During the weekend it was warm and beautiful. It was so warm and beautiful that my bag got to 40+ degrees centigrade, with an average of over 30°c. Today as I drove to the shops for food I noticed that the snow line was even lower.
Yesterday it was on the top of the Jura, around La Dole, and today it’s down two thirds of the mountain. It’s cold enough to feel cold when walking.
A Cold Walk Yesterday I went out for my daily walk but within minutes I noticed that my legs felt cold and that I really did need the scarf that I wore. It’s exceptional for me to wear a scarf. My fleece and my inner coat both have neck protection built in so I usually feel fine. Yesterday was unusually cold so I was happy to add the scarf to really keep my neck warmer.
When some people see that it’s grey or rainy they don’t want to go for a walk. They don’t want to get rained on and they don’t want to experience the discomfort of being in a wet environment. I don’t mind the rain. I don’t mind wearing a rain coat and rain trousers, and waterproof shoes, and ensuring that I don’t need to fiddle with the phone when my hands are wet with rain.
Every so often I get in a car to walk somewhere different. For two or three days we have been in the fog. Yesterday the fog was so thick that when I was driving I decided to slow down. I wanted to be able to stop in half the visible distance.
When the wind is still, and fog forms, there is another advantage, if you get above it. The water on lakes is flat.
For a long time I wasn’t tempted to play with Home Assistant or the Apple Home app. I don’t have smart light bulbs, or a smart fridge, or a thermostat that I can control remotely. I don’t have solar panels that are feeding a battery. In essence I thought that if I played with Home Assistant I would not be able to do anything. Now I see that this idea was wrong.
I knew that it would rain heavy yesterday (at the time when you read this) so I considered running so that I would spend less time in the weather. The issue, at this time of year, is that if you run you need to do so before the sun sets but you also want to wear lighter clothes, for running to be easier.
Ready for Rain For these reasons I went for a walk instead.
Yesterday it snowed for several hours and that snow was covering the path to my house. When I saw the ground turn from asphalt black to grey, to white I decided to go and start clearing the snow. It’s easy to clear snow when you have three or four centimetres, rather than more. At first it was light and easy to move so I cleared the path once, and then a second time, and then a third, and by the third I decided to stop.
A few days ago I signed up for a group hike but decided not to go for two or three reasons. The two main reasons were the size of the group and the weather. From what I saw fifteen people were going to go on that hike and I am still in pandemic mode. I would be happier with a smaller group of people. fifteen is too large.
The secondary more valid reason is that rain was forecast.
Yesterday i looked at the rain forecast and it looked as though I could go for a walk, without taking a proper rain coat. I wore the btwin cycling rain jacket instead. I decided to carry a mini umbrella with me in case the rain got harder.
I have carried this mini umbrella several times in recent weeks but until yesterday I had no reason to use it. Yesterday I could feel that the rain was getting heavier so I took it out and I walked for fourty or so minutes with the umbrella.
If I look across from my apartment I can see plenty of pigeons lined up in a row. It’s raining heavily and they are not flying. They are just sitting on the roof, letting the rain water trickle down from them onto the roof below. I assume that in this weather pigeons don’t want to get their entire body soaked. They prefer to sit and huddle.
Staying Safe I am waiting for the rain to stop before driving.