From the Harder archives, the full story of this picture.
I'm a little to excited to think straight, so I'll just take it from the top. I'm in Interlaken, Switzerland, where there is a mountain called "Harder". I feel like I've finally come home - this is where my people are, where the ley lines here are vibrating on just the right kind of sarcasm. Also, I don't have to spell my surname for anyone. Pretty cool.
Now. You can hike up Mt Harder, but if you don't feel like the exercise you can always take a small train up there. The train's name? HarderBahn. That's basically German for the HarderTrain. Can you believe it? What a lucky, lucky camper I am.
Some clever Harders all those years ago not only discovered this mountain (actually not a mean feat because there are heaps in the area), but also decided, entrepreneurial-like, to build this cool train line up there! I am, I feel quite confident, directly descended from these clever Swiss.
So, to celebrate this kind of family/infrastructure reunion, I waltzed up the the HarderBahn yesterday (Waz - gauge looks right to put on the you-know-what-stock), pushed the driver out (his name was like, Hans Schnitzel -- obviously an imposter not worthy of driving the HarderBahn), and took the baby for a spin straight up the mountain. Not much cant to speak of, but some fairly solid gradient. Wreaked havoc with my braking profile, I can tell you. Nice corners, and some fairly hair-raising drops coming straight out of the tunnels. The Japanese tourists on the HarderBahn certainly appreciated my aggressive driving technique -- got them up there in a quarter of the timetabled journey time with the loss of only two arms that were totally carelessly put out of the windows to try to knock out the electrical wires from above us. I feel confident that the punters, sorry, passengers, will recover fully given the fine Swiss medical service. Hope they have travel insurance. Good time had by all.
Can't say the Swiss Army had the same attitude, though. (You should see the knives that they really give to the military! wow!) But, on the bright side, my holding pen has decent internet access, the Swiss court system is known for its thoroughness (as soon as I can find a family tree I will be able to submit it to evidence), and finally I can be fairly certain the Geneva convention will apply to my short stay in the Swiss penal system.
