The hike from Aminona to Leukerbad is a 22km+ hike with 1200m+ of climbing. You begin by catching the cable car from Sierre to Crans-Montana, and then the bus to Aminona, before walking along the road for a bit, before turning right and disappearing into the woods and walking along trails that head downwards for a bit before heading up a “steep” gradient.

During the steep gradient I found myself thinking about the mechanical difference between cycling up a hill or mountain and hiking. When you’re used to cycling up hills, your cardiovascular system adapts, but so do your leg muscles. They have to lift you, the bike, and cope with gradients. In contrast, on foot, the effort is constant. We way the same at the start of a climb as the end, without changing gears. We’re biologically optimised for the climb.

The second thing that struck me is that walking at a group’s pace, up a mountain felt easy to me. This isn’t meant as arrogance. When I was doing 2000m of climbing last monday, and 1200m of climbing last Sunday I felt the effort. I felt that my legs wanted to quit. I felt that I was pushing to my limit with cycling groups.

It’s an interesting that the physical effort of hiking gave me a good base for cycling, and that now cycling has given me a good base for hiking.

Specifically, if I was hiking alone I would have been walking up at my aerobic maximum, rather than walking half as fast as I feel I could, like I did when hiking from Leukerbad to the Lammenhütte.

If I had done the hike solo, it would have been entirely over within six to six and a half hours. With a group it was over in nine hours.

That’s a distraction. The hike is nice because it goes by a waterfall where you walk underneath it, and then you walk up through a forest until you get to a clearing, with a picnic area, if you want to stop for lunch, before going along the river Tièche.

It’s when we got to the top of that climb that the group stopped for lunch. Two of us walked to the waterfall that we could see in the distance. It was large, and filled with water from snowmelt and recent rain/snowfall.

It is around 16km in that you begin to see Leukerbad and the Daubenhorn. That is the special moment for me, because I have done the via ferrata three times, and the Lammenhütte hike once. I really didn’t want to do the VF a fourth time.

During the hike I noticed that the pines looked much older than at lower altitudes. I sense that humans have not cut down trees so high for firewood or other uses. Later, especially from Larschy towards Leukerbad you see fields saturated with flowers, and the sound of crickets. You also have an exposed descent with a cable, but no safety wires. That exposed bit is not for everyone.

What struck me during this hike, is that despite the 1400m of climbing my heart rate remained at an average of 100bpm. That’s the same as a quick walk in Nyon, despite the huge elevation gain and altitude. The suffering I do, when keeping up with cycling groups paid off when hiking.

Whilst the hike was relaxed from a cardiovascular point of view, it was not relaxed from a physical point of view. The hike itself was 39500 steps for me and I was standing almost the entire duration of the hike. I didn’t stop for a “lunch” break. That’s when two of us went to see the Tièche waterfall.

It’s later in the walk that I saw the limitations of my shoes, and lack of hiking. I kept hitting my right toe against rocks. Since the shoes have no protection it hurt every time. If I resume serious hiking I need to get shoes with proper toe protection because more than once I felt real pain.

My fuelling strategy was split in three. I had 700ml of water and 600ml of water with electrolytes. The 700ml container was a water filter. My strategy was to drink tap water for the first part of the hike, and then to filter water the rest. It paid off. I drank at least 1.8l of water, once filtered.

I also had a chausson aux noisettes at the start, a second part way through the hike, and the third at the end of the hike. I also had gummy bears every so often. I used a similar strategy to cycling and it worked well.

I believe the toll came from the duration of the hike. If I was hiking solo it would have taken six hours, but because I was hiking with a group, I climbed fast compared to the group, but at a comfortable pace for me. On the second half, for the descent, I stayed near the rear of the group. I naturally slow to make sure that everyone is with the group at the end. I could have been home an hour or two earlier if I had rushed. That wasn’t the aim. This is a group activity so I stayed with the group.

With cycling my frustration is that after climbs, people speed up. They did the same within the hiking group, but that is when I slow. That is when I remain with those that are less experienced.

I noticed that one person was out of site so I stopped. I looked upwards until I saw the person emerge with two or three others, and then I continued descending.

That’s when fatigue demonstrated it was there. I kept kicking my right toe against rocks and feeling pain, and in the last two or three kilometres I could feel that I had hit a wall. Intensity wasn’t the problem. Duration was.

