Day Twenty-Six of ORCA in Switzerland – Playing With 360 Video
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Day Twenty-Six of ORCA in Switzerland – Playing With 360 Video

Byrichard

It’s Day 26 and today I was playing with 360 video. Specifically I went for a walk in the woods and placed the camera ahead of me to provide people with the opportunity to look around. Doing this is a risky strategy during the pandemic because if you cross paths with anyone there is nowhere to avoid them. I quickly went back to open space and retreated for home. One runner passed too close.


It’s a cruel paradox of pandemics that the people you would most like to spend with, and the activities you would most like to do are forbidden, and those that are chores are allowed. Shopping is allowed. Meeting people to climb is not, meeting people to cycle is not. Nothing is allowed except putting up with the noise of people not in solitude.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usG77hrI_DU&feature=youtu.be


Today I could stand neither Facebook nor Twitter so I spent time on Flickr insstead. I practiced writing captions by going through some of my images and adding titles and captions. I have over 30,000 images to work through so if I spend enough time I will perfect this skill.


What I want out of social media is to have a pleasant conversation about normal topics. For now social media is about three things. The Disease, thanking people, and blaming others. If you’re not in the mood for this trio of topics then it’s worth closing two tabs.


I continued Reading Pandemic by Sonia Shah. It’s interesting to note that denialism is nothing new when it comes to epidemics and the spread of disease. In the time of Cholera people would censor and hide that the disease was spreading. In another case people chose to take water from a contaminated source, rather than a clean river. Some unethical behaviours have not changed in centuries. Neither has the denialism. We have seen the health impacts of such behaviour. The US will soon reach half a million cases.


Blossom is still coming out from trees so I put the 360 camera right next to some blossom. Explore the image below to get a sense of spring.


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Day Twenty-Five of ORCA in Switzerland – The Passing Of A Friend
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Day Twenty-Five of ORCA in Switzerland – The Passing Of A Friend

Byrichard

Today I learned of the passing of a friend, due to complications after struggling to beat cancer. I was made ready for the news today by a post that he was very sick yesterday. I didn’t know the details at the time. It was one of the first posts I saw on Facebook this morning.


I would go to one of the local pubs and talk with the friend. We were studying on the same course and he worked at the bar so the pub became my living room. As I spent time at the bar I got to know the regulars, but I also got to know the town. I felt that I did know quite a few people well. If life had been different I would have stayed in Weymouth for the summer after the course and spent the summer diving.


Aside from having a pub to visit daily, and a place to read all the newspapers, (pre-smartphone days) he also spoke about martial arts films so I borrowed and watched plenty of Chinese and Hong Kong martial Arts films. It’s becaue I watched such a multitude of Martial arts films that I found Kill Bill such a mediocre film. The editing is too tight and is used to disguise that they are not martial artists.


Busy Shops For The First Time


Today I went to the shops at lunchtime hoping that they would be quiet but I found that the queue was so long that I aborted. When I went to see another shop I found that it too was busy. The queue went for a distance out of the shopping centre. In such a situation I see no logical reason to go to the shops. I’d rather avoid being in the same space as a crowd.


After over a year of thinking about it I finally went to the village shop but the selection was mediocre. It may be as useful as a petrol station shop, rather than a proper alternative to bigger shopping centres.


Public Holidays During a Pandemic


I question the rationale of having public holidays during a pandemic. People can’t do anything, can’t go anywhere and shouldn’t meet up In light of all these limitations I also question the wiseness of having people shopping en masse, to get food for a long weekend, when it runs the risk of spreading the virus.


I went to the shops to get a chocolate rabbit, but a chocolate rabbit is not worth falling sick for.


Surprised by the British


Recently I read Ravenrock, an interesting book looking at how the US had prepared to get the president and essential safe safely into bunkers within minutes in case of nuclear war. They were ready with several contingencies should the need crop up.


With the British PM falling sick, and upon hearing that there is no formal plan for when he’s sick I am surprised. I would expect England to be at least as prepared as the US in terms of succession but apparently this isn’t the case. It’s odd.


