We spent the night with Rodolphe the reindeer and he had a bodyguard

Who says New Year’s Eve, says Nez Rouge, the association which brings thousands of drunk drivers home. On New Year’s Eve, we accompanied the mascot in his adventures and suffice to say that the life of Rodolphe the reindeer is not easy.

Follow me

Do you know Rodolphe the reindeer? Yes, the little red-nosed reindeer who drives Santa’s sleigh (do you get it?) Well, Rodolphe has been the mascot of the Nez Rouge association for 34 years. His role? Walk the streets of Switzerland to remind drunk drivers that they can contact the 0800 802 208 to be accompanied to their home free of charge. On this evening of December 31, Watson decided to follow Rodolphe the reindeer, or rather Mathieu, who has played the mascot of the eastern Vaudois section of Nez Rouge for around ten years. From Vevey to Flon via Servion, “live my life” as a mascot, it’s this way ????????

Manage your respiration

Stade de la Saussaz, Montreux, 7:45 p.m., around ten volunteers are preparing for a long evening. The computers are connected, the instructions given, this December 31, the Nez Rouge association is expecting hundreds of phone calls. “I have been a volunteer at Nez Rouge since I was 18 and it’s always the same excitement,” says Sandra, in her forties, responsible for the mascot.

On this New Year’s Eve, the Vaudoise gives instructions to her team made up of Mathieu (Rodolphe the reindeer) Béatrice and Chantal (goodie sellers) and Christophe, Rodolphe’s bodyguard (yes, you read correctly, a guard of the body). In front of my astonished look, Sandra explains that the bodyguard is necessary to avoid any excess from the public, but also to prevent the head of our big reindeer from hanging on the garlands, the fans or from getting caught in the doors. “.

Indeed, the team leader who has donned Rodolphe’s costume several times knows all the tricks. “Sometimes we have people who tap the back of the head, this can cause neck pain,” she continues. In his costume, Mathieu alias Rodolphe abounds: “my field of vision is thirty centimeters and I can’t see to the sides and practically not my hands, although I remember the steps of certain restaurants, but I need to ‘to be accompanied’. The most difficult thing to manage in your role as reindeer? “Breathing”, Mathieu answers us spontaneously. Although there is a ventilation system built into the costume, simply dancing or jumping can quickly raise our mascot’s body temperature.

Mathieu in a reindeer costume shows us Rodolphe’s helmet and ventilation systemImage: watson

We look at Rodolphe’s costume which seems very bulky to us, Sandra reassures us: “if you put it on, you will see that it is lighter than you think”. I promise, I’ll try it later.

Not” shoot” a kid

Sandra gives final instructions to the “mascot team”, a list of places to visit, some asking the association to come every year. We go to the car and Rodolphe must already be involved????????

Image: watson

Installed in the back seat between Christophe the bodyguard and Chantal the goodie seller, we go to the first stop of our tour which is the city center of Vevey. “We’ll start calmly, it’s only 9 p.m.,” announces our mascot cheerfully. Arriving at the site, we pass by the Christmas market where there are some children. Rodolphe jumps around, greets them, takes them in his arms with great ease, to the laughter of the parents, but also to the knowing look of his team “and to think that he doesn’t see much underneath there”, laughs Béatrice, one of the goodie sellers. Seeing him carry toddlers with ease, we say to ourselves that Mathieu is made for the job.

Little children love Rodolphe, the only problem is he doesn’t really see themwatson

The atmosphere is good-natured, the goodies sell well and the speech is well-practiced. The public who are still at the aperitif are well aware of Operation Red Nose and seem to have organized themselves to return by public transport or with the help of a friend. The team tours the city’s bistros.

As Rodolphe approaches a café, we hear a customer say that our reindeer walks as if he had drunk too much, Christophe his bodyguard responds straight away: “He’s not drunk, he doesn’t see anything, that’s all», the assembly laughed heartily. At the sight of our goodie sellers, the already tipsy customers tell us that they do not need to be taken home by car, because they have all lost their driving licenses. Small moment of silence, embarrassed but approving look from our team. “Knowing this place, they are probably telling the truth,” Béatrice whispers to me.

Heat stroke

Our New Year’s Eve tour continues in the Lac de Bret restaurant in Puidoux where a dancing evening takes place. Like every year, the establishment asks the association to come and spend some time. “The visit to the Nez Rouge helps raise awareness among our customers not to return home tired or under the influence of alcohol, it’s always a pleasure to see Nez Rouge arrive here, the customer likes it, look at them” , says, all smiles, Stéphane, the manager’s son. Indeed, Rodolphe moves around on the dance floor and takes selfies like a Hollywood star.

Rodolphe the reindeer swings his hips on the trail of the Lac de Brent restaurant in PuidouxImage: Photography CH/ Natalia Shingur

But while our mascot seems to be enjoying his best life, he alerts Christophe the bodyguard and signals him to leave the premises.

While Mathieu is recovering from his heat surge, some customers are pacing us: “Aren’t you leaving yet, we want to take photos with him”. A real star, we warned you.

“Garland management”, quite an art for Rodolphe’s bodyguardImage: watson

Volunteering, a priesthood

We take a moment of respite between two destinations, so I ask the team what pushed them to become volunteers for Nez Rouge. For Mathieu, it was obvious:

The joy of our mascot is shared within the team, Christophe, Chantal and Béatrice are also Nez Rouge loyalists. “I started driving for red nose eighteen years ago, at that time I had nothing to do at New Year, because my son went abroad every year with his father. So I found myself alone at home and I decided to become a volunteer,” says Chantal. Mathieu sees volunteering at Nez Rouge as a tradition. “My family knows that I celebrate Christmas with them, but that New Year’s Eve is Red Nose, that’s how it is and that makes me happy.”

The enthusiasm of our Rodolphe is emulated, after Vevey, Lake Bret, we make an impromptu stop at the community hall of Mézières before going to the Barnabé theater café for the midnight countdown. Around 1 a.m., Sandra, the head of the mascot team, asked us to go to Place du Flon, in Lausanne. “You’re going to see me swing my hips at Mad,” says Mathieu, laughing.

Unfortunately for us, the Lausanne journey will be very short, having barely left the Flon car park when we are called back to the Montreux headquarters.
Indeed, Mathieu and Béatrice are also volunteer drivers, they must lend a hand to the team, because the phone calls are pouring in. Arriving in Montreux, our mascot takes a shower, puts on his street clothes and leaves for his first run of the night. Sandra, the mascot manager, waves to me at the back of the room. “You said you’d try on the costume, remember that?” Oops, I can’t get away from it this time.

Image: watson

In the end, she wasn’t wrong, it’s much lighter than I thought, on the other hand, not seeing my feet, I remember the wise advice of my predecessor, “the hardest part is not to “Don’t shoot a kid.” Indeed.