Tuesday, March 21, 2006

21 March 2006

Spring is here. The calendar says so: yesterday was the first day of spring, and Switzerland is right on schedule, no surprise. Yesterday, the sun came out and temperatures reached 50 F, prompting crocuses to bloom and people to wear sunglasses. This morning, we had a light shower that was distinctly different from the soggy winter rains, and it washed away the last traces of the salt that was used to counter the snowdrifts from a few weeks ago. Leave it to Swiss weather to carefully observe the proper timing of the seasons. Of course, now that I've said that, winter will come back with a vengeance, for one last spiteful hurrah.

I'm a wimp when it comes to cold weather, and walking around outside, let alone sleeping outside, in below-freezing temperatures has always struck me as one of the worst possible fates (I suppose camping aficionados would disagree). Switzerland has very few homeless people, as their social programs are quite good and the country is quite rich. The only people I have seen sleeping outside are drug addicts who probably have places to go, but are too high to remember them.

One crackhead often sleeps on the doorstep of my apartment building when it's cold. It's one floor up, semi-private, and warmer than most doorsteps, so one of the first signs of winter is that he starts sleeping there more frequently. Despite being high and crazy, he's the most polite homeless drug addict I've ever met (and more polite than many non-homeless non-drug addicts, come to think of it). He apologizes profusely when I have to step over him, and wishes me a good evening. He is sort of like a demented, smelly doorman, greeting me when I come home, questioning people he doesn't recognize when they come to the building, and free-basing when nothing is going on. If you have to have a crackhead sleeping on your doorstep, hope for a Swiss one. Now that it's warmer, he's seldom around, but I'm sure he'll be back come fall.

With spring's warmer temperatures, the ground begins to thaw, which means, that's right, it's time for massive construction projects that weren't practical when the ground was frozen solid. For some reason, they've started ripping up the entire street that runs between my block and the river. They are doing so with remarkable efficiency; the size and number of deep trenches and craters is impressive, given the fact that they've only started digging quite recently, and only dig for 40 hours a week. Unfortunately, some of that remarkable efficiency wakes me up every morning, since the construction workers, being Swiss, always start up every backhoe, jackhammer, and bulldozer at the crack of 7. I have yet to figure out what it is they're doing. Maybe trying to dig a hole to China.

The construction project has necessitated the relocation of the tram stop by about 100 meters. Not a big deal, right? Not being particularly litigious or conscious of such risks, however, they haven't put up huge notices and warnings regarding the change, so that pedestrians blithely cross in front of trams, expecting that they will stop where they have always stopped, whereas the tram drivers keep going full speed for another 100 meters to the new, temporary stop. It's an accident waiting to happen, and I'm sure that once it happens, they'll be well equipped to clean it up very quickly, and hey, they already have lots of big holes to toss the bodies into.

A college friend is coming in town tomorrow and she'll be crashing with me for two weeks. We'll do all of the required things: fondue, sightseeing around Zurich, a weekend trip somewhere, and so on. After living here for almost two years, it's always fun to see the reactions of a newcomer and to re-notice all of the things that have become a part of life. The bells. The clothes. The waiting at crosswalks. The stinky cheese. And above all, last but definitely not least, the Swiss.

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