When in Switzerland... do as the Swiss do?

It's funny how countries that are geographically near, like Spain and Switzerland, can have such a strong cultural impact over me. Seriously, it's not as if I've moved to Ittoqqortoormiitt in Greenland (just checked the spelling twice - I swear this place exists!), it shouldn't be difficult to get used to this.

But it is.

Swiss make a habit of converting their customs into rules. And these rules sometimes seem difficult to follow for someone used to the spanish mentality. Here are some of the funniest "rules" I've recently came across with:

• No toilet flushing or showering after 10pm permitted
• You are not allowed to leave your shoes in front of your door
• If you walk home drunk, you can loose your driving license, because, as a pedestrian, you are a road user too
• No mowing your lawn or washing your car on sundays
• Newspapers that ought to be recycled have to be folded A4

But then, each canton has different rules and each neighborhood has different customs. I've been told that in Bern, you have to classify each of your rubbish in different containers (which is ok), that are emptied on different days (ok) and have to be wrapped up in different plastic bags that you can only buy once a week from some official shop (the bags are government-standardized - what the hell?).

Swiss love recycling - which I admire. But the act of recycling is not practical for people that have a full-time job or just can't afford a house assistant. The same happens with food shopping: when are regular workers supposed to stock up their food reserves? Well, this, as well as most of the shopping is meant to take place only on saturdays (once more, for mortals - celestial creatures can shop and allow themselves the home delivery whenever they feel for it, since supermarket deliver services usually give you a convenient time frame from 9 to 2 or from 2 to 6 - wow, thanks!).

Don't get me wrong - herewith, I'm not complaining about swiss customs which (in some cases) I think are quite logical and objective. But the next time you think about how easy life would be in the swiss Alp go through the simplicity of living in a city - with its night buses or late trains, its 24 hour shops, its shopping street that opens until later(er) and if you're lucky, even open on sundays (if it was at least the cafes and restaurants!) - and balance the trade.

Being spanish-raised, you can imagine what I would choose...