Switzerland - Moving On

Things do not improve between Mrs. B and myself and I’m thinking of moving on. Friedel rang to tell me that Eugen is arriving tomorrow and would I like to go round to see her this evening. Friedel and I get on so well together that I am saddened to hear that her husband has a new job and they will be moving to Schaffhausen very soon :-((

We talk mostly about Eugen. It’s obvious that the whole family would like to believe that there is a strong relationship between me and Eugen and that he might consider settling down in Switzerland again..........I would like it too, I am as surprised as anyone that Eugen is doing precisely what he always said he would not do - go back home to work.

I get two half days a week off and I usually go into the old town of St Gallen and wander the narrow streets. There are some wonderful café’s and bakeries cum coffee shops. I have very little money so I cannot afford to indulge my love of cream cakes. I go to my favourite café and sit at one of the small tables outside in the sunshine. I can just about afford a cup of coffee. Rosemary brought my coffee and sat down opposite, she wanted to talk to me in English and asked me to correct her. She asked how I was getting on in my job - "Not very well", I told her. She nodded, knowingly, " It must be very difficult for an English girl to get used to the Swiss way of doing things". It was true - the Swiss make cleaning a way of life - it was difficult adapting. I told her that Mrs. B. and myself did not get on very well, she was always berating the English, saying what a dirty, lazy lot they were. "Yes", Rosemary agreed disarmingly, "How do you find time to drink so much tea?"  I laughed at that. "So that’s what you think of us, that we just sit around drinking tea all day! We stop at a certain time during the day to take a break and drink tea or coffee, that’s all". It became clear during my time in Switzerland that this was the general view of the English. I did my best to speak up for us, but I could see that a nation totally obsessed with cleaning, would find anything less than their high standards, simply not acceptable. Yep - we were a filthy, lazy lot lol!

Maybe things have changed since the early Sixties, but at that time, there was a very distinct division between the classes in Switzerland - those who worked on farms and those who worked in the town. Also Switzerland looked after its own first and foremost - the Swiss got the best jobs, ‘foreigners’, whether they could speak the language or not, had to do the more menial jobs. Rosemary was Austrian, she lived just over the border in the small village of Dornbirn, she had moved over the border to Switzerland in the hope of a higher standard of living. She wanted to work in an office, but had to work in Switzerland doing more menial work for at least 5 years before she would even be considered, and even then, a Swiss person would be given priority. Still, she was content, Rosemary practically ran the Neugasse as the owner was disabled and in return for a room at the café’, Rosemary looked after her. In the cafes, restaurants etc. the staff do not get paid by their employers unless they are behind the scenes, washing up, preparing food etc. They rely on tips for their earnings, but the accepted practice is to give the waitress extra according to how much you are spending. If you want a cake or a savoury tit-bit, they will bring a large tray from which you make your selection, for one piece you will pay for it then give her perhaps 1 rap (1p) extra, for two pieces maybe 11/2 or 2 raps. The savoury tit-bits, rather like canapes are small but delicious - and it’s difficult to buy just one, so you must bear in mind how much it is all going to cost before you get too greedy lol!

To work in a shop was a reasonably prestigious job - but then all the shops were quite ‘posh’. It never failed to amuse me that no matter how small the purchase, the assistant would spend an inordinate amount of time wrapping it up as if it were a gift! I loved the jewellery shops, the windows were so beautifully arranged and I loved the modern styling of the rings in particular, although I knew I could never afford to buy one. Same with the clothes, they were just so elegant - and expensive!

