14. June 2005

It has been a few weeks now since we have updated this page. Since the last time quite a few things have changed.
We have moved to our own place (renting a flat) in Neuenhof in Aargau, Switzerland. It took us and our friends 3 hours to move everything from Sabine's mum's house to our new place, but to be fair we still had most of our stuff in boxes from when we moved from the UK to Switzerland.
We enjoy it in our new place. Even though we have all the conveniences (shopping mals close by, train station in Neuenhof, bus stop close by, access to the motorway, close to Zurich etc), but still from our front room we can see directly upto Rüsler into the forest.
We have almost all the furniture (some moved across from the UK with us and some we gradiually buy), but we still can't wait until we finally get our couch for the front room. We have ordered it at the end of April 2004 and we will get it in mid-July 2005 - 12 weeks!!!

As you surely know by now Michael started a job in February 2005 as a contractor in an XP migration project. He and a few other contractors have to package all the software in MSI/SMS for the XP rollout.
Also about 2 weeks after we had moved, Sabine got a job and is working fulltime now as an Quality Assurance assistant and project manager assistant.

Weather wise it has been crazy lately. There have been some really hot days; over 30º celsius, but once in a while it goes 'cold' (around 16º C) again.

We miss our friends and family in England and Wales and we miss having the beach "close by" (Rhyl in North Wales) were we loved to go for a walk, but we surely will be visiting once in a while.

 

04. April 2005

Spring time! It's getting quite nice outside and often you can actually sit outside and eat lunch and/or dinner outside.

 

 

16. February 2005

Below is the view out from our window to the outside - snowy Switzerland. There hasn't been much snow in the past few years here in the area, so this is kind of rare and therefore we thought we take a picture.

The view from our window to the opposite side of Endingen, Aargau, Switzerland.

It's not that much snow though, but enough that you have to get up earlier in the morning to scrap the snow and ice off the windows of the car before you can drive it. The streets are okay though, a bit icy and slippery but as long as you drive carefully nothing should happen.

 

07. February 2005

Good news! Michael started work today. So this is his first job in Switzerland. He found a job as software packager for a company that is migrating their operating system to Windows XP. At the moment he has to travel back and forth to Zürich where he works, which was quite an adventure today as the SBB (subsidiary of Swiss Federal Railways) had a problem with the central signal box in Zürich, but the effects could be felt throughout Switzerland as some trains got stuck in tunnels when the problem occured, other trains got stuck in the middle of nowhere or they got stuck at the train stations and nothing further moved.
Michael luckely was able to get to work in plenty of time, as he got there before the problem occured, but when he came home in the evening, the effects of the problems with the signal box still could be felt and so he had quite a "fun" time at the Zürich HB (HB = Hauptbahnhof or main train station) train station trying to catch a train that would first of all actually leave and then, more importantly, go in the right direction ... in the end he made it home safely again.

Monday, 27. September 2004

Okay, we have done it! We moved from Ewloe, Wales, UK to Endingen, Aargau, Switzerland. Whilst most of our stuff was moved across by a haulage company, we moved some electrical equipment and the things we needed most (clothes etc) along with us in our British car.

We left Ewloe on Thursday, 23. September 2004 at around 05:30 PM GMT and drove down to Dover where we arrived at around 11:30 PM GMT. There we stayed over night at Ramada Hotel, Whitefield in Dover, UK.
On Friday, 24. September 2004 early at 06:00 AM GMT we got up and got ready to take a ferry from Dover to Dunquerque, France. From there we drove through France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany into Switzerland.
Late on Friday, 24. September 2004 we arrived in Endingen, Aargau, Switzerland. We got there at around 09:30 PM CET. Quite tired, but happy to got there safely we just ate something quickly and then went to bed.

 

We are now living happily in Endingen, Aargau, Switzerland at Sabine's mum's house until we find our own place that we can call home.

We would NOT have missed the time in UK and look back with gratitude and a tear in our eyes to the time in the UK, to all the family and good, dear friends we left behind, but hope that time and money will allow us to visit them often.

To all of our family and dear friends back in the UK (you know who you are) - please know that we miss you a lot and hope that you and your loved ones are okay and doing well. We treasure all the experiences that we shared with you and the things we learned from each and everyone of you. Having lived in the UK for the first 3 ½ years of our marriage has helped us focus on what's really important in our marriage, which is the love for each other.
The experiences in the UK and you have also influenced us greately and helped us form our relationship to what it is today, and for that we are grateful. There are so many wonderful, loving, caring and righteous people living in the UK and it's not very easy living like that in the UK (those that are living there or have lived there know what we are talking about), and everyone can learn so much from these people.

Thanks for your example! Thanks for letting us be part of your lifes for a while and may God bless you in all your efforts

Love Michael & Sabine Ratcliffe (-Müller)