Care in the community? [aka local nutters]

[Filton Kingswood]

Switzerland has nutters too! I know, it’s a bit of a shocker. It was for me yesterday when I discovered the horrible truth.

There I was in the pretty square of the village of Mels taking a few casual snaps with my camera when I felt a hand on my shoulder. A woman in her 60s was standing there and said 'What do you think you are doing, it is absolutely forbidden to take photographs in Switzerland'. This is a wind up I thought but she was deadly serious and when I continued on my photographic quest she went off on one and accused me of being an 'Unworthy subject of her majesty queen Elizabeth' (She was probably right on that score) and proceeded to make an attempt at striking my camera from my hand with her umbrella!

At this point I decide it was best to simply walk away but she was having none of it and proceeded to follow me to where my bike was parked, flagged down a passing motorist and demanded he call the police right away.

The moral of the story is... care in the community doesn’t work here too!

Aha, you met your first shouter eh?

Plenty more of those around . I once stepped in help a young lady in distress who was being shouted at by a guy who had clearly got an aversion to showering only to divert the shouting to me - he followed me as I changed trams and never once stopped shouting in what I think was Russian. Only the security door at work stopped him and even then he hung around outside for an hour or so. Last seen shouting at the postman .

[Oldhand]

I don't see any reason for Switzerland not to have it's fair share of mentally ill citizens. It's all a part of human nature

[Sandgrounder]

Anyone in the Zurich city area ever see that middle aged guy, dressed only in a thong, riding a bicycle around the Bellevue area? Haven't seen him this summer but judging by the drop-jaw reaction of people waiting for a tram at Opernhaus, he might have now been scooped off the streets and given a nice padded cell (and hopefully a few more clothes).

Priceless...

Also, there's the long haired skater who skates at break-neck speed around the city in just his shorts and has some kind of symbols tattooed on his thighs. He always seems to be racing trams up Bahnhofstrasse.

Zurich definitely has some quality nutters.

[Gav]

I once saw a man wandering around, semi-naked, with a flowerpot on his head in Lausanne....

[gooner]

I found myself pished at paradeplatz a few months ago. A guy came right up close to me, he was muttering to himself. Skinny, goth type creature with thick glasses, dirty, filthy dirty.

I asked him what the matter was when he kept standing right next to me every time I moved away. It was late on a weekday night and there was no one about.

He started whispering into my ear that he was going to cut my head off. He became abusive, spurting a whole load of violent rubbish. I made a phone call to distract him, to see if I could shake him off. He became very agitated and continued to threaten decapitation.

I became angry and reciprocated the desire to do damage. It ended with me chasing him around paradeplatz threatening to tear him apart if he so desired. By the time the tram came he was apologising profusely and was adamant that was his new best friend.

[i-b-deborah]

There are different kinds of madness here. There´s the off your trolly style, like the bloke who uses a plastic coke bottle half filled with water to make phone calls, and then there´s just plain "are you mad" madness like the nieghbour who told me that I wasn´t allowed to sit in the only bit of shade behind our houses whilst baby-sitting, as the shade was on his stones in his driveway!

[Oldhand]

	Quote:	I-b-deborah
	There are different kinds of madness here. There´s the off your trolly style, like the bloke who uses a plastic coke bottle half filled with water to make phone calls, and then there´s just plain "are you mad" madness like the nieghbour who told me that I wasn´t allowed to sit in the only bit of shade behind our houses whilst baby-sitting, as the shade was on his stones in his driveway!

Thanks for the laugh Debs, bloody priceless

Hot off the press - we were in Rapperswill as usual on a Wednesday Rappi Brewery opening evening and heading back home via the S7 when we came across a dog in a bag - yes, in a bag and tied to a railing. We had our border collie Hallie with us and she wagged her tail and entire rear end at said dog. Dog responds with usual doggy-type greetings and they sniff noses and bottoms like you do.

Then the owner comes out of the shop and has a go along the lines of don't let your dog near my dog it's dangerous (what, her dog?).

We get on the S7 and she gets on too and then launches into a long tirade on how dogs left outside shops (in bags I remind you) should not be approached by other dogs as the situation could be dangerous (there she goes again, her dog was about 12 inches tall, but obviously a killer in disguise).

She then gets off the train at our stop and complains bitterly to someone on the end of her mobile about the whole situation and proceeds to follow us along the road towards ours. We lost her somewhere but I'm fully expecting her big boyfriend to turn up begging for a shoeing any moment - hope he doesn't have the miniture rottweiler with him .

I guess this comes under the Swiss madness criterion rather than the shouters.

Good for a laugh though, innit.

[grumpygrapefruit]

I told this story to my future FIL who grew up not far from Mels. He said that during WW2 it was actually forbidden for foriegners to take photographs anywhere near the borders (which would have included Mels), so I take it this poor old dear hadn't actually realised the war was over!

He also told me about a time he was on his families small holding on the banks of the Rhine when about 30 odd Allied bombers came over and started to unload, on the Swiss side of the border. He said about 3 or 4 were shot down by the Swiss air force and crashed on the mountain side. If that is true (he was only 10 or 12 at the time and like most of us would have had a healthy imagination!) it must be documented somewhere

	Quote:	Filton Kingswood
	Switzerland has nutters too! I know, it’s a bit of a shocker. It was for me yesterday when I discovered the horrible truth. There I was in the pretty square of the village of Mels taking a few casual snaps with my camera when I felt a hand on my shoulder. A woman in her 60s was standing there and said 'What do you think you are doing, it is absolutely forbidden to take photographs in Switzerland'. This is a wind up I thought but she was deadly serious and when I continued on my photographic quest she went off on one and accused me of being an 'Unworthy subject of her majesty queen Elizabeth' (She was probably right on that score) and proceeded to make an attempt at striking my camera from my hand with her umbrella! At this point I decide it was best to simply walk away but she was having none of it and proceeded to follow me to where my bike was parked, flagged down a passing motorist and demanded he call the police right away. The moral of the story is... care in the community doesn’t work here too!