Before 17 Mar 2020, we estimate the basic reproduction number R0R0 of COVID-19 at 2.73 (95% confidence interval, CI: 2.42 – 3.12). Transmission decreased with the strengthening of social distancing measures by 78% (95% CI: 66%-90%). This resulted in an effective reproduction number ReRe = 0.59 (95% confidence interval, CI: 0.36 – 0.89). Based on these estimates, we can project the future epidemic trajectory for the coming weeks (Figure).


Social distancing works and Switzerland has been able to quantify it’s effectiveness. Before the 17th of March 2020 the RO number of COVID-19 was 2.73 in Switzerland. After social distancing was enacted the RE number is of 0.59%. It has cut the risk of infection by a factor of five. Put another way before social distancing an infected person could infect up to three people through interacting with them. With social distancing there’s half a chance that a single person will infect another. The report is here.

Day Twenty-Four of ORCA in Switzerland – The Smell of Colza
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Day Twenty-Four of ORCA in Switzerland – The Smell of Colza

Byrichard

Today I walked along roads that would be filled with non-stop traffic if we weren’t in a pandemic. As a result I could enjoy almost the entire walk without avoiding people. In the process I passed by colza fields, an open garden centre and more. The image above is of a colza field, looking towards the lake, the Alps and the Mont Blanc.


I like that flower shops stayed open during the pandemic because it would have been a shame for all those flowers to have been left in the shop to die and become compost without being enjoyed. It’s not that I’m a flower person, but rather that flowers perish, so finding a way to sell them safely makes sense. It also offers moral support for those that need it.


During this pandemic I have hardly used Youtube. It takes so much effort not to watch videos without sensationalist titles that I’ve skipped the network for the most part. I did find some interesting content. The video below is a flight over Petra as a 360 video at 8K resolution. It is worth watching, even if you don’t have a 360 headset.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSiv4TkfSOE


I see people encouraging encouragement to people spending this lockdown in families but I don’t think that spending time with family in a lockdown should be seen as hard or difficult. In fact I think it would be exhausting but it should also be really fun. With to to four year olds you keep them entertained and you keep them entertained. Look at what Jimmy Kimmel and his children got up to.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0xSdI72ZnQ
Who Wants to Be A Millionaire, Family edition


It’s worse for those of us in solitude. Imagine if the only way for you to socialise was to look at your company and visit social media websites like Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Instagram, Wordpress or others. They’re filled with impersonal sensationalist content that really does nothing to make you feel happy and content. Social media has not been the parachute that I hoped it would be.


The problem with social media during a pandemic is that you can’t take a break from the pandemic. It’s either pandemic or pandemic. There’s no other topic to read about. I mention this because i just took a break of sorts to watch this joke of sorts.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5CNHDeF2xA


For a few seconds I was relaxed, refreshed and thinking of other things. I then made the mistake of coming back to twitter and it’s nothing but pandemic talk. I don’t want pandemic talk every second I use Twitter and Facebook, as bizarre as this may seem.


View this post on Instagram

Why the three meter rule? A simple explanation.

A post shared by Richard Azia (@richardazia) on

Day Twenty-Three of ORCA in Switzerland – The Chernobyl Fire
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Day Twenty-Three of ORCA in Switzerland – The Chernobyl Fire

Byrichard

In normal times a forest fire in the Chernobyl exlusion zone would attract attention and environmentalists would actively speak about it. The world would pay attention. Due to the pandemic the news story is low on the agenda.


I mentioned that a coffee shop and a pet shop had reopened on Monday and this morning I read that markets would be allowed to take place. Instead of the usual 160 stands, there would be just 30. In articles When reading other articles I saw that there was a mention that in order to be more confident that the virus was slowing down there would have to be zero transmissions for 14 days or more. We are still far from that today.


A gradual decrease in the number of COVID-19 cases in Switzerland


I’d rather sacrifice for two or three weeks now and preserve summer, than be too hasty, and lose the advantage we seem to have at the moment.



Click the image to read that story from Radio lac. According to Dider Pittet, speaking on RTSInfo we would need two and a half million masks per day to protect people in Switzerland alone. On a global scale many more masks would be needed.


