Beautiful Winter Weather

I haven't got a photo of the route but  this Zurich lake photo is pretty

For those of you that are unaware I have been hiding out in Zurich for the last few months. Now winter in Zurich can be a largely grey affair and apparently as soon as you leave the city region there is apparently a sudden burst of beautiful weather. However the weather of late has also been impressing be, impressing me to the point that there are times before I step outside the warm confines of my apartment that I think that I might only need to wear my lighter jacket. Nice try sunshine.

Despite the beaming sun rays a jacket is an absolute must and to be honest I nearly lost all the fingers on my right hand while trying to top up my phone and send a text message yesterday.

Again part of the nice things about my apartment (apart from having my own room and the apartment  being clean and warm) is the route that I take into town. This route along the limmat river is indeed a gem in Zurich and is much frequented by joggers and just generally people looking to take a relaxing walk. On sunny days this route is one of my favourite things about living in Zurich, or more so it was; as I recently experienced the vexation of an older lady telling me cycling along the route is forbidden. I suppose I should have copped on earlier as I very rarely meet other cyclists along the path.

I'm not sure if I'll heed her message or just keep playing the foreign ignorance card and avoiding the path at busier times.

Funny bicycle stuff from the Internet

Recently my friend Dave sent me this link to this Kate Beaton comic which lets be honest is awesome; "see me rollin up pops you step aside". I then proceeded to spend the rest of my day looking at all her other comics, which retrospectively was a well spent afternoon.
It's really interesting to see a modern take on the history of girls on bicycles and its not the first time I've talked about this, as last June in Paris I visited the "Voyages a Velo" exhibition which chronicled (all be it not as funnily) the history of the bicycle and its influence on the development of the modern woman.

Otherwise as long as we are on the topic of funny bicycle stuff I have seen or been sent on-line, check out this gem from the great David Thorne poking fun at the cycling fanatic, again potentially another day wasted, but his stuff is laugh out loud funny.

The "craic" an Irish response to the weather

thanks to Monica for the pics

"What's the craic" is my favourite way of greeting people, but this usually recieves a few raised eyebrows from those forigners unfamiliar with the traditional Irish phrase.

After coming home to Ireland for the holidays I have come to the conclusion that the reason Irish people are all slightly insane and drink so much is because it is the only way that we can deal with the weather.

Seriously this is not the first time I have discussed the Irish weather, and a friend recently informed me about how a guide book to Ireland outlines the Irish mentality. The book describes the Irish as having 3 parts to their brain, one part deals with Logic, the second part deals with Emotion and finally the third part deals purely with this uniquely Irish element called the Craic.

Johhny forigner will often not be familiar with the craic as it is a only previlant in the Irish culture and usually reaches its climax during drinking sessions. Personal examples include "who can steal the best thing from a bar", "dancing to the river dance", "smashing glasses for no reason" and "swimming in the rain". Essentially it is doing things with no emotional or logical reason other than the result might be worth a few laughs.

Taxi in Zurich? - some warnings

After previously praising Zurich's treatment of traffic and cyclists, it is with unfortunate irony that on this same day I received some rather rude treatment on my bike in Zurich, and got beeped at twice by Taxi drivers.

From what I have personally experienced and been advised taxi drivers here are:

Cycling in Zurich

While cycling in most other large cities is usually a mixture of teeth gritting and bell ringing frustration, Zurich seems to be a much more calm counterpoint to the usual fist shaking and shouting.

Politeness seems to be the key factor involved in getting around the City, whether that is by public transport, car, bicycle or foot.
I am consistently surprised at how polite car drivers are in Zurich, for example; very few pedestrian crossings actually have pedestrian lights. So how does it work then? Well the method is surprisingly simple, the pedestrian had automatic priority and all cars stop at zebra crossings at the slightest hint that someone might intend crossing. The result is that people crossing the road only hesitate a quick glance at oncoming traffic before marching straight out  in front of politely waiting cars.

While you would think this system would be the bane of most car drivers in Zurich it is not, the result is surprisingly stress free flowing traffic, probably because the cars don't spend their time waiting in front of red lights at pedestrian crossings where no one is crossing.

Indeed even the cars don't need lights at Zurich's most busy junction - central and use this polite waiting system to alternate between who has priority. Only at peak traffic times will you see a semi-formal traffic stopping system in place and this literally takes the form of a human Traffic Warden being stationed in what looks like an over-sized bin right in the centre of the junction.

