Dashing through the snow...

This weekend we decided to take advantage of the good weather to take Lydia tobogganing at Aminona, near Crans-Montana in Valais. Having barely seen the sun in the last couple of weeks, it was a good opportunity to get some fresh air and do something fun.

The timing of our trip was perfect weather-wise with glorious sunshine and clear blue skies, but unfortunately it was also a Sunday during half-term break, which meant a lot of other parents had the same idea as us. Parking near the tele-cabin wasn't too bad, as a free multi-storey car park is very nearby. Sadly, getting a ticket was much harder.

There was a large queue lined up en masse in front of the ticket office, with only two guichets open to serve the waiting throng of people, and doing so at an incredibly slow pace. I'm not sure if it was due to language barriers - I heard all sorts of different languages in the mass of people around us - but it often took up to ten minutes for some people to buy their tickets, in what is normally a pretty simple process.

This meant that we waited for about an hour to finally buy our tickets for the tele-cabin and sledge rental, which meant we had to keep Lydia busy the whole time. You can't realistically expect a nearly-two year old child to wait patiently for this length of time, although she did well to last about twenty minutes before getting a bit grumpy.

I managed to keep her occupied for most of the hour, before the eventual bout of tears (possibly tears of boredom) just before we got to the front of the queue and bought our tickets. For information, our total time in the queue was sixty minutes, and only two minutes at the desk to actually buy the damn things.

We quickly grabbed two sledges and jumped in the tele-cabin to get up to the top of the mountain. We only purchased one trip in the tele-cabin, reasoning that we didn't fancy doing the queue again.

Lydia enjoyed riding in the tele-cabin, looking at the view and pointing at various items of interest such as trees and people skiing down the mountain.

Picnic lunch at the top

When we arrived at the top we made our way out to the piste, and sat down out of the way of the skiers and tobogganers for a picnic lunch. Eating our fill of bread, ham, cheese and crisps - washed down with a chilled beer - we lapped up the sun's warming rays in preparation for the ride down.

It took us a couple of minutes to work out exactly where the sledge run starts, as the beginning of the trail is for both skis and sledges, and we certainly didn't want to get stuck going down the wrong one. Having found the right path to follow, we negotiated some particularly steep descents on our sledges, Lydia sitting with me while Chris (very slowly) followed behind.

Although Lydia enjoyed the speed and the sensation of going fast downhill, she was definitely not a fan of having snow sprayed in her face. Some of the trail was very steep indeed, and I had to really dig my heels into the snow to try and stop us going too fast, fearing slightly for Lydia's safety. This lead to snow being flung up in front of the sledge, most of which went straight onto Lydia.

Despite being well protected in her ski combination, hat, scarf, gloves and sunglasses, the snow managed to get on every available patch of bare skin on Lydia's face. After one decidedly scary downhill slide, I stopped and looked at Lydia - her entire face was covered in bits of snow, she looked almost like a tiny snowman! Naturally, she did not appreciate this, and she cried for most of the time wanting to stop the downhill snow showers.

Unfortunately, you can't really stop halfway down a mountain, so we had to keep going. I would stop every couple of minutes to try to calm Lydia's tears, but she really didn't enjoy it very much.

Pit stop with a view!

We came across a little kiosk/café after about 2km of the track, and stopped for a rest and a glass of mulled wine. The friendly barman told us that we still had around 4km to go before we reached the bottom, but that we had already gone past the worst of the descents. This cheered us up, and a little bit of chocolate eventually made Lydia cheer up as well.

When we restarted the course, Lydia's tears restarted as well. She really didn't enjoy the sledging, and on several occasions she tried to stand up and turn around, leading me to have to restrain her while I stopped the sledge to be able to comfort her. For the final 3km of the course I managed to avoid spraying any snow on her at all, but this didn't stop the crying.

We finally reached the bottom, with me carrying Lydia in my arms for the last few hundred metres just to stop her near-hysterical screaming. I instantly stood up and carried Lydia back to the car, feeling her calming down with each step. By the time I got to the car, she felt completely relaxed in my arms, and I'm pretty sure another five minutes like that and she would have fallen asleep (I should point out here that it is incredibly rare for Lydia to sleep anywhere other than her bed or occasionally her car seat)!

I eased her into the car, covered her up with a blanket and then drove off. After only two minutes in the car, Lydia was asleep. She slept the whole way back to Bussigny, and promptly woke up just as we arrived at home. Think the little munchkin tired herself out with all the crying!

Thinking back to the sledging itself, I quite enjoyed it (if you remove the screaming child aspect). The trail has some very steep parts and some sharp turns, but we managed to negotiate the entire course without falling off the sledge.

