and once we reached the end of the lake (where the water continued as a small river) we disembarked for a little walk in the woods. There were plenty of great views of the Saut du Doubs river from here, including overlooking a waterfall. The only downside was that some of the paths are really not made with pushchairs in mind, so be prepared to flex your biceps to control the buggy on the way down!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgREydVEPkBLxhJvaWbFSIu47FDCK-p-eV4RCNXaZm_IPEvNLF14ynJU9RpWzyEJOaMnYGoQjssKTihmTBEmb_WYRFu63jhHrhdskXyoT82UJ1sD6oWOfbTDXHPJha4JgnQoMhPFiRDnPA/s1600/various+026.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="200" osa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgREydVEPkBLxhJvaWbFSIu47FDCK-p-eV4RCNXaZm_IPEvNLF14ynJU9RpWzyEJOaMnYGoQjssKTihmTBEmb_WYRFu63jhHrhdskXyoT82UJ1sD6oWOfbTDXHPJha4JgnQoMhPFiRDnPA/s200/various+026.jpg" width="150" /></span></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAJATJlDLL0ANbt-FMiDuWgZKVa3eahFhmsHSfi3f_2b6mD5WH-FhtVrwadDW5Qg6_4gf8B4EJffInOl4FhyphenhyphenLCCtjNQw-t7fB9TqlCeg-ZQr7PtH4DGrrta38djq2t2_Atgt7b8ohKtk4/s1600/various+024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="150" osa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAJATJlDLL0ANbt-FMiDuWgZKVa3eahFhmsHSfi3f_2b6mD5WH-FhtVrwadDW5Qg6_4gf8B4EJffInOl4FhyphenhyphenLCCtjNQw-t7fB9TqlCeg-ZQr7PtH4DGrrta38djq2t2_Atgt7b8ohKtk4/s200/various+024.jpg" width="200" /></span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">We didn't make it as far as the Lac de Moron before decided to have lunch, so we settled for a picnic in a clearing in the woods.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">After lunch, with full bellies and tiring kids, we decided to head back towards the ferry, meaning the Lac de Moron would have to wait for another day. Before we got as far as the lake we had an ice cream to cool down, given that it was a very hot day. Having made our way back down it was clear that Lydia's decision to not have a nap was taking its toll as she became rather grumpy for the boat ride back, before then falling asleep in the car on the way home.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Our return drive was another adventure, given that we ended up taking an unplanned detour through France, which was made all the more stressful for me as I didn't have my passport with me. Eventually we got home, tired but happy after a pleasant day out.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I would recommend this for those who like nature as it is a very nice area, although I cannot comment on the Lac de Moron as we didn't actually get there in the end. The Saut du Doubs is a picturesque river though, and the little trip on the ferry was very enjoyable.</span></div>
Paul Reed-Peckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15867241645187976687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332473150702443956.post-51701863955212711432013-07-09T21:41:00.000+02:002013-08-30T10:13:19.541+02:00Lac de Champex<div align="left" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I love spending time next to a scenic lake, strolling along the water's edge whilst admiring the scenery, dipping my toes in the cool water on a hot summer's day and enjoying a nice picnic. Living on the edge of Switzerland's largest lake, Lac Léman, it's only natural that we often go there in the summer, heading to one of the lakeside towns such as Vidy, Vevey, Morges and Montreux.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">This weekend, we decided to try somewhere different for a change, and went with friends to the Lac de Champex in Valais. Champex is a small village, but as with seemingly any lake in Switzerland, it has beautiful scenery.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">As with all good lakes, there is a walking trail that goes all the way round. The Lac de Champex is not particularly big, so the entire trail is only a little over 1.5km, making it a great walk for young children that won't tire them out too much. For our little Lydia this was just about right. I think it was good that our friends' 3 year old boy was there as the two of them love running around together, seemingly spurring the other on to copy what they are doing. If Lydia was alone with us there she probably wouldn't have walked as much, instead preferring to be carried or sit in the pushchair.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">In addition to the calm, clear waters of the lake, there are plenty of flowers and greenery for the nature fans, with a backdrop of mountainous hillside across the lake from whichever viewpoint you have.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The playground was right on the bank of the lake so we decided to have our picnic there, laying down our blankets and getting the food out. It turned out to be a great decision as we were able to enjoy our picnic in peace while the kids - having had their own fill of food - enjoyed the climbing frames and slides. The playground was fairly close to some public toilets, so if there had also been a little café/buvette nearby it would have been nearly perfect!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">As we were picnicing right on the bank of the lake, we were even able to have a little apéro before we ate, dipping our feet in the refreshing water. Lydia enjoyed throwing some leftover bread to the ducks, who came almost close enough to touch. Admittedly they didn't get much bread, as Lydia decided to eat it instead of sharing it with our feathered friends, but it was still a nice little back-to-nature moment.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: x-small;">One thing I should note is that, like with all activities involving water, you have to keep an eye on the little 'uns. The path is right next to the water and although it is shallow on one side (allowing for paddling, as shown in the photo) the other side has a much deeper edge, so keep an eye on the kids when walking near the lake.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: x-small;">Lydia seemed to enjoy her day out as well. She is now a little over 26 months old, and I think she is getting to the age where she is starting to take more of an interest in the wider world around her. Ok, so she isn't marvelling at the glorious scenery or proclaiming how pretty nature is, but she is at least happy to see different coloured flowers and express her joy at seeing ducks and fish.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: x-small;">I'm hoping to get her interested in nature as I think that will come in handy for future walks in the forest in autumn and winter, when you can't really go outside to enjoy the weather.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">All in all, it was a very pleasant day out.</span></div>
Paul Reed-Peckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15867241645187976687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332473150702443956.post-12998374231443715572013-07-08T20:53:00.000+02:002013-08-30T10:34:31.971+02:00I want to ride my bicycle<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Taking Freddie Mercury's advice from Queen's "Bicycle Ride", this weekend we decided to go for a bike ride with some friends. We don't own our own bikes so instead had to rent them, and Christelle had found a little place in Villeneuve that could offer us just that.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Villeneuve is a nice place to cycle as it is flat and therefore not too challenging for those of us lacking fitness, and when cycling with friends it is always an opportunity for an apéro!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">When we got there and eventually found the hire shop, we were greated by the owner who was probably in her 60s, and she - after some considerable effort - got our bikes ready. They weren't particularly cheap (30.- CHF per bike for the day), and to say they were a bit tatty would be something of an understatement; they were almost antiques. We also rented a child seat for Lydia that turned out to be very uncomfortable for the poor little mite, leading to us adding a blanket for her to sit on.