The beaver is a proud and noble animal
Notes from a bemused canuck
My flights back, while long, were mostly boring and pain-free. Security, customs, baggage (ok baggage drop in Montreal was automated and the machine didn’t want to work until it did, but baggage claim was worry-free), connecting flight, all good. But now I’m jetlagged to hell and gone.
It is said that in the year 1387, scarecrows came to life in the Morgian countryside, driven by a mysterious force. In a threatening mood, they made an unbearable noise, tormented the wine-growing populations and prevented anyone who wanted to go and harvest ripe grapes from leaving their homes. We seem to remember that these acts of fright were the consequence of a commitment not kept by the winegrowers; they had in fact promised to bring the count a bushel of their finest grapes, in exchange for the good advice given for the protection of the vines.
Went walking through the tulip festival on saturday with El Chonk. He got lots of love, as is normal.
Ben and I walked from Lutry to Cully. Nice walk, perfect weather for it.
I’m back in the land of cheese and chocolate. I was in Canada for the last 2 weeks – a “workation” – as I needed to work remotely while trying to relax and visit with family and friends. The work part got done. The visiting part was mostly done, but the relaxing part was… less successful. There’s a lot of anxiety around my dad’s health concern, and there was some family drama on both sides of the ocean, which meant that there was a lot of things to still juggle. I’m happy I went and saw my family – I needed that – and I managed to do/see some of the things I had planned, but not all of them and the return home was brutal.
Well, more accurately, he chonks across them and pees on everything.
Friends had a spare ticket to the Riverside festival in Aarburg, to go see Adam and the Metal Hawks and Status Quo.
I didn’t know I’d seen AMH clips on Facebook, he’s the guy that got a shout out from Jack Black. It looked like a fun time ahead.
The venue was really cool. The festival is paired with an Oldtimers’ Route 66 festival – think rockabilly, classic cars, pinups, tophat & tails, big moustaches and epic beards.
The AMH show had a good energy. The beer, for a Swiss festival, was very reasonably priced.
After the act, we had a bit of food (goot burger, decent price) and went to walk along the river, waiting for the headline show.
This is when we realized that this was probably the most Swiss festival ever. The air was already rich with the smell of melted cheese, but then we noticed that the festival ground was right next to a dairy farm. The cows, if anything, were incredibly not bothered.
Then it was time for the Quo. This time, along with the smell of raclette, the air had a distinct tinge of cannabis. Bit surreal.
The main stage area was packed. I don’t generally mind crowds, but even my urge to kill was rising, with people always jostling you to go back and forth – being polite about it, but still annoying.
Mira and Emo went up in the ferris wheel and took a picture of the crowd. Amusingly, you can spot Gino and I.
The show was really good. I only knew a couple of songs going in (In the army now, Rocking all over the world), but Katy had commented that all the songs kind of sound the same so I should enjoy it. One or two songs didn’t quite age well and aren’t really PC anymore (The Oriental, I’m looking at you). For gray-haired old dudes, they still put on a great show. I really enjoyed it.
I was walking Lili this morning when we saw a helicopter hovering over the town center. Turns out it was ferrying loads of building materials from the lakeside to a house under renovation just one road over. Imagine how much a crane costs when it’s cheaper to use a frikkin’ helicopter to deliver your supplies!!!
This is Geraldine. It’s supposed to be a cow footstool with built-in storage. Except it’s now annexed the flight cushion I’d bought at GVA Airport. And now I think Katy is shopping for a cowbell for her… Saints preserve us.