Sunday morning thoughts – October 8

Join me on a Saturday adventure and other stuff.

Getting a late start writing (it’s already 11). There’s just too much craziness going on in the world. My mind is being pulled from natural disasters to complete insanity, to God complexes, to petulant children running a country into the ground, to war, to major abuse stories closer to home, to parliament elections, to struggling to make important life decisions amid all this. I’m only one person here. Give me a break!

So, if I don’t talk about the major news stories it’s not because I don’t care – there’s just so much going on it’s overwhelming. Instead let me tell you about my Friday and Saturday morning.

I wake up at 2.30 unable to go back to sleep. So, I read and chat with some people who were still up and about ready to go to bed. I reply to a bunch of emails with a silly grin on my face thinking about how people will be confused by the 4 AM timestamp. Eventually I start cleaning. I have to do quiet stuff first, because I’m not meant to make any noise before six in the morning. That is also when I start the first load of laundry. Bathrooms and one bedroom are cleaned. The kitchen is still a disaster zone. Clearly time to go online and buy a new power bank for my phone. Kind of crucial when out hiking on my own. They offer same day delivery at no extra charge – this is new! I usually order from them and go pick things up. A look in the mirror tells me that I would need a shower and to wash my hair before I could go anywhere – so I decide to go for same day delivery instead.

Just to give you some context. They deliver what you order without additional packaging. So, it’s just like picking it up in that respect. And I do live along the route they drive to drop goods of at the pickup location – that’s why there was no additional charge for my address. This was really quick and easy. I was impressed. Don’t think I’ll make it a habit since I’m trying to buy less stuff.

This brings me to Saturday. The day I got up nine minutes before I had to be out the door, not having packed anything. Sure – why not? This was adventure one of two that day. I took two buses up to Salhöhe (779m) and then walked up to Wasserflue (844m). (I will put a link to the YT video I created a bit further down. I need to tell the story first.) After about 1h I reached the peak. Although peak is really not the right word since it’s more of a viewing area with benches and the peak is further back.

Almost there - Wasserflue 844 meters above sea level

Usually, I’m alone when I get up there in the early morning. Not this time. Some guy with a big camera (they are both featured in the video) is already there. I’m annoyed. And he has also occupied “my” bench. I’m getting really grumbly. But as we’ve established, I’m super cute when I’m annoyed so this is not helping matters. Of course, he starts talking to me …

What’s wrong with people? And how is “where is north?” an appropriate question right after sunrise? Been to school much? Have I mentioned that I was super annoyed?

Anyway, I left after about ten minutes or so. On the way down I made friends with a cat, a bunch of cows and chickens. I almost ran into a runner, and I mean that quite literally. On the paths up and down that hill/mountain there is really only room for one person. So passing people can get tricky. Especially on the ridge path at the beginning. It’s still pretty steep here and you don’t wanna slip. We manage to pass each other and exchange a few words on how beautiful a morning it is and tell each other to “enjoy it”. Made me smile.

This is where I walk along another ridge and then the steep downhill part starts. There are no people around and all I can hear are very distant cow bells and some birds. How lucky am I?

Suddenly, I hear something. I can’t see yet. Then some animal emerges from the brushes below me. It looks like a dog. I’m like “what kind of idiot lets their dog off the leash here?”. I take another look and see that it’s a wild boar. How freaking cool is this? It did not notice me right away and I was not sure what to do. Going back up the hill was not much of an option, and I was not scared. More fascinated and a little confuse. So, I stood still, looking for a tree to hide behind should it start walking towards me, but it just kept on its path and was minding its own business. I tried to take a picture on my phone, but that didn’t work. So, I figured video was the better option. At this point I’m still standing on the narrow path not moving at all. The wild boar is just about to cross the path a safe distance away. It gets spooked somehow just as I hit record on my phone and charges up the hill.

Having read up on wild boars and how to behave, they do mention not to run away because they can easily catch up with you. I totally believe it! That thing went up that hill fast! They are not usually aggressive unless you come between a mom and her kids, but if they get scared or feel trapped, they can attack. Also, I thought it might have seen me, but with the light conditions and what I read it’s more likely that it smelled me (I did eventually take that shower on Friday in case you were wondering) or heard me. What an amazing moment – for me; I think the wild boar got a bit of a scare. It stopped further up the hill making sure I was not running after it and we both just went on with our walks.

This all happened very close to the bench where I usually give my legs a bit of a rest. Well, a tree had fallen on my bench. It didn’t feel like a good idea to sit down this time around even though the bench was still intact.

The rest of the way down was nice and quiet. I got out of the forest and walked across a field and eventually down a paved road. This is where I made friends with some chickens. They were kind of shy though. At the bottom I took a picture of where I’d hiked down from and that’s when the bells on top of the kindergarten building started going. Boy were they loud. This wasn’t a church so I can’t blame the Catholics for the loud bells on this occasion. The kindergarten is right next to the bus stop. This is the same bus line I live on (just on the other side of Aarau in Küttigen). That means that I can hop on the bus there and hop off right where I live. Takes 18 minutes. I could have said “about 20”, but I’m Swiss.

There was another adventure later that afternoon, but this has gotten much longer than anticipated. I do promise to include the Meyersche Stollen (a tunnel system used for drainage that can be accessed the first weekend of the month below the main station in Aarau) when I publish the Aarau city profile.

Here’s my YT video:

Have a lovely Sunday everyone.