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Big names and smaller names  at festival - Caribana often a springboard to greater recognitio n. Photo in banner- The band Animen from Geneva. Tinie Tempah     - photo courtesy Caribana festival. The line up of bands and artists due to play at the next Caribana music festival (5 - 9 June) was revealed at a press conference in Nyon on Wednesday morning. As in previous years, the programme includes a mix of names from the well known artists: Kaiser Chiefs, The Kills,  Tinie Tempah, 77 Bombay St, Fun, to artists who are not  necessarily so well known, but are beginning to receive recognition in their field. The Kaiser Chiefs - photo courtesy Caribana festival. Caribana is often a good opportunity to see these bands up close when they perform in the small intimate stages on the lake side. The band Vintage Troubl e who played  at the festival  last year ( see our photos here ) have now gone on to be a major name in the music world; one of their tracks is being used for the trailer to the BBC TV programme. "The Voice" .  Scottish rock folk band Kassidy , who played on the tiny beach stage at Caribana  a few years ago have also achieved success since their performance.   According to Caribana, bands to watch out for this year are Indie/ Rock /Pop band   Imagine Dragons from Las Vegas, Rock N' Roll band The Jim Jones Revue and Andy Burrows from Winchester in the U.K  and many more. The Jim Jones Review - Photo Courtesy Caribana Festival New this year to Caribana is a change of focus for the  final Sunday. Instead of the previous Caribakids - a  day for younger children, the day is now going to be dedicated to teenagers and has been renamed Caribateens. There will be a series of events for children aged 12- 16 , a DJ contest (inscription here) , and a concert by the  Swiss group Tweek.

Welcome back. I hope you had a good Easter and you enjoyed the fine weather over the holiday period. There are many activities coming up on the local agenda which I will be featuring on here over the next few weeks. Last Easter weekend CGN (the ferry company) changed its schedule to a Spring time table and increased the frequency of the crossings across the lake. April, May and June are often a good time to take a cruise, the boats are not as busy as later on in the year during the the main summer tourist season. Don't forget if you have a demi-tarif (half price) train pass , it is valid for tickets on most boat journeys. Still down by the lake, the Musée du Léman has a new exhibition called "Léman Maniac", a varied selection of objects collected by the museum since 1954. Next Sunday, the 19th April it's open day at the Tennis Club of Nyon from 11:00 onwards. On this day you can test the courts out and have a game for free. There will be a fashion show at 16:00, a bouncy castle for children, and the chance to test your tennis speed of service! This Thursday 16th, the line up for this year's Paléo music festival is released and tickets go on sale the following Wednesday 22nd at 12:00 Next week, the Visions du Réel documentary film festival comes to Nyon. I will be watching some of the films in advance and reviewing them on here, and giving you full details of when and where they are showing so you too, can go and see them. This week's Living in Nyon column on Friday in La Côte newspaper will be all about chocolate and what the dark stuff means to different nationalities. Check it out! Finally, a bit of an advance warning, in May, this site will be one year old! Its hard to believe but it has been a full twelve months since it began in a small way with a just a bit of online information and news. It has come a long way since then so there will be a Living in Nyon event for readers to celebrate this, and as usual a special invitation and welcome to newcomers to Nyon. At this stage I am not sure whether it will be a pizza evening event, or a "drinks" evening and the date has to be confirmed but whatever it will be, it will be a celebration!

