empfohlen Diskussion über sexuelle Aufklärung in der Schweiz: http://wp.me/p12A9I-5o

empfohlen Diskussion über sexuelle Aufklärung in der Schweiz: http://wp.me/p12A9I-5o

Chinese visas and the Chinese Consulate General in Zurich

The Consulate building, curiously, does not fly the Chinese flag (as far as I could see) and does not have an entrance from where you would expect it to be, given the street address - and there is no sign to tell you where to go either. Only if you take the side street uphill next to the building and look into the building's entrance which should have an entirely different street address (since the entrance is therefore located on the side street) do you discover a small sign saying "Visa" and pointing around the building....

I made these discoveries this morning, as I had to go there to get my visa for an international conference in China that I am scheduled to chair

all the work around the building indicates enhanced security measures but there are no toilet facilities for the public - in fact there are no toilet facilities anywhere in the area around the building either, and you have to take the tram for two stops before you come to any so, if you have to go the Consulate, make sure that you go with your bladder well emptied!

The work of getting the visa was efficiently done - I arrived just before 9.00 a.m., which was supposed to be the time of opening, and some individuals had already completed their work at the window, so the windows were obviously open before time

it took me less than 3 minutes to reach one of the 3 windows (two are for submissions, one for collections), and less than one minute to complete the additional form they wanted me to fill (as my Passport is not Swiss).

They asked me to return at 11.30 a.m. I was there at about 11.20 a.m. and my passport was already in a neat bundle waiting to be picked up

BTW, one of the people in the queue in a friendly way suggested that I check he dates in the visa, as he had had the experience of asking for a 90-day visa but being given a 30-day one - however, as he did not check it, he remained unaware of it all the time he was in China. When it was time for him to leave the country, he discovered to his particular chagrin that he had to pay a fine nearly ten times the visa fee! (A visa now costs CHF80, and he had to pay a fine of CHF750). He tried to reclaim the money from the Consulate but his attention was drawn to the sign at the window which asks you to check the dates in the visa...something you may tend not to do, because you are aware of the people behind you in the queue and you don't want to waste their time unnecessarily...

By the way, the strident communist red in previous visa stickers has now been replaced by a military-style olive green. Not sure whether this is symbolic.

Following my post about inefficiency in Swisscom

Someone who knows me a bit has put my case "forward ...to the concerned support department. Someone from Swisscom support will be contacting you soon about it". He says further: "I hope the support team is able to offer a solution which meets your requirements."

I hope so too!

When efficiency becom INefficiency

When I retire from UBS at the end of this month, I have been offered the option of taking my mobile number with me. This is of course very acceptable, so I completed and signed the form several days ago. However, there has been no response from Swisscom.

So i sent them a contact form from the Swisscom website the day before yesterday.

Still no response

So I rang them today. They told me that I have to ring my company as they have all my account details.

When I rang my company they asked me if I have completed all the formalities. I confirmed that. They said that after that it is not their responsibility and I have to speak to Swisscom.

So, back to Swisscom. Who wanted to put me back to my company again - but of course I was wise to that strategy by this time and stopped that, with the simple question: please forget my account and answer two simple questions: does Swisscom offer me a new Blackberry? And on what terms and conditions?

The man then checks my account (so, clearly my account had not even been checked till then!) and tells me that I can have the new terms and conditions as well as the new phone on the day after I retire.

This is totally incomprehensible, I tell the man. Can't you tell me, 3 weeks before the account is to start, what I have to pay? He replies, "Regretfully, no, sir". Can't I have the phone before then, but to be activated on that date? Again, "Regretfully, no, sir".

Nice man. But he must have to deal with questions like man every day. In fact, Swisscom must have to deal with questions like that each day.

They may thnk they are being very efficient from their own point of view, but they are totally inefficient from the viewpoint of the amount of salary they spend on people like that poor man dealing with people like me. They are of course totally inefficient from my viewpoint as a customer.

As it happens, I have to travel from the day after I retire. So my flight will have left Switzerland before the Swisscom shop opens. I have the choice of being without a mobile phone for the 6 weeks that I am travelling. Or of course going to a different supplier (and so having a different mobile number)

Neither is a very good for me as a customer.

I have to think about that one.

Any advice welcome.

The Picasso Exhibition in Zurich

Over the last 15 years, I have rarely had time to go to an exhibition of Western art.

A bit of a luxury, therefore, just before I retire, to visit the Picasso exhibition at the Zurich Kunsthaus a couple of days before it closes.

But very special to be able to see it, as the last exhibition of Picasso's work in Zurich was in 1932 (present at the exhibition this year in the form of black and white photos of the same works, though in a different order - which felt most strange).

My responses to the works themselves was very different from what I expected.

In no particular order, the works that struck me most were:

- Head of a Sleeping Woman (study of a nude with drapery) 1907 - which was captured more feeling than Woman's Head 1907 or Woman's Head 1908 (the latter might almost be regarded as studies for Head of a Sleeping Woman)

- Fountain by a Cloister (where the reflections on the water are radiantly rendered)

- Head of a Woman 1909 - this sculpture has the woman with a hairdo suggestive of a snake or dragon, though the fearful connotations were neutralised by the elegance of the face

- Suite des Saltimbanques - captures hopelessness and expectation equally

- Sketch for Salome 1908 - wonderfully radiates a dancer's energy

- Bathers with Beach Ball - one of the few "typical" Picassos that still impresses; actually, I found the whole of his Impressionist period uninteresting except historically; for example, the fragmented bodies felt curiously flat (though I suppose it better to dismember bodies on a canvas than in reality!)

- Abstraction (Head) 1930 - with its ambiguous shape that could be jaws, nose, mouth, head, ears...

- Jug and Bowl of Fruit 1931 for its formal and experimental dynamism

- The Drawing Lesson 1925

- Studio with Plaster Head. 1925 - a visual metaphor for worldly wisdom?

- The Bird Cage 1925 - the range of his experiments with tsimilar visual themes is fascinating

- Portrait of Paulo with a White Cap - which captures the child's innocence and diectness

Finally, seeing the originals versus the reproductions (for posters et al) is an interesting lesson in the exigencies of popular taste versus the sensitivity of an artist - the innocence and "littleness" of Paulo with a White Cap is lost and it communicates instead (because of being blown up in size) an abiguous surliness.

textile company William H Schwiacher

I can't find any information on this company on the internet via any search engine

This used to be a company with very wide international operations! My friend Om Prakash Kalia's grandfather used to be their Agent in pre-independence India....

It is astonishing that such a huge company should disappear without any trace on the Internet!

If any of my readers can supply any information, I will be pleased.

Vom Glück zu Arbeiten

Johannes Czwalina is one of the best-known top management consultants in Switzerland, and I received a copy of his latest book by this title (co-written with Clemens Brandstetter).

I find it well-researched, brilliantly put together, altogether excellent - and on a most important topic - specially so today. The book provides a historical perspective on the subject, looks critically at the factors militating against finding meaningful work (and meaning in work), and make recommendations regarding renewing a sense of meaning at work.

Warmly recommended!

Johannes Czwalina and Clemens Brandstetter, VOM GLÜCK ZU ARBEITEN, Frankfurter Allgemeine Buch, ISBN: 978-3-89981-235-0