If you want to keep cool in the heat at Paléo you could jump in the water of the fountain (near the very entrance to the festival grounds), or you could just simply keep yourself hydrated. There are various places when you can fill water bottles up at Paléo, one of these is not far from the main entrance on the road to the buses and trains, and the other is near the fountains itself. Look out for the "palé eau" signs. Note: There is also potable water in the taps in the toilets Photo above - keeping cool with a fan... at the "Ski Bar". One of the other cool things about Paléo is the possibility of dipping in and out of completely contrasting concerts and being able to check out bands, some that you may have never have heard of before.  Tuesday night was a good case in point.  At 20:00 you could first catch Swiss band from Zurich, Klaus Johan Grobe playing the Club tent.  The trio sang in German, and played to a moderately sized crowd with synthesisers, bass and drums. Their music is labelled rather interestingly as "Romantik Neo Kraut", those more mature audience members who recall some of the music from the 60s' and 70's will have been transported back to those times during this concert. The band themself have toured many European festivals including the Liverpool International Festival of Psychedelia. Photos below - Klaus Johan Grobe The Script playing on the main stage at 21:00 attracted a youngish crowd including many children, dancing and jumping up and down on their parents' shoulders. A complete contrast was the raucous rock of Belgian group Triggerfinger  playing in the Detour tent also at 21:00  Despite the heat in and outside the tent, their playing and energy was intense and loud as they thrashed out music which got the crowd rocking, whooping and dancing. Photos below Triggerfinger - All photos - above and below C.Nelson-Pollard

House for sale Beautiful house for sale just a short walk from central Divonne. This house set in a quiet and private location and just 10 minutes drive from the International School of Geneva (La Châtaigneraie campus) and 15 minutes from Geneva Airport. This 350 m2 house (over three floors) has two large balconies facing South and West which have panoramic views of Mont Blanc, the Alps and Salève. There is also a small balcony to the rear overlooking a very private back garden and a 2000 m2 well maintained garden with panoramic views of Mont Blanc, the Alps and the Salève. The house has five double bedrooms all with fitted wardrobe and cupboard space and five bathrooms.  There are also two reception rooms and a separate dining room. The large kitchen has recently been refurbished with a Siemens double oven and induction hob, solar panels (on the roof) supplying hot water, large double garage, parking for several cars and electrically operated gates to the long private drive. This lovely house is ideal for families, for entertaining and for fabulous views! Price: 1,700,000 euros. For more information please contact Celia Marsh on celiamarsh@gmail.com Photos above - two of the five bathrooms.

The hot weather is finally here and just to prove it, here is the temperature board just above the opticians in Nyon taken yesterday (Monday). To be honest I'm not sure it's always accurate but even if it is one or two degrees out, it still shows you that yesterday was HOT, HOT, HOT in the late afternoon. The pool today (Tuesday) looked very inviting. The weather was a bit muggy and you couldn't quite get a clear view over to France on the other side of the lake but you still can see what a fabulous place the local pool is, and how well designed it is too. There are trees for shade, and of course if you want, you can go down to the lake to swim. The water at the moment looks crystal clear. Enjoy!

Swedish School goes trilingual The Swedish School of Geneva has announced plans for a new multilingual programme, which will start in September 2011 and cover the three languages, Swedish, French and English.  Based in Meyrin, near Geneva, the school will offer Swedish-French or English-French programmes for children aged between 1 and 5 (pre-school) and a Swedish-French program, including extra instruction in English, for children aged between 6 and 13 (primary). With over 35 years experience in the Geneva community, the school prides itself on having small classes, where each child’s education can be adapted to his or her individual circumstances and needs. The Swedish National Curriculum will continue to be used as the foundation for all learning, but with instruction provided in up to three different languages. Multilingual programme  will equip children for further education in International Schools With the new multilingual programmes in place, the school believes those children leaving at the age of 13 will be more than well-equipped to go on to further education in both local and international schools. In addition to the school’s regular curriculum, there are numerous after-school activities in place for children, including baking, creative arts, music and, of course, homework!  These activities are open until 18:30 every day of the week and, subject to availability, students from outside the school are also welcome to attend.  The school also offers Swedish language courses for external students aged between 6 and 16 who are attending Swiss, French or International schools but who wish to extend their knowledge of the Swedish language.   Instruction is carried out a number of schools in the region, as well as the Swedish school’s premises in Meyrin. Children’s courses in English and Norwegian are also provided, as are adult courses in Swedish.For further information click here to visit their website or click on the advert on the right hand side bar.

