It was time for a hair cut. It’s been time for a haircut for a while. So, while my son was doing sports, I walked around the neighborhood looking for a place to get “my ears lowered” (thank you, Mr. Tenney!). Now, recently, I’ve been getting a simple cut – just 9 mm all the way around. Short, short.
I passed several places but they were busy or closed or didn’t look like the place I wanted to go, so I kept looking. Then, I came across a place which looked promising. They could fit me in after a short wait. Did a great job using scissors instead of the electric shears. And charged me 35 CHF.
Now, I needed a haircut and needed it now, so I’m willing to pay extra for that convenience. But, immediately after leaving, I whipped out my iPhone and entered “cheap haircuts Geneva”. I thought I had done that before with no success, but this time, at least, I found someone with a similar story. And he found a place: École Superieure de Coiffure. Apparently, they have 15 CHF cuts. Much better. I’ll try them next time.
Last weekend, we had guests over. I looked on glocals for an outdoors event we could attend. It didn’t take long. One of the glocalers was hosting an afternoon get-together at Parc La Grange. I had never heard of the park nor did I know where it was, right off. But, a quick look on Google Maps told me where it was and I saw that it was downtown central Geneva. Amazing! In fact, I had driven past it numerous times but due to the fence and trees around it, I never even realized it was there.
We went there and it was really great. Lots of grass. Lots of paths. Rolling hills. We met many people from glocals and played lots of games: Frisbee, badminton, Hoity Toity board game, baseball, and so on. The weather was really nice. The company was excellent. And the best part was the discovery of a great park in Geneva!
The Euro was introduced at midnight, 1 January 2002. Without getting into whether this was a good thing or a bad thing, the fact remains that 11 countries adopted the Euro (€) on that day. Naturally, there was a period during which people were able to continue using the old currency and a longer period during which they were able to take their currency to banks for conversion.
But, it’s been seven years. The Euro is here. It’s here to stay. It’s become one of the world’s currencies, alongside the Dollar, the Pound, the Yen, and so on. Many countries have even switched their reserves to the Euro instead of the Dollar.
So, why-o-why do the receipts in France <b>continue</b> to show the cost in Euro and the old French franc?
Come on, people, get over it! Let it go!
Last weekend, my family went for a bike ride. Only my son has his own bicycle right now, so we went to Genève Roule! and rented some bikes. It’s really great. They have lots of bicycles for adults which can be had for free for four hours and then 1,00 CHF per hour thereafter. They were out of the free rentals, so we ended up paying for a rental. Even that was only 8 CHF for the afternoon and evening! Great, easy and fun.
Today, I found out that they also do repairs on bicycles. I bought a bicycle a few weeks ago (before vacation) but had difficulty putting it together – the front wheel wouldn’t turn smoothly due to the brakes being too tight. Could barely get the tire in! So, after many hours and days searching for bicycle repair in Geneva and beyond, I finally called someone who looked down their nose at my bargain brand bike and suggested Genève Roule! A quick phone call later and I was on my way!
Very cool.
Zonker in Geneva 
Fines
This morning, I told my son that the Boston Red Sox were leading their division. He’s not too up on baseball – I don’t talk about it too much – but he remembers a lot. Apparently, I have mentioned the the “Sox” teams, as he then asked me, “What was that other team? The something sox? Was it the White Sox?”
“Yes, there is also a team called the Chicago White Sox”
“But, didn’t they have black socks once?”
Apparently, I told him about the scandal eons ago and now he asked me more about it. So, I told him about gambling, betting, why people bet, how spreads work, and so on. I don’t know much about it – I’m far too conservative to bet on a sport – but I suppose I still know more than he does.
So, after giving him the background on betting and telling how the White Sox became the Black Sox, I told him that intentionally losing a game is illegal and that if someone finds out, you might go to jail or pay fines.
“What are ‘fines’?”
“Money. You have to pay money because you did something bad.”
“Why are they called fines?”
“Hmmm. I don’t know. That’s a good question. They should be called fines. They’re awful. They should be called awfuls. ‘I ran a red light today, now I have to pay this awful.’ ‘There’s a $500 awful to pay for littering in a National Park.’ I think that makes more sense.
Speaking of which, I have a speeding awful and a strange “you were headed in the wrong direction” (but I was parked and on a train at the time) awful to pay. <sigh>
Posted by zonkeringeneva in commentary Tags: fines