2013-09-08 46 7

Sun 8 Sep 2013 in 46,7: 46.8004840, 7.0880283 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox

Location

A forest near Fribourg.

Participants

Calamus

Plans

Train from Berne to Fribourg, leaving at 7.04pm at rail 2, arrive in Fribourg at 7.25, walk.

Expedition

After a long conference near Berne, Calamus was sitting in his Bernese office. He really needed to work, but there was something that he just couldn't get his mind off. Today's hashpoint was very close to a town that was reachable from Berne in twenty minutes. Realizing he wasn't going to be able to concentrate, he walked over to the train station.

Fribourg had used to be one of the few completely bilingual major towns in Switzerland, with Germanic and Romance languages being spoken at the same rate. But the law of segregation had had its way with Fribourg, and now the city was considered French-speaking, with a Germanic "ghetto" across the river. To compare, in Biel/Bienne (the German and French names are usually used together this way), people often ask a question in French and are answered in a Germanic dialect, without anyone even thinking about it. There, it is impossible to name a primary language. In Fribourg, however, Calamus had to resort to Swiss French.

It rained in Fribourg. And not just a little, but a lot. The hashpoint was located in a forest outside of Fribourg, quite some distance to go. But Calamus didn't want to bother understanding the local bus system, so he just walked a little in the right direction and got on a bus that seemed to head the same way. This covered about half the distance, then he needed to walk through the rain.

Before long, Calamus's phone rang. It was his actuary, who was clearly instructed not to call Calamus's private number if it wasn't necessary. As it turned out, it had been necessary. This was one of the rare cases where Calamus's physical presence was required (he wasn't actually important). In Zurich. ASAP. Calamus's explanation that he needed to get somewhere in the middle of a forest in Fribourg during heavy rain was cut off by himself. When he thought about it, approaching the hashpoint and then probably chickening out at the thought of digging into the sogging brambles wasn't exactly a reason to risk great losses. No matter what he chose, he was going to rue it. So why not choose the more comfortable way, which included leaving this never-ending rain?

As soon as he sat in the train back, he found that he did rue his decision. But only until he reached Zurich. It turned out it had definitely been the right choice.

Tracklog

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