Smelly Swiss Dilettante

Where are you and where are you going?
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Jean
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Joined: Fri Dec 13, 2013 8:49 am
Location: Switzterland

Re: Smelly Swiss Dilettante

Post by Jean »

I got a positive answer for a nuclear engineering degree (two year in different cities in switzerland, where i could camp) and my tenant might leave.
Option would be rent to a new tenant (with a less friendly relationship) for 1000-1200.- chf per month, or sell for 200'000-300'000.- CHF
That's a nice cash flow I wouldn't be easily able to get with the cash, but owning the house is some stress that I don't always enjoy. Owning cash or stocks or any asset is some stress.
I'll have to take some important decision when he'll confirm me that he'll leave.

classical_Liberal
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Re: Smelly Swiss Dilettante

Post by classical_Liberal »

Sounds like you may be at the point of a divergent path in life? Good luck in the decision making process!

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Jean
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Location: Switzterland

Re: Smelly Swiss Dilettante

Post by Jean »

I found a new tenant. He seems nice, and is very happy with the increased monthly rent at 1050.- + wood water electric bill.
The last rent was definitely too low.
I'm looking forward to studying again. This is my last degree on my "to try" list. I think I'm more likely to finish it than the last one, because it's cut in small parts (one semester in lausanne, then zürich, then paul scherer institut). I have funds to get a GA (a swiss public transport pass that let you ride about everything) for 3800 per year, which looks expensive, but is about what my very cheap car costed me (i mean per year including all related costs). I'm still pondering it, but my life will be spread out all over the country, so the alternative would be to give up on the choir and the band and only commute on week-ends to visit gf and family.
In addition, I always really enjoyed having such a pass, as a train network is a very nice office to get work done in, and it's nice to be able to access any mountain for free, without worrying about parking the car and going back to it. And my mountaineering equipment is mostly taking on dust since i don't have a car or a train pass.
In addition, it will remove the need for accomodation while studying by allowing me a lot of flexibility in where i sleep every night, be it to leave the city to a forest, or back home.
For some reason, i picture all my future fellow student as indian. I'de be happy to learn hindi and discuss demon slaying with them (doom eternal is still too expensive).
Now I'm working on an alp nearby for a month to buff up my buffer. I got a friend hired with me, so it's very nice. The sight is awesome. I got fed a huge meal at noon in addition, so with my huge stomach, i can eat a lot from it and only need a cup of rice in the evening. I also only need my bike to commute.

JollyScot
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Re: Smelly Swiss Dilettante

Post by JollyScot »

Ah the GA pass is amazing. It is one of those items you see working and wonder why every country doesn't do something sensible like that.

Cuts down car use, increases stay at home tourism, large stress removed from day to day life.

As an example here we have an annual rail pass just between Glasgow and Edinburgh. No other local items included just the rail pass and just on that single rail line.

£4,200 or about 5,000 CHF

I do miss that about Switzerland, your government is much more pragmatic than most. Other than trips back to see family I mostly just jumped on the train there and travelled around. Probably ended up seeing more than in my home country as a result.

chenda
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Re: Smelly Swiss Dilettante

Post by chenda »

Happy belated Swiss National Day Jean :)

I've always loved Switzerland, feels like a unreal fairy tale. Perhaps a model for a future Scotland @jollyscott ? ;)

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Jean
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Re: Smelly Swiss Dilettante

Post by Jean »

Scottish english sound like english with a strong swiss german accent. When I was 18, i went to scottland and could understand everyone, which wasn't the case with english accents.
Our national day was weird, as gathering are still forbiden, and all official events were canceled.
Our government is far from perfect, but the power is so diluted that no one can do much arm.
In addition, you can basicaly ignore rules if you don't disturb anyone, but it requires a lot of empathy because swiss are easy to disturb.

JollyScot
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Re: Smelly Swiss Dilettante

Post by JollyScot »

Yeah I think Gaelic is quite close to german in terms of types of sounds and the outcome of that is that the "Scots" english can be a bit easier for German speakers to understand. Although my attempt at German was quite bad so take that as just a form of guessing that sounds intelligent.

