Living in Nyon and Know-it-all passport have produced a new 2016 podcast: on this latest one you can hear about the key events happening in the Nyon area throughout the next 12 months, and suggestions for various spas and thermal baths that are worth a visit for a bit of New Year pampering. Lisa (from Know-it-all passport) also teaches Catherine a form of French argot - useful info if you are learning the language and want to be up-to-date with local expressions. They talk briefly about the Hot-Air Balloon Festival which takes place from the 23rd to the 31st January in Château-d'Oex. This pretty village, which is around two hours by train from Nyon is host to an annual meeting of balloonists. It's a spectacular sight to see all the balloons in the air! Full details here

Raclette Evenings - Friday 12th and Friday 26th Feb at 19:00 Raclette à gogo (as much as you can eat!) evenings in the cave/cellar of Nyon castle CHF 35 per person. Includes a plate of charcuterie meat and fruit salad Doors open at 17:00 Reservations advised info@caveaudenyon.ch Monday Movie in English 14th February - 20:45 at the Capitole Cinema in Nyon 45 years starring Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay Just one week until Kate and Geoff's forty-fifth wedding anniversary and the planning for the party is going ahead. But then a letter arrives for Geoff. The body of his first love has been discovered, frozen and preserved in the icy glaciers of the Swiss Alps. Geoff is shaken by this sudden reminder of lost love, and the news affects Kate even more deeply. See trailer below. Music At the Parenthèse in Nyon Saturday 13th February at 22:00 - The Rebels Of Tijuana and Trumpets of Consciousness See video below Photography Exhibition14th February at 14:30 - Guided visit of the photography exhibition "Miroirs d'eau" by Olivier Robert at the Musée du Léman. For Olivier Robert, photographing a lake takes time. He photographs days of fog or rain when the sky and water merge, and favours long exposures.

Les Hivernales, the first of the five official Nyon festivals kicks off this Thursday the 18th February. This festival, which began a few years ago as a small weekend event taking place in just a couple of venues, has now grown into a four day festival with live music being played in eleven venues around the town (see map below). On Thursday there will be electropop and rock music music with bands Alice Roosevelt playing at the Parenthese, Antipods at the Cactus Jack bar, and Alphastate at the Quai 23. On Friday at the Salle Communale there is music from U.S hip-hop band Onyx, Peel and Greem, and The Geek X VRV (both bands from France), and the evening ends with DJ Ngoc Lan. At the Usine a Gaz Puts Marie, The Animem, The Mondrians and the Burning Beggars are all on the line up. There are many more bands playing on Saturday and Sunday at both large and smaller venues around the town. To check the music out, just click on the links of each band under the Programmation section here. There is also a handy flyer with all festival timings here. Here's a short promotional video shot at the Bar St-Jean in Nyon which will be one of the venues at the festival. The woollen hats shown at the start of this clip are now an annual festival tradition as they have been knitted each year by volunteers to raise money for the event. The video then goes on to show a small selection of bands playing at Les Hivernales 2016.

Bigger Usine à Gaz for Nyon Nyon town council approved the CHF 16 Million budget last night (25th January) for the extension of the Usine à Gaz, Nyon's cultural centre. There were 52 yes votes, 28 against the proposal and 8 abstentions. The building will be enlarged to include a second performance space with a seating capacity for 220, a room to house visiting artists and new offices. Caribana has announced more artists to its line-up for 2016. Garbage, James Bay, Kadebostany , James Morrison, The Kooks, Lost Frequencies, Feder and Maître Gims are currently on the programme. Note: tickets for Caribana are now on sale. Ticket prices go up on again on the 1st March and then again on the 18th May. The earlier you buy, the cheaper the ticket! Video below. Garbage "I'm only happy when it rains". Thankfully it's currently not raining in the Nyon area, it's a crisp and sunny winter's day! Photo above, taken late afternoon on the 25th January in Nyon.

Happy New Year to all readers! The traditional Three Kings (galette des rois ) parade will begin at 18:30 today at the place du Midi (opposite the La Combe shopping centre) in Nyon. This parade is fun for all the family, it winds through the town and ends up at the Place du Château where a big galette/ cake (baked by local bakers) is served up to the town's citizens. Wrap up warm (although there is usually vin chaud on offer for adults at the end of the parade)! Photos below from a previous year's "galette des rois" event.

