Hi, I’m Christian Payne, professional over-sharer and today after seeing there was a retaliation for the retaliation I turned off the news.
Forgive me if having been retrieved off a rusty server, this email finds you somewhere in the Mad Max future us humans so deserve. Normally in this weekly dispatch I seek out novelty, explore how we share, what we share and consume, plus where we might be going. (The term hell in a hand basket springs to mind.) Anyway, thanks for joining in. Let the distraction begin.
#TheAction
Somewhere between Wellingborough and Kimbolton this week, I was trying my best to take a corner on my motorbike as low and as fast as possible. Knee near the ground, I rounded the bend spotting a kid sat in the grass with his pushbike lying next to him. He must have heard me coming from way off, as he had the biggest grin and was holding a thumb up in salute. I was that kid once. He saw me nod but I wish he could see me smile as I continued onwards.
This last week has been pretty good for motorbiking. If my errands coincided with a spot of dry weather I have taken the bike every time. Or if there was a sudden emergency trip needed. Like when I got a panicked call from my daughter heading to school on the bus. She had forgotten the cake ingredients for a home economics class she had first thing.
I was momentarily annoyed, but it sounded like the end of the world was coming, so I gathered what I could and jumped on the bike to shop for the rest. Thankfully I found both eggs and carrots locally and what followed could have been a scene from a French heist movie.
Leaving out the scary bits, I rode responsibly to beat the traffic, and helmet on, sprinted through the school gates to deliver the goods to a very pleased daughter.
It didn’t really matter what happened for the rest of that day as I felt i’d already owned it. More days like this please.
#ThePictures
Gripped by the work of Ximena Echague.
While looking for a new battery tester online I was served this video. Love it. Although I might go source something more compact.
I’ve lost contact with David Hurn. Here is a video clip I shot of him some years back.
When I mentioned to my friend that David’s number didn’t work and his emails were going unanswered he told me David had died. After hearing the sad news my selfish second thought was that I wish I’d picked up the print he’d promised me.
A little while later I was again told that he was dead. But Wikipedia told me (with the omission of a death date) that David was still alive, and I trust Wikipedia more than most places. So just now I searched Twitter and there was an announcement posted today that week after next David was launching a new book. So I grabbed a ticket.
#TheWords
This Sunday marks my 41st year of documenting. As in my first diary entry was on the 21st of April 1983. I’ll probably celebrate with a fire and a beer in the garden if you are passing (and if it’s dry).
I’m sure Donald is a level headed well balanced member of society now. In fact last I heard he had a hot potato stand in Coventry. So still asking for money, but now offering things in return.
The latest person to support my scribblings with a monthly subscription is Paul Capewell. He has also (through his blog) introduced me to the word Tapesponding. That is to corresponding with tape. And please do check out his blog. Not just because he mentions me in the same sentence as Stephen Fry, but because hit has a lot of cool stuff on. Thank you Paul.
What with mad motorbike missions and a couple of sleepless nights his week has been a little chaotic. On one particularly manic morning I thought I might have managed to find five minutes to make a coffee but the dog alerted me to someone at the door.
I peeked through a window and spotted two Jehovah’s Witnesses.
I was certain that’s what they were. A somber looking elderly couple clutching a pamphlet, poised to preach. No doubt hardened by rebuffs.
Weirdly instead contemplating the politest way of saying “bugger off!” on pulling on the door handle I decided I’d attempt some religious debate. As a paid up member of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, I wondered if I might be able the help them choose a different path. I took a deep breath and sporting my best maniacal grin, opened the door wide.
Me, (embodying my role as Minister for the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster): “Ahoy there! How can I assist you on this fine noodly day?”
Male Jehovah's Witness (JW) (Looking slightly shocked): “Errr… Good morning. Myself and my wife live locally and wondered if you would be interested in some good news?”
Me: “I love good news! We should do a trade. What have you got?”
Female JW: “We’re here to share the teachings of Jehovah and offer you salvation. Are you familiar with the Bible?”
Me: “Oh, indeed I am, my friends. But I must confess, my allegiance lies with a different divine entity. A deity of the saucy kind.”
