Carnaval

When I left my house this morning to go to work I had a brief moment of bewilderment - after glancing at the road ahead of me, I thought it had snowed.

This would not normally be such a surprise in Switzerland, given that it is April. However, after being blessed with glorious sunshine and temperatures of over 20°C for the last couple of weeks, one could forgive the feeling of surprise I felt at the prospect of snow on the ground (especially as I didn't bother to put a coat on when I left the house).

Glad I'm not cleaning this up

The shock didn't last long; after a comedic double-take, I realised that it was not a dusting of snow that lay on the ground, but it was in fact confetti. The annual Carnaval de Bussigny took place this weekend, with marching bands, guggenmuzik, fairground rides, beer, churros, and - most importantly - confetti canons (hence the debris shown in the picture).

These air-powered pumps are designed to spread the carnaval atmosphere to onlookers and innocent bystanders in the streets by showering them with tiny bits of paper cut into little stars, hearts and other assorted shapes.