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Lisa P would be proud of me, drinking tea out of china cups! Lovely deli/tea shop in Wylde Green in which to pass the  20 minutes it took Boots to process my prescription. 

And Bob made me smile today - I'll be dreaming the Thomas theme song on repeat... Love you squawk monster xx

And John made me smile - and cry! - by Facetiming from Winti having retrieved something...

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All our belongings are in the van and our home us empty.

Jude and Isaac found ways of getting comfortable as the packing went on around them. 

About to go to sleep in a hotel prior to a short break in Zermatt having had a delicious pizza thanks to the recommendation of lovely Krislyn. Jude is currently planning on sleeping across two beds - I fear his Dad may have something to say about that!

Funny point of the day - Isaac repeatedly 'derailing' his suitcase as he pulled it up the ramp next to the stairs at Kloten station. 

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Tonight's post features amusingly named beer, delicious food, lovely removal men and one last night in our Wohnung. 

Here, Isaac beautifully models Cow Water beer - ein süffiges, malzhaltiges naturtrübes Genussbeer. 

Then I looked at the menu - and decided I had to try this beer too. So here's my Fahrtwind hell. 

Food was delicious too - here's John's Schinken, Käse und Speigelei crêpe. 

Followed by Frozen yogurt with Crunchy nut flakes und Honig.

Thanks to the lovely Mark and Paul, today has not been as stressful as I feared, and nothing like the moving out nightmare. Little things like asking where we'd like them to start, asking if I'd got some books to read before they packed them all away and querying if certain items belonged to the apartment are so helpful. And they left our beds, the sofa the TV and the kettle overnight so we weren't camping as much as we might. Tomorrow night we're in a hotel prior to a short trip to Swiss Valais (squeezing as much as we can in before we go). So for the last time, I'm off to sleep in my Winti Wohnung. 

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This picture made me laugh today. I think it's from Innocent Smoothies but not sure. 

It's been a busy day getting ready for the packers tomorrow but we've had fun along the way. Isaac Jude and I formed a formidable 'net curtain removal' team, and our rubbish distribution reached new levels of deviousness. I also found time to buy a new pair of shoes and watch the IPC Athletics on TV, both of which made me smile. 

Time for sleep now though. 

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Happy 19th wedding anniversary to my long suffering husband John who makes me smile quite often - occasionally as a coping mechanism but mostly for good reasons ;) 

We had dinner at Tibits this evening - delicious but a little sad as it'll be our last meal there before we leave. Please open a branch in Birmingham - I don't get to London often enough to satisfy my Tibits habit! 

Below is 23rd July 1994, also a scorchingly hot day incidentally!

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Today's smile is the display in the door of Franz Karl Weber - pigs!  And this story about a horse in McDonalds. Both seem appropriate as the Pickups left today - safe journey back to Darwen and your Aga :o)

 

And this window display is for Jude - he's not getting the real dog so a picture will have to do!

Other smiles today? Some serious recycling, the card the boys chose for their cousin's birthday (I hope he finds it funny!!) and completing a pile of ironing. And walking through lovely Winti in the sunshine.

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I often run past this QR code outside das Medienhaus and think "must scan that" but, as I'm out running it'a never the right time. Tonight we were out for our after dinner wander (aka rubbish drop) and the time was right. 

And it was worth it as it linked to this - (video embed doesn't show on mobile devices)

http://vimeo.com/m/31716559

The artwork is rather funky too!

And there was breakfast with friends - always bound to make me smile despite it being 'au revoir' to Yvette, Krislyn and Gabriela - and nearly to Lisa! Delicious - and there were left overs so the boys were smiling too.

One more thing from today. Jude and I rode our old bicycles to Brühlgut Stiftung and donated them to Velos für Afrika - fun as a) the saddles were too low for us  b) I wasn't quite sure where it was (I had Google Map in my pocket in case) and  c) we got to go on the Töss bus at last - from Töss!

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John and I went for a short walk after dinner. As we left the apartment, this gentleman zipped past on his Segway. 

John announced that when he's old, he's not having an invalid buggy; he's having a Segway. I tend to agree with him although you need to still have leg strength...

Andy Murray winning Wimbledon - big smile. 

Pretty park on a sunny evening - another smile. 

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Things you see walking down Winti Marktgasse... Yesterday it was a man shopping on a Segway; today, a man shopping on his horse! 

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Chocolate caliente y churros ¡ñam, ñam!

Albanifest ends tonight, and with it the sight of fairground rides mixed up with historical building, and screaming people appearing over your head as you walk along the street! Here's Maxximum juxtaposed with the Kunsthaus where the engraving above the door reads "Der Kunst und Wissenschaft" (art and knowledge") 

And then it looped the loop!

Won't be sorry to see the back of the rubbish but I'll miss the food stalls - as will the boys!

New series of Top Gear too!

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I loved this image shared by a friend on FB from this blog. I saw poppies today but in such profusion! They were popping out from between ears of wheat near Neftenbach.

This made Jude smile - he's a sucker for cuddly small animals!

Isaac and I  cycled 13 miles which made us very happy! And it was beautiful.

Isaac saw a shop called Barf today on our cycle ride.

The drama of Wimbledon also made for lots of smiles.