It’s worth highlighting that before I switched to cycling we were doing such hikes two times per week. We would do a 23km hike with 1200m of climbing on Saturday, and again on Sunday. It became routine. That’s why doing this once, especially in a rested state, felt okay. I believe that if this had been a solo hike I would have pushed harder, but felt less fatigued. I believe that I’m feeling the walk today, because it was a nine hour effort, rather than six, at my natural pace.

I would definitely walk with this group again, and I would walk the route again.

Today one group I know were cycling around the Léman with a détour through the Alps, the second group were cycling from L’Horloge Fleurie around the lake at a speed of 27km/h. A third group were cycling from Divonne to Vélomania around Vaud. A fourth were cycling a loop towards the Jura and back. The final group, that I joined, went for a 6.7km run around Nyon and then had a group brunch and green juice.

Now I’m feeling FOMO for the Divonne group, just because it has people I don’t know yet. I hate that I feel as if I miss out on every single weekend.

The reality is that I’m not missing out on anything. This morning I felt tired and lazy, so running was the right choice. Tomorrow I’m going for a little walk. I’m going to walk from Aminona to Leukerbad, for 22kms and with 1200m of climbing. Last week I did 3800m of climbing on a bike over three rides.

I don’t doubt my ability to do the walk. I’m impatient to be back in Leukerbad. It’s a majestic place to be. If I was alone the walk would be over within three or four hours, but with a group, with synchronisation stops, snack stops and more it will take seven hours I think.

It’s not that I actually had a choice. The rides would definitely have tired me ahead of tomorrow. The run was at a comfortable pace. The person in front did pull the group though. I could feel that she was fast, that she was really slowing down. I kept checking the watch, to make sure I wasn’t faster than 6:00 minutes per kilometre. We kept drifting faster than that, so I tried to break. In the end the split did break in two.

My goal was to meet people from yet another running group and I did. Now, on Saturday mornings I can choose to run with one or two groups. One at 8am, and the second at 9am, and theoretically I can then meet another group at 10 for a bike ride. The latter is unlikely, not because I don’t have the fitness, but because my bike is heavier. I fatigue sooner as a result. That is less fun.

## Sources of Fatigue

Tomorrow I will feel fatigue and it will come from two sources. The first is the pace. I like to walk at my pace, and I am efficient at my pace. Tomorrow I expect that I will be slowing myself down, when climbing and walking on the flat. The second is for breaks. In theory breaks are to rest, but for me breaks are when I deplete in energy. That’s when I feel more tired. Third and most important, when others break for lunch, I usually eat little. That thirty minutes to an hour spent on lunch is when I sit and wait.

I’m the type of hiker that hikes non-stop until the end of the hiking day, except to take a photos, and snack. I don’t want to stop because it’s after lunch that I struggle.

## Lived in the Moment

It’s worth highlighting that if I had gone for my original plan I would have been late for the group ride, and I would have had to play catch up, or at the very least, I would have had to interrupt one activity for the second. I lived in the moment and that’s important.

Knowing of tomorrow’s plan, helped me live in the moment today.

It is always when you don’t go with a group that you feel you missed out.

Yesterday evening I was playing with Strava heat maps, and especially with my own walking heat maps. In looking at the heat map I see deep red marks along the rads that are currently blocked by road works. You might ask “So what, who cares?” The answer is, of course, that I care, because with that critical bit of road being toxic it means that for an entire year my walking pattern is destroyed. Three months last year, and then at least nine months this year.

The simplest way to bypass the toxic bit of road is to drive the car two kilometres, and put it to charge underground at a shopping centre whilst I walk a variant of my usual walking pattern with a different point of origin.

I can see tracks that are from when I was playing Ingress, but I can also see tracks of the Chemin Des Crêtes du Jura. The only gab is between Ste Croix and Travers. That’s a walk I should eventually do, because then I will have connected La Dôle to La Chaux-de-Fonds on foot.

Another heat map that is fun to look at is the cycling heat map It covers most of the roads between Lausanne and Geneva, into France, but also up into the Jura towards Romainmôtier, Le Pont, to Morbier Lonchamps, and towards the short mountains on the outskirts of Geneva, but not the Alps.

On Sunday I will be adding yet another hiking route that goes from Aminoma to Leukerbad to the heat map.

These heatmaps highlight why maximalism is a mistake. They highlight why spending tens of million on a single road is a mistake, and why smaller well placed changes make a huge difference.

