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I was longing to get on the road again, and so within a month I had left my job, my girlfriend, my house, my friends and family, and exchanged it for an organic Wwoof farm in the valleys of central Switzerland.

European Tales: Switzerland 2001, a lengthy tale

Joseph Tame
2006-06-30 17:46:43

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In April 1997 I left Kleine Scheidegg and swore that I'd never return. Although I had gained much from my time in the Swiss Alps, it had been a long hard struggle -

So what is it that brought me back here?

February 2000 saw more changes in my life than at any other stage beforehand. Having met Ruth during my three months in America, I'd returned to England where together the two of us had settled down on the south coast. We bought a house in a bid to convince ourselves that our relationship was going to work, and kept on saying that, despite our general frustrations with life and finances, "everything will be alright next year". Home ownership was certainly an interesting experience, with all the usual delights such as a leaking washing machine on the 1st floor, a leaking shower on the ground floor and a leaking skylight in the kitchen. Oh, and of course not forgetting the concrete floor that had to be dug up due to a leaking water main.

So it was that in early 2000 we finally realised that something had to be done. We weren't happy scrimping to pay the mortgage and I loathed my factory job. My dreams of travel that I had tried to suppress since returning to England were re-emerging, whilst Ruth's career within management at the local cinema was going from strength to strength. Our dreams were simply not compatible, and so we decided to split up and return to being "just good friends" as we had briefly been almost three years previously.

This was a very difficult time, and I knew that in order to breathe we both needed space. Also, I was longing to get on the road again, and so within a month I had left my job, my girlfriend, my house, my friends and family, and exchanged it for an organic Wwoof farm in the valleys of central Switzerland.

Fredi and Antonia (the farmers) became second parents to me for that time, listening as ...