So... What's New?

No relevence to this blog entry,
I just like this photo of Chris

Now I know what you are going to say, "Oh no here comes another 2/3/4-part blog update on every detail of his life in Switzerland since his last blog entry several months ago... I best put on a pot of coffee...". Well, normally you would be right. I like telling stories and I tend to get carried away with my writing, resulting in blogs of hundreds of lines that would force any readers to set aside an entire evening just to get through a single blog entry.

As of this moment, that will change.

I, Paul Reed-Peck, AKA Ernie McPeck, do hereby solemnly swear to limit the amount of babbling that goes on in my blogs, keeping entries precise and succinct whilst still attempting to describe my Swiss adventures with the same amount of honesty and reality.

A Blog on the Move!

Phew - that was a bit of an effort!

Aaahhh... Now I can finally relax...

Have just finished transferring all my old blog entries from my previous Internet host to my Blogspot blog, something that wasn't made much easier by the fact that Blogspot's "Import" functionality didn't want to work (think this is a known issue as many others have complained about getting the same error as me - sort it out Blogspot/Blogger!).

I had to manually copy and paste all my old blog entries, so that took me a little while. I wanted to keep the readers comments for each entry as well, but unfortunately Blogspot wouldn't let me edit the post time for each comment, so now it looks like everyone commented on my various blog articles within a few minutes of each other. Oh well, the important thing is that I have finished the bulk of the work now!

Sixty Days in Suisse - Part I

As the title suggests, I have now been a resident here in the land of cheese, chocolate and mountains for 60 days, although it certainly doesn't feel as long as it sounds. In fact, when I checked my calendar today and realised I had just finished my 8th week here I was somewhat surprised that time had passed so quickly - I left England with a niggling fear in the back of my mind that I would struggle to adapt to life here, with each day passing so slowly that I would actually start to long for life in Stevenage (which, as anyone who has visited Stevenage knows, would be stooping pretty low).

Fortunately, I began to like life in Switzerland almost immediately, aided greatly by the kindness of my wife's family and friends, who have all made me feel very welcome here. Indeed, my first few weeks here were such a blur of activities, outings and meals that I barely had time to miss my life in England (although I obviously still missed my family and friends). I soon found that I had passed the one month mark here, and thought that I really ought to write another blog article to let people know how I'm getting on and what its like to live in Switzerland. Another month later, and I'm actually getting round to it!

It's fair to say a lot has happened in these last few weeks. So much, in fact, that this effort might take some time to read (apologies for those who were expecting a "quickie" update), although I will do my best to keep it as brief as possible. In an attempt to make it succinct yet readable, I have had to split it into different parts (this one being Part I), with different sub-sections for each of the 8 weeks I have lived here - sort of mini-blogs, if you will.

The Big Move

Saturday 3rd October was a momentous day in my life - and not just because I woke up at 5am. This was the day I left England behind me and headed for my new life in Switzerland.

Having packed everything in my car on Friday night ("packed" is definitely the right word to use, it was full to bursting), I woke to the sound of my alarm and rubbed the sleep from my eyes, before getting ready for what would prove to be a very long day. I had precious little sleep the night before, caused by a mixture of anxiety, apprehension, and the giant Mixed Grill I devoured at the Corey's Mill Beefeater just a couple of hours prior to climbing into bed.

After I had showered and dressed I grabbed myself a cup of coffee (which was greatly appreciated), I decided to double check my room to make sure there was nothing I had left behind. It was a good job I did, as I ended up loading a lot more into the car, including a ton of clothes and my PlayStation (how would I survive without that?).

Car cleaning, a farewell and a haircut

It's been a busy week since my last post - as you can imagine I've found lots of things to sort out before I can leave the country safe in the knowledge that various financial institutions and government heavies won't be chasing my trail across Europe.

My last weekend in England was relaxing (but nonetheless enjoyable) as my mum and I finished off the jigsaw I mentioned in my last post - which was nowhere near as hard as I thought it would be - went for a bit of shopping in Stevenage, a town I won't be particularly sad to leave behind, watched "GAMER" at the cinema with my dad (I'd give it 3/5), and enjoyed a hearty meal at the fantastic Indian restaurant in Knebworth high street, the Raja Tandoori.

I tried to convince the staff there to open a restaurant in Lausanne as they would make a lot of money out of hungry Swiss people, although my alterior motive was the fact that I will miss English-style Indian food when I move to Switzerland.



Preparing for Moving Day

Chris and I on our
wedding day

Well, here it is - the inaugral article for my brand new blog. The start of what I hope will be a long and enjoyable foray into the world of Internet journalism (albeit at an exceedingly basic and unpaid level).

Where do I begin?



If you have read the description of my blog or the text in the title header above, then you'll know that I am about to embark on the biggest challenge of my life by moving to live with my new wife, Christelle, in Lausanne, Switzerland. As an Englishman who only speaks a little French (enough to hold up a conversation), it is quite a daunting prospect - and one that is both scary and exciting at the same time.

Ready... Set... Blog!

Where it all began...
Well here it is - Ernie's first Blog. To be honest, I don't really have much to say, and I doubt that many people will ever read it, but I'm doing it to see how easy it is to use Blogspot. If it's good, I'll recommend it to my girlfriend so she can create her own Blog.
It'll be more use to her than to me, as she is a Swiss girl living in England, meaning she is several hundred miles from her family and friends. The Blog will act as a means of her telling stories of her experiences since moving to England, and will be accompanied by photos of her and her life here.
It may also be useful for other people looking to move to England, as they may pick up tips about what they need to do to come here, and what they need to look out for.
Well, that's all for now. Take care y'all.