28/09/2012 Leaving Fribourg
I got home from Japan and had 16 days until we left the apartment. It was going to be longer originally but with Richard not here next year there was a bit of travel left to tick off some life events for him - and I thought we could do with saving in the rent.
It turns out leaving Switzerland is almost as complicated and difficult as moving here. The difference was that this time I knew all the different offices and things so within a three days of returning home we'd visited most places to start talking about things and organised to get the magic piece of paper required. After that it was a matter of letting everyone know. That was the week when we suddenly were contacted by another her tax agency that I wasn't aware of with yet another tax for 2011 that I hadn't heard of. Luckily the letters I had sent to cantonal tax office had actually got them moving on processing my tax refund from 2011 so within a week we received just enough to pay the bill. Oh and a 'rubbish tax' - not only do we pay a tax per bag we put out (since the rubbish bins have to be certified) but apparently there is also a separate tax on income, at least there is if you're an independent worker!
So with endless administration, visits to offices, letters and preliminary packing that week sped by. The first Tuesday night we also said goodbye to the FEW group by going to a movie night. Loved 'Batman returns' but will most definitely not miss the random interval Fribourg would insert into movies, just as you're getting into it. Margaret offered to send round an email about our furniture to see if people wanted to take it. As our charities were too busy to come before the 11 October (we left 26 Sept) this was good news. We managed to organise with our landlord that we could leave furniture in our guest room for collection, but it isn't the largest room! We got lots of interest and people visiting. I was getting hopeful that people would get free good-as-new furniture and we would get the benefit of not having to pull it apart. But then at the last minute people pulled out - not fining transport or friends...
Wednesday we finally visited the reinfall - which is an epic waterfall in Switzerland. It was quite a lovely train ride too. According to Richard, we have the recession to thank for it still being in tact - they were considering blasting it to improve river transport. We went for a lovely walk and peeked at it whenever we didn't have to pay ;)
Wednesday night had become our 'happy hour at our local pub' day. It was a very nice Irish pub in an old building, next door to our building. The kind of place where'd series like 'friends' could be filmed - complete with local characters, comfy chairs and good drinks. Chris came over (Florie was in Portugal) and which was nice as they were always looking are Richard when I was away. It turned into quite a night, luckily we had pasta for three ready just in cases ;)
That Thursday I completed quite a mission to go and find packing boxes. I had to bus out of town and then carry them back to the stop - they really are quite heavy. I ended up balancing them on my head which probably looked ridiculous but certainly was less awkward than carrying them. I also had a 'flags of Switzerland' banners for Richard stuffed in my bag because I knew he wanted one. Packing the different boxes for Quilland and for sending home took up my time over the next week. We had a lot of things squirreled away and I needed to rationalize them, sort them then try and pack intelligently and write down an inventory!
We took the Saturday to have a bit of a Fribourg day - walking up to the markets and failing to find a roast chicken ;) We got bits and pieces and some breasts (which cost as much as a whole roast!) which Richard poached that night with delicate risotto rice (I can't wait until he gets to cook more often :D ). We also bought supplies for our trip the next day then wandered down our favourite valley. I have many fond memories of our Sunday morning walks there, particularly during the first year where we would talk about the future and enjoy the changing seasons.
The Sunday was an epic day where we completed visiting all the cantons in Switzerland ;) We went out to Apenseel on a little train that took us through some amazing scenery. The towns weren't too exciting however so we continued straight on to Lake Constance. That was a beautiful setting so we walked around the lake edge breathing in the beauty and tranquility. You could tell serious money lived near there, with immaculate gardens and restored chateaus...
Monday night we had dinner and met Chris' parents. As always that made a lovely apéro that we took out on their balcony with a breathtaking view of Fribourg. I think Dad may have felt a little like Chris' dad and stuck to the house edge ;) The fondue was lovely as well and as usual it was not an early night. It was really interesting to talk to Chris Mum, and she is still very Japanese in her thoughts and feelings. She was terribly worried for Natalie with all the earthquakes and tsunamis and thought she was very brave.
Tuesday morning I hiked up the valley with them and Florie, further than I've ever been which was lovely. I remember when I used to stop and take photos ll the time too ;) Florie has just recently left her job and is considering her options too. She actually considered teaching but it was a 3 year course here, so she's looking at intensive German classes to increase her chances. It has been great for me to have a friend facing implant life choices :)
Wednesday I had planned to go to Middlepunkt to get the last badge that we could conceivably get for Richard's game (visiting all the enclaves is the other and that was not possible). However we couldn't work out how to get there. It was actually a good thing as we had all sorts of things to organise after all. Not just moving but my server required repairs, we wanted to get the iPhone unblocked etc etc. There was a confusion about our goodbye Wednesday drinks so we had a 'week before' Wednesday drinks as well with just Florie and Cris which was supposed to be short, and somehow ended up with us looking for dinner together. Given up bank balance I was gunning for the cheap pizza night - but when we got there we discovered our pizza place had closed after an injunction by people :( Goodness knows what for!
