Sunday Morning Thoughts – August 18, 2024

PET bottle caps!

Seriously Europe, what’s up with that? Okay, not technically Europe but the EU. I’ve written about this before. It makes no sense whatsoever. The PET bottle caps are now attached to the bottle. You can’t take them off. It’s absolutely ridiculous. You can rip them off, but only at the risk of spilling whatever you’re drinking.

Now, if you have a bottle of water – fine. But if it’s something with color like let’s say there’s turmeric in it and you don’t pay attention that bottle cap will drip your drink all over your clothes. Not sure that’s entirely helpful.

I know that in most EU countries – or at least the ones I visited you have to recycle your bottle all nice and round to get your deposit back. No cap needed. Not in Switzerland. Here you have to make it as small as possible, press all the air out and then put the top back on. We do that so there is more space in the recycling bins. We need the caps and don’t throw those away separately – ever.

We also don’t get any money back for recycling and still have one of the highest PET bottle recycling rates in Europe, but who’s counting 😉.

I love buying drinks in bottles that are produced solely for the Swiss market. The bottle caps come off. In the EU companies have had to invest a lot of money in implementing new processes or even buying new machines to keep those bottle caps attached. I’m really not sure if those caps are the actual issue. Talking to a friend recently we agreed that the bottle itself might be where to start. Do we really need everything in plastic bottles?

I’ve seen more and more water fountains in countries other than Switzerland. Maybe that’s new or maybe I’ve been paying more attention recently. So, could it be that we are moving towards bringing our own bottles and filling them up? It’s not always easy when traveling, but definitely a good thing. I do like my water fizzy though. At home I make my own – when traveling, not so much.

I already wrote about my trip back home, so I don’t think I have anything to add for now. But I have since found a train station elevator that did not smell like a urinal. It was in Aarau and it’s pretty new. I had a shopping trolley full of – drumroll – new canvases, colors and brushes, that’s why I even took it. It was a welcome change.

Do I want to tell you about that embarrassing incident at the train station in Roosendaal? Still not sure. It is a good laugh. I might tell you after I uploaded my book. It’s only the formatting that needs to be done. There are certain rules. I’m having thesis flashbacks. I know it’s doable, but I’m scared. Then there about a 72-hour wait for them to check your contents and that everything is in order and off we go. I had planned to publish on August 22^. We might actually be right on target.

How cool would that be?

Anyway, I was going to promote it and have a pre-order link ready etc. We’ll just skip that. I’ll do that next time.

I’m obviously in a state of panic and just want to go hide under a blanket and make the book go away. This is scary. Why am I doing this to myself? Of course, this is also why I set myself a really tight deadline. I mean I decided to write this book on April 2. And it was pretty much done four months later on August 6. Not bad.

I need an assistant who’s good at following formatting rules. Any volunteers? Yes, I’m writing random shit because I know that I need to start formatting when I’m done with this.

Yikes!

How do you feel about tourist trains or buses? I found this super cute one in Maastricht. It runs on solar power. I know they are probably a tourist trap in terms of how much they cost, but I really like them. Great information, several languages. What’s not to like? Also, for anybody with ADHD who speaks several languages, if they explain it in Dutch first, then in German and then in English you have three chances to not miss it. Or it might have the opposite effect, and you get bored listening to the same information over and over again.

I do have another question for you. How did you get to school when you were kids? For me it was 20-minute walk to kindergarten, similar to primary school; then middle school was a 2-mile bike ride and high school I went to by train or bike (about 10 km / 6 mi). It’s not actually allowed to take your kids to school by car here. We also don’t really have school buses in my area. You will see some kids take the regular buses/trams though.

I’m just wondering what it’s like in different countries or states. Oh, and in Switzerland even kindergarteners walk to kindergarten by themselves. A parent might walk with them initially to make sure they can find the way and are safe. Or they might walk with other kids who live in the same neighborhood.

As I said, random thoughts. And here’s a random color explosion from last night.

Okay that’s it for today. I’m going to march myself into my study to do some work. Who is on snack duty today? I’ll need regular snacks and if you hear me swearing also some chocolate, please. Thanks!

And right on cue the church bells started ringing. It’s 11 AM. Have a lovely Sunday everyone.