I'd like to complain that no-one has complained about the closure of so many shops on 1st May this year. The day has almost gone and there must surely be those among the EF members who feel thwarted, who have empty spaces in their refrigerators, who suffer in a sort of putrid silence maybe, who have no crisps, maybe no bacon (for butties), and worst of all, maybe even no beer. I'd like to go on with this list of possible failing commodities but quite honestly to make it longer would be in vain, for, I recognise that should things really get desperate there are those consumer heavens dotted about the landscape which have not yet been closed or have even been allowed to open by those bl**dy Swiss voters who remain so stuck in the bl**dy Swiss mud.
Admittedly any opportunity offered to the would-be (and would-be welcome) discerning purchaser(s) by opened emporiums, allowed to open only by legal exceptions to the law in general and owned in the main by those who coldly and completely disregard the teachings of Marx and Engels has to be taken with effort. But it's this very point which shows how many members, now obviously becoming slowly integrated into the way of life offered by a culture far removed from 'time is money', 'the customer is king' and 'twentyfour/seven', have taken the trouble to plan for such an emergency. We can be thankful that the danger was, in general, recognised in time even by those not acquainted with the odd habits of the Swiss. Whereby I'm also pretty sure that the EF lady members and the wives of the male EF members are gradually getting to grips with the challenges facing life in a foreign country. It was, after all, (but of course without elephant fever, malaria and other tropical illnesses) much the same in the beginning in India and what is now laughingly called Sri Lanka - god knows what airs these natives allow themselves.


But, no doubt the day will end in gloom. Not only for the proprietors of these restricted-in-freedom retail establishments but also for the unprepared, would-be-customer, who awoke with such a feeling of completeness and who then, due to this suddenly visible, looming, terrible state of affairs, was forced to face a whole day of sheer boredom without a valid reason for getting out or else being forced to resort to a boring old walk in the woods.


Never mind it's back to normal tomorrow. And the weekend. And that boring, sodding Sunday where everything is closed again. Thank God not for the unions - real backwooders they are. If they could be forced to go to Highgate and kiss Marx's grave (a sort of Blarney Stone custom) they'd not be so cocky.


By the way, on a personal aside - I'd like the shops to open much earlier; by the time I've done my shopping the day has as good as gone.

They're open here. If your beer supplies are running dangerously low you just need to drive to another canton. It isn't a holiday everywhere.

Shopping on Good Friday

hi Busby

Are you out to increase your Groan totals?

Highgate is a scenic cemetery & a number of tourists go to see Karl Marx' grave (as well as many other well known departed), though not heard of anyone kissing it, albeit an Irish Craic for the Blarney Stone in Cork

Probably because not all shops are shut everywhere .. not in Berne and seemingly not in Vaud if the telephone calls from the people at Autisme Suisse Romande (based in Lausanne) I received today are anything to go by ...

PS do you shop slowly?

Who pissed on your cornflakes?

Totally normal day in Vaud indeed. I went to work like usual, and shops are open regular hours.

He still has to eat them as he can't buy any more today.

Solothurn (which is a catholic canton, and they do love to take a day off on saint's days) was closed for the afternoon, to enable the shop keepers to shop in neighbouring protestant cantons. Fribourg was probably closed too.

Quite amusing here. All the shops open, but staffed by disgruntled frontaliers (it is a holiday in France) who had to work on what is normally a holiday for them.
Geneva is quite amusing, everything is open and normal except the administration which shuts down on 1 May.

well , these (holi)-days come so quickly (every year), hitting the people unprepared, left them with a few options to get relief:
Zurich HB, Zurich Flughafen or Zurich Stadelhofen should be open until the evening for purchases, restaurants all over zurich should be open and waiting for guests, fast food (chains) as well or the local starbucks.
The fuel stations will sell food as well for hungry travellers.
And tomorrow is a gap day, many people have a day off and will go shopping............

What saint's day do they celebrate on May 1st?
Neuchâtel is a Protestant canton and everything was closed here. All the neighbouring cantons ( Bern, Fribourg and Vaud )were open though.

1st May Labour day, though much of Europe call it Worker's Day.

UK celebrates it as the 1st Monday in May, present from Labour Government in 1978

Everything was open here in Baden, apart from as far as we could see, the library. Even the buses were running as normal.

Sod the shops being open or closed; I miss the nubile young virgins dancing around a pole, making pretty patterns with long coloured ribbons; stout, bearded men with silly hats and jingly bells hitting each other with sticks, almost in time to hurdy-gurdy music; and other silly activities on the village green, all as a celebration of spring and the coming of summer.

Don't think they can find the virgins any more

saint lenin ,saint marx, saint engels ,saint stalin and saint Obama ;-

1 May is Power Tool Day in Ausserschwyz.

It's not a holiday in SZ, so no noise restriction - meaning those whose Zürich offices are closed today are free to fire up their toys tools and DIY to their heart's content.

What better way to celebrate than to do some real work for a change?

It is a public holiday here but our across the road neighbour (Züricher by birth) was using his power tools for practically the whole day. However, as he was putting up trellising to hide their jacuzzi and sun balcony (where it would seem some rather au natural bathing may have been going on) from our direct line of sight as we sit at our kitchen table, I was minded to go over and offer my assistance.

This should be Tom's new avatar!