Reply to: Question for the contractors in CH

[northernladuk]

I live in a town in the Scottish Borders, where the butchers, the baker, and the greengrocer still do shut at midday on Saturday. Fortunately I'm accustomed to it, having lived in Germany previously. BTW when I went to France in 1990, the supermarket shut at lunchtime - for 3 hours.

Isn't that to go burn outsiders/virgins and do horrible things to animals whilst wearing white robes rather than an indication of the local economy?

[NotAllThere]

The taxi drivers here are mainly people who're on the social. The taxi companies pay a portion of their salary but most of it comes from the social fund - i.e. out of the taxes I avoid.

[Sysman]

I live in a town in the Scottish Borders, where the butchers, the baker, and the greengrocer still do shut at midday on Saturday. Fortunately I'm accustomed to it, having lived in Germany previously. BTW when I went to France in 1990, the supermarket shut at lunchtime - for 3 hours.

I remember that in Paris. Many shops would be open from 7 or 8, have a long lunchbreak and still be open until 8 or so at night.

[Ignis Fatuus]

I had a worse experience in Germany in the mid-nineties. The shops shut at midday on Saturday.

I live in a town in the Scottish Borders, where the butchers, the baker, and the greengrocer still do shut at midday on Saturday. Fortunately I'm accustomed to it, having lived in Germany previously. BTW when I went to France in 1990, the supermarket shut at lunchtime - for 3 hours.

[Sysman]

No you don't. Go to SBB: Home. Enter your journey details. Click on Fare/Buy. Select the appropriate reduction (presumably no reduction), and the journey price appears.

OK, I just picked a journey I did the other week.

Abortive attempt the first time around. It leapt straight to a choice of 5, 6 or 8 zones (HTF do I decide how many zones when I haven't even seen the available routes yet?) and then to a screen asking for my name and DOB. I could ignore those fields and instead click on the ticket type to select the Halbtax price, and then the price is displayed.

Scrap that and go back to the beginning. This time it manages to show me departure and arrival times for a variety of routes. I pick the quickest journey from the list and then it asks me to choose which route out of three (each are a different number of zones). There is insufficient information on the previous page to know which route I want, well unless I have a separate list elsewhere of all the places each train goes to. There is no obvious information which will tell me how many zones I need to pay for if I want that train at 10:05 tomorrow which takes 49 minutes versus the others which take 56 or 45 minutes.

It's a fook sight easier to go to the counter and ask.

Having said that, the counter at my local station closes at 7pm

[BoredBloke]

That has changed in the last few years. When I started here in 1998 yes the shops did shut at 5:30 or six, and would close at 4 on the day before a public holiday. The trick was to hit them on the one night of the week (usually Wednesday or Thursday) when they opened until 8.

For a few years my local supermarkets have stayed open until 7 and as of last year the big ones stay open until 8. That has made a world of difference for shopping on Saturdays, and a few shops have been open on a Sunday for over 10 years. My local Coop Pronto is open from 7am until 11pm six days a week, until 10pm on Sundays. OK it only does food, fags 'n' booze but that's fine.

I had a worse experience in Germany in the mid-nineties. The shops shut at midday on Saturday.

Living near a filling station was a good idea in both countries back in the 90s.

I was there a bit over 3 years ago. There was one night when they would stay open until 8 and that was it. Otherwise you were left with all the little shops and their eye watering prices. Also, the offy wasn't allowed to sell beer after 9. That was bloody great when my plane touched down in geneva at about 5 past 9 and I couldn't even relax with a couple of beers.

[Sysman]

Just to put into context I pay or paid CHF 40 for a one way trip of 5 km from the airport to office location and if you extrapolate that example to your said 140 KM would amount to approx. CHF 1120.

I think you are probably extrapolating a bit, because like Hackney Carriages they start off with a fixed charge which covers the first kilometer or maybe more.

I think the way to do it would be just like you do in the UK. Find a private taxi and negotiate. It's been a while since I did it but I could do the 25 km between home and the office for about CHF 80 when I was on callout.

The only advantage I can see is you will be in a fairly comfortable Mercedes or Audi with no-one to pester you as the Swiss taxi drivers English tend to be crap.

If unlucky you'll get a people carrier and someone who wants to practice English on you

[Sysman]

A mate of mine moved out there and constantly goes on about how everything you want to do is made much more difficult and more expensive because of the Swiss. From my time out there I got the impression that Switzerland is like the UK was in the 70's in terms of customer service. Supermarkets shut at about the same time as your working day ended and everything shuts on Sunday, meaning Saturdays are manic with 9 to 5 being the time to get the weekly shop done, during which time, the whole country is heading to the co-op.

That has changed in the last few years. When I started here in 1998 yes the shops did shut at 5:30 or six, and would close at 4 on the day before a public holiday. The trick was to hit them on the one night of the week (usually Wednesday or Thursday) when they opened until 8.

For a few years my local supermarkets have stayed open until 7 and as of last year the big ones stay open until 8. That has made a world of difference for shopping on Saturdays, and a few shops have been open on a Sunday for over 10 years. My local Coop Pronto is open from 7am until 11pm six days a week, until 10pm on Sundays. OK it only does food, fags 'n' booze but that's fine.

I had a worse experience in Germany in the mid-nineties. The shops shut at midday on Saturday.

Living near a filling station was a good idea in both countries back in the 90s.

[clickuk]

Just to put into context I pay or paid CHF 40 for a one way trip of 5 km from the airport to office location and if you extrapolate that example to your said 140 KM would amount to approx. CHF 1120.

The only advantage I can see is you will be in a fairly comfortable Mercedes or Audi with no-one to pester you as the Swiss taxi drivers English tend to be crap.

So there are you are.. your a contractor so earn and then pay like a contractor!

[Bunk]

Just on two wheels though, right?

Well, it worked when he tried it in Gran Turismo

[NotAllThere]

And a chain on the third, it being a reliant robin.

[sasguru]

Since I enjoy being in control of my car, I do have winter tyres during winter!

Just on two wheels though, right?

[BoredBloke]

A mate of mine moved out there and constantly goes on about how everything you want to do is made much more difficult and more expensive because of the Swiss. From my time out there I got the impression that Switzerland is like the UK was in the 70's in terms of customer service. Supermarkets shut at about the same time as your working day ended and everything shuts on Sunday, meaning Saturdays are manic with 9 to 5 being the time to get the weekly shop done, during which time, the whole country is heading to the co-op.

[NotAllThere]

No, but I was advised when I was there that if you are in an accident and don't have them, both the police and the insurance company will shake their heads and tut-tut, implying that it was your fault. Of course they might do tht anyway because you're not Swiss.

It's a Swiss urban myth (along with the one that if you do any work on your car and you have an accident, you're not covered). You'd only be not covered if you were driving on a road that stated that winter tyres or chains were needed.

Since I enjoy being in control of my car, I do have winter tyres during winter!

[Ignis Fatuus]

It is not illegal to drive on good condition summer tyres in the winter on ordinary roads.

No, but I was advised when I was there that if you are in an accident and don't have them, both the police and the insurance company will shake their heads and tut-tut, implying that it was your fault. Of course they might do tht anyway because you're not Swiss.