Panto and Play in English performed in Nyon and Coppet Pantomime season is nearly upon us and the good news is that the annual pantomime in English will be held at a theatre in Nyon this year (oh, yes it will!) Rumpelstiltskin is the name of the panto and it will be performed by the Geneva Amateur Operatic Society ( GAOS)  on various dates in November and December. See details below.  For those readers who don't know what a pantomime is,  see here. It's great for family entertainment in the lead up to Christmas. Details here Also, from the 17 - 21 November, The Geneva English Drama Society ( GEDS)  will be performing the comedy "Caught in the Net" by Ray Cooney at the Théâtre Terre Sainte in Coppet.   Details here

There was lots of celebrating going on around Nyon railway station last night after Switzerland's 2-1 win over Ecuador in the 2014 World Cup. At big international matches this area of town often becomes a gathering point for those who want to celebrate. It's noisy and it's fun!

Photo above of the Paléo Buddy App. A phone application with all the info on this year's Paléo. "Paléo is going to be a multicoloured festival this year" revealed Daniel Rossellat in front of the multi coloured fesival poster at the 2012 Paléo press conference today the 17th April. This year the conference was held in the Globi Union headquarters in the centre of Nyon (the current Paléo offices are being renovated) . The conference hall was partly decorated with Middle Eastern decor to refelect the music which will be played this year in the Village du Monde area of the festival grounds. It was also revealed at the conference, that the programme was only finalised just that morning. Paléo staff had been working through the night negotiating to get the final confirmation from Manau Chao that he would appear. At 06:39  the confirmation came through and the rush then was on to get the programme finally printed for the official line up to be released. As usual at Paléo there are some big names who will be headlining  the festival this year such as Sting  who will perform on Thursday 19 July. He is expected to give a "best of the last 25 years" concert. Photo above Sting- - courtesy Paléo festival  - Norman Jean-Roy Manu Chao and Franz Ferdinand will kick the festival off  on the opening night on the 17th, the Cure and Bon Iver are scheduled for Weds 18, Lenny Kravitz Friday 20, Garbage, Bloc Party and the Kooks on Saturday 21, David Guetta and Roger Hodgson (ex Supertramp) on the Sunday.  The full programme is on the Paléo website and on the Paléo App. See video below of the Kooks performing "Junk of the Heart"  courtesy Paléo festival The Kooks - Junk Of The Heart (Happy) par EMI_Music Daniel Rossellat also told the press that because he now also holds the position of Mayor of Nyon, his time is now more restricted, therefore he hasn't been able to travel to as many music festivals as he would have liked over the  past 12 months. However, he was able to visit the Lebanon and Israel and he is pleased that the festival will be bringing acts over from the Middle East to perform in the Village du Monde.  Some of the acts such as those from Syria are very keen to come here despite the fact there is a) no Swiss embassy in Damascus  and b) they will have to travel to the Lebanon to obtiain a visa to travel to this country. Photo above courtey Paléo festival- Broukar   A group composed of five Syrian musicians and an imposing Sufi dancer. Tickets - Get in line or online!  The advice for buying tickets is the same as in previosu years on this site, get in line early or online! Tickets go on sale at midday on the 25th April and by past experience they sell out very fast indeed!  Here are the details of the ticket outlets  Good luck!