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">We had just got across the road when we noticed that the tire on the back of my bike - which was a woman's bike, not through choice but simply because the child seat was unmovably fastened to it and no other seats were available - was decidedly flat, and in need of a good pumping. I went back to the shop and a mere half an hour later, the lady had managed to put a bit of air in the tire, having faffed around looking for first a pump and then an adapter for the valve.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">That's actually why we chose Villeneuve as our destination, so some forethought went into this one.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">We had brought a picnic with us for lunch, and after some searching we found a little clearing on the edge of the lake and settled down to eat. Although the food was good, the mood was somewhat spoilt by the infestation of mosquitoes living in this particular area. Eventually, having had our fill of the picnic food accompanied by a nice glass of rosé, we headed back to the rental shop and turned in our bikes, then went to a nearby café for an ice cream to help us cool down.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">This was Lydia's first time riding on a bike, and I'm not sure she was overly impressed. Initially she was happy and kept telling me to go faster, but after a while she became quickly bored and began crying and saying she was tired.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I'm not sure if we will go cycling again this year, but it's definitely something that we would look to do again in the future as it was a nice day out. Perhaps when Lydia is a bit older and is able to ride on her own bike she might enjoy it a bit more.</span></div>
Paul Reed-Peckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15867241645187976687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332473150702443956.post-31843304270421401102013-06-12T12:58:00.000+02:002013-06-13T09:58:23.505+02:00Here Comes the Sun!<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><em>Here comes the sun (doo-do-do-do),</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><em>Here comes the sun and I said,</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><em>It's alright.</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> -- </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">"Here comes the sun", The Beatles</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">That's a song that just seems to make you feel so summery. Something else that makes you feel summery is, of course, the sun.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">We hadn't seen much of our beloved giant ball of gas in May, as the usual spring sunshine was replaced by rain, clouds, and cold temperatures.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">However it now looks like summer is finally here, with Switzerland spending the last few days basked in glorious sunshine with temperatures in the mid-twenties. What a relief to finally be able to leave the house without wearing a coat!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I'm lucky that I work fairly close to the lake, so today I popped down to Vidy to have a little picnic in the sun. It was a great way to spend a lunch break, although it did get a little warm wearing a shirt and trousers.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Whilst sat relaxing during my break I began to think of all the things we can do now that summer is here (hopefully to stay for the next couple of months). We can all look forward to picnicing and barbecuing as often as possible, as well as strolling down by the lake, swimming, and so many other outdoor activities.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">It also means it will be much easier to think of things to do with Lydia - there's only so many cakes a little girl can bake (see </span><a href="http://erniemcpeck.blogspot.ch/2013/05/little-chef.html"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Little Chef</span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">) before she starts to go stir crazy from being stuck inside.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Here comes the sun - about time too!</span><br />
Paul Reed-Peckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15867241645187976687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332473150702443956.post-6874403729195882502013-06-04T13:34:00.000+02:002013-07-09T14:32:10.441+02:00Father's Day surprise<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">I had no idea that Sunday 2nd June was Father's Day here in Switerland. In England, it's mid-June and that timing always sticks in my head.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">So when Lydia came to say hello to me on Sunday morning, I was surprised to see her carrying a present for me (see picture below).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">She made it herself, along with some small amount of help from her maman, using green and white paint as well as posing in the photos themselves.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">It was a very nice surprise, accompanied by a big hug from my cheeky little princess, and made it a very happy father's day.</span>Paul Reed-Peckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15867241645187976687noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332473150702443956.post-47837243605206775082013-05-26T09:43:00.000+02:002013-07-09T14:34:10.956+02:00Little Chef<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I don't mean the motorway service station that peddles distinctly average food to weary travellers.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The Little Chef, in this instance, is Lydia.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">She has got into the habit of "helping" us when we are busy preparing meals in the kitchen, the point where she will say, "attend Daddy, je vais t'aider" (<em>wait Daddy, I'm going to help you</em>), then head off to her room to get her stool to stand on.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Of course, at her age the amount of help she can offer is debatable, and would more accurately be referred to as hindrance. Still, it's a nice gesture on her part to want to help us out.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">As it was particularly rainy this weekend, I had a little think about what inside activities we could do, and I decided to get Lydia to make a chocolate cake (which actually came out more like biscuits or brownies).</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/98638338@N02/9248201346/" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" title="Backlog by paulreed-peck, on Flickr"><img alt="Backlog" height="320" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7456/9248201346_bf883e8c83.jpg" width="240" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I put an apron on and when Lydia saw this she immediately rushed off to her room and came back with her own apron (a play accessory we got from IKEA). Once she was properly dressed, we got to work on the cake.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I weighed out the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, milk and softened butter and put them in separate bowls, then got Lydia to tip each one into a big mixing bowl. She was very attentive and was careful to tip the bowls so that nothing fell on the floor.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Once this was in place, we mixed it all up using wooden spoons, although a fair amount of it was eaten before we managed to put it into the cake tray! It tasted delicious, and the fact that there were no eggs meant we didn't have to worry about Lydia eating raw cake mix. She loved it!