Intermezzo

Actually I wanted to write a blog about the trip Andrea, Nick and I took last week but that has to wait till I have time to sort through my pics and quite frankly till I feel like it. So as an intermezzo I decided to pick up on Olivia’s blog and her meme post called:

Getting Acquainted

1. What time did you get up this morning?
At noon. Not working at the mo and went to bed just before dawn.

2. Diamonds or pearls?
Can I have both?

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema?
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Loved it.

4. What's your favorite TV show?
QI (does that count as a show?), House, CSI Las Vegas, L&O SVU, South Park.

5. What did you have for breakfast?
Activia Yoghurt with Raspberry Compote, Cappuccino.

6. What's your favorite cuisine?
Italian, Thai, Lebanese.

7. What foods do you dislike?
Brussels Sprouts, Fennel, any kind of innards (liver, kidneys, sweet bread, etc. BLEH!)

8. What is your favorite chip flavor?
Salt and Vinegar.

9. What's your favorite CD at the moment?
It still is Back to Black by Amy Winehouse.

10. What kind of car do you drive?
Here in London a Silver Grey Mini Cooper, in Switzerland a black BMW Z3

11. Favorite sandwich?
Ham and Mustard, or Chicken but only from Mr Christian’s.

12. What characteristics do you despise?
Bigotry, arrogance, full of self-ness, egocentrism,.

13. Favorite item of clothing?
Hmm I don’t know but does my family signet ring count?

14. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation where would you go?
Egypt.

15. What color is your bathroom(s)?
White tiles, palest palest tiffany green walls.

16. Favorite brand of clothing?
Probably Max Mara when I can afford it. Otherwise, Massimo Dutti I guess.

17. Where would you retire to: beach, or wooded retreat?
A bit of both, cause the beach would be the one in Normandy and the house the one my gran lives in, which is in a very woody garden.

18. Favorite time of the day?
Oddly enough early morning. I just hardly ever get to see it.

19. What were your most memorable birthdays?
My 19^th. I was in boarding school still and I remember running down the corridors screaming that I didn’t want to get older!

20. Where were you born?
In Zurich, Switzerland.

21. Favorite sport to watch?
God, none!

22. Who do you least expect to send this back to you?
Everyone.

23. Person you expect to send it back first?
No one.

24. What fabric detergent do you use?
Ariel and Lavende de Provence softener from Durance.

25. Were you named after anyone?
Yes, some ancestor. In my family it is customary to choose a name out of the family tree. My second name is after my paternal great grandmother and my third after my mother’s sister.

26. Do you wish on stars?
No, I am far too cynical.

27. When did you last cry?
Hmm I think when I woke up from a horrible nightmare a few weeks ago.

28. Do you like your handwriting?
I quite like it. Wouldn’t go as far as saying I was proud of it though.

29. What is your most embarrassing flaw?
My ginormous backside LOL. I don’t know if it is an embarrassing flaw since it is something that shrinks with controlled intake of food stuffs. But I would certainly be too embarrassed to flash it around publicly.

30. If you were another person, would YOU be friends with you?
Oh gosh I’d simply ADORE myself! :P

31. Are you a daredevil?
No, I am a scardy cat.

32. Have you ever told a secret you swore not to tell?
Yes, I used to tell my mum stuff, making her swear not to tell anyone. I stopped when I caught her telling her best friend. Tsk mum!

33. Do looks matter?
To a certain extent, yes. I mean who would want to go out with an Igor really?

34. How do you release anger?
By snapping and grr-ing.

35. Where is your second home?
I suppose my London flat, as my parent’s home in Switzerland is my first.

36. What were your favorite toys as a child?
I was an outdoorsy kind of kid so I suppose my racer bike.

37. What class in high school do you think was totally useless?
Religious Education. It shouldn't be on any school's curriculum and up to the child's family to take care of.

38. Do you use sarcasm a lot?
Yeah I enjoy it LOL.

39. Favorite movies?
Oh dear! I have soo many! Recent-ish ones I’d have to say, LOTR, Star Wars, Bladerunner, Amadeus, Amelie, Addams Family, Ground Hog Day, Cyrano de Bergerac, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, 300, etc.

Older ones: Rear Window, Philadelphia Story, Gone with the Wind, Arsenic and Old Lace, Charade, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Lion in Winter, Rabbi Jacob, Oh and soooo many more!

