Discussion
Is it a crap place live?
Mostly from watching G C I understand they hate cars.
Recently I have discovered they have outlawed recreational fishing. By banning catch and release. You have to kill any fish caught. You even need to prove you can kill a fish humanely before they let you have a fishing licence.
Is there anything else that people enjoy in other countries that the Swiss has banned too?
Mostly from watching G C I understand they hate cars.
Recently I have discovered they have outlawed recreational fishing. By banning catch and release. You have to kill any fish caught. You even need to prove you can kill a fish humanely before they let you have a fishing licence.
Is there anything else that people enjoy in other countries that the Swiss has banned too?
Isn't Switzerland the country with the highest gun ownership per capita and yet the one of the lowest gun crime rates?
The scenery and the opportunity for doing stuff in the hills and mountains are amazing. For car lovers, I expect that we should look for places near the borders, so we can nip over to France/Italy/Austria/Germany for a bit of enthusiastic driving. Plenty of fun roads anyway.
The scenery and the opportunity for doing stuff in the hills and mountains are amazing. For car lovers, I expect that we should look for places near the borders, so we can nip over to France/Italy/Austria/Germany for a bit of enthusiastic driving. Plenty of fun roads anyway.
I have a mate who lives out there. It really is a different world. You have to get your head around a lot of interesting concepts to fit in.
First off, very few Swiss are really Swiss (if that makes any sense!) In the north you have the Swiss / Germans, in the South the Swiss / Italians and in the East the Swiss / French. So you get a real mix of cultures / attitudes.
They have a brilliant public transport system. When we first visited we couldn't understand why they didn't have bus shelters. Until my mate told me, the bus WILL come on time, if you want to stand out in the cold waiting for it, you can, but the Swiss will not make any attempt to accomodate your poor timekeeping!
When we left his flat, got a bus into town, got the interconnecting train to Geneva and a second train to the airport, all without more than 5 minutes between connections.
The roads are brilliant, smooth, perfectly maintained and well signposted. Admittedly if you speed they will kill you, but if you keep to the limits, you'll be fine.
I think last year they had a referendum on increasing fuel duty. It was voted through, as the govt promised to spend the money on the roads. Crazy!
The scenery is beautiful, the restuarants great, the people are friendly. Don't try to buy a house though. Property prices are extremely high, and mortgages can be up to 100 years (effectively meaning you never really end up owning it!!)
Overall, I'd be tempted to move out there. (We are visiting for our third holiday there next month)
First off, very few Swiss are really Swiss (if that makes any sense!) In the north you have the Swiss / Germans, in the South the Swiss / Italians and in the East the Swiss / French. So you get a real mix of cultures / attitudes.
They have a brilliant public transport system. When we first visited we couldn't understand why they didn't have bus shelters. Until my mate told me, the bus WILL come on time, if you want to stand out in the cold waiting for it, you can, but the Swiss will not make any attempt to accomodate your poor timekeeping!
When we left his flat, got a bus into town, got the interconnecting train to Geneva and a second train to the airport, all without more than 5 minutes between connections.
The roads are brilliant, smooth, perfectly maintained and well signposted. Admittedly if you speed they will kill you, but if you keep to the limits, you'll be fine.
I think last year they had a referendum on increasing fuel duty. It was voted through, as the govt promised to spend the money on the roads. Crazy!
The scenery is beautiful, the restuarants great, the people are friendly. Don't try to buy a house though. Property prices are extremely high, and mortgages can be up to 100 years (effectively meaning you never really end up owning it!!)
Overall, I'd be tempted to move out there. (We are visiting for our third holiday there next month)
^^^^Interesting points there, I too was quite astounded by the service & quality of public transport. If ours was like that I'd probably use it!
Also (but I'm not 100% sure if this is true or my mate was pulling my leg) he said you are not allowed to reverse park into a space in a multistory carpark, because when you start your car it leaves a black mark on the wall.
Also (but I'm not 100% sure if this is true or my mate was pulling my leg) he said you are not allowed to reverse park into a space in a multistory carpark, because when you start your car it leaves a black mark on the wall.
Switzerland is a fantastic country and I am currently trying to get back there as soon as possible. Great scenery, fantastic roads and for the most part, polite, well educated people. The cost of living is expensive but even unskilled jobs pay very well and there is no benefit class as there is here.
Steamer said:
Also (but I'm not 100% sure if this is true or my mate was pulling my leg) he said you are not allowed to reverse park into a space in a multistory carpark, because when you start your car it leaves a black mark on the wall.
It is true that you are not allowed to reverse park into a space. Not sure for the reasons behind the ledgisation though.
I spend about two weeks there say 4 times a year. I love the place. Beautiful in the hills and mountains, safe, some interesting rules, but they work and make sense. Little crime, generally clean and tidy. I prefer the French areas as I speak better French than German, but tend to stay in the "border" up near Lake Murten.
I'd consider a move there if the opportunity came up, even if they do rape you if speed. Good thing is, if they fine you an absurd sum for 3kmh over, (and they will!) you have the option of taking a prison sentence instead.......but they let you out in the day to go to work!! You just go back for the night! I know a guy who took the 10 day in prison instead of a 2500Fr fine, and he said it was OK, apart from sharing a cell with two murderers! He said they were nice though and he stayed in touch with them for a while when he was released!! !