Tomorrow last day for Christmas Tree collection. Commission for the Protection of Trees in Nyon Wednesday the 13th January is the final day when Christmas trees will be collected by the council from designated spots around Nyon. Photo above from the official Christmas tree burning in Gland 2010 Nyon council has produced an explanatory brochure of what kind of rubbish/ trash will be collected from outside private homes on certain dates throughout 2016. It has also produced an A-Z listing of household items that can be recycled at the various "eco points" in the Nyon area. If you missed these brochures, (perhaps they got lost amongst the Christmas mail!) then all is not lost, they are also published online. Eco-points brochure hereA-Z listing here Garden Trees Did you know that there are a set of regulations in Nyon concerning the cutting down of certain trees, so if you are thinking about demolishing a tree in your garden or on your land and the tree measures 30 cms (or more) in diameter, and at a height of 1m 30 then be sure to seek the permission of the Municipality. The Municipality, in consultation with the Commission for the Protection of Trees, has the authority to agree or not to the cutting down of a tree in accordance with a specific set of rules, (for example, for health or safety reasons). The rules concerning the planting and protection of trees can be found on the town’s website. The Commissions of Nyon The Municipality has the power to appoint consultative commissions to help it in its work. Currently there are eight of these, including those for culture, trees, naturalisation. They provide input/advice to the Municipality and are chaired by a member of the Municipality. Each party group nominates its member(s) to the commissions. Thanks to Trevor Greenwood for the above information on the Commission for the Protection of Trees. Photo above - Trevor Greenwood. Member of the Commission for the Protection of Trees Trevor has lived in the Nyon area for over 40 years, initially for over 25 years in Eysins, followed by Commugny and for the last six years in Nyon. Born in the UK he holds dual nationality having been naturalised Swiss with the bourgeoisie of Nyon. He has been a member of Nyon Tennis Club since 1975 and a member of the committee on several occasions. He is a member of the Parti Indépendent Nyonnais, the Commission des Arbres, the Tennis Club de Nyon, the Golf Club Domaine Impérial and the British Residents' Association of Switzerland If you have any tree felling related questions you can contact Trevor via email - trevorgreenwood (at) hotmail.com

The Geneva English Drama Society will be presenting their first production of 2016 with the play "Rabbit Hole" by David Lindsay-Abaire from the 1st of March - 5th of March at the Théâtre de l'Espérance in Geneva. Performance times - Tuesday - Friday 20:00 Saturday 19:00 Ticket prices: CHF 30, students CHF 20. Tickets here Winner of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize "David Lindsay-Abaire has crafted a drama that's not just a departure but a revelation—an in-tensely emotional examination of grief, laced with wit, insightfulness, compassion and searing honesty." — Variety. Synopsis: Becca and Howie Corbett have everything a family could want, until a life-shattering accident turns their world upside down and leaves the couple drifting perilously apart. Rabbit Hole charts their bittersweet search for comfort in the darkest of places and for a path that will lead them back into the light of day.

If you have just arrived in the Nyon area, don't be alarmed if you hear the sounds of sirens across the town at 13:30. It is the annual siren test in Switzerland which takes place on the first Wednesday of every February. Here is the official explanation on the Swiss government website and here's a 2010 article by Swiss Info about this annual event However, we like this amusing little video posted on the Zurich town Facebook page It's their interpretation of how the siren sound is created. Spot the Swiss references:the Emmental cheese, the William Tell arrow, the Victorinox knife, the fondue fork, the Swiss coin etc. https://www.facebook.com/stadtzuerich/videos/vb.400555656659468/945978398783855/?type=2&theater

Living in Nyon would like to wish all its readers a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! We will be back in 2016, with more news, local information, interviews and articles. Below is a snapshot of Nyon and surrounding region in photos taken in 2015. All photos C. Nelson-Pollard Photo below: A wintry morning commute from Nyon Photo below: A decorated Easter fountain below the Maitre Jacques statue in Nyon Photo below: The Gardens at the Chateau de Vullierens Photo below: Inside the brand new library at the Jan Michalski foundation in Montricher Photo below: Blue skies in Nyon Photo below: Lovely weather for ducks Photo below: The magnificent magnolia tree in full bloom by the lake Photo below: Interviewing at Visions du Réel 2015 Photo below: Caribana 2015 Photo below: Member of the public sketching the Joan Baez concert at Paléo 2 Photos below: Nature in Nyon Photo below: "Picnic on the grass" day at the Château de Prangins Photo below: Member of a Guggenmusiker band at the Fondue Festival in Tartegnin Photo below: A warm December day by the lake

