Have had enough of being here, and have asked to go back home early. Luckily I am going back to the UK the end of this month

Is that a complaint

May you have an easy move and a save a safe trip bak to the UK

Who did you ask about going back early? Did they say yes immediately or did you have to apply for a special permit.

And why, is it that the carrots here are not up to your standard.....?

Oh dear, sorry to hear it hasn't worked out for you. I have my ups and downs (this weekend = down, but probably due to jetlag and rubbish weather), so I'm interested to know what swung it for you?

no no no, the next English Cheese Shop was too far away from Uzwil

whilst it is all very clean, and crime is low...which is obviousely the good points why people choose to come here... that is actually the only good thing.

I think the crunch point is that I could just about cope with living in a small flat for a few months... but am finding I spend ALL my money.. (plus more..) to actually get out and find amusement.... and with a good night out on the tiles on a sat night setting me back at least 150CHF....

Even today... due to the fact you cannot get a decent curry anywhere (ie the nearest and only indian to me is one is St. Gallen that does'nt even do them no where near hot enough.) Today I am currently cooking a proper curry myself, and the ingredients alone have set me back over 30CHF.... and given back home I would usually expect to cook every single day something like that......

Then, the other crunch point was the funny phone calls on a Friday evening with complaints about some very small oil leaks from my Landrover.... I mean, Landrovers are SUPPOSED to leak a bit.... even when I said I would clean it, I then got a second funny phone call late on a Friday night even when the drip was the size of a penny...

There are many many other points, but basically I think it is a good place to visit for say 2 weeks if you want to spend loads of money, but it is not a place to live... I mean, even 5 months has just about finished me off.

well, I just said to our boss in the UK I wanted to come back sooner rather than later..... and they had all been updated on how I was getting on and it was fairly obvious to be honest after a couple of weeks it was going to be difficult... and everyone else who had come out had told be how bored I would be... I thought they were winding me up, hence why I drove the Landrover out here to provide me with something interesting to do at the weekends... I think if I had come out here without that I would have got bored very much more quickly.

Oh, and as for the veggie's... yes, actually not the carrots, but the potatoes... Swiss potatoes are really bad compared to Fenland spuds...

to each his own, but I don't really get why you would expect the same curry culture here as in England. The kebabs I've eaten in Japan were crap.

I just don't understand why there aren't decent potatoes for baking here.
There are potatoes in the supermarkets marked (wrongly) 'baked potatoes', which should mean they have already been baked, which they haven't.
When they are baked for 1 hour in an oven at 200 degrees c. they are still wet.
Pathetic complaint I know, and it's just the tip of the iceberg. Don't get me going on what I don't like about la belle suisse.
Just a grumpy old ratbag!!! No doubt I'll feel better when the sun shines.

Well, I could quite easily say give up alcohol for good... which I did when in the Middle East for 7 months, and I felt better for it...........though I cannot live without a decent curry.........

I find the gipfeli there terrible and don't get me started on the seeming lack of any type of forward planning or organisation. Do you know I recently saw roadworks being carried out on a Sunday morning? I had a mind to call the Street Works Police and what's with the lack of mixer taps you have to play a silly game of Don't Burn Your Hands (Warning! Very hot water) and those damn electronic automatons in the elevators "Doors Opening" etc etc.

did you ever stop in at a Japanese bakery, only to find after you've left that the chocolately goodness for which you salivated was just a dry, bland, piece of air with no flavor (or sugar)?

But about the oil leaks... wtf?!? Do NO cars drip a little bit of oil on the pavement? It's not like you're parking in the foyer or something.

Which part of Norfolk? the flat featureless bit with miles and miles of agricultural land?
Good pubs though.

I must admit I probobly have been spoilt with decent potatoes since an early age, so my expectations of spuds might be unrealistically high. Some of my happiest childhood memories are in my grandads potato field, in dark clay soil.. digging up massive potatoes......

My own crop last year in my own field was okay but not great... as due to an excessively dry June they got scabby, though once scraped of they still tasted great.

Since I have been away, in the last few months, a massive farm shop has just been built about 200 yards from my own house in Norfolk.......so anything that goes a bit wrong in my own field I can just go to the farm shop instead....

did you try the various asian/indian/tamil shops or were you buying the premium/selection/globus stuff which may be good but cost a fortune..?
Maybe you and Switzerland just didn't match or meet at the right moment, but don't think after such a short time you know all of her and don't keep on nagging about her every other day, just move on. Well anyway it's too late I guess, to change your mind.

oh and japanese bakery, kare pan...mmm

Yes, the Norfolk / Cambs border.... the flat bit as described...and yes, lots of pubs close by....

well, it was more that fact of not their complaint, I mean I was happy to give the road a scrub.... (which I did with a whole load of nasty cleaning chemicals and got it sparkling.....in fact, I was pleased with my efforts at my thorough chemical clean of their manky road....I cleaned it to the exact edges of the yellow marked rectangle....).

.. it was the fact they rang me up late on a friday night ..(after I was very pi$$ed off from another very boring and totally pointless week in the office.)... that was the issue with me.......

Amusement here in zurich can be very expensive, thats one of the reasons i stay
Away from bars and visit concerts (when you don't buy alcohol it's not that expensive).
When you plan well ahead travelling is not expensive(by rail or air), shopping in Konstanz can save a lot of money(esp in this this where the euro is so low against the chf).The money you saved on food and cheap travelling can be used for another hobby like cycling.....or new hardware.
When you live here in zurich there is no need to own a car.......
Eating out is another thing you have to avoid here in zurich, this can be very
expensive.
With the new offer from cablecom (99sfr/month) you can make unlimited calls
in 34 countries, so can can stay in touch with your friend overseas.

Mmm hmm. But why do some restaurants charge the same price for soda as they do for beer and wine? That's what ticks me off.