Driving

Recently I drove for 26 hours over two days between Switzerland and France and I used Audible rather than Audiobookshelf to listen. The reason for this is that when I am driving I do not want to fiddle with an app on a phone. I don’t even want to fiddle with apps on Car Play.

I noticed that PocketCasts, the Podcast App, MyCitroën and even TomTom can be quite distracting when you’re trying to set things up when you’re driving. Most of these apps are fine, if you start from a parking above ground with access to data, but if you’re underground you need to fiddle while driving. To be clear, I don’t, and that’s one of my reason for not using most car play apps.

Today I had to go into Geneva to do something Initially my plan was to drive to the Parking St Antoine. As I got towards Secheron and the P&R parking I thought, “I have time, I’ll park here and walk the rest”. I did park, and then I did walk.

I know that some people drive the car and park as close as they can to where they’re going, even in town. In my case I did things differently. The P&R parking is designed for people who take the train, or who stay for a while but want to pay less.

Yesterday I cycled along the lake to get to Geneva. When I got to Geneva I cycled by World Meteorological Organisation before heading up from there towards the Graduate Institute, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the Palace of Nations (Palais des Nations) before heading by the International committee of the Red cross, by the International Labour Organisation and World Health Organisation before passing by the European Broadcasting Union, before finally heading back out of Geneva.

Today I looked at the Sports Tracker app and I noticed that all of my activities started from home, whether cycling, hiking, or walking. That’s because I spent this month cycling and walking from home. I didn’t use the car, or trains to get around.

I was thinking of this luxury when I was walking to the food shops this morning. Usually I would go by car, not because I am too lazy to walk four kilometres to the shops and back, but because recently the roads have been congested. People commuting to work all drive at the same time, so the entire road gets clogged up. That’s why I walked.

When I think of going to the Roche Au Dade via ferrata I often think “but it’s far”. That’s when I am going by car. I think the same when I consider going to St George, Fort L’écluse and other places. The paradox is that when I think of going to these places, by bike, now, I don’t.

When you go somewhere by car, it costs money, and time. By bike it costs time, but that time is the experience. When you cycle from Nyon to the Col De La combe Blanche, before descending towards Mijoux, and then back up the other side, towards Morez, the ride is the experience. You can take quieter roads, in so far as possible. You can look at the landscape. You can hear the sounds, or the silences.

Have you ever considered the difference in cost between cycling and driving a petrol car? Of course you have, and so have I. Yesterday I was reminded of how expensive cars are. I think that the last time I used the petrol car was to change to summer tyres. It has been dormant since then. Yesterday I refulled for about 50 CHF I think. I also used the self-checkout in the shop, rather than going to the human being. Everyone else went to the human being.

A few weeks ago two individuals in a car yelled abuse at a group of us who were cycling. They were mad that a cyclist did not pull in for them to pass easily. At this point I thought “Despair is not sat on a bench as in the proverb, he is sat in a car.

Years ago, after yet another speeding fine when driving between home and a scuba diving spot, or vice versa I was flashed and I thought “expensive cars are a waste of money, because the motorway is rarely quiet enough to drive at the speed limit, let alone to speed. In effect you’re spending a huge amount on a machine that will see you stuck in traffic and grumpy.

I am still really tempted to take the train to Jaun Dorf rather than the car. There are two reasons for this. The first is that the route is easy by train. It’s two trains, and a bus. The second reason is that I don’t save any time on the way up, by taking the car. I do burn petrol, and have to pay for parking while not driving the car.

Yesterday while I was looking for a Via Ferrata I came across this hike and I am tempted to do it. I will be in the area to do this hike on Saturday and if I camped overnight then I could do the second hike as a solo hike.

The reason not to camp, at this time of year is that the temperature still goes down to 5°c tomorrow, 6°c on Saturday and 8°c on Sunday. It’s not freezing, but you need a better tent and sleeping bag in these conditions.

Today I drove to Geneva, with the intention of going to a coworking event. In the end I skipped it. Usually when I plan to participate in something like this I go at the start time, rather than at some point during the day. I broke with my routine so I was at the right place, at the right time, and I saw the group. I didn’t say hello.

Luckily this is something I rarely do. Usually when I go to an event, I don’t skip it.