Walking

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.

Spoonley Wood Roman Villa and Mosaic

Roman remains may be found and excavated but sometimes nature reclaims them. These ruins were discovered in 1882 but nature returned and hid them safely away again. Such tweets should inspire archeological departments, and film and TV or BA Media Studies to document the process of re-excavating these ruins, with photogrammetry and other modern tech used. https://twitter.com/MSFMagic/status/1493179373431803904

Scotland's Roman Wall - Tweet

When I started writing about the Roman civilisation in the summer of 1996 content was still new on the web. Wikipedia didn’t exist and we still relied on books and encyclopedias. We still had to visit ruins and more. Today the web has matured to such an extent that you can find tweets about the Roman civilisation every day. This means that history is not updated when books or newspaper articles come out.

Frozen Fountain Water

Although the name of this blog post is bizarre it is inspired by the site of a fountain with a big block of ice, serving as a mirror to the tree, and sun, in front of me. The weather is still nicer, more springlike than it has been. More people are out on bikes cycling together. They are taking advantage of the good weather. In theory we could have rain in the next few days but the likelihood, as usual, is very low.

Spring And Self Isolation

Today I went for a walk and it felt warm enough for me to skip on wearing a layer. It was warm, around six degrees, and sunny. It felt like Spring, and it feels as though cycling could almost be considered. The cycling season is nice. I speak about cycling because I think that this year, like the last two, will be spent in self-isolation until we have zero new cases for two weeks in a row.

A Walk in The Swiss Sun

Yesterday I read that we will have sun for at least a few more weeks due to a high pressure system over this part of Europe and this afternoon I read that it is snowing in Greece. Normally, out of pandemic I would love sunny days because it would mean climbing, cycling, hiking and more. During a pandemic it means solitary mud while avoiding being run over by cars, walking through the mud to avoid couples, and wearing a mask when you have to be close to others.

A Cold Walk In The Wind

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.

The Old Habit of Walking In The Rain

A Walk In The Rain Today it was meant to rain for the entire day but there was a brief window which it stopped raining so I went for a walk. I expected not to be rained on but within minutes I could feel a small spray of water falling on me. I walked anyway. It was nothing to worry about. I did the usual walk and although groups of people were walking they were easy to avoid.

On Long Drives

In Switzerland a three hour drive feels long, but in France or Spain it does not. I drove from Switzerland to Spain and from Spain to switzerland. The drive to Spain is easier because traffic gets lighter as you get further south. Most of the time this is true. This time, as I drove from Spain to Switzerland I came across the opposite. From the moment I started driving I encountered traffic.