Intersubjective reality [544]

Greetings from The Borders...

I’m Christian Payne, photographer, writer, disciple of experience and experiment. In this weekly dispatch I seek out novelty, explore the relations between things, how we share, what we share and consume, plus where we might be going.

Thanks for joining in.

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#TheAction

I’m going to tempt fate and ponder the amazing weather we’ve been having. It might be my selective memory in forgetting a recent storm… or perhaps Wainwright’s old adage that “There’s no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable clothing” rings true more than ever as these days, as i’m spending far more time outside.

This week I even got the chance for a 40min train ride into Edinburgh where I got to roam and explore places like the Stills Centre for Photography.

I much prefer days outside to time at my desk. Especially as recently it feels like i’ve mostly been battling the incompetent delivery company Evri. More on them below.

But as it’s Friday, so there’s no escape. I have the internet and my brain to curate…

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#ThePictures

The book I’m reading (more below) asked me to watch the 1980s film Flash Gordon before continuing, so I did.

It’s been over 40 years since I last saw it. It felt familiar, though I can’t quite remember how I once placed it alongside Star Wars or Star Trek.

I certainly found it fun, but I doubt I’d have recognised back then what I now see... a kinky, comic-strip, glamrock pantomime.

I can’t imagine anyone on set took it entirely seriously, yet it’s easy to see why it’s become a cult classic.

Not essential viewing, but worth it just for the moment my daughter walked in during the Queen soundtrack to find a fullscreen, leather-winged Brian Blessed grinning like a god of war.

3.5/5

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And I thought some of my psych-rock was pretty out there…

“This is a mushroom playing in the wild in some woods near Glossop in Manchester. The attached sensors measure bio-electrical fluctuations in the mushroom. The fluctuations are converted into signals that control the robotic arms. The keyboard playing a synth in Ableton Live. Our art reveals the hidden world of nature. Plants and fungi are often overlooked, but they’re not so different from us. Scientists have found they can communicate with each other, remember things, and solve problems.”

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Casey’s take on AI Video Slop…

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#TheWords

I’m still journaling daily. 5,499 days straight. I often dip in there and pull stuff out for here but there’s a lot of repetition that the keenest of you might spot occasionally. Thoughts, ideas and feelings I keep going over, in the hope I’ll find some kind of understanding.

I’ve talked a lot about us moving here to The Borders. Pulling back from my old tech-soaked life and now watching less news and dialling down the noise. It’s not always easy. But it always feels like a luxury and privilege when I reflect on the change.

It’s not that I’ve stopped caring about war, corruption, climate collapse or division. It’s that the constant stream of inbound noise feels detached from the life we’re experiencing here. Things are just quieter with the screens off. And things feel more real. Cause and effect look different. The wind moves through the trees and fruit falls to the floor. The dog plods along the track and the animals avoid her. None of this knows or cares about headlines.

I titled this post Intersubjective Reality as that’s what I’ve been journaling on or thinking about while working outside. That shared layer of belief in money, politics, nations and corporations. How the crazier things get, the thinner that shared narrative starts to look.

The longer I’m away from my old life, the clearer it becomes that these things only exist because enough of us agree to pretend they’re real. When I watch the news now, it feels like I’m witnessing our shared illusions begin to fade.

I’m not sure what my place in all this is. Or whether stepping back makes me irrelevant. Or if relevance itself is just another intersubjective story. Something we chase to feel needed and relevant in a world of abstractions. Because here, in the day-to-day, as I sharpen, prune, trim, harvest and store... relevance doesn’t seem to matter as much as presence. Alongside all the things that still exist even when we stop agreeing on the stories that surround them.

I’m beginning to grasp how feeling needed connects me to both family and community. Plus it’s probably why I write this every week. And maybe why we crave feeling needed. It gives a bit of order to the chaos, a shape to the emptiness we sometimes feel. Being useful was once simpler. It meant surviving and belonging. But usefulness is also a story we tell ourselves, shaped by the culture we live in.

It’s not easy to step outside that story. I wonder if being needed and being present are really the same thing. It still brings me satisfaction, but maybe we don’t have to be useful to earn our place here. Maybe existing, noticing, tending and caring are their own kind of usefulness. The kind that doesn’t need to be seen to matter. 3.5/5

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I have a couple of books from Brian Blessed, the first one I acquired was from him and he kindly signed it at an event where I was sent to interview SOCA (the Serious. Organised. Crime. Agency) Not sure why Brian was there. Possible because of his explorations.

The second book I picked up was a first edition of his memoir ‘Absolute Pandemonium’.

I finished this yesterday, coincidentally on Brian Blessed’s 89th birthday. The book felt like having him in the room. Booming stories at me one after another. It’s a little chaotic, very funny in places and full of feeling.

In an ADHD kind of way, the telling jumps from one adventure to the next without much warning, but with an occasional apology. Rather than feeling lost though, I found myself willingly being dragged along by the sheer energy of it all.

