Hope dies last [504]

Seasons greetings from the shed...

I’m Christian Payne, a generalist who really doesn’t know how to take a day off, but just wanted to say Hi! in a short post before 2025 comes to meet us.

Next year you can expect more seeking out novelty, exploring the relations between things, plus pondering as to where we might be going.

Right now though, I’ll give the more dedicated and curious amongst you a brief update on my last week, a short list of things that Santa brought me and at the bottom, news on the potential relocation abroad.

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#TheAction

This week had has seen me able to catch up with old friends, enjoy some wonderful food and drink and entertain family during a quiet Christmas at home.

I really hope that if your work/life has allowed, you’ve had a decent break so far. Perhaps even a little time to reflect on what’s happened over your last year, plus what might be to come.

For me this year has again been filled with the weird and wonderful. I have:

• Taken multiple trips to Wales to assist in a family business

• Had many adventures in amateur radio

• Continued digitising old journals

• Spent many hours enjoying photography

• Looked after poorly family

• Made it to a handful of conferences

• Built two new garden structures

• Enjoyed cooking on a daily basis

• Played with solar power

• Had a mild bout of covid

• Undertook a pilgrimage into the Alps

• Holiday’d to Italy and the USA

• Worked in France

• Put the house on the market

Pretty much all of this was archived in this dispatch and I thank you for joining me in another trip around the sun.

[There's still a few days left on this offer to unlock the archive and get all posts and audio.]

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#ThePictures

Whilst dining out the other day I spotted this wallpaper in the toilet of the pub.

A reverse image search informed me it was from Divine Savages. If you are looking to create a weird and wonderful interior they have a site worth browsing.

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I was surprised to miss some short animated Star Wars series that have been out for a while and stumbled upon Star Wars Tales of the Empire.

I watched it all in one sitting and it gave some ok backstories but did not really flow. It followed two people and felt it didn’t offer any great depth on either of them. Worth a watch but missed the mark.

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Only one film watched over the Christmas period so far. First time for the kids :-)

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“Every photograph, is a certificate of presence” - Roland Barthes. Fantastic autochrome images.

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#TheWords

I can live without Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and X. Can you…? Social media feels worse than ever.

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#TheSound

Songs you probably didn’t hear this Christmas.

Star Wars themed (1980)

A lesser known track from David Matthews (2015)

This one from 1985 claims Santa works for the CIA (1985)

And this one that Santa is the original hippie (1968)

This might be my favourite xmas video (2009)

I shall finish with something a little more sane and wonderful that you must have heard. Bowie and Bing. One month before Bing Crosby died of a heart attack. (1977)

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YouTube has become the most popular platform for listening to podcasts in the U.S., with 31% of weekly podcast listeners using it, surpassing Spotify (27%) and Apple Podcasts (15%) For me a podcast will always be via RSS and audio only. That is how and why it is the ‘theatre for the mind’. Adding video just makes it a chat show. IMHO.

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#TheConsumed

With a vegan at the dinner table I was able to be surprised at some tasty animal free products. The vegan mince pie was tasty but crumble and dry and really needed the vegan brandy cream.

I’ll save you the rest of what we all ate because I’m struggling to move, let alone think about food.

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#TheThings

When it comes to presents I’ll start with the nerdier of my gifts, the Victron SmartSolar charge controller.

It’s designed to optimise solar energy harvesting using MPPT (Maximum Power Point Tracking) technology. So manages battery charging while preventing overcharging and has built-in Bluetooth so you can monitor performance and access real-time data on battery voltage and solar output.

My standard charge controller did not work with some of my Li-Po batteries but this works with various battery types.

It’s a bit niche but will work great with some of my home solar projects.

These presents are a little easier to explain.

Three cook books. The Air-Frier Cookbook, plus the legendary Essentials of Italian Cooking bundled with Nom Nom Italy. That middle book is amazing.

I was also gifted time in a retreat but more on that in the future.

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Finally, this jumbo EMR stylus.

It writes beautifully. I have had to mod it slightly so it sits snug in the pen loop but I love it. Especially as the red plastic faux eraser actually erases. It should last at least as long as me.