Stormy Skies Near Nyon
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Stormy Skies Near Nyon

Byrichard

The weather was finally dynamic today. The storm warnings were flashing towards Hermance, on the French side of the lake. This gave a nice contrast between the yellow of the Colza fields and the dark threatening clouds behind.


At moments I thought that rain would begin to fall but luckily the doppler radar, and my instincs were correct, so I did not get drenched in rain or pelted with hail. At one point it did feel as though hail could be a possibility.



In the last week or two I have cycled around 150 kilometres, which isn’t bad. It could be better but single rides are around 49 kilometres. Once the ride was 49 kilometres but I saw that I could easily get an extra few meters to make it 50 so I made the effort. The second time I skipped.


My only trips into Geneva this year have been by bike, but only up from the lake, up the Via Appia and then back towards Vaud. No stops in Geneva itself so far. We are still in a pandemic and I am not going to play Pandemic Roulette, as I like to call it. I am not taking risks that are not worth taking.


If you are so inclined you can now listen to Germinal as podcasts via France Culture. Each episode is 28 minutes long so easy to slot into your day, either commuting or doing other things.


During the pandemic I spent a lot of time reading swiss news, to keep up with current affairs. Now that the Swiss government has decided to pretend that the pandemic is over I have stopped reading the RTS info site. There is not much value when they do not provide relevant news and information.


I will update this blog erratically because it’s hard to know when I will or will not be inspired. Today’s blog post is mainly as an excuse to share photographs.

Confined by Freedom

Confined by Freedom

Byrichard

Some of us are confined by freedom. By this I mean that as society is opened up, as people are told that they don’t need to wear masks, that they don’t need to self-isolate and that they don’t need to show covid passes, so the freedom of others is taken away. During a pandemic there are two types of people. Those that hear the word pandemic and think “I need to self-isolate, wear a mask, and vaccinate.” and the others who think “Why should I do what the state tells me to do? I am my own person.”


Quarantines have already been shortened so people who could be contagious are allowed to move through society freely. At the same time there is discussion about not requiring people to wear masks, returning to work and not requiring covid passes.


If this was in a vacuum we could say “well, let’s see what happens.” except that we are not. We see that Denmark has gone from the BA-1 wave to the BA-2 wave. We see that in England, France, Switzerland and the US the number of sick children is going up. We also see that hospitalisations are increasing. If we look at a map of Europe now with levels of spread of the virus then the whole of Europe is dark red with serious Covid outbreaks.


This is the worst possible time to reopen society, because the virus is already virulent, and governments are not trying to contain it. All of the indicators above show that we have a choice to make for this spring and summer. Do we self-isolate and spend a third summer in solitude, or do we play pandemic roulette, hope for the best, and see whether we fall sick? I would prefer not to play pandemic roulette personally, so, for now, the summer will be solitary.


Frozen Fountain Water

Frozen Fountain Water

Byrichard

Although the name of this blog post is bizarre it is inspired by the site of a fountain with a big block of ice, serving as a mirror to the tree, and sun, in front of me. The weather is still nicer, more springlike than it has been. More people are out on bikes cycling together. They are taking advantage of the good weather. In theory we could have rain in the next few days but the likelihood, as usual, is very low. An app said that it could be 90 percent certain, but I think it is 100 percent unlikely.


Frozen Fountain Water
Frozen Fountain Water


During the entirety of this pandemic I have hardly seen any rain, and if it did rain then it cleared up by the time I went for my afternoon walk. If we were not in a pandemic then I would love this weather, as it would mean going on adventures every single week. As we are in a pandemic it just means more people to avoid when out on my daily walks.


As things are going I think this spring and summer will be an unsafe one because those that should be working towards covid zero, are being complacent now that hospitalisations are declining. They are failing to take this type of findings seriously: Long Covid study finds abnormality in lungs that could explain breathlessness.


“They suggest that the efficiency of the lung in doing what it is meant to do – exchange carbon dioxide and oxygen – may be compromised, even though the structure of the lung appears normal,”

Claire Steves, King’s college: as accessed on 29/01/2022.


Several governments are looking at the low numbers in hospitals without spending any time discussing the prevalence and effects of Long Covid. They may be sleep walking into an entire generation of people with damaged lungs.


Solitude hurts, but after having a broken arm for one summer, I have learned that injuries are worse, than playing it safe. I will not expose myself to Covid-19 unless I am forced to.

Spring And Self Isolation

Spring And Self Isolation

Byrichard

Today I went for a walk and it felt warm enough for me to skip on wearing a layer. It was warm, around six degrees, and sunny. It felt like Spring, and it feels as though cycling could almost be considered. The cycling season is nice. I speak about cycling because I think that this year, like the last two, will be spent in self-isolation until we have zero new cases for two weeks in a row.


The Swiss government has today decided to start discussing the end of quarantine, masks, and more. The government, for the third summer in a row is making the same mistake as for the last two years. Reopening because they think it’s safe, allowing the virus to thrive, mutate, and then shutting down again. The routine never changes, because for some reason politicians are able to make the same mistake over and over, without consequences. They don’t get fired, and their contracts do get renewed. It’s a shame that we can’t all live in that distorted reality.


View of the Alps
View of the Alps


I decided to try Edelweiss tea and so far it’s fine. I don’t know if the Edelweiss has any taste or if it just a marketing gimmick to get us to try a different tea than usual. It’s easy to drink although I don’t know how to describe the taste. I will keep having it, to give a better explanation.


And Finally


I finished this course about developing for web performance and I recommend it. I found the topic about downloading google fonts and placing them on the web server where the site is hosted interesting. I also find imaginemin, squoosh and more interesting. Prefetch and preconnect are of interest because when you’re fetching content from another site, such as google fonts, or other, you can establish a connection to the relevant server, to save time, so that when the data is needed things have been prepared in advance.


