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In the UK we have Blue Cross Days. In Switzerland we have Rotstiftwochen or Red pencil weeks.

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UK meets Switzerland on 11.11.

Remembrance Sunday or 'Poppy Day', and the Guggenmusik (who I heard but did not see this year)

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I was preparing for a workshop today so came across these images of Wales. We might be lacking in seaside in Switzerland but we do still have beautiful sunsets, lovely hills and mountains and inspiring water!

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Mum and Ray liked this bench. And so do I! Beats BCC benches any day!

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Today I joined Winterthur library. It's taken me this long as I bought books with me, I got more for Christmas and most importantly I've been making use of the ISW library (and there are some gems in there!). Additionally, you have to pay to join the Stadtbibliothek. And also to borrow books. This is a bit alien to me coming from the UK where libraries are free. However it makes me appreciate how much I've benefited over the years from the service, and that's before I consider my boys! And it also made me consider whether 8CHF for a ticket and 50CHFidiot s year if borrowing is very much when you consider that books are expensive here, particularly English ones. I reckon I could buy 3 possibly 4 books for that much. And I had a voucher from my welcome bundle that, to my delight, knocked 20CHF off the bill!
I look forward to further investigation!

La bibliothèque - the library
Des livres - some books

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And today something Jude will miss. Or some dogs!
Ruby and Dylan are Jude's doggy friends belonging to my sister-in-law's family. He loves dogs but I'm sadly allergic to them to its a treat for him to play with R and D. He's already looking forward to his next visit to Burgess Hill as he couldn't walk them this time.

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I'm currently in the UK so I'm reflecting on life in Switzerland vs UK.

Things that have struck me since I got back:

• traffic noise is so much worse in UK. I think it's related to road surface!
• smoking is so much worse in Switzerland. I never thought I'd say this but it was a relief to walk down the shopping precinct in Sutton and not breathe in lungfuls of smoke at every step.
• the habit of decorating trees with 'bagged scooped poop' in the park hasn't lessened here since I moved to Switzerland. I wish there were more bins around the park for depositing such offerings then perhaps people wouldn't do it!
• it's lovely to drink fresh skimmed milk.

And whilst you can get Toblerone and Lindt bunnies in the shops, (according to my spies!) you can't get blue Toblerone, nor honey Philadelphia.