We have received a registered warning from the condo board regarding a complaint filed by a neighbour. We are accused of allowing our dog to piss and crap on the main lawn without cleaning up after her. Admittedly, I have never even attempted to pick up her urine, the crap allegation is dog shit in itself. I have been moaning for weeks about all of the dog shit I have picked up since the snow melted and a few cat logs here and there too. I enjoy the lawn myself and certainly don't want my boy dabbling in ecoli. What irks me is that some timid neighbour purports to be able to tell if a female Jack Russell is whizzing or crapping from the view inside their apartment and this is all it takes. Deuce bag.
My feeling is that this is a trait that both Canada and Sweden have in common unfortunately. A cuture of "note-leaving" to avoid confrontation which actually escalates the situation or creates simmering bad blood. I found this left me unprepared when I moved to Switzerland from Canada where people are just lining up, especially the seniors, to tear you a new one for the slightest infraction. I had hoped I had found "lagom" middle-ground in Stockholm. So naive.
Here is a synopsis of my "Swiss Experience" I wrote for a friend's podcast on the topic of "Most Absurd Moments"
noneandonly.blogspot.com/ episode 3"Pedantic Hypocrasy"
We had rented a banquet room in a downtown hotel in Switzerland's capital city of Berne and were in search of a convenient unloading spot in the underground carpark. All of the nearest spots were occupied and as we had some heavy items to move we opted to park directly outside the entrance with the hazard lights on. This unfortunately meant that we were blocking one of the two lanes in which to drive but there was little traffic and we guessed it would take only a few minutes. One or two cars passed without too much ado but it was clear to us that the next car approaching contained an old man in the process of blowing a gasket. His car swiftly pulled up alongside our parked car thus blocking the only thoroughfare remaining. He applied his full body weight to the driver's side automatic window button and had begun foaming and spitting on the glass well before it lowered entirely. He seethed as he berated us in his thick and phlegmy Swiss German for our confounded stupidity, inconsideration and basic disregard for the rules of the carpark. Couldn't we see that we were blocking a lane of traffic for God's sake!? When we made an attempt to point out the irony of the situation as he too was blocking a lane of traffic and had cars queuing behind him his anger turned to blind rage and our focus quickly switched to his writhing and pulsing jugular vein. Our lack of effort to speak to him in a polished form of the local dialect and blatant insubordinance when addressing an elder were nearly enough for cause to send this man into cardiac arrest. Our reprieve came in the form of a quickly growing stream of honking horns behind his car. Our giggling and pointing were about all this man could take but before he drove off he was clear to let us know that not only were we devoid of sense or respect but we had just wasted five minutes of his time while he explained what should have been obvious. At that point we pretended to cry and then resumed our fits of laughter while pointing out that there were still no cars behind our vehicle and that we were finished our unloading but we were soon interrupted by the waiting cars honking horns and the sound of his car peeling off into the carpark. I wonder how many days it was before one of his neighbours called police to report a funny smell coming from his apartment.