Phone Addiction


Of course during this period when people are stuck at home, unable to socialise in person they are meant to turn towards the phone and use messaging and social media apps to share news with friends and family. Some people use this as an opportunity to say that people are all the more addicted to their phones than before.


I find the opposite is true. Yesterday I forgot my phone at home when I went for a walk and I could easily have gone back upstairs to get it but I didn’t because A) I didn’t need it and B) my walk was going to be short.


I should go for a walk now but I can’t really be bothered. I don’t want to avoid people. I don’t want to overcome my fear of dogs. I would love for this pandemic, so that I could try something different. I’d like to go for a bike ride but if I do that I need to be careful not to stray too far and I still need to avoid people.


The main reason for going out is to get some sunshine.


For exercise I have Zwift.


if you need a reason to stay indoors and to self-isolate watch the video below.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuzP-uLctYE&feature=youtu.be

Day Twenty-Two of ORCA in Switzerland – The Company of Cats

Day Twenty-Two of ORCA in Switzerland – The Company of Cats

Byrichard

Today during my walk this afternoon I surprised a cat on some stairs and I moved patiently. It brushed up against me so I started to stroke it. During this pandemic the only living things I have had physical contact with are cats. During a pandemic, if you’re not living with people, you are very limited.


Yesterday I did go out for a bike ride with a group of people, virtually. Before the ride I was feeling really down, and negative. After the ride I was feeling refreshed and relaxed. For the first time in three weeks I was able to do something physical without having to avoid people, worry about routing or anything else. All I had to do was pedal to the limit of my motivation and endurance.


If we went into full lock down then I would treat it as if we were in winter. I’d train hard, on the indoor trainer, so that when we are finally allowed more freedom in the outdoors I’d be fit enough to explore new routes.


The Shopping situation


When I went to the shops they were the emptiest I’ve seen them in a long time. I didn’t even need to queue to get in, although I did have a brief moment of over-exaggerating my steps as I was behind people walking slower than me. Everyone, or almost, walks slower than me, so that’s not a criticism of the people ahead of me. It’s good for you. You can use entirely different muscle groups as you behave in an eccentric manner. Even the self-checkout was empty, just one other person.


Of course in the process I forgot to buy plain rice so now I’m going to have to cook with wild rice today. I think playing the COVID-19 lottery, by going to the shops once a day, is risky enough. Wild rice is meant to be healthier anyway.


A Slow Down In New Cases


According to the figures I see, and articles in the press, it seems that the Pandemic has reached a plateau and we may be able to feel optimistic about the end coming in two or three weeks. Of course we have to be wary. With good weather more people are going out to enjoy the conditions, and the likelihood of another flareup is high if people are not careful.


Having said this I saw a tweet that the Canton De Vaud judiciary is going to start work again today, I saw that a shop selling coffee was open again and that a pet shop was open again too. These could be seen as signs, that more people are optimistic that things are improving.


Societal Change


I see that people are discussing whether society will have changed when this is all over and I believe that it will not have because of two key reasons. The first is that the wealthy, those with the power to effect change, will not have suffered like those that do not have the power to effect change. As a result many things will remain the same.


The second factor is rate of infection. When China was infected every other nation on earth had the opportunity to react, but as we see, after Italy was infected, no societies changed. Switzerland, France, Spain, The United Kingdom and the United States did not change.


It took governments saying “stay home, and self-isolate” for people to take action. To me this is a clear sign that the societal change people idealise is just that, an ideal.


Update: Victorian England was afraid of germs and diseases, which is why they wore white gloves and tried to keep their homes clean. The problem is that the paint they used to cover their walls was poisoning them, as was makeup and other elements of everyday life.


Side Effect



I have seen the headline in French and English that according to some people, the earth is less seismically active than usual. As none of the reputable news services have written about this story I am seeing it as just a curiousity, rather than something serious. It’s more likely that with less traffic, whether cars, trucks or planes, that seismometers, may detect less background noise.