Saturday night was strongly focused on French-speaking singers, with hearthrobs Frero Delavega playing for the younger generations and Alain Souchon and Laurent Voulzy for the older people. These are not exactly my musical cup of tea, so I spent most of the evening away from the main stage. Frero Delavega's soupy kitsch rendition of a Pink Martini song was enough to send me on my way. Most of the interesting bands playing at Paléo play on the smaller stages anyway, so it is always interesting to go and discover some new bands in slightly more intimate (or at least, human-sized) venues like the Club Tent or the Détour. Significantly less commercial and closer to home, Nyon-based Aliose were back for the second time on stage at Paléo. I have been following this band for quite a while, and it is always very nice to get to see them live, and being successful doing what they love. The original duo, Alizée and Xavier were joined on stage by a drummer and a guitarist, giving more punch to their beautiful songs. They also use a very special instrument called the hang drum – a Swiss instrument made by a man in Bern, and who has a two-year waiting list! The Hang drum looks slightly like a flying saucer, and makes a truly ethereal sound. It was a great concert, despite the sound from the concert on Les Arches invading the tent at times, which was a bit of a pity, and a bit of bad organising on the festival's behalf. The Détour saw two rather interesting electro-pop projects grace its stage throughout the evening, first with Mansfield.Tya , a female duo who create a oneiric and baroque brand of pop, with a synthesiser and violin. Their universe is dark and mystical, and they wove their spell under the tent at the Détour. In a somewhat similar vein, Flavien Berger was on later in the evening. A true one-man band, he creates layered tracks, pulling us into a slightly disquieting but dreamlike universe, somewhere underwater or in a magical place. He finished the concert by inviting up on stage lots of people from the crowd, and when the last song ended, after thanking everybody, he discretely slipped away through the smoke and the people. Slightly more grounded and dynamic, Turbo Sans Visa got the Dôme dancing to their fusion of traditional Breton music, African rhythms and Balkanic groove. The two singers/MCs where on fire, and got the crowd dancing with gusto, even teaching everyone to dance the “Zumbavotte”, a mix between Zumba and Gavotte (a traditional folk dance), a fusion much to the image of the group! Later on on the same stage, Northern Irish band Altan shared their love of the Celtic tradition, playing old tunes, and singing in Gaelic. The lead singer was very enthusiastic and kept praising the crowd and crying out “yehee”, leading me to wonder if this amazing and heart-warming enthusiasm (similar to Sharon Shannon ) isn't a cultural trait from Ireland! My last two discoveries of the evening were Soom T , a Glaswegian rapper who performed under the Détour with her all-female band. This last fact shouldn't be anything special, but sadly even today in 2016, most musicians you see on stage are men! Rapping and singing at an impressively speedy tempo she delivered a high-octane concert. Much more human and real than the Chemical Brothers who were playing on the main stage at the same time!

Photo above outside Angelika Chollet, the stylish gift and home accessory shop on Nyon's Rive. The posters and signs are now up around Nyon for Visions du Réel . This is an international documentary film festival which opens on the 20th April and runs through until the 27th, and is a major event in the Nyon calendar. Not only does the festival bring representatives from TV stations from all over the globe to watch, choose and buy films for their viewers, but it is an important event for documentary film makers too. Films shown at the festival cross many categories. They range from those made by first time film makers to films from seasoned directors. Many of these films are entries in to competition at  Visions du Réel and prizes are awarded in various categories on the final night of the festival. This year Visions du Reel will screen a selection of the prize winning films on Sunday the 28th April in the Salle Communale for those who missed out during the previous week! Also new this year, the festival will be collaborating with Elastique Citrique , the circus school (next to the bar of the festival) to provide entertainment for the public. As red is the identifying colour for both the circus school and the festival, this colour will also reflected in the shop windows around Nyon during the week of the festival.   Photo above:  Luciano Barisone  (sourtesy Visions du Réel -Miguel Bueno) Luciano Barisone, festival director told Living in Nyon that there are plenty of films on the agenda this year for the anglophone public. One particular film on this list  "A Home Far Away" has been made by Peter Entell, an American film maker who lives in the Nyon area.  The film synopsis reads: "Lois, an American actress, and her husband, Edgar Snow, the first journalist to have reported and filmed the Chinese revolution, are suspected of Communist sympathies and forced into exile. They end up in Switzerland, near Nyon, half way between the US and China. Long after, when Edgar has passed on, Lois tells all. A story of utopia and disillusionment takes shape before the camera". Photo: courtesy Visions du Réel We will be reporting on this and reviewing films throughout the festival.  The full programme catalogue is now available in print form with a full listing of the films and you can pick a copy up at various outlets: Nyon tourist office, the cinema etc. The full programme is also available on line  here and in English. Tickets are now on sale through the site and through Star Ticket . Full details here La Roulotte opens on the 15th!  Spring is here which means the opening of La Roulotte! This temporary summer café created out of an old railway carriage and positioned behind Nyon station,  has become a popular fixture over the last two summers for both commuters and locals alike, for breakfast,  lunch or an after work drink. The café reopens on the 15th April at 16:00. See site here