[Blonaybear]

	Quote:	grumpygrapefruit
	I told this story to my future FIL who grew up not far from Mels. He said that during WW2 it was actually forbidden for foriegners to take photographs anywhere near the borders (which would have included Mels), so I take it this poor old dear hadn't actually realised the war was over! He also told me about a time he was on his families small holding on the banks of the Rhine when about 30 odd Allied bombers came over and started to unload, on the Swiss side of the border. He said about 3 or 4 were shot down by the Swiss air force and crashed on the mountain side. If that is true (he was only 10 or 12 at the time and like most of us would have had a healthy imagination!) it must be documented somewhere

The Swiss Air Force did engage both Allies and German aircraft during WW2. See this.

[Filton Kingswood]

	Quote:	grumpygrapefruit
	I told this story to my future FIL who grew up not far from Mels. He said that during WW2 it was actually forbidden for foriegners to take photographs anywhere near the borders (which would have included Mels), so I take it this poor old dear hadn't actually realised the war was over! He also told me about a time he was on his families small holding on the banks of the Rhine when about 30 odd Allied bombers came over and started to unload, on the Swiss side of the border. He said about 3 or 4 were shot down by the Swiss air force and crashed on the mountain side. If that is true (he was only 10 or 12 at the time and like most of us would have had a healthy imagination!) it must be documented somewhere

Thought it had to be something like that but this old bag would have been a babe in arms then at best.

The thing about the WW2 bombing raid was right. They also gave schaffhausen a spanking at the same time. A guy who lives in my village has a vast collection of stuff retrieved from those planes shot down. In fact quite a few allied aircraft came down in CH and he was one of the guys who specialised in retrieving the dead and making sure the bodies were re-patriated through the Red Cross. As recently as last year the wreckage of a German fighter and the remains of its occupant were discovered somewhere in CH.

[GregA]

In general I find Switzerland seems to have more than its share of "strange" characters.

[Nairda]

Coming from a long line of Melsers on my mother's side I can't say I'm surprised .
Did you notice the ancient sign on the well/fountain in the square? - It is forbidden to use this water for washing clothes, vegetables, windows etc.

	Quote:	Filton Kingswood
	Switzerland has nutters too! I know, it’s a bit of a shocker. It was for me yesterday when I discovered the horrible truth. There I was in the pretty square of the village of Mels taking a few casual snaps with my camera when I felt a hand on my shoulder. A woman in her 60s was standing there and said 'What do you think you are doing, it is absolutely forbidden to take photographs in Switzerland'. This is a wind up I thought but she was deadly serious and when I continued on my photographic quest she went off on one and accused me of being an 'Unworthy subject of her majesty queen Elizabeth' (She was probably right on that score) and proceeded to make an attempt at striking my camera from my hand with her umbrella! At this point I decide it was best to simply walk away but she was having none of it and proceeded to follow me to where my bike was parked, flagged down a passing motorist and demanded he call the police right away. The moral of the story is... care in the community doesn’t work here too!

[Polorise]

In Bern, we have a bald transvestite who doesn't wear shoes at any time of the year.
I was having a quick espresso in the bahnhof the other day, when I turned around & made eye contact with "it" ..... ...followed by the obligatory rant about nothing in particular.
Turned out in a red spangly bube-tube & white mini skirt ensemble, which attracted the attention of some Japanese tourists .... photo call time ... , at last someone was paying "it" attention, big gap toothed grins & cackling all round. (will try & be quicker with the camera phone next time round)
we have more than our fare share of the usual shower dodgers, but "it" seems to be one of the more colourful.

[Blonaybear]

	Quote:	Filton Kingswood
	Thought it had to be something like that but this old bag would have been a babe in arms then at best.

Perhaps its a lack of respect that some people show towards elderly people that send them mad !

[Nairda]

Anyone else spotted the extremely obese man in the food hall area at Zurich airport. At first it appeared that he was enjoying his burger with his friends, until they all left and he moved in to finish off their leftover Big Macs, drinks and fries, before moving to the next table and starting all over again. Looked like he was making a day of it .

[thenno]

You only have to look at some of the laws regarding racism and where and when it will be accepted (i.e. stammtische.) to see there are a lot of nutters about. . . . check out the black sheep ads all around the place that are basically accepted, the people that released that poster/newspaper campaign want to rule the country.

Yep, there are a lot of nutters around here.

[Bartholemew]

Not a nutter, but there is one mentally handicapped guy who has become a fixture in the trams coming from Schaffhauserplatz towards Zurich Hauptbahnhof. He always sits near the door and greets everyone who gets on the tram individually. If they don't respond, he greets them again, even louder and a bit more sharply until they actually do.

[Colonelboris]

	Quote:	Bartholemew
	Not a nutter, but there is one mentally handicapped guy who has become a fixture in the trams coming from Schaffhauserplatz towards Zurich Hauptbahnhof. He always sits near the door and greets everyone who gets on the tram individually. If they don't respond, he greets them again, even louder and a bit more sharply until they actually do.

I like that - politeness police. They could do with that in London...