I went for a walk/run today. Probably about 6 km. 2 hills. Some stairs. Lots of sun. Stopped to take photos with my Samsung A6.
Category: basel
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Anecdote to remember
I was waiting at a red traffic light on my bicycle. I was the only bicycle waiting. No cars. And the red light phase was quite long.
After some time, another cyclist stopped next to me and immediately the traffic robot switched to green.
I joked out loud: “You saved my day. Without you I would have to stand there all day waiting for the light to change”. I explained my hypothesis that there are sensors that determine when traffic lights switch.
The lady answered. “You’re the third person I saved today.” Turns out she is a train conductor for Deutsche Bahn. Two passengers had a 1st class ticket but were travelling 1 day earlier than their train ticket. Instead of charging a fine, she let goodwill prevail.
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Jog log
Dear blog,
I am happy to report that I went running on 5 out of 7 days this past week.
The plan is to replace my daily outdoor swim with a slow jog.
Today I did the 2 hills tour. Starting at Bettingerstrasse, running along the Wiese river, via Sonnenhalde and Wenkenpark. More than 6 km long.
I will try to do the same again this week.
My goal at the moment is to run easy.
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Cyclists, beware of tram tracks. Dangerous spot on Elisabethenstrasse in Basel
I witnessed a motorbike crash this morning while cycling to work.
I was cycling up Elisabethenstrasse when I heard a loud crash.
A motorbiker had crashed on the other side of the street. At a place where the tram tracks and street don’t leave much space for cyclists and motorbikes.
At exactly the same spot which I’ve previously identified as being dangerous.
Not so long ago, the pavement at the tram stop was increased in height so that now the tram doors open at pavement level.
This means the curb is much higher and steeper.
At the same time, the space between curb and tram track is narrower than before and after the tram stop.
Which means on rainy days, you can easily slip on the wet and slippery tram tracks.
Dangerous.
I usually move to the middle of the tracks, away from the curb.
I think I will cycle a different route. Especially on rainy days.
Life is precious. Cycle safely.
As you can tell i am shocked.
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Bicycle tour
then, i took part in this velo tour organized by the Swiss Architecture Museum and Open House Basel https://t.co/f6i17eQMqx
— ?…Collect this tweet (@nchenga) May 19, 2019I took part in a bicycle tour of public spaces and buildings in Basel. A highlight.
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La domenica sportiva
I went for a long slow run today. Along the Wiese river. Up to Bettingen. Via my favourite sawdust track (aka Finnenbahn) at Ausserberg. And, ending my run at the Kneipp facility in Riehen.
Feeling positive and blessed.
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A postcard from Basel
I took this snapshot last week. A postcard view of the Münster in Basel.
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“Büseli, Büseli”
How to call your cat indoors on a rainy autumn evening in Basel:
“Büseli, Büseli“
Büsi is Swiss-German for cat.
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Reasons to blog
I saw this article today on the benefits of blogging:
“So why should you blog?” https://t.co/sxbWSvtWPI
— âœ___CollectThisTweet (@nchenga) November 1, 2015
- Blogs refine your thoughts
- Blogs reward the creator
- Blogs amplify your humanity
- Blogs connect us to our tribes
- Blogs give introverts a voice
- Blogs reward the “new age” publishers
- Blogs embrace the experimenters
- Blogs accelerate discovery
- Blogs open up a world without borders
I’ve written about the reflective power of writing. E.g. here.
I bet, there were similar articles about writing ever since writing was invented.
It’s quite difficult to carve out a space in our multimedia world to sit down and write and reflect and create. Many times I just feel like I am part of the echo chamber. Not adding any value. Not going deep enough.
One reason to keep your blog going is digital memories.
The weather was beautiful today. Sunny and warm. I tried to capture the day and hold onto the moment with these snapshots.
Walking down the stairs:
Crossing the river Rhein at the Kraftwerk:
This bicycle colour is cool:
Looking down:
Just like in San Francisco, the fog moved in at around 5 pm:
Autumn colours:
I am continuing my Vine experiment. Here’s the new water fountain in Riehen Dorf:
Riehen https://t.co/OIWZPqef3c
— âœ___CollectThisTweet (@nchenga) November 1, 2015
Video isn’t easy. At all. This Coschedule blog post mentions some tools to explore:
- Video Hance (iPhone)
- QuickCast (iPhone)
- ScreenFlow (desktop tool)
Always a good resource, Hubspot lists video ideas to try out for your business.
What tools or apps can you recommend? I’m on Android.
By chance, I learnt that there is an edit function in Vine.
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I like this Basel snapshot https://flic.kr/p/xZMPbN
“Buvettes” are a big thing in Basel in summer. Their popularity is increasing.
Same as street food trucks.
Photos taken with a Moto G 2nd Gen smartphone. The best camera is the one that is with you.