If you look on Google maps you will see that a dirt path has been worn between Signy in the direction of the Landi building, where people walk daily. If you cut the grass, then this walking route already exists. Regular walkers have worn the path naturally.

My message is positive. Walkability isn’t about Pharaonic projects like the re-qualification of a road. It’s about observing walking habits, and seeing where minimal adjustements provide the highest return on investment.

The flipside is that, due to road works making my most used routes unsafe I went from driving twice per week, to almost daily.

A Tale of Three Towns

Out of curiousity I looked at Geneva, Nyon and Morges and I am immediately struck by the heatmap difference, on a weekly basis. There is a clear preference to walk along safe paths. People walk from Trelex to Nyon via the safe pedestrian route, people from Eysins favour the Route du Stand but don’t walk from Porte de Nyon to Eysins. Geneva is read with walking heat. People walk all around Geneva, not just within the centre. It proves that if walking is safe, people will walk.

People walk all around Morges, up to Vufflens le Chateau, and along the lake, so it shows that where there are safe walking routes, people do walk.

Car Focused

If you look at the walking map you will see that villages are rarely connected, because walking between villages often results in walking along dangerous roads. If villages were connected by safe walls then Nyon would have a pattern similar to Geneva or Morges, because people would not automatically use cars.

Interestingly, if you look at the running map, almost every road is filled with running, more than cycling. It shows that running requires bigger distances, which involves a compromise. You have to link towns and villages.

If, like me you still use Facebook, then you will have noticed a dark design pattern. The pattern is to hide hyperlinks to stories in the comments, rather than to make it easy to click straight through.

Facebook has convinced content creators and social media monkeys that if they post the hyperlink in comments, rather than directly, it will promote their content and make them more visible.

Rather than encourage me to click through that design pattern encourages me to comment on the clickbait headline, and completely ignore the original post.

Imagine having to click once, to see the hyperlink to a story, and a second to RTFA (Read the Fabulous Article). By forcing us to click twice to leave FB, they are in effect making the Facebook (FB) golden cage more sticky. They are saying to content creators “Write your post, share it to FB, but only in the comments”,

When I first saw this I thought “This is sub-optimal” and now, months later, seeing that the pattern is still here I feel the need to denounce it.

Web Surfing and Silo Life

Years ago we surfed the web. We visited sites directly and we browsed each site, individually. Over time we have fallen into the facebook silo and we’re being dragged down, deep into the trap. We’d like to get out, but we can’t.

Facebook has become plato’s cave, as has Whatsapp. If you’re not on Facebook, and you’re not on Whatsapp then you’re disconnected from a huge part of society.

I don’t like that so many American publishers publish a post, with a photo, and then put the article hyperlink in the comments because they’re digging the hole ever deeper.

Mindless Scrolling

What got to me, back in 2020 or so, and has lived on up to this day is that we’re not scrolling to find conversations. We’re not scrolling to find something to read. We’re scrolling as a nervous tick. We’re scrolling in the optimistic delusion that we will find something worthwhile. This scrolling for the sake of scrolling isn’t helped by hyperlinks being hidden in comments.

The Deeper Significance

All Facebook owned sites are silos. FB is a silo. Instagram is a silo. Whatsapp is a silo. People are slowly becoming prisoners of the Facebook web portal, without noticing.

People in Agreement Disagreeing

Recently I saw a post about how a petition was filed to complain about air canons being used to frighten crows. I said “We can hear them in several other villages and two people thought I meant stop complaining, when I actually meant that it annoys us too. Instead of a pleasant conversation we’re self-trolling. This, to me, is a clear sign that Facebook is a waste of time.

If people that agree on something default to think that they are in opposition then there a systemic failure.

Isn’t it ironic that in the age of tabbed browsing we live in silos?

We are familiar with the situation. We look at Saturday and we think: I want to do this, but then a week or two before you see that something else is available so you think “Oh now I want to do that”. The result is that the thing you were certain about now becomes a Buridan moment.

I have such a choice this week. A group I like to cycle with once per month, or twice per month if long rides become regular, has a ride scheduled at 09:30.

Simultaneously at 08:00 two running groups are combining for the Saturday run and this is a fantastic opportunity to get a new group so I really want to join that group.

The issue is that although there is half an hour to fifty minutes of buffer on paper there is an overlap in reality.