The views from the top are stunning, and on a sunny day such as this one the trip to the bottom is very nice indeed.

The downside for us is that the next day it was clear that Lydia has picked up a cold, most likely from getting snow in her face so often. It seems that every time we go tobogganing with her she ends up with the sniffles.

I think this is the last time we will go tobogganing this winter. We'll see how we get on next year - hopefully Lydia will like it more than she did this time.

I would definitely go back to Aminona as the course was fun, but try to avoid going during school holidays.

For anyone with Swisscom TV

We have Swisscom TV at home, giving us a larger choice of channels to watch that a typical cable connection (although the vast majority of those channels are in German).

The main reason why I wanted to have this was because it comes with a selection of English-speaking channels, including BBC, ITV and Channel 4 from England, and I thought being able to watch shows from my homeland would help me keep my sanity after making the move to Switzerland.

In fairness, my wife and I generally end up watching the same shows, so having a larger choice of channels doesn't really make much difference, except for the fact that I can watch English shows.



Swisscom TV's iPhone application

One excellent feature of Swisscom TV is the digital recorder box - much like Sky Digital that I had in England. It allows you to record your favourite programs onto a hard drive to watch later. This has been particularly useful to record episodes of T'Choupi, a cartoon that Lydia demands to watch while she has her morning and evening bottles. We don't generally have the TV on when Lydia is around, but she refuses to drink her bottle without T'Choupi... Think our Swisscom TV box now has every single episode of T'Choupi ever made saved on the hard drive!



I recently stumbled across an iPhone application for Swisscom TV that I think is really worth getting - it's completely free, and allows you to browse the channel listings for every channel that you receive.

But that's not the best part - you can use the application to tell your box to record programmes, meaning you needn't be worried about forgetting to set the box to record a programme as you can do it on the go!

And, as an added bonus, you can watch many of the shows through your phone, so you don't even need to be watching your TV at home!

I have made fair use of this feature recently to watch football matches - we only have 1 TV at home and my wife is not a footie fan, so Swisscom TV app spared us an argument or two.

As it's free and has lots of handy features, I recommend this to anyone who has a Swisscom TV subscription and wants to make sure they don't miss their favourite shows!

I should point out that I am not affiliated in any way with Swisscom, nor am I benefitting at all from advertising their products on this blog. I am simply happy with their offerings and want to spread the good word! :)

Balloons

This weekend we decided to head over to the annual Festival International de Ballons, held in Château-d'Oex. The "ballons" in question are of the large, hot-air variety, so you can expect the sky to be filled with colourful balloons of various interesting shapes.

We made the 1 hour trip from Lausanne to Château-d'Oex for the same reason last January, but unfortunately the bad weather meant that the balloons could not take off. On that occasion we had to make do with looking at balloons being inflated on the ground for a short while, and then deflated so that the next balloon could be blown up.

Luckily this year the weather was much kinder to us, and the festival was able to go ahead as planned.

Balloons fill the sky over Château-d'Oex

As we approached the town of Château-d'Oex, we could already see many balloons in the sky, and Lydia excitedly shouted "Ballon! Ballon!" repeatedly as we arrived in the town. Having parked the car in the town itself (the festival car park was not open at this point as they wanted people to fill up the Coop car park first), we walked towards the grounds.

A short distance from the entrance we were stopped by some of the festival workers, who informed us that we had to purchase tickets for 10.- CHF just to get in. I was surprised at this, as I didn't remember paying for entry when we went last year. Perhaps they waived the entry fee last year as the weather was so bad and no flights were expected? In any case, we paid the man (fortunately Lydia got in for free) and entered the festival grounds.

Inside there was a band playing Güggenmusik, a type of music with loud drums and brass instruments, typically associated with the carnaval season in Switzerland (see "Carnaval"). Lydia loves music in general and although she seemed a bit scared of the loud Güggenmusik, as she pressed her head against my arm, every time they finished a song she repeatedly shouted "Encore!".

Aside from the band, a large number of people were gathered along the gates lining the field where the balloons are inflated, while an announcer described certain balloons over the PA system. At one point a partially inflated balloon laid itself down over half the watching crowd before lifting back into the air, much to the amusement of those momentarily covered by the colourful material.

Also in this area was a booth where you can pay for balloon flights. Out of curiosity, Christelle checked how much a trip would cost, and the answer was 250.- CHF per person. That meant it was a bit out of our price range, and in any case they said the day's passenger list was basically full. Maybe next year.

