Sailing, Paddle Boarding, Wind Surfing and A Heron
A Walk In Spain
We cannot always walk around in circles during a pandemic around where we live. I spent over a year walking around in circles near home in Switzerland but this Christmas I travelled.
I didn’t travel because I wanted to. I travelled because sometimes we need to see family. I also travelled to escape all of the Christmas rubbish in Switzerland.
We are in a pandemic. I haven’t socialised in over two years. If you want me to value Christmas give me a reason to celebrate it. Spending two years in pandemic solitude does nothing to enhance my indifference to Christmas.
I am safer in Spain than I would be in Switzerland. People wear masks in the street, and ffp2 masks at other times. The rate of vaccination is higher and the government stood up to populists. Children, at a young age wear masks. Switzerland saying that children do not want to wear masks is wrong, and shows cultural bias. England has the same problem.
I didn’t wear a mask as I passed people on the walk today but there was plenty of air around. The image you see as a thumbnail has Ibiza in the background. I think that on top of a cliff, in the afternoon, there is enough air to keep virus concentrations to a minimum, not that people on this walk, would make it if they felt bad.
I am demoralised by Switzerland and their indifference to the pandemic, the lack of effort to end it. With the current Swiss attitude the pandemic will last for decades. Migration could still be worthwhile. To a nation where health is valued rather than capital.
If I thought the pandemic had a chance of ending in Switzerland I wouldn’t have left. I would have stayed put. I stopped being like Rieux this year, by travelling twice. Why wait? Nothing will change until those in power are booted out by moral people.
Playing With Google Maps And Apple Maps
A few days ago I was driving from Switzerland to Spain via France when Google Maps told me to get off the motorway and drive on normal roads. When it made this mistake I switched to Apple maps, and was not led astray again.
Google Maps leading me astray was a surprise. Google Maps and Waze are the same, and yet Google Maps behaved differently. I don’t understand why it led me astray.
On short trips I wouldn’t hesitate to trust Waze, google maps, TomTom and Apple maps. On long distances Waze and TomTom have been good. It is just Google Maps that I question.
When I looked at the price of Citroën onboard maps the cost is 99chf per region and 205chf for Europe. I didn’t expect it to be so high. TomTom go is 12 chf per year. I don’t understand how onboard map software can be priced so differently. I see the value in it being on the onboard system but with mobile phones and CarPlay etc we are justified in going for the better priced option.
Over the years navigating when driving has become really easy. I now find that I never get lost. You hardly need to study a map. Set the destination and the gps does the rest. I know the route I drove well but I still like a gps as a backup, and as a way of keeping track of progress.
Apple maps has resolved the teething problems that people discussed. Now it is a good driving option, and it adjusts the display to day or not, making it less of a distraction when driving before sunrise or after sunset. I would use it again, on the way back later in the year.
With its errors in navigation google maps might have lost me as a user.
Reading About Hiking While Charging A Watch
Today I sat in the sun to charge my watch. I kept my left wrist facing the sun. My right wrist was employed in keeping a kindle in place, reading.
My goal was to get the watch to go up by one day of charge and it worked. I wouldn’t sit in the sun to get a tan, but I would to charge a device. I didn’t time how long it took to charge but it wasn’t more than half an hour. In the middle of summer, in the right mode, I could easily see this watch charging a few percent a day in the right conditions. With the right combination you could get this watch to be autonomous.
A watch that doesn’t need to be taken off to charge is ideal, because it can track your moves for weeks, months or even seasons at a time. It also means that you can carry one less charger.
I am still reading A Good Place For Maniacs. He has finally left California behind.
A Solar Powered Watch in Spain
If you were a solar powered watch would you prefer sunny Switzerland or sunny Spain? Luckily my watch has now tried both. The watch likes that you walk with your watch wrist facing the sun and the wrist without a watch to be on the shady side.
I know this is not an ordinary thing to think about but it is key to having a watch charge as you wear it. So are your sleeves. If your sleeves cover the watch then it will not charge either. There is even a sleeve mode for these watches. It tries to save power.
I tried strapping the watch to my bag but like a baby trying to sit up it falls flat on it’s face and does not charge. If you want to strap it to a bag find a way to keep it solar panel side up.
In the end I just held it in my hand on the sunny side, and tried to keep it facing the sun. I think that I managed to preserve the charge, but not to generate more power than I used.
The weather is still not summer weather. It is December weather in the north. On a summer day keeping the watch in the sun would be easy. I still managed to get 100 percent from the panel even just for short bursts at a time. I will keep playing and see how best to use it.
Twelve hour drive.
I drove twelve hours today. For the first part I had snow falling and salt machines, and for the second part I had strong winds. I am now tired. This reads more like a tweet than a blog post.
From A Spanish to A Swiss Autumn
When I left for Spain Switzerland was just starting to turn Autumnal. Today, when I looked around I could see that Autumn has arrived properly in Switzerland. In Spain the sun is still warm enough for t-shirt wearing and swimming. The sun is still strong enough to change our chrominance.
Yesterday I drove for around 11 and a half hours, with just one stop to refuel. I usually stop three or four times on that route but I felt like trying to do it in a single hop. This is for two reasons.
1. We’re still in a pandemic and I want to minimise risk. The stop I made was quiet so there was little risk of being too close to others.
2. I didn’t want to leave the car unattended for too long. As I am driving alone I don’t want to leave the car alone, in case people decide to steal things, not that anything was visible.
During the drive I listened to Troy, read by Steven Fry. It is interesting, and it is revision for those who have read his other books. There are moments when I struggled to hear what they were saying, due to the sound being lower, and that cars are noisy.
During the drive I enjoyed eating Spanish honey flavoured peanuts. They are easy to eat, not too messy, and good to keep you focused and attentive. During this drive I had to be focused for twelve hours non stop. People say “oh but twitter, social media and television have destroyed people’s ability to focus. I don’t believe this is accurate. I couldn’t drive for twelve hours safely otherwise.
I did see that one car had swerved off the road, into some grass, and then bounced back. I am certain that this person was either distracted, or fell asleep and smashed into the barrier. From what I saw two or three people were standing beside the accident so I think they’re fine.
Two things make driving easier these days. Cruise control, because this gives you the chance to move your leg around, rather than keep it locked and immobile. The second is to drive at the speed limit or slightly below. When I was in France several trips ago I enjoyed driving in France at 130 kilometres per hour. I eventually found that 130 kilometres per hour, in a previous car was more tiring, and that I was comfortable with 120 kilometres per hour. So from then on I always drive at the speed limit or a speed limit that I am used to. For twelve hours the goal is endurance and comfort. I would not repeat the drive within two weeks again, especially with the change from summer to winter time. I think that such a drive is easy once, but that to be repeated it would be good to wait three to four weeks, before making the return journey, especially as a solitary driver.
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.
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.