Also last December, on the weekend of my birthday, whilst I was visiting Paris, I asked the mad scientist to marry me in the shadow of Notre Dame at around midnight. Trés exciting! Talk about a bridezilla.

I have traveled to many exciting places in the past 12 months. We fell in love with the canals and gondolas and otherworldly feeling of being in Venice whilst it slowly sinks. We felt the love in Verona, I was amazed by the rabbit ravioli, but underwhelmed by Juliet’s balcony. We went home for a lovely wedding and some time in the sun with our loved ones. Then we flew to Prague for beer, big chunks of meat, a bit more beer, some sightseeing, more beer. Did I mention the BEER! Then we flew to Japan, well the mad scientist was already there for a nerd fest, so I joined her in the land of the rising sun afterward. We had an amazing 10 days soaking up the weirdness and history of Japan.

Unfortunately I had to fly back to Oz under less than optimal circumstances as my beloved mother has been stricken with a terrible affliction that she is still valiantly fighting, proving to me once again that she is a hero in every way.

Once I arrived back from Oz I went on a week long trip into the French countryside with the future in laws and their friends. It was a relaxing week sampling the wine and foods of France and although sometimes it felt like a geriatrics picnic outing, I enjoyed it nonetheless. Then it was off to London for a weekend to meet up with an old school friend, two not so young lads from the Australian countryside wandering around big, bad London town. We did it all; tour of the house of parliament, boat ride on the Thames, cumberland sausages and yes, even the warm, bitter beer the Poms seem to love. Then it was onto San Diego for about 2 weeks as we both, quite unbelievably, presented a poster at the nerd fest of all nerd fests, the 2010 SFN conference. It was 5 days of 30,000 plus nerds in their natural habitat. But that is another post all on its own. We also had a night in Santa Monica and walked along Venice beach, which is just plain weird. Next weekend we go to Berlin for some work and some play and to see one of the greatest capital cities in the world, or so they say. Then at Christmas time it is back to London for a bit of OZ with some lovely friends who love food and good wine, so it is a white Christmas with all the trimmings coming up for us.

In between all that travel we have had a few visits from friends to remind us just how much the Aussie accent can sound like nails scraping down a blackboard if you haven’t heard it in a while. We went into the magnificent Swiss Alps a few times on snowshoe hikes in winter and for a meagre amount of summer hikes. It has been quite unforgivable how much we have ignored the Alps this past year, but we just haven’t been in the country enough to go there. It might be a cliche, but life does get in the way. But as I glance out the window and see the case of beer quietly chilling in the snow that lines our window sill, I think about the snow that is around for our last winter in Switzerland and yet again think that we better go skiing at least once before we leave here.

We are on the cusp of some new adventures next year; getting married and going on a fabulous honeymoon to who knows where; moving cities with the nerd show, Berlin or London here we come; seeing what my next reincarnation will be, as my time in the lab ends with our departure from the land of the Swiss and seeing what dead ends and curve balls and heartbreak life will throw at us.

I know a few people have been wondering what has happened to “Sean in Switzerland” and I am flattered that you cared enough about what I have to write to give me a hard time about not writing. But as this post hopefully shows, my past year has been hectic and I have just been too tired and stressed and above all too lazy to write. I can’t promise that I will keep this up, but I can promise that I will try to keep you updated and write about what is going on and what is on my mind. As much for me, as for you! It actually is tough work being a jetsetting, part NERD. Just part NERD mind you, apparently you need letters after your name to be a full NERD. Thank goodness.

She was born in March 1909, that is unbelievable to me. She saw so much happen and so much change and understood life’s secrets. One of which was: Oranges! She was a big orange eater. The other was Bowling, Ten Pin bowling, which she took up at 80 odd and had a ridiculously high score over 200. I remember she would watch the cricket and tennis on the TV even though she couldn’t see the screen, let alone the game, and knew more about players and scores than I did. She always knew what was going on, no matter how frail she became she was always sharp as a tack.