Third candidate now in the running! The storm over Nyon last night was spectacular, noisy and loud with lots of lightning and thunder. This weekend the forecast is predicting more unsettled weather, and by the sound of it there is a bit of a storm brewing on the local political scene. In her previous post*, Bernadette wrote that local politics were going to get interesting and she was right! Here is the latest from her on what's been happening lately. "There are no longer two but three candidates now in the race to become the seventh "municipal" of Nyon. There were even rumours of a fourth man (the former mayor of Eysins) but he withdrew for health reasons, before the closing date of September 1st. The third candidate is Jean Meyer and is standing as a candidate despite no formal political party behind him. He is a member of the workers party, the POP, but they are considering throwing him out. The POP officially supports the radical candidate Maurice Gay. It’s very clear that the real race will be between Maurice Gay and Daniel Rossellat . Maurice Gay is supported by all the right wing parties (UDC; Liberal party, Radical party and the Independent party of Nyon). Daniel Rosselat is supported by the Socialists and the Green party. It’s a choice between on the one hand Maurice Gay, who has a lot more political experience, and on the other hand, Daniel Rosselat a candidate with a more strategic vision and a much larger network." So voila! The next instalment is eagerly awaited! The posters are now going up around town as the campaigning hots up. It's interesting to see which side of this poster each candidate has been placed. On Wednesday 10th September at 20:00 there will be an opportunity to hear and see all three candidates in a debate which is open to the public and will take place in the council offices (Ferme du Manoir) building. * For Bernadette's previous post, scroll down to 22nd August Please note! Latest info! This event below is not in the actual chateau, it is near by. This Saturday 6th September it will be "cave ouverte" near the Chateau-de-Crans with an Annual Open Day from 10:00 - 20:00. You can visit the wine cellar for a wine tasting. There will be art exhibitions and from 11:00 - 15:30, the "Valdensis quartet " will be playing music from baroque to the Beatles, and the "Swing Session" will play traditional jazz from 16:30 - 20:00. Finally on Monday, at the Nyon cinema the V.O film (this means Version Originale ie: in its original language) will be Mamma Mia! It starts at 21:00, but its always advisable to get there early to get a ticket and a seat, these V.O nights are usually very popular.

The weather remains warm here in Nyon and if you want to go to one more outdoor music festival, then the Jval festival held in the vineyards above Begnins is in a lovely setting and a great way to round off the summer. On the programme tonight (Friday) is punk Evelinn Trouble from Zurich, (she performed at Paléo this year). Check out the full programme, tickets available from Disques Service in Nyon. Learn a language The new Migros Ecole club brochure is out now with a full listing of all the courses that it runs at its further education centre in the centre of town (just below the supermarket and where you can pick up a brochure). There are classes in French, German, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, Russian and other languages. There are also classes held in English such as drawing and painting, art history, and gourmet cooking. There are even various walks offered under the sports section such as a walk to see the sunrise on Mont Blanc and there are classes in information technology too. Check out the site Photo exhibition Over in Prangins at the Swiss National Museum, the exhibition of Swiss photography from the 1930s continues until the 25th October.

Whether you are Father Christmas or simply a normal passenger, from the 11th December if you board a train without  a valid train ticket you will be fined 90 CHF in addition to the price of the ticket itself. This will apply to both long  distance and regional trains. See the CFF website to find out more about this new ruling and the reason why (explanation in English).  On the 11th December the train timetable will also change so keep an eye out for possible new timings for your regular commute.  Don't forget you can always buy a train ticket in advance via a mobile phone  see the options here  and most stations have electronic ticketing machines with the option of following the instructions in English to purchase tickets. CFF have a comprehensive site listing the different options available for "abonnements"  (travel cards) whether you are regular commuter for work or leisure.

The Rowing Club of Nyon and the Nautical Club of Divonne are holding a regatta this weekend on Lake Divonne just over the border in France. Rowing clubs from French speaking Switzerland and France are competing for different prizes in the juniors, seniors and veteran category. On Saturday the lake was calm, but the atmosphere exciting when supporters shouted from the waters edge to encourage their teams. When the sun came out, the colours of the Autumn trees and the rowers on the lake made it a lovely scene. If you want to go see the rowers in action, the regatta continues tomorrow (Sunday) from 09:00 -16:30

