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Within the last week I tried to wear shoes that I bought two or three years ago. I tried them on because although I love the Trail Glove 7 shoes I don’t like their durability. I find that they last from four to six months before being worn enough for my heel to hit the ground hard enough to become painful.

In theory I should work on my stride, to change how the foot strikes the ground, and ensure that I have a softer, more gentle foot fall. In practice the shoes feel fine until the soles of the shoes get worn beyond a certain point, and that’s when impacting the ground begins to hurt, especially after walking for an hour and a half or more.

Recently I have been using the Radio France app for iPhone and came across a set of three podcasts looking at Russia and its move towards digital sovereignty. This is a set of three podcasts looking at how Russia has tried to seperate itself from the internet, but especially from US influence.

Russia is not alone in trying to do this. Europe is making an effort, as is Asia, and Asia, and Australia. The problem, at this moment in time, is that if the US government catches a cold, to use a metaphor from last millenium, the world falls sick.

Yesterday for the first time in a week and a half I went for a bike ride. I was thinking that I would ride with the lazy group. That is to say “group 3” as it is commonly called. Due to the lower turnout for this weekend there was no differentiation between groups. I felt fine, for the first part. It’s when we start to climb, and descend, and climb again, and descend that I began to feel exhausted.

For two years they worked on a motorway bridge. For two years they cut down trees, added tons of soil, and then widened roads for cars. Never during that time did they consider that people might want to walk along the most direct route from A to B.

More recently I have been walking into and out of town and for a while I had to walk on a dirt path. I had to avoid heavy machinery, large puddles, and cross the road on a busy road several times.

This morning I set the alarm for five thirty, and I recharged my bike lights, head unit and more. I decided that if I felt good, and full of energy I would go for the group ride. I slept through the night and woke up feeling fresh, but I skipped the ride.

I had a cold, and when I got better from the cold I was double vaccinated against the flu and COVID. I then slept like crap two nights ago and now I feel good.

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. So slow, that, if I was feeling healthy, might have felt too slow. Since I wanted to rest and recover I accepted this speed.

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. The other advantage is that content is available two to three episodes per day, rather than all at once as is the case with Netflix, among other platforms.

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.