In the last two days I ran 8.7 and 7.6km. I also walked 7km and 6 or more kilometres. I’m also recovering from a cold. That’s why yesterday I broke a fundamental rule, by catching a bus.
For clarity, I am opposed to buses because their frequency is low, and at 3 CHF per trip per direction the bus is an expense I don’t need, as I am happy to walk.
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.
Within 31-34 minutes you can be in Geneva-Eaux-Vives by the RE33 train. Yesterday I tested it on the way back from Silicon Chalet Event 39 about Infrastructure as Code and Security, a combination for success. The talks were interesting and informative. It’s an opportunity to see people from the Geneva tech scene.
For years I didn’t want to go to Geneva because by train and car it’s fine to get close to Geneva, but it’s less convenient to get from A to B. With a car it’s fast to get close to Geneva but then you hit traffic lights, and parking fees, and the car becomes a nuisance rather than an asset.
I rarely go to Geneva for two reasons. The first is that there is rarely a compelling reason to go into Geneva, except for work related things. The second reason is that Geneva is expensive to get into.
To get to Geneva and back, by train, will cost 9.40 CHF. According to a parking cost simulator the price comes to 9.50 for parking a petrol car, and five CHF to park an electric car. I think that this is as well as the cost of charging the EV.
Yesterday I was surprised that someone had planned an activity without public transport in mind. A few years ago I would not have noticed. For a long time I never considered that people would want to take buses and trains to the start of a hike. Now I do.
For me, at this moment in time, I believe that every hike should start somewhere where public transport is available, both at the start and the end if it’s a linear hike, and at the start if it’s a loop. Without public transport being factored in everyone is condemned to car sharing. In and of itself the idea of car-sharing is not a bad one.
Sometimes when we go for a hike we walk along a route that makes getting back to the car quick and easy. For tomorrow’s walking getting back to the car would take three trains and more than an hour. For Londoners this is a familiar routing situation, but for people in Switzerland it might not be.
When I was looking at the route I found that the best place to park might be near Cossonay and another town. It’s convenient because you can take train A in the morning to get to the start of the Hike, and take the train from the end of the hike directly back to where the car is parked.
On Sunday, less than a week ago I was on a train. I could hear someone coughing, and coughing. She sat in the seats a set of seats in front of the group of people I was with. I could hear the bronchial cough and I considered masking but didn’t and now I regret it.
Over the last two days I have had a sore throat and last night I didn’t sleep much so I chose to listen to podcasts with my eyes closed.
Yesterday I was watching the Tour De Romandie Morges to Morges stage and I was struck by how much of the route I am familar with. It’s not just that I’m familiar with the route that I road with the group, but that I’m familiar with parts of the full tour. Over the years I have ridden between Geneva and Aubonne so many times that I know many of the roads well. I demonstrated this yesterday by recognising most of the roads the women road along.
Over the years I have enjoyed driving to the shops with a petrol driven scooter for daily shops. I liked that it was small, light and convenient. I only got rid of it, after sixteen years of use because of the cost for a service. Usually it was about 500 but I was quoted 500 CHF, so that’s when I decided to be done with it.
For a while I had no scooter, until I found an Ocean Drive E9 or similar e-scooter. This isn’t a sit down scooter. This is a standing one. Before ownning this one I had tremendous fun with a foot scooter, using it to get to the bus, and train, and then heading to work, and sometimes riding down from Grand Saconnex to Cornavin for fun. It was really enjoyable to use.
For many years I could go to work by car so I did, because I had a parking. When I worked for other employers I took the train for a simple reason. Parking near work would cost 36 CHF per day whereas taking the train would cost about 14.50 CHF per day. I stopped using the car to commute for a simple reason, the cost of parking
20min just had an article about how the Swiss are bad at leaving the car at home, to replace it by the car, and for me there are two reasons. The first is that if parking at work is free, then you might as well take the car as it’s more convenient.