The Usine a Gaz in Nyon will be holding a "Black and White (and Red Carpet) party" in Nyon on the 31st December. Dancing, fancy dress and a DJ from 22:00 onwards. Details here At midnight on the 31st December, the tower of the cathedral of Lausanne is lit up. A crowd wait below with champagne at the ready! See video below. Details - Lausanne Tourism

Campaigning is well under way for the local elections which will take place on 28th February 2016. There are posters on billboards all around the town and leaflets are arriving in letter boxes. There are also debates on the local Nyon TV and plenty of column inches are being written in La Côte newspaper about who's who in the different political parties, their manifestos and missions. Every Saturday morning in the Nyon market place you will be able to see many of the candidates of the political parties at their respective stands (see photos at the end of this post). If you have any queries or comments about the upcoming election, or even have any questions about living here, this is a good chance to ask all the candidates your questions! Who can vote? Swiss citizens whose legal domicile is in Nyon are eligible to vote in the town's election. So too are "foreign citizens living in Nyon who have been regularly domiciled in Switzerland for at least 10 years, of which at least three in the canton of Vaud". Living in Nyon readers that fall into this category will be receiving their voting materials in the post very soon. A first glance at the materials will suffice to convince you that it’s a bit complicated. There are of course, explanations about voting in French on the official Nyon website. This lists all of the names of the parties, the names of the candidates for the conseil communal and for the municipality. However, to help Anglophone voters here's an explanation below of the voting procedure. These explanations have been provided by Bob Jenefsky, Conseiller communal and President of the Parti Indépendant Nyonnais . Bob has also provided his contact info at the end of this article if you need to ask him any questions. How it works The Conseil communal (100 councillors) is elected by the proportional-representation system, whereas the Municipalité (7 members, including the mayor) is elected by majority vote. The entire Conseil communal is elected in a single round beginning when voters receive their ballots and ends at noon on February 28 when the polls close. The first round of the election of the Municipalité also ends at the same time. If you are eligible to vote you will soon receive an envelope from the authorities containing materials for both the election of the Conseil communal and the Municipalité. If you are Swiss, it will arrive together with the materials for voting on the four Federal referendum questions on which all Swiss voters are being asked to pronounce themselves (St. Gotthard highway tunnel, compulsory expulsion of foreigners who have been convicted of crimes, taxation of married couples and food commodity speculation). It will be a big envelope this time! Here, we’ll only look at the election of the Nyon authorities, as this is the only one open to non-citizens: Conseil Communal The Conseil communal is somewhat akin to a city parliament (UK = town council), although it is not a true legislature in the sense that it does not make laws. Candidates (Swiss citizens or eligible foreign residents, see above) must be on an official party ballot. The seven parties: from the “left” to the “right” of the political spectrum. The Parti Socialiste Nyonnais;the Parti Verts ; the Parti Indépendant Nyonnais (PIN); the Parti Vert’Libéraux; (the Parti PLR). Les Libéraux-Radicaux; the Parti Bourgeois-Démocratique (PBD) and the Parti Union Démocratique du Centre (UDC) In addition to the official party ballots, you will also find a blank ballot, which must be filled out by hand, in the voter’s package. Perhaps you are a member or supporter of a party, or know one or more candidates in one or more parties and would like to vote for them. It’s important to understand that you must first vote for the party and then for the candidates, in order to increase your candidates’ chances to be elected! Because there are 100 seats to be filled in the Conseil communal, each voter has 100 votes or “suffrages” to allocate (as you can see from the blank ballot, which has space for the names of 100 candidates). The official party ballots have between 10 and 50 names printed on them. Some parties list incumbents at first, others list candidates in alphabetical order, and others list their candidates in random order: it’s entirely up to them. You have a number of options when voting: You can simply choose a party ballot and place it, with no changes, in your voting envelope, together with your ballot for the Municipalité (see below). This is referred to as a “liste compacte”. In that case, the party will receive 100 “suffrages”. When the ballots