While Loxon’s arm was still in the cast, it was time once more for the Herbstmesse (Basel’s autumn fair). As with the previous year, the public spaces were filled with fun rides and stalls, including the giant ferris wheel on the Münsterplatz. Marion’s brother and his family came down to stay with us. And cousin Leonie was convinced by Mark to join him on the scariest looking ride of all, the Maxximum. This 52 metre high monster consists of a single arm that swings in a vertical plane carrying a tumbling pod for 8 occupants (perhaps victims is more appropriate) at its tip. It accelerates to about 6 revolutions per minute, which works out at around 100km/h tangential speed at the bottom of the sweep. As you can see at right, this tends to flatten anyone’s hairdo, but Mark recommends the whirling views over the Rhine from the top.

Two pairs of twins, Loxon and Wiki and their cousins Olivia and Alexander could only watch on from below in amazement as their father and cousin, or uncle and sister, gyrated above. But it turned out that Wiki and Loxon would soon see an even larger metal arm swinging down at high speed. They were eye-witnesses to a crane crash that occured in Basel a couple of weeks later. The crane in question was being used to dismount one of the larger construction cranes visible from our apartment across the river. Wiki and Loxon had been eagerly watching the process all morning until it began lowering the enormous cross-arm of the construction crane, and then tipped over. Mark heard the crash and looked up, but saw nothing. Despite the sound, he found Loxon’s claims that the crane had fallen over hard to believe (the base was hidden by the buildings and so couldn’t be seen). But the local online news soon confirmed the accident.

We went out later that day to survey the damage. The arm of the 70 tonne crane was literally wrapped around the building it landed on, and had managed to knock in part of the wall on the far side. One person in the room behind that wall was injured, but otherwise there were no casualties, which was rather lucky given the size of the crane. It took more than a week to clear up the mess.

When Loxon’s cast came off, the doctor recommended swimming, so Wiki and Loxon resumed swimming lessons, this time at the swimming centre in Germany, Laguna Badeland. Despite being only a few minutes across the border, the courses cost half as much as in Switzerland (not to mention that the instructors speak high German, so Mark can understand them). We also had the free swine flu vaccination provided by the Swiss health service in preparation for the winter flu season.

We don’t remember when it was exactly, but around the same time, Wiki learnt about the magical effects of green beans. It’s a house rule that, before someone gets dessert, they must finish their main course. So, faced with more green beans than he wanted, Wiki burst into tears over dinner. He was crying with such misery that it took several minutes for him to be able to tell us what the problem was, that he didn’t want to eat his beans. Mark then explained a long-kept secret, and offered Wiki an arm-wrestle. Lo and behold, Wiki lost the wrestle.

He was then instructed to eat one bean, and afterwards arm-wrestled again. The change was incredible. Already, with just one green bean, Wiki managed to hold his own for a draw. Then, as he ate more beans, he could win the arm-wrestle, each time more and more quickly. It didn’t take long then for Wiki to finish off all the available beans. By the end of the meal he had forgotten all about dessert and was in tears again, distraught that there were no beans left to eat.

In early December, Carole and Don, who were on exchange in Edinburgh, popped over to Basel. Wiki and Loxon led them around the downtown sights before releasing them for a trip to the Roman ruins at Augusta Raurica. After visits to a few other local museums, Wiki and Loxon insisted on dragging their guests to one of their favourite playgrounds, the Kieswerk Spielplatz, which is just across the border in Germany near the swimming centre. It’s a vast pit of pebbles, inhabited by a two-storey toy gravel processing plant, whose belts, tumblers and conveyor bins can all be operated by turning wheels. Carole and Don showed admirable fascination in the face of the boys’ enthusiasm.

The next week it was time for Loxon and Wiki’s childcare to stage the Christmas play. Loxon was cast in the crucial role of the donkey (seen above), while Wiki showed great enthusiasm for his part in the flock of sheep (at left). Luckily they weren’t picked to play trees, like a couple of the other children.

For the Christmas celebrations, Marion’s brother hosted a feast for the whole Kohler family at his house in the Black Forest — it was the first time that the entire family has been together for Christmas in over ten years. He roasted a wild pig for the occasion, and there was even snow to make it a white Christmas.

On New Year’s Eve we held a dinner party to watch the fireworks. Wiki and Loxon fell asleep at 11:30pm and had to be woken up, but it was a successful evening overall. And after that, our friends Jon and Janice visited from New York for a few days. They were forced to stay an extra day or so while the Swiss railways retrieved their passports, which had been accidentally left on the train when they first arrived in Basel. This was stressful for them, but good for us because it meant more time for Jon to teach Wiki and Loxon the secrets of the truly vicious insult, you smelly cheese rinds.