Chickens In The Rain
Chickens in the rain, for a change.
Today was a different to recent days because we spent it within the clouds, rather than beneath, or above them. It is hard to be above the clouds when you are near lake level. SRF has two nice time lapses of clouds flowing over a mountain as if it was water, or dry ice. Choose the one you prefer.
It is estimated that a tenth of the Swiss population could be sick with covid-19 at the moment. If a tenth of those people had long covid then Switzerland is faced with 87,000 people with long Covid.
“Environ une personne sur dix a contracté le Covid ces dernières semaines en Suisse, a dit Urs Karrer, vice-président de la task force scientifique de la Confédération devant la presse à Berne. Les nouvelles infections se concentrent actuellement surtout chez les enfants de moins de 10 ans.
One million one hundred thousand cases of Covid have been detected in Switzerland, out of a population of around eight point seven million. In theory that’s an eighth of Switzerland that has fallen sick, if we ignore second and third infections of the virus.
There are two challenges to face. The first of these is to see whether we can get through the current wave without being infected, and that’s unlikely for parents of children and people who are exposed to others. The second challenge, it to see how much longer this pandemic will last. At the moment, with the speed at which new variants arrive. Three, within a matter of weeks, it looks as though new variants will emerge faster than vaccines and as if we will have many more waves.
Some countries stand out by the way in which they are not trying to make things better.
I am still studying and learning. I will continue to study for as long as the pandemic lasts, because it is the one thing that is guaranteed not to be taken away from me. It also provides me with a sense of accomplishment every day.
Sometimes a walk above the woods is easy. I don’t mean walking while flying hanging from a parapente. I mean walking at an altitude where there are fewer trees.
The walk from the transmission mast of La Bariellette to La Dôle is an easy walk that I have done many times. Sometimes I have done it at dusk. Sometimes I have done it with snow and sometimes I have done it when I was walking through clouds. Usually people do it when the weather is nice
There are two routes. One Route is safe for children, dogs and people who are not used to exposed paths. It is on the Jura side. The other option is more dangerous because the path is not maintained. If you slip you could fall to your death. There are no ropes, cables or chains to hold onto. When the dangerous option is wet it is slippery.
Today the weather was nice but the visibility was crap compared to what I have experienced on other walks. We couldn’t see the Alps, for example.
It’s amusing because on this walk I heard a lot of English spoken. Usually you hear a lot of French as French speakers enjoy the walk. The only wildlife I saw on this walk were groups of birds going after insects. They were feasting. With good weather the wildlife like to hide from human attention.
This was day five of week three of the Escape plan. I have easily managed to reach the goal as I do fifteen minutes or more of exercise every single day.
The walk to La Dôle is a good way of getting exercise because of how much walking you have to do uphill one way and how much walking you have to do going the other way. If you feel ambitious you can walk from Nyon to La Dôle and from La Dôle down to St Cergue. In St Cergue you can catch the train back down. I have only done the long variant once.
Walking from La Barillette to La Dôle is a seasonal walk. It can only be done when the road to the top is open. As soon as the snow comes the road closes to ordinary traffic and it is cut off from the world. In Winter you would need to do it with snowshoes and the walk would be considerably longer.
This is a nice walk to do during a day off or during the weekend. Some people even use the routes to practice trail running. It’s a 8km circuit and will definitely give you a workout. For walkers it is a nice walk to a nice viewpoint to see the bassin Lemanic.
The Casio GBD-200 and GW-B5600 both have negative displays but the GBD-200 has a display that is much easier to read in low light. The contrast is good enough to read at dusk with the GBD-200 but not the GW-B5600. When backlit both are easy to read.
I chose to wear the GBD-200 today, on a whim.
I will get back to proper blog posts soon.
Before the pandemic, it would have been the climbing, hiking and diving friends. I would meet them every week, year round. it was a strong group of peopla and I liked to see them.
Adventure Groups
It is with this group of people that I went for weekend hikes, experimented with rock climbing, via ferrata and took up regular scuba diving. Not a single weekend would pass without the weekend being a holiday. A friend said that the Sunday dive was a break from the routine. His diving became a routine. A decade on he is still diving every week.
