Yearly Archives: 2007

This post is those kind of stupid posts where one compares the beauty and the beast.

Friday morning it was raining like hell, I was by car in the morning doing Nyon-CERN, taking one of the main entry points of Geneva.

At the beginning of the week I read that in Portugal on Monday there were 15 dead in car accidents, the double of the average, because of the rain.

I was thinking, on the car going 100km/h, better to go a bit slow but arrive faster. Everyone was thinking the same way. The traffic was exactly the same any other day, almost stopping at Coppet, but rolling in good cadence. Maybe even better than the normal as the bigger distance between cars led to less breaking.

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In Portugal when you are about to arrive to a roundabout, in a case where there is the minimum signalization you have: 200m away – info about directions, danger, max 50; 100m away – loss of priority in 100m, max 30; on the spot – loss of priority, roundabout, mandatory go right.

In Switzerland the usual signalization for a roundabout is: 200m away – info about directions; on the spot – loss of priority, roundabout. The rest is on responsability of the driver. No ‘danger’ sign, no max speeds, no superfluous stuff.
In Nyon in one roundabout, 50m before they even have a sign: end of max 60 (meaning now max is 80)! When you pass that sign everyone goes at 30km/h or you might crash to the roundabout.

Ends up in the usual cold because of the freezing houses (+10 outside means +10 inside) but included two sea baths and walk in t-shirt and shorts.

Also have a terrible visions of daily car accidents, constant speeding and parking without any consideration for the pedestrians and security.

This time I had the opportunity to discover hidden beauties of Porto and Monserraz. My university friends and other friends touch my heart and I did not want to leave.

Coimbra had changed a lot, people and the city. The trip included also Évora, train to Régua, quick pass in Sintra and Ericeira.

Christmas I see what’s new.

In a hurry I arrived to the train without wallet. Just after the moment of the ‘sorry, I forgot everything at home’ the guy next to me ‘I’ll pay his ticket’. Every single person has his good side. Wait a bit and you will see it. (His good side was the left)

J’ai senti une énorme humiliation l’autre jour quand, dans une montée en vélo, je suis dépassé par une femme habillé en tailleur. On devrai interdire les vélos électriques.