Rosemary was saddened to learn that I was unhappy working for Mrs. B and said she would enquire around for any work that I would be able to do. Things worsened daily between Mrs B. and myself - there were some quite spectacular rows, where she would tell me to get out. I had suspected that she was reading my mail and listening into my telephone conversations on the upstairs extension. I was writing to many people back home, all the people I’d worked with, my new friend Kathy, Jenny, as well as my family. I had also struck up a bit of a correspondence with Tony Hall. I had spoken to him many times when I worked at Stratters, but we had never got around tomeeting, so it wasnice to hear his familiar voice over the airwaves - he presented a late night show on Radio Luxenbourg. So I decided to write to him and ask him to play me a request. He wrote back saying how nice it was to hear from me and hoped I was enjoying myself in Switzerland and that he would dedicate a record to me at the end of one of his shows and giving me the precise date. I listened hopefully, but it never came :-((

I soon got another letter from him apologising and saying the producer had cut the end bit off the show because of over-running, but he would play something for me at the beginning of his show instead - which he duly did. A few letters passed between us during my time in Switzerland and on one occasion he said he had been approached by Kathy in a Pub who said she was a friend of mine and had heard the dedication to me. Then he said that as he was walking along the street, another friend of mine, Jenny, had spotted him and introduced herself to him and said the same thing lol! He mused that everywhere he went now, he was expecting one of my friends to pop up and say hello to him! But I think he quite enjoyed the attention ;-)

Eugen has finally arrived and has invited me to go over to his home on Sunday. He lives in Walzenhausen which is a tiny hamlet halfway up a small mountain. It is a very short journey by car, and not too long even by train.  From the main railway station, it is just one stop to Rheineck where I catch the Bergbahn up to Walzenhausen, which takes about 10 minutes.  The journey in the Bergbahn is quite scary the first time round as one seems to be travelling almost vertically and the journey back down is even scarier lol. But I shall get used to it as I will do this journey as often as I can! Eugen’s mother met me, she doesn’t speak a word of English, but she is such a lovely, cheerful person that somehow it doesn’t seem to matter. Eugen’s parents have a café and metzgerei (butchers), his father does not speak any English either, he gave me a very brief greeting and disappeared, I don’t think I ever saw him again! His mother has cooked me two small medallions of steak - absolutely melt in the mouth fillets, and then a huge piece of chocolate gateaux and tons of whipped cream - Eugen decided he was going to join me in the dessert.......

We went a walk round Walzenhausen to work off the calories, but he bought me a box of kubelies (cannon balls) which are round chocolates filled with a lovely light fudgey-type mousse. I really loved the Swiss food in the cafés - Bratwurst, swebeln and rosti ( large, fat sausages, fried onions and potato cakes) would have been my choice if I could have afforded it, followed by rahmquark - the creamiest cheesecake imaginable. It was Eugen’s favourite too, and I would take him two pieces whenever I visited him.

Rosemary has said that if the worst comes to the worst - I can stay with a friend of hers, Annie, who runs a house for visiting Catholic girls. Rosemary took me round to meet Annie and some of the girls who are staying there, and we had a really nice evening. It is just as well this meeting took place because the next day Mrs. B and I had an almighty row and she told me to pack my bags and leave!

I was able to move into Annie's but I did not want to let Mrs. B know where I was staying, so it means I will have to visit Mrs. B again to collect my mail........

I have been in contact with Nancy who is working in Lucerne, so we decided to meet up and try my luck at finding work in a hotel there. It was a really beautiful journey there, the weather is very hot.  Nancy and I tramped around the various hotels, but they are so busy with visitors that it is difficult to get to see anyone.  I got the suprise of my life when I walked into one hotel and found Norbert ( who used to work for Grand Met) working on the reception!  Eventually, we decided to give up, I was beginning to feel and look the worse for wear - not the best way of presenting oneself for a job.  So we just enjoyed the rest of our day together, and then I went back to Annie's.

Rosemary and I did the rounds of the local hotels - in the New Town by the railway station is a large modern hotel - Ekkhards,  we decided to try our luck there.  The manager told us that a small family hotel in the Old Town, which they also own, require help.  The Importner is situated down a small street, Bankgasse, behind the Neugasse cafe, Rosemary does all the talking, but it is clear that the manageress is suprised to find an English girl looking for this type of work, but also pleased, as she is another one who knows a little English and would like to learn more, so I am welcomed aboard!