Near the inflating field were some assorted stalls selling such goodies as hats and scarves, as well as others peddling pizzas, churros and various other typical festival delicacies. Chris and I decided to have a glass of mulled wine to help warm our chilled cockles, and stumped up 5.- CHF per glass for the honour. To be fair, they were large cups (possibly 300ml) and the mulled wine was delicious, so we certainly got our money's worth there.

Afterwards we headed over to a hill on one side of the grounds, partly because of Lydia's insistence to follow the band who had disappeared in that direction. We made our way up the slope and picked out a good spot to see the balloons being blown up. At the top of the hill were some more food stalls, so I bought a bowl of macaroni du chalet for Lydia (macaroni with ham, cheese and cream). It was 10.- CHF for the bowl which I thought was a bit on the steep side, but I put this down to everything being more expensive at festivals.

Lydia really liked her lunch, as she managed to eat probably two-thirds of the bowl (which is a lot for her, as she isn't a big eater). The other third was happily finished off by yours truly. Yum yum. At this point Chris' friend Sandrine had showed up with her son Matys (see "Ah, Young Love..."), so they joined us on the snowy hill to watch the balloons.

I guess Lydia had absorbed some energy from her pasta lunch as she jumped out of her pushchair and started walking around in the snow. After a few steps she laid down on her back in the snow, so we rolled her over to her sheer delight. She giggled as she rolled around in the snow, occasionally standing up and trudging around before dropping down and laughing as she began to roll again.

This was actually brilliant to see as Lydia had never really seemed that comfortable with snow, not wanting to touch it or play with it and barely tolerating walking in it. So to see her enjoying herself in the snow was a wonderful moment for us. Her happy relationship with the snow lasted for until she tried to run and tripped, landing on her knees with her glove-less hands in the snow (it's impossible to make her keep her gloves on), at which point she whinged and didn't want anything more to do with the white stuff.

That, along with the fact that it was round about the time that Lydia would normally have her nap, signalled the time for us to leave, so we made our way back home. That afternoon Lydia slept for two and a half hours, so it looks like the combination of fresh air and playing in the snow tired her out - might have to remember that!

All in all, the Festival International de Ballons at Château-d'Oex is good to see, and at night (weather permitting) they have a "Night Glow" with illuminated balloons, which is probably something spectacular to witness. The main downside for me was the fact that we had to pay to get in, even though all that entitled you to was to stand a bit closer to the balloons while they were grounded (as everything else involved additional charges, such as drinks, food, rides, etc.).

We might go back next year, and hopefully we will get to see the Night Glow next time, although it might be more economical to watch the balloons from the town itself instead of paying to get a bit closer.

Tip: if you fancy going to the festival you should make sure to check their website the morning of the day you plan to go, as they post information about what to expect that day. This will tell you if the weather is too bad for flights, or if the Night Glow is cancelled.

Independent Playtime

Just how do you get a toddler to play on their own?

I'm told that some kids will happily sit in their room and play with their toys for ages, often more than an hour at a time. Lydia has never been like that. From a very early age, she seemed to crave our company, although she wasn't a big fan of contact (not a very cuddly baby).

We used to put her on a playmat with a mobile of dangly toys hanging above her, but she would only slap the dangly things for a couple of minutes before starting to cry out of either frustration or boredom. This made it quite frustrating as it meant we couldn't get on with our daily tasks because we had to try and entertain a grumpy baby.

People often say to me, "you should have left her crying for a while, that would teach her to keep herself busy". Believe me - we tried. We left Lydia crying on her playmat for well over 30 minutes, praying that she would realise that her screaming was getting her nowhere, but she always managed to outlast us. There is only so much high-decibel screaming that a person can stand, so Lydia won every time.

She never really had a problem with sleeping on her own - that's always been one of the blessings we've experienced with Lydia, as she started sleeping in her own bed at 4 weeks old and was sleeping through the night (8pm until 7am) by 6 weeks old. Even her naps have generally been OK, with only small patches of disturbance to the rhythm along the way.

But playing by herself has never been part of Lydia's character. As I mentioned above, she seems to need interaction with others to be able to play. We tried giving her a wide variety of different toys, from gadgets that make noise and have flashing lights, to puzzles and building blocks, but she has just never played with them on her own (or certainly not for longer than a couple of minutes). She will happily play with me or Christelle, but whenever we walked away to do something else Lydia would inevitably follow us, whinging all the time.

For Christmas last year we bought her a nice wooden kitchen set from IKEA, with a load of pots and pans, plates, cutlery and various plastic or felt toy food items. She loves playing with this when we are in her room with her, as she constantly offers to make us a "cup-o-tee" or give us a slice of gateau. A couple of weeks ago I laid out the quilt that my sister had made by hand last year, placed a couple of cushions on it to act as tables, then invited some dinner guests - Lydia's teddy bears - to sit down for dinner. I showed Lydia how to ask everyone what they wanted to drink and eat, and then to prepare it in her kitchen and serve dinner to her guests. She seemed to really enjoy this, and it made me smile to see her playing nicely.