She was reputedly a tough woman and I remember stories of my Father talking back to her and that he immediately received a metal bowl or some such thing in the back of his head for his trouble. She was a very good shot according to my Father. He has scars on his knuckles where he cut his hand with an axe and Granma threw a tea towel at him and told him to wrap his hand up and put his head between his legs and if he fainted she would smack him. Today he looked at those scars and smiled. To me she was my little old Granma, who apparently mellowed with age.

The thing I remember the most was her laugh. I remember telling her jokes and can picture the twinkle in her murky eyes, before she would scoff and say “Oh Sean” and then have a good old chuckle. A chuckle that she seemed to swallow, like she was keeping the happiness inside for another day. She was an amazing woman; a tough woman who had her flaws, as we all do, but she was loving and caring in her own way and she was our Granma.

You will be missed, but I know you are in a better place!  You are the wind that blows the leaves, the sun that peeks behind the clouds and the snow that falls on my face. You are still there for us all. Be free.

Love,

Sean.

We didn’t see inside one museum or art gallery, we didn’t see many of the sights, we didn’t eat any of their much talked about cheese and we didn’t eat enough of their amazing stroopwafels, but we did hire bicycles and I was almost rundown by a taxi cab, which is an everyday occurrence apparently and the mad scientist had the best haircut of her life. As such, Amsterdam will require and deserves at least one more visit before we depart Europe, which is fine because I could easily live there!

I must admit to having not read anything substantial in the past two weeks or so and to have not heard anything exciting. Although a few weeks ago I did stumble upon this band and hope to see them next week in Bern for 15 bucks. Gotta love a bargain. http://www.myspace.com/thesonsarealreet

I have recently completed the novel Disgrace by J.M.Coetzee. Is it well written? Yes. Did I enjoy it? Not really. But I am glad that I read it. I am also reading Gilead by Marilynne Robinson, which is a slow burner; a thinkers book; a book for ponderer’s (spellcheck tells me this word doesn’t exist, care factor spellcheck, care factor!) and I enjoy it every time I plod through the pages and I am calmed by the writing.

I have discovered a band called Green Pitch and highly recommend that you listen to them.

http://www.myspace.com/greenpitchband Let me know what you think.

The Mad scientist returned from a secret mad scientist’s meeting in Chicago last week and I am now the proud owner of a Chicago Bulls coffee mug. Finally after all these years I have one!! I am also now in possession of an I love Chicago t-shirt, which is green and has a 4 leaf clover instead of a heart, but nevertheless I have one of those as well. Although having never been to Chicago I don’t know if I love it or not. Perhaps I should wear it ironically?

On Wednesday night we went to a concert with our Dutch friends, who you may remember from previous acknowledgements as the peanut butter pimps, to see Nouvelle Vague a French band that does covers of mostly new wage punk songs, hence the name Nouvelle vague, clever no? Most males in the room were both scared and mesmerised by the tall blonde French Diva and her whirling dervish dancing style and everyone was forced to boogie down, even the stoic types that refuse to dance were raising an eyebrow in time. I think the highlights were their cover of Blondie’s heart of glass, Joy Division’s Love will tear us apart and Billy Idol’s Dancing with myself. It was a fun, boogie worthy and eyebrow raising evening, a perfect combination for a concert in my opinion.  http://www.myspace.com/nouvellevague

We travelled almost 6 hours to get there, when it should have only taken close to 4, because we missed the first train we needed to catch and the second connection never turned up. But once we made it to Lugano, the main city of Ticino and ate a delightful slice of pizza and caught the ferry to Gandria, it was all worthwhile.  Once we saw our hotel and made our way to the terrace and then into the lake to cool off, we forgot how we had even got there. We whiled away the afternoon sleeping in the sun on banana lounges and swimming in the lake which was a wonderful temperature.