I would quite like Scotland to be independent, more because the size of the UK means large swathes of the country aren't being listened to. As you say Jean you all seem a bit better at just letting everyone get on with their lives than more welfary type countries.

Even if it were to happen though I doubt we would cut back our systems without a painful fight, maybe the split would force us into a change. Large swathes of UK work for the state, it has probably reached a critical mass that people won't vote themselves out of a job. As they say it is impossible to convince someone of something in which their job depends...or something along those lines.

Switzerland seems to be a lot farther back on the state supporting the people path. I know someone who had a fairly militant neighbor with regard to noise. So I guess you can be dealt a bad hand there also.

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Jean
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Re: Smelly Swiss Dilettante

Post by Jean »

The only way out of a big government is to bankrupt it. It will never downsize by itself in the longrun.
Not working is a way of slowing down its expansion. If it was too big, I would exploit its welfare as much as possible to make it end faster, or leave depending of what the individual outcome is. Fighting it rarely end wells for the initiator.
Do you think it would bankrupt faster by staying in the uk, or by leaving it?

classical_Liberal
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Re: Smelly Swiss Dilettante

Post by classical_Liberal »

Jean wrote:
Tue Aug 04, 2020 1:21 pm
The only way out of a big government is to bankrupt it. It will never downsize by itself in the longrun.
Not working is a way of slowing down its expansion.
It's funny because this is a form of "activism", that's often easily missed by folks. When I cut back my working hours, I was certainly thinking of myself in the significant income tax rate reduction, but I also had those old libertarian-type thoughts. The less I give to the gov't, the less chances they have to abuse it. I'm not sure how much it matters in the fiat world, and obviously my contributions aren't even a proverbial drop in the bucket, but it still "feels" like a form personal agency.

Good luck with the new renter and the new degree attempt!

JollyScot
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Re: Smelly Swiss Dilettante

Post by JollyScot »

Leaving will most likely result in the bankruptcy. If country is to stay in the UK I can see a a Greece type deal for debt repayments coming to us and further concentration of power in the next 5-10 years...because you know its an emergency.

On independence eventually an Iceland type path would happen, going...Nope no money we're bankrupt everyone get lost. The independence I would say is a better chance at forcing changes rather than kicking the can again.

Quite a large number of western welfare states seem to be on a bankruptcy path. If your country is going bankrupt anyway then choosing independece and making an attempt at things on your own makes a bit more sense than if everything is seemingly going well. I think there is an upper limit of about 10 million or so where beyond that "democracy" isn't really that at all. May even be less than that number

Hard to know, I would prefer that the UK was just governed better. A lot of bad decisions over a long period of time is starting to pile up and the payments are falling due.

As of now I am just going to try as best as possible to stay out of the way. I keep bumping into them though.

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Jean
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Re: Smelly Swiss Dilettante

Post by Jean »

@c_l
what's great about this form of activism, is that it goes in the direction of getting rid of the proverbial ennemy of many political faction, thus allowing me to get unbothered by most of them. Thank you, i'm really looking forward to the degree.
@jollyscott
Don't you have tons of oil? or do you only have a justice minister that thinks there are to many scots in scotland (this dude shoked me, but i don't know if there is more to the story). I hope you manage to stay out of the way.

chenda
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Re: Smelly Swiss Dilettante

Post by chenda »

After Brexit I think its not a matter of if but when Scotland leaves; the UK is already breaking up with the explusion of Northern Ireland and will probably will no longer exist in a few years (unless Boris achieves his aim of making us the 'Singapore of Europe' :lol: ) I think bankruptcy is most unlikely, although it would be a historical book-end!

The Swiss direct democracy model though is very interesting and something I want to read about further. Government in Switzerland is not significantly smaller than the UK, but it has built one of the most successful nations in the western world (obviously, it still has its problems) I don't know how far that could be replicated elsewhere without Switzerland's unique geography and small size. But its an intriguing model which might prove an alternative to the far more authoritarian Asian economies, which is where the world is pivoting towards. Even the democratic ones are probably far more controlling than anything in the west, something libertarians should note.

