Follow

The Swiss love cash. Did you know that 70% of all transactions here are made in cash? We do see people using plastic from time to time, and of course there’s plenty of online shopping that requires people to use electronic payments, but, by and large, people prefer cash. The biggest banknote available is 1000 francs (£850, US$1000), and there are 50 million of these in circulation in Switzerland (population just 8 million) today.

Indeed, many businesses do not even accept credit cards. Try to use one in Rocks or the Tanne or the Crystal bar, and you’ll be sent scurrying off to the cashpoint. The popular Jungfrau hotel at Wengernalp costs hundreds of francs a night, and they don’t accept cards. You can’t even use them in the post office – it has to be cash. And that’s before we get to popular payment apps like Apple and Google Pay, which are almost unheard of here. I used Google Pay in Central Sport once, just to see whether it would work. It did, but I bet it’s the only such transaction they’ve ever had.

So why my fascination with cash today? Thumbing through my bank statement earlier this afternoon, I was amazed to find that I haven’t been to a cash machine since the 13th of March. With no bars, cafes or restaurants open, there’s simply no need for it any more. Every so often we buy eggs that come from the farm at Innerwengen with cash, but that’s about it. How times change.

In case you haven’t already guessed, it’s been raining all day, so we’re stuck indoors.

Follow

It’ll soon be time for the next phase of the lockdown exit plan. Businesses are preparing to receive customers again, and everything is being tidied up, repainted, polished, washed, or whatever it takes to make a business look attractive. The campsite at Lauterbrunnen looks a picture.

Timber!

It’s time for another run, so here I go.

The pasture around the house is getting quite lush now the sun has returned. I think we may need to get a couple of sheep before long.

Follow

It’s the last day we can visit Mürren for a while, as the cable car is having its annual revision starting tomorrow. The cabin has a capacity of 100 people, but in these troubled times it is limited to just 15.

There’s a spot in the village with a stunning view where tourists gather in great numbers to take selfies. Today we have it to ourselves.

Ali went for the full Instagram look.

We walk back towards Grütschalp alongside the railway. It’s a much nicer day than we’d expected.

The railway is very old, and it needs to be made accessible to wheelchair users. New, raised platform at Winteregg.

As well as new platforms there’ll be new trains, which will be really nice when we come over here to ski.

Follow

One of our favourite treats is a takeaway from Santos, our village kebab shop. Providing you have enough diners, you can have a nice selection of deep fried comfort food to share. It was our turn to cook last night, so we decided to try to recreate a Santos takeaway. To help us with this, we have a new kitchen gadget called an Actifry.

The actifry cooks using hot air and tiny amounts of oil for the chips. We put chicken wings in the top tray which cooked beautifully. Fish nuggets, calamari and prawns cooked in the oven while the actifry worked its magic.

Meanwhile, Emily was keeping tabs on the building work that’s going on at Grütschalp across the valley.

We ended up with a pretty good meal. The chips and wings were better than we get from Santos, and everything else was a perfectly acceptable substitute. Emily was victorious at yahtzee.

The forecast for today was terrible, so we didn’t plan to do much more than our daily trip to the Co-op. Better weather is expected tomorrow.

Follow

It’s our night to cook later, so we’re off to Interlaken for supplies. Some of the gardens that we pass on the way to the station are quite spectacular.

I had a nice run this morning before the rain arrived, apparently we’ve got one more rainy day tomorrow before the sun comes back.

Follow

Rain, rain rain. We don’t really mind though, as the forecast for next week looks very good. The snow up high also dresses the mountains attractively – I got another moonlit shot last night.

Philipp from Central Sport found this photo this morning. It was taken on Friday 17th of January this year, and if you look very closely you can see Val and I watching the air show outside the church.

We love our new home, but that’s not to say it can’t be improved. The first big job is the lighting. At the moment it’s a nightmare of old fashioned incandescent bulbs and halogen spotlights. In the kitchen alone there are 9 of these power-hungry little nasties.

Electricity is relatively cheap here, but of course we shouldn’t be wasteful. I went round the house and counted all the bulbs. Here is the cupboard where the spares live – it’s an absolute horror-show, with not a single energy saving bulb to be found.

There are so many they’ll need to be replaced in stages, so I’ve ordered enough LED bulbs to sort out the kitchen, lounge and our bedroom. The other bedrooms and the bathroom will have to wait a bit.

Follow

It rained heavily last night, and this morning there’s a distinct snow line at about 1900 metres.

We head down the steep track that leads to Lauterbrunnen. Lots of streams to cross.

This house is a mini nursery for plants.

Calves come over to see us as we reach the valley.

Train back up, walk home and straight out for a run.