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">We popped it in the oven for about 45 minutes, then waited for it to cool down before tasting the finished product. It was nice, but I think I preferred eating the mixture before it was cooked!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">At least all this means I have definitely found a rainy day activity that Lydia enjoys.</span>Paul Reed-Peckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15867241645187976687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332473150702443956.post-49888195164864743252013-05-07T12:39:00.000+02:002013-07-10T09:46:47.895+02:00Instilling Britishness<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">It's not easy being the sole English/British element of Lydia's daily life as she grows up in Switzerland. All day she is surrounded by French: my wife and her family and friends; the crèche she attends twice a week; the TV and most of her books, and of course everyone else she meets or interacts with in the outside world. Well, it's what you would expect really, given that we live in a French-speaking area of Switzerland.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">So, the enormous task of instilling the British spirit into my daughter, from the traditional stiff-upper-lip and politeness to discussing the weather and standing patiently in queues, is all down to me. I am responsible for making sure Lydia knows her heritage, and that at least some of my own upbringing rubs off on her. I think my parents did a pretty good job in raising me, so if I can be at least half as good a parent to Lydia then I will be happy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">But how can you make sure the British influence is present in such a francophonic environment?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Well, it isn't easy. During the week I only see Lydia in the evenings after work, usually for around of 2 hours before she goes to bed. I try to spend the whole time engaged in conversation, asking her questions and prompting her responses in English.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I'm trying to teach her the difference between French and English, to help her understand why I don't use the same words as my wife, and to explain that her Daddy comes from a different country entirely. I think she has started to grasp the fact that England is not in Switzerland, and she knows that she has to get on an airplane when we want to go to see her Nanny and Grandad. When I ask her where Nanny and Grandad live, she says "England", so at least that's a start.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I have just recently started to try a new technique, working on the British identity. For her 2nd birthday a couple of weeks ago, Lydia was given a chalkboard by my parents, and we have spent a fair bit of time drawing different objects, kind of a guessing game for her to play. Whilst doing this the other day I doodled a castle, and then drew the Union Jack flag (bottom-left in the photo).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Lydia asked me, "C'est quoi?" (what's that?), and I replied that it was called the "Union Jack", and that it is the flag of the United Kingdom, where her Nanny and Grandad live. She seemed to grasp this idea quite well, as when we looked at the photo on my phone a couple of days later she said, "ça, c'est Nanny and Grandad". Step 1 complete.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">We are already working hard on the politeness side of things, making sure Lydia says "please" and "thank you" when she wants something. This is part of normal growing up, but I can count it as part of her semi-British upbringing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">As she grows up I will start bringing in mini history lessons, discussing the rich tapestry of British history. When she is a little bit older I also plan to take her to some of the museums in London, as the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum are fascinating places to spend the day. OK so this isn't entirely focused on Britain, but everything is written in English so at least she will get to practise that.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">One thing is for sure, I will do whatever I can to make sure Lydia knows she is part-English, and that she understands where her Daddy comes from.</span>Paul Reed-Peckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15867241645187976687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332473150702443956.post-27506551465475107852013-05-06T12:11:00.000+02:002013-05-06T12:11:00.178+02:00Laugh of the Week<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">We were stood in the checkout queue at our local supermarket, our groceries edging forward on the conveyor as the till lady began scanning our items. My wife walked to the end of the till to start bagging up, while I waited in the queue with Lydia in my arms; not necessarily by choice but more out of necessity, as Lydia would never wait patiently in line without either grabbing at whatever she can reach or wandering off in search of adventure.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic0t-ucE_OmnQyi-gftIIZpkI5YCcDu3X_5hE9kwOhfI39_ZSV3f0D1NcQkB2b_ab8w-hGzj25QVFqqyGhWR59ZnjUCqS61GsQ9NzrLjIyFCRbjfoStuOjrGdlYkomFKKrIQPW3XzWgZg/s1600/pigtails.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" lua="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic0t-ucE_OmnQyi-gftIIZpkI5YCcDu3X_5hE9kwOhfI39_ZSV3f0D1NcQkB2b_ab8w-hGzj25QVFqqyGhWR59ZnjUCqS61GsQ9NzrLjIyFCRbjfoStuOjrGdlYkomFKKrIQPW3XzWgZg/s200/pigtails.JPG" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Lydia has, for some time now, shown a willingness to be polite to those around her, and regularly says a cheery "<em>Bonjour!</em>" to strangers walking by. This is not a social faux-pas in Switzerland, where politeness has long been part of the Swiss way of life, nor is it a worrying lack of awareness of "stranger-danger" in a world where this seems to be such a prevalent theme. Instead, it is simply Lydia's way of interacting with others as she continues her voyage of discovery in life.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">So, as we inched our way forwards at the checkout and said "<em>Bonjour</em>" to the till lady, I fully expected Lydia to give the same greeting, given that children of her age are so inclined to copy those around them. What I did not expect, however, was that "<em>bonjour</em>" was not the only word she would say...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">She followed her cheery greeting with the very English question, "<strong><em>How are you today</em></strong>?". Both Chris and I looked at each other and at Lydia in surprise, as we had never heard her ask this to anyone before that moment. The till lady, not being an English-speaker, simply replied "<em>bonjour</em>" and went back to scanning our groceries.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">We laughed, Lydia laughed, and then carried on with our day. We are so used to hearing direct repetition of words and phrases that we say often, but I honestly don't remember asking the same question to Lydia. I will often ask, after returning home from work, questions along the lines of "<em>how are you?</em>" or "<em>how was your day?</em>", but it seems that in this case Lydia has managed to repeat my question and combine it with a reference to today.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">To me, this is a clear sign that Lydia is really beginning to understand language a little better; she is almost constantly talking these days, and although she still has her own language - I call it "Lydian" - most of what she says is now composed of real words. Unfortunately for my English family, the majority of the real words are French, and I would estimate that only about 25% of what she says involves English words.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">That's perhaps one of the reasons why we were so surprised to hear this little, unprompted English phrase coming out of the mouth of our little monkey, and why we found it so funny.</span><br />
