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Going West, Rather than East – A Walk, Books and Drinking Vessels, Again.
Today I went for one of my walks, but rather than turning East as I normally do, on that route, I went West, and as a result I went for a longer walk than usual. I too this route because I wanted to look at the books in a new phone box that was turned into a lending library.
I often say that I have too many book already, and that I don’t need to get more, and yet every single time I feel the compulsion to look at the choice, and usually want to pick up a book or two. Today was no different. I picked up quite a few books, and we will see if I get around to reading them. I think I might.
We are in the middle of a pandemic. Although my interest in books, and in drinking vessels may seem eccentric, and it is, there is rationality nonetheless. I pick up a lot of books, but I also start reading many books at a time, and leave some unfinished for weeks or months. I think that I may find the books interesting, even if I do not read them instantly. I also don’t spend money when I find free books. I only spend time and energy, and those are both used up by the walks anyway.
For drininking vessels it is absurd, in winter, when we do not get thirsty during walks, and when walks last for shorter periods of time. At the same time I suspect that if I did not have a choice of water bottles then I would quickly grow bored of drinking water and revert to Coke and Rivella.
Another thing that is not discussed, is the habit of buying bottles of coke, water and other recipients. There is also the habit of drinking hot chocolate from a machine and always using a new cup. One recent purchase is to ensure that when I am in an office again I will be able to have hot chocolate in the same recipient over and over, without filling a bin with empty paper cups.
In my experience of hiking, especially in summer, you often want at least two bottles of water, of differing sizes depending on the duration of the walk, effort, and temperature. I have one 500ml for my daily walks, one 600ml, one 750ml and two one thousand ml bottles. Those are for walking. For cycling I now have two new 500ml bottles. I have one 300ml vacuum travel mug for take away drinks and one 500ml cup. I boil water before my walk, and drink it when I need to warm up again.
When I get my 0.47ml travel mug with a screw on lid then I will have what is required for road trips. If I used the 300 or 500ml cups I would spill the liquid either on myself or in the car. With the one I just ordered I have a good option for road trips.
I did buy a lot of water bottles recently but they last for years. It is only because my 1L and 0.5l aluminium sigg bottles seem to have suffered from not being used during the pandemic, after years of loyal service before the pandemic, and because my camelbak forge was damaged by overuse that I replaced it. With the cycling water bottles I am replacing them because they always get black mould and I’d prefer not to risk my health. This time Almost everything I bought is machine washable. I will find an excuse to get new toys eventually, but for the forseeable future I should no longer have any excuse.
And in summary. This year I have spent 388 hours hiking 1929 kilometres, burning about 142,987 kcals. In total I have spent 486 hours doing sports, covering a distance of 3248 kilometres and ascended 25,708 meters. Not too lazy after all.
Pandemic as Journey
Although not discussed as such the pandemic is an interior journey in the same manner as thru hikes as they are called in the US and pilgrimages in Europe. We start with one identity and one life and we have to adapt it to suit the things that can be realised during a pandemic.
We are in solitude with our thoughts so we need to work on our inner character, ready to resume post pandemic life, once that opportunity comes back. Whenever that may be.
Blobs in Geneva
Today I walked around Geneva and in at least three locations I spotted these blobs guarding various places. These two are guarding the entrance to the old town. I like the contrast between the modern blobs above the gate to the old town of Geneva and the statue of Pictet De Richemond.
Two more of these blobs were playing by a merry go round where you walk up from the new town to the old town.
Two more of them were playing on the columns of St Pierre’s. I don’t know what they’re part of. I don’t know whether they’re part of an art exhibit or some other form of activity. It’s amusing that they would choose to climb up the columns as they’re shown to be doing.
IFSC Climbing World Cup Villars 2016
I will be present at the IFSC Climbing World Cup Villars tomorrow. For me climbing has always been an active rather than a passive sport. It has been a sport where the landscape is nice and the crowds are small. Tomorrow will be the first time that I go and watch as other people climb.
It’s not that I don’t watch people climb. Between climbing gyms, bouldering gyms, via ferrata and Rock climbing it is a sport that I have explored in depth. What I haven’t explored in depth is climbing with an audience, climbing as an event, climbing as a competition.