Unfortunately, the dinner party ended when I left the room to do the washing up from our actual lunch things, as I was followed by a toddler who was grumpy at my departure. It seemed as though I had found a game that she liked, but for it to be fun I would have to play along. Sigh.

We continually try to encourage Lydia to play in her room for a few minutes, and I have read articles about how to do this. Some suggest placing a timer in the room and telling her that she has to play on her own until the buzzer goes off, and then we will do something together. Other articles suggest putting up a stairgate in the doorway and closing it when leaving her in her room to play, maintaining a visual line of sight to the little one while they play so you can encourage and reassure them from afar. This option won't really work for us as it is not possible to maintain a line of sight to her room, unless we stand in the hallway the whole time (which isn't really the idea here).

We discussed what we could do to try and help Lydia gain confidence to play on her own in her room, before giving the timer idea a go. We thought about what games we could encourage her to play, activities that would be fun and absorbing enough for her to not notice we were not sitting next to her. We mentioned the tea party as she really seemed to enjoy that, but how could we get her to do this on her own?

Then we thought about music. Lydia LOVES music, dancing and singing along to children's nursery rhymes and tunes aimed at the young ones. It is how we manage to keep her calm during most car rides, although it almost costs us our sanity at hearing the same songs repeatedly.

Anyone for tea?

So, last night we set up the tea party table on the floor, then my wife put her iPod on a shelf in Lydia's room and left it playing one of Lydia's favourite CDs. Then, we left Lydia in her room and backed away to the living room with our fingers crossed. To our amazement, for the next 30 minutes or so we only saw Lydia once or twice as she came out to offer us some tea and gateau. It was a miracle!

Could it be that music is the key? Have we stumbled across a solution to our problem? Will it work every time?

I guess only time will tell. But at least we got 30 minutes of peace out of it, and that's already a great start.

Sticking to the Routine

I know kids love routine as it gives them a familiarity that allows them to relax and feel comfortable, feeling safe with the day to come.

But from a parent's point of view, some of it can get a little repetitive.

It's up to us to fill the child's day with as many different activities as possible, trying to introduce new ways of spurring their imagination and creativity while educating them at the same time. This, for me, is great. I love drawing with Lydia, building towers and other objects out of Duplo bricks or wooden blocks, reading books and so many other activities. This is the interesting bit, where we break the routine by doing something different to the day before.


The Very Hungry Sodding Caterpillar



When it gets a bit less interesting for me is Lydia's bedtime routine. Not because I don't enjoy saying goodnight to my little girl, because I really do cherish those moments together (last cuddles before bedtime). What I don't particularly enjoy is the fact that Lydia always wants me to read the exact same book and sing her the exact same song before I put her in bed each night.

I must have read "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" over 100 times by now. I know every page by heart, to the point where I recently couldn't find the book so recited it from memory instead. I have tried suggesting other books, asking her if she would like to read some of "Cinderella" or "The Jungle Book", but Lydia repeatedly demands "Capatiller" until I cave in and read it to her.

I would love to be able to read something new, but she never lets me.

The same thing applies to her goodnight song. For roughly 4 months or so last year I had to sing "You are my sunshine" before putting her down in her bed. I don't sing the whole song, just the first four lines, but these four lines become so mind-numbingly repetitive that by the end of those 4 months I had almost no pleasure at all in singing them.


That's what I imagine it must be like for Vanilla Ice or some other one-hit-wonder who has to repeatedly perform the same track.

Just recently, around a month or so ago, I managed to change bedtime songs so now I sing her "Pure Imagination" (from the Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory film). This is accompanied by spinning and dancing around the room, which she really enjoys.

The problem is that this song has now stuck as the only song she will let me sing her before bed. I even resorted to attempting the first line of "You are my sunshine" last night in a bid to change things up a bit, but Lydia stopped me after barely 3 words. The little lady knows what she wants.

I'm constantly on the lookout for new songs that she might like, although they would have to have an excellent opening if I am to get her attention within the first few words. Until then, I'm stuck with "Pure Imagination", which is made worse as I end up getting the song stuck in my head after singing it to her, meaning I spend the rest of the evening absent-mindedly humming it to myself. Until now, nothing else has worked.

I have tried nursery rhymes and songs for babies or young children, but Lydia's only response is to order me to sing "maginashun".