In theory now would be the perfect time to have the LHC running, as there is less background noise.

Day Twenty-One of ORCA in Switzerland – A Morning Walk
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Day Twenty-One of ORCA in Switzerland – A Morning Walk

Byrichard

I had a morning walk this morning because I found that there are too many people to avoid during my afternoon walks. During my morning walk I took images of flowering plants, bees collecting pollen from flowers, roses budding and Apple orchards getting ready to blossom.


During the walk I also listened to two Echo Der Zeit episodes in a row. I like to listen during my walks because I’m taking the opportunity to get used to hearing German, and as I become more fluent, so I can understand a bigger proportion of the podcast.


In Switzerland the discussion about whether to close tourism sites continues although for me the answer is simple. During a pandemic you should entertain yourself as close to home as possible. Every one of my walks starts at home and reaches as far as I can walk in an hour. The trip back might bring it to two hours but I’m within a radius of five kilometres of my home and i am staying local.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpc8FXhbWIw
Video of traffic at lunchtime at the Nyon motorway bridge.


The motorway is almost empty. At the same time of day in normal conditions both lanes would be filled and you would struggle to see decent gaps between cars. Now the gaps are large and it would be a pleasure to drive.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Umk7gU2bVCk
In normal times this road would be full of traffic


Normally this road is filled with traffic on a Sunday as people head to and from Nyon and it’s surroundings. Today we see large gaps in traffic as so few people are getting into their cars for activities. Traffic, at least on weekends has declined.


In Grens you can see a sign from around this time still pinned to a notice board.


I followed the link because i was afraid that there was a new pandemic rule forbidding us from using vehicles on Sunday. Luckily it’s from a century ago.


Now that we’re entering week four of the pandemic it’s appropriate to mention this open letter. In the last three days I’ve seen two different neighbours have guests over three times. Tomorrow will be the fourth week from self-isolation where we have not been able to socialise in person and it does have a cost. We can’t shake hands, we can’t have a conversation from a normal speaking distance.


“Study after study demonstrates that even if there is only a little bit of connection between groups (i.e. social dinners, playdates/playgrounds, etc.), the epidemic trajectory isn’t much different than if there was no measure in place.”

Open Letter from Jonothan Smith, Epidemologist, yale University.


Apathetic and selfish people, who continue to socialise, and continue to see different people are making it so that those of us taking the pandemic will need to sacrifice for longer before the end of the pandemic. It does feel interminable. We chose to start self-isolating as individuals six weeks ago and now we’re in week four of forced self-isolation, and because people are not respecting the rules, it feels as if there is no end in sight for this pandemic.


In England those who like to spend time outdoors for walks, for runs and for bike rides are afraid that the selfishness of some will result in the removing of their last freedom. Enforced solitude and the ensuing loneliness is detrimental to people’s well being. Having the freedom to go for a walk, a bike ride or a run is beneficial because for half an hour to two hours we can spend time with our thoughts, but also distracted by the landscape in which we find ourselves.


The worst thing about losing the freedom to go for walks, runs or bike rides is that we lose the safety valve that enables us to cope with isolation. It also takes away our access to sunshine and daylight. If we’re stuck indoors without our daily walks we will see a deterioration in health. That in turn will lead to more preventable deaths.


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A bee pollinating


See if you can spot the bee.

Day Twenty of ORCA in Switzerland – An Island of Tranquility
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Day Twenty of ORCA in Switzerland – An Island of Tranquility

Byrichard

Today I went on my daily walk and found an island of tranquility. Instead of walking in one direction I reversed it. In doing so I saw the river from another point of view. I was on a trail and saw that I could get down to the riverbed and did. I saw a tree lying from one bank to the other and I thought, “Look, a bridge” but of course I didn’t cross it because I’d have fallen in.


Today’s walk was shorter than usual and there are two reasons for it. The first is that I’ve walked the routes so many times over the last three summers that I’m in need of a change. The second reason is that today it was warm, it’s a Saturday, and it’s warm.


All of these factors meant that people were motivated to go out for a walk. When too many people go out during a pandemic the challenge of not walking within three meters is more pronounced.


