A long drive without stops
I didn’t have time to write today.
More Cowbell
Tomorrow I will be driving for twelve hours and I hope that I find it as relaxing as the last drive but I doubt that I will be that lucky. We will see how traffic and other conditions are.
I hope that I have a good two or three audiobooks to listen to, so that I may be entertained and focused. We will see.
Nothing to write
Nothing stood out today
Walking Without Masks During a Pandemic
For many people walking without masks during a pandemic is normal. This is confusing. We have known for months, or even seasons that the virus is airborne and that masks are a simple way to keep safe. Despite this people walk by the seaside without masks. It’s not just that they walk without wearing masks, but that they do not seem to be visible.
I can’t imagine walking without a mask. Even when I’m walking across fields with little chance of crossing paths with people my mask is at hand, ready to be worn. I actually go out of my way not to walk within two meters of people, especially people without masks. I always have a mask with me, and recently I started to favour an FFP2 mask, over ffp1 masks, because I feel safer. I am still likely to wear masks whenever I am within four meters of people.
It takes one second to put on a mask, and to remove it. Today I wore it while walking about eight kilometres. It doesn’t bother me to walk with a mask. It is progress, for me to be within towns and cities, during this pandemic. I prefer the countryside, empty roads, empty agriculutal roads, empty trails.
I went for a bike ride in the evening. 30 kilometres in one and a half hours. Nothing to challenge me, but the bike couldn’t cope. It kept skipping chain links and gears. That is distracting. I reached my goal, and then returned to the start point.
Dismantling A Crane
Have you seen someone walking along the gantry of a crane to detach the counterweight for a crane? I did. Today. He was clipped in, as you would assume but I am unclear as to whether he went clack clack like we do on via ferrata.
Would you want to do this. I don’t think I would mind, if I was secured properly. I also wouldn’t mind if I had the time to get used to being high again.
In Spain I have the funny sensation that I am drinking pool water every time I drink water from the tap. It rained at least twice during my time in Spain and the pool has gone from 21c to 18c so today I jumped in with my semi dry suit. With a semi dry suit you can jump in to cold water and although you feel a cool trickle of water you don’t get cold. I used it often for cold water diving.
If you’re looking for a November challenge then could I suggest this course? 100 day web developer course 2022. An eighty hour challenge for the motivated. It’s currently 9chf instead of 89chf. It’s worth buying.
Holidays Break Streaks
Today is a rainy day so I have less of interest to write about. The rain fell this morning. It continued until this afternoon. Rain is an excuse not to go for a daily walk. It is an opportunity for a rest day.
Yesterday my 770 plus day streak on Duolingo was broken because I was too distracted to take a lesson. I wanted to break that streak. I didn’t want to break it intentionally. I wanted it to be by accident. I accomplished that goal. Now I am free to reset and work on creating a new routine that is better suited to the new goals. The focus will be web development, whether JSON-LD, JS, WordPress, or more.
I am currently reading Cow Pie Water. The book was written either as a series of blog posts or journal entries and transports you along their PCT hike. Many of the posts are short and to the point. If you have a blog and want to turn it into a book then use this as inspiration. Use a proofreader . It feels as if they simply cut their journal/blog from online, to e-book or book.
The advantage of writing, rather than vlogs or podcasts, is that you can read it in your own time, and with less engagement, You can read five minutes a day, but a podcast or video five minutes a day would be time consuming and ineffectice People lose focus. My reading backlog is growing.
Every so often I see that I am not the only one calling for a shift from social media back to blogging. This is positive. Blogging is chronological, and the community is smaller. Adverts, marketing and algorithms do not try brainwash you to become a tool. We reconnect as individuals. We are no longer a follower, we are individuals, especially if we are active within the groups.
Blue sky is re-emerging now.
I sat that I broke my Duolingo habit. I didn’t. I replaced it, over time, with the habit of writing a blog post every single day for months now. this is an acceptable switch.
A Walk By The Mediterranean
We can’t all head to the mountains and the slopes that lack snow. Some of us head south to the coast. The weather is good and the air is warm enough. It is warm enough for me, not just to consider swimming but to actually do it.
The sea is blue and green as usual with waves breaking. I saw a few orange buoys but I am unsure about whether they are for diving boats or swimmers. Usually for divers they are not so visible.
Dive sites are more stealthy.
The path is clear and easy to follow. It is green and white.
I went for a swim today. I went in an unheated pool, rather than the sea. I could go to the sea but that requires driving and organisation. Swimming in a pool doesn’t.
I don’t like getting into cold water. It tingles. I managed to swim for about ten minutes but if I put my head and brought it back up then it felt cold. I like to be warm. Swimming in cold water when I am not hot to start with, goes against my natural instincts.
I try to alternate between walking, cycling and swimming, to work different parts of the body.
In Switzerland the number of Covid sick is going up and the government is doing nothing to slow it down or stop it. It is allowing people to fall sick despite one fifth of people who fall sick developing long Covid. I am tired of the pandemic, but not enough to give up on maintaining safe habits like wearing a mask, social distancing and more. For as long as I do not fall sick with long Covid there is hope. It is worth staying Covid free, despite the social isolation it results in.
spain | Sports | Swiss walks | travel
The Arches
If you are looking for a sport easy walk with a little scrambling, walk to the rock arches. Two holes have been eroded into the rock providing two natural arches.
You can walk up to both arches but it’s better to go on a quiet day. This place is not a good place for big groups. Children could enjoy the opportunity to see geography in action. Children should be supervised on this walk, especially along two sections of the path, and at the arch itself.
This is the type of vegetation you will see. Some orchards, some pine trees, vineyards and more.
When we drove there I noticed that the spider webs were backlit by the sun so I tried to capture at least one. This is a good time of day for a walk because spiders, or at least their webs, are more visible.
Despite the possibility of being trodden some flowers did manage to grow out of the path.
People Walking Along The Sea
I can’t focus when I am not in my usual writing spot, so I am not bothering. I finally get to enjoy a few hours of rain after long periods without. I still want to see rain in Switzerland but for that I need to be in Switzerland. I also have nothing to write because I didn’t spend time in thought, or do anything noteworthy.
A Rainy Day And Masks
Plenty of rain today.
Plenty of people wear masks, both outdoors and indoors. You also see people wearing masks on television.