October 27, 2010

A fantastic autumn day at Hönggerberg. In and around the Friedhof Hönggerberg there are really some extraordinary views. It is very peaceful but a bit awkward to wander around in graveyards, especially when you walk in to a group of people about to bury one of their loved ones. I am not a big fan of the church and I am not sure but I might not even be a member any more but whenever it comes to funerals they are doing a great job. I read a couple of years ago that now when people are not believers anymore they go around spreading their ashes a bit everywhere and that in some places in Switzerland, like Zermatt, they start becoming really annoyed with all Germans going there to spread the ashes of their dead. I think it is more that they annoyed with Germans in general because ashes are biodegradable and unless you believe in ghosts I don't see why they should create any trouble.

In France they are still striking as that is what they do best. It is quite difficult to sympathize with the French movement that are against lifting the retirement age from 60 to 62 when all countries I have ever lived in have a retirement age of 65. The poor frenchies might also loose their 35 hour work week which must be really hard when all their neighboring countries are working 40 hours a week. I am not claiming that there are not problems in France and their economy but if they worked a bit more and went on strike a bit less I am sure that many problems would solve themselves. The most ridiculous thing is when the Lyceens (people in high school) are also manifesting as if the "old people" are taking their jobs. It is so obvious that they are just happy to skip classes and hardly know what they are protesting against. No wonder they will not get any jobs when they graduate if they spend all their time demonstrating in the streets instead of learning something useful. In the end they can't all become union leaders. I know I sound terribly conservative but sometimes I just can't grasp what planet these French people are living on.

In Switzerland the extreme right party SVP has a new slogan "Swiss votes SVP" which is a rather silly slogan as only Swiss people have the right to vote. I guess they expect 100% of the votes in the next election.