Wednesday 29 October 2008

First snow of the season in Zürich today


and we are in for some more cool and miserable weather over the next couple of days. Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining but it is a real change to come out of the office in the evening and have things cold and dark!
The markets have been volatile and silly again- I guess that things will be this way for quite a while to come and with Election Day coming up in the USA next week we have more than a little uncertainty to deal with. There are very few positives to come out of what has happened in the last few months but at least oil prices are back in the realm of "normal" and other commodities have softened although I believe that the demand for steel has almost dried up entirely.
Every day we are greeted by more news of companies in trouble- a Scandinavian discount airline went "belly-up" today sending shares in SAS surging and after the total madness in Volkswagen stock in the last couple of days, I don't know what to expect next.
We have all recovered from the weekend to Lyon- I have managed to edit most of my photos and have shared them with our fellow travellers and am looking forward to getting into bed at a reasonable hour this evening.
It's goodnight from me and it's goodnight from him. Good night!

Sunday 26 October 2008

Happy Birthday To You!


we have just arrived home after a great weekend away in Lyon with a group of friends. It was a belated birthday gift to Marion and we all enjoyed ourselves very much! Lyon is famous for food and drink, so there was really no need to hold back on that front.....
Shopping was also on the list of favoured activities and we came home with some bits and pieces for around the place too. I will look forward to trying my new bottles of Scotch at some point in the cooler weather.
I don't know too much more about what is happening in the world- my French is appalling, but I guess that if anything major had happened we would have been stopped in the street by Pierre the Beret and told what was going on :-)
After another wild week in the financial markets it looks as if it will be a tough road to the end of the year- at least we have changed our clocks so that we have something else to think about.
Good luck this week- I have a feeling that we are gonna need it!

Wednesday 22 October 2008

It is raining as I type and


that is quite unusual because the last couple of months have been pretty good weather-wise. Perfect timing that the pissage should arrive today as FC Basel are doing battle with FC Barcelona in the Champion's League and it wouldn't be a football match if it weren't cold and miserable :-)
Patricia (our favourite waitress from our favourite sushi bar) is leaving the country some time soon and heading off to Taiwan for an extended visit. She seems pretty excited and we have been invited to her going away party- should be fun and it is nice to catch up with the "sushi mafia" when they are not working!
Not a great lot of other news...... Club Moose had a great time in Oz (without the Mini Mooses) and Marty has been treated to a couple of wild days while trying to get back into the groove in Singapore. Obama is looking better and better- he also seems to have plenty of cash in the bucket as well which can come in handy to fight last minute fires and to keep his face in front of the voters in swing-states.
I just wanna know........ "Who's nailin' Palin?" :-)

Sunday 19 October 2008

The toaster knows


according to Mr 6 Angus. After putting a waffle in the toaster he was asked how long it needed to cook and simply replied that "the toaster knows"......... works for me! His mum also said that this means that the toaster is way smarter than the microwave........ hehehe.
It has been a lazy weekend here- I had a good night out in Vaduz on Friday and took things very easy at home this morning. Had a quick chat with Northbridge over skype and the kids were all on fire and getting ready to get into bed.
I need to take a few more photos today and get some processing done to keep my project rolling and that shouldn't be too difficult as I have a few ideas in my head already. Catherine is having an afternoon snooze and psyching herself up for another busy week in the office and hopefully an outing with the joggers on Monday evening. Fingers crossed that I can get to the gym for a spinning class on Monday night and afterwards maybe a quick beer in the local to celebrate Sanna's birthday (which is actually today).
Happy birthday Sanna!!

Thursday 16 October 2008

It looks like the party is over......


equity markets took off like rockets earlier in the week after digesting the news of massive central bank cash injections and have come crashing back almost as hard. I guess that the realisation that we are headed into a recession has returned as the financials were hammered again in Switzerland yesterday and suffered badly in NY too.
It is difficult to find something to be cheerful about at the moment- but at least the bottle of Basket Press with dinner last night lived up to expectations (and they are pretty high with Basket Press). We had a simple but enjoyable dinner at home and the wine made all of the difference.
The Northbridge Chocolate Monsters have Steven bluffed..... he now believes that Wednesday is ice cream day on the way home from school, when really ice cream day is anytime that Dad comes to collect us after school :-) Hope that you enjoy the chocolate and that there is some left for tomorrow.

Sunday 12 October 2008

Hunter Stockton Thomson famously said


that "when the going gets weird, the weird turn pro" so I guess that there must be a lot of pros about these days....... I had a chat with a guy in the gym this afternoon and he is convinced that Morgan Stanley will fail this coming week- they have had a deal cooking with the Japanese and said themselves that they should have the thing inked by this Tuesday. I can't imagine that anyone would want to sign up after the pasting that MS stock has taken in the past week.
On a more positive front- McSame and the Caribou Barbie are underwater and struggling badly. Hopefully Obama can bring this one home and move into the White House. Although it won't be an easy time to be taking the reins, at least he appears to be capable of doing the job.
I am very much looking forward to catching up with Cassidy during the week and then heading off to Vaduz on Friday night to see some customers.
Goggles on- this will be a wild ride.

Wednesday 8 October 2008

Get ready for the rock and roll>>


with most of the world's major central banks having cut interest rates today, one would have hoped for an improvement in market conditions........ This beast is far too big for a rhino gun- I dunno how we are going to stop it. The UK Treasury have made plenty of capital available for the banking sector after seeing a couple of their leading names take a severe hammering on the market at the start of the week, Iceland is going to become a suburb of Moscow and Australia will disappear entirely from the map.
We are definitely going to face a different-looking world in the months and years to come..... I hope that someone out there likes it.
Not too much news- I didn't take a photo for my project today, but hope to catch up and get something worthwhile tomorrow. Gary and the kids are down in the country and the Northbridge gang are in sunny Queensland (but hey, if it is 30°+ in Sydney, why do you want to go further North??) Have fun and don't forget the postcards xxx

Sunday 5 October 2008

Hank Paulson got his way


and was pretty much able to write cheques for the rest of the gazillion dollars that Congress have okayed........ the Dow took things in it's stride and closed lower on the day. I guess that the Americans plan to keep printing money and deflating in order to deal with this massive extra cost to the taxpayer and the financial system in general, which makes me very glad that I don't pay tax to the USA.
We are enjoying a quiet weekend- after getting a few things sorted out in town yesterday (Catherine bought new boots and I exchanged some pants and had batteries changed in my Polar watches) it was a very steady evening at home. Today makes yesterday look like the Royal Easter Show :-) The washing machine and dishwasher have been on but we are taking things very easy and looking forward to cooking a chicken and mushroom ragout to have with pasta for dinner this evening.
If the sun stays out it might be a good idea to get out for a walk for an hour or so to build up an appetite and let the neighbours know that we are still alive.
Good luck for this coming week- we're gonna need it.

Wednesday 1 October 2008

Les Terrasses is a wonderful drop


and "drop" we did! Three bottles weren't enough and the fourth definitely did the trick- it was a most enjoyable evening in Urania and great to catch up with a couple of friends.
The turmoil in the world's financial markets continues (and will no doubt continue until the end of the year) and with UBS reporting tomorrow there will be plenty more excitement. I don't know what to expect but the rumours today were of more write-downs and 1,900 job cuts in the Investment Banking Division- not good news on either front. Sadly, I think that there is quite a lot more bad news to come along before the sun really starts to shine again......
Welcome to October!