I would have to cut event A short to arrive to Event B on time, but in so doing I’m interrupting what could be a pleasant experience, for a potential pleasant alternative that is uncertain.

So often I say that I don’t like when events hard end, once we’re back at the start point. The later event does have such a hard end, so, desspite the ride being potentially fun, I think it’s a shame to interrupt experience A to get to experience B.

I can spend hours and hours thinking of hypothetical scenarios but in the end the situation is simple. If the experience is good, I stay put after the run, and if the experience leaves me wanting more then I can walk, or run home, and get ready for the ride.

I don’t want to cut a good experience short on a “What if?”

My first thought was that the writing style is not that good, but I think it has more to do with translating a special kind of writing from one language to another without the character of what is being said, being lost in translation.

Two of the key thoughts is that it reads like a Terry Pratchett book, Absurd characters in absurd situations with absurd attitudes. I choose that word because it also reminds me of L’étranger by Camus and La Peste by Camus.

There’s something specific about this writing style because it’s about L’Homme Absurde whilst at the same time being surrealist in nature. How often does one get into one situation, and then another, and just go through with detachment. I’m trying not to spoil anything.

I find myself wishing I could read the original version because I suspect that a lot of nuance is lost with translating from Swedish to English. I question whether the same loss is felt when translating from Swedish to French, or whether French catches nuances that English does not.

I am also puzzled by the apparent lack of an English version audiobook so I was reading the Apple Books version, before deciding to read a printed book, for the first time in years.

I think that the writing style is an acquired taste. If you like Camus and Pratchett then it might appeal to you, if you like a light-hearted look at history as well. I believe that a lot of nuance is lost in the Swedish to English translation. That’s why I am curious about the french version, since I can compare the two versions.

I much prefer to read the original rather than a translation/interpretation because some instants obviously lose something in translation. By reading at least some of it in French I might get some sense of whether language plays a role.

It’s Monday, and last week I climbed 2000m to Marchairuz on Monday, and then 465m to Romainmôtier on Thursday and then another 1300m on Sunday. The total is thus 3800m of climbing in a single week. The goal, for a month is 8000m so in two weeks, at this pace, I would reach the monthly goal.

Marchairuz Twice

This week, I was up at Marchairuz twice, once on Monday, and the second time on Sunday. The second time I tried to drink, while climbing, when the gradient eased off. On Monday I didn’t, so I was dehydrated by the time I got to the top.

Yesterday we also had another difference. It was cool, almost cold. Rain and hail were getting ready to fall, and I suspect that’s why the group suddenly decided to rush home, rather than wait to order coffee.

While everyone else rushed home I took the time to take photos of fields covered in poppies, and to enjoy the journey, without pushing as hard as if I was trying to keep up with a group.

Proper hydration helped.

Observing Fitness, Fatigue and Form

Yesterday I was asked why I didn’t ride on Saturday and I said that I was trying the Décathlon group. The second reason is that this year I’m watching my fitness, form and fatigue. I’m trying to stay within the grey zone according to Intervals.icu but also according to Strava and Garmin. If I do a tiring ride but I’m fresh, I have some reserve, to push. If I do one hard ride, and then a second, then I end up in reserve, and by the end of the ride I’m limping home, rather than thriving.

The Restful Five K

Ironically the Five K social run wasn’t that restful, because it started at a slow pace, but then it accelerated, and accelerated and accelerated with each kilometre. It went from 06:52 down to 05:25 by the end of the run. Nice consistent progression, and I was matching others. I suspect we tricked each other into gradual acceleration the entire time.

A negative split group run is still a positive experience.

I’d Like to Coast

Every so often, I’d like to do a group activity where I can coast, rather than push my limits. I’d like to go for a bike ride that doesn’t require me to push too hard. On the climb yesterday I felt that I was close to losing power, and stalling on a climb. Luckily I didn’t. I would like to do a few rides that don’t require grit.

The solution is simple. Ride with the Geneva relaxed group. Those rides usually involve less climbing. This Saturday I am running anyway. It’s good to vary my sports.

Every few weeks I notice that Décathlon organise a run in Geneva, or Chavannes, or other places. Today I went for a five kilometre with this group and it made me think of Décathlon as a social network, rather than just a shop. What I mean by this is that we often go to Décathlon, buy something for cycling, or hiking, or climbing, or via ferrata, or swimming or other and then we vanish.