The Male JW takes over: “I see. Well, Jehovah is the one true God, and he has a plan for all of us. Can we tell you more about it?”
Me: “Absolutely! But let me first tell you about Pastafarianism and the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Our deity, the Great Noodly One, created the universe with his noodly appendage in just four days! Pirates were the first of us, peace-loving explorers and spreaders of good will…”
Male JW (Looks confused and cuts me off): “That's... quite unique. But the Bible is the inspired word of Jehovah, and it offers eternal life and salvation. Have you considered the importance of accepting Jesus as your saviour?”
Me: “Ah, Jesus! A fine fellow, but I must recommend the Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Our holy texts tell tales of pirates and the correlation between their decline and the rise in global temperatures. It's an epic saga of divine humour and delicious pasta based dishes.”
Male JW (Not giving in and surprisingly diplomatic): “I’m not sure what to make of this, I've never encountered it before. But I do know the Bible contains essential truths about God's kingdom and the hope it offers. Would you be open to studying it with me?”
Me (A little worried, thinking I need to pull out the big guns, so I put on a bigger grin and make my eyes wide ): “Well, my friend, I'm always up for spirited discussion. But I have a proposal for you! How about we share a noodle based meal whilst discussing the divine potential of a well made marinara sauce?”
Male JW (both thankfully taking a small step back): “We appreciate the gesture. However, we must decline as our purpose is to spread the teachings of Jehovah.”
Me (relieved): “Fair enough, my friends. Good luck in your endeavours. May his noodly appendage touch your life with its saucy blessings.”
Both JW (Shuffling backwards): “Thank you for your time. Bless you. We wish you a pleasant day. Goodbye.”
Me: (As they swiftly walked away) “Ramen to that! Farewell and may the pasta be with you!”
After being asked if I had recorded any of this I feel this would have made a pretty good podcast, so should the frequency of uninvited guests increase I’m considering putting a small sign next to the door saying ‘All door-knockers will be recorded for their safety and my passion for documenting’.
Context Collapse
Noun
Definition: Context collapse refers to a phenomenon in which the social and interpretive cues that shape communication in traditional face-to-face or small-group interactions are diminished or altered in online environments, leading to a loss or distortion of context.
#TheSound
Here is a band that regularly pops up in on my ‘Favorites’ playlist but unless you were hunting for folk at Glastonbury in 2005 you most likely will not have heard of them. They were called Nayfumble and a google search might bring up a few traces.
I’d photographed the band a few times as Nathan Thomas (on the left of the photo) was a friend of mine and also a fellow bandmate in a different project.
Here is track 3 entitled ‘Assumptions’, off a demo they recorded 20 years ago.
I snapped the photo above of Nayfumble at Glastonbury 2005, a little while after the track above was recorded. Finding the photo prompted me to reconnect with Nathan. He told me that at that time the small music tents at Glastonbury had tiny ticket budgets but needed to fill their line up. So each tent would usually be able to find a ticket for your band if you promised to play. They would give you the details of all the other bands and you had to attempt to get on the bill of each stage/tent to get enough tickets to get the whole band through the gates.
On this occasion Nayfumble’s lineup was only 3 players: Nathan Thomas - tabla, Nathan Ball- guitar and Adrianne Wininsky - cello.
Nathan told me…
“That year to get the band in we got together our 3 tickets from different tents. No artist support, we kept the guitar, tabla and cello in our tents, and had to lug them across the site, through the mud, to whatever venues....
Loved it, we had a great time. We're spread across the country now, all still playing music. Nathan just supported Martha Tilston on her recent tour and is making acoustic guitars.”
Here is a more recent song from the guitarist Nathan Ball and a link to his guitar shop. Adrianne Wininsky has played with Take That, Snow Patrol, Elbow, I Am Kloot, Chesney Hawkes, Michael Bublé, Jools Holland and now teaches cello.
I binge listened to a couple of podcasts this week. Power Trip from Cover Story took me a while to get into it as the production style seemed over done and I felt a lot of the authenticity was lost.
