Monday, August 03, 2009

Construction Country


I have come to the conclusion that Switzerland is the loudest country I have ever lived in. At this very moment, my roof is being drilled. Whether or not it's actually my roof is not the point, the point is, it sounds like my roof is being drilled and that is not a very pleasant thing to listen to. This drilling started last week, and according to a letter I can sort of read, it appears as though the drilling will keep going until the end of the month.

Of course, they couldn't coordinate the drilling project with the restoration of the clock tower, which just concluded last week after 18 months. Just as I was cheering the fact that this obnoxious project was finally over, I get a letter informing me of another.

Now I don't know, maybe I just had bad luck in choosing an apartment. Because besides being surrounded by non-stop construction projects, I'm surrounded by all night festivals like Carnival and Badenfahrt which force me either to flee the country or feel jet lagged for days.

But the fact is, it seems no matter where you go in Switzerland you see one of two things: a crane or a hole in the ground. And both come with curious Swiss people reading detailed construction project signs as though they were the Magna Carta.

Part of the noise problem stems from the fact that the Swiss have so much money they don't have anything better to do with it than renovate and rebuild things that don't need either renovating or rebuilding. The road in front of my apartment has been dug up and repaved so many times I've lost count. And last year, they replaced all the windows on our building except mine and my neighbor's, so clearly, they were just bored because our windows are just fine as they are.

With the recession hitting Switzerland, you'd think the construction would come to a halt or at least a low roar. But alas, as I sit here listening to yet another day of pounding, all I can think is, please Switzerland, it's time to scale back and cut costs. Or at the very least, spare your residents a free set of earplugs.

4 comments:

JuanitaTortilla said...

Oh dear, poor you.
What freaks me out, big time, is how they love fireworks. Seriously.
"Some people have no money to pay rent, but they always have money to buy fireworks", my landlord chided.

I just want to take a nice landscape picture of the town without a crane or two sticking in the picture, honestly.

Chantal said...

I've always wondered how they get the postcard shots without a crane in them. Must be Photoshop!

Vio said...

Something strange happened today. Just 2 mins after reading this on mommyzeit, the guys who were drilling from the top of my apartment, drilled through our roof, and water splashed in. Gott sei dank, my kids were not hurt. The pieces that fell in were quite sharp and heavy!!!!!!!!!!!!

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