Program
Friday 15th July
9.00 – 16.00 Men & Women’s lead qualifications
17.00 – 19.00 Men & Women’s speed qualifications
21.00 Speed Finals Women & Men (LIVE)
22.00 Award Ceremony (LIVE)
Saturday 16th July
10.00 – 12.30 Lead Semi-Finals Men & Women (LIVE)
20.00 Men lead Finals (LIVE)
21.00 Women lead Finals (LIVE)
22.00 Award Ceremony (LIVE)
Instinct tells me that lead climbing should be the more interesting discipline as it relates directly to the climbing I do. Speed climbing could be fun and interesting to watch but it has less practical applications in ordinary climbing life. If I want to be lazy then I could go up on Saturday and stop asking questions.
On Saturday from 1300 to 1600 there is the concours populaire, That’s when amateurs can try their hand at speed climbing.
Villars Sur Ollon is a place that I have visited a number of times but for once we should be welcomed by summer rather than winter temperatures. It will also be for climbing rather than skiing, hiking or après ski. I will take pictures and let you know what the experience is like. It’s nice after organising satellite distribution for sporting events finally to go on location. We’ll see how energetic the crowd is.
The Infomaniak Mail App
Last night I came across the Infomaniak Mail App and began to play with it. It’s a simple app that allows you to read infomaniak mails from their own mail app rather than others. The one thing that I miss is swiping right or left to go to the next or previous messages, but aside from that it work like I would expect an app to work.
The app can be blue or pink, according to your preference. I tried both, and I’m fine with either. It allows you to have a compact, normal or large thread density, to see e-mails more efficiently, or more clearly.
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It automatically logged me into two of my three infomaniak e-mails which is practical.
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App lock is offered. This allows you to require a thumb or pin to acess e-mails.
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You have the option of defining what swipe actions do, in the thread view.
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The e-mail client only supports Infomaniak accounts, for now.
To choose between reading all e-mails or just unread e-mails you have the toggle on the top right corner with “99+ unread e-mails”.
- I tried sending an e-mail with an image but that failed and then I tried sending an e-mail without an e-mail and that succeeded.
And Finally
It’s nice that after so many years they finally decided to create an e-mail client. It works just as I would expect an e-mail client to work. It provides us with an in-house solution for checking e-mails, rather than relying on Spark and other e-mail clients. Login is also simplified, because infomaniak knows how it deals with it’s own e-mail servers.
The app is now at version 1.0.4, as of four days ago. It was released a month ago.
Experimenting with Spherical photographs
I was in Spain with the Ricoh Theta S last week so I took the opportunity to experiment with the Ricoh Theta S in a number of locations. What I like about such a device is that it takes a click to get pictures. I experimented with a manfrotto monopod and a smaller monopod. The Manfrotto base was clearly visible in shots so the immersive experience is degraded. With the smaller monopod the base is the same width as that of the camera. This means that at least the support was hidden.
runners in Denia, Spain – Spherical Image – RICOH THETA
The first image was taken at Denia port, showing two runners running along the port wall/promenade. You can look around and see that the sea was flat, that the car park is relatively full and buildings behind the scene. It provides you with context.
Post from RICOH THETA. – Spherical Image – RICOH THETA
The second image is taken with the monopod fully extended so that it is among the branches of the trees. You can see a light house ahead and you can look at the tree at the same time.
theta archaeology. 🙂 – Spherical Image – RICOH THETA
It would be interesting to experiment with archeology and 360 pictures and video. Instead of placing the camera to one side and having the camera operator choose what you see the action could take place around the camera and the viewer, sitting in a swivel chair could turn and look at where the most interesting thing is happening next. You can zoom in and out within reason, to see details or to see a wider picture.
Post from RICOH THETA. – Spherical Image – RICOH THETA
At the Denia Marina part of a bar is floating on the water. it has a sphere of sun shades around with speakers and lights. You can sit in comfortable seats and look up. A conventional image would show the dome from outside but with a spherical camera you can capture the feeling of being in the centre of the structure.
my camera and I, between shots. 🙂 – Spherical Image – RICOH THETA
This image was taken in Basel during a recent trip. This location is ideal for 360/spherical images because each wall is covered with paintings, the clock is decorated and more. As it surrounds you the subject lends itself well to 360° photography.
a rock outcrop – Spherical Image – RICOH THETA
For the last image I went to sea level and photographed the view from a headland and beaches on either side. One of those beaches has bars and a number of people whereas the other beach is nice and quiet. It is nice to look at these images and get a feel for the place.
The challenge in taking these photos is how to get the camera in to an interesting place and hide yourself or the support for the camera. I usually knelt down and tried to stay directly below the camera. The other option is to find a system to stand the camera at the right height but make the monopod invisible. With multi-camera setups parallax makes hiding tripods and other objects easier. The next step is to find a base that makes hiding the stand simple.