As I got close to home, and saw how many people were walking I thought that the last four hundred meters would be really challenging. I thought I would have to find a quiet spot and watch for a gap in pedestrian traffic before I could walk home. Luckily that fear stayed theoretical.


I had planned to ride the bike indoors when I got home but then I got distracted with the need to work on a motivation letter but this was interrupted by a phone call and now it’s time for dinner and I have to write the blog post first.



I want to keep my daily routine up. I want to keep discipline. I also want to be ready for when life gets back to normal. I want to know that I set daily goals and I reach them consistently for weeks or months at a time. I am on day 208 of my German practice streak for example.


“COVID-19”, as people have been saying, “is not a holiday. It’s a pandemic. Stay home, and self-isolate.” Did you notice the shift from “social isolation” to “self-isolation”. I prefer the second term. I am self-isolating. I am keeping myself company, and at the end of the day, after having conversations via whatsapp or other apps I have a conversation with myself, in the form of writing. By the end of my “write a blog post task” I feel rested and relaxed, and I often feel my mood lift. It’s serving me well.


Now I can prepare dinner.

Day Nineteen of ORCA in Switzerland – TGIF
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Day Nineteen of ORCA in Switzerland – TGIF

Byrichard

Do you have that TGIF feeling like no one else does? In theory today is the day when people are happy, knowing that the weekend is about to start and they can do the things they love for the next two days. In this context though, that is unlikely. We’re meant to stay home.


This weekend is going to be extra special because the temperature is meant to reach 20°c, i.e. summer temperatures and so people will go out like ants on an applecore by the side of the road. If ever a weekend was likely to see a boom of cases next Friday it’s this one. According to the Swiss government people are good at following the rules but I still see examples of inconsiderate behaviour, both by young and not so young people.


Google has come up with the Google COVID-19 Mobility report. You may already be familiar with the discussion centered around how governments are asking telecom operators to provide them with mobile phone information about where and whether people are gathering.


Telecom operators, and application makers already have some information of where we are, where we’re gathering, how often we’re commuting and more. Google is making that data available in reports by countries. As I was curious to see this data I looked up Switzerland and then Geneva and Vaud.



The beauty of this data is that it shows the lag between the time people were told to stay home and when they did. It’s also to see where the peaks for parks, pharmacies and transit were. Last week we read about how the CFF are reducing the number of trains running. Today I was listening to the Don’t Touch Your Face episode discussing “The Airline Industry crashes“.



It’s interesting to think about transportation. Geneva is a city, and for a walker like me everything is within walking distance, if I have enough time. Vaud is larger so people are more used to using the car. This may explain why Vaud has a 68 percent drop in public transport use whereas Geneva has an 84 percent drop. Retail and recreation dropped by almost the same amount.



It’s interesting to compare Greater London with Geneva and Vaud because we see that the curves for transit and retail are more gradual, more rounded. The graphs suggest that Londoners started self-isolating of their own accord, and so when the order was given by the government to do so there was no great change. Of course the timescale is different so this might explain the softer change.


To some degree this pandemic is interesting because of all the data we can collect. Between blogs, instagram feeds, tweets, Facebook updates, mobile phone movements and more we really get a granular look at how the pandemic has affected people’s movements and habits.


During the post-pandemic discussions, studies and reports there will be millions of data points for people to study. Data analysts are going to have fun. So are big-data historians. This is a unique opportunity to see what worked, how long it took to be effective and more.


It’s a shame that Facebook and Twitter are so filled with marketers and PR professionals, rather than conversationalists. We’re going to have to see what remains of individual interactions later.


Do you have any interesting graphs or metrics to share?

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Day Eighteen of ORCA in Switzerland – Plumbing and Scuba Diving.

Byrichard

Plumbing and scuba diving are not unrelated. If you understand o-rings and pipe/hose connections then you’ll be fine. I dismantled a system, cleaned it, and then reassembled it, checked for leaks and then ran the tap to see if all was well. Once I saw that everything was indeed well, I struggled to place the drawers and then moved onto the next issue. 


