For years I never had a cold because I was living in social self-isolation because I thought we still lived in the same age as when I was in Weymouth during the Foot and Mouth Epidemic. During that epidemic we avoided going to the new forest, we ensured our shoes were cleaned if going to certain places and we ensured that eradication was possible. During the COVID pandemic for many, many months there was the concrete goal of COVID zero, to eradicate the disease but beause of the wrong people being in power in the right countries at the wrong time, it was allowed to become endemic.

A few days ago I removed Google Adsense from this blog because of two reasons. The first is that Google Adsense automatic ad placement is spam like, rather than reasonable. Ads are placed too frequently, and they obstruct us from reading content. The second reason is that on a low traffic site like mine it takes years between payouts. This means that I pester readers, without getting anything in return.

Garmin connect isn’t as smart as I thought. I thought that if I used the Explore 2 with a heart rate belt, that I would get training status and training readiness. For a week I was tracking with the Explore 2 as my primary tracker. Data is missing. It’s a shame that it doesn’t work as expected because if I could wear a normal watch while cycling, rather than the instinct 2, then I would avoid tracking the same workout twice.

I often walk between towns and villages and in so doing I notice how overwhelming cars have become. If you walk from a village to a town, you have to contend with busy roads. These busy roads are often like deep rivers. Sometimes you need to wait for several minutes before you can cross. At other times you notice that cars see you at a crossing but they don’t slow down in anticipation of your wanting to cross.

During yesterday’s bike ride, at dawn, I noticed that grass near Grens was coated in a thin layer of frost. I also noticed that when we cycled in some places it felt much cooler than in others. I also felt the paradox of thicker gloves, and colder fingers. It seems that the thin gloves are more effective. I noticed the frost because of a conversation people ahead of me were having.

The more I use Whatsapp, in the Post pandemic age, the more toxic I find it. Last night I wrote something innocent. I wrote about rotisserie chicken and the temptation to have some before drinks. So far, so normal. Someone I never met, and never talked with, in person, put a crying emoji and I don’t remember whether there was a comment or not. I wrote about how plants and trees have distress signals too, and that we should worry about their emotions too.

In 2006-2007 when Jaiku and Forums had threads, these made conversations flow. When Twitter was a chatroom conversations flowed too, until the arrival of the hashtag. The issue with the hashtag is that it brought in people who are toilet social media browsers, rather than habitual social media participants. I could have written users, but that is part of the issue with Social Media and Utilitarianism. Two decades ago, back in 2007 or so I thought about the conversation about ROI for PR firms, brands and more on Twitter and every time I asked, “But what about ROI for human beings, normal users?

Sunday bike rides are not as common as Saturday bike rides so when I committed to the Eysins Raclette event I thought it wouldn’t matter. I didn’t count on having a Sunday bike ride. Before a bike ride I like to have a high protein, high carbohydrate meal. I like to have plenty of energy to burn the next morning, in the hope that my endurance will be good enough to last for the ride, with some bars or gels along the way.

Walking three kilometres one way, and then back is easy. It takes about half an hour for me. If I walk fast then it takes less time. For me, walking is easy. Using the foot scooter is more of an effort too because it requires the use of different muscle groups, than walking, cycling, and running. I find that when I go a certain distance on the scooter my hip muscles get more tired.

Yesterday I hesitated to wake up to go for the Coffee and Croissant loop. I decided to go anyway. This ride was at a relaxed pace. It’s amusing. When I left home I could see a beautiful sunrise, with nice light, and clear skies. By the time we started the ride mist had come up and we were riding through humid clouds. It was so wet I saw drops of water falling from my glasses as they condensed during the ride.