But Helen Lewis Has Left The Chat from BBC Radio4 was a great listen focusing on how instant messaging changed the world. Some stuff web nerds will know, but lots of stuff you might not. Well worth a listen.
#TheConsumed
Remember the ingredients I had to motorcycle courier to school?
They made carrot cake muffins and they were perfect.
Oh and on another motorbike mission I intercepted a train travelling south down the country, blagged my way onto the platform and retrieved a vintage bottle of whisky that I thought had got smashed in the post.
That’s whisky buddy Ross Dargan momentarily stepping onto the platform to deliver.
Speaking of whisky, if you’ve ever fancied becoming a co-owner of a distillery, Glenwyvis distillery has got a live crowdfunder where you can get shares in Scotland's first community-owned distillery.
I’m not giving investment advice and have nothing to gain from linking this. I also don’t have shares in Glenwyvis but I’m certainly contemplating getting involved. :-)
#TheThings
With EMFcamp on the horizon and a 13 year old family tent that has seen better days, I stumped up £150 on a five person tent for those rare occasions when just me and the kids are out camping and would like a little comfort.
Two bedrooms, plenty of standing room, built in groundsheet and three colour coded poles. To be honest I was a little shocked at the price as back in the 90’s I paid well over £200 for a Saunders Satellite. Eleven years ago I paid £400 for what is still my favourite tent of the three backpacking tents I own, the Helsport Lavvu Light 4.
the almost I have paid far more than that on tiny to person tents. And if you spend a lot of time up mountains you could cough up $2000 on this (or £1,333 from here.)
Here are some tent tips you might find useful should you too be going camping soon.
A company who has really impressed me this week is Monzo. Their banking app is amazing. I have my app round up my tap-to-pay purchases and drop the change into a savings app getting 5% interest. If you have never used them it would be amiss of me not to share this Monzo link. If you use it to make an account we both get a little cash.
This week on my dog walk I remembered that I have the Merlin Bird ID app. on my phone. It’s still amazing. Hit the button and it listens to your surroundings identifying the bird song at your location. This week I have identified Great Tit, Blue Tit, Wren, Chiffchaff, Wood Pigeon, Collared Dove, Black Bird, Song Thrush, Robin, Lesser Whitethroat and a Mistle Thrush. it’s a great way of training yourself to identify all those chirps, tweets, trills, warble, whistles, coos, hoots, caws, squawks, peeps, cheeps, cackle, screeches, chirrups, quacks, toots, chatters and clucks. Seriously… Get the app.
#TheThanks
Thank you to all of those who took out a supporting subscription. Here is the button should you wish to do the same. It’s the price of one coffee a month and is much appreciated.
Or if you prefer PayAsYouGo you can do that via PayPal. Either way… Thank you for reading, sharing to other curious people… and liking.
#TheWeb
Twitter has always been about text for me. So what is all this tosh about a pivot to being video first. How many more nails to we need in this coffin?
Thank you David and someone from Bogota Texas for adding yourselves to the Documentally community map.
The nitty gritty on where Gen Z find out about brands, products and experiences.
Tesla recalls all 3,878 Cybertrucks because the accelerator pedal can jam fully on.
Some of my other places include Letterboxd, Discogs, Flickr, LinkedIn, YouTube, Mastodon, a popular ham radio newsletter or search ‘Documentally’ Birdsite, Bluesky or Daft Social.
There’s a new robot in town. If it has a go at you, make a grab for the antenna.
As soon as I post this email I’m heading into the house to try this.
#TheEnd
This email is long and late. All spelling mistakes are intentional but if they bother you I will correct them in post ;-) Thank you for your patience. Turn off all devices and have a great weekend.
“Remember there’s no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical end.” ~ Scott Adams
Be kind.
See you out there.
Over…
Just as a cyclist (basically) never regrets having ridden their bike, I never regret opening your missives, Christian. (I was amazed (and relieved) by Wikipedia's confirming that news of a person's death was greatly exaggerated. And your story about the binge-eating contest lives, as the kids say, rent-free in my head.) Keep doing what you do, and I really hope we can talk in person one day over beer or coffee.
Great newsletter.
Was my reading before bed.
I have opens several links as pages to look at in the morning.