The Pandemic Decline
During the pandemic the number of people I spent time dwindled. No more weekend trips, no more going to conferences. With the pandemic solitude has become the norm. I spend time with online communities but with the commercialisation of FB and IG they’re practically dead. Twitter was good, until Musk bought it, and now it is no longer a social network.
Enjoying Solitude
Although this is alien to most, I like solitude. I like solitude because it doesn’t remind me of what my life isn’t. It reminds me of what I would like to have, if things were different. I am in a situation where solitude is more pleasant than being with crowds, especially married people with children.
Although it is an alien concept to many I like solitude. I like to do things, have adventures and more. I am happy with the life I have. I am happy until people fall into relationships and people don’t head home to solitude.
The Cost of Introversion
Introversion has a cost. The cost is that we’re not necessarily the most open hearted, the most interested in competing to talk. We are not compelled not to be invisible. We are invisible because we do not compete for attention. As an introvert, in the wrong group. whether you go out every week, or not, makes no difference. In a group the introvert might as well not be.
The Small Group
At some point neighbours, all married, with children, want to meet. I don’t want to. My happiness is based on making progress with my projects, and being happy with my life. When I am around people that remind me of what my life isn’t, through passive realities, I feel discontent, rather than happiness., I don’t want to be reminded of what I am struggling to achieve.
A Social Introvert
In the right conditions I am an ambivert. I do enjoy conversations. It’s in the wrong conditions that I am invisible. For the first year and a half of the pandemic I was desperate for life to return to normal. When Berset et al decided that vaccines alone were enough I was condemned to never-ending solitude.
People think the pandemic is over, but not the solitary ones, not the introverts, not the people that socialise via sport. One of the sites I used to use to socialise is almost dead now, due to the pandemic. I could and should use meetup or similar sites. I should return within society, but the pandemic isn’t over.
And Finally
If I ignore covid, pretend that COVID is over, to be social, but then I fall sick with Long COVID then I will be all the more lonely. I will have gained nothing by compromising on my morals and ethics. We’re in strange times, for introverts.
Today I went for my daily walk and I came across a couple of pheasants. One was female and the other was male. I was actually standing right next to the female and didn’t realise until she flew away from me. I was startled but no more. I was more focused on the male pheasant.
I walked closer, to try to get a clearer photo but didn’t succeed. Instead it went into a field with some cows and when one of the cows noticed it went up to investigate. I thought it was chasing the pheasant and eventually it was. It was an amusing sight to see. A cow running after a pheasant.
it got better. When the pheasant went into the next field the rest of the herd came across to look at the pheasant.
Today a tractor was ploughing a dry field. A cloud of dust was not that visible but you can see that rain would now be welcome. I walked by the usual river and looked down and the rocks in the riverbed are uncovered. There is no water running over them anymore. I notied that in another field pumpkins seem to be ready.
MétéoSuisse note encore qu’après les deux mois d’été très humides de juin et juillet, des précipitations inférieures à la moyenne ont été enregistrées dans la plupart des régions de Suisse en août
Météo – Un mois d’août plus frais mais avec moins de pluie – 20 minutes
Years ago I used to use weather apps to see when it would rain and I would even do things extra early to avoid being caught by the rain. Now I use weather apps for the opposite. Now I even consider driving to somewhere where I could be caught by the rain. I am bored of never seeing rain. I like rain. I like the sound. I like the smell, I like that it cleans everything. I also like that being indoors when it’s raining feels cosy.
Rain would also break the monotony of being able to go for a walk every single day without questioning whether the weather the weather is good enough. The weather is always good enough. The weather is so good that rivers are running dry. The climate has changed.
For several weeks I did not touch YouTube and as I have time to spend time there again I found that I am repulsed and don’t want to use the service anymore. Between the sensationalist content that is pushed on us, the non stop adverts and a general feeling of malaise the site is one I think I should now avoid. Its golden age is over, and now it’s time for it to become Yahoo or flickr.