Great feeling in Malmö, great arrangements and, above all, fantastic weather. What more can one ask for? It feels like the whole city is celebrating. SR and SVT are both broadcasting live from the centre of Malmö part of the day, and the city itself has really made an effort for the sng contest to be heard and seen. Good for this city, reputed to be the most dangerous in Sweden, with a lot of ethnic tension.
Two semi finals behind us, both went very well, so everything looks good with 9 hours to go to the start of the final 2013. Fingers crossed everythng goes well!
Category: Work
The road to work
The road to and back from work takes me through mainly agricultural land. There are cornfields and sunroses, different kinds of grain and a lot of hay and silage.
All these crops are probably for animal consumption. There are lots of cows, horses and sheep in the area. But also some more exotic animals, like the two donkeys peacefully grazing right in the middle of one of the villages on the Swiss side of the border, or the herd of buffaloes that greets you a little further down the road, close to the airport
This is no French wine growing area, but on the Swiss side of the border there is wine everywhere. The Swiss wines have clearly developed over the last years, and the Swiss are rightly proud of them. But very few find their way outside Switzerland, and compared to wines from almost all other areas prices are high. Another common crop is apples. Large areas with covered, tightly cut apple trees planted in neat rows are a common sight.
And then? Well, there is the border of course, marked by signs on both sides with information about traffic, speed limitations, the compulsory vignette for Swiss motorways etc. There is a gate, but I have never seen it used. And the quality of the tarmac changes. But for us daily commuters the border is hardly noticed. We rather pay attention to speed limitations. In France you can drive 90 km/h on open roads, even if they are narrow and windling (which is the case here), in Switzerland it is 80. The small villages all have speed limitations of 30 or 40, and on the Swiss side there are cameras. It is a pleasant and peaceful road to either drive or cycle, cycling actually gives even more opportunities to go through the villages.
And once I’m at the EBU in Grand Saconnex, I can look back over the Jura mountains from my room.
The hazards of cycling
I had a bicycle accident on Wednesday. Everybody keeps commenting about the hazards of cycling in the region, and it seems Geneva is considered most dangerous. This accident however did not involve anybody but myself. Oh, and yes, maybe some small animal, a lizard or a mouse perhaps, crossing the street right in front of me. I thought I saw something just when I was turning right, slightly downwards, just in front of the EBU, hit the brakes a little bit to fast and a little bit too hard, and then I just flew over the bike. And hit the tarmac chin-mouth-nose first. Hard. You can magine what the result of that was. Yes, I have a helmet, but it didn’t do me any good in this case.
I immediately realized my front teeth were damaged, And in fact the right one fell out completely but intact, the left one lost a piece. A nice man stopped his car and helped me sit down. I did feel a bit dizzy and nausea hit quite fast. There was blood all over. A policeman happened to drive past, and he decided to call an ambulance. In retrospect it wasn’t really necessary, but how was one to know? And for me it was much easier to come into an emergency room with an ambulance. That way I got all my injuries taken care of immediately, and all in one place. They took me to the HUG, where there are experts on facial injuries.
The accident happened around nine. By two o’clock I was ready to go home. All the injured parts had been x-rayed – right arm, head, mouth – no broken bones anywhere. I had gotten three stiches on my chin and, above all, my right front tooth was back in place. Somebody was sensible enough to pick it up from the street, I put it in my bag, it was cleaned and later the facial/dental surgeon simply stuck it back. Amazing! There it is now, and the left one is also manipulated back into what we think is it’s right place. There’s a piece missing from the left front tooth, so I will look a bit funny until it gets fixed after about three weeks. Both teeth are fixed with a small metal wire. Apart from that it is just bruises in my face and on my right arm, and aching muscles everywhere. That will pass, the third day is already over, and it is always worst. And at least I now know I do not have osteoporosis! If I would, my right arm would be in pieces. And it isn’t, just blue and green and swollen.
All in all this could have been much worse. I’ve been extremely well taken care of by very kind and most professional people. It is an interesting experience to go through the procedures after an accident, getting first your neck and then your head fixed, going through all the questions, first police and then the paramedics, being lifted on a stretcher and transported like a package in an ambulance. I’m sure this can, as in my case, be a positive experience, or it can be rather unpleasant. A few days of sick leave was a good thing, you do get tired from the chock and the muscle pain is quite considerable, but in a few weeks time I’m sure I’ll be as good as new.
O S M A F Frankenhaeuser 