Cold

During walks, especially once temperatures drop my old pair of airpods tend to die by the time I reach the half way point of my walk. When they’re getting old the batteries in airpods don’t last as long in cold conditions but they’re fine in warm conditions.

A few years ago when a pair of airpods died I didn’t immediately put both to charge and so one of them was dead, dead, not just temporarily dead. I tried to get Apple to sell me a replacement airpods but the person I dealt with was asking me over and over what the problem was and I told him, over and over. In the end I got so tired of dealing with this induhvidual (intentional spelling) and just ordered a new pair.

This Autumn is different because I have worn running, shoes, normal shoes, and Trail Glove 7 in the rain. I was very happy with the Trail Glove 7 during the entirety of the heat wave. I had no issues with them but now that we’re moving into winter I feel the need for shoes with greater ground clearance for when I walk through puddles, or streams of water running down roads while the rain falls.

We’re having dry weather which means that I have clean shoes, once again. They cut the grass recently but rather than see greenery we see yellow. We’re in March and it already looks as if we’re un June/July, with how dry the landscape is. The sides of the road, where it was once muddy, is now dry and hard. We are in summer dry weather despite being the first of march.

Despite having a frosty morning today I still decided to go for a run in the morning rather than the afternoon. I mention the frost because I noticed that one velux had the usual frost fractals but the others were clear. This is curious.

Frost fractals on a velux

I wore a thermal layer, a fleece, a t-shirt and some running shoes that were not waterproof. I would have run one route but a couple took the entire width of the road so I ran along the side of the road, and in the grass by the side of the road. Due to my wearing different shoes my feet and socks got wet and I could feel the dampness, a feeling that I usually do not get.

richard - Jan 0, 2022

Last year I did walk in the dark, with a head lamp. I did see animal eyes staring back at me sometimes. It isn’t that pleasant. Normally I would use rain as an excuse not to walk but as it never rains I had to settle for a windy day.

Yep yep on the early sunset-daily walk problem, as I’m having it as well at the moment. I love to walk at least half an hour, at minimum, to get outside and get some exercise and open air, but these short winter days make it difficult. I’ve got a few goals/deadlines I’m working on at the moment, so I’m trying to meet daily targets to stay on track, and by the time I prioritize those to-dos, it’s typically just too darn dark for a walk. Unless, that is, I either want to walk in the cold-and-dark (I do not) or I want to walk and then come back not really motivated to get my work done (and at the moment, I don’t want that, either!).

There is a cold wind blowing today so I skipped my daily walk. I can dress for the weather and I am usually fine. Today I simply decided to miss my daily walk. I believe that walking whatever the weather, whatever the wind, and whatever the precipitation is good. I also believe that it fatigues us. For this reason it makes sense, sometimes, to stay indoors, and focus on studying or spending money on things we don’t need.

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.

The unthreatening clouds did not bother me during my bike ride but it was cooler than sometimes at this time of year. I occasionally felt that an extra layer or two would be welcome. That’s unusual in July at this time of year.

I chose routes that kept me as far from cars as possible. I also chose wider roads. They may be safer. The challenge is to find roads where cars are banned.

Walking in heavy rain for two and a half hours doesn’t make much sense. You don’t see much. The more time you spend outside the more of you is wet, and by the time you get home you’re cold and in need of warming up.

It’s day 57, the 11th of May. In theory Switzerland has rebooted in safe mode and we can start returning to normal life. I don’t know whether the shops or other places were busy because I didn’t go into any shops.

Yesterday I went for a walk in the rain. I walked for two hours, took pictures and listened to Echo Der Zeit and this episode of the Thru-Hiking podcast. Gretel Scarlet was the interviewee. She talked about South Bound (SOBO) hiking the PCT.

It’s interesting to see how different her attitude was to most people’s, how being a dancer, and someone who considers nutrition, speaks differently of food and injuries.

Thanks to the rain most people stayed indoors. This was a good opportunity to walk along routes that I have been avoiding for weeks due to the pandemic. In the process, my trousers and shoes got soaked so I was squelching along. Even cars were not that frequent. I crossed two people during my ten-kilometre walk.