Schwing Update

Aarau seems to be gearing up for some SchwingMania. The Fest isn't on until next weekend, but I gather that yesterday was the beginning of the pre-Fest festivities. Obviously there are all the potentially lewd window displays in shops around town, but in addition to that Reto and I awoke yesterday to the sound of something musical and alphorny coming from the middle of town (we didn't get around to leaving the flat until early afternoon, so who knows what it was all in aid of but I am assuming it was Schwingish). Later we went for a stroll over to the field where they have built the stadium, and some of the temporary restaurants they have built around there are open for business.

The most exciting thing, though, is that tonight on telly I saw the cow that the Schwingkönig person (who wins the competition) gets. It's the biggest cow I have ever seen (I assume those are normal sized people standing there with Dobi. Dobi being the cow). Actually I suppose it's a bull (well, it is. That doesn't mean I'm not going to continue calling it a cow though). I had wondered (and I still do) what sort of idiotic prize a cow is for an event that is not directly farming-related (why would anyone want to win a cow? I'm sure there's money to be made by selling prize-cow (bull) sperm, but as a member of the non-farming community and the sort of ordinary person who might apparently one day win a cow, I have no idea how I might go about either making money out of a cow, or of disposing of one that was not financially viable. Nor would I know how much a cow or its by-product is worth, nor how to have one's cow valued. It really seems like a bit of a white elephant of a cow), but Reto tells me that apparently the Schwingkönig can choose to either take the cow or the cash, the cash being the 10 000 francs that the cow is allegedly worth.

I know which I'd choose. I don't think that cow would be very happy on our balcony, and I also suspect that it wouldn't fit in the lift. I wonder if it would make it up the 8 flights of stairs instead.