If anyone has any suggestions for a new bedtime song please let me know. It would need to be something a little bit uplifting - Lydia loves the spinning-dancing bits - but ultimately ending with a calming note as I lower her into bed. I realise that narrows the field somewhat, but any ideas would be very much welcome.

Please, for the sake of my sanity, help me!

Holiday Planning

Dear Readers,

In this article I'm talking about summer holidays. That yearly tradition that the vast majority of us take part in, the exclusion of which is deemed almost as a deprivation of one's rights.

I think it goes without saying that everyone loves to go on holiday. A little trip away helps to break up the monotony of our daily lives, giving us time away from work or studies, a little time to recharge our batteries. It's also good to have something to look forward to as well, the knowledge that you'll be heading off somewhere on holiday in x weeks' time giving you that extra drive to get through the daily drudge.

Lydia's first beach holiday

Last year we were lucky enough to spend our family holiday in Cornwall, England, combining scenic countryside with beach-side fun, although it was somewhat dampened by the torrential rain for half the time we were there. Still, it allowed us to experience something different, and Lydia was able to play on a sandy beach and dip her toes in the chilly sea for the first time in her life.

This year, unfortunately, money is a bit tight, so we are looking at simpler options. Rather than splash out on flights or expensive hotels, we are looking at staying somewhere in Switzerland and finding something that is both relaxing for us and enjoyable for Lydia.

One potential option springs to mind - Switzerland has a plethora of camp sites dotted around the place, near lakes or in mountain villages. This, to me, seems like a great holiday idea. Cheap enough to be affordable whilst still having that sense of freedom to do what you want. I haven't been camping since I was in the Cub Scouts many years ago, apart from a brief weekend staying in a tent at the V Festival in 2002, and have some pretty happy memories of those trips. I've long fancied going camping again somewhere and really doing it properly - putting up a tent, building a camp fire, etc - but I think this might be a bit beyond Lydia for the time being. She would be a little over 2 years old this summer and that's simply too young for that kind of holiday. It's an option I will keep in mind for future holidays, but probably not for this year.

Precluding camping trips means one of the cheaper holiday options has to be left out of the search. Instead, we could perhaps focus on holiday camps that have lots of children and activities for the little ones to busy themselves with. Something like Center Parcs would be ideal, but sadly they don't have a site in Switzerland.

The perfect holiday would be a little holiday home (like a villa or a chalet) in the grounds of a holiday camp that has at least a small terrasse and/or garden, located in a nice, scenic area and possibly near a lake. Oh, and not too expensive. Think that might limit our options somewhat!

I have tried searching on Google to see what's out there, but it seems quite difficult to actually find something suitable. This might be partly because things in Switzerland are a bit on the expensive side, but possibly also because I'm not entering the right search parameters. Either way, I'm struggling to find what we could do and where we could go for this year's family holiday.

There is another limiting option that also hinders this search - the language. I'm a native English speaker who has picked up French since moving to Switzerland, and my wife is bilingual (French and English). Lydia, growing up in a home where both English and French are spoken is naturally picking up the two languages. I'm focusing my search on Switzerland to try and keep costs (such as travel) to a minimum, but the problem is that two-thirds of the country is in areas where Swiss German is the spoken language, such as Zurich, Basel, Bern, etc.

From our point of view, it would be much preferable to stay in the Suisse Romande part of Switzerland, as it's French-speaking and therefore won't require me to take a crash-course in Swiss German or Swiss Italian (or even Rumansch!). This is not just for our benefit, but also to make sure Lydia can communicate with the other kids she meets without too much frowning or reliance on hand gestures. As I said above, this is further restricting our field of search and therefore reducing the options available. It means we are looking at the cantons of Geneva, Vaud, Valais, Fribourg and Jura. It would be nice to get away from Vaud though, as it would feel more like a holiday if we were further from home.

My searches have so far been fruitless, but that's partly why I have written this article. I'm calling for suggestions from all the helpful people out there in Internet-land who know of a holiday idea that just might tick all the boxes.

Any hints or suggestions would be greatly welcome - either leave a comment on this article or drop me an email to:  erniemcpeck@gmail.com.

I will follow up this article with future updates on any ideas that come to me from the good people out there, plus any I think of myself, as this just might help others who are in the same situation as me. Of course, any suggestions I receive will be fully credited to the kind person who suggested it!

As a back-up option, if I can't find anything suitable in Switzerland then I might consider expanding my search to include places in France, in case the ideal holiday is waiting for me in our neighbour country. Therefore, if you have any tips for great holidays in France then please let me know! That being said, it would still be preferable to stay in Switzerland.

Thanks in advance to anyone willing to help an expat out!

