Frozen Fountain Water

Frozen Fountain Water

Byrichard

Although the name of this blog post is bizarre it is inspired by the site of a fountain with a big block of ice, serving as a mirror to the tree, and sun, in front of me. The weather is still nicer, more springlike than it has been. More people are out on bikes cycling together. They are taking advantage of the good weather. In theory we could have rain in the next few days but the likelihood, as usual, is very low. An app said that it could be 90 percent certain, but I think it is 100 percent unlikely.


Frozen Fountain Water
Frozen Fountain Water


During the entirety of this pandemic I have hardly seen any rain, and if it did rain then it cleared up by the time I went for my afternoon walk. If we were not in a pandemic then I would love this weather, as it would mean going on adventures every single week. As we are in a pandemic it just means more people to avoid when out on my daily walks.


As things are going I think this spring and summer will be an unsafe one because those that should be working towards covid zero, are being complacent now that hospitalisations are declining. They are failing to take this type of findings seriously: Long Covid study finds abnormality in lungs that could explain breathlessness.


“They suggest that the efficiency of the lung in doing what it is meant to do – exchange carbon dioxide and oxygen – may be compromised, even though the structure of the lung appears normal,”

Claire Steves, King’s college: as accessed on 29/01/2022.


Several governments are looking at the low numbers in hospitals without spending any time discussing the prevalence and effects of Long Covid. They may be sleep walking into an entire generation of people with damaged lungs.


Solitude hurts, but after having a broken arm for one summer, I have learned that injuries are worse, than playing it safe. I will not expose myself to Covid-19 unless I am forced to.

A Frosty Morning

A Frosty Morning

Byrichard

Yesterday we had rain and with that rain came a night cold enough for everything to be covered in ice. As I came out of the train station in Nyon I could feel my feet slip frequently. In the process walking was treacherous for those who are not experienced with the pleasure of walking on ice. For others it is an opportunity to look for possible pictures.





On a minivan I saw this pattern on the windowscreen. Water seems to have been blown by the wind at just the right speed to create this fun little pattern. It’s the type of pattern we should look for right before defrosting a car. This isn’t my car so I was just looking to see whether it was a boring sheet or more. In this case it looks like pine needles from a pine tree so it’s nice to look at. Nature finds elegant solutions.





The second pattern of interest I saw was on this pond. When the wind is calm during morning hours the building reflects in the pond. Today the reflection includes a pattern of ice, to add character.


Tuesday should be a good day to hunt for possible images. The air temperature is meant to go down to -6c in the morning. It only lasts for one day so it’s not ideal for proper ice pictures but if there is enough wind then the lakeside could look as it did two or three years ago.

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On thermal inversions

Byrichard

Thermal inversions are a great part of life in valleys. Whilst you’re living down in the glacial trough you’re waking up every morning to the knowledge that you won’t see the sun for the next few days… until the wind shifts.

If you’ve got the time during daylight hours though you have the option of going up to the mountains. It’s at this point that you can enjoy the sun. As you walk in the Jura at the moment you’ll find that there are long plaques of ice and they’re slippy whilst in direct sunlight. In the shade traction from normal shoes is possible and walking is not that complicated.

There are different types of ice, that which is transparent, where you see the leaves and other objects, that which is white, from too much oxygen and then the mixture where it’s a little of both.

Many families were walking today, some were struggling and others treated the landscape like a giant playground. Some people spoke French, others, German, Italian, Spannish and more. It was international.

Sometimes when I walk there are hardly any sounds and it’s good, a break from London and student life.

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On it being cold but sunny

Byrichard

It’s winter, I can tell. There are icicles hanging from the metal parts and the wooden covers are on fountains to prevent them from freezing entirely. Add to this my birthday yesterday and the winter tires today and there’s no mistaking this time of year.

I worked on my dissertation yesterday, seeing how familiar I am with certain elements of the documentary genre. I watched a few open university documentaries about the university and there’s one that makes me want to go back to Sienna to see the building in more detail. I’ll wait till the summer.