Usually the connection is through a Glocals event, or Meetup event. At other times it is through colleagues or family. Today Décathlon was the social event. We met at 07:50 to go for an 8am run, far more pleasant than 6am, before people headed either into the shop, or home.

The event is posted to Strava, and you can see the route, ahead of the run. You can decide whether that’s a route you want to run. I did want to run that route, to explore on foot.

I had the choice between an informal Whatsapp run in Nyon, starting at 8, or another more formal Strava run in Nyon at 08:30 but I chose Décathlon for two reasons. The run is rural, and because parking is easy. Nyon, during their road works to improve cycling and walking, have actually destroyed my enjoyment of it. Hence getting in an EV, yes, I don’t burn dinosaur soup anymore. I call it dinosaur soup out of mischief and pleasure, nothing more.

Someone asked me yesterday morning “How do you know about all these runs and rides?” and I answered “Strava and meetup.com”. That is where I see dozens of events listed.

Décathlon has Strava groups, and events, in a number of places so if you’re attentive you can find such opportunities where you are.

The event is free, and you are rewarded for turning up.

If you turn up

• three times, you get 10 francs off when you spend 50 or more
• six times, 20 percent off running stuff, after getting two items.
• After nine times you get a nutrition kit
• 10 times you get a t-shirt and a collector water bottle
• 12 times, in other words, a year, you get 30 percent off shoes and socks

When bike shops and cafés offer group rides they are no longer just selling gear, or maintaining it. They are actively providing people with the social network to enjoy those sports with others, rather than alone. They are building, or expanding community.

Today the group started as one, and road crossings helped to synchronise the group again. I noticed that the group split in two. The “faster” group, and the one that ran at a constant rate. I noticed that people accelerated, instead of self-breaking. The result is that by the end pace was increasing and increasing. Usually when I ride with a group, or run, I keep an eye on pace to avoid that gradual increase in speed.

I like when shops and cafés work towards community building. It provides us with something social to do. Some people are self-motivating, and others like to have a group to do things with. The advantage is that if you’re flexible you can run with one shop on one day, and another shop on another day. This means that if you’re willing to travel between shops you can participate to several events per week.

I will join other events.

Since I enjoy experimenting with concepts and ideas I decided to get an empty 500ml bottle and fill it to almost but not quite full to allow for expanding ice not to destroy the cap. I then put it in a freezer for a day.

When night came, and as the time to sleep approached I wrapped the bottle of water in a barber’s towel and placed it under the duvert. The principle is simple. If people use hot water bottles in winter to keep warm, then I will reverse the idea, and use a cold water bottle to keep me cool. The test ran from around 22:00 to 04:00 with some success. There was still ice in the bottle, and it was still cold. It didn’t cause “burns” due to the towel acting both to absorb the bottle’s sweat, as well as to insulate me from direct cold.

Minergie Heat

In a Minergie building, especially under the roof, in a building where the stair chimney sits beneath apartments heat cannot escape, except through apartment doors. As every person opens their window for a cool breeze, on a hot day, such as the 27°c day we’re having now, so hot air enters. It warms up the air but it also heats up the mass of the building. The bricks, the tiles, the ceilings, the floors, and the air.

In a normal house you think “It’s getting hot, let’s close all the windows for the rest of the day, and move to the basement. In a duplex apartment, especially under the roof you get heat from open windows, if you open them, but also from the walls, and the floor.

For the sake of intellectual curiousity I have spent years trying different methods to keep cool and all of them have failed except one. Waking up at the same time as song birds, at 4am to open the flat door, and the windoor to the balcony.

The idea is that the basement is cool and open and the stairwell is hot, and sealed. If you open the stairwell for five minutes or less, then air barely moves, but if you open it at dawn, when there is a massive thermal difference between the stairwell and the flat, then you get a tremendous flow of air. That flow of air, if it’s allowed to flow.

The Diving Analogy

Imagine that the stairwell is the airway and the garage is the lungs, and the outside is the air you’re trying to breath in. If you hyperventilate, or take breaths that are too shallow, you only move that volume of air up and down. The aim is to encourage a full breathing cycle.

By opening the windows at 4:30 or so, and opening the flat door, you’re getting the hot air in the hallway to be dragged outside, into the fresh air. Fresh air that is breathed in through the lungs enters the stairwell, cools it, and cools the walls. If you’re patient the hot, humid air is purged, to be replaced by fresh, clean air.

