Getting Around by Foot Scooter

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.

A Spontaneous Ride to Mont Tendre Following the Wrong Route

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.

On Driving Into Geneva and Walking

Today I had to go into Geneva to do something Initially my plan was to drive to the Parking St Antoine. As I got towards Secheron and the P&R parking I thought, “I have time, I’ll park here and walk the rest”. I did park, and then I did walk. I know that some people drive the car and park as close as they can to where they’re going, even in town.

On Instagram's Video Saturation

A day or two I opened the Instagram app and I scrolled down without seeing a single photo so I deleted the app from my phone. There was a time when instagram was a photo sharing network between friends, and friends of friends. Now it has become a video spamming platform for influencers we have never, and will never met. In essence it has become worthless, hence the uninstall. I noticed that Threads was also saturated in video.

The Up and Down Flat Ride

Yesterday I went for a bike ride. When I looked at the route I thought “this looks like a nice calm, relaxed ride. It wasn’t. I rode with group 2, which is a fast group, going uphill at 20-40 km/h on certain segments. You might look at a cycling route and think “this looks flat, it doesn’t go to the top of the Jura” but don’t let that mislead you. When you’re riding at the foot of the Jura it’s easy to climb, and then descend, and then climb again, and then descend, and then climb yet again.

AI and the Cult of the Lazy Amateur

We are all familiar with the phrase. We learn better when we write things by hand, rather than when we type them on the keyboard. For decades people have been against typing, saying “It’s cold, it’s dead, it’s impersonal”. Those same people will then say “you have awful handwriting” and yet still feel nostalgia for hand written notes. In the age of AI more is being lost. Ten Thousand Hours of Practice When people my age were growing up, if you wanted to sing, you needed to devote ten thousand hours to develop tone, timber and a good voice.

A Cold Morning Bike Ride

Yesterday morning I felt a little under the weather so I considered skipping the 07:00 ride. I didn’t because I thought that I would regret not going, if I did not go. In the process I got to ride with the autumn/winter tyres and this time they felt less laggy than before. Two days ago, when I was ready to go for a ride I noticed that the tyre was flat.

A Bike Ride and Noise Pollution

Yesterday afternoon I heard some very loud banging. I thought that it was due to an idiot driving a farming machine into something solid and they were trying to fix the damage. As it continued it made me furious. It’s for this reason that I decided to spend the rest of the afternoon on my bike. When I rode by the absurd people making a huge amount of noise I saw that they were hammering at the bed of their flat bed truck.

Strava Conversational Tools

The sun is shining. For a day or two the grey Autumn weather is gone. This would be a good time for a spontaneous bike ride. The issue with this is that Strava is great for sharing activities that are planned in advance, and those that have passed. It’s easy to get kudoes. It isn’t easy to converse. They have instant messaging but it is only available via the mobile phone app, rather than from the web interface.

Cycling to the Airport and Ice Skating

A week ago I proposed a bicycle ride to Mies, before stopping at the Port de Crans for coffee. Quite a few people joined the chat but no one committed to turning up. I woke up in the morning and said “I’m thinking of setting off early, since no one had confirmed. When no one said “wait, wait, wait” I set off on my bicycle ride. The conditions were excellent. I was warm, the roads were quiet, and the views were pleasant.