So we tried the bar we tried to have lunch in when the parents were here - and they said 'oh fair chier' to each other when we asked about eating. Which we heard so decided to leave but they assured us that it would all be OK. So we got drinks and examined the menu. Only then it turned out they were switching menus so the chef had only 2-3 dishes he could still make. So we waitied to find out what the was.... And in the end it was a cold collation! They let us walk out and have the drinks for free at that point and we ended up at the Lebanese guy's place which was fun as always.
Thursday I managed to have my camp feedback meeting. Lots of very satisfied parents and happy leaders. It was really nice to have such a positive review and fun to talk about things with central office. I even made a useful suggestion - that new directors be able to have a mid-trip feedback sessions like leaders get to have. I had an informal one as the central office has one of my old directors there so we had a good chat. We packed the big boxes down in the cave to try and save ourselves some up and downs and heavy lifting the next day...
That Friday was the start if the epic journey to Quillan. It began with training out to Bern and picking up the van. We were a little worried about fitting everything in when we saw it, as it was close to the size our family van used to be. But not only did everything fit nicely, we kept the way clear to be able to see in the rear view mirror! It was the most car-like of all the vans and wasn't too hard to park or maneuver so it all worked out for the best.
Richard had carefully worked out a good route for me to learn my paces on, that avoided going through Fribourg centre. The only slightly hairy bit has getting down to and across the pont de Bern. Parking seemed impossible then we got a stroke of luck and got to park opposite our door! Packing the van was still lots of up and down but we were pretty efficient. The parking ran out so I went and got money out, stopped by the little shop to buy lunch/break the note and got back to pay with 2 minutes to spare. It was funny though because my purchases came to exactly 20 CHF but he broke a note for me anyways ;)
Packed, lunched and rested we set out for Aix les Bains. We had been so much more efficient than we allowed for that we even got to wander down to the lake in the setting sun and sat for a while - it is quite spectacular. Dinner was at the nearby restaurant which had seriously strange decor, like a cross between a chic restaurant, an old nightclub and a kids store with homemade butterflies... The food was great and in truly epic quantities. I couldn't finish all my lettuce for the goats cheese stares and the cheese was amazing and plentiful. They had frogs legs on special so Richard got to try that out finally and I had duck. For some reason these already copious plates with sides also came with a massive dish of gratin dauphinois. Richard had a mound of butter and garlic saturated legs to get through and they defeated him!
Given the was nothing else nearby we got the eat-in breakfast which was quite nice (bread still warm and crusty) and got us ready for the drive ahead. The first couple of hours were dreadful - buckets of rain so that I could barely see the road ahead and no other drivers were adjusting their abysmal driving practices - cutting right in front of your nose etc. but like magic (or the film 'Bienvenue chez les Chtis' ) the rain stopped as we arrived in the South. Our mid morning break point was a nice little town which we would've come back to for lunch the next day only the brasserie was closed... We weren't so lucky with our next town, it had a really grim feeling and we walked for ages before finding a bakery to grab a snack. Next stop was the vineyard to pick up Blanquette - they remembered me ;) Richard approves of the feel and spirit of the vineyard as well the sparkling wine so that was great. I was sooooo ready to arrive in Quillan though.
We had to take e long way around to get to Fran's because the bridge to her place was closed. There was also a sports festival going on with abseiling off the sides of other bridges. Good to know the town has fun events and I managed to avoid hitting anyone ;) having unloaded everything quickly our first task was to mount the bookshelf because we were going to take the tools away with us. We had an hour before we needed to go to Fran's and I thought it would go more easily this time since we had labelled all the pieces before so we had a roadmap put it together unlike the first time. We'd even thought to pack cardboard to balance the internal pieces on (they don't lie flush with the edges of the frame which makes mounting on the ground tricky to say the least. Somehow we still ended up with a dowel opposite a broken hole and a lot of swearing. Richard wants to dedicate a new swear-word to that piece of furniture. We ended up being almost an hour late for dinner but still arrived before the other guests...
Next morning we found some delicious pastries - Richard tried out the locals pub and declared the coffee drinkable. He is already planning to work from cafés when we return. Then we tidied a little and set off. Foolhardily we set off the Perpignan route and it felt a bit hairy in the van, with rough hewn cliff faces on one side and small roads. On the plus side from now on it will be less scary ;) Also we discovered villages like Maury that my parents and I went to on the wine tour. Back on the highway the rain had generalized. We stopped at uninspiring truck shops on the way back as nice villages were always just a bit further than we were able to go. My GPS runs on coffee and carbohydrates at regular intervals and my ankle cramps up from holding it in unaccustomed positions... We got to the hotel by nightfall only to discover the restaurant was closed.
