The late shift

Today I completed my first late shift (14.00 - 20.00) at the accreditation centre and yet another relatively quiet day but with a few beers afterwards watching the Switzerland - Leichtenstein game on the big screen in the volunteer centre.

Claire flies to Chicago

And that means a very early morning alarm call as Claire's taxi arrived at 5.30 in the morning for her flight to Heathrow before flying onwards to Chicago. She's off for a week and as I wasalready awake early I cycled to the Volunteer Centre this morning for another very quiet shift in the accreditation centre aside from the rather nice Carlsberg Hostesses who came in for their passes.

Volunteer Work Starts

Yep today I started work at the volunteer centre in Basel, in St Jakob Halle - next to the stadium at St Jakob. Quiet beginning but met up with some of the German guys & girls that I saw at the Kick Off event earlier this month. Here are three of us at the delivery desk.

A second visit to the Botanical Gardens

Claire and Avril both love gardening so we spent today going to the Botanical Gardens just outside of Basel. This time around the Iris's were in full bloom compared to our first visit.

A busy weekend

Yesterday I attended my training day for the Euro2008 volunteering work. You can read more on it via the link.

Yesterday also saw the arrival of Claire's godparents, Avril & Charles, for the weekend. Unfortunately, they arrived a day late due to French train strike and, more importantly, the ineptitude of the Eurostar advice on travelling. Today we took them for a look around the roman ruins here in Augusta Raurica before taking a boat trip from Kaiseraugst to Basel.

Volunteer Centre Opens

Yesterday evening the Euro 2008 Volunteer Centre opened in the St Jakob Arena (without the ice shown in the photo) here in Basel. The whole area around the St Jakob stadium is a plethora of sporting arenas with the football stadium, the ice hockey arena, the Halle where tennis played and, most importantly, an vast array of pitches for all sports for all to use.

I attended the opening of the centre before going in to Basel to meet Claire & Lee (and quite a few others), who are mad Chelsea fans, to watch the CL final.

Sorry - no more footie posts here!!!

Just a quick note on the evening of the "don't care who wins at all" champions league final...

The footie related content of this blog has been moved to the football obsessed website of www.oleole.com . Here you can find my all new anglo-swiss gooner centric football blog..

We All Live In A Toblerone World

Cheers

First visit to the Doctor

Moving country with a "medical condition", even a mild asthma as in my case, provides a new challenge. I did, of course, manage to get some extra supplies before moving out (just in case) to provide a settling in period. Now I need to get some inhalers and so having to adapt to the Swiss health system. Here, everyone needs private health insurance (at a cost) that has an excess (high) to reduce premiums to a reasonable (!!!) level. You then visit the doc, get the prescription and pay for the drugs until you reach your excess. At this point your health insurance pays for it.... I THINK! Anyway I forgot my health insurance card so I'll have to wait until tomorrow to get my inhalers.

Cup Final in Basel

Of course, you cannot miss the cup final just because you're not inthe country. Despite the low level of interest out here in Switzerland (no big 4, no Swiss players) there were a few folk in the Pub (Paddys) to watch. This may have been augmented by the absolutely awful weather today!!

The first long (ish) cycle of the summer/spring

In Switzerland it seems, as in England, we've bypassed Spring to go straight from Winter to Summer. As a result we are having a prolonged spell of warm weather (23-27 deg) that has lasted for over a week now. Obviously this means the bikes can be set free (see yesterday) and today it was time for a longer jaunt. One of my favourite rides here is from Kaiseraugst - Bad-Sackingen - Kaiseraugst (out and back along the Rhine, firstly in Switzerland and returning in Germany) for a trip of around 56km.

Another Bank Holiday - A Bike ride through 3 countries

Yep today was another Bank Holiday (Pentecost??) and with the bikes all fixed and ready to go we managed a 40km ride from home, over the Kaiseraugst Dam to Germany, over the new bridge to France and back into Switzerland...

Congratulations to FCB

Yep it was pretty much an anti-climax but FC Basel's 2-0 win over Young Boys meant they won the Swiss League tonight.

Using the car (for the first real time) for a trip to France

Yep we now have access to a car for occasional use. As long as we use it sensibly I won't be too concerned for my green(ish) image. Having been without a car for around a year it doesn't seem that much of a necessity but, as with everything, it will have its uses. Today we went over the border to France and the Decathlon store near Mulhouse to look at bikes for Claire. She feels that something a bit more whizzy is required to keep up with me!!! I am, of course, in my element as its my language skills required here and my limited german is superfluous. Unfortuntely, the bike she wanted is not in stock and we'll have to order it in about 2 weeks time when it reappears on the IT system!

A Fateful Saturday Ahead for FCB

Following last night's 90+2 minute equaliser our local side has the chance to win the Swiss league on Saturday. They play the second place side, Young Boys of Bern, at home and have a one point advantage. So a draw will do in front of a sell out crowd (and that doesn't happen very often at St Jakobs).

Last Game of the Season

So keeping the season ticket didn't seem that bad an idea now as Imanaged to get back for 12 games in the season. Last Sunday saw an entirely predictable "end of season" game with a 1-0 win over Everton. Of course, the main reason for going home was the end of season drink and an 11.15 return to Teddington after a game that finished at 3.15 was not too bad! Even Steve Marsh managed to find his way home....

The Bridging Day at the Rhinefalls

Taking advantage of a beautiful day we took the train (this time a German one from Rheinfelden) to Schaffhausen for a visit to the wonderfull Rhinefalls. Definitely worth the trip, despite the numerous tourists, for the spectacular falls (in width if not height) and the lovely town of Schaffhausen as well. If you go take a trip on the ferry across the river by the falls and take a wlak to the Munot in Schaffhausen!

A May Bank Holiday in Switzerland

Of course, the first thing about bank holidays in Europe is (aside from the fact there seems to be more) that the holiday is on the actual day and not the Monday following. This brings benefits most of the time but can cause a problem when, for example, May 1st falls on a weekend. Luckily this year May 1st is a Thursday and we get the bonus of the bruckestag (bridging day) on the Friday - so a nice long weekend. Today Claire and I found a wonderful spot in Basel with a quiet and serene area of calm (The Botanical Gardens at Merian Park) attached to a mad, children packed park just next to St Jakobs.