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Wrong way round
Yesterday morning a cyclist decided to cycle thru one of the roundabouts the wrong way round. During early morning traffic to work. If you’re thinking probably a bicycle courier: This cyclist was a woman in her 30s or 40s.
Nothing happened. No accident followed.
But it still had me shaking my head. Road traffic rules are there for our own safety. A lot can happen at 30km/h. We’re vulnerable. More than we think.
There are enough occasions when we make unintended mistakes. No need to wilfully ignore traffic rules.
(Sorry. Turning into an activist.)
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I went photo-walking today
I hope you like some of the snaps I took today:
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Four Flickr faves for a Chiperoni.ch snapshot
I took this snapshot on Friday evening on my way home from work:
Since then it’s received four Flickr faves.
Hope you like it.
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An umbrella of petals
Snapshot of the day:
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Sunny snapshots
Sunday’s afternoon sun was special. Soft and golden. So beautiful. Here are some snapshots I captured with my Panasonic Lumix:
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ET phone home
I like this blog post on the Crossroads website: Home for Christmas.
ET phone home.
Growing up in Malawi, I probably don’t share the same level of contemplative Christmas (“besinnliche Weihnachten”) memories that my fellow German compatriots may have experienced. It’s difficult to emulate some Christmas traditions when it’s over 30 degrees warm.
My mom remembers how I had to learn a lot of english carols in my first year of primary school, many of which she had never heard of. Like Good King Wenceslas. Or God rest ye merry gentlemen. Or Away in a manger. I faintly remember walking to St. Paul’s Anglican Church in Blantyre for carol service rehearsals.
Christmas was a very special celebration for my grandfather. My mom told me about a lot about the Christmas parties he organized for his family despite being very poor.
And many years later, I remember my first Christmas at German uni where everybody in class said they’re travelling home to be with their family. Even the tough-looking punk with dyed red hair and rings in his nose was travelling home to celebrate Christmas with his mom. I was truly fascinated.
I am thankful for this Christian holiday. And I like some of the traditions associated with Christmas. I just dislike and still rebel against the commercialization.
I’m planning to attend the Christmas Eve service at Crossroads Basel. If you want to join me, here are the details.
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A fave for http://www.wenger-2-rad.ch/
This is a blog post to say thank you to http://www.wenger-2-rad.ch/.
On Monday morning, I noticed that I had forgotten my bicycle lock at home. Since I don’t have a lockable place to store my bike near work, I hurried to the closest bicycle shop planning to buy a substitute. When I noticed I’d forgotten my purse in the same place where I’d left my bicycle lock.
Great way to start the week.
I usually attach my bicycle lock to my bike rack.
The owner of Wenger 2 Rad was kind enough to lend me a bicycle lock for a day. Without charge. Which is great, ‘cos I already own at least 3 bicycle locks and don’t really need a fourth one to forget.
Thank you Wenger 2 Rad. I appreciate the help.
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Photo walk
I walked up Tüllinger Hügel and took some snapshots:
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Ten twenty seven
Sipping coffee. Reading tweets. Faving Flickr photos. And listening to “Klassik-Pop-et cetera” on dradio.de.
Some music references to remember:
Paul Gerhard “Ich steh an deiner Krippe hier”
Mahalia Jackson “Go tell it on the mountain”
Johann Sebastian Bach “Ich lasse dich nicht denn du segnest mich denn”
Some ancient poetry that crossed my internetz path:
You know the year is nearly over when the first posts on “future trends” appear. I thought this slide deck quite intriguing:
Heading out to take care of errands. And to take photos of bicycles. Yours truly, nchenga.
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Observations
On my home from work, I cycled home past 3 large groups of joggers. I saw another group further up and thought to myself: “OK, this will be a group of nordic walkers”. I was wrong. I passed another group of joggers.
Stalemate of the Spambots reminds me of this Lift 11 talk by Kevin Slavin.
(…) the bots have poisoned the stock-trading waters so much that even the bots themselves fear to go in
This Forbes article on doxxing and Reddit caught my attention. Lots of salient points about Internet culture.
Snippets like:
“anything that’s written by (including code) and run by humans is biased, often unintentionally”
or
“there is no such thing as an agnostic, neutral service”
“Social services are moving trains, organisms that we’ve created and infused with our own humanity.”
Wow. Maybe we should just pull the plug. This is larger and more powerful than any sci-fi. Amakhala scared.
On a lighter note, I started a Vespa photo set on Flickr:
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Unplanned photo tour
Walked thru parts of Riehen and Chrischona today. The weather was better than expected. Took lots of flower snapshots for the boring flower snapshot set. So boring they easily qualify.
I found this sign on my way back to my bicycle:
Made me smile.
I continued exploring Jekyll (see yesterday’s post). Bin gespannt.
Further snapshots:
sooo boring 
for the boring flower snapsot collection https://www.flickr.com/photos/chiperoni/albums/72157600272787982
