Second week of January 2022

This second week of the year seems endless. January is in general one of the longest months, as all the festivities and holidays are over and we are back to normal life. Well, normality is different these days, instead of being constantly in the office, I go there twice a week as we are back to three days in remote mode.

I work just outside Paris, in Saint Denis, next to Stade de France football stadium. My commuting time is very reasonable for a metropolis like Paris, 35 minutes from door to door, consisting of a 10 minute metro ride and walking at both ends. At the end of last year, I was less stressed by the commuting as there were fewer people in the wagons and those who were there respected social distancing. For a reason that I ignore (or not really, people are just getting tired) there seems to be a change nowadays, trains are packed with people and some persons have even taken off there masks.. I try to change my commuting hours to off-peak periods, but everyone else seems to have he same idea.

Saint Denis is in full transition these days. It is a social and cultural melting pot just outside Northern Paris and will be one of the main venues for the Olympic Games Paris 2024. Building sites are everywhere; when I walk from the metro station to my office along the motorway A1, I often look at the cranes in the building site of the Olympic Swimming Pool. I can see them from my office window as well. There is something very gracious about them, everything is controlled and coordinated, they are like slim and trained dancers slowly performing a ballet.

During the days when I work from home, I strongly recommend to myself to go out for a walk, usually in the company of my camera. Some days it is easy, the beautiful light casts its spell and I quickly sneak out during my lunch break and feel transformed just walking and admiring the light. More often than not though, the days are bleak and it takes a strength of character that is neither my character nor strength to go out there, instead of staying in cozy indoors. If I did not have my 365 project tickling my consciousness, I would certainly just stay at home after my working day. So good to have certain challenges.