The Swiss take the notion of Sunday as a day of rest very seriously. I had heard that it was verboten to do any sort of noisy work outside on Sundays--one of the books we have on Swiss social customs says that on Sundays there should be no noisy working in the garden (lest the church bells and birds be drowned out, I suppose). I had heard, though, that it might be possible to work around this, which I was hoping since our backyard has gone from lawn to prairie to jungle and is on the verge of becoming an ecosystem unto itself if I don't mow it soon:



When our landlord called this morning I asked about mowing today and she said she didn't think it would be a problem. Great! Then a half hour later she called back urgently to tell me she had spoken with her husband (who lives in France--don't ask) and he told her it was against the law to use motorised equipment outdoors on Sundays and that the neighbors could (and probably would) call the police if I were to mow the lawn. So our lawn is still a disaster, but at least I don't have to face angry neighbors or the Polizei.