JollyScot
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Re: Smelly Swiss Dilettante

Post by JollyScot »

We "had" oil would be the way to describe it now. The money that was raised over the years has been slowly frittered away on various tax cuts and incentives for people without the corresponding cut in benefits. There was a few big ticket give away but really it is hard to point atthe single thing that we spent it on. Death by 1000 cuts maybe. So technically there is some still there and it is better than nothing, however not enough to drive the economy now.

Is this the justice minister that thinks Scots have too many jobs, if so yeah he is an issue. One of those Social Justice Warriors. They want to remove the "not proven" verdict in trials, put through various forms of subjective "hate speech" rules. A few of their safest seats only allowed to have specific groups of their choosing, that has been going on for a while though. I don't particularly like the current government and its increasingly authoritarian "with kindness" path. However I don't like any of them. Hard to say who is the least bad choice just now. That seems to be the case in a lot of places now.

As for the bankruptcy you are probably right. They will end up inflating away peoples debt. It is the worst choice as you wipe out those who actually saved their money and did the right thing. WIth so many loaded up to the eyeballs I can't see a government choosing anything else. Be 10 years down the road and stuff will be a lot more expensive and people won't know who exactly they should blame. I should get myself a big chunk of it ready for it being inflated away.

That link you sent, funnily enough is not taught in Scottish schools, we are still very much on the William Wallace side of things. :lol:

I looked at the Asian economies, I like the idea of them. Then you read the rules and being a square peg out there looks like it might cause your life to be a bit tougher than over here. We do seem to be catching up though. A lot of Expats I know in Hong Kong who loved their amazing life and new home got a fairly brutal wake up call the last few months.

guitarplayer
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Re: Smelly Swiss Dilettante

Post by guitarplayer »

Jean wrote:
Mon Aug 03, 2020 7:04 pm
In addition, I always really enjoyed having such a pass, as a train network is a very nice office to get work done in, and it's nice to be able to access any mountain for free, without worrying about parking the car and going back to it. And my mountaineering equipment is mostly taking on dust since i don't have a car or a train pass.
Man I would love such a pass! I had something of the sort for three months one summer in Austria and it was so great. You are right that trains do for excellent offices!

guitarplayer
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Re: Smelly Swiss Dilettante

Post by guitarplayer »

@Jean I wonder, do you speak all the three official Swiss languages?

And also, hope you won't disappear from the forum as I have a funny feeling I will get in touch with you in a couple/few years when relocating to Switzerland!

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Jean
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Re: Smelly Swiss Dilettante

Post by Jean »

I only speak french and german fluently (but with many mistakes in German like in english) I understand italian quite enough, and start to speak it after a few days in company of italian speakers. I dont plan to leave the forum.

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Jean
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Re: Smelly Swiss Dilettante

Post by Jean »

I really enjoyed working on the alp. The sight was nice. Life is nice.
Image

But fake brown dwarves are nice too.
Image
and music is definitely nice
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnNml8eWJBw

wolf
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Re: Smelly Swiss Dilettante

Post by wolf »

what game is it?

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Jean
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Re: Smelly Swiss Dilettante

Post by Jean »

Elite Dangerous
This station is were I usually trade datas, i come there about once a week.
If you wan't to gank me, I'm based in Lagranges Gateway, in the Lodhary System.

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Jean
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Location: Switzterland

Re: Smelly Swiss Dilettante

Post by Jean »

I had the welcome day at school. I'm thé only swiss, and there is a female majority. I have a good feeling about the schoolyear. It's just weird, because we are séparated in three chohorts, that alternatively go presentially to classes every three days. I'll take them all hiking next week end. As a freshly arrived student would you rather hike in the alps, or on nearby mountains with a better view on the area?
Right now, i'm using my train pass to go to leukerbad, where i'll climb gemmipass. Tomorow i'll try to go to rinderhorn. I'll hike down to kandersteg on sunday and take thé train back home. I'll try to take some pictures.

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