This traffic version of an orange Oscar the Grouch is an efficient version of traffic lights as they are more accurately able to judge the needs of the waiting traffic, and appropriately assign priority.

Schmutzli - the Swiss Bad Santa

Every country has its traditions and rituals and one of the more quirky and oddly satisfying of the Swiss Christmas season is Schmutzli.

2 Schmutzli are seen here on either side of SamiChlaus

Just like Venom to Spiderman, Dr. Moriarty to Sherlock Holmes and Magneto to Dr. Xavier, Schmutzli is a more sinister counter point to the good that Santa represents.

The answer to how this tradition came about is once again representative of another classic battle between Christianity and paganism. Originally it was a pagan ritual called Perchten which involved good spirits driving out the bad old spirits. With Samichlaus taking the Christian "good" role Schmutzli some how managed to evolve into the dark figure.

Samichlaus is not Santa Claus however and the celebration of "St Nicolas Day"is on the 6th of December, while both Christmas and St Nicolas Day both have the same origins they take on different forms, with the latter having much more in common with its original tradition of paganism than its commercialised American brother.

What is personally appealing about this tradition is the fact that it actually give children something to fear at Christmas. No longer is the classic taunt "Santas' watching" applicable, the phrase "Schmutzli is watching" has far more fear behind it, and only rightly so, the black faced nemesis is associated with stealing children, carries a broom of sticks with which to hit misbehaving children and is even called  Père Fouettard or Father 'Whip' in the French speaking part of Switzerland.
Local teenagers have even been known to dress up as groups of Schmutzli's and go around implementing their own style of vigilante Christmas justice on younger children.

All Christmas songs now have a new tune

You better watch out
You better not cry
Better not pout
I'm telling you why
Schmutzli is coming to town

He’s got a stick, And he'll whip you twice;
It doesn't matter if you're naughty or nice
Schmutzli is coming to town

He'll steal when you’re sleeping, He'll whip you when you’re awake
He knows if you’ve been bad or good, So run for goodness sake!
O! You better watch out! You better not cry
Better not pout, I’m telling you why
Schmutzli is coming to town

Sounds like excellent incentive for good behaviour from children to me and hey its a lot less scary than the German equivalent "Krampus" who looks like the very incarnation of Satan himself.

Skyride Dublin 2011 - beware children on bicycles

Skyride Dublin at Grand Canal Square

Overall the event was enjoyable but I found myself more stressed than I would be in normal traffic. The main reason being that the streets were littered with children on bicycles, contrary to cars small children are notoriously spatially unaware, unpredictable in their movements on the road and follow a cycling pattern that could be likened to a shoal of herring being attacked by dolphins. Lucky I wasn't going anywhere fast or I'm sure I would have had the great joy of discussing bicycle safety with the parents of many crying children.

Cycling in Ireland - pack wet gear

Wet Gear. This is probably the most important set of words that you will use in reference to cycling in Ireland.
Following one random day of sunshine on my arrival there has followed the usual predictable set of squalls, showers, and looming grey clouds.
Like going to a club you know will be bad or boring, you can compensate the sheer awfulness with copious amounts of alcohol, and so it is with rain and wet gear. Especially for longer journeys, e.g.. more than 5 minutes.

Sky Ride Dublin vs Critical Mass Dublin

With Sky's tag line "where will your bike take you" the answer is pretty simple; probably along the route you have designated and cordoned off from traffic.

This is the first time that the "Sky" Ride has made it over to the Republic. Now in all due respect the concept of cycling uninhibited through the worlds major cities is not a new one but contrary to the critical mass phenomenon the idea is less "lets piss off all the people trying to just get around in cars, by having a completely unplanned event where we have no leaders, no route and will just stop traffic through sheer numbers" and more "lets sponsor the event and co-operate with the police and traffic department so that we can have the traffic diverted, streets shut down and proper safety features".

So to summarise less anarchy and more family.

My Giant Black Bike

So after a long absence from the home of Guinness, rain and left hand driving I have once again set foot on the emerald isle that is Ireland. I’m sure that anybody who has been away from home for a significant amount of time will appreciate the comforts of arriving into a country where you can perfectly speak the language, know which bus to take, have somewhere to stay and have a large group of people who are delighted to see you.