Which, frankly is a quintessentially Swiss problem in that quite a few of us are from somewhere else married to people from here, and adapting can be a bit… squeaky.

In all the multicultural marriages I’ve seen (including my own), compromises occur on a daily basis and someone’s always defending their culture against the other’s… it’s a bit like living in a “Détente” zone where a war can break out at a moment’s notice.

And I do find cultural differences are most flagrant in the plate… which is where the TITH comes in. Whether you’re eating peanut butter and pickle on pita bread, or camembert dipped in coffee, you’re offending someone else’s cultural tastebuds, with cries of “How can you EAT that??” and “Eeeyuuh that’s DISGUSTING!!”

So please don’t knock Jules for using examples that are now part of our evolving international culture, i.e. people famous for not much except having more money than sense and being in the tabloids a lot, i.e. the Brangelinas and the Bennifers (2nd edition) and Britneys and Lindseys… and Ernesto and Kirstens (can’t find a contraction for them, though! The Ernstens? The Kirstos?). They’re all the perfect examples whenever we want to spotlight something in our wacky world… like a multicultural marriage, or a macrobiotic diet, or just getting on with the neighbours… They might live in an imaginary world, but it’s one we created!

Oh, and I think we all know about the cuckoo clock. It’s the first thing you learn when you settle here to live, but IT’S A SECRET AND YOU MUSTN’T TELL THE TOURISTS!!!! Are you TRYING to destroy our GNP???

Orson Welles may have said the Swiss “discovered” the cuckoo clock, but they certainly didn’t invent it. The clock was invented in Germany’s Black Forest and has somehow become Switzerland’s quintessential souvenir. Purchased and put in a box never to be unpacked. I have lived in Switzerland for 40 years and have never seen a cuckoo clock in a Swiss home.