are counted on February 28, each party will receive the number of seats in the Conseil communal corresponding to the percentage it received of the total number of “suffrages” cast by all voters. The actual seats won by the party will then be allocated to the candidates on its list in descending order of the number of “suffrages” each candidate has received as an individual (i.e. the total number of times each candidate’s name appeared on the ballots submitted). You can increase the election chances of the candidates you like by writing their names in a second (but not a third!) time by hand on the printed ballot (but not on the back!). This is referred to as “cumul”. If you have a preference for a particular party, but also like some candidates from other parties, you can vote what is referred to as a “liste panachée”: take the official party ballot, and add each of the names and numbers of the candidates from the other parties that you want to vote for, once or (at most) twice. Each vote for a candidate from another party will be deducted from the maximum 100 “suffrages” going to the party whose list you’re using. You may also cross off the names of candidates on the printed list if you wish (this is called “traçage” and only reduces those candidates’ personal chance of being elected, without deducting “suffrages” from the party). Finally, you can take the blank list you received and fill it in by hand with up to 100 names of official candidates (or 50 names, each entered twice, or some combination of names entered once and entered twice). If the total number of names is less than 100, some of your “suffrages” will be lost, unless you write the number and name of an official party list in the upper right-hand corner of the ballot, in which case any remaining “suffrages” (these are referred to as “suffrages complémentaires”) will go to that party. Remember to only enter the names and numbers of official candidates (i.e. those on party lists). Municipalité The 7 members of the Conseil municipal (they’re referred to individually as “Municipal” in the masculine, “Municipale” in the feminine and as “Municipaux “in the plural form) are elected in a two-round process: February 28 Premier tour (first round) In the first round, candidates for the Municipalité must receive the absolute majority (50% of votes cast plus one vote) to be elected. Those not elected in the first round must face a runoff election on March 20. Each voter can cast a single ballot containing up to 7 names, which may be those of official candidates or of any other eligible person (i.e. write-ins). Those candidates receiving the absolute majority on February 28 are elected. In 2011, 4 candidates were elected in the first round, leaving 3 slots to be decided in the second round. In the first round, you are allowed to vote for a maximum of 7 members of the Municipalité. You can either use a printed list supplied in your package by one of the candidates, parties or alliances, or fill in up to 7 names by hand using the blank ballot. As for the Conseil communal, you can also modify printed lists by hand, by crossing out and/or adding names, up to a total of more than 7 names. March 20 Deuxième tour (second round) To fill any remaining seats in the Municipalité, a runoff election will be held on March 20. Candidates are elected in this round by relative majority , i.e. those candidates receiving the most votes cast will fill any remaining seats. Note that sometimes parties withdraw unsuccessful first-round candidates and replace them with others, and sometimes new alliances and candidates appear as well! Election of the mayor The mayor is primus inter pares among the Municipaux, so he must first be elected as a member of the Municipalité. Although the current incumbent, Daniel Rossellat, is expected to run unopposed for re-election, he must first overcome the technical hurdle of being elected to the Municipalité, as only members of that body are eligible to run for mayor. The election for mayor also takes place in 2 rounds: the first, on April 17 (absolute majority required), and the second (if necessary) on May 8 (relative majority). Need more information? Got it? Well, if not, don’t worry: you’re in good company! Many native Swiss don’t understand the system, either. If you have any questions after reading all the official information, call me on 079 2025014 or e-mail me at jenefsky@iprolink.ch and I’ll try to help. Bob Jenefsky – Conseiller communal – President, Parti Indépendant Nyonnais (www.independant.ch) A selection of photos below from Saturday 6th Feb of the campaigning in Nyon. Photos are placed in random order - Living in Nyon is not affiliated with any political party! Photo above: Olivier Mayor - Member of the Municipality Photo above: Daniel Rossellat - Current mayor of Nyon and Fabienne Freymond Cantone, member of the municipality Photo above: Raphael Weisskopf - Independent candidate for the Municipality