Paul Reed-Peckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15867241645187976687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332473150702443956.post-66595989336733096622013-05-01T12:09:00.000+02:002013-05-06T09:42:04.495+02:00Funny and true!<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I saw this picture shared on Facebook today and it made me smile:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgooDOuPUsaVsfXfDwrQebJ-qOrV7WXQ9xU_ier3NiSKGyKkJW9jJIlY6CgP15TbiPTd-nkoQyOf6MgP49fAHlu8dDnyAV8k4qafReOHbH3vWz_GWRu6wsrS-KGoG3-sB9z8qG_OnsnRSY/s1600/babies.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" lua="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgooDOuPUsaVsfXfDwrQebJ-qOrV7WXQ9xU_ier3NiSKGyKkJW9jJIlY6CgP15TbiPTd-nkoQyOf6MgP49fAHlu8dDnyAV8k4qafReOHbH3vWz_GWRu6wsrS-KGoG3-sB9z8qG_OnsnRSY/s1600/babies.JPG" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">English translation:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">"Étre un bébé" = Being a baby</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">"Selon..." = according to...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">"...ma mère" = my mother</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">"...mon père" = my father</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">"...mes grands-parents" = my grandparents</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">"...mes voisins" = my neighbours</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">"En rêve" = in dreams</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">"En réalité" = in reality</span>Paul Reed-Peckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15867241645187976687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332473150702443956.post-60243338516451212292013-04-27T08:44:00.000+02:002013-04-27T08:44:00.272+02:00Swisscom App just got better!<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Back in February I wrote an article recommending the Swisscom TV smartphone app as a very useful addition to the life of someone with both (see <a href="http://erniemcpeck.blogspot.ch/2013/02/for-anyone-with-swisscom-tv.html">For Anyone with Swisscom TV</a>). Well, the app just got better.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">In addition to all the handy features I mentioned before, the latest version also allows you to use your mobile device as a remote control by pairing it with your Swisscom TV box. Fantastic!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">No more worries about losing the remote control, batteries dying, etc. Now, you simply need to open the app on your phone, browse the channels (which you can also search through by entering categories or keywords) and switch your TV on to whatever you want to watch.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Whether the kids have hidden it, the missus has lost it or the dog has swallowed it, searching for the remote is an almost daily occurrence for some people. That's where Swisscom TV's app comes in handy - as no one ever seems to misplace their phone these days (they follow us wherever we go), you'll always be able to operate your TV without having to stand up and press buttons on the box. Very, very useful.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Add to this the fact that Swisscom TV also lets you "rewind" back 30 hours, giving you a chance to watch programmes that you missed and forgot to record, and it's clear to see their service offerings are getting better and better.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Once again, as in my last article, I heartily recommend the Swisscom TV app to those with Swisscom TV and a smartphone.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I am not receiving any money or discount from Swisscom for promoting their services in this article; however, if someone from Swisscom happens to read this then I would certainly not turn down any offers!</span>Paul Reed-Peckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15867241645187976687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332473150702443956.post-68446821616142461022013-04-26T12:38:00.000+02:002013-04-26T12:38:01.127+02:00Holiday Update<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I posted a while back about the fact that we were undecided about what to do for a holiday this year (see <a href="http://erniemcpeck.blogspot.ch/2013/01/holiday-planning.html">Holiday Planning</a>). I was leaning towards staying in Switzerland to keep the cost down, but still harboured hope that we could go somewhere with a beach to make sure we had a "proper" summer holiday. For me, a beach is a key ingredient of a real summer holiday, so our search always kept this in mind.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/02/bc/91/5f/yelloh-village-les-petits.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" lwa="true" src="http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/02/bc/91/5f/yelloh-village-les-petits.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The camp site's swimming pool</span></strong></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">After much deliberation and searching, we came across a camp site in the Aigues-Mortes area in the south of France, which is next to the Mediterranean Sea and therefore guarantees a beach-assisted holiday. We plan to go with some friends to the camp site that promises to be child friendly, and has lots of activities for kids to do.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">It has a huge swimming pool area, plenty of playgrounds, entertainment, a bakery and a restaurant plus loads more facilities to help enjoy our stay. We'll be staying in a little cottage with it's own terrace area, that should be ideal for meals and evening drinks to wind the day down.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">We'll be driving to get there in a journey that should take around 5 hours to complete. We have never before undertaken such a mammoth drive with Lydia as a passenger, and given that she oftens complains when a trip takes longer than half an hour, this would seem somewhat foolhardy on our part.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">We plan to leave in the early hours of the morning in the hope that Lydia will sleep in the car, but f</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">ortunately my in-laws bought us a portable DVD player to keep Lydia occupied on our recent flight to England, and it can be attached to the back of a head rest in the car for the passengers to view, so this - with any luck - will entertain a restless Lydia during the trip.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I have already recorded a few episodes of In the Night Garden, Postman Pat and T'Choupi - all Lydia's favourite TV shows - onto DVDs, to make sure we are well prepared for any eventualities. I'll also try to get some music on there and some children's music videos (there are loads on YouTube), as that will no doubt help Lydia forget about that she is stuck in a car for such an extended period of time.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Aside from the slight hesitancy over the long drive to get to the camp site, </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I'm now really looking forward to going on holiday, and hopefully getting some sun in the south of France. The fact that there will be a beach involved only makes it better. I can already see us having a BBQ next to our little cottage, playing bowls on the lawn and generally having a great time as a little family.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I can't wait to see Lydia exploring the sandy beach and getting her toes wet in the sea... She has experienced this before during our trip to Cornwall in England last year (see <a href="http://erniemcpeck.blogspot.ch/2012/06/holiday-in-cornwall.html">Holiday in Cornwall</a>), and she wasn't a big fan of sand at the time, but now that she is a bit older, bigger and more worldly, she might get a taste for building sand castles with her daddy.</span><br />