My website was hacked again so I am now writing this blog post in the day one app, rather than directly to the blog. During a pandemic it’s frustrating to find that your website is hacked because life is already limited without adding new issues. 


Facebook and Twitter have still not been reinstalled on my phone. I see no reason for them to return. The beauty of not having either on your phone is that it takes longer to post something negative, so a negative thought, is abandoned .





Last night I watched two episodes of iZombie and for the first three quarters of the episode I thought I had found something that I would enjoy watching during this pandemic. Since then I’m not sure. We’ll see how it goes when I watch an episode or two today.


To Shop Or Not to Shop


I have the nagging feeling that I should go and shop today, so that I can skip the need to go tomorrow or the next day but when I check the fridge I have food for at least three days, and even a fourth. I think I still have a week of reserves so shopping is not urgent.


Is it worth going through the maze in front of the shop, to disinfect my hands, to grab a number, and then to go into the shop and get some drinks, and leave.


Back in the good old days, before the pandemic, people such as myself would think “I want a bottle of Apple juice” and we’d walk to the shop, buy a bottle of apple juice and it would take a minute or two. The same behaviour today would see you queue for half an hour. I hate queuing and because the rate of infection is not going down as fast as I would like I am happy to stay isolated.


In normal circumstances if I had seen that the sink was blocked I would have gone to buy a plunger and I’d have had some fun playing with it. Of course my goal would have been serious, but humour is useful in surreal times. “How was the pandemic for you?” “Surreal, but nice”.


I like writing blog posts because it’s like having a conversation. You start with an idea and you develop it, and you start to play and have fun, and by the time you finish writing a blog post you have cheered up. The solitary nature of this pandemic is negated for a short moment.

Day Seventeen of ORCA in Switzerland – April Fool’s During Self Isolation
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Day Seventeen of ORCA in Switzerland – April Fool’s During Self Isolation

Byrichard

April Fool’s during self isolation is not fun. People made jokes about how our freedoms would be limited even further. In ordinary situations those jokes would be detected but because we have the freedom to get food, go for walks, and sit at home we have no other rewards as such. One of the jokes was that bandwidth would be throttled. The second was that Strava would be used to track people and the third was that bikes with handlebars would be allowed but not racing style bikes.


There is a fear that those jokes will be implemented too easily. During a pandemic little things matter.



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I decided that to avoid people I would do some more exploring. I explored along the usual river but this time I walked under one bridge and went along the river to another bridge and then went onto my usual path. The route was good because I hardly had to avoid anyone and when I did encounter people I could walk through the grass and give more than three meters.



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In some places the river has some nice deep pools. They would be good to jump into in the middle of summer. The river is shallow, so it could also be an interesting place to try river walking if it’s allowed. I haven’t checked. There are quite a few small waterfalls along the path. They are just 30 centimeters or so high, so nothing to drive too far to see.


Either the walk tired me or I’m still fatigued from being in self-isolation for seventeen days. I need to recharge and refresh myself before tomorrow.


What I listened to.


During the walk I listened to the liferaft episode of 13 minutes to the moon and it was so interesting that when young people tried to get my attention I ignored them and continued listening to the podcast. I also didn’t want to encourage them to get too close to me. In a pandemic, children have a tendency to approach. I thought of telling a three or four year old to stay away yesterday but the father did instead.


People always say “you should be happy with what you have, it could be worse” and today I thought “Yeah, you could be in Aquarius during the Apollo 13 mission when the oxygen tank blew up”. We’re not in that scenario. Our biggest challenge is dealing with a new form of solitude if you want to use a positive word, and loneliness if you want to use the negative one.


Couples and parents can only dream of this solitude.


I really recommend listening to this podcast. I tried listening to others but at the moment my ability to listen to certain content has fallen through the floor so I’ve been unsubscribing. I’m looking for informative and interesting podcasts, with as little superficiality as possible.


When most of your social interactions are via social media sensationalism becomes toxic. That’s why I’m using computer games, Flickr and other forms of “entertainment” to fill the time.


It’s 1900 and the sun is still up.