Real tweeters

There are hundreds - no, probably thousands - of walkers (using the adorably-termed 'racquettes'), skiers and snowboarders currently enjoying themselves in the alpine region right now.

The tracks left by snow boarders looked like a string of Maggi Two Minute Noodles. The bars and restaurants at 'The Top of Europe' - by the Jungfrau railway - are chockers with human beings drinking beer,  sipping coffees and eating all manners of wurst sausages and sloppily-fried rostis. Sunglasses are huge sellers when folk like Sapphire realise that the dazzle from the sun reflected in the ice will render them blind, so the racks of shades outnumber even the St Bernard key rings, carved wooden cows and miniature pocket knives.

Amongst all this bustle there are just as many birds around; all happily flying, tweeting and strolling along with little fear of wayward skiers, kids on sleds or three wheeler vans carrying luggage up the hillsides.  They gather in their hundreds on the roof of the chalets, in the pine trees, on top of power lines, church steeples, train carriages and cable cars.

They clearly thrive in the bitter cold and snow and the icicles hanging precariously off gutters, river banks and shop fronts are no deterrent. If you've been to a spot, they've been there before you.

So it was no surprise to see that even they get some facilities built for them at the top of Europe:

This is a wonderfully eccentric place to be living in.