I commuted
A return to commuting with the S-Bahn and the Brompton raised a smile, despite the gloomy, drizzly weather this morning. I should do it more often, even if the second train across Mannheim still isn’t due until the end of the year…
A return to commuting with the S-Bahn and the Brompton raised a smile, despite the gloomy, drizzly weather this morning. I should do it more often, even if the second train across Mannheim still isn’t due until the end of the year…
Somehow, I managed a 50 km cycle today, over two stints: to work, and back. I definitely struggle on the ride back, after a normal day at work, and (whilst probably only marginally) back upstream along the Neckar.
Still, Ladenburg is always a welcome sight: my photo was rubbish in the end, though, since I moved the phone whilst it was still taking the night-time shot. Kind of arty, but pointlessly so. The cloud layer over the illuminated water tower could almost (well, not at all) have been an aurora.
Somehow, I managed a 7 km run today, with only the last km being more of a walk than a run. I found myself switching styles as I ran, loosening up as many muscle groups as I could. It probably looked very strange, but it felt good!
Tony Judt talking to Timothy Snyder in Thinking the Twentieth Century
This, in my view, is the intellectual sin of the [20th] century: passing judgement on the fate of others in the name of their future as you see it, a future in which you may have no investment, but concerning which you claim exclusive and perfect information.
Finally, ten days after our Bachchor concert of Brahms’s Song of Destiny and the Nänie on 27.10.2024, the great but borderline corny chordal progressions and tenor lines are beginning to fade from my musical memory, to be replaced by orchestral works we’re rehearsing with the Musikfreunde. A relief!
A chance discussion with a friend visiting for the weekend with his family led to me reaching for the book Thinking The Twentieth Century by Tony Judt and Timothy Snyder. It’s so well worth picking up (again) if you can find it, so perceptive on the roots evils of C20, with echoes for today…
Last night I wanted to enjoy an evening G&T with my wife. She’d been back for a day already after visiting friends, so we had caught up personally, but she wanted to catch up on the news (flooding in Valencia, the execution of a German-Iranian in Iran, the upcoming US elections) and so she switched on the TV. I watched, for a little while, too. But as soon as they started reporting on stupid Republicans spreading doubt about the legitimacy of the vote and the security of the polling stations, and they showed a clip of their stupid candidate raging about something, I couldn’t take any more. Feeling viscerally disgusted, I left the room and went upstairs to finish reading the final chapter of Hillary Mantel’s The Mirror and the Light.
Those of Henry VIII were dark days, for most people: of an omnipotent yet inconsistent absolute ruler and his councillors, most from ancient ruling families who couldn’t countenance any move towards a less feudal system. Of the jostling between the great powers in Europe (France, the Pope) with no consideration or care for individual lives.
This is my visceral fear for today, of thuggish, childish, nihilistic autocrats returning to the fore: something dark that I - thankfully, but also tellingly - don’t encounter in my daily life and so don’t feel I can counter: I try to tune out that noise from the media, tune out those concentrated slugs of negativity bias, and be nice and courteous to the people I meet.
Thermal management in the autumn is tricky, but rewarding when out on the old Panasonic again
Last week I was at an offsite business workshop, where the key players gathered to hammer out the setup and highlight the hurdles for the next phase of our major PLM project. This offsite was in Ladenburg, that charming historical Roman town between Mannheim and Heidelberg on the Neckar river…
… though of course, our hotel’s location was in the industrial outskirts of the town, where the charm was of distinctly another flavour. I didn’t stay at the hotel, choosing instead to cycle there and back, a lovely ride along the Neckar (going past the spot I’d been recently on my Panasonic road bike).
The hotel even had a section dedicated to bikes in the garage, which was greatly appreciated.
One lunchtime walk to escape the noise of such a large group took me to the fields outside Ladenburg, with a view to an old-looking chemical factory. See, it does have its charm:
A new mobile phone is a good opportunity for a reset of our digital lives, too. Naturally, the whole ecosystem surrounding a phone is interested and invested in keeping us engaged and subscribed: that is why I like to avoid the whole “transfer my phone” business and start from scratch again.
Of course, it’s my own fault that over the 5-6 years with my Android phone I ended up with something like four different browsers and at least four different email clients - I am curious and interested in how different options provide the same functions in different ways and styles.
