Autumnal Colours

Byrichard
Reading Time: < 1 minute

One of the great things about using the word Autumn, rather than Fall, is that we can say that something looks Autumnal. We can say it with a single word. With the word Fall, you need to add context. Fall sounds like something people do when they make a mistake and lose their balance. I prefer Autumn, it is a nicer word.

Autumn colours - a tree that is turning
Autumn colours – a tree that is turning

At least the colours are changing, and the weather is still for t-shirts. It is still warm. I am uninspired to write today.

Autumn leaves
Autumn leaves

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Thirty Kilometres Per Day

Thirty Kilometres Per Day

Byrichard

The Swiss travel an average of 30 kilometres per day in their cars, according to a new survey shared by the Radio Television Suisse.


I walk 14 to twenty kilometres per day, and if I go for a bike ride I travel 30 kilometres. I use the car twice a week, for food shopping and that’s mainly because of the 15 minute rule for refrigerated food, rather than laziness. During the pandemic I would do food shopping with the car but pick up the drinks by going for a walk. It’s a one hour trip to the shops and back for me. 


My single biggest frustration with walking as I do in Switzerland is the network of roads that lead from everywhere to everywhere, with no pedestrian paths for walkers or cyclists. Some villages and streets are designed for cars, with no pedestrian option. No pavement, no cycle path. No limit to 20 km/h. It’s assumed that people will use the car, rather than walk. This is astounding.


When I drive I show respect for walkers and cyclists. I slow down to pass them, on narrow roads, and on wide roads I go to the opposite side of the road to pass cyclists and walkers. To reduce the need for cars people need to be able to get from their homes to walks and cycling lanes, without risking dangerous drivers. For five years I have walked more than driven. For five years I have seen how cars behave with. pedestrians and cyclists. For five years the toxic behaviour has encouraged me to drive with humanity, but also to desire a switch away from cars. We should not automatically get into a car to do things. We should automatically get our walking shoes on, or get on our bikes. 


“Il y a un énorme travail à faire. C’est une question d’horaire, pour qu’on puisse se déplacer le soir et le week-end dans les heures creuses. C’est aussi une question de destinations: il faut que les transports publics soient facilités à destination des régions touristiques”


In brief, Vincent Kaufman says that public transport needs to be spread across the day, not just at peak times, but also that transport needs to be later in the evening, when people who want to go out socialising need to have transport. That’s what I have said for years, or even decades. We see how London makes it easy to get around even at night, whether with tubes until midnight or later, now, or night buses. 


In the video interview he also speaks about how the Swiss transport network is geared towards commuters rather than pleasure seekers. I find this both paradoxical and ironic, since so many adverts encourage people to take public transport. Having said that, transport is to the tourist traps, rather than areas of unique and outstanding beauty, which is why I suffered so much, without a car one summer, and without the ability to drive a second summer. That’s why I pivoted to local walks and bike rides. 


If there is an alternative to the car people will use it. If the alternative to cars is cheaper, then people will use it. I have happily explored every walk and bike route from Geneva, and even Yvoire to the West, and Lausanne to the East. I think that I know almost every road, via biking. For walking I think I know most paths within a two hour walking range of my current home. I used to go to the mountains every weekend, like described in the article, but with the pandemic, job insecurity, a broken arm and a summer without the car I have learned to walk and cycle. 


Two Frustrations


My two frustrations are, first, that dog walkers don’t keep their dogs on leashes, so at least six times I have been attacked by dogs. People love to say “If you’re not afraid of a dog then it won’t attack”, that’s great, but then I am being attacked, precisely because I am scared, which is why I am scared in the first place. A few days ago I thought that my fear of being bitten would be realised but I had the right response. Principally I froze. 


The second frustration is that cars do not respect cyclists and pedestrians. Every single day cars drive too fast by me. When I drive by people I either give them space, if there is space, or I overtake pedestrians at slightly more than walking pace. 


And finally


I went from using the car seven days a week, for almost anything, to using the car just twice a week, and only because I need it for shopping. I have gone from driving one or two hundred kilometres a weekend, and 50-60km a day, to zero. I am the change they want to see. 

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Moving Sugar Beet

Byrichard

For a few weeks you see piles of sugar beet at one end, or another of fields. They stay that way for a while, until it rains for some reason. When it rains those piles of beet are loaded into hundreds of tractor trailer loads and transported to the train yard. The closest to Nyon is in Eysins.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BbmPT3Ut9A&feature=youtu.be
A tractor lifting a trailer to unload sugar beet into a machine to load train wagons.


During this time you see two things. Tractors going back and forth from the fields to the loading yard all day long filled with sugar beet and muddy roads. I don’t know whether they wait for the rain to clean the sugar beets before moving them, or if the wagons just happen to be free when the rain falls. In either case the roads around this train stop are covered in mud. It’s dangerous for scooters and bikes at this time of year.