Paul Reed-Peckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15867241645187976687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332473150702443956.post-41559898821338071662013-04-25T12:49:00.000+02:002013-04-25T17:02:16.573+02:00A Cake fit for a Princess!<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Well, we did it. We actually managed to bake a cake that a) looked pretty good, and b) was edible.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">To my knowledge, no one who ate a bite of cake ended up either in hospital or face down in the toilet for several hours, and no police officers called on our door to arrest us for attempted bakery (i.e. pre-meditated mass poisoning), so on all accounts it could be considered a pretty good first attempt.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I wrote last week about my trepidation as we braced ourselves to plunge into a world of sugar frosting and cake-carving chaos (see <a href="http://erniemcpeck.blogspot.ch/2013/04/to-bake-or-not-to-bake.html">To Bake, or not to Bake...</a>). I really was not looking forward to the task, given our complete lack of experience in baking anything other than pre-made mixtures of bog-standard "cake-in-a-box" goodies.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">As it turns out, I need not have been so worried.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">We had already decided to make a cake in the form of one of Lydia's favourite CBeebies characters, IgglePiggle from In the Night Garden. IgglePiggle is a more or less man-shaped creature who is entirely blue from head to toe, save for some sprouty bits of red hair, and completely naked. This meant we didn't have to fiddle around with multiple colours or worry about different layers. In essence, it meant making a blue cake and sticking some hair on it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">The Night Garden is a strange forest world populated by characters called IgglePiggle, Upsy Daisy, Makka Pakka, the Tombleboos and many other bizarre things. To be honest, I'm not really a fan of In the Night Garden. For me, it's a little too much like the Teletubbies in that it's main characters are weird creatures that cannot speak properly or even say anything other than their own name. Each episode is also incredibly dull as they seem to do the same thing every time. However, Lydia loves it and gets excited at the sight of Makka Pakka pushing his odd little tricycle around or Upsy Daisy "singing" into her megaphone, so it seemed like a good choice for the cake.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Just before the end of last week, I raised the possibility to Chris of making a simple cake and then shaping an IgglePiggle out of marzipan (or icing) to sit on top. Fortunately for both of us, she agreed with this idea and we set about making the cake on Saturday afternoon, the day before Lydia's birthday, while my parents kept the little monkey busy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I made the cake itself earlier in the day, using a simple Victoria Sponge Cake recipe I found on the Internet. I actually made two cakes and sandwiched them together with a layer of jam and some home-made buttercream, before coating the top and sides of the double-decker cake with more buttercream.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Chris had been to a specialist baking goods shop in Lausanne on Friday and picked up some white, blue and red packs of ready to roll icing. Using my watching mum's advice, we carefully rolled out the white icing and placed it over the top of our cake, then carefully folded the sides down and chopped off the jagged corners.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTqpH1sQEca7HvdfLsCdd8Hs8F5ovc6YYuNvKldvn-4hbSQwc13oRzsPjr4LtixG_U_Dm2tOq9U4WiNxxaEgwWWpyv5jgw0T7Ha1t-IoEzwTagnghiDknokm0myLjNZR2CvSVbh9TlHbQ/s1600/IMG_3720.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" lwa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTqpH1sQEca7HvdfLsCdd8Hs8F5ovc6YYuNvKldvn-4hbSQwc13oRzsPjr4LtixG_U_Dm2tOq9U4WiNxxaEgwWWpyv5jgw0T7Ha1t-IoEzwTagnghiDknokm0myLjNZR2CvSVbh9TlHbQ/s200/IMG_3720.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The making of IgglePiggle</span></strong></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Having made our simple cake, we then took on the task of making IgglePiggle.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">This was the toughest part as we were using blue icing instead of marzipan, which is very fiddly to shape without cracking. Eventually, we managed to piece IgglePiggle together on top of the cake, sitting down clutching his red towel. We added some cubes made out of more blue icing and drew Lydia's name onto them (in edible ink).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Finally we rolled out a red ribbon to go around the cake and added a red star with a 2 on the front (Lydia's age), then hid the cake in our room where Lydia's curious eyes wouldn't find it.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixgXXkQaQZqYsF-4FWli-TUaL6kGSlV-k4-Vpd3TDHqTWIuio6nZLKQTU5O22yWNJnuMLXNO4TG6mw72YoW0Nb6GykwRuvgKn2azsBUSCvSaezxvlwAkK6oRxvvCbTmHi08rl6sAwsTLo/s1600/IMG_3734.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" lwa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixgXXkQaQZqYsF-4FWli-TUaL6kGSlV-k4-Vpd3TDHqTWIuio6nZLKQTU5O22yWNJnuMLXNO4TG6mw72YoW0Nb6GykwRuvgKn2azsBUSCvSaezxvlwAkK6oRxvvCbTmHi08rl6sAwsTLo/s200/IMG_3734.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The finished cake</span></strong></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">When all the guests were gathered in our living room on Sunday, with Lydia - in full princess regalia - sat comfortably on the sofa, we brought the cake round and sang "Joyeux Anniversaire". To my delight, not only did she join in with the song and look happy doing so, but she also recognised IgglePiggle straight away. Phew!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">It was great that Lydia liked her cake, and that it looked like what it was supposed to look like. At the end of the party, there was still more than half the cake left over and I hadn't bought any party bags to hand out to the guests, so the cake has formed part of my daily diet ever since.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I think it should be finished by this time next week.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Just for those who don't know who IgglePiggle is, this is him (left) compared to our version (right):</span><br />
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<a href="http://letscake.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/image.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" lwa="true" src="http://letscake.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/image.png" width="234" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqnWhOWQj1jNxT9CXIiN5_BQNb4P5a42Ka_YeBEQgDmDCYSC8DS-Xkcsf9JzMxh0g9c2YGeLDjIg8u6v8d4IaA383rOhheVF_SsBDJtTFmodneT7NI4RXfMk2SX-UUTkWWg1cHwARWnz4/s1600/IMG_3751.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" lwa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqnWhOWQj1jNxT9CXIiN5_BQNb4P5a42Ka_YeBEQgDmDCYSC8DS-Xkcsf9JzMxh0g9c2YGeLDjIg8u6v8d4IaA383rOhheVF_SsBDJtTFmodneT7NI4RXfMk2SX-UUTkWWg1cHwARWnz4/s320/IMG_3751.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">OK, so it isn't perfect, but I'm pretty proud of it!</span><br />