But it’s not just that: starting afresh without a podcast app, with only the Gmail app, no posting apps means I can view and review not just my online life, but also reconsider my priorities in life. I now bring a book to re-read with me on the commute, a small notebook and a pen, to concentrate on my own thoughts and reflections for a while, before my curiosity draws me back into the maelstrom of apps and diversions once more, for the cycle to begin again.
If you’re in a similar situation - enjoy it, make the most of it!
Great to get out on the old Panasonic road bike again, along the Neckar by Ladenburg. Definitely need to replace the old tape and hoods, though: they’re getting exceedingly manky…
Micro.blog broke down for me last week, on the 7th of September, something to do with SSL certificates, and my website is still not up at the time of writing this. Whilst I appreciate the work behind the scenes, I am beginning to wonder if it’s more hassle to stay or to move on to another, robuster service…
… or whether I can treat the frustration philosophically, use it as a reset for my own motivations and writing., and consider this week “off” (and counting) as a blip in the grander scheme of things.
A quote that speaks to me rather profoundly, from this article by war reporter Lindsey Hilsum in the Guardian
{from the Israeli poet} Yehuda Amichai, who understood that self-righteous fury rarely leads to peace:
From the place where we are right Flowers will never grow In the spring. The place where we are right Is hard and trampled Like a yard.
I ended up taking a break from posting during the holiday, though not from reading, writing (well, drafting) and generally being more active than I had been at work: trips to the beach, swimming in lakes, visiting towns and family in North East Germany, by the Ostsee (Baltic Sea), all worked their magic, as did the second week at home, including borrowing a Bakfiets for a couple of trips to the tip.
I needed the additional break from posting during my first week back at work, as it is genuinely draining (though fulfilling!), and I’d been sleeping really badly, alas.
Yesterday’s trip up along the Rhein in a 1973 Alfa Romeo GTV was rather good (and, also, exhausting!)
Anyway, some visual impressions from my days off.
Friday evening, and… holiday! Managed to get most of my work tasks closed and relayed on, so I can begin the process of switching off; the long drive to the north coast will be a tiresome, but perhaps also helpful step in the right direction (I don’t just mean north!)
In my previous post I wrote:
It’s the last Thursday evening before my vacation. I have time, but I’m just surfing. It’s clearly time to take some time off, recharge and refresh, restart with thinking and writing.
That’s three “time”’s in two sentences (and “Thursday evening” is a temporal reference, too). That’s poor composition, but also a sign of enfrazzlement of the mind. I’m looking forward (into the very near future, only a working day left) to our holiday!
It’s the last Thursday evening before my vacation. I have time, but I’m just surfing. It’s clearly time to take some time off, recharge and refresh, restart with thinking and writing.
Looking forward to it getting cooler again, too. That will help.
It’s always a bit of a mixed feeling watching amazing artists and athletes doing their thing whilst munching on a pizza at home, but the whole family really enjoyed the breakdancing at the Olympics over the weekend. Much respect to all the competitors, great to have discovered their world!
The way we’re pointing is the way we’re going (slowly, with fitness and root-induced breaks…)
That’s where I’m headed! Heidelberg Handschuhsheim, Weißer Stein…
I can’t remember when I last went for a cruise on the longboard, but it was great to find that I could ride pretty comfortably today, practice switching between regular and goofy stances, and generally feel the flex and flow in board, knees and torso. The helmet remained, again, untouched!
Dramatic skies over Nordstetten as the overnight storm cleared, and I cleared my head during a post-breakfast, pre-drive home walk
Great to see the Global Cycling Network (GCN) - predominantly a sports bike channel in the past - really taking on motonormativity on their YouTube channel
GCN would really have been John Forester’s channel, his tribe - experts in lycra on fast bikes, as The War On Cars pointed out recently - but they’re taking a broader stance on bike transport now, and it’s good!
I suppose it’s fair to say that I live in quite a nice place… Waiting at the Alte Brücke to pick up my parents-in-law after the War Requiem concert
Visited the Generalprobe for the War Requiem this morning with my daughter: it’s such an amazing piece, and she was enraptured by it… Until it all got too loud for us both