Pas Question

There was a period Lil Miss N's favourite and most .often employed phrase was 'Pas Question!!' which translates to 'Out of the question' or 'No way'. She employed this phrase regardless of what situation she was in. She was the epitome of sartorical elegance and simplicity.

Pas Question was uttered left, right and centre to signify disdain, rebellion and ultimately her pig-headedness as she was in effect figuratively playing deaf.


The pas question phase has returned... much to my amusement.

Cableless

Cablecom

How many ways I loathe thou

Thou art wretched and despicable.
Thou hath etched an imprint of discontent.
Thou art the epitome of inefficiency
Thou giveth independent service providers a bad name

Thy service art full of impediments and disruptions.

Thou must not enrage more frustrated customers
Thou deserveth to go bust
Thou art the peak of troughs.
Thou hath to be stoppeth.

Thou shall not be the cause of more desolation
Thou shall be the beacon of despair
Thou shall reap the rewards of apathy
Thou shall die a listless, unglorious and painful death.

In memoriam.

I shall revel in thy descend into obscurity and obsoletion.

After the laboriously long and tediously time-consuming procedure that Shrek went through to bring about the downfall of Cablecom aka the worst/most abominable Internet and telecommunications company in the lengthy history of my dealings with net/fone providers I ever have, I now have a grudge against them.

Numerous long winded phone calls to their hotline resulted in frustration, 3 plus long months of waiting patiently for some service being reinstated ended in a rupture of a contract. Their promises to call back, to get onto restoring service as soon as practiceable were empty. They lied to the Ombudsman when pressed for a response as to why they had prolonged the delay. Technically we were still linked to them and the contract stipulated that we have to notify them of our intention to severe the contract at least a month in advance hence we were impeded by this and could not on our own accord sign and start afresh with a new provider.

Shrek filed a complaint with the Ombudsman in order to resolve the conflict. After back and fro letters and emails, it finally ended in a non-resolution and impasse.

I am wholly dissapointed and will vouch for Cablecom's ultimately pathetic customer service. Their server constantly got interrupted...

They deserve to go bankcrupt because not only are they morally corrupt and their non-existent service resulted in lost time and inconveniences for our household, we are sworn off them for life. There can never be a 'NON-service' provider worse than this pitiful bunch of morons!!!

A picture of Shrek's newest darling

Here is the digital representation of Shrek's newest and most prized acquisition, the darling gem

taratata "PFAFF 654 iron roller".

She is a life and time saver that renders Shrek's existence more comfortable and slightly less stressful/worrisome. Phew

He whips her out once a week and sets her rolling pin in motion for about an hour ironing everything he can get his hands on. It is his new passion after auctioning for expensive luxury watches and jewels for a fraction of the price. Shrek's got a lot of dada these days.

My grievance against the local library

I frankly think that the opening hours at my local library can be extended and many improvements can be made to their overall service. It is a public library and they are supposedly there to serve the public: they are public servants and after all their salaries are paid for by the council.

Alas they seem to have limited working hours.

I will post a link to their opening hours and let you judge for yourself if that is not pathetic.

http://www.meyrin.ch/jahia/Jahia/site/meyrin/lang/fr/emprunt_de_documents

I want to emphasise the fact that they are closed for loans on Mondays. They are open more or less in the afternoon Tuesday to Friday for about 3 hours at best. This makes it extremely inconvenient for frequent library users like myself. They do not have a 'return box' so that I can simply drop off items borrowed on their off days and hours which I might add largely outnumbers the hours they are open during the week. Hélas they open on a Saturday from 10 am to 5 pm during the school year and 10am to 12 noon during off season. I really do wonder about what the staff supposedly do the rest of the time

They do not answer their phone because apparently they are understaffed. I tried ringing 5 times different numbers: adult loans, children loans and the main line before somebody finally answered.

In short the library is only the tip of the iceberg in what I refer to as the lack of customer service in Switzerland.
..

Reading

I have not taught in a long while and the lapse consequently results in rustiness. I have recently attempted to relearn the art of teaching children by practising it on my own children. Teaching invariably involves a lot of patience when it comes to kids. Perseverance and most importantly comprehension that it is the first time a student comes into contact with such concepts as word recognition, sound matching and association between the spoken and written forms. I have been humbled somewhat and have to keep reminding myself that reading does not come naturally to a 5 and a half year old. It is painstakingly difficult to get it right from the word go but the reward is that once it is mastered the pride the said little person will have garnered is something to behold not forgetting that the teacher cum mother will be elated and gratified by such a breakthrough.