Photo above: the famous sunflower field at Paléo - an annual tradition In just over three weeks time (on April 5th), the line up for the Paléo music festival will be revealed. For those of you new to the Nyon area, Paléo is Europe's second biggest outdoor music festival. It takes place just above Nyon and attracts over 230,000  music lovers. You can read more about Paléo here, its history here and its philosophy and values here  . Check the video out at the end of this post to give you a flavour of the festival. You can also read more about the festival through Living in Nyon's previous coverage of the event. Just click on "Music and Film Festivals - Paléo in the sidebar above, scroll down to "older posts" from the past three years with music reviews and interviews. The dates for Paléo this year are from the 19th to the 24th July.  Tickets go on sale on Wednesday 13th April at 12:00. If you want to go to Paléo, put this date down in your diary as tickets sell out very fast on the day!  Caribana tickets are now on sale! The other "not to be missed" music event in the area is Caribana  which is set along the lake side at Crans sur Nyon. This year it takes place from 8- 12 June 2011 .  See previous coverage of Caribana under "Music and Film Festivals" in sidebar above. The line up and tickets are already on sale for some of the nights, these include: 8th June - Justin Nozuka , Texas , Marc Sway   9th June - The Hurts from the UK, Interpol from New York 10th June  - Morcheeba Volunteering at Caribana Fancy being a volunteer at Caribana ? The festival is now recruiting volunteers, young and old to help with a variety of  jobs over the five day event. Volunteering is a good way to meet lots of local people and other nationalities and it is also an opportunity to hear some great music too! See the site  " Wanted - Nous Recherchons des Bénévoles ". " Paléo 2011 - Clip de présentation par paleo

For those readers heading off to the talk on Swiss schooling tonight, a reminder that the closest parking is at La Combe shopping centre. The Perdtemps car park  is approximately a 10 minute walk from the Uni Global Union. Nyon train station is a 5 minute walk from UNI Global Union.  For all parking options in Nyon, see link here UNI Global Union is at 8-10 Avenue Reverdil, 1260, Nyon.   See link and street view here

The Aula theatre of Nyon will be transformed into a little bit of New York this weekend (29/30/31st August) when the Really Youthful Group (part of Geneva Amateur Operatic Society ) put on "Guys N'Dolls". If you don't know the show, it's a musical comedy set in New York and evolves around Nathan Detroit, the organizer of a "crap" game. He bets fellow gambler Sky Masterson that he can't make the next girl he sees fall in love with him. The next girl he sees happens to be Miss Sarah Brown, a Salvation Army-type reformer. Needless to say there are complications on the way and as always, great songs, music and dancing. Some of the songs you may recognise from this musical are "Luck be a lady tonight"and "Sit down you're rocking the boat". These productions have a tradition of being performed at the end of the summer holidays. It's a great way to send the audience back to work and school with a "feel good" factor and an opportunity for Anglophones to catch up with other at the bar during the interval. Tickets are available to book online at Theatre in English . There's map on there too of how to get to the theatre. Always allow a few minutes to walk from the car park to the theatre. The photo above is of the cast in rehearsal. Also, there is now a new and updated version of Know-it-all passport out in the bookshops right now. Last time I looked there were two copies in Payot in La Combe Shopping Centre in Nyon (look under the section "Voyage Tourisme"). You can order them if they have run out. This book is jam packed with useful information on Geneva,Vaud and neighbouring France and has categories on renting, accommodation in the area, health issues and well-being to jobs and money matters, shopping, trips out. It's an absolute mine of information and gets better each issue. You might like to take a look at page 599 where the section on Paléo Festival was written by yours truly.

Reviews of films at festival 2009 21st April 2009 Read here   The world at your door for seven days in Nyon24th April  Read here  Films: Cubans in Europe 24th April Read here Films :Plane days and Perestroika26th April Read here  40 years of the festival27th April Read here  Films:Stocks shares mothers and war recipes.28th April Read here   Film: No sex in "Supermom" but a super film28th April Read here  Final two days of the festival

