Well that was my last night at home until Friday because I'm working in Zurich all next week and I'm flying out (from the infamous Heathrow Terminal 5) this evening.
I've never been to Zurich (or Switzerland) before, but I don't imagine it's exactly Barcelona or New York or Tokyo or, well, London - is it? I did a web search on it a while back and uncovered more than one site from people who live there saying it isn't a boring place, which rather suggests that it might be. We'll see.
I am staying in a hotel that has been described to me as 'functional'. Hmmm. Evidently though it has 'free wi-fi' in the rooms, so I've bought a new laptop that does that so I can reach out to home and the world beyond and feel a bit less like a sad, broken castaway. Who knows, I might even post something from there midweek. Get me.
Anyway please keep talking to me, because I'll be able to pick up comments whilst I'm gone. I'm not really the jet-set type and will miss my girlies big time, so the usual nonsense from you lovely people will be sweet.
Any suggestions for Swiss bands I could have posted here? I could only think of Yello, who I don't especially like, and Double, who I've already done. Some cursory research suggests Heavy Metal is quite big there. *sigh* I had a feeling it might be.
We best have some John Denver via PP&M.
Peter, Paul & Mary - 'Leaving On A Jet Plane' (1969)
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The Young Gods are from Switzerland. I don't like them much but David Bowie does.
ReplyDeleteFor a while it seemed like every Sunderland pre-season friendly was played against Grasshoppers Zurich.
Whatever happened to Swiss Adam?
ReplyDeleteI really don't like being away on business these days. I much prefer my own bed, own loo, own fridge, own shed, own wife .. (only kidding Mrs H - Davy's a good boy).
ReplyDeleteThat post-work early evening feeling of lying on a strange squidgy hotel bed looking at the ceiling contemplating dinner and an overpriced lager.
Chubby balding reps sit in non-splendid isolation within the lilac flowered wallpaper backdrop of the hotel restaurant. They read at the table to lessen the loneliness.
They have a lovely family at home, yet, there they sit like 'Billy No Mates' nudging a non-homemade roast spud around the plate with a dry white and simmering, melancholic heartburn.
They really shouldn't have the Cheesecake; but sod it, it's on expenses, and that Eastern European waitress has a fine arse in those over-tight black trousers.
Channel-hopping with a warm 300 mils bottle of Heineken can't stop the sighs - as you glance at your mobile phone .. again. I really need to iron that white shirt for the morning. I wish that twat next door would turn his noise down. Half a tub of Pringles. HOW much?
I'd use the gym facilities, but I've forgotten my trainers and I'll look a complete canoute in Clash t-shirt, white shorts, white socks and black leather shoes.
I need another pillow. Shall I call down for one, or will some body odour ridden Doris pitch up with it in 3 hours hovering at the door for a tip? Fuck it, I'll put my trousers back on and get it meself from Reception.
'Newspaper? Early morning call, sir?'
"I suppose a cup o' tea and a blow job is out of the question luv" I hear myself replying in my head.
Early night, Panorama Deutsche on Channel 9, 'Love You, miss you, see you soon, put the bin out' phone calls at €4 per minute.
Night night Davy. God bless.
DVD, while he's away, we left you, many moons away at my deleted place, on a motorway hard shoulder after a lift of two. How did you get back from Amsterdam?
ReplyDeleteMagnificent stuff DVD...and yes, you do have a story to finish.
ReplyDeleteI'm in that hotel right now. They weren't kidding when they said it was 'functional' - it smells of disinfectant.....
Still at least t'internet works.
I found you a page to peruse that gives all the inside skinny on Swiss music. You'll think you've died and gone to heaven! ;-)
ReplyDeletehttp://culture.all-about-switzerland.info/swiss-music.html
Why, they even have American-style country and western (insert gagging sounds here).
Have a safe trip and above all, enjoy!
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Swissair are a very good band. They're not actually Swiss, mind. They be Swedish.
ReplyDeleteDidn't really think that one through, did I?
Er,no. Miss P's on the ball though Kips. FFS!
ReplyDeleteBy the way, some of you will be looking at that picture of Zurich and not unjustifiably thinking 'What's he moaning about?' - but I have to tell you that, in London terms, if that is a shot of St James's Park with Buck House in the distance, I am staying and working in....Neasden (insert your own geographical equivalent here).
Swiss Adam? I find myself deleting his posts over at my place...and I NEVER do that....
ReplyDeleteSwissville is somewhere I've never been and it's hard to imagine what it's like, maybe a x between Sweden and Austria, but with better cheese? Who knows?
ReplyDeleteDefinitely lots of nice cheese. Sadly I'm still stuck in Neasden (equiv.)though, so a broader assessment is beyond me : (
ReplyDeleteZurich is crap. Nice, as in boringly-sterile-but-the-architecture's-quaint, but crap.
ReplyDeleteGeneva's marginally better (much fun can be had watching Middle Eastern sheiks swanning about flanked by Dolph Lundgren look-alikes with suspicious bulges in their armpits), but Switzerland's best enjoyed sitting on top of one of their spectacular mountains. Or in a wee alpine village necking back copious amounts of the excellent local wine.
And hats off to you, DVD, for capturing the precise essence of business travel. My favourite bit is waking up in the middle of the night in some identikit hotel room, thinking: "OK, is this Frankfurt? Or Seattle? Maybe Warsaw??"
I have to go back twice more between now and Christmas, so I'll have a proper look. At the airport they play cowbell and mooing noises on the shuttle train between terminals. Swiss humour.
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