And I finished another good book. Got to wait until October for the next one in the series though :(

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The Zürcher Kantonalmusikfest in Winterthur this weekend meant lots of flags flying around the town - and on the front of the buses. Looked very colourful and the sunshine helped bring a smile to faces. As did the wonderful music. Nothing like some rousing brass bands to raise the spirits!

Here's an Audioboo and a video.

listen to ‘Winterthur Zürcher Kantonalmusikfest’ on Audioboo

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And these beautiful poppies made me smile. Glad the men on the slacklines didn't squish them!

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ISW graduation.

A trip to the Badi.

And a bubbly footspa.

Triple whammy of smiles!


Say cheese in other languages
In Japanese you say Sei, no! / はい、チーズ！ (hai, chiizu!)

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One of the joys of living in Adlerstrasse is the proximity to Lindengut Museum which, as well as a Museum, is also where people get married on Thursday Friday and Saturday, especially in the summer. It can be colourful and noisy, sometimes smelly but always interesting.

Today we had two horse drawn carriages, one of which was "moved on" by traffic wardens as a delivery van was in its normal parking spot and both of which left 'gifts' (cleared up soon after the horses left!) and a hurdy gurdy player who punctuated the birdsong from the aviary with renditions of Here comes the bride and other wedding related songs.

listen to ‘As I sat reading, Here comes the bride’ on Audioboo



  Jude told me this evening that I looked like I had been skiing as I had 'panda eyes' - that's what comes of reading in the sun wearing sunglasses!

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Dew on leaves.

An arty picture of Steinbergasse in Winterthur.

And Jude pretending to be Howard being Prince Charming in Big Bang Theory. Plenty of smiles on a grey day with a poorly boy.


One more thing - Postman Pat now has two vans, a motorbike and a helicopter. Recession? Not in Greendale!

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I did it! Winterthur Half Marathon completed - such relief! I thought my legs were going to give out with about 4km to go and only the thought of being overtaken kept me running. 

2:01:35 isn't the sub-2 hour of which I dream but I didn't care - I was so glad to have kept going and made it to the finish in a decent time.

At the finish with the lovely Sharon with whom I played cat and mouse throughout the race. Funny face due to a mouth full of banana! (thanks John!)

Thank you to my boys for coming and supporting me - and my friends - and for taking photos. And thanks for all the messages on FB too.

Now have a huge smile on my face as I have a glass of wine - first in over a week (and I have needed a glass several times in the last few days!)

A summary in film and photos -

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A new environmental art installation outside Technikum. I like the climbing men and the green plants.

John being away, we went to Bruderhaus for dinner, said hello to the mouflon and bison, and walked home via HB for an ice cream. We like warm evenings.

The boys were admiring a Ferrari and I asked if it had a D8 engine. Jude burst out "I sometimes wonder if we really are related!" (I know - it's a V8. But D and V sound similar...)

Say cheese in other languages
In Czech you can also say Řekněte sýr!

Smiles 86:365

Short post today as I'm typing left handed due to some sort of RSI type pain in my right hand. I had to smile at the display in our local Apotheke. It's 1C and they're advertising suncream. That's OK as you need sunscreen when you're skiing. It's the beach ball and especially the flip flops that amused me - there's snow on the ground and even I wouldn't go out in flip-flops!

Jude had a haircut - and kept smiling as he lost some of his mop! And I lured John and Isaac into Metro in search of a pink Tshirt for Isaac for 'The Day of Pink' at school - they concluded that there were actually some good clothes in there if you get past the ground floor and ignore the 'Goth corner'!

Smile in other languages

In Quechua - asikuy 

(I'm running out of languages for my 'smile' so if you know a language that I haven't featured yet, please let me know. I think I've pretty much exhausted Europe but there are more than 86 languages in the world!)

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The Goldhase has appeared once more on the roof of Coop City, although this year it;s pretty hard to see it thanks to the scaffolding for the new bus station! 

It reminded me of this video about Schoko-Osterhasen I'd seen earlier today.

Other things that have made me smile today
The dancing Nan on FB.
And also Samuel L Jackson dog.
Zumba.
The last piece of lemon cake.
All the kind people who have been sympathetic about my pounding headache which has been ongoing for over a month.

Smile in other languages
In Bengali - মৃদুহাস্য

Smile 70:365

Haven't got a photo taken today - been too busy washing, shopping, Zumba-ing, cycling, baking and going to the theatre! This was taken last year in Rapperswil. My favourite bench!

Zumba had me smiling. It always does, but there seemed to be rather a lot of making up of steps today! And choosing tops for our 'performance' may prove a step too far - how can you get 10 women from different countries and cultures to agree on a top they all like from a limited number of options?

I went to the theatre tonight to see a Shakespeare play. With John. This hasn't happened since 1993-4 - and that was the first time he'd ever seen one! It wasn't your 'normal' Shakespeare play though - I don't recall there being a food fight in A Midsummer Night's Dream let alone any of the other plays, and it's not everyday that the main characters disappear into a pop up tent, or two characters appear as if in an 80s computer game, controlled by Puck. Lots of smiles - not least at how bemused the Swiss audience were not only by the broad Irish accent but by some of the humour too.

Smile in other languages
In Haitian Creole - souri