In October 2010, Living in Nyon reader Celia Marsh  wrote about what it is like to live in Divonne in France , (just a few miles from Nyon).  Here is another article, also about living in on Divonne , but this time it comes from long time resident John Burley. John is a "Conseiller Municipal" in the town and here he writes about the activities of the local council, from decisions on whether to build a new primary school, to the state of Divonne's finances, to what to do with the area around the old railway station and how not everything in France is run from Paris.... Lettre d'un élu de Divonne-les Bains. The other day, I saw Celia Marsh's article about living in Divonne-les-Bains on this web site.  As a long-time resident of the station thermale and now Conseiller Municipal, it was a pleasure to read her words.  She got it completely right.  Divonne is a great place to live.  As long as Divonne preserves its wonderfully green environment, the result is there for all to see (and not least the 1000 frontaliers who quite rightly prefer to have the best of both worlds, a Swiss income and a French residence). So it was not difficult to accept the invitation to join Etienne Blanc's team for the municipal elections of 2008.  Fortunately, there are no national political considerations at play in communal deliberations.  The current Conseil Municipal in Divonne is pretty representative of the commune – we have " les vrai divonnais ", from families who have been here for several generations; some more recent arrivals in the area from elsewhere in France or from former French colonies; and les internationaux .  75 Nationalities living in the Commune There are over 75 nationalities living in the commune: eligibility for election to the Conseil Municipal is open to citizens of states members of the European Union, so in addition to the franco-francais, there are several Conseillers from other European countries.  I have British and French nationality.  Having decided to continue to live in Divonne after my retirement, I felt the slogan "no taxation without representation" was for me since I had to be able to vote if I was going to pay French taxes.  I am afraid the gendarme who interviewed me when I applied for French nationality did not appreciate the joke. The lake, the primary school, the tennis courts. Public service is in my genes.  Having spent almost all my professional life in the United Nations where we "think globally" most of the time, I was delighted to be offered the chance to "act locally".  Communal discussions and decisions do directly affect the lives of residents.  In the last few months we have been discussing in the Conseil Municipal: whether or not to build a new primary school to accommodate the requirements of the growing number of young families moving to Divonne (yes); how to develop the area around the beautiful lake so popular to so many people from Vaud, Geneva and the Pays de Gex (some answers: a new horse riding club and a new 4 star hotel); whether to install new tennis courts at the Divonne tennis club (yes); what to offer as cultural events at the much frequented Esplanade du Lac (a highly diversified and international programme); how to support a very active community of over 100 local associations (a new Maison des Associations ); what new shops and restaurants could best complement the incredibly popular Sunday market; and so on. From Street Dance to Brazilian music - A variety of events on offer for Divonne residents. Money is not the headache The biggest headache?  Surprisingly, this is not money.  As a member of the Commission des Finances , I can vouch that Divonne's finances are in good shape.  We have diversified our sources of revenue.  We are slowly but surely weaning ourselves away from financial dependency on the casino (the share of the casino is down from over 80% to less than 25%).  The tax base is solid, and tax-payers are better off in Divonne than elsewhere in the Pays de Gex.  The compensation franco-genevoise – French communes receive back a share of the income tax paid in Geneva by their resident frontaliers – grows each year.  The typical image of France is that everything is run from Paris.  In fact, local authorities in France have considerably more power over local finances than their British equivalents. What to do with the old railway station area? No, the biggest challenge facing Divonne is: what to do with the Quartier de la Gare?  This eyesore in the centre of Divonne has been left untouched for far too long.  There is broad agreement on many things – underground parking, a mixture of low-lying apartment buildings, shops, public services and open green spaces.  But the devil is in the detail: how much of each, how to get the right balance, how to safeguard the environment and what to do with the old railway station.  If all goes well, the plans should be finalized this year, whereupon the commune will launch an international competition for the best design.  Being directly involved in communal affairs is fun and worthwhile.  The Mayor, Etienne Blanc, likes to tease the English from time to time: I hope he doesn't mind the occasional répartie .   Sometimes the meetings become difficult and I get lost, primarily because the French love to talk at 500 words a minute, all at the same time and frequently on tangential issues.  But I am very impressed with the amount of time and effort people are prepared to put, bénévolement , into communal affairs My mother visited Divonne as a very young girl when on holiday in the Jura with her parents some 90 years ago.  According to her diary, she liked it.  Whilst there, she obviously picked up a hereditary disease called "divonnitis".    I hope her son passes the same bug to his children. John Burley, Conseiller Muncipal, Divonne-les-Bains John Burley, British by birth and French by marriage, has lived in Divonne for 23 years. He was educated at a Quaker school in England and at Cambridge University.  Trained as an economist and committed to public service, John spent several years working in Uganda before joining UNDP in New York in the early 1970's.  When he retired from the United Nations in 2004, he was a Director in UNCTAD.  He was invited to join Etienne Blanc's list "Divonne Ensemble" for the municipal elections in March 2008.  An independent member, John is active in several areas of communal life, including finance, economy, tourism and the development of the area around the Lake. He has two daughters and two granddaughters.