Although Brian’s voice can be heard clearly in his writing, when I was not sitting in front of the fire with the book, I had the audio version in my ears. I remember less in audio, but can feel more as the audio carried richer emotion and humanity. All the time giving me the image of animated arm waving. His infectious laughing between sentences was another bonus.

Some of the language might be toned down if it were published today, but none of it feels mean spirited. It’s simply Brian being Brian. Loud, outrageous and full of heart.

I was aware of his expeditions as once upon a time I almost got to meet him in the Artic, but the man has experienced so much and most of it was unknown to me. I’m sure a few parts were bigged-up, but there were still far more WOWs! than I expected.

A thoroughly enjoyable, joyful and slightly bonkers ride that I felt captured the man perfectly. 4.5/5

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#TheSound

I also listened to the audio book ‘Big Beacon’ by Alan Partridge.

After listening to The Oasthouse podcast this is my second visit to the work of Steve Coogan’s hilarious Alan Partridge.

Another ‘memoir’ from him that blends delusion, self-importance, narcissism, xenophobia, misogyny and accidental genius.

This ‘duel narrative’ has him juggling two huge projects... Restoring a derelict lighthouse and rebuilding his broadcasting career. Naturally, all delivered in the familiar laugh out loud Partridge style.

As usual there’s some awkward places where I stifle a guilty laugh, but also some surprisingly tender moments among some great writing, observations on Britishness, being middle aged and life in the media spotlight.

It meanders a bit with some parts feeling a little recycled from his other work, but if you’ve been a fan of Alan since the groundbreaking Knowing Me, Knowing You, you will laugh, cringe and continue to enjoy this extension of Alan’s story.

You can hear also his voice in the book, but the Audiobook is where the magic is. Great comedy.

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#TheConsumed

What do you do when you have a load of onions, apples and plumbs to preserve?

Well my Mother-in-Law makes some delicious chutney that i’ve been enjoying in cheese sarnies.

I did get to use the community apple press earlier in the week.

It’s a little bigger than ours with a larger scratter (pulper) on top. It made short work of a big crate of our apples and delivered me about 8 litres of juice from 10kg of apples. The left overs get shovelled into compost and 6 litres of juice is now slowly turning into cider. ;-)

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#TheFound

I found my first ring on Spittle beach!

I got to enjoy it for about 30 seconds before my daughter confiscated it. It’s a piece of dress jewellery. I think. Either that or she is wearing emeralds to school.

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#TheThings

I’m pretty sure that when I mentioned Evri above, some of you shuddered. I don’t know of many other companies as universally loathed as they are. The rebrand from Hermes had no effect on their crappy service.

Stuff either makes it or it doesn’t. And when it doesn’t, you know you are in for hours of attempting to navigate past AI chat bots in the hope you can reach a human.

Weeks ago, I’d ordered a specific kind of biometric (thumbprint) lock from AliExpress as the size I needed couldn’t be found locally. It didn’t turn up in the allotted time and when I asked my local Evri driver, he told me he’d been on holiday and all the parcels he missed got taken to a warehouse and marked as delivered.

Apparently this is so Evri still get paid. I’m pretty sure this is fraud, but the driver was pretty confident this is what happens. He told me there will be no photo, to gps and no courier name.

I found the email address of the CEO of Evri, Martijn De Lange (should you need it: martijn.delange@evri.com) and a few days later got a response from his assistant (the no doubt over worked Gavin) saying… “I can confirm that the tracking was updated on 16/09 to show the parcel as delivered. However, this update does not include a courier ID, GPS location, or delivery photo, which are normally used to verify a successful delivery.

Due to the absence of these key delivery confirmations, we do not consider this a compliant delivery. Furthermore, given the amount of time that has now passed, I regret to inform you that I must deem your parcel missing.”

No shit sherlock. I told their useless AI bot that that weeks ago.

I sent Ali Express the information and a human responded in the chat (at least I think it was) saying despite Evri stating it had been delivered, they will now offer a refund. They also thanked me for not being angry in the chat window.

I miss local hardware stores where in the unlikely event they don’t have something, they’d order it in.

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While in Edinburgh I popped to the Edinburgh Bicycle Coop and the got the chance to ride the new G-Line.

I really didn’t want to like it.

I’ve had my S3L-X for 15 years. It’s taken me on countless adventures, both here in the UK and overseas. It’s light, sensibly customised and when needed, easy to carry.

But the G-Line? I have to admit... it rides beautifully. The extra gears are very welcome, the responsiveness is classic Brompton and the fold feels instantly familiar. I was grinning across tarmac, cobblestones, hills and curbs. I rode it out and about and then back into the shop. (...Who were lovely, by the way.) I did notice the extra weight.

And now I’m conflicted. I don’t want to feel like I’m cheating on my trusty S3L-X and am pretty sure I just distracted by the new and shiny. This G-Line certainly captures that original spirit but will the extra weight get in the way.

I’m sure it will still fit in