On Thursday evening 22nd June, Living in Nyon was briefly featured on Swiss German TV. The 7pm nightly news programme interviewed various British expats living in the la Côte region to find out their opinion on the (then) upcoming Brexit vote. Scroll to 02:57 in the film to see the founder and editor of Living in Nyon give her opinion (30 secs!) to reporter Alexandra Gubser. This was filmed by the lake in Nyon. If you don't speak German, to summarise briefly, she says; “I go back to one of the original reasons that the EU was founded in the first place - to promote peace and prosperity. I feel all European countries should stick together". In the film you can see Jim's British market in Gland, the Director of Tourism in Geneva talking about the importance to the economy due to the many British tourists that visit Switzerland, there is also an interview with the Geneva representative of the British Swiss Chamber of Commerce. Note: Living in Nyon was also interviewed by the Swiss newspaper Le Matin on the same subject. Unfortunately there is no available online link to the article. Photo above is of the new garden mural in Nyon to celebrate 100 years of the Nyon-St Cergue-La Cure train.

There is always an eclectic choice of music at Paléo festival. Wednesday night's programming was a case in point. In the Village du Monde area of the festival, the Red Hot Chili Pipers got the whole tent dancing with their "bagpipes with attitude" show, shortly after, the Dublin band *Citi Mac entertained the folk in the Voyagers pub with their fiddles, singing and Irish dancing whilst at the same time, a massive crowd was rocking to the heavy metal sound of Iron Maiden performing on the the Grand Scène. There's also an eclectic choice of food and venues for the festival goers, from the traditional Swiss Malakoff (eaten at a bench) to waitress service at a sit down restaurant in the field. Living in Nyon can highly recommend the sweet Welsh cakes from the Te Bach stall in the Village du Monde (see photos below). *Citi Mac will be performing every night in the Voyagers Pub at various times at the festival. See video of Wednesday night at end of post.

It's the annual Fête de la Musique in Nyon this Saturday 18th June with all styles of live free music being played across various venues in the town. From Jazz, Hip Hop and Indie to Grunge, to Choral or Classical and Pop there's a large choice on offer for the public. Take a look at the programme here for timings and here for venues. Some of the bands have their own websites to check out their music in advance, such as this band called Mary go Round from Lausanne who are due to play from 18:45 to 19:30 outside the Château of Nyon. Hostel in Nyon A hostel is due to open in Nyon in February 2017. There will be a six bed dormitory - prices for beds start at CHF 35 per person (showers on each floor), there will also be a double room, and a family room. Free kitchen facilities will be available along with a conference room and other facilities. The hostel will be at Chemin des Plantaz 47 in Nyon. Although the hostel is not open yet, it will be taking bookings from June 2016. See website here.

