Kernenergie

Whilst the crisis at the Fukushima station in Japan continued to rage on the other side of the globe, two elections took place close to Basel: one in Basel-Land and one in the German state of Baden-Württemburg. In the former, the Green party places a representative into the Cantonal council, beating the SVP. In the latter, the Greens are now in position to be the leaders in a coalition alongside the Social Democrats, after 60 years of Christian Democrat rule.

Here in Switzerland many are pointing to the Japanese disaster as the reason behind these Green victories, rather than a sea-change in the political views of the voting public. This is probably the case, and no doubt the pan-European Anti Nuclear movement will gain more momentum before the storm clears in the Far East.

I get the feeling that, back in Britain, nuclear is at best a non-issue, at worst the lesser of two evils (the greater being the great, dirty coal-fuelled stations). Being from Hartlepool and having a parent who works in the power station (as well as my own previous employment there) I feel largely indifferent to the whole thing. At present, and at least until we invest enough in renewable sources of energy to make them a viable alternative, nuclear is the best we have. Much more important, in my opinion, is ending our reliance on foreign energy supplies.

Here in Switzerland the public and country are in a much better position to end the use of nuclear energy: the population is lower and the country needs less energy than Britain. There are plentiful alpine rivers waiting to be tapped as hydro-electric sources. Two of the cantons (Basel-Stadt and Geneva) have even included in their constitutions a ban on energy from nuclear sources- Basel is home to an impressive hydro-electric station that straddles the Rhine just to the east of the city. Finally, the people here have an option to actually do something about their relationship to nuclear energy.

I guess time will tell if Fukushima really has been the signal for the end of the atomic age.

Schwule in der Politik

It will come as no surprise to may of my faithful readers that I am gay. This is perhaps why I went for the monochrome of the penguin, it's classic style, rather than the flamboyance suggested by, say, alpine:flamingo. Not to mention that the penguin is my favourite animal. The mysterious, oft-mentioned M is also a boyfriend of almost nineteen months.

I knew that being in a relationship for so long was good for me, which is why I couldn't help feel a little bit smug amongst all of the anger when I read a story in the Tages Anzeiger today. According to the article, a memo amongst various members of the SVP over in Luzern which was penned by Emil Grabherr stated that homosexual men (no mention of women here) fit into three categories: die im ordentlicher Partnerschaft lebenden (those in a stable relationship), die männlichen Huren (male whores) and die unter keinem Titel akzeptierbaren Bubenschänder (paedophiles).

Thank God I'm in a relationship, eh?

Being in a country where the right has so much clout, it is often easy to feel smug about the situation at home where we haven't banned minarets and where we don't expel foreigners who commit crimes of any nature. Yet when it comes to gay rights and the current government, can we be so smug?

I glaub' net

Whilst the brief glimmer of same-sex marriages being legalised was left in turmoil last September, we should not let it cloud the fact that the current "progressive" government is largely made up (or should that be wholly?) by a party who carried Section 28 on high (prohibiting amongst other things, the promotion of homosexuality as an acceptable family model). Let us also not forget that our Equality Minister voted consistently against gay rights before receiving her current post. Nice gal.

Mailand

The Duomo

Did you know that there is a world south of the Alps? The Alpine Penguin had heard rumours that there was, so he decided to check it out along with M after the hectic days of carnival. So he got on the 11.30 train bound for Mailand (Milan) and arrived four or so hours later after a journey through the high-alps and along beautiful, Italian lakes.

Milan was a change after London and Basel. A new place, dirty and hectic in a different way, warm and humid(ish) and a language that was completely alien to both of us. We spent three nights there.

Castello Sforzesco

On the Friday, our first full day, we walked into the city, through the arcades and onto the huge square that stretches out before the squat duomo. We climbed the steps for views across the city. We walked along to the Castello Sforzesco and around the massive park behind it. We hunted (in vain) for a supermarket and instead plumped for delicious salads for lunch in the afternoon sun. We found the Scala opera house and walked along the streets of the "golden quarter", window-shopping from Prada, Dior, Armani.

