People
The weather diviner who brings the mail
Godi Bircher has been the mail carrier in Adelboden for 35 years. He not only delivers letters and parcels but can also predict the weather and knows whether farmers should collect the hay or not.
Godi Bircher in Adelboden. He stands on a green meadow and smiles at the camera.
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“When the sunlight slowly climbs the Lohner mountain in the evening and finishes in a glow, the weather will be fine the next day”, explains Godi Bircher in his local dialect, pointing to the mountain on the other side of the valley where the slopes stretch out into the azure blue of the heavens. “When the sunlight suddenly disappears, the weather gets bad.”
The 61-year old mail carrier stands in front of his dark brown wooden house with infinite green and lush meadows stretching up the slopes. Dandelions light up. The imposing mountain peaks dominate the scene.
A picture book hamlet
“It’s a small piece of paradise on earth”, gushes Godi Bircher. He grew up on this small patch of land with four siblings and this is where he raised his four daughters with his wife and still lives to this day. His house was built by his grandfather in 1900 – with 1,500 francs for the wood and the help of nearby farmers: back then, everybody helped each other out.
At 16, Godi started his training at Swiss Post and has been delivering parcels and letters in Abeldoden everyday for 35 years. He’s known not just as the mail carrier but also as a weather diviner. “When I’m doing my rounds, farmers often ask what the weather will be like and whether or not they should be mowing.”
Weather forecasts by mail
Like Köbi Trummer in Egerenschwand, he reminisces. “On my way to him, I saw the spiders freshly spinning their webs – that means that the weather will improve and stay nice.” It was the same back then – Köbi Trummer did the mowing and was able to bring in the hay a few days later. The mail carrier also observes the chirping of the crickets, the shape of the clouds, the leaves on the trees and the behaviour of the cows; he recognizes the “wild sun” and when the clouds zigzag across the sky. He also know what it means when the snow blows across the Lohner mountain. “It will stay nice but cold.”
He only gives short-term forecasts. Global warming has changed everything: “Natural signs can no longer be relied upon for longer-term forecasts”.
Social glue
Every morning, just before six o'clock, with his red vintage moped from 1991, he rattles through the village to work. For him, delivering mail has plenty to do with village life and interacting with others. Bircher remembers the day well when he had to help with calving. “Without me, it wouldn’t have worked”, he explains. And a little healthy calf came into the world. There was also a morning when the older woman to whom he brought the old-age pension didn’t offer him any coffee, as she always did. Back in the village he told her son: “Something is wrong with your mother.” So he went to see her. And there was something wrong – she had to be taken to hospital in an ambulance.
Delivering letters on skis
Godi Bircher even delivered the mail on skis until 2005. “I used to take the ski lift up Chuenisbärgli mountain with my post bag strapped to me and sometimes a parcel or two under my arms.” He had to take to the slopes in all weathers, no matter how cold. At least this born-and-bred Oberländer was perfectly at home with skiing: he is seven-time PTT Swiss Champion and still takes to his skis today. “I can hit the slopes straight from my bedroom”, he says with a smile. The Birchers live right on the edge of the piste. The cable car station for the Chuenisbärgli World Cup run is just a short slide down the valley. And his wife, Annemarie, has been running the snow bar “Burriszuun” during the winter season in a converted shed.
His family is his home, the village is his life.
What has your best day been as a mail carrier? “When my daughter was a forerunner in the giant slalom at the World Cup.” That was a highlight. The bond with his kids is close. One of his daughters comes by almost every day with her kids. His five-year old grandson Nuri is with him at the moment. Today he was also able to take a spin on his red moped with his granddad.
The weather diviner also has a formula for living well: “You need to set priorities and understand what is important.” For him, this is his family and Swiss Post. Unsure what to do with your free time? “Not me.” Prosperity for him means: “Falling into bed at night after an enjoyable but hard day’s work.”
Half past eight is bed time. He gets up at half past four and races off to work an hour later. Godi Bircher is part of everyday life in Adelboden; everyone knows him and he greets everyone he passes. With joy and full of energy. Always. No matter what the weather.
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Natural signs can no longer be relied upon for longer-term forecasts.
Godi Bircher