Paul Reed-Peckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15867241645187976687noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332473150702443956.post-8022441500088049462013-04-19T12:10:00.000+02:002013-05-06T09:48:10.554+02:00To Bake, or not to Bake...<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">...that is the question.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">This particular question could reasonably be re-phrased as "to burn the flat down, or not to burn the flat down", given my lack of baking experience and general uselessness in the kitchen.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">My past attempts at MasterCheffery have seen me make such gaffs as setting fire to oven gloves, melting a spatula into a wok, and burning rice (complete with actual flames). This coming from someone who's proudest culinary creation is chocolate scrambled eggs, a concoction borne from a fridge with nothing but eggs and chocolate milk whilst backpacking around Australia.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">It's not that I don't want to cook; in fact, I quite enjoy having a go at a new recipe and new techniques, or new foods that I've never cooked before. I'm just not very good at it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Every now and then I manage to make something edible, and on rarer occasions something quite tasty. Such examples include Gordon Ramsay's Shepherd's Pie, and Jamie Oliver's vegetable stir fry. I also once made a big meal of Indian food back (see </span><a href="http://erniemcpeck.blogspot.ch/2011/05/her-first-mothers-day.html"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Her First Mothers' Day</span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">) and cooked Christmas Turkey Dinner (see </span><a href="http://erniemcpeck.blogspot.ch/2011/12/i-wish-it-could-be-christmas-everyday.html"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I Wish it Could be Christmas Everyday</span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">), so I do get it right sometimes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The reason I'm thinking about baking is because Lydia's 2nd birthday is coming up this weekend. Last year she was too young to really understand anything about what a birthday actually is, and in fact cried when we brought out the birthday cake and sang "Happy Birthday" to her. That took some of the gloss off the celebrations, but you can't really expect a 1 year old to be ecstaticly excited about a birthday party.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">This year, she is probably still too young to really grasp what all the fuss is about, but hopefully she will be a bit happier on the day. We won't have a big party with 40+ people this time, so she shouldn't be too overwhelmed, and we've been practising singing happy birthday with her for the last few weeks in preparation for the big moment.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Having worked on steeling Lydia's nerve for her birthday celebrations, our thoughts now turn to the centre piece - the birthday cake.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">There are a lot of people out there know how to bake, but I am not one of them. My culinary "skills" stretch only to main courses, or occasionally starters, and bakery has never really grabbed my interest. I prefer salty snacks (like crisps and nuts) to sweet treats, but I don't think the candles would stand up properly in a pile of Walkers cheese and onion flavour crisps. A good Shepherd's Pie would probably hold the candles well, but not really appropriate for a child's birthday party.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">And so, a cake must be baked, and there's only two people who can do it - me and my wife, Chris.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">We've got a general theme for the cake, based on a kids' TV show she likes, but we lack the know-how to actually put it together. I've found what is supposed to be a foolproof sponge cake recipe on the Internet, and I have no doubt that the "foolproof" claim will be strongly put to the test this weekend.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Chris has gone in search of food colouring in the right colours, while I have researched how to decorate a cake. It all looks very complicated, and I honestly have no idea if we will be able to pull this off. The sponge cake base seems straightforward enough, but certain items like self-raising flour don't seem to be available in the Migros supermarket chain here. Chris has substituted this for normal flour and a raising-agent called "levure", which is typically used in baking here. It'll mean adjusting the recipe and keeping our fingers crossed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">It could go either way: it might be a stunning success that we'll look back on in years to come with fond memories, or it might be a complete disaster that results in stomachs being pumped in hospital.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">My parents will be flying over tonight so they'll be here for the birthday girl's big weekend, and it'll be their job to keep her busy while we get cracking with the cake.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">We will know by tea-time tomorrow if we've been successful or not. Please, everyone out there in Internet-land, keep your fingers crossed for us this weekend.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">If all else fails, the local bakery / patisserie is open on Sunday mornings so we do have a backup plan.</span><br />
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Paul Reed-Peckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15867241645187976687noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332473150702443956.post-71314416767521692082013-03-25T12:31:00.000+01:002013-05-06T09:45:20.710+02:00World Radio Switzerland<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I just found out that my blogs ("erniemcpeck - Adventures in Switzerland" and "Swiss Red") were mentioned as part of a broadcast by <a href="http://worldradio.ch/">World Radio Switzerland</a> last Thursday.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx2GfYtjWNBW6Rp8X8HUeVlUDyWUvUzol7l6GgmbKFyr5RjUZ7wHBOszJSvxr8ibe-g8j-tfdbuIO7uYIeJ0EV_wsBw21QZF3jw9vy4E9WFlqm_-fa6hMXEuiTynugj0JSARXAUw7ureQ/s1600/Greenshot_2013-03-25_16-34-34.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx2GfYtjWNBW6Rp8X8HUeVlUDyWUvUzol7l6GgmbKFyr5RjUZ7wHBOszJSvxr8ibe-g8j-tfdbuIO7uYIeJ0EV_wsBw21QZF3jw9vy4E9WFlqm_-fa6hMXEuiTynugj0JSARXAUw7ureQ/s1600/Greenshot_2013-03-25_16-34-34.png" ssa="true" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">As part of their regular feature called "The Connectors", presenter (and blogger) Catherine Nelson-Pollard discussed the <a href="http://www.mybiggeneva.com/">My Big Geneva</a> website with Michael Shevlin (another blogger and local teacher), and as a side note also mentioned my own blogs. What an honour!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The My Big Geneva website is a fantastic source of information, and quite rightly the focus of a programme discussing expat experiences here, as it has a ton of articles on what to do in Geneva. Before talking directly to Emilie and Carla of My Big Geneva, Catherine mentioned my blogs as an example of a British expat who blogs about life in Switzerland.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzhKfyQ_NTa_gJPWtRzRKELi9A8JAwj7a6eWjcHJYdCI6qXmYPqeAcDwxX8PWRGxCwJ-ZEB_2zRa5tDogk0ev0IejWaQ4coWZyn4J3mTM2BJhgzgQw7dyfmlsY1d4dW40su4FAExFB33s/s1600/WRS++The+Connectors+Discovering+Geneva+beyond+old+clich%25C3%25A9s+-+Windows+Internet+E_2013-03-25_16-35-43.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="53" mwa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzhKfyQ_NTa_gJPWtRzRKELi9A8JAwj7a6eWjcHJYdCI6qXmYPqeAcDwxX8PWRGxCwJ-ZEB_2zRa5tDogk0ev0IejWaQ4coWZyn4J3mTM2BJhgzgQw7dyfmlsY1d4dW40su4FAExFB33s/s320/WRS++The+Connectors+Discovering+Geneva+beyond+old+clich%25C3%25A9s+-+Windows+Internet+E_2013-03-25_16-35-43.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">You can <a href="http://worldradio.ch/wrs/programmes/theconnectors/the-connectors-discovering-geneva-beyond-old-clich.shtml?35130">listen to the programme</a> through the WRS website, or <a href="http://worldradio.ch/wrs/bm~doc/20130321_connectors.mp3">download it directly through this link</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I always find it incredibly flattering whenever anyone mentions my blogs, as with <a href="http://www.genevafamilydiaries.net/expat-life/expat-dads-who-blog-paul/">my recent interview on the Expat Dads Who Blog series</a> on the <a href="http://www.genevafamilydiaries.net/">Geneva Family Diaries</a> website. It humbles me just to know that people read what I write, and I sincerely hope that what I blog about can help other people in some small way.