Kind regards,

Paul

Expat Dads Who Blog - Part III

The final part of the story about my move to Switzerland and my evolving life here since then has just been published on the excellent Geneva Family Diaries website. To read the article please follow this link.

In fact, if you're reading this article then you have most probably followed the link from their website, in which case I thank you warmly for your interest in my life and the things I have to say.

Me with my newborn daughter

The Expat Dads Who Blog - Part III article, entitled "Becoming A Father in Switzerland", basically tells the story of how it felt to become a father, from the joy of finding out my wife was pregnant, through the worries and concerns of how much my life would change, to the eventual elation of the birth of my daughter, and how my own little world has changed since that day.

If you followed the previous articles published on the Geneva Family Diaries website (see Part I - Moving to Switzerland and Part II - Settling in Switzerland), then you probably know a fair bit about me. If you haven't read them, but you still want to know about me - thanks again for your interest! - then I invite you to read the summary I wrote as a welcome message to visitors who read Part II (see Expat Dads Who Blog - Part II).

I have now lived in Switzerland for over three years, and in that time I have learnt a lot about this beautiful country. As you can see from various articles in my back catalogue, I try to write as honestly as possible about the things I see and do here, so hopefully this blog will help others in some small way.

If anyone wants to get in touch with me about life in Switzerland, please feel free to drop me an email:    erniemcpeck@gmail.com

Happy reading!

Paul

Don't believe the hype!

When I woke up this morning I was pleasantly surprised to see that the world had, in fact, not ended.

There were no rivers of lava, no tsunamis, no crust-cracking earthquakes or freezing super-cells.

No sign of an invasion by aliens bent on destroying the Earth, nor any scratches from collision with Planet X.

Not one speck of ash from an Earth consumed by fire after the Sun going supernova, nor the blood-curdling sound of the final convulsive stages of people expiring from a deadly epidemic virus.

No news broadcasts about Jesus' vengeful second coming, no fiery pits dropping straight into Hell itself.

Not one single hoof-print from the Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and absolutely no fallout from global nuclear war.

Instead, it was a morning like any other. Just like yesterday, and the day before that, and the day before that, and... well, you get my drift.

It seems that the doomsday theorists have once again taken an otherwise ordinary day and hyped it out of all proportion. Instead of the much-vaunted global destruction, what actually happened on Friday 21st December 2012 was... nothing.

Of course, it isn't the first time the Earth has survived "doomsday"; a quick read through the list of prophecies on Wikipedia shows just how often our destruction has - so far incorrectly - been predicted.

Here's a few selected highlights:

• 375-400 - Martin of Tours said that the Antichrist had already been born and would destroy the world before the year 400 AD, after finishing puberty. Apart from most likely causing a few parents to be a bit more suspicious of their kids, this didn't happen.
• Jan 1, 1000 - Christians said the Millennium Apocalypse would occur on this date, leading to the end of the world. Even the Pope joined the bandwagon. What happened? Some people rioted, some others made pilgrimages to Jerusalem. As for the Pope, when the world didn't end he then said it would really end in the year 1284 (conveniently after his death this time, no doubt to avoid further embarassment).
• Feb 1, 1524 - Various astrologers though a flood eminating from London would lead to the end of the world that year, which of course it didn't. I know it rains a lot in England, but I can't really see the Thames overflowing that much. Perhaps that's why the Thames Barrier was built in the 20th century - to keep floodwaters down and thus avoid doomsday.
• 1524-1526 - Thomas Müntzer said that 1525 would be the beginning of the Millennium, the start of Christ reigning for 1000 years before the end of the world. Although the world remained untouched, poor Thomas was tortured and beheaded for his predictions.
• 1656 - Christopher Columbus said in 1501 that the world would end in 1656. It didn't. He probably should have stuck to sailing and left doomsday prophesizing to others.
• 1853-1856 - Many people believed the Crimean War was actually the Battle of Armageddon. Grim though it may have been, with more than half a million people losing their lives, the Earth carried on regardless.
• Feb 4, 1962 - "Psychic" Jeane Dixon said that a planetary alignment on this date would bring about the end of the world. Nope.
• 1969 - Charles Manson said the world would end in an apocalyptic race war, which he attempted to start by ordering the killing of some people himself. His evil plan didn't work, and the world survived unscathed.
• Sep 6, Sep 29, Oct 2, 1994 - Harold Camping predicted the return of Jesus and the start of the Rapture. When nothing happened, he simply moved the date a few times.
• Mar 31, 1995 - Harold Camping had another stab at predicting the Rapture. Another failure.
• Jan 1, 2000 - Y2K bug predicted global computer crashes leading to major catastrophies worldwide. What actually happened was a few baby scans got mixed up, some slot machines in Delaware stopped working, and the Meteo France had a webpage showing an incorrect date. Inconvient, sure, but not exactly Armageddon.
• May 21, 2011 - That man Harold Camping at it again, supposedly the Rapture would begin on this date with some earthquakes thrown in for good measure and God taking 3% of the world's population into Heaven. Good old Harald said the world would end 5 months later on October 21.
• Oct 21, 2011 - Camping tried to explain his failed prediction from May that year by saying a "spiritual judgement" had occured and that the Rapture would still happen in October. Once again, he was wrong.

