No title, no name, no brand

It’s sometimes hard to tell where exactly I have been. What is sure is that the last twelve months have not been dull and at times, they have been trying. 

Just yesterday I spent a few hours at a friends apartment after I had taken a little local tour using public transportation. While I was vegetating and consuming one documentary after another on a large screen television, I also attended to a housekeeping task involving the plumbing. 

My little local tour had taken me to a temple of consumer indulgences in search for an item that was nowhere to be found. Instead I sat on a very ugly chaise that was equally comfortable and had to inform the sales person that I had no place to put such an item and was only interested in sitting down. I spent at least half-hour going through the large retail surface, but then walked away disappointed. That disappointment came together with the realisation that I am spoiled when it comes to the kind, quality and brand of goods that I acquire. 

In the past week I took a little tour to La Chaux-de-Fonds and crossed the Jura range on mountain roads that were less than 3 metres wide. In the middle of one of the beautiful Jura prairies, I found a few cows, some interesting stonewalls similar to those found on the island of Orkney, and there I shot one of the few pics of that trip. What one sees on that picture, besides the stonewall in the background, is my love for certain brands. Yamaha, BMW, and Mammut. 

More later, as usual. Maybe. For some truly fascinating motorcycle adventures do have a look at Itchy Boots on YouTube, or Instagram or whatever you have in common. 

Die Another Day

Ripp-offs & Abzokerei

Right on time for the next Swiss poll, not on the State of the Union, but on a three items posited to be of national relevance, there comes a little juicy piece from the EU on the matter misused English: Agent Does Guide to EU-Speak. If nothing else, the piece expresses what gives me often great opportunity to scratch my head trying to figure out what on earth these peoples – the EU peoples – are writing about. Still, it is an interesting phenomenon which cannot be prevented: the tumultuous evolution of language in the tower of Babel at the Schuman Plaza. It does make me me wonder how we still manage to communicate.

Back on the ground, here in Switzerland, while the EU is talking to the USA about a free trade agreement, on the Swiss ballots we get to cast votes on family policy, rip-offs, and land-use regulation. In short, family, money and property. The trio ought to be relevant to all Swiss. I find myself apathetic at best, and definitively irritated.

My family is in my heart, not in some silly constitution paragraph that is not going to add any substance to the whole, if only the Swiss would get on with the times and implement more of what they have already signed up for at the international fora (aka international public law). Money in the style that Vasella extorts from Novartis is also something I cannot relate to, and again the Minder initiative is going to do nothing, but nothing, about putting an end to such moral abuses which are perfectly legal under national and contract law. Finally, when it comes to land-use regulation, my gut feeling is that the ‘no’ sayers – the usual suspects on the extreme right of not necessarily just one party, are fear mongers that do not want the new regulation for their very own private reasons.

But…