On the Saturday we woke up and got into town at about eleven. We went first to the castle, because it housed a variety of museums (most shut), and we got to see some cool castle artefacts and a room that was painted by da Vinci himself. After a lunch of pasta we went first to an exhibition of Archimboldo (you know, the guy with the portraits made up of fruit and fish?) which was really interesting, then wandered more around the city. We had a couple of beers before heading back to the hotel where we waited out a giant thunderstorm.

It was still going on when we went out for a meal in a restaurant not too far from the hotel, on the Corso Como. It was our treat meal, and the food was excellent. A starter of home-made chicken live parfait on rye bread was followed by a wild boar stew served over creamy polenta. On the other side of the table this was mirrored by braised artichokes and olives and, sliced steak covered by a mountain of rucola and grana padano.

A view from the afternoon

The next day the weather had turned again, but it didn't matter- the views up and over the mountains and the tunnel under the Simplonpass were beautiful.

Fasnacht

So, die drie scheentste Dääg have been and gone in Basel. Waking up after the Morgestraich to bright, blue skies and a warm temperature certainly put us in the mood to spend the afternoon watching the first parade. We got a good spot on the Wettsteinbrücke and watched the crowds assemble. At half-one the piccolo and drums started up again and for four hours we watched the cliques parade past. The Sujet included such diverse topics as Lady Gaga, Women in Power and the Burkha-isation of Switzerland.

There were also several groups of Guggemusik performers - deliberately out of tune brass bands with drums and xylophones who marched with the more traditional groups. Some of their instruments looked very heavy.

Special mention should also go to the Waggis. Waggis was originally the word used for the people from Alsace who came to Basel to sell fruit and veg at market. Now it is more about the character that is based on them: he has a big nose, wild hair and giant teeth; he throws sweets or oranges or flowers to the crowd if he feels in a good mood; if not he throws confetti at them. My best "gift" was a glass of wine; a woman next to me was given a chicken leg (raw, de-feathered and complete with foot).

On the Tuesday there wasn't an official parade, but many of the groups took part in gassle, which is the meandering through the alleys of the Old Town playing music, followed by groups of people. Children were also dressed up to take part, and gave out sweets and confetti like the Waggis the day before. We had a lucky escape- only once were we confetti'ed.

By Wednesday the weather had turned for the worse so we gave the second parade, in similar vain to that on the Monday afternoon, a miss, though they were still going strong when we ventured into town for a beer later in the day...

Morgestraich

I arrived back on Swiss soil last night after being in London for the first nine days of the Fasnachtsferien. Rather than getting a night's sleep like I would normally have done, I ate dinner with my housemates a 11.30 pm before spending the next three hours playing cards and drinking wine and coffee. But why? Well, this morning at 4am Basel's Fasnacht started with a parade of the Cliquen (carnival groups) through the Old Town. As the clock struck four the city's lights were all extinguished and the parade was lit by hundreds of large lanterns representing the sujet (theme) that the group had chosen for this year, and countless individual lanterns mounted on top of the masks worn by the drum and piccolo players of the groups.

For the next seventy-two hours it's Fasnacht in Basel.

Fasnachtsplakette

Not much has been going on this week to report- as of Friday the school is on holiday for two weeks and everything is winding down (in one lesson today we learnt about sushi and then made it; tomorrow I am giving a presentation on Hartlepool). Thing are gearing up in the city, though. A week on Monday is the first day of Basel's Fasnacht, or carnival. It's a big deal here.

The first Fasnachts curiosity I would like to present you are the Fasnachtsplakette. They're small badges that represent the theme of the year's carnival, and are made in various metals and sold to the public to raise money for the carnival. If you are wearing one during the carnival, I am told, then you are less likely to be covered in a bucket of confetti or have fruit thrown at you from one of the floats.

The theme this year is Zämme fägts, and (very) roughly translated it means that whilst each individual takes part in carnival, they also form part of the whole, hence them being shaped like a jigsaw piece. What a lovely image. According to this article in the Basler Zeitung, it can also be seen as a call to the governments of the two Basels or to the federal government, aimed at working together more. As this was published in December last year, they seem to be much better at political commentary than I am. It is also where I found the picture of the badges.

I have two pretty little badges on my shelf, waiting for carnival. They're also a nice souvenir.

More Fasnachts-tales will be winging your way over the next two weeks or so, even though the Penguin is off to the motherland on Friday.