It got a lot colder overnight, and we had some snow.

Val doesn’t have work today, and this is exactly the sort of morning when we’d normally make another cup of coffee and stay indoors. Not today though, as we have an appointment at the council office in Interlaken. Fortunately, the weather’s a bit nicer down there, and the flowers in the English garden are lovely despite a dusting of snow.

The council want some biometrics from us, namely our fingerprints, a photograph and a signature. These will be stored on a chip in our residence permits. Having gone my whole life without ever needing to submit my fingerprints, it seems a bit over the top. The incentive however, is that the new style permits allow visa-free travel throughout Europe, without having to worry about time limits. For us, that makes it well worth the trouble. The whole thing took less than 10 minutes.

We called in at the Co-op on the way back to the station. Easter is over, and all the chocolate eggs, bunnies etc are half price.

We bought as much as we could carry and headed home.