Before I sign off this article, it's worth noting that there are a few predictions made for the apocalypse that we will (hopefully) get to live through in the coming years:

• May 19, 2013 - Ronald Weinland says Jesus Christ will return on this date causing the end of the world. I wouldn't get too worried though, as Ronald also said this would happen on September 29 2011 and again on May 27 2012.
• 2020 - Self-proclaimed psychic Jeane Dixon, following up on her wide-of-the-mark prediction from 1962, said that Armageddon would start in 2020, leading to a climactic battle between the returning Jesus Christ and Satan, the Antichrist and the False Prophet. Only another 7 years to wait to see if Jeane has more luck with this prediction than her previous one.
• 2021 - F. Kenton Beshore says Jesus will be back between 2018 and 2028, with the Rapture coming no later than 2021. Keep your eyes peeled for this one.

Finally, having listened to all the hyped-up doomsday theories and the various prophesized Armageddons, there are some real ways - and by real I mean calculated by science - in which the Earth will end:

• 500,000,000 AD - James Kasting (a scientist who worked with NASA) calculated that a drop in the level of carbon dioxide will make it impossible for human life to be sustained on Earth. Although we will be long, long gone, let's hope our descendents have found other inhabitable planets and invented a way of travelling their by this date.
• 22,000,000,000 AD - Many scientists calculate that the universe will be torn apart through its own continual expansion (called the Big Rip theory). This is hypothetical, based on current knowledge of the universe, so I'm guessing the date might be somewhat approximate. If humanity survives to this date, I can't imagine people will be too critical of the predictions if the actual year it happens is 22,000,000,001, for example.
• 10 to the power 100 AD - The predicted Heat Death of the entire universe from the complete lack of thermodynamic free energy. Another date that might be a bit of a guess.

So, if you want to pay attention to world-ending predictions, I'd put my money on the scientific ones. Actually, I wouldn't put my money on them - it's not like I'd be able to collect my winnings!

We could, of course, get hit by a meteorite at some point in the future. Or some extremists could launch a nuke and start a global nuclear war. Or the ice caps could melt and flood the Earth. Or any other number of catastrophies might happen. But they aren't really something you could predict to an exact date.

The moral is: don't waste time with doomsday theories and just enjoy your life!

Expat Dads Who Blog - Part II

If you're reading this article there's a strong chance you've just read through the second part of my interview with the good people at Geneva Family Diaries, and ended up clicking on the link to my blog to find out more about me.

First of all, I would like to thank you for your interest in me and my life.

Secondly, this might be a good opportunity for me to explain to any new readers a little about myself and what my blog represents.

I had originally created this blog to give my partner, Christelle, a platform to share news with her family after she moved to England from her native Switzerland to live with me. She didn't really go for this, preferring instead to call her family on the phone. So, the blog went unused for over 2 years.

When we decided to make the switch and move over to Switzerland in October 2009, I began to reconnect with the blog that had remained untouched since 2007. I reversed the purpose for the blog and instead made it an account of my thoughts and feelings both before and after the big move. If you are interested in reading more about how I felt, I invite you to read through "Preparing for Moving Day", "Car Cleaning, a Farewell and a Haircut" and "The Big Move".

On our wedding day

Having dated Chris since April 2005, when we met in Brisbane, Australia, I had made quite a few trips over to Switzerland to spend time with her. We flew back and forth roughly every 2 weeks for 2 years before Chris came to England to live with me.

My frequent weekends in Switzerland meant I had plenty of opportunities to experience the country and see some of the beautiful things it has to offer.

This softened the blow when I moved here in October 2009, just a month after our wedding, to start my life as an expat.

Still, adapting to life in a new country is never a straightforward thing. I was fortunate to have the support of my wife and her family and friends to help me settle in, as they all gave their time and energy to make me feel at home.



Exploring Switzerland



My first few weeks in Switzerland absolutely flew by, keeping me so busy that I didn't manage to write any blog articles for a while.

When I finally managed to write my next entry, I found that I had so much to share that I simply couldn't fit it into one manageable article.