All that said Petit Suisse still has quite a way to go before he can truly be considered as a capable reader. Lots more practice is needed. I believe we will get there and it will be an event to celebrate. I am quite content with the progress in Mathematics and Logic he has made so far.
When I used to teach kids ranging from 4 to 18 year olds I took the greatest pride in achieving that seemingly impossible feat of inspiring slow and not so bright kids to attain their personal best and reach a level that would encourage them to further their academic endeavours. It is a teacher's hallmark to instill a sense of betterment and self improvement in their pupils.

IRON MAN saga continues

He is not content being pigeon-holed as an IRON MAN. I think it's a rather chivalrous gesture for him to iron his own chemises for work. I do not mind the other household chores so much but I abhor ironing. It must be said I did not ask to be pigeon-holed as a full time housewife whose only dominion consists of home duties and taking care of children but I have found myself here so it's only fitting Shrek should sacrifice and share a bit of the burden. I think Shrek would be carrying the torch for champions of ironing the world over. He does it so well and has recently acquired a rather auspicious equipment called PFAFF iron roller that would facilitate and hasten his ironing thereby rendering it mere childplay.

Behold mere mortals Shrek is the newly crowned king of IRON MEN !!!

I cannot wait when the time comes to don my suits and rejoin the workforce, employ my faculties, engage in adult conversations and start feeling slightly more important than a simple-minded housekeeper/round the clock nanny. I am engaging in wistful thinking again. --SIGH--

Human beings are such fickle creatures. One is never satisfied with ones present. One always always yearns for the greener grass on the other side. Insatiable

Shrek is a Zebra

Shrek's laundry filters have only two colours : black or white. I am worried that he might be colourblind. I have to sort out the clothes: wool, silk or anything that requires a soft wash from the ordinary mostly cotton and polyester and then Shrek will mindless load the washing machine with either black(colours included) or white only vêtements. He has ruined quite a few woollen items of clothing. He should eschew the whole ordeal but he has been rather conscientious lately with his share of household chores/tasks hence he employs his resources in loading but more importantly emptying the washer and hanging of clothes.

One can be a pharmacist but one cannot distinguish between 'fragile' and 'normal' garments. It is the lack of attention to details/a deficit disorder which I might add can generally extend to the whole of the male species.

Little Miss

My darling lil Miss N is a sweetie. She usually repeats whatever her older bro Petit Suisse says to the letter. She feels that by mimicking him she is going to achieve more notoriety. She has her own character which is stubborn and headstrong just like her parents but she has to find her place in the world because she is sandwiched between one older and one younger bro. She sometimes resorts to acting all baby-like by babbling in a monosyllabic language mamma, papa, mamamama... and other times she will say 'N aussi, N wants' whenever Petit Suisse has requested something be it nurture or alimentation or what not.

N aussi, N muô'n literally translates to N too, N wants.

Entrapment

Lately I have been feeling especially desperate as I often time and again find myself under self-imposed house arrest much to my dismay.

I have several reasons for being under such a strict regime of house-arrest.
Baby Moy just caught the nasty chicken pox hence I have to limit my outtings to a minimum. It was snowing and the ground was slippery and wet making it risky business for a mum of 3 and 3/4 kids to manœuvre 2 hyperactive toddlers and a pusher. Lastly Sundays are literally Sabbaticals for Geneva-siders (except Shrek who today is working until very late) rendering it pointless to go out when there is nothing open and not a soul to be found roaming the streets...in short not one exciting event to get hyped up about.

Around the time of Little Miss N's birth it was snowing much more heavily. The snow stayed and it was almost knee high and I found myself stuck inside the four walls for weeks on end as Shrek was serving his yearly compulsory term in the Swiss army to carry out his duties as a good citizen. I was frustrated,isolated and felt enclosed and close to breaking point. Who wouldn't when having to deal with a jealous first-born and a crying newborn without any help ?

This time the entrapment is only temporary as I hope to take the kids outdoors and into the wind-swept, frost-bitten cold as soon as is practicable.

Cottage cheese

I still do not get what the deal with cottage cheese is. People seem to praise it for its comparatively low-fat content and a good substitute for the evil decadent hence rich hence good cheeses such as cream cheese, double cream cheese. It is supposedly reeked with health benefits. I on the other hand find it bland and as tasty as chalk. I have used it a few times in 'Gratins' once in gratin Dauphinois and another time in a pasta bake or pâtes gratiné with near-disastrous results.

Chalk it up to another overrated food. I would rather deprive myself of dairy products altogether than to endure eating chalky and bland cheese with no character whatsoever. Call me finicky but I give cottage cheese thumbs down, it's better left alone.

ewww