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I would like to express my thanks to Catherine and WRS in general for mentioning my blogs, which are also linked from their website. In return, I would like to encourage others to tune in to WRS, either through 101.7 FM in the Geneva region or by streaming through their website. Listening to shows such as The Connectors can help you find information from other expat sources that could be interesting or even helpful to you.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Below is a list of websites and blogs run by other expats here in Switzerland:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.genevafamilydiaries.net/expat-life/expat-dads-who-blog/">Geneva Family Diaries</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">- I've mentioned my appreciation for this website in past articles, after they first came to my attention when they asked me to do an interview for their series on Expat Dads Who Blog. Michela runs a very tidy and information-packed website that is mainly focused on Geneva but also stretches to the surrounding areas, and is a great source to check if you want to find out what's going on in the coming days or weeks.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.knowitall.ch/">Know It All Passport</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">- The Know It All Passport is a guide book for English-speakers in the Geneva and Vaud regions of Switzerland, and this website supports the book with expanded information and articles. As you would expect with a guide book and an accompanying website, it is absolutely jam-packed with information on what to do and where to go in these areas of Switzerland. Having read some sample pages, I think this just might be next on my list of books to read!</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.lausannemom.com/"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Lausanne Mom</span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;"></span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">- A brilliant website written my Meta, an expat mother of two who lives in Lausanne and blogs about very wide-ranging subjects related to daily life in Lausanne as well as things to see and do in other parts of Switzerland. She also has loads of great ideas for things to do with kids, with many articles on craft ideas that will come in very handy during the winter months when the kids can't go outside!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;"><a href="http://linda-lostinswitzerland.blogspot.ch/">Linda - Lost in Switzerland</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">- This was a cracking blog by Linda who moved to Switzerland from her native Sweden. She blogged about her views on things in life, which were often unrelated to Switzerland, but amongst the articles about fashion or movies she liked there were some real gems, such as "<a href="http://linda-lostinswitzerland.blogspot.ch/2009/08/sweden-vs-switzerland.html">Sweden vs Switzerland</a>", where she compared the pros and cons of the two countries (Sweden won). Sadly she no longer blogs here as she moved back to Sweden earlier this year, but historically it's still a good read.</span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;"></span><br />
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<a href="http://livinginnyon.com/"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Living in Nyon</span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">- This blog is written by The Connectors presenter Catherine Nelson-Pollard herself, providing a view of life in Nyon from a British expat. Lots of information about life in Switzerland can be found here, as well as articles for tourists visiting the area and upcoming events. It's another website that I wish I had found out about sooner, and this is now firmly in my list of sites to follow. Catherine also runs a blog about life in Switzerland called "<a href="http://the-perpetual-expatriate.blogspot.ch/">The Perpetual Expatriate</a>", giving her view on life here.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;"><a href="http://mamizeit.com/">Mamizeit</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">- This is a web magazine written with expat mothers in mind, that aims to share information amongst international women living here in Switzerland, with topics ranging from daily life to fashion tips. It's an interesting read, even from a male perspective!</span><br />
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<a href="http://mrshev.com/"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Mr Shev</span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">- A blog written by Michael Shevlin, who was part of the WRS The Connectors broadcast that mentioned my blogs, on his views on life, which are written with a kind of humour that strikes a chord with me (quote from his Snow Driving Tips article in January: "...the motherland has had a couple of inches of snow so the whole country has come to a <em>complete standstill </em>and people have started eating their pets..." - funny stuff!). A good read that will make you chuckle.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;"><a href="http://www.onebigyodel.com/">One Big Yodel</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">- Written by an American living in Switzerland, this is a useful and often humorous look at life in here, albeit in the German part of the country. A good read and full of useful info, it's a good place to go for English-speaking expats.</span><br />
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<a href="http://blog.yourswisslifeline.com/about-this-blog/"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Your Swiss Life Line</span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">- A website dedicated to helping people who are moving to Switzerland, with helpful info on orientation and how to settle in and adjust to life here - why have I only just found out about this site?? It has loads of useful blog articles that would probably have come in handy to me had I read them over three and half years ago! If you are in the same situation as I was - i.e. about to move to Switzerland - I sincerely recommend this blog!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">A useful list of blogs from expats here in Switzerland is also available through the </span><a href="http://www.expat-blog.com/"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Expat Blog</span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> website, </span><a href="http://www.expat-blog.com/en/directory/europe/switzerland/"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">here</span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">If you've come to my blog from the WRS website then thank you very much for your interest in me, and feel free to browse my blog entries! :)</span>Paul Reed-Peckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15867241645187976687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332473150702443956.post-33829515986842669882013-03-24T20:04:00.000+01:002013-03-25T15:04:40.956+01:00Pigtail Princess<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Lydia's hair has never been particularly long. She wasn't one of those babies born with a luxurious full head of hair; with dark hair round the sides and a fairly sparse covering on top, she actually looked like she had styled her hair on the typical image of a monk.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">We have had to wait what has felt like a very long time for her hair to grow - she's nearly 2 years old - and now that it's finally long enough to play with my wife is taking every opportunity to do just that. Ponytails and pigtails are the fashion of the day in our house now!