As the old local saying goes, “it's not Paléo if it doesn't rain”. This gives quite a good idea of the good-humoured enthusiasm of the crowd, who never see the rain as an obstacle for an evening of music and fun. Friday night was no exception to that, and after some rather heavy rain in the afternoon – just enough to get that authentic squelchy muddy feel when walking about – the rain visited the festival again a couple of times over the evening. Blonde and pretty, looking innocent in her flowery dress, Giedré started the evening with her oh so caustic songs set to gentle little tunes on the guitar. In stark contrast with her appearance and the music she plays (which seem to come straight out of some family music show), her texts explores just about every taboo possible, in a blend of lightheartedness and black humour. In times where the world around us seems like a very dark place, her completely off-beat songs are extremely therapeutic. She even manages to slip in a couple of slightly more politically charged songs along the way, albeit always in a very dark and absurd manner, like her song celebrating the fact that humans are the best at slaughtering the most animals. Next on were French moustachioed band Deluxe. Their combo of bright costumes and electric mix of soul, groove and hip-hop were no match for the rain that started falling again during their concert. The crowd just kept on dancing, some donning colourful rain jackets, others just taking their t-shirts off (two quite radically different ways of keeping your clothes dry!), and encouraged by the high voltage performance of the sax player, who impressed by running and jumping all over the stage while playing rousing tunes, and the dance moves of the singer, bursting with energy and obviously having a lot of fun on stage. One of the effects that rain has on the concerts is a slight raise in audience for the concerts taking place under tents, namely the Club Tent and the Dôme. Some people who would have otherwise sat in the sun drinking beer seek refuge under one of the tents, and thanks to the rain discovering bands they probably wouldn't have heard of! Mik Clavet, announcer on the main stage (you can read an interview he did for Living in Nyon here), came on stage to announce British pop band Bastille with a parody of Martin Luther King's speech. “I have a dream, a dream of a Paléo where it wouldn't rain!” he exclaimed, before celebrating the resistance and determination of the crowd, “the rain preparing us and making us stronger to welcome the next band!”. The evening came to a close with a great discovery at the Détour, French band DBFC. They play a punchy mix of rock and electro, bringing together some heavy beats with guitar riffs and great drum action. The Détour and the Club tent are two stages that are always worth checking out, as they host smaller bands who often offer some very refreshing material, and they are places where you are sure of discovering a few unknown musical gems. With a large majority of bands playing at the festival for the first time, it is quite easy to completely renew your musical repertoire for the year to come. For people who don't have tickets to the Festival, or who wish to enjoy again one of the concerts that took place at Paléo, the festival has a partnership with Arte and they stream some of the concerts each day live online. So if you want to relax in the comfort of your arm-chair, you can enjoy Paléo live here. Don't forget that every morning at 9:00, Paléo releases 1500 tickets for that day! Get a last-minute ticket here. There are still a few tickets left for Saturday night!

Did you know that children under the age of 12 are admitted free to Paléo, provided they are accompanied by an adult? There is also a "maternity" area for mothers with babies, a day nursery situated in the shade and away from the crowd, a children's play area called the Mielmélo with entertainment provided Full details here For those kids who don't want to miss out and who want to attend concerts, protective headphones are sold at the Festival's merchandising shops.

How do you say "I am under the weather" or "I'm not feeling great" in French? Tune in to November's Living in the Know podcast to find out. Also on this month's podcast you can find out more about Swiss health insurance. What is complementary insurance? How can ASCA help you? Did you know there was a special insurance that includes your unborn child? What’s the different between a drogerie and a pharmacie? Click here to listen This month's podcast has kindly been sponsored by MyProject.pro .Their website is in English and they can answer your questions on life insurance, health insurance, motor vehicle insurance, life insurance etc. Click here for their website or call English speaking Finn on+41 79 552 96 88 or email finn.toennessen@myproject.pro

There will be a workshop in Geneva entitled Raising multilingual children:Foreign Language Acquisition and Children on Wednesday November 16 from 18:00 - 22:00. The workshop will be given by world-renowned specialist in education and neuroscience, Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa, Ph.D. Tracey is half Japanese-American, half Irish-Native American and is married to an Ecuadorian. Her 3 children aged 24, 21 and 19 speak fluent English, Spanish and German and some French. Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa, author of “Raising Multilingual Children” and five other books on the brain and learning, is visiting Switzerland to present her workshops. Tracey will explain how children learn languages and answer your questions such as: Is it ok to have 2, 3, 4 languages at the same time or is it better for children to learn languages consecutively? When should your children learn multiliteracy skills? Who should speak what in order to maximize the best language skills? Should you learn a foreign language alongside your children? Raising your child multilingually has worked so far, but now your child is growing up and you have different questions about identity, literacy, strategy, etc. Come with your own questions and be prepared to share your own concerns about the best way to raise multilingual children. For more details click here Photo above courtesy Know-it-all passport

Every two years the International Women's Club of Nyon holds a big bazaar in the centre of Nyon. The bazaar is a great opportunity to buy second hand English books, DVDs and CDs (there is always a very good selection!) and to stock up on toys, games, brocante, Christmas decorations and lots more, to have a coffee and cake or lunch and meet some new faces in the pop-up Bistro. This year's Bazaar will be held on Saturday the 12th November from 10:00 - 16:00 This bazaar raises thousands of francs for both Nyon and local charities and charities further afield. The bazaar is held in the Salle Communale in the centre of Nyon. If you are new to the area, this building is in the Place Perdtemps car park.