Friday's line-up was a perfect example of Paléo's eclecticism and tendency towards pleasing various tastes. The main stage saw a trio of explosive and chaotic punk-rock bands deliver their crazy show, starting with the French Skip The Use and Shaka Ponk , before The Prodigy . At Les Arches on the other hand, the crowd was a few generations older, as Maxime Le Forestier and Bernard Lavilliers sang all of their old classics.   The first concert of the evening was-according to this Living In Nyon reporter- the best concert of the year. Musical geniuses and incidentally brothers and sisters, Les Ogres de Barback enchanted the crowd at Les Arches with their amazing mix of touching lyrics (written by Freddo, the singer) and beautiful music. Celebrating the 20 th year of the band this year – when they started, the twin sisters were 16 years old, playing in venues they were technically not allowed into- they decided to bring along some of their friends, the Fanfare Eyonlé, a brass band from Benin . Most of their songs were rearranged to be played with 10 African musicians, and the additional oomph was great. It is always a great pleasure to see Les Ogres, as they really look like they're happy to be here with the crowd, sharing a moment of musical bliss and joyous dancing. They finished the concert in style, coming down from the stage and playing acoustically through the whole crowd before disappearing down a side-entrance. Just as the concert finished and the crowd started drifting apart, it started pouring with rain, taking the festival-goers by surprise. Rain at Paléo always makes for funny sights, as you can see people running through the mud bare-chested, or huddled together under one of the tents. One of the bars became the scene of an impromptu concert, as one of the troupes from La Ruche, a brass band, took refuge under the cover of the tent and played standing on the bar, for the pleasure of the dozens of bedraggled onlookers. The morale was high, the rain failing to dampen the spirits. Skip The Use did most of their concert in the rain, but the die-hard fans and intrepid festival-goers stayed and pogoed despite the apocalyptic weather. The band's high-voltage music made it impossible to stay still in front of their enthusiasm. They finished with a reference to the political situation in France, chanting”La jeunesse emmerde le Front National”, the crowd following with passion. Later on on the main stage, Shaka Ponk's outrageous show rocked the Asse, as the extravagant singer played with the crowd and made everyone forget the shitty weather. Their delirious mix of punk, electro, pop and rock was accompanied by an impressive visual show. This is another band that the Front National dislikes, calling their music “degenerate”. All in all, I agree with that labelling. But what's the problem with that, right? Meanwhile, Fills Monkey delivered their weel-crafted mix of comedy and impressive drumming skills. The two members of the band are both professional drummers, and their show is really impressive. You can see them again tonight (Saturday, 21:30) at the Détour. After the warm-up, it was time for The Prodigy on the main stage. It was packed, and people were jumping around to the onslaught of sound from the cult band. Pogoing in front of the main stage is part of the Paléo experience, and I would not have missed it for the world. It is always a very interesting place to be, and it is nice to see people show solidarity with one another, picking each other up, or creating a space to help someone try and find their glasses (they did, and in one piece however improbable that seems). Mustering the remaining energy left over from Prodigy, part of the crowd headed to Les Arches, to check out Carbon Airways. A brother and a sister from France, these two kids (they are 17 and 18 years old!) do an amazing trashy electro, electrifying the crowd with their powerful music. Curious at first, I was very quickly impressed by the show, both of them completely at ease and exploding with energy on stage. Paléo doesn't necessarily finish after the last concert, and the camp-site is a good place to continue partying until dawn. A group of punks had brought a guitar and drum-set, and played through a good part of the night, finishing things off in beauty, with an authentic punk feel. If you want to see what's going on at anytime of the festival but can't be bothered to get off your couch (especially with this weather), Paleo has installed a webcam with a live feed on the main stage. (You can currently enjoy watching a few wet volunteers run through the rain to get to shelter) Due to Yesterday's heavy rain, ALL the car-parks are closed today. The cars will be redirected to Nyon, where buses will take everyone up to the grounds.