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Unfortunately, and probably fairly understandably, Lydia doesn't like the process of tying her hair up, as yanking on her hair is rather uncomfortable. She therefore objects whenever we try, and it's not really fair of us to force this on her. The problem is that she looks so damn cute with pigtails, it's hard to resist!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">This is her with pigtails:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirVpBrcN3SKkxcTNQqS9wHgGFV7g4aowTCpzA74TDNRPtdn0T5cFSBI5D6ijbMEzt47-hfNeGjyzqKyr8MMQoHcJ-C86M7sXv6tz3rqfSBn7m2QgUde65ZLffHK4wqPRrKr955LKNPOFI/s1600/pigtails.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirVpBrcN3SKkxcTNQqS9wHgGFV7g4aowTCpzA74TDNRPtdn0T5cFSBI5D6ijbMEzt47-hfNeGjyzqKyr8MMQoHcJ-C86M7sXv6tz3rqfSBn7m2QgUde65ZLffHK4wqPRrKr955LKNPOFI/s320/pigtails.JPG" ssa="true" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">...to me, she looks really cheeky and yet unbelievably cute at the same time, although this is coming from my biased, proud-father viewpoint.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">She is just starting to like the concept of a princess, so hopefully this will be the beginning of a long phase of wanting to wear pretty dresses, tiaras (plastic ones, of course), etc...</span><br />
Paul Reed-Peckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15867241645187976687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332473150702443956.post-71522249151445012642013-03-01T12:47:00.000+01:002013-03-15T09:58:15.191+01:00Allez Lausanne!<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Back in May 2010, during my first twelve months in Switzerland, I travelled to Basel to watch FC Lausanne-Sport play against FC Basel in the final of the Coupe Suisse (see "<a href="http://erniemcpeck.blogspot.com/2010/05/following-lausanne-fc-sport-to-final.html">Following FC Lausanne-Sport to the Final</a>"), in what promised to be a great day out.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">As it turns out, FCLS were on the wrong end of a serious spanking, losing 6-0 in what was truly a dire performance. Having spent 120.- CHF for a round trip train ticket, plus the cost of the match ticket, then sat for the duration of the game with a headache in torrential rain, I can honestly say I was not particularly impressed with Swiss football.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I wrote in my <a href="http://erniemcpeck.blogspot.com/2011/03/following-fc-lausanne-sport-to-final.html">blog entry afterwards</a> that I doubted I would attend another FCLS match unless they made it to another cup final. On 27th February, FCLS were scheduled to host FC Sion in the quarter final of the Swiss Cup, and an invitation from my brother-in-law Pascal tempted me to go back on my words.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj270B2g6tzGZMgZYymk5KCodqmkjKiD690P-B-OZKV0bjZolItlLghsRyObbjxrDsMuaCoNsHOKCKSIrkeTH7nd5KU0n3NY3XUlJDfBcNM0pqzs_sUWfwZEEmWv089KzH_RULuiwFTbSU/s1600/FC-LS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" psa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj270B2g6tzGZMgZYymk5KCodqmkjKiD690P-B-OZKV0bjZolItlLghsRyObbjxrDsMuaCoNsHOKCKSIrkeTH7nd5KU0n3NY3XUlJDfBcNM0pqzs_sUWfwZEEmWv089KzH_RULuiwFTbSU/s320/FC-LS.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">La Pontaise starts to fill up with hopeful supporters...</span></strong></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">It was a bitterly cold evening, coming a few days after most of the Canton of Vaud was covered by a few centimetres of snow, and the match was only scheduled to start at 8:30pm. I met up with Pascal and a few of his friends, and we quickly bought our tickets and went inside to warm up.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I'll admit I was a little surprised by the price of the ticket, forking out a whopping 50.- CHF for my seat in block J of the Stade Olympique de la Pontaise, the home of FCLS. Granted, my seat was well placed in row 22 slightly to the right of the stand with a side view of the pitch, a viewpoint that would let me see all the action regardless of where it happened on the pitch, but I honestly found the ticket price to be rather high considering it was FCLS.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The other side of the stadium has cheaper tickets, at around 30.- CHF, but it is more open to the elements and on such a cold night a little wind protection was a welcome bonus. Still, I wasn't impressed at the dent this made in my cash flow, and hoped that the match would be an open, entertaining affair to at least make it worth my money.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Sadly, this hope was totally misplaced.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Insipid, dire, dreadful, dull. Plenty of words come to mind that would describe the match, but none of them are positive. Both sides played some truly awful, uninspired football of a standard that would be unacceptable at even a fourth division team in England.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">FC Sion scored a goal in the 28th minute of the first half, and that was practically the only effort on goal. In an attempt to keep some level of interest in what was a terrible display of half-arsed football, we spent the first half counting the successive passes by each team to see if either side managed to string more than 5 passes together before losing possession. FCLS managed this just once in the opening period, and FC Sion not at all.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">On such a cold night, the shivering supporters searched desperately for a reason to applaud their side, if only to generate a bit of much-needed heat through banging their hands together. These occassions were few and far between, aside from the solitary goal.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">When the referee's whistle signaled the end of the first half, there was a sense of huge, collective disappointment amongst the FCLS fans. We headed to the bar and grabbed a beer; at least that gave us something to be happy about.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The second half, unfortunately, was full of the same tripe as the first, with very little to cheer for either set of supporters. To their credit, the FC Sion fans entertained themselves with songs and the occasional flare, and they actually looked to be enjoying themselves despite the shockingly bad game they were witnessing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The only real move for the FCLS fans to cheer was when a shot from distance crashed back off the crossbar. At that moment, the supporters might have sensed a small hope that their team might be about to wake up and suddenly start playing some actual football. The hope died shortly afterwards as the match reverted back to being the equivalent of watching paint dry.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Right at the death, FC Sion won a penalty that they duly converted with the very last kick of the game. The ref whistled the end of the match, with FCLS on the wrong side of a 2-0 defeat, exiting the Coupe Suisse with little more than a whimper.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I headed home after the match (where a hot shower helped to warm my semi-frozen body) thoroughly disappointed and a little angry to have spent so much money on such a terrible, terrible game.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">This brings me back to the same sentiment as the last time I watched them play in 2010, as I really don't think they are worth my money.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">It's a shame as I enjoy the experience of watching a football match, with songs ringing around the stadium and flags being waved from passionate supporters. If the ticket price was cheaper I might be tempted to go more often, but at 50.- CHF for sub-standard football, I think my wallet will be staying firmly shut.</span>Paul Reed-Peckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15867241645187976687noreply@blogger.com0