The 2007 Geneva Kitchen Assault

Finally it has sunk in. Emily first came to Italy with the belief that most people in Europe spoke English, or at least, those reasonably educated and young. After all, English is the lingua franca, the worlds universal used language. It took her some days to realize the cold truth: they don´t. And that italians dont give a tinkers cuss if English is considered as a global means of communcation. The same appears to apply to the French. Amongst the international populace of Geneva, English works better, but generally you have to use French to communicate. Anyway, we have settled in well now. Days spent on the playgrounds or small excursions, like today a visit to the cozy French border town of Ferney-Voltaire, where Voltaire the philosopher lived in a marvellous mansion (that we saw today) and from where he initated several progressive local, social projects in the enlightment spirit. I spend evenings with a glass of whisky, a bucket of Nutella and other varieties of the exquisite Swiss chocolates. Furthermore: During the last week we have spent some time renovating the kitchen in the flat, repainting the walls, painting the cupboards and installing shiny new cupboard knobs. We have also installed two kitchen lamps and changed the furnishing, making it more balanced. Thats the north European spirit. I merrily whistled the German national anthem as I painted the walls late at night. I have now also started with the bathroom plumbing. After opening the clogged tubes i found the usual slimy stuff you find in drains, but also three coins, stopping the flow of the water.