Yesterday I walked in light persistent rain for around two hours and my trousers got a little wet. The rain was heavy enough for me not to be dry, but not heavy enough to soak me. During the walk I noticed, at one point, that the rain seemed to be aerosolised, floating upwards and sideways rather than straight down. The wind was picking up so I suspect that it’s the wind that changed the properties and behaviour of the rain.

This weekend I could have cycled on Saturday and Sunday but I chose not to because I am finally feeling recovered from my cold. I did not want to overdo it by cycling, and getting cold. With hiking I can dress warmly and go at a more relaxed pace. I noticed that the pace at the Arboretum, and up to La Dôle, were the same. We walked at about 3.9km/h, which, by my standards is slow.

Recently whist playing with Galaxus TV which is just free to air television, made available via Galaxus rather than a satellite dish I have been able to revert to the habit of watching niche documentaries, as I used to years ago, when I lived in a house with a satellite dish. The beauty of broadcast television, in contrast to streaming services, is that you have high quality content that was good enough for broadcast.

This morning, as I drove towards the shops I noticed that the Jura was covered in snow, but I also noticed that the trees looked nice and wintery. For this reason, rather than driving to the shops directly I took a detour to the foot of the Jura, got out of the car and walked for a bit. My reason for walking a short distance, rather than a long distance was that I wasn’t equipped with the right shoes, or the right hat, and I had little to keep my neck and face warm.

Some people would have skipped this morning’s ride because it was cold. The temperature was forecast to be minus two degrees celsius and with the wind chill factor, and regional differences it could have felt like minus 5°c or cooler. I skipped because the cold that has been annoying me for days is still around. Yesterday I was feeling much better and I had a big appetite,I thought it would be good to have another day of recovery.

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.