Sometimes you see six to eight tractors with their loads parked with a sheet of paper with “25m3” or some other reading. Apparently the farmers drive their tractors to be unloaded and seem to leave them there either because it’s lunchtime, or because they are waiting for the train or loaders to get more wagons ready.


It would be interesting to pick up one or two sugar beets that fell by the side of the road during transport and try to process the beets to make sugar.


I walk almost every day, and by walking I see the seasonal changes in fields, and the different stages of different plants. We can all get in cars, drive for an hour, and walk for an hour but I prefer to walk locally, to see local seasonal changes, and to avoid spending money on petrol. I also like to reduce my carbon footprint, by driving less.


That’s it for now.

Walking In Heavy Rain

Walking In Heavy Rain

Byrichard

A few days ago I saw that heavy rain was announced for that afternoon so I thought that I would not go for a walk. In the end I did go for a walk in the heavy rain. I was wearing a reasonable rain coat so I could have stayed dry if I had also worn rain trousers.


I didn’t wear rain trousers so for at least half the walk I was okay. I wasn’t too wet. Eventually though I started walking into the wind and my trousers started to get wet. Usually when you walk in the rain it’s not that your coat fails you. It’s that the clothing that is not protected from the rain whicks the water upwards, from your trousers, to your t-shirt, to your sweater, to your fleece. In the end you’re soaking wet.


By this point you realise that you need to keep walking fast, to keep warm and to prevent yourself from catching a cold. In Wuthering Heights they speak of “catching her death” and in other films or books they speak of being at risk from pneumonia etc. If I stopped walking I was at serious risk of getting cold.


For the entire summer I enjoyed walking in minimalist shoes, but now that the cold weather has come, and due to the rain I have been wearing On Cloud 5 for walking. They’re expensive by my standards, for shoes but they have one advantage over barefoot shoes. They lift you a centimetre or more off of the ground. When there are rivers running down the road you’re walking along it’s good to have thicker soles.


These are not waterproof shoes so they get wet when it’s raining, or if you walk through wet grass. When watching a video on Youtube one hiker said that sometimes he prefers not to wear Gore Tex shoes, because when Gore Tex shoes get wet they take a while to dry, whereas others dry with ease. The On Cloud 5 dry easily.


Another feature, and with someone like me this is a feature, the base of the foot is easy to clean. There are no nodules to trap mud like with other shoes. If I went for a walk in muddy conditions with the trail gloves I would spend half an hour clearing the mud from between every element of tread, before being able to walk into the building. With the other shoes I’m ready to enter within seconds.


The other reason for wearing thicker shoes is that the road surface will now be getting colder, due to the drop in air temperature. It is worth having thicker soles, to insulate myself from the cold ground. Having said this I wore the shoes that would be least annoying to clear of mud.


Recently I was thinking about why I grew so tired of car traffic. One reason is that I lost the freedom to walk in the mud. I lost the freedom to walk along paths that were safe from cars but muddy. In losing this freedom I found myself exposed to car traffic almost constantly when walking along certain routes. When I could walk in the mud I could avoid a bridge where cars don’t slow down, despite pedestrians crossing.


When you can’t travel the muddy path, you’re stuck with the dangerous path, and that dangerous path is fatiguing. By trying not to get muddy shoes I lost my freedom to enjoy the walks that got my shoes caked in mud. Recently I have brushed my shoes with a brush to remove all traces of dirt.


I am so meticulous about having clean shoes that despite the cleaner just mopping the floor I walked along it with wet, but clean shoes, so I left no trace. A day or two later I walked into the building and I saw that other people had left a mess, not me. I still don’t understand why it’s the parents of young children that get annoyed by mud, when they have young children. I find it absurd.


I find it absurd but my shoes are clean and I no longer drop clumps of mud, even after walking for one and a half hours in heavy rain.


And Finally, when heavy rain is falling it tends to clean shoes, as you walk, so the layer of mud that would form, doesn’t, because it’s waterlogged and washed away by the rain. Next time it rains so heavily I will wear rain trousers but I think that the rain will whick up from my shoes to my socks, from my socks to my trousers, and from my trousers to everything else. I should have been like someone else, and worn shorts.

Thoughts On Long Drives

Thoughts On Long Drives

Byrichard

The most I drove was 3600 kilometres in four days. I went to Western France, Barcelona, back to Western France, and then back to Switzerland. It was an average of 800 kilometres a day. About two or three hours from home I was so tired of driving that I stopped at an empty motorway stop and just zoned out for ten minutes or so before continuing to drive.


Sports and Driving


I like driving, and I like long journeys by car. I know that they can be tiring, either due to traffic, or because of the entire day. The Leukerbad Via Ferrata drives were tiring because I woke at 3am to get to the destination at 8am for the first ride up, and then climb for five to seven hours, before driving home. That is a demanding day. Eventually I booked hotel nights. That changed the experience. Spa and meal with people after sports is nicer.