40. What are your nicknames?
Officially: Roxy (urgh), Ro, Rox etc. Inofficially: I am not telling :P

41. Would you bungee jump?
Never! Read answer to question 31!

42. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off?
I don’t have any lace-up except trainers and those, no :P

43. Do you think that you are strong?
Yes very.

44. What's your favorite ice cream flavor?
Almost anything by Mövenpick but especially their Straciatella, from Ben and Jerry’s Chunky Monkey.

45. What are your favorite colors?
Light blue since white and black aren’t colours.

46. What is your least favorite thing about yourself?
My occasional impatience. My ginormous backside. :oP

47. Who do you miss the most?
My great uncle.

48. Do you want everyone you sent this to send it back?
That would be nice.

49. What color pants are you wearing?
White undies (cause I am a good girl I am ;o)) and light blue pj bottoms with a pink drawstring.

50. What are you listening to right now?
Nick making tea and my cat meowing greedily. (She always thinks anything prepared in the kitchen is food and that she wants to partake of it, no matter what it is)

51. Last thing you ate?
Activia Yoghurt.

52. If you were a crayon, what color would you be?
Dark purple? I don’t know.

53. Last person you talked to on the phone?
A guy from a Lebanese restaurant to book a table for Wednesday.

54. What is the first thing you notice about the opposite sex?
Eyes, face and hands I think. Then their bum :oP

55. Favorite Drink?
Coffee, Tea and Diet Coke.

56. Do you wear contacts?
No I don’t need any corrections.

57. Favorite Day of the Year?
Christmas Eve.

58. Scary Movies or Happy Endings?
Since I am easily scared, definitely Happy Endings.

59. Hugs OR Kisses?
Both. They are a great combo.

60. What Is Your Favorite Dessert?
Hmm Cheese Cake, Pavlovas, Panna Cotta.

61. What Book(s) Are You Reading?
I just finished my umpteenth reading of a Terry Pratchett book called Carpe Jugulum and am about to read Consuelo & Alva Vanderbilt by Amanda Mackenzie Stuart. It’s a book I picked up at the gift shop at Blenheim Palace last Thursday.

62. What's On Your Mouse Pad?
My fingers. I have a laptop with a touchpad.

63. What Did You Watch Last night on TV?
Have I got News for You, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, and then a DVD called Unknown. I liked it.

64. Favorite Smells?
Freshly cut grass, log fires, my grandmother’s garden, especially after the rain, the Normandy sea, Lilly of the Valley.

65. Rolling Stones or Beatles?
I quite like the Beatles cause how could I not. But the Rolling Stones have some of my favourite songs ever: Sympathy for the Devil, Paint it Black, Angie and You can’t always get what you want.

Bonjour and Dumela!

So I am back from my short week's visit to my grandmother. Seeing her and being in her garden was as usual the most wonderful time for me, at least till the last few days…
I took some pictures of course and here they are. This is my grandmother’s house and seen to the right is a corner of the lil guest house in which we always stay.

It has three bedrooms and a sitting room as well as a tiny lil kitchen and of course the usual other necessities. There are two such little houses. The other one seen here on the left has two bed rooms above the garage for the people who come to do an internship with my gran.

There are two further bedrooms and a sort of sitting room behind the garage where Nina and my brother stayed. Both these houses are any thing but the height of luxury and are quite damp really meaning that the paint peels in places etc. But we have gotten used to it over the years since we all know that while my grandmother’s eagle eyes do not miss the tiniest little fault in her garden and is obsessively perfectionist there, she is quite blind for her own house and requires no more than the basic comforts. (Different story all together when she goes travelling!)
But as I mentioned above the last 2 or 3 days were somewhat wrecked for all of us cause unfortunately a family fight broke out. Without going into detail it concerned one of my uncles and his choices in life which, as usual with this extremely egocentric man, had far reaching consequences. So when I drove off on the 1^st of August to catch my tunnel passage to England I left behind a grandmother who looked more tiny and frail than ever before. She of course suffers the most when her children fight…
More pics can be seen here.

This is almost all except that I also wanted to tell you about a series of books that I completely and utterly love even though I have only listened to them as audiobooks and haven’t actually read any. I am talking about the now 8 books of Alexander McCall Smith’s on Mma Ramotswe’s experiences with her Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency. I love these books for the simple and heart warming wisdom of its heroine and the way every day life in Botswana is described. McCall Smith only lightly skims over AIDS that is actually ravaging that country. But this according to his comments on his Random House page he does not to make light of a very grave problem but rather to show another and positive side of an Africa he clearly loves. And this he does so very well that his characters have become like well loved friends. I knew very little about Botswana but the pride and love in which Mma Ramotswe speaks of her country and the humour and humanity in which McCall describes all his characters make me want to visit this country very much. So if any of you have the time for some simple but lovely books I do recommend you pick up one about Mma Ramotswe. Or if like me you drive a lot, do try and get the audiobooks. They are all narrated by Adjoa Andoh whose voice and abilities for different accents and speech patterns I have come to love and deeply admire. She is truly a pleasure to listen to!

And now tsamaya sentle my dear readers.

Lamps, Names and Pates

Sound Advice for a Young Bride

Here is something Ri sent me and I thought was too brilliant to pass up. I had to share it with you all. Highlighted in red are the bits that I thought were especially heartening . Enjoy

The following is a reprint of the Madison Institute Newsletter, Fall 1894: 

Instruction and Advice for the Young Bride on the conduct and Procedure of the Intimate and Personal Relationships of the Marriage State for the Greater Spiritual Sanctity of this Blessed Sacrament and the Glory of God. 

by Ruth Smythers, Beloved Wife of the Reverend L.D. Smythers, Pastor of the Arcadian Methodist Church of the Eastern Regional Conference. 

Published in the Year of Our Lord, 1894, Spiritual Guidance Press, New York City. 

To the sensitive young woman who has had the benefits of proper upbringing, the wedding day is, ironically, both the happiest and the most terrifying day of her life. On the positive side, there is the wedding itself, in which the bride is the central attraction in a beautiful and inspiring ceremony, symbolising her triumph in securing a male to provide for all her needs for the rest of her life. On the negative side, there is the wedding night, during which the bride must pay the piper, so to speak, by facing for the first time the terrible experience of sex. 
 
At this point, dear reader, let me concede one shocking truth. Some young women actually anticipate the wedding night ordeal with curiosity and pleasure! Beware such an attitude! A selfish and sensual husband can easily take advantage of such a bride. One cardinal rule of marriage should never be forgotten: GIVE LITTLE, GIVE SELDOM, AND ABOVE ALL, GIVE GRUDGINGLY. Otherwise, what could have been a proper marriage could become an orgy of sexual lust. 
 
On the other hand, the bride's terror need not be extreme. While sex is at best revolting and at worst rather painful, it has to be endured, and has been by women since the beginning of time, and is compensated for by the monogamous home and by the children produced through it. It is useless, in most cases, for the bride to prevail upon the groom to forgo the sexual initiation. While the ideal husband would be one who would approach his bride only at her request, and only for the purpose of begetting offspring, such nobility and unselfishness cannot be expected from the average man. 
 
Most men, if not denied, would demand sex almost every day. The wise bride will permit a maximum of two brief sexual experiences weekly during the first months of the marriage. As time goes by she should make every effort to reduce this frequency. 
 
Feigned illness, sleepiness, and headaches are among the wife's best friends in this matter. Arguments, nagging, scolding and bickering also prove very effective, if used in the late evening about an hour before the husband would normally commence his seduction. 
 
Clever wives are ever on the alert for new and better methods of denying and discouraging the amorous overtures of the husband. A good wife should expect to have reduced sexual contacts to once a week by the end of the first year of marriage and to once a month by the end of the fifth year of marriage. 
 
By their tenth anniversary many wives have managed to complete their child bearing and have achieved the ultimate goal of terminating all sexual contacts with the husband. By this time she can depend on his love for the children and social pressures to hold the husband in the home. 
 
Just as she should be ever alert to keep the quantity of sex as low as possible, the wise bride will pay equal attention to limiting the kind and degree of sexual contacts. Most men are by nature rather perverted, and if given half a chance, would engage in quite a variety of the most revolting practices. These practices include amongst others performing the normal act in abnormal positions. 
 
 
Nudity, talking about sex, reading stories about sex, viewing photographs and drawings depicting or suggesting sex are obnoxious habits the male is likely to acquire if permitted. 
 
