Random Witterings

The Permutations of Garmin-Gadget-Failure

On the left side of the following photo is my Garmin Gadget:

Filthy-strapped wrist-watch included for scale.

It’s a Forerunner 305, which is quite an old model now, but it does the job I want it to do, which is to measure how far I walked and the timing. The problem is that, on my bony, skinny wrists, it’s not at all comfortable to wear it. Instead, it lives in the mesh pocket on the lid of my day-pack. That means that I often carry my pack when I don’t need it for any purpose other than as a Garmin Gadget carrier.

The Garmin Gadget (GG) has never (yet!) let me down. I have, however, let myself down in respect to using it. Here are the common failures:

1. Turn on GG before setting out on walk; place by window to obtain satellite signal; forget to pick up before leaving; upon returning from walk, switch it off with nothing recorded.
2. Turn on GG before setting out on walk; obtain satellite signal; put in top pocket of day-pack; forget to press ‘start’; finish walk with nothing recorded.
3. Turn on GG before setting out on walk; remember to pick it up and start it; complete walk but forget to stop it; drive off somewhere, very quickly increasing the recorded mileage and speed.
4. Decide to take day-pack on walk for no reason other than to give a pocket in which to hold the GG; check contents of pack (decide not to take anything out for fear of forgetting to re-instate it later); go out for walk; remember after half an hour that the GG is still sitting, switched off and completely forgotten, in the living room.

I managed number 4 today. On the last trip I managed 2 and 3. On the trip before I managed 1 and 3. Sometimes I do despair of myself.

-------------------------

Mud Season

Mud Season started late this year, but it is now in full-swing, making some of my local walks thoroughly unpleasant to the extent that I’m just not prepared to tackle them. In previous years I’ve resorted to walking the local lanes. This year I’m generally just being lazier.

That’s how gorgeous the weather was today!

This morning dawned a gorgeous crisp, clear winter’s day and I set out in the hope that the mud would be frozen solid. So it was – and all evidence was that the mud on the route that I took was as bad as I’ve ever seen it.

That set me to thinking: I would not voluntarily choose to go out and take a walk that I know is going to be significantly muddy. However, I don’t let Mud Season put me off going to walk in new places, where the mud might be (and often is) just as bad as on my local paths (such as last week’s jaunt up Black Down which was a mega-mud-fest). Why does mud become acceptable (to me) when not guaranteed to be present, but is totally unacceptable when known to be present?

I suppose it’s the same attitude as is common towards walking in the rain: I will seldom choose to set out for a walk in the rain, but if it rains when I’m out then that it far more acceptable.

I’m not sure what conclusions I draw from that, other than that I am a fair-weather-walker at heart, that I can’t wait for the end of Mud Season, and that I’m hoping for many more crisp winter’s day in the interim.