There was a surprise at the office: “I’m going to London for the long weekend,” Bob said.

“Long weekend?” I thought.

“Thursday is a bank holiday..”

“ ...and fortunately we work at a bank..”

“ ... so very few people will be working on Friday.”

“Have a great time, Bob,” I replied. “Need to check the flights to California,” I thought.

A few hours later, I was on the phone with United Airlines:

“Of course you can change your flight,” the clerk began cheerfully, “just pay the change fee.”

“Okay, How much?” I asked.

“However...”

“However!!” I thought.

“I’m not sure about space on the Thursday flight and I have to get a price from the fare desk.”

“That’s not fair,” I replied. Eventually, she found space (provided that ‘space’ is defined: “middle seat on a 9 hour fight&rdquo The change fee was, eh, “acceptable”. (I had been away ‘forever’ and I wanted to see Nazy.)
Before I left Switzerland, I continued to note differences between Zürich and Geneva:
I was on Geneva’s Tram 1 (Zürich doesn’t have a Tram 1). A car (with a foreign number plate) was stuck in traffic. This offensive vehicle was on the tracks - blocking the tram. (Gasp!) The tram driver simply waited for the traffic to clear. He did not ring his bell, honk his horn, blow his top, launch his photon torpedos or pull out his crowbar. He waited. Quietly. Patiently. Non-Zürichly. My conclusion? Zürich needs a Tram 1.

And, as regular readers know, there has been a lot of rain in Geneva. Remarkably, last weekend it was sunny here. It was warm. It was beautiful. It rained on Monday (and Tuesday, and Wednesday..) Summary for Geneva: Sun on the weekend; Rain during the week. I don’t remember this unusual meteorological phenomena taking place while we lived in Zürich.

I wanted to resume my swimming laps, so I found a suitable location on the web. (Thanks Google.) Clearly on a roll, I consulted Google Maps for navigation assistance. The walking route was calculated to be 2 kilometers, so I checked the public transport alternative.

“Walk 2km to the University of Geneva stop,” Google advised

I decided to follow the advice and walk 2km. The 50meter pool was filled with 1 meter high children.(Coincidentally, these children, if stacked head to toe, would make an obelisk exactly 2km high.) The desk clerk suggested that I come back during adult time.

The pool was next to an unusual bridge over the Arve River. (As you can see from the photo, the described events took place on the weekend.) The bridge was close to a tram line with a stop less than 2km from the apartment.

With my flight home booked, I decided to tie up a few loose ends before leaving for a long weekend.

Question:: Are you really flying from Geneva to Santa Barbara for a weekend? Are you crazy?

Response: Yes, a long weekend. No, well, maybe.

As you may recall, my American AT&T telephone, an iPhone 5, did not work in Europe. Annoyed, I made comments about buying stuff in technology-wayward locations like California. Of course, the problem wasn’t the technology (iPhones work fine in Europe.) Instead AT&T deliberately crippled the iPhone to prevent usage of any network other than theirs. (Having a ‘mobile’ phone that doesn’t work globally is like having a one-legged man cast as Tarzan in a movie. In the interests of honesty, I note that AT&T says that its telephone will work in Europe - as long as one is willing to pay AT&T international roaming rates.

In consideration of this option, I checked international roaming rates on the AT&T website. I collapsed in spasms of uncontrollable laughter. “Thank God this iPhone didn’t work in Geneva,” I thought. “A month of normal use would cost more than a month of rent.” [I was, of course, wrong. Actually a month of rent was comparable to a week of telephone use.]

Luckily, I had maintained my Swisscom mobile service. I could simply revert to my old (i.e. “ancient&rdquo iPhone 1. It had a cracked case, an “off” switch that didn’t work and a short battery life. On the other hand, using it in Europe and for the occasional call to California or Lebanon, did not entail qualification for a bank loan. But I thought about the downside:

“I’m embarrassed when people see me using this phone, it’s like carrying an iPod as big as a waffle iron. It works, but without panache. It’s ‘good enough’, like laminate instead of solid wood. It’s functional- if nothing better is available.”

And then I realized that ‘something better’ was available. I could get a Swisscom SIM card for my iPhone 5. I’d use a modern smartphone, with different SIMs, in the USA and Switzerland. This (great) idea was also quashed by AT&T, their phone has no SIM card. It is..
“Locked, Dan,” Tracy explained. “More like dismembered,” I mumbled. Several people had suggestions. “Street corner hackers in Lebanon will jailbreak it for you, Dad,” Darius suggested. “Download the microcode and do it yourself,” Jose recommended.

I decided on a simpler solution: I qualified for a new phone from Swisscom. “I’m a MacBook, iMac, iPad and iPhone owner, but I wonder if I should try something different this time - just to see,” I thought. “Maybe something yellow.” Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a clerk that could explain the Swisscom purchase and usage options in English. (There are similarities between domestic and foreign telecoms carriers.) I decided to try again when I got back. I was ready for home.

Every leg (Geneva-Washington-Los Angeles-Santa Barbara) on my flight home was smooth and on-time. Well done, United Airlines. (Regular readers never expected the previous sentence.) I did, of course, have to deal with long lines almost everywhere, So I was startled and happy when there was only one person in front of me at the breakfast cafe in Geneva’s airport.

“I want 12 coffees,” he said. “One with...”

(His credit card didn’t work. He didn’t have cash. He..)

Nazy was waiting for me at the Santa Barbara Airport. The flight from Los Angeles was short. The pilot’s announcement made it clear how short..

“We will be taxiing into take-off position for the next 20 minutes. After that, our flight time will be 15 minutes, so I expect an on-time arrival.”

“I didn’t realize that I-405 was a taxi-way,” I thought.

More about my stay in California next week...

And.. a photo of the tower near the University: