New Lockdown, Third Week, Sunday
Even colder this morning, though still stubbornly bright and sunny. For the first time this year I could have done with something more substantial than sandals on my feet – but I will persevere. Last year I wore sandals throughout the year and I will attempt to do the same this year too!
On the exercise front, tomorrow is the first day for weeks that I will be able to go to the local (indoor) pool to do my customary metric mile. That means that I will be getting up at 6.15 to be ready for the first swim at 7 am. In spite of the weeks of enforced lie-ins that I have been able to enjoy, I haven’t. Enjoyed them that is. My internal clock is set for an early rise and my staying in bed seems forced and unnatural. That is not to say that I get up that early with a merry whistle and a song in my heart – but I do feel better for it. Eventually.
Getting up that early does mean that I set off on my bike in the dark to get to the pool. I always think that gives an extra bonus point on the “if it’s more difficult it must be doing you good” principle, and you do feel a certain smugness at wobbling your way along a generally deserted road with only a single beam to light to guide you through the darkness.
It will be a relief to get back (literally) into the swim of things. And, I think if my reading of the new regulations is correct, the cafĂ© of the pool will be open for me to take my cup of tea at the end of my swim and just before my bike ride. That little part of ‘normality’ is enough to make me somewhat satisfied.
Talking of normal and new normal, the central government has been setting out their plans for the mass inoculation of the population. Just talking about plans like this is encouraging, it gives the impression that we are now on some sort of roller coaster of administrative functionality where everything will just slip into place and everything will be hunky-dory by the Spring of next year – or that might be just one of the ‘saving lies’ that I tell myself to keep myself sane. Hard to tell if it’s working!
One of the problems that face the modern technologically aware person is what watch face to have on your smartwatch. Do you stick with conventionality and get something which looks like a digital rendering of an expensive watch face, sometimes with the logo of an expensive watch worked into the design? Or do you go with the technology and have some all-colour over-informative face where the mere time is almost an extraneous detail in a wealth of numbers, colours, bar charts and moving bits?
In early iterations of my present watch, a Fitbit, or possible Amazfit GR2, or something – the choice of faces was severely limited. Yes, there was an option to customize the different elements that made up the face, but that was for the more advanced users who were not put off at the first signs of defeat. I settled for a choice of the few designs that were built-in to the watch itself. All you had to do was select, not create.
You soon learned that what looked good in the app looked very different when it was portrayed by the limited number of pixels of your watch face. Vibrant colours faded to insignificant pastels, and everything is so small! With restrictions you soon found that even though there might be a dozen watch faces to choose, most were inadequate in some way or plain ugly.
I tried to list what I wanted on a watch face apart from the time (and I had a series of ‘wants’ for the way that the time was displayed) and the essentials I decided that I did not want to do without were indications for: day, date, steps and battery power. Anything else was extra and probably confusing.
There is also the problem of the ‘always on’ aspect of the watch face. Ever since the days of the good old Pebble watch, I have been used to an ‘always on’ face and very good battery life. The Apple watch for example, always coming out the top or near the top of any list of ‘best’ smartwatches, has a battery life of a day, or more if you take all the power saving measures that make you wonder why you bought a smartwatch in the first place, if your discarded old self-winding watch gives you more!
My present watch has an option for ‘always on’ but it does use up battery more quickly. I have also found that not all watch face options are equal in their battery use, so I have set an ‘off’ period for the ‘always-on’ during the hours that I am asleep. There is also a limited function for the ‘always on’ watch face when you are not using the watch as a smart watch. At present all it shows is the digital time and an indication of PM. If I twist my wrist then the screen bursts into full colour and all sorts of information is conveyed – including all of the elements that I consider essential.
The problem with this watch is that, after the last update, there is now a superabundance of watch faces to choose. I have meandered my way through them and chosen one or two to see what they look like in reality, but I have had to be stringent in my application of what I need and expect to allow me to reject the colourful blandishments of vulgarly attractive faces.
My real problem is that, as far as watches are concerned, I am never satisfied. Or you could say that is my real delight. There is always the prospect of a new watch fulfilling all my present and future requirements and I will find watch buying peace.
I hope not!
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