All signs are pointing into the direction that my long term travel seems to be coming to an end. I am giddy as I’m getting to the point where I can finally unpack all my collected goodies in the new apartment. What makes me especially happy are the notebooks from travelers factory
and the leather keychain holders I found in Thailand. I still need a lot of time to furnish the apartment. But today I put down my first rug, and it really tied the room together.
I am sure my travels will continue but now in a more interlaced pattern between different obligations here. The default feed of the blog will be linking not just to travel in the future as I want to write about other topics as well. Life is still filled a lot of question marks at this point, but I am happy to have a place again.
I moved most of my repos away from GitHub. Forks that were used for contributions will stay on GitHub. Some repos emptied and now only contain a README.md with a link to the new location.
I also took a look at sourcehut
but in the end decided for codeberg.org
. I really like the idea of my open source code being hosted on a platform run by a non-profit organization. Codeberg is a German e.V. and well funded
is also inspiring confidence in the project.
The move was a great moment to take inventory of all the little repositories I have over the years on GitHub. I found a lot of one-off projects and tiny little tools. I decided to merge a big chunk of the repositories into mainly two monorepos(belt
and labs
).
git filter-repo --to-subdirectory-filter and git remotes were incredibly helpful to sort this out. I am not sure if I will continue using git lfs because it creates many problems. I might put the images on a storage and copy them directly from the store to my VPS.
All in all I am happy with my decision to move and Codeberg is very stable and usable.
My trusty Sambas. They have been with me since the start of the year and they have been once around the globe. They sure are starting to show signs of aging. But I usually wear my sambas until they fall apart. Where will they go next?
Having been back in Western Europe a couple of weeks now. I want to write down a couple of situations while these impressions are still fresh.
An elderly driver shouting overly angrily “do you have a death wish?” to a lady on a bike in Germany who overtook him while he was maneuvering into a tiny parking space.
A disheveled looking person clearly in psychological distress shouting curses at passengers waiting for the train to arrive. (Happened on more than one occasion and in different countries)
A cashier asking a homeless guy not to lean on the checkout conveyor belt because “that’s where people put their produce”. I did the same and leaned on the belt. She didn’t call me out. When it was my turn to pay she said: “I am sorry but I can’t change it.”
A group of drunk football/soccer fans harassing people on a metro.
People often in groups not making way on the sidewalk when you walk into them head on.(Happened on more than one occasion)
A young driver of a van shouting expletives for 5 minutes at jaywalkers that rushed over a red light in London. Finally driving off tires screeching.
After a couple of very interesting days in London I took the plane from LCY. The view from the small BA Embraer plane departing the tiny airport was breathtaking. I enjoy these daytime flights. I could even see the Thames Barrier
and it’s massive gates. As always, I’m fascinated by the UK and London in particular and can’t wait to come back soon and explore more. There is still so much to see.
It must have been 20 years or more, but I finally got the opportunity to take the Eurostar from Brussels to London again. The two hours were over quick. The seats were comfortable, and the ride was smooth. I couldn’t think of a better way of traveling to London. The Wi-Fi was spotty at best. Even parked in Gare du Midi.
Anyway, I would love to see a train from the south of Germany to London without a change in Paris. The prices could be better too. Most of the time, flying in Europe is cheaper than taking a bullet train. If you have direct connection, the train beats airplane in terms of travel time and comfort by a lot. I can’t wait to see how the European rail system evolves.
I decided to go to Brussels next. I have a personal connection to this city. I am glad to see the city center pedestrianized. It’s august, and it is absolutely filled with tourists. The sun shines. It is warm but not hot. The beer is refreshing, and the Kip Curry is delicious as always. I’m having the time of my life exploring the city of my youth.
The journey back to Germany was smooth. In two 6 hours flights I downloaded and watched bike farmer
videos and finished The Armour of Light
. I seem to read a lot more on planes and trains than I do when I am stationary.
The weather is a nice 20 degree here. I went to Europe without knowing when I actually can move into the apartment. I have plenty to do here including signing the contract with the coop for the apartment. Then I will be off again (somewhere!?) until it is time to get the keys!
