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The Age Old Hatred of Pedestrians
Last night I was reading from a book, rather than from a kindle or audible book. As a result I had to keep the bedside light on. I also had to ensure that the light light the pages of the book. I was reading from the book “Beneath My Feet, Writers on Walking” introduced and edited by Duncan Minshull and I came across an exert written by Karl Philips Moritz. He wrote Journeys of a German in England in 1782.
In this book he writes about walking in England and about how people were puzzled that someone would want to walk from London to Richmond and back. People couldn’t fathom that someone would want to walk such a distance on foot.
Pleasant English Miles
At one point he says “Walking four miles in England feels like walking one mile in Germany”, to paraphrase. He enjoyed walking in England. He speaks of stopping by the side of the road, finding the shade of some bushes and reading. Apparently people on the road were puzzled that someone would stop by the side and read.
What is so striking about this writing is that it is from 241 years ago, before cars, before the steam age, and before the forms of transport we are familiar with today.
Several centuries later another eccentric would go for long walks, Grandma Gatewood. People were puzzled that someone her age would walk the Appalachian Trail alone, more than once.
Confused
According to Google Bard walking was normal in 1782, as was horse back riding, horse drawn carriages and sailing ships. Given the context it’s interesting that so early, before steam and trains people would have seen walking from Point A to Point B as strange.
The idea we have that the car encouraged people to stop walking is erroneous, in that people did not walk from A to B long before then. The idea that the carriage was an ordinary form of transport to get from A to B, rather than walking is interesting. Was the writer trying to save money, for his travels, or did he simply enjoy the act of walking?
And Finally
I found copies of the book in electronic format so I will take the time to read a copy, to understand more about the reasons for this long walk.
A nice day for a ride
When the weather is good and there is no wind it makes sense to go for a bike ride. The roads were quiet for the most part but a few cars still passed too close and too fast. The challenge is to find the quietest, least dangerous route.
I am still looking for a route where I never feel in danger. For now I find routes where I am comfortable, for the most part.
Playing With Migros SubitoGo
Yesterday I tried playing with Migros SubitoGo and the experience was good. You scan the QR code for the shop as you enter and then you scan the products that you want to buy. I kept them in my hands until I got to the checkout counters.
Passabene
With Passabene you shop, you scan your products, and then you go to the cash machine, scan the shopping list to the device, and it charges you. It’s quite conventional and sometimes it asks for a double check from a cashier.
Subito Go
With the Subito Go app you can scan what you’re buying, put it in your bag and then choose to pay, and you can pay for what you bought, from anywhere in the store, if you are so inclined, via Twint and more.
A Strange Feeling
It feels strange to pick things up, scan them, pick up more things, scan them, and then to pay directly from your phone, without using any shop device. In future I can walk into a shop, scan what I want to buy, put it in my bag, pay for it and walk out without stopping, at the checkout, without a cashier seeing me motion that I am paying.
A System of Trust
This works for one simple reason. Societal trust. If and when a society behaves morally then people can be trusted to walk into a shop, pick things up, and pay for them, before leaving. I read about this type of shopping in Switzerland but I had not played with it in Switzerland yet. Now that I have, I like it.
Phone Batteries
The SubitoGo app is within the Migros app. It uses the phone’s camera to scan products. It works well but it’s better to use it with a well charged battery. It used about 8 percent for 27 minutes on my phone.
The Moral Side
People do not like self-checkout and other such tech because they feel that it removes jobs from shops. I don’t think that it does, because shelves still need to be stacked. Instead of being stuck in one place shop workers are constantly walking around and filling shelves.
I often see that the people standing by self-checkout machines are having conversations with friends. They interrupt the conversation, if someone needs assistance, but the rest of the time they chat, like bar staff in bars, on a quiet day.
Some jobs are fun. I think that sitting at a cash register, on a quiet day, without customers is boring. On such days I am sure that they prefer self-checkout, where they are there in case of a problem.
The Lure of the Lavaux Slow Up
Yesterday I noticed that there is a good event for people who like to walk, cycle, rollerblade, skateboard and more. The Lavaux Slowup is scheduled for the 9th of June 2024 this year.
The advantage of a slow up is that roads are closed to traffic so for a few hours people can benefit from the entire width of the road to cycle, walk, run, scoot, rollerblade or do other sports.
The last one I did was in Bulle and that was a relaxed loop around a lake, up and down a few hills. Two of us were on bikes and another was on roller blades.
The Lavaux slow up is linear rather than a loop. You can take the train to the start, skate or ride along the route, and then take the train home. What makes this route special is that you have a good view of the vineyards from the lake side. It doesn’t seem to go into the vineyards.
This is a golden opportunity to have an easy bike ride, or other, along the lake, without worrying about cars and other vehicles.
For once human beings have priority over vehicles.
And Finally
In theory this is a 10km walk, so quite easy to do for most people. Cully can be reached by train and bus, and Vevey is also easy to get to, and from.
At the time of writing I intend to go.
Of Beets, Columns of Black Smoke and Finished Books
If you walk around at the moment you see that they have cut corn, sunflowers and beet. You also see that there are piles of beet in fields, queues of tractors waiting to send them on a train journey and more. Agriculture is busy at the moment.
This morning I heard quite a few sirens of emergency vehicles and as I looked out of the velux I saw a column of black smoke rising. I was curious as to its origin. I thought “Is it a car or is it a building.” It turns out that a car had decided to start burning while being driven on the motorway. I saw no mention of injuries or other. It seems a strange thing, for a car to spontaneously combust. I wonder what mistake led to the fire.
Recently I have been very good at picking up books, but terrible at actually reading them. I want that to change. There was a time when I was reading 8000 pages a year, and this year I have managed just 2900, in theory. I want that to change. I want to get into the habit of finishing books again. In 2015 I read 29, and this year I read just twelve. My reading habit has really changed since then. I took a journey back in time and read plenty of James Bond books.
I skipped recycling today because the experience of driving and shopping this morning was unpleasant. The obligations of normal life, without the rewards. Pandemic life.
See you tomorrow.
Moving Sugar Beet
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.
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.