Film Festival begins tonight with a free film for the public at the Théâtre du Marens The bright red boards advertising Visions du Réel are now up around the town and everything is in place for another six day film festival (bar any natural disasters - unfortunately last year's festival was affected by the volcanic eruption in Iceland resulting in many cancelled flights for industry professionals and film fans) . New director brings festival closer to Nyon  This year the festival has a new director -  Mr Luciano Barisone at its helm, he comes to Nyon's Visions du Réel  having previously been director of the "Festival dei Popoli"  film festival in Florence in Italy. With a new director comes new innovations: one of these is that this year the festival has been brought closer to the centre of Nyon. Instead of the hub of the festival being at the Usine a Gaz near the lake, all the main activities will now be focussed around Place du Réel (the Salle Communale). This will be the central point and main box office   - the other two box offices will be at the Théàtre du Marens and at the Usine a Gaz. There will also be a restaurant and bar at the Place du Réel. During the festival tickets can be bought in advance either on line or at the box office (in previous years, ticket purchasing was only possible a few hours before each film). Festival continues thoughout the year The other new innovation is that Visions du Réel won't be just a festival for 6 days only, it will continue in some form by showing monthly screenings of documentaries at the Capitole cinema in Nyon throughout the year.  As in previous years there are hundreds of films available for the public to see, workshops with a tribute to a particular film maker, "Premier Pas", (first short films by self taught film makers or film school graduates and their films premiered for the first time in Switzerland). There are international films on offer, short and long films. Many films are entered into different categories of competition and the winners are announced on the final evening of the festival. Swiss films Under the "Helvetique category"  there are various films set in Switzerland, one of these will be shown for the "Avant Premiere", for the general public (free entry) at the Théâtre de Marens, at 19:30 on Wednesday 6th April . This film will be "Le Combat des Reines" -  "The Battle of the Queens"   See festival description below.  One of the most reputed gatherings in the western Alps is the “Battle of the Queens,” when pregnant cows instinctually fight it out to see who will become leader of the herd and defend the pasture. Using precise cinematographic devices, this film relishes in telling the tale of an excited and anxious world centred around one of these competitions Another film in the Helvetique Swiss category is L’Autre Versant de Gstaad - The other side of Gstaad shown on Friday 8th April at 19:30 and  repeated on Sunday at 22:30  at the Capitole 1 cinema. Film description below by Visions du Réel - The village of Gstaad is a famous ski destination. It consists of a series of chalets surrounded by an almost pristine Alpine landscape; for years it had been a refuge for famous people who adored joining the mountain dwellers and basking in anonymity. This notoriety brought tourism in its wake and, consequently, ruined that image, which the locals still recall nostalgically. Focus on Colombia  Amongst the hundreds of films on offer, this year there will be a special focus on the country of Colombia. Living in Nyon spoke to Mr Barisone a couple of weeks ago who said; "it's an exciting time in Colombian film making right now, there is more government  funding available enabling some superb films to be made. For this reason Visions du Réel has invited 12 delegates from Colombia to Nyon to attend the festival. There will be screenings of films and  a round table discussion". Photo below : Visions du Réel  - from the film "Apaporis" (one of the  "Colombia Focus" films) There will be much more on  Visions du Réel on this site over the festival period including reviews of films.