I have driven to and from Spain several times, in a single hop. It is tiring. It is hours of focus. Hours of sitting still. Hours of staring. This isn’t your two hour drive from Geneva to a mountain chalet. This is 13 hours of driving. You can get up early, to finish early, or you can get up at a normal time, to finish later, or you can get up later to finish in the middle of the night.


Traffic and Snow


A few years ago I said a sad goodbye to a friend in London, before getting stuck at Blackfriar’s tunnel, heading to the English channel. I think I spent three or four hours in that traffic jam. What was funny in this case is that I got to France late, and with it snowing. When I drove across the Jura there was a layer of snow and I had to go fast enough to have momentum, but not so much as to lose control of the car. I really didn’t want to get stuck. I got home very early the next day, but I don’t remember feeling tired. On that drive adrenaline keeped me awake.


Avoiding Busy Days


Sunday could be easy, or it could be hard. I have no idea. it’s the first road trip with the current car, so the experience is new. If the day of travel made no difference traffic wise, then I think I would set off today or tomorrow. It’s because it does, that I am dedicated to drive one day of the week.


This is my first trip out of Switzerland for two years, due to the pandemic. I am always excited to have the freedom to drive for hours in a row in a single day. I am looking forward to the opportunity. It will feel good to set off and drive.


Apple Play


For the first time I can play with Apple Car play, and this time it isn’t for a five or ten minute trip to the shops and back. It’s a thirteen hour trip. Plenty of time to listen to audiobooks, maybe podcasts, and to think. I will test to see whether the has 800 kilometres of range on a single fill or whether that range is shorter. We will see if I make it to the border without refueling. With current road conditions it should take 7hrs to the border and half a day to get close to my destination.


Well Rested


Although I like the idea of getting up at 3am to drive for 12 hours I know that, driving alone, this is not a good idea. If I had someone to share the drive with then I could. I think waking up a little later, at a time that is within my normal time to wake up will yield a safer and more pleasant driving experience.


If I wake at 3am then I could have a siesta around lunchtime, before continuing the drive. This is sub-optimal. A 15 minute break, when I feel fatigued will be enough. Usually that’s when the refuelling stops are, to recharge before the next leg.


And Finally


This blog post could be more eloquent. I count it as practice. Eventually I will find an inspired voice, more frequently.

Shovelling Snow and Playing With Plex

Shovelling Snow and Playing With Plex

Byrichard

Yesterday it snowed for several hours and that snow was covering the path to my house. When I saw the ground turn from asphalt black to grey, to white I decided to go and start clearing the snow. It’s easy to clear snow when you have three or four centimetres, rather than more. At first it was light and easy to move so I cleared the path once, and then a second time, and then a third, and by the third I decided to stop. It had become a sisyphean task. It was falling as fast as I was clearing it.


Eventually I got around to spreading salt but because it had got wet it was clumpy and very hard to spread as efficiently as when it’s dry so in the end I didn’t spend too much time on it. I could have got away with not using any salt because within a few hours the snow turned to rain. I could have ignored the falling snow and the problem would have solved itself.


It was never about clearing the snow. It was about having a different workout than usual. It was about seeing an opportunity to have an upper body workout for free. It’s easy to walk, run or cycle. Sometimes it’s just as good to shovel snow, even if it was going to be melted by nightfall.


Eventually I was going to go for a walk, but because the snow was still falling I shovelled more snow. By this point it was wet and heavy so I eventually felt that I had reached the limit of my endurance and stopped. I was frustrated by the clumpy salt that was hard to spread because I was worried that the snow would freeze overnight and the ramp would become a rink.


Experimenting with Plex


Recently I have been listening to various Linux podcasts and I kept hearing about Plex, a video streaming service, and self-hosting solution. Plex is both a self-hosted media server as well as a film and television streaming service. Yesterday I watched Breaker Breaker as well as Ice Pilots NWT. When I watched Ice Pilots NWT on the laptop I had no ads but when I watched Breaker Breaker on an iOS device and Apple TV I did. I’m not sure whether it’s because of content type of viewing platform.


Plex looks like a great alternative to YouTube. It allows you to watch film classics like Nanook of the North, films from the 30s as well as plenty of films from the seventies, as well as more recent content. It’s divided in two. On one side you have video on demand, where you choose what and when to watch. You also have the Live TV option. Here you can watch Guardian TV, Euronews and other channels. You also have the Washington Post, Reuters and more.


The TV cateogires you can choose from are featured, news, hit tv, crime, sports, Game shows, Movies, action and more.


Plex feels like Satellite Broadcasting used to feel. You have a choice of many genres and hundreds of channels for niche interests. Rather than sorting through clickbait headlines like you do with YouTube you get real content, produced by Television and Film Professionals.


And Finally


When it snows you have a great opportunity to get an upper body workout. At this altitude it’s quite rare, so that’s why its fun. Plex is an interesting alternative to Netflix and YouTube because you have a wide variety of programs to watch when it’s convenient for you.

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