I'd consider a move there if the opportunity came up, even if they do rape you if speed. Good thing is, if they fine you an absurd sum for 3kmh over, (and they will!) you have the option of taking a prison sentence instead.......but they let you out in the day to go to work!! You just go back for the night! I know a guy who took the 10 day in prison instead of a 2500Fr fine, and he said it was OK, apart from sharing a cell with two murderers! He said they were nice though and he stayed in touch with them for a while when he was released!! !
s3fella said:
you have the option of taking a prison sentence instead.......but they let you out in the day to go to work!! You just go back for the night! I know a guy who took the 10 day in prison instead of a 2500Fr fine, and he said it was OK, apart from sharing a cell with two murderers!
"Hi Honey I'm Home!"On the face of it that sounds absolutely bonkers!!
Hate cars ?
Well, i don´t know about the official politics,
but both GM and Chrysler had assembly plants in switzerland in the 50/60s,
which somehow results in a huge group of classic car fans there,
mostly for Mopar Muscle wich is often re-imported and restored to showroom condition.
Also, don´t forget about Monteverdi, Sbarro etc etc ,
and isn´t the company that has allowance to do station wagons from supersport/luxury cars also swiss ?
They also have an over-proportional amount of drag racers in various classes,
one of the mostly known is Urs Erbacher who is a Harley-Davidson customizer
and ex-FIA Top Fuel champion, he spends an awful lot of cash to race in europe and USA :
www.fatattack.ch
Well, i don´t know about the official politics,
but both GM and Chrysler had assembly plants in switzerland in the 50/60s,
which somehow results in a huge group of classic car fans there,
mostly for Mopar Muscle wich is often re-imported and restored to showroom condition.
Also, don´t forget about Monteverdi, Sbarro etc etc ,
and isn´t the company that has allowance to do station wagons from supersport/luxury cars also swiss ?
They also have an over-proportional amount of drag racers in various classes,
one of the mostly known is Urs Erbacher who is a Harley-Davidson customizer
and ex-FIA Top Fuel champion, he spends an awful lot of cash to race in europe and USA :
www.fatattack.ch
I worked there for 8 years. It's a funny place, on the surface it's fantastic: civilised, beautiful, safe, clean, polite and friendly people. the public transport system is faultless. When I said this to one of my Swiss colleagues, he laughed at me, and in all seriousness replied "Wait till you've been here a while, the trains can sometimes be 2 or even 3 minutes late!"
But underneath all this there's something slightly "Stepford" about the place. I don't know why, but I could never really relax there. I summed it up once to Mrs Gaspode as "It's not natural - there's nothing to complain about". Once I saw a bit of graffiti spray painted onto a bridge parapet. There was an anarchy symbol, accompanied by the words "Retirement for all with pension at 60". That sort of summed it up for me.
It's a great country, sure enough, but I'm very happy to be working back in the UK, even given the general s
teness of life here. It might be crap in the UK, but it's our crap. It's home.
But underneath all this there's something slightly "Stepford" about the place. I don't know why, but I could never really relax there. I summed it up once to Mrs Gaspode as "It's not natural - there's nothing to complain about". Once I saw a bit of graffiti spray painted onto a bridge parapet. There was an anarchy symbol, accompanied by the words "Retirement for all with pension at 60". That sort of summed it up for me.
It's a great country, sure enough, but I'm very happy to be working back in the UK, even given the general s
teness of life here. It might be crap in the UK, but it's our crap. It's home.I worked there for 8 years. It's a funny place, on the surface it's fantastic: civilised, beautiful, safe, clean, polite and friendly people. the public transport system is faultless. When I said this to one of my Swiss colleagues, he laughed at me, and in all seriousness replied "Wait till you've been here a while, the trains can sometimes be 2 or even 3 minutes late!"
But underneath all this there's something slightly "Stepford" about the place. I don't know why, but I could never really relax there. I summed it up once to Mrs Gaspode as "It's not natural - there's nothing to complain about". Once I saw a bit of graffiti spray painted onto a bridge parapet. There was an anarchy symbol, accompanied by the words "Retirement for all with pension at 60". That sort of summed it up for me.
It's a great country, sure enough, but I'm very happy to be working back in the UK, even given the general steness of life here. It might be crap in the UK, but it's our crap. It's home.
But underneath all this there's something slightly "Stepford" about the place. I don't know why, but I could never really relax there. I summed it up once to Mrs Gaspode as "It's not natural - there's nothing to complain about". Once I saw a bit of graffiti spray painted onto a bridge parapet. There was an anarchy symbol, accompanied by the words "Retirement for all with pension at 60". That sort of summed it up for me.
It's a great country, sure enough, but I'm very happy to be working back in the UK, even given the general s
teness of life here. It might be crap in the UK, but it's our crap. It's home.s3fella said:
I know a guy who took the 10 day in prison instead of a 2500Fr fine, and he said it was OK, apart from sharing a cell with two murderers! He said they were nice though and he stayed in touch with them for a while when he was released!! !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCKN3XVIgkk
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