There is a point when the flow of air dies off, and the air becomes static. That’s when you close the door. Now, the building is sending heat from the walls, tiles, and other surfaces, and saturating the air. In effect the building can radiate the stored energy outwards into the cooler air, rather than the apartments.

The building that was optimised for trapping heat in winter, to earn a high rating becomes like a sealed car in a summer parking. The air is trapped, and every day that is hot, more heat energy is stored within the building. During a heatwave you see the temperature rise from 24-27 degrees in just a few days, and that’s just the minimum temperature.

The room I sleep in warms to 31°c in the afternoon, but when the sun disappears it sticks to 29°c, and with two hours of ventilation, between cool morning air, the room sticks to a two degree difference, that either sticks to the temperature you achieved, if you’re lucky, or shoots up, as is usually the case.

The solution is tremendously simple. In the top floor bedrooms you add an automatic vent so that when the temperature reaches 26°c the building begins to vent excess heat, non stop, until summer is over, and once the temperature is below 24°c it automatically shuts.

That simple vent would keep the stairwell healthy and cool, rather than warm and stale.

Back to the Cold Water Bottle

Since we can’t cool the structure that is designed to trap heat in winter and summer there are two solutions. Open windows and mosquito nets all night long, or cold water bottles. The principle of the water bottle is simple. You get one, two, or more bottles and you place them under a duvet. The water bottles have huge specific heat capacity so they can cool the space under the duvet, and the duvet insulates you from the warm bedroom.

The advantage of the water bottle solution is that once a bottle is frozen it cools for hours, whereas a fan, and air conditioning, only cool while they’re running. If you have three or four bottles in a freezer, then for a fraction of the energy used by air conditioning you have a cool duvet. You don’t need to cool an entire room, to stay fresh at night.

Sometimes lateral thinking provides a simple, temporary solution. Essentially it’s reversing the hot water bottle principle.

For several months there was a chat room that provided people in and around Nyon with a third space that they could dip into, to see about social opportunities. The concept of the third space dates back to the 1920s or earlier. The first space is the home, and the second space is the office. The third space is a bar, pub, or other space where people go to hang out when they’re not at work.

In this day and age we work in offices, sat at computers, and we might cross thousands of people as we commute to and from work, but we’re often isolated by the same tech that provides us with connection. Earphones isolate us. So do distracting apps.

With a Whatsapp chat we have that third space where we can be in Geneva or Lausanne for work, or elsewhere. We could spontaneously say “Anyone want to meet up after work?” or “Anyone want to skate tomorrow?” and people could see it and join in.

The value of an open chat is that anyone can offer something spontaneously, and if there is interest it can be expanded, and if not then it can be forgotten. The point is that the return on investment, for a spontaneous suggestion, if people are interested is huge, and inconsequential if not.

The current model that replaced the third space discussion forum is a hierarchical system. You have to write a description, add a date, add a time, a meeting point, write a blurb and more. You then need to get it approved. The result is that what took 5 seconds before takes an hour or more today.

The third space, where we could chatter had tremendous value because it provided a communal space to be spontaneous. When it was barricaded behind the “admins only” wall, for conversation, it lost all of its value, especially when it is used to promote events in Lausanne and Geneva.

The entire reason for that niche third space is that it allowed people to be sociable without driving to Geneva, or Lausanne. By being a local chat it added to the “village” ambiance.

The Bulletin Board

When you replace a third space with a bulletin board, you undermine the community and you stop spontaneous meetups. You funnel all of the community’s energy into silos. Cross-pollination of ideas die off, and you’re left with a dormant community at the seasonal peak of social activities.

The Irony

Running and cycling groups are the third space, rather than a virtual platform or a physical location. The third space is the runs and the rides that I go on. The third space stretches from Morges to the Vallée de Joux towards La Cure and down towards, and around the Salève. The third space is huge. Strava and meetup help me see when and where to meet people, but since events are regular I could simply have a default place to be on specific days of the week.

I can’t call Strava a third space, because conversation is minimal, but within this environment it makes sense. That minimalism, in Whatsapp groups makes no sense.

In the end I just wanted to write that Whatsapp should be the third space but that mid to late adopters don’t like that notion, so it’s a bulletin board. When was the last time you studied a bulletin board at a shopping centre?