A Walk in The Swiss Sun

A Walk in The Swiss Sun

Byrichard


Yesterday I read that we will have sun for at least a few more weeks due to a high pressure system over this part of Europe and this afternoon I read that it is snowing in Greece. Normally, out of pandemic I would love sunny days because it would mean climbing, cycling, hiking and more. During a pandemic it means solitary mud while avoiding being run over by cars, walking through the mud to avoid couples, and wearing a mask when you have to be close to others.



With a rainy day I could stay in, focus on studying, and rest for a day or two. I also love the sound of rain on the roof and the sense of intimacy, despite solitude, that a rainy day provides. Sunny days are quite lonely. We have nothing between us and the universe but a little air. No cloud vapour or anything else. I never thought I would like rain, but I never thought I would live through a 25 year pandemic, and that politicians would get away with letting people die, either through their own idiocy, or through idiotic government policy. To be clear, I mean by shortening lockdowns, speaking of discontinuing masks, or ending restrictions when it is the irrational thing to do.


Today 90,000 more people fell sick of Covid. If ten percent get Long Covid then that’s 9000 people. That’s a lot of people with Long Covid in a single day. This is life today.


I stopped being optimistic about this pandemic ending because it was too painful when optimism was misplaced, so now I am a realist, and I aim to stay busy, until real life resumes, in 20 or more years from now.


We are in a pandemic, and it isn’t meant to be easy or pleasant.


I have found people who think like me on Twitter, so at least I can converse with people who would like more to be done. It reduces solitude.

A Walk By The Léman

A Walk By The Léman

Byrichard

Today I walked down from a village towards the Léman and passed by the UEFA headquarters and football fields before walking by the car Park to the Colovrey Swimming pool. There were very few people, except a few cyclists. The road was good. I went down to the water and took two or three pictures before heading back up.


I walked by the lake because, on a windy day a few days ago I saw the lake, and felt tempted to go down. At the time I didn’t go down because I hadn’t decided on that walk, but also because it could be a little more physical. A second time I was tempted but chose to play Ingress instead.


This time I walked down from one village, along a route I seldom walk along, during the pandemic, because people walk along that path, two astride. In normal times this would be okay, but during a pandemic this is irrational behaviour as they always chose to sacrifice one of their own, rather than be safe.



If you’re not afraid of dogs, or people walking side by side then this is a nice walk to enjoy, especially in summer, when the days are long and there is plenty of time. At this time of year you have to be home by 17:20 or so or the sun will set as you’re walking.


I am still doing what I can never to use the car to do sports. I can use it for shopping and chores, but not for sports. I can walk or cycle, but without using the car to get anywhere, at least until this summer, or the pandemic ends. By pandemic end I mean 0 new cases per day for several months in a row. We are far from that for now, so driving will be avoided.

A Cold Walk In The Wind

A Cold Walk In The Wind

Byrichard

Today I went for a cold walk in the wind. The wind was blowing from west to East so for at least half of the walk I had it in my face. This was a good day to wear a cagoule and to wear the face mask, even when people were not around. The windchill made walking unpleasant and I even considered skipping my daily walk but didn’t. I am disciplined enough to walk, even when it is unpleasant. This weather is frustrating because we have the cold, without any of the beauty. It would be nice to have this cold, with snow and ice, rather than just ice.


Linux Mint On an EEEPC


Last night I installed Linux Mint on an EEEPC quite easily. I downloaded a 32bit OS, flashed the ROM to a USB key, booted the OS from the SD card, and then installed the OS. So far I have done very little. The eeepc feels slow. It is an old machine, and even when it was young, a few years ago, it felt slow. It would be nice to install Linux on a newer machine, to take more advantage of the OS. I actually like Linux but most computers are either windows or macOS.


And Finally


I should re-work my website so that it is KaiOS friendly. For now the top bar navigation and images are not friendly for the OS, especially not on a phone such as the one I am playing with. I find that it refuses to load the blog section of the website, and it struggles with the drop down menus. I should turn that feature off for tiny screens, and just let people scroll down to the relevant content. I have an opportunity to think differently.


I think the old WML format, Wireless Markup Language would be better suited, than the modern multi-display farce.

The Old Habit of Walking In The Rain
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The Old Habit of Walking In The Rain

Byrichard

A Walk In The Rain


Today it was meant to rain for the entire day but there was a brief window which it stopped raining so I went for a walk. I expected not to be rained on but within minutes I could feel a small spray of water falling on me. I walked anyway. It was nothing to worry about. I did the usual walk and although groups of people were walking they were easy to avoid. The rivers are nice and full today so rain is having an effect. Rain has melted the snow that had covered the landscape and filled the rivers. In some places there are traces that the water is slightly polluted.


Reading and Projets


I am listening to The Age of Wood as I walk. I am struggling to get into it. I did read about the Chemin De La Mature and that does sound like an interesting place to visit. It is a path cut through the rock. They didn’t cut through the rock from top to bottom though. They cut through it horizontaly. It looks like an interesting experience to walk along that path. In some images it looks narrow, but in others it looks comfortable to walk along. I need to find more information about the GR-10 walking route, to see whether it would be interesting to see the larger context.


Tracking, Without Charging


I tracked the walk the usual way, with a gps watch, but I also tracked it with the Core-S4 and so far the results are good. I have tracked two walks over two days, without charging between the two walks and the phone is still fine. I don’t need to charge it every day. I like this. I like that I have a watch that I charge once a week or less, and a phone that I don’t need to charge every evening. This means that I could travel away for a weekend carrying less weight. I could go without chargers for the first time in years.


We will see what I play with tomorrow.