Luckily there was one nearby, with a room that felt like you were in someone's sitting room directly over the water. The chèvre was amazing and the fried fish a tad too plentiful ;) Heading home on the Monday the rain got really bad so it was another long drive. Weirdly enough people with French numb plates still behaved much better when we got back over the border - things like merging when they first see that two roads will become one rather than speeding down the outside and playing chicken to meg in front of cars they are behind... The truck stop was also streaks ahead of the others, all clean and airy and fresh/bio produce :p
Tuesday we were both a little under the weather. I finally got around to watching Liar game and got a little hooked. But I was only allowed to watch another episode after completing a set number of chores ;) I was also working out how to deal with last minute cancellations to take our furniture and confusing websites saying conflicting things about whether we had indeed confirmed pickup for our parcels to be sent home and when that might occur. We spent a long evening working out how to dismantle all our furniture because our tools were leaving the next day. It was actually quite fun and the wardrobe hasn't as bad as I thought it might be. I was glad I had some experience with their furniture however as there were some screws which weren't obvious.
Wednesday Richard had a meeting with his bank manager - getting taken up into the special customers zone and getting a taste of what rich people might take for granted in their banking experience. He brought me home the special wrapped chocolates and they were dee-licious. I taped up and organised all the boxes while he was gone and then after lunch we wrapped the suitcases in plastic cling wrap together - another useful skill developed on camp when we had to wrap palettes for transport in the early hours of the last morning... The man did arrive and he was, in a word, surly. grouched at being asked to come outside, muttered when I came back to the door and asked why he hadn't followed me inside, grumbled when we pointed out he hadn't correctly counted the clearly marked packages that were all alone in a now empty bedroom. In the end we helped him bring stuff downstairs and while doing so I heard him slamming our bags onto the truck. So I hope the stuff gets there OK. I got an email today saying he hadn't scanned in the documents I carefully provided in triplicate as asked :p
Still it was a weight to know that the luggage was almost out of the apartment. I'd sent Richard off with things to store in Zurich (we intend to travel with only half our total luggage). A bit of clean up and reviewing and it was time for our actual goodbye drinks at the pub. Thelma managed to make it - getting lost thanks to Apple's latest update which replaced the awesome google maps app with their own sub-standard one. They didn't make it through dinner as they had to rush home to the babies but it was great to see them. I certainly enjoyed my chicken in a basket!
Thursday we woke up early to give ourselves a full day of cleaning. And we made it to the 6pm deadline with 5 minutes to spare. In between scrubbing we cancelled phone, Internet, rerouted mail and paid the electricity bill ;). Richard's magic vinegar solution turned out to work wonders on the windows and everything was sparkling. Except the damned over trays. We'd got sidetracked with a spill in the oven and hadn't paid them as close attention (the black ones, the silver grill was scrubbed). It pays to have a good relationship with your landlord and to have demonstrably done your best - he has to get cleaners in anyway after the work he has to do, so he decided he could get them to do that quickly and didn't charge us for cleaning or any breakages! It was actually a huge weight of my mind to give in the keys - the apartment is no longer our concern.
It does feel weird to think that it is not there however. I'm currently sitting on the train to Fribourg and there is not a snug nest waiting for us! It's an alp day which is particularly stunning and my brain hasn't quite caught up with the fact that this normal activity is drawing to a close. It's always like that though, you get caught up in the day to day to do lists which are always longer than you expect when you move and the emotional realization doesn't hit you til much later.
After the key handing over Fribourg had a freak heavy rainstorm. Our landlord (André) took one look at our sad little bags of 'stuff t take to friends' and offered us a lift to the station which was fantastic. Colin welcomed us magnificently in his apartment in Biel/Bienne with beautiful views over the lake. As usual amazing food and I believe good whiskey! I got a bit obsessed with the 'English' chocolates that visitors had brought over - once you get back the obvious joke about coals and Newcastle our filled chocolates are really quite different and it reminded me of my childhood to eat them. Sleeping in an actual bed was great - and we even had full covers! We'd packed our queen doonas prior to going to Quillan so we'd been sleeping with a single size doona between us :p
This morning we caught the train in to Zurich - different route same time/feeling for Richard. I started this entry feeling a little shell-shocked. Now we're heading to Florie and Chris' for a last fondue before heading off to Italy tomorrow. Not sure my brain has really computed that!
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Arriving at Fribourg we had a real nostalgia moment as we saw our little bus number 4 that we weren't going to take since it wasn't our home bus anymore!
