Monday, February
1, 1982
I was invited to
dinner at the hospital with Jan & Kirby. We had vegetable soup and “hot
dogs.” The soup was great but the odor stayed on my hands all evening. After
dinner Kirby gave us a tour of the underground hospital. A foot-thick concrete
door was ready to be closed in the event of an emergency, in fact a pair of
them. A floor plan was posted in several places, as the place is quite large!
There were many two-level beds with plastic-covered mattresses and packaged
blankets. The two operating rooms were not equipped, although the sterilization
room had many machines. There were supplies of oxygen and NO/nitrous
oxide/”laughing gas.” The kitchen had all the major appliances, but no
utensils. The toilets were all operational, and Kirby brought up the question
if the sewer lines could be a source of radioactive contamination. The hospital
itself has its own water reserve and, of course, a generator. This underground
hospital takes up the basement level under the parking lot. I have heard that
every fifth residence in Switzerland must have a shelter, and that the country
is prepared in the event of a war and can provide protection for a large
fraction of the population. There is a traffic tunnel that can be closed off at
both ends and under this mountain an entire underground community has been
built, including a jail.
Tuesday, February
2, 1982
Groundhog Day,
well, maybe not in Switzerland! If it was, the groundhog would never see his
shadow in foggy, cloudy Biel! Which would mean it would always be Spring around
the corner, which I don’t think is the case here! (NB. The Swiss have their own
Spring weather predictor, Böögg, a paper snowman. Usually on the third Monday
of April, when the bells ring at 18:00: Sechseläuten/Six
Rings, a fire is lit under this “snowman” and it is timed to see how fast the
fire reaches his head. When his head bursts into flame, the timing stops. The
faster it takes, the warmer it will be. Supposedly Böögg is as accurate as
Punxsutawney Phil in his predictions!)
Friday, February
5, 1982
Goodness! I was
heating soup for dinner when Jan came upstairs to tell me we were going to
Bern. We were?! Left at 18:45, arriving in Bern at 19:30. Went to McDonald’s
for a quick bite, before hurrying to the other side of the train station to the
Bubenberg cinema to buy 8 CHF/$4 movie tickets for “Ragtime.” |
| Movie ticket |
It was a 2-1/2-hour movie with great characters and some edge-of-your-seat moments; and I
used up two McDonald’s napkins for my tears. Home by 23:00.
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