That night we wandered the tiny pathways of Gandria in search of decent Italian food and we were generally pleased with our discovery. Then we came back to the hotel terrace for gelato and wine on the lake shore. After a long night in a small, stuffy and not air conditioned room, accompanied by one of the residents of Gandria having a full on Italian argument with his wife, we awoke to a lovely breakfast by the lake, secretly feeding the ducks who waited below in the water for scraps of bread.

Then we swam and swam and swam and lounged and lounged and lounged in the terrace, accompanied by the scurrying of many small lizards who were also soaking up the rays of the beautiful Italian style weather, until it was time to head back to Lugano and a gelato and onto Bern by train. It was a wonderful weekend and the mad scientist still has the pink belly to show for it and the lesson learned that the shade of a beach umbrella does not preclude sunburning of very white skin.

It certainly was la dolce vita!

Other than that the sun is shining. Although there is no interesting food to eat. I need to shower, but can’t be bothered. I should leave the house and get away from the noise, but that will require showering and as I already stated, I can’t be bothered. What a dilemma. I am sure that I will eventually overcome this impasse, when I am at breaking point and realise that as I stick my head under the water it may actually dampen the sound of the jack hammer. He stopped for 3 minutes, that is his cunning game, the bastard. He is playing with my mind, so I start thinking has he finished? Is that the end? Just when you consider taking out the ear plugs, BAM, he starts again. I am Buddha, I can overcome this worldly annoyance. Who am I kidding, I’m no Buddhist. Obviously I need to literally and metaphorically wash away the grime and escape this devil music. To the shower! Transcendence is just a shower away. There you go, that is your life lesson for the day. Away with you grasshopper.

I’m reading a book called Yoga for people who can’t be bothered to do it! There are two things about it you should know and may have already worked out. Firstly, it has nothing what so ever to do with Yoga. Secondly, yes I did think that sounds like the type of yoga book for me, almost personally created for me in fact, so I was surprised when it had nothing to do with yoga. It is just the ramblings of a nomadic forty something writer. I read this passage today, “In Rome I lived in the grand manner of writers. I basically did nothing all day. Not a thing.” Well I read this, thought, I must be a writer and then thought I better write something today, seeing as I’m a writer and all, well I act like one apparently, plus I did just write this passage, seems close enough.

Went for a ride today, my bike, that I am borrowing from the Swiss downstairs which technically means it isn’t mine, but let’s not get into semantics, decided the other day that it wanted to be a single speed bike and hence the gear cable has gone slack and doesn’t change gears. Today the shop I went to happened to be at the top of quite a hill and then to get back home from anywhere requires riding up a hill. I am shattered. Because of course I couldn’t ride up those hills nice and slowly, no I had to fly up them as quick as possible to get them over and done with. Sick of the hiking boots ripping and chewing at my heels, so I went to an outlet store and brought a relatively cheap pair of hiking boots that will hopefully not turn out to be cannibalistic.

Better go and have a lie down, that is a big day for a writer. Ciao!

Saturday. Slept in to 11ish. Mad scientist watched TV, I sniffed the day and went back to bed. Later I arose and showered. Had porridge, because it is good for me. Went food shopping, took the Mad scientist with me which at least doubles the cost of the food bill and gives me a fairly clear insight into what having children will be like. Returned home and the MS made scones, all on her own and they were bloody good, with butter and strawberry and rhubard jam. Of course we had a cup of tea with them, goes without saying doesn’t it. She was so proud of them, it was cute. I love scones! Then I made a nice dinner that MS informed me had all of her favourite foods in it. We ate ice cream and watched a crappy movie.

Sunday. Slept in to 11ish, but it was a ‘like a log sleep’ until we woke up. We then went for a walk through the Forrest and to the Aare river and along its banks, MS picked her first apple straight from the tree and enjoyed the experience. We watched birds float down the river and watched butterflies floating and pollinating flowers. Then we came home and complained about our hiking boots hatred for our heels and I went back to bed. Woke up and showered, had scrambled eggs with mushrooms that the MS went wild for and then watched rubbish TV, then when bed time came….. nothing, I couldn’t sleep and only got 3 hours sleep last night. I feel less than sprightly today. That was the weekend.

