A timely reminder from an old friend

Late-ish last night (late for me, the Swiss air seems to be affecting me. I’m in bed by 9 most nights) I had a call from a dear friend, whom I will call, for want of a better name, Fursty Ferret (memories of long hot summer days on the grass in front of the pub) 

FF and I have been friends since University. He was the man who taught me drinking games, tried to teach me the finer points of rugby (although he can talk lucidly about the game, I’m yet to see him use these skills on the pitch) and very nearly made me fail my degree. And yet, FF remains, one of my closest friends. I am not alone in this – he’s one of those guys that pretty much everyone who knows him (whether they “know” know him or think they do) counts as one of their closest friends. 

So when FF called me last night, despite the fact it sounded like he was a little tired and emotional at the time and that he’d just woken me up, I was pleased (in a half-asleep “I’m pleased but I bet you I’ll forget this conversation as soon as I put the phone down” kind of way). And, as the song nearly goes, he just called just to say he missed me and that I was being thought of. Warm fuzzies all round. 

The call reminded me that I haven’t updated you since…well, since my last post. Obviously. 

You will be pleased (I hope) to hear I am currently at point seven on my list of things to do in order to get a house in Switzerland. That’s right. I found, I looked, I loved, I applied, I was accepted, contracts being drawn up and all is good. 

"Don't sit on it, you'll get chilblains"

The flat itself is lovely. Just what I was looking for. A bigish 2 bedroomed flat with high ceilings, wooden floors and those great old school radiators (as in radiators you used to get at school, not old-skool radiators – what would they even look like?). 

The next big hassle is trying to find some furniture and organising the logistics of it all. 

Daddy & Mummy Cow have a house in the UK as well as living in Kenya. All their furniture is currently sitting in storage. “What’s the point in that?” M-Cow said. “Why don’t you have it in Switzerland?”. Great idea. 

But how the hell do we get it there? Several options mooted – everything from driving it over ourselves to finding an empty van already going to Switzerland to walking with it on our backs. Mummy Cow is having a holiday in the UK in May so within the next 2 months something (or nothing) will be sorted by then. Any ideas, sling ‘em my way. 

This weekend will be my first “proper” weekend here. Last weekend I was so knackered that I sat on the sofa and did nothing all weekend. Not this time. Tomorrow, I plan to explore. This is a beautiful town (especially with the dusting of snow that we got yesterday) and I plan to make it mine. 

PS. Another fun fact about FF. This is the man who tries to make me cry every time we see each other by crooning “Stars” at me. (He attempted it last night on the phone – goodness knows what the pub thought.) Most of the time it works. However, I cry in the knowledge that when we went to see Les Mis together, he had “something in his eye” throughout the whole show. 

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