There were plenty of people in Matt's apartment. Bradley Floyd and his partner, Jennifer Hansen, who had brought some American style home-made cookies and a couple of bottles of booze. My Guinness and bitter selection looked a bit tame by comparison.
Then Bérénice Charbonnier arrived, but without Simon Gray, who I had not seen at all during the last week.
"Oh, and this is Niklaus, Niklaus Zeiler." Bérénice doesn't explain further, but I assume he is her latest conquest. Niklaus is a tall and wiry man, early thirties, piercing blue eyes, short brown hair, and a short, stubble-like beard. He wears a blue close-fitting sweater and has a red string necklace.
Niklaus is carrying a box of beer and places it gently on the table. It seems too early to ask what he does, but Bérénice is quick to explain. "Niklaus works on the boats, from across the river. If you ever want something special, talk to Niklaus."
Niklaus smiles, "Yes I do that in the summer. In the winter I go up onto the slopes, to teach ski-ing!"
"Oh yes," I ask, "and which area?"
Niklaus answers, "From Geneva there are so many choices all about an hour away. I am usually based in one of the villages of Les Portes du Soleil. There are nine different resorts and over 650 km of pistes and is easy for me and for tourists to get to from Geneva. It also has some of the most dependable snow. There is always someone to teach at any level. There's over 1,000 instructors there, so you know we are on to something!"
"Well, we are celebrating the cattle coming off the mountains today, so it can't be that long until the season starts again!"
Niklaus answers, "As a matter of fact, the snow usually starts in a small way in September and then gradually builds through to November. I usually pack my bags in November through until around the beginning of April."
"Are you going to go along?" Matt asks Bérénice, "I guess everyone in Switzerland can ski?"
"Oh yes, I'll be there enjoying the skiing, when the time comes," answers Bérénice.
Another buzz at the main door and some of Matt's friends who are staying at the Four Seasons arrive.
"Hello Matt!" booms an American as he enters the room, immediately recognising the tones of another American and making his way over to introduce himself to Bradley.
Then two women enter. I deduce they are Clare and Christina. I notice Christina looking at Bérénice as if weighing her up.
The front door again and this time it was Aude, "Wow, you have certainly got to know some people!" she says to Matt, amused to see so many people present, at which point the door rang again and an entire German oompah Band arrives. They had brought traditional instruments but also seemed to have a couple of amplifiers and electric guitars.
Their leader smiles, "I think you'll get your share of Swiss traditional music now!"
The apartment was getting full by this point and quite noisy, but then the door again and Hermann and Rolf arrive, clutching bottles of Schnapps.
"Er - we invited Amy as well," explains Rolf, as Amy appears from behind them, clutching a plastic tub containing an Apfelstreudel.
"I hope it's okay!" she says sheepishly.
Then Matt makes a clumsy speech in French: "Eat, Drink and be Merry! Mange bois et sois heureux!"
Everyone laughs.
"Your French!" says Juliette, "It's improving."
Matt looks over to the Band Leader, who is named Oskar and says "This is ever so kind of you all!"
"It's so good to have a visitor who wants to make an effort!" answers Oskar, " And otherwise we would all be in the bar this afternoon, anyway!"
The band starts up with some traditional songs about Gathering the Cows and follows it with some yodelling and then several more German sounding folk tunes.
"Look - we've another musician in the house!" calls Chuck, "Can we get a song from Christina?"
Christina is Matt's friend and one of the four who arrived looking rock-chic from the Four Seasons. She looks sheepishly over to Oskar. He grins and says, "Sure, we can do a pop number as well, if you like." He points toward their two electric guitars.
Christina nods, "Okay, Let's try something. Do you know anything by The Rolling Stones?"
The mandolin player sketches out a riff on his mandolin and then moves across to the electric guitar. I recognise it as Jumping Jack Flash and Christina picks up the microphone and sings it with due force. We all applaud at the end.
"Wow," says Kyle, "I loved it!"
"Can I borrow the Telecaster for a moment?" asks Christina.
She plucks out the first few notes of Satisfaction, another Stones' tune, which she sang as a slow guitar and voice number, but each time when she got to the chorus, she left it out. "Cat Power.., " she trailed at the end.
The Swiss band applauded, and the band leader nervously says, "How about Nirvana?
I had to adjust my reality controls at this point. A Swiss oompah band asking Matt's friend to play Nirvana, was bizarre.
"You know I used Teen Spirit on my last tour?" asked Christina, "For when I was in the United States and especially in Seattle?"
My last tour. The penny was beginning to drop. "She's Christina Nott," whispers Kyle in my ear, "You know, the rock star." How could I not know this?
"I read about it," says the band leader. "But I never thought I'd get to hear it."
"Guys, it's Em-A-G-C-Em" he says, reducing one of Nirvana's greatest hits to a 5-note chord sequence.
The euphonium player picks up the bass notes Em-A-G-C, then Em-A-G-C again. Then Christina starts singing and picking at the Telecaster - she treats it as a performance and is doing some of the moves.
Load up on guns
Bring your friends
It's fun to lose
And to pretend
She's o-ver-bored
Self-assured
Oh no, I know a dirty word
Clare joins Christina at the microphone
Hello, hello, hello, how low
Hello, hello, hello, how low
Hello, hello, hello, how low
Hello, hello, hello
Then, to everyone's amusement - the band leader cuts in for the next verse, which he duets with Christina.
With the lights out
It's less dangerous
Here we are now
Entertain us
I feel stupid
And contagious
Here we are now
Entertain us
A mulatto
An albino
A mosquito
My libido
Yeah
Christina flips the controls on the guitar and goes loud. The euphonium answers back. This was a strange performance but kind of smokin!
The rest of the room was wrapt in the song. Amy looks as if she is about to explode with delight.
Clare picks up two table napkins which she uses as cheerleader pom poms.
Two more verses and choruses and the band brought the song into rest. Christina whoops a couple of yodels at the end.
Everyone claps everyone else. It has been a moment. I think Christina with the oompah band has just made the party. Christina is profusely thanking the band for letting her play with them. The guitarist is trying to get her to sign his Telecaster with a Sharpie.
Amy walks over to Matt. "How do you know her? She's fantastic!"
"Amy really enjoyed that," Matt says to Christina, "I think she has questions!"
