a cheesy joke

Q:Why did the Swiss cheese cross the road?

I recently spent a lovely long weekend with my wife in Zurich. This post isn’t about how nice the Lindt is or the beautiful lake and mountain vista or even the strange micro climate. I wanted to talk about crossing the road.

In Zurich (and I guess many other cities in Switzerland), civilians are extremely obedient and patient when waiting to cross the road. Even when there is no traffic around, people wait for the green man before crossing. I know this is what should be done but in the UK and many other parts of the World, it isn’t quite the case.

Swiss people are generally very law abiding and have real respect for rules and this permeates through society. Pedestrians tend to have right of way on most crossings and drivers are required to stop by law, which is locally known as “Zebrastreifen”.

At traffic lights, pedestrians ALWAYS wait for the green light and some intersections have a “belgeitstreifen” button that allows them to change the lights to green quickly.

There is also a lot of trams and buses around so it’s super important to take care in the City from a safety perspective.

I asked our “guide” (a friend who lives there) about it and he made another very valid point that stuck with me. He said that children take their steer from the adults, therefore setting a good example by abiding by the rules as a default even when no children are around is good practice. I think this has really struck a chord and something I will be taking forward too.

A:It was on the way to an Emmental health facility…

Sorry for the cheesy joke…