The covered ice rink has now opened in Nyon and will stay open until the 12th March 2017. This year the ice rink will open seven days a week. See the full schedule here There is also a buvette at the ice rink where customers can have a coffee or a fondue. Reservations can also be made for groups, birthday parties etc. Music events coming upThursday 27th October "Indie Folk" at the Parenthèse at 22.00 with band "Folly and the Hunter" from Canada. Free entry. Friday 28th October "Electro Jazz" at the Usine a Gaz in Nyon at 21.30 with band "Electro Deluxe", see video at end of this post Tickets here30th October Sunday afternoon classical concert at the Conservatoire of Nyon at 17:00 with Trio Nuori Vincent Brunel - violon Aude Pivôt - violoncelle, Flore Merlin - piano, performing G. Fauré, P. Hersant, M. Ravel French Touch. Date for diary - Museomix Museomix is coming to Nyon on the 11th, 12th and 13th November. This is an innovative and interactive event and will involve all three of Nyon's museums: the Roman museum, the Léman museum and the castle of Nyon. More details to follow. See Facebook post here or main website here

Family entertainment Saturday and Sunday 15th and 16th October in Nyon Plus Launch of Hen Coop in Coinsins! There will be a Usine à Gaz theatre production for the young public which will take place under a tent by the lakeside (at the la grande jetée) in Nyon this Saturday 15th and Sunday 15th October. The production, by Nicole et Martin tells tales by Grimm, with music, acrobatics and theatre. Their shows have won awards at the the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and rave reviews from the press. Note: the shows are in French however there is lots of action and movement, so the stories can be easily understood! Tickets here Photos above - courtesy Usine à Gaz Launch of New Hen Coop in Coinsins! A whole-day festival (09:00-17:00) on Saturday 15 October in Coinsins near Nyon to inaugurate a mobile hen coop! Organic farmers Francis and Marie Jaggi will be offering guided tours of their new hen coop, together with their stone-grinding wheel and oil press. The master baker, who makes the delicious bread from their stone-ground flour, will be there, as will a local winegrower and beer brewer. Refreshments available of course! Details here

The series of classic films being shown in English at Nyon cinema continues and tonight (Tuesday 18th October) the Hitchcock film "Strangers on a Train" will be screened at 20:30. More details here.

Balloons around the town for Museomix. What's it all about? There are pink, blue and yellow balloons hung around Nyon for a special three day event (from 11-13 November) called Museomix. The slogan behind this event is "People make Museums". Museomix began in France in 2011 and now takes place on the same week-end each year in 5 countries: France, Belgium, Canada, Switzerland and Mexico. The idea behind it is that volunteers from each country with various skills such as graphic design, photography, film etc form teams of six people on the Friday of the Museomix weekend and then over the next three days they come up with a new angle of promoting a collection in the museum to bring that collection "alive". This collection may be in the archives, it may already be on display but it is felt it needs revitalising. On Sunday afternoon each team will present a prototype idea for each collection to the public which can be viewed from 16:00 onwards. On Friday afternoon the Nyon teams were very busy brainstorming (see photos below) it will be interesting to see the final results! All three Nyon museums are taking part in this event: the Château, the Roman Museum and the Léman Museum. One of the challenges for a team in the château is to come up with a new way of presenting the porcelain collection under the theme "A Vos Assiettes!" Nyon once had a thriving porcelain industry in the town and you can learn more about its history from the guides (many of the guides speak English). They will also be giving free tours of each museum departing from the château every 15 minutes (on Saturday from 14:00 -17:00 and on Sunday from 14:00 -18.00) Photo below - the prestigious Nyon porcelain collection in the château. Did you know that porcelain was once more expensive than silver? Photos below - the various teams brainstorming ideas as part of Museomix CH