P.S.

Friday. Went to a crappy Italian restaurant, think nursing home cafeteria, and paid 50 francs for a sub par pizza and a pair of beers each. Then we went to the Buskers festival and watched, along with many Swiss people, some weird and wonderful busker groups. We saw an Iranian Women’s liberation performance piece, which turned out to be performed by a French fire twirler ….. the world is indeed a strange place. We finished the night with an enjoyable performance from a jazz trio and then bid our little group of friends adieu.

So that is it, that was the weekend!

Then we embarked on a lovely stroll over the mountains and through the fields, stopping by a farmhouse slash pub to use the toilet and talk to the swines. Walking past the most beautiful Alpine flowers and the most breathtaking views on a beautiful and warm day, it really was a day to celebrate. We sat on the side of a hill over looking mountain cows and ate a snack of sandwiches and tomatoes whilst the cows absent mindedly played their tune on the bells around their necks. There is nothing quite like eating when you have earned it, the way the food tastes and the satisfaction from knowing that you deserve to be eating is just divine. Doing this whilst looking down the green peaceful valley and up to snow covered peaks is even more pleasant. Life was good. Life was grand.

Then after about 4 hours or so of hiking through the day we made it back to the Audi, our chariot. Not even the blisters that announced themselves on my heels when the boots were thankfully removed could dampen the delightful feeling of a day spent in the Swiss mountains. Then after driving around and back and forth for a time, the Bavarian took us to a swimming spot in lake Thun, we were swimming at 8pm in the sunlight and it was the perfect way to end and refresh after a day of hiking.

Then we made our way back to Bern with a swiftly emptying petrol tank that the Bavarian refused to refill because he was convinced he could get the petrol cheaper and because he had the mad scientist in the back seat to push if the petrol ran out completely. We became hungry and then we became delusional. First the mad scientist thought out loud and pondered “imagine what it would be like to be that house over there!” The Bavarian said “I imagine what it would be like to be that castle there!” I just laughed at them. Then came the fateful ice cream sign, after which the Bavarian was obsessed with getting ice cream, he even wondered how much ice cream we would get for a Ferrari as we passed a Ferrari showroom. There was corn everywhere, but no ice cream and no diamonds! There was fireworks and fires though, but this was all useless to an ice cream obsessed Bavarian.

Finally we made it to Bern, went to an area that was a good vantage point for the official fireworks, but more importantly we found ice cream and it was very good ice cream. Then we climbed up on a wall and watched some fireworks, fearful all the time that the crazy Swiss behind us letting off fireworks would deafen us or maim us at any moment. Thankfully we dragged the mad scientist away relatively early on in the fireworks display, as fireworks really are quite boring, all the while she was waxing philosophically about the audio waves produced by the “big whoop boom” of the fireworks, which really tickles her fancy!

We made it home and bid the Bavarian a good evening and then slid into bed to the annoying symphony of every idiot in the neighbourhood letting off fireworks; it worked, as I slept like a log!

Summer has arrived in Bern with a vengeance. The climate is quite tropical as we are experiencing hot, muggy days and early evening downpours like clockwork, everyday for the past week. The mad scientist went for her first swim in the Aare river. This is rather a surreal experience as you walk along the river bank with hundreds of other people and then you dive into the river and float ridiculously fast back down stream and to get out you must madly swim against the current to get to the left hand bank and the bright red handrails that help the hapless amongst us get out of the fast moving water. The mad scientist was grinning and screaming like a little girl once she was in the water, but as I experienced the first time, she was also scared half senseless. That river is FAST. It is so fast that if you put your head under the water you can hear the large stones knocking against each other, OR as the Bavarian told me, the teeth of all the people who have drowned in the Aare are chattering as you go past.

Then to complete our assimilation tasks for the weekend we returned home to watch Federer win Wimbledon, which as pseudo Swiss it is now our duty to support ‘the Fed’.