Switzerland

Cycling From Nyon To the Signal De Bougy and Back

Yesterday I looked at the wind, and when I saw that it was coming from the east I decided to cycle into it, for the outward journey, and back, with it, on the journey back. Originally my plan was to cycle to Rolle and to turn around but the plan changed. I was cycling and I overtook a woman. I like to challenge myself to overtake everyone. I especially like to overtake everyone, as a personal challenge, until I am too tired.

A Return to Cycling

For three years I did not cycle. For one year it was because I broke my arm while cycling, The second year it was because we were in the first wave of this never-ending pandemic so I preferred not to stray too far from home. The third year it was because the pandemic was still not over, but it felt as if we had a chance. This year is different. This year we know that the Swiss government doesn’t care either way. For the Swiss the pandemic is over, whether that is true, or false.

A Weekend Walk During a Pandemic

Today I went for my daily walk and I saw a shape. I thought, “That looks like a fox” and as I approached i had a doubt about it being a dog and I felt fear but I continued forward anyway. Eventually the fox noticed me, looked at me and then fled the other way. This is good news. This means that the fox was healthy, rather than rabied. It also means that I can keep being relaxed about seeing foxes.

A New Yorker Cartoon, Existentialism and The Absurd

Today I saw a picture of a frog sitting in a sauce pan on a cooker speaking to another, saying “I Know the water is heating up but that’s the next generation’s problem” and this can be a comment on a few things. The first, linear comment is of course about global warming and its consequences for current and future generations. Every generation, we, as children, want to make a better place when we grow up. The realities of adulthood make this more of a challenge than we had anticipated.

Stormy Skies Near Nyon

The weather was finally dynamic today. The storm warnings were flashing towards Hermance, on the French side of the lake. This gave a nice contrast between the yellow of the Colza fields and the dark threatening clouds behind.

At moments I thought that rain would begin to fall but luckily the doppler radar, and my instincs were correct, so I did not get drenched in rain or pelted with hail. At one point it did feel as though hail could be a possibility.

Spring Cycling

The weather is relatively cold but the sun is out so the time for spring cycling has come. Spring cycling is like other forms of cycling, but you want to dress warm enough to be comfortable, but not so warm as to overheat. You also want to find routes that are short enough so that if it is cold you can get home without being cold for too long.

The conditions were mild today. The thermometer showed about 12°c so acceptable for cycling. For years I was cycling with Suunto devices but now I am playing with the Garmin instinct and the Garmin Speed Sensor 2 and Cadence sensor. I switched over to the Garmin Instinct Solar because I am curious to see how it copes this summer, and I got the speed sensor 2 and cadence sensor 2 because the Suunto device has finally failed, and I saw them offered at a good price so I decided to test them. So far I haven’t had to worry about them. They just work, no need to make sure the sensors are in the right place or anything else.

An Interesting Structure In the Mouth of a Cavern.

I find the image in this tweet interesting. I don’t know the context of this location. I find the wooden building interesting. I also find it interesting to see the lighter patch around where the chimney exhausts. It is something out of the ordinary and could be interesting to see in person.

https://twitter.com/nicola98923617/status/1492856083441983488

To find out more about this building you can watch an SRF Ding Dong episode in German. They speak about this home about six minutes in. The program reminds me of a Swiss German Grand Designs or similar type of program. The structure looks normal. There is a space behind the building where you can walk between the building and the rock.

Become A JavaScript Developer Completed and GeoJSON

We’re in a pandemic, and it makes sense to invest time in learning. I completed the Become a JavaScript Developer course last night and today I played around with some code to see if it worked for what I wanted. It didn’t. I also listened to a live stream which discussed geojson, smapshot and other projects. I like the idea of geotagged data, and an open API to allow for the data to be shared more easily

The Pandemic Groundhog Day - Sisyphean Life

This week we have the pandemic Groundhog Day and this is the time when we will see if the Sisyphean life continues. Most of Europe is reopening, and although for those who have not read broadly about the pandemic rejoice, others do not. By deciding to reopen now, it is almost certain that next winter will be a pandemic one.

This is the graph for new cases for today. This is the context in which Switzerland is considering the reopening of society.

Confined by Freedom

Some of us are confined by freedom. By this I mean that as society is opened up, as people are told that they don’t need to wear masks, that they don’t need to self-isolate and that they don’t need to show covid passes, so the freedom of others is taken away. During a pandemic there are two types of people. Those that hear the word pandemic and think “I need to self-isolate, wear a mask, and vaccinate.” and the others who think “Why should I do what the state tells me to do? I am my own person.”