A wise bride will make it a goal never to allow her husband to see her unclothed body and never allow him to display his unclothed body to her. Sex, when it cannot be prevented, should be practised only in total darkness. Many women have found it useful to have thick cotton nightgowns for themselves and pyjamas for their husbands. These should be donned in separate rooms. They need not be removed during the sex act. Thus, a minimum of flesh is exposed. Once a bride has donned her gown and turned off all the lights, she should lie quietly upon the bed and await her groom. When he comes groping into the room she should make no sound to guide him in her direction lest he take this as a sign of encouragement. She should let him grope in the dark. There is always the hope that he will stumble and incur some slight injury which she can use as an excuse to deny him sexual access. 
 
When he finds her, the wife should lie as still as possible. Bodily motion on her part could be interpreted as sexual excitement by the optimistic husband. If he attempts to kiss her on the lips she should turn her head slightly so that the kiss falls harmlessly on her cheek instead. If he attempts to kiss her hand, she should make a fist. If he lifts her gown and attempts to kiss her anyplace else, she should quickly pull the gown back in place, spring from the bed and announce that nature calls her to the toilet. This will generally dampen his desire to kiss in the forbidden territory. 
 
If the husband attempts to seduce her with lascivious talk, the wise wife will suddenly remember some trivial non-sexual question to ask him. Once he answers she should keep the conversation going no matter how frivolous it may seem at the time. Eventually the husband will learn that if he insists on having sexual contact, he must get on with it without amorous embellishment. 
 
Above all, she will lie perfectly still and never under any circumstances grunt or groan while the act is in progress. As soon as the husband has completed the act, the wise wife will start nagging him about various minor tasks she wishes him to perform on the morrow. Many men obtain a major portion of their sexual satisfaction from the peaceful exhaustion immediately after the act is over. Thus the wife must insure that there is no peace in this period for him to enjoy. Otherwise, he might be encouraged to soon try for more. 
 
One heartening factor for which the wife can be grateful is the fact that the husband's home, school, church, and social environment have been working together all through his life to instill in him a deep sense of guilt in regards to his sexual feelings, so that he comes to the marriage couch apologetically and filled with shame, already half cowed and subdued. The wise wife seizes upon this advantage and relentlessly pursues her goal first to limit, later to annihilate completely, her husband's desire for sexual expression. 
 
 
(c) The Madison Institute, 1894 

Currently Reading Wife to Charles II By Hilda Lewis see related

Baking in Zurich

I left a gloriously spring-like London on Easter Monday thinking maybe I shall face a cold and possibly even snowy Zurich. But to my delight the weather here is even hotter! On Friday evening friends and I had dinner in the garden of a restaurant beside the Lake and when we left at around 10 we were still not at all cold, it still being an agreeable 18° (64F)! And this in April and with the still snow covered mountains in the background! Today it is so hot (25°, 77F now but expected to climb to 27°, 81F) that I actually felt bakingly hot having my breakfast in the garden in the shade. The cynic in me is thinking that all this might mean a crappy summer with rain and stuff, like much of last year’s summer in England. But this makes me enjoy it all the more now, even though I am not into sunbathing at all and usually shy away from direct sunlight. My skin is so light and delicate that I usually turn a painful shade of crimson rather than the desired golden brown. Therefore I have resolved to blind people with my light reflecting white face instead. Hehe what fun!

I actually came here to help mum who had an operation on her left hand on Tuesday last which makes driving impossible. Although she is still in pain when doing certain movements, she is already up to her old tricks such as weeding and shifting sun chairs. She is just too used to being self-sufficient to remember to ask me when she wants something done and then pays the price as her consequential little winces of pain prove. Ah mothers eh?

I haven’t seen Andrea yet as she was too busy spring cleaning her flat this last week, making it ready for some building ppl to inspect. It seems that the whole house is going to be renovated in a year or two and every flat needed to be measured out to the last small inch to give an accurate estimate of costs. But possibly I will see her later today after she comes back from golfing or sunbathing at the lake. Both these past-times are far too sun exposed for my taste so I said I could regrettably not join her for either.

Well this is all for now. I am looking forward to another week of peaceful home-life before coming back to London and work on Monday 23^rd.