Week 4 in Wijnjewoude

January 28, 2023

Week 4 in Wijnjewoude

On my reading list...

The Chaos Machine: The Inside Story of How Social Media Rewired Our Minds and Our World - Max Fisher

We all have a vague sense that social media is bad for our minds, for our children, and for our democracies. But the truth is that its reach and impact run far deeper than we have understood. Building on years of international reporting, Max Fisher tells the gripping and galling inside story of how Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other social network preyed on psychological frailties to create the algorithms that drive everyday users to extreme opinions and, increasingly, extreme actions. As Fisher demonstrates, the companies’ founding tenets, combined with a blinkered focus on maximizing engagement, have led to a destabilized world for everyone.

New Dark Age - James Bridle

Our attention span decreases every year, our social media usage increases every year & our ability to do anything about it — or even recognise that a problem exists — seems to diminish at an alarming rate.
Who will be left to be concerned about this problem in a generation’s time?

...but first,

some more reading about "the trip" to Paris (or, as a constant voice in my head says, "as far as we feel like going").

I'm still uncertain as to getting home - as Frank and Pam have other destinations - and Ron and Annette have booked their return flights to Australia FROM Paris - so there is no doubt where they have to end up.

I "might" have a couple of options - but it is hard enough to plan what I'm doing, let alone trying to fit in with other people's travel, work or life plans. (But I haven't discounted it yet)

I've never worried much about the age difference with Janny, but she says that I'd better "just do it" - there's no point in waiting for her to be free so that we can do it together! Right, as usual...(and what a very special thing it is that Frank and Pam are daring to have another go, having enjoyed our boating adventures so far - and that they hit it off with Ron and Annette).

Janny and I are going to take the boat down to Utrecht from the 4th or 5th of May - Ankie will hold the fort re the business and someone will stay in our house - simply "being there" for Janny's Mum. Frank and Pam will get to Utrecht by train and Ron and Annette are taking Houtrib there in company with another boat - an English couple. We should be ready to leave for Maastricht on the 15th of May and Janny returns to Heerenveen by train...

The planned route is to go from Maastricht to Namur - and then decide to go South (via the Canal des Ardennes) and then West - OR to continue West and then South... the text below is from Wolter and Connie's Travel Stories and includes their stop at Namur.

I'm reading anything and everything at the moment, trying to glean any nuggets of information that might be helpful.

For example ; the lock with a door that flips and the manner of keeping the log - Frank kept count of all the bridges that we passed on the way to Rotterdam. Unfortunately, it was a poor logbook and that page is lost - I now have a new logbook for this year.

Knowing about the electricity and water availabilty is also important.

(I also read in one of the chart books that some of the automatic locks "start closing after 3 minutes" - ie you have 3 minutes to get out!. No dallying there...)

Day 12 Huy- Namur

July 23, 2017 - Namur , Belgium (From Wolter and Connie - translated by Google)

Storm alarm on the Maas

Around 10 o'clock the harbor was empty. All passers-by have left. We're a little late. The weather is less than the previous days. Clouds and a lot of wind. Our rainfall radar is deceptively positive. Buienalarm stands in solidarity with rain radar! Unfortunately, contrary to our weather stations, we had a few heavy showers on the Maas today. The good news is that the showers fell after the lock work.

Yet sailing this way (sailing up the Maas instead of sailing down) is more fun: better view of the mountain slopes. We do 2 locks today the first of which had a door that flips over and sinks to the bottom. ( too late to film, unfortunately) The second door is a large sliding door.

In the last lock we receive a partially completed form. No idea what they do with it. We had to pass on whether we were going beyond Namur today. That is of course useful for the operation.

We are now on the Namur side. It rains. We stay on board. We already know Namur and it doesn't attract us at the moment (with the rain).

Distance: 30.2 km
Engine hours: 4.3
Number of locks: 2
Total number of locks: 20
Total km's until today: 460 km
Wind force: Z3 wind force feeling: Z5-6 ( occasionally) , temp. 19
Harbor dues: not yet paid.
Facilities: electricity (tokens from the harbor master) and water on the side.
Center is within walking distance

Namur

https://ardennen.nl/steden/namen/

Namur is the capital of Wallonia and is a stone's throw from Brussels. It is a beautiful city characterized by beautiful churches, museums and sights. Tourists will certainly enjoy themselves during a stay in this beautiful Ardennes city. The citadel of Namur, located at an altitude of 100 meters above the Meuse, is one of the city's most famous attractions. We've put together a handy top 10 Sights so you don't have to miss anything!

Namur (French: [namyʁ] German: [naˈmyːɐ̯]; Dutch: Namen [ˈnaːmə(n)] ; Walloon: Nameur) is a city and municipality in Wallonia, Belgium. It is both the capital of the province of Namur and of Wallonia, hosting the Parliament of Wallonia, the Government of Wallonia and its administration.

Namur stands at the confluence of the rivers Sambre and Meuse and straddles three different regions – Hesbaye to the north, Condroz to the south-east, and Entre-Sambre-et-Meuse to the south-west. The city of Charleroi is located to the west. The language spoken is French.

The little things...

I tried the diesel container on the bike - 18 litres (x 0.88kg) = 15.84kg - too top heavy for an old guy!

Robin suggested that it would be better to have 2 x 10 litres in the saddle bags... he was right! I even took it for a ride...(I might take the big container as well - I have a collapsible hand trolley on board - for walking distances - there's plenty of room in the Tardis, after all :-) ).

Around the farm... (again not much due to the current cold snap - but not cold enough for skating - some places "down south" had snow).

More firewood - for 2 years ahead - our current supply is lasting OK.

I'm tempted to call it "price gouging" or even "war profiteering" - this lot cost €125,00 per cubic metre! and it's not even oak, which was the dearest at €75,00 only a couple of years ago - hate to think what that might cost now.

I looked it up - this 2 cubic metres of oak delivered on a pallet costs €669,00 !!!

(our 5 cubic metres was €625)

On Friday, we went for a test drive in a Hyundai Ioniq 5. They are too new to have any 2nd hand and there is a 9 month waiting time for delivery...but it was very nice, especially the heads up display...

Kids' Weekend

Janny had to work again as we had another worker sick.

I had a couple of helpers to cook dinner...

...and a few more helpers to stack the firewood - they haven't yet got the knack of doing it nice and straight...

Walking...

...is just about my only form of exercise at the moment - but as I near the 2 year mark of walking every day without a miss - I seem to have developed Plantar fasciitis - a chance remark to Cheryl and then confirmed by Pam, caused me to look it up. I'll have to go to the doctor, I suppose, but this is almost certainly the problem...(I only have a few days left to reach 2 years and then I'll do something else - including the recommended exercises). A few more kilometres on the bike would be a good idea, as well.

Pain on the bottom of the foot near the heel.
Pain with the first few steps after getting out of bed in the morning, or after a long period of rest, such as after a long car ride. ...
Greater pain after (not during) exercise or activity.

Plantar fasciitis can be caused by a number of factors, including type of shoes, foot structure, overuse and types of walking surfaces. The main symptom of plantar fasciitis is heel pain. Treatment for plantar fasciitis usually does not require surgery.