07 July 2022 ============ Oh dear... why are the local public transportation networks making it so hard... Since the start of the "9-Euro Ticket" i have seen many, many people adopting it for their commuting to work or for other ways they would normaly go by car. I have witnessed the parking lot of the big neighbour company getting more and more empty from day to day. And now, during the last two weeks, the local networks are seeming to actively making live harder for the passengers. Trains are being canceled due to "staff shortages", they announce "Schienenersatzverkehr" (a bus as replacement)... but the bus don't arrive. The personal on the trains are getting more rude from day to day and - so it seems - they just shut down ticket automats randomly. As i am living in a pretty rural spot in germany going by public transportation is allways a bit problematic compared to the big cities, but at least normaly you could count on at least one train a hour. Now its, what, 3 trains a day? After spending some afternoons marooned at train station i will now start to commut with my e-scooter. The thing is perhaps not THAT confortable as real motorscooter but for my 12 km commute i can absolutely live with that. May the train companies try their best to scare me away, i will NOT go back to use a car. On a more positive note: I am finally getting around to look into graphics programming in Plan9, its... just plain fun for me. Plan9 is - as i mentioned in a previous post - just in that "uncanny valley" for people with UNIX experience, it looks similar, but "something is off". But if you embrace the things it does different, it is absolutely amazing how just plainly logical every part of the OS is working together. I have to keep remembering me that i want to write a more detailed post regarding Plan9... On the "collapse" side of things it seems like the events are now accelerating: It is pretty clear that we will experience energy shortages in the coming winter and people are now buying gas or diesel powered generators and of course electrical heaters. As my family lives in a big old half timbered house its not that a problem: The house was build before the advent of electrical power and can be easily heated by the big wood stoves (and for that we have enough wood already stockpiled). I will also buy a few more oil lamps and stock up on lamp oil... i don't like the prospect of sitting in the dark.