A few weeks in Switzerland made me realise there really is a qualitative difference between big countries and small countries. If you wanted a place where services, infrastructure and quality of life (by a certain definition) were high, Switzerland would come top in many rankings.

But perhaps I betray my childhood in the UK (admittedly a place Bryson wrote about in ‘Notes from a small island’). In Switzerland, I get the feeling that – with the possible exception of tennis – you feel on the edges of influence and world impact. The place seems to put dampers on significance – it’s a place to be contented and comfortable, but not to give you ambitions of impact.

The French Alps feel a touch more rundown and squalid (we’re talking relatively here). There’s a little less order, and so a more relaxed sense that you’re not going to break the rules. You do feel that there’s a younger more ambitious population, a grander scale, and more noticeable impacts of globalisation and immigration. I hope to visit and explore the beauty of Switzerland all my life, but outside a few years in Geneva at some point, I doubt I’ll ever live there.