So, I ended up writing a nine-part blog about my experiences - to see what I got up to in these first weeks in Switzerland, please read "Sixty Days in Suisse - Part I".

When we moved to Switzerland we were lucky enough to have my in-laws allow us to live with them while we found our feet. Despite this, as a newly married couple embarking on a new life together, the goal was to find somewhere to live, a little apartment of our own. I found out that getting an apartment here is much tougher than in England, as the demand for apartments far exceeds the supply. It's therefore a massive help to know someone who knows someone at the estate agents who can pull a few strings for you. We ended up first renting directly from a friend of the family (see "Finding Somewhere to Live"), and then the following year moving to a bigger apartment that we managed to get by knowing someone who knew someone.

As well as getting an apartment and adapting to life in general in Switzerland, one of my major focuses was on finding a job. I hadn't lined anything up before moving, so I was literally starting from scratch. It took me roughly 4 months to find a job, which I consider to be a brilliant accomplishment considering I had no support from the Swiss benefits office (ORP) and very little help from local employment agencies. Add to that the fact that I didn't speak French fluently, and that I was looking for a job during the Christmas period and during a global recession, and it really makes it an impressive feat to achieve. Without wanting to blow my own horn too much, please read about how I found my job in "The Job Search".

Over the following months I continued exploring Switzerland and learning more about my adopted country, slowly integrating myself into Swiss society. Then, in August of 2010, we received the happy news that my wife was pregnant with our first child. We were absolutely over the moon, and couldn't wait to become parents. Of course we were nervous and slightly scared, possibly more at the prospect of losing our independence, but looking forward to it nonetheless.

The big day finally arrived; Thursday 21st April 2011 - Lydia Reed-Peck was born (see "Life's Greatest Miracle"). It goes without saying that this was the single most important day of my life, welcoming our little girl into the world after a gruelling labour. And so began my next big adventure, that of being a Dad.

My cheeky monkey

One of my favourite photos

From that moment onwards, and perhaps understandably, the direction of my blog changed a little. Instead of simply talking about me and my feelings, it evolved into a Dad's view of raising a child, and the highs and lows of parenthood. Of course, it's not all baby talk on my blog.

Articles about being a proud father ("Sit Ups" and "Now There's No Stopping Her!"), or on problems with children ("How to Calm a Screaming Baby" and "Travelling with Babies"), are interspersed with my latest activities here in Switzerland ("A Week In Nax" or "Bimbadaboum!"), general observations ("Oh, To Be A Kid Again" and "Pushy People") and things I'm looking forward to ("Living Our Dreams Through Our Children").

One of my most popular entries is simply an album showcasing occasions when English words are used in ways that don't really make sense, or when things get a bit lost in translation ("When Translations Just Don't Work"). There'll be a part 2 coming soon for this (spoiler alert!).

So, my blog is essentially the tale of my life in Switzerland, first telling the story of how I adapted to living in another country and then to becoming a father, and now relates the adventures (and occasional misadventures) of our little family.

If this sort of thing interests you then I look forward to your comments on my articles. If it isn't really your cup of tea, then still thanks all the same for taking the time to visit my blog.

All the best,

Paul
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I Wanna Be Like You-Ooh-Ooh...Two-Ooh-Ooh!

Some time ago I published an article, "I wanna be like you (ooh-ooh)" about how kids want to do what they see adults do. It's only to be expected really, as they learn from watching us. Even the most mundane of daily activities can seem like wondrous miracles to tiny eyes.

I've seen Lydia licking her fingers before turning pages in a book, and covering her eyes with a sigh of "Oh no" when something goes wrong. She has spent several minutes the other day washing the floor and coffee table with a cloth, and happily takes bits of torn paper to the bin (she hasn't learnt how to recycle yet).

Just this weekend, whilst helping my in-laws build some new furniture, I witnessed this:

Lefty-loosy, righty-tighty

That's right, my 18-month old daughter helped us build a TV stand from IKEA. I know that the Swedish king of flat-packed furniture generally make their stuff so easy to put together that in theory a child could do it, but this might be taking that theory to whole new level.

She had studied us for only a matter of minutes before strolling over to the open toolbox, picking out a Phillips, then having a go at screwing in a nut. To be honest, she didn't exactly help us that much, her arms not yet possessing the physical power to tighten a screw. Still, it was a very cute thing to see.

Since then I've been told that she has now learned to repeat her Dad's act of dunking a chunk of bread in her soup. Although I laughed in surprise when my wife told me this, I felt a small amount of pride that Lydia copied this from me.

I can't wait for the surprise of seeing what Lydia will copy next. Better start behaving properly now; no more burping, being messy or lazy around the house doing nothing.