In English we call it Bingo, in French it's Loto, and this month you will see a lot of posters advertising "Lotos" taking place around the area. They are organised by the many charities and clubs as their main fund raising events of the year. They are very popular events and last week Living in Nyon went to one organised by the Twirling Club of Nyon in the Salle Communale (which was packed with loto players). There are various prices of tickets you can buy to win different prizes. You have to have a completely a full card of numbers to win, you shout out "quine" when you have one line, "double quine" when you have two and "carton" when the card is full. It's a great way of practising your French (in particular your numbers)! However beware, the numbers are not repeated when they are called out, the caller quickly moves on to the next one so you have to be quick off the mark. While the numbers are being called out there is no talking going on, concentration is required! If you play one game and want to play another then the club have members walking round handing out new cards (you pay for a batch of tickets at the entry which entitles you to so many cards). It can be addictive and it's fun, there are usually snacks available too. Even if you don't win anything its something to do on a snowy weekend (they take place on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays)and you are contributing to a good cause! For example, the lake rescue loto is next week. Children can take part too so take them along, prizes tend to be for adults, food, wine etc, but last week the main prize at the Twirlnig Club was a mountain bike! Here's the list of lotos with dates and times in Nyon in January and February, have a look in your village or town for a Loto near you. Big Burn up in Gland The annual Gland Christmas Tree Burning is happening this Saturday 9th Jan. from 10:00 to 12:00. It will be held at Le Grand Champ - the big open field behind the Collège en Grand Champs, between Rue des Tuilleries and Ru due Collège. The local fire department will be there to manage the burn-up. There will also be bread, cheese, hot Vaud sausages (cooked in the embers of the burning trees) and drinks provided by the local Gland community. A chance to bring Christmas trees and other dried up Christmas decorations, throw them on the pile and be part of a cheerful and burning-bright occasion. Everyone is welcome, even if you do not have a tree! Note: The offical website of the town in Gland has certain sections of it written in English. Take a look . Plus: An American  resident of the town of Gland will be writing a post on this site about what it is like to live in Gland, so watch this space!

It's turned chilly here in Nyon with snow visible on the Jura. A complete contrast to the weather four days ago in the last post. As a perfect antidote to these early wintry conditions, there's a comedy in English that begins on Tuesday that will not only make you laugh and warm you up, but perhaps take your mind off what's going on that night over the "other side of the pond". "Game Plan" by Alan Ayckbourn is being performed by Geneva English Drama Society over at the Terre Sainte theatre in Coppet. Even though this theatre is situated in a school, it is has a proper professional theatre space and stage with a lovely pre-theatre bar. There's plenty of parking next to the theatre and it's walkable to the train station. If you go on the first night (Tuesday 4th) there's a drink of bubbly offered and an opportunity to met the cast. Should be fun. Performances Tuesday 4th to Friday 7th November at 20:00 Saturday 8th at 19:00 Théâtre de Terre Sainte, Coppet. Tickets can be ordered online at the Theatre in English. Here a sypnosis of the play below. Life’s not looking rosy for Lynette and daughter Sorrel. The man in their lives disappeared when Lynette’s dot.com business collapsed, and she’s now working long hours as a cleaner. But sixth-former Sorrel has a secret plan to keep them financially afloat. With the internet, a mobile phone and the help of best friend Kelly, what could be a simpler way of earning money than the oldest profession in the world? Sorrel is confident she can handle her game plan safely and anonymously...but will she go through with it? This up-to-date comedy was a huge success in London's West End in 2002. Due to its theme parents are advised that this play may not be suitable for younger children.