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.
A dry Field In Switzerland
https://twitter.com/meteosuisse/status/1432303148119560193
Lack of rainfall in August
Today as I walked I could see clear evidence that Switzerland is now dry. As you walk by the side of the road you see that it is yellow, and that there is no growth. Crops are withering away and water gauges are now filling with dust, rather than rain.
We now go for weeks without rain. If I wanted to pick up the soil it would crumble in my hands and blow away as dust.
The daily walk, when people are back, is less pleasant because the roads and paths that were quiet when everyone was on holiday catching the virus were quiet. Now that everyone is back it is a challenge to avoid people again and it could be worth finding quieter routes.
View of the Léman and Alps
I still track my walks with an app or two, but as I walk the same route so frequently something like the Garmin VivoSmart 4 is fine.
The weather was cold and cloudy this lunchtime so going up to the mountains for lunch was feasible. If the restaurant had been filled with people, and if we had shared a table with others, then I would have skipped and driven home. Luckily the road was closed to go up to the mountains so that stopped some people from going up. There were also the benefits of clouds and cold air temperatures.
There is a hill that is steep. You often see people struggle up it, trying to beat their own records and in so doing get knackered by the top. Yesterday I went up such a hill and I felt low on energy so I didn’t bother to sprint. I just focued on getting up to the top. As I went I saw a group of runners running down towards me and I wanted to take a picture but I was too slow so I took a picture of my shadow as I cycled instead.
We are in the middle of a pandemic and governments see no urgent reason to end it by rational means like soft lockdowns. As a result of this we can pay 1100 CHF per year to go to an indoor gym, rebreathing the same air as other people, using the same machines, and the same washrooms or we can go for the cheaper 49 CHF per month option but run the same risk.
The Pandemic is alive and well and I am still walking around in circles. I would go for bigger, more interesting adventures but no one is publicising those events until after the fact. During a pandemic it helps to be misinformed, an alcoholic and a festival goer.
If you like real sports, like climbing, cycling, group hikes etc then you have to wait for months, or at this point, probably years, for the pandemic to end.
A road between green trees.
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.
We are in a pandemic where the only disease vector is proximity to others, so in theory this is one of the easiest pandemics to overcome, and end. In practice people are like cats, and getting them to self-isolate is like herding cats. Paradoxically if people were as hard to herd as cats, then the pandemic would have ended over a year ago and today we’d be doing something more fun.
The title of this post is a joke, not a serious delusion of isolation. I saw that a few sunflowers had come out but that they were looking away, rather than towards me. They are looking at the morning sun and I was walking in the afternoon. They are still in the process of coming out.
Today I was asked if I wanted to go to a restaurant and I automatically said no.