Would you like to practise French or English in an informal setting for free? Every Tuesday evening there is a language exchange café held at the Hotel de l'Ange (note - this was previously held at the Rive hotel, the venue has now changed - this article has been updated the 9th October 2016) The café evenings are is held on Tuesdays from 18:30 - 20:00. Full details on a Facebook page here or here. This language café has been running since November 2014 and has proved to be very successful. Between ten and twenty participants attend every week and it’s free! The purpose of this English / French language exchange is for participants to help each other practise their target language. Living in Nyon went along to one of these language cafés and spoke to Maria Hooper, founder and organiser of this weekly Nyon event. Maria from the UK has been living and working in Nyon for four years. After initially attending a language exchange in Geneva, she then became inspired to set up one in the town of Nyon itself. Photo above: Maria Hooper - founder of the Nyon language exchange café Maria explains: “It can be difficult sometimes (particularly for expats) to find opportunities to speak and practise French, especially if they spend all day working in English in an international company and they travel a lot for work. The same applies to the Francophones who work in and speak French all day and who rarely get to speak English. So I set up this language café to help remedy this dilemma and to try and to help everyone’s integration a little. The Tuesday evening event has been running for 18 months now, we see new faces every week, but there is also a core group of regulars who have been here right from the start. Photo above: Left to right - Erin, Gwenaëlle and Lucy Gwenaëlle from France is one of the regular attendees and says: “This language café is such a good idea, those of us who have been coming from the beginning know each other quite well now, we have almost become like a family. Often many of us are here in Switzerland without a family so it’s great to meet a friendly face and practise our English at the same time. Yet we also really welcome newcomers, there are people from all over the world that have moved to this area, it’s a very international group". Lucy from the UK, another participant, agrees: “The beauty of these events is that you can come along when you can, you are not judged by how many times you turn up or on your level of language in the conversation, it’s a very open policy. The only stipulation is you are requested to purchase a drink of some kind as the event is held in a café/bar. If you really want to immerse yourself in French, Maria also organises a French immersion weekend once or twice a year for those interested. The café also continues throughout the entire year so we can keep up with our target language and not forget it over the summer months." Photo above: Left to right - Russell and Ricardo Russell Gasser, from the UK, lives just across the road from the language café and says: “Many people find it such a friendly and effective way to improve their language skills that people in the group come from the whole Nyon region, and there are even participants travelling from France.” Photo above: Left to Right - Michael and Gill Michael Gentle from South Africa says: “What I really like about the language exchange is the chance to meet many different and interesting people. As a French-English bilingual I'm not there for the language but for the socialisation. And people feel freer to talk without being scared of making mistakes because everyone's on the same boat. I've made a number of good friends at the language café". Photo above: Gerry and Jaime at the "Advanced Speakers" table Gerry Moes from the Netherlands (who lived in the UK for more than 30 years before moving to Switzerland) says: “As a ‘trailing spouse’ this is a brilliant opportunity to hone my French - while retrieving it from the depth of my grey cells - in a very jovial, family like atmosphere with people of very different ages and backgrounds making the conversations most interesting at times. And if the opportunity arises I can also share my knowledge of English with those who want to practise that.” Maria explains how the language café works - English and in French Groups are divided according to the level (beginner/intermediate/advanced) of the language that they are learning, Beginners are more than welcome. You don't have to be a native speaker of either language to attend Groups of 3-5 are best to ensure everyone has the chance to speak Groups can choose whether to start in English or French Everyone should be encouraged to speak Correction of mistakes is essential Some participants bring magazines, notebooks, or other aids to improve learning If you are working on improving a particular issue e.g. pronunciation, it is best to make this clear to your group at the beginning The most important thing to remember is have fun! The group starts at 18:30. The evening is informal so if you plan to arrive later don't worry, just join a group or make a new group if needed. This is a great initiative by Maria. If you want to attend the language café you can contact her on nyonlanguageexchange@gmail.com French below --------- Cette activité a lieu chaque mardi à 18h30. L’objectif de l’échange linguistique Français/Anglais est de s’aider les uns les autres à pratiquer sa langue cible. Cette activité se déroule selon les principes suivants : - Les groupes sont constitués en fonction du niveau de la langue d’apprentissage (débutant / intermédiaire / avancé). Les débutants sont plus que bienvenus * ! - Il n’est pas nécessaire d’avoir l’anglais ou le français comme langue maternelle pour y participer. - Les groupes font 3 à 5 personnes pour que chacun ait l’opportunité de parler. - Les groupes peuvent démarrer en anglais ou en français. - Chacun devrait être encouragé à s’exprimer. - La correction d'erreurs est essentielle. - Certains participants apportent des magazines, cahiers ou d'autres supports pour améliorer leur apprentissage. - Si quelqu’un veut améliorer un aspect en particulier, par exemple la prononciation, il faut le préciser au groupe du début. - La chose la plus importante est de s’amuser ! * Pour les débutants : il faut apporter un «elevator pitch» écrit afin de discuter avec le groupe. Nous commençons à 18h30. La soirée est informelle, alors si vous arrivez tard, ne vous inquiétez pas ! Il faut seulement rejoindre un groupe ou en créer un nouveau ! Merci par avance de prévoir un peu de monnaie pour régler les boissons à la fin de la soirée. nyonlanguageexchange@gmail.com More photos below Photo above: Isa from Italy Photo above Allison Photo above: Inna and Yulya