Just arrived? Eclectic stuff you may want to know

Vineyards, Etiquette, and French (but not as you know it). These last two subjects in the slightly bizarre title, refer to two topics that newly arrived expats may want to be aware of when they arrive in Nyon. A reader wrote in to suggest these based on her own experiences.

Firstly, the etiquette thing. On the whole the Swiss are very polite, you will often hear a friendly "Bonjour" or "Bonjour Madame/Monsieur" in many instances: when you get into the lift/elevator; when a neighbour passes you in the street; and as I recently discovered, in the dentist waiting room when all the other patients greeted me even though I had never met them before. This makes day to day living very civil indeed. So as a hint to help you, say Bonjour back! This is not meant to sound patronising, but sometimes expats struggle if they are not used to being so polite in their own language, they don't realise a simple "Bonjour" at the start of a conversation, (particular when asking an assistant for a product in the supermarket) this will really pave the way to make folk want to help you. The politeness hasn't quite stretched to staff helping you pack your bags at the checkout, but we can always hope.... The politeness can also be found in the local schools where it is not uncommon for the entire class to have to stand up when a teacher walks into the room and each child has to shake his/her hand on entrance and exit, there is one teacher who insist his students look him in the eye when they greet him too. Marvellous stuff.

The French thing

So you think you know your French, and then you ask the price of something in a market or shop and you hear "that will be deux, septante." What's this? Well here the number Seventy is not the "sixty plus plus ten" that most of us are taught in school, it is 70 = pronounced "Sept-ante", 80 = "Huit-ante", 90 = "Non-ante". This is just a regional difference and here are a couple more. You don't put your groceries in the plastic bag or a "sac". Here you put them in a "cornet" . Better still, take your own bag with you. When you order wine in a bar or restaurant unless you are plumping for the whole bottle, you will then be asked to decide what size glass you want. Here it's ordered by the decilitre, so two decilitres is "deux decis", three decilitres is "trois decis" etc. Talking of wine, the "vendange" (the harvest ) is now well under way and the colours of the local vineyards are looking particularly spectacular at the moment.

It's worth getting out and about into the small wine making villages near Nyon on the Route du Vignoble (wine route) to see them in their full glory. The Route du Vignoble site has information in English and the Nyon tourist board produces a handy pocket sized map for this route which includes opening times of the all "caves" (wine cellars) along the way. One suggestion I have is either to take a bus, or drive and park in Bursinel, and then walk up the hill up out the village. With the church on your left hand side, you will eventually come to this noticeboard with suggested short walks amongst the forests and vines.

Finally, take a look at the side bar at some future events coming up in Nyon. Also at the end of this month there will be an interview here with the founders of the very successful Nyon Au pair link , another interview with a small craft business operating out of a Crans workshop, and information on living in Commugny and Coppet. We now have another date for the next "Living in Nyon" evening too -the 13th November.

There will no posts now until approximately the 24th October as it's the Autumn school holidays in Nyon. Any correspondence about this site will be replied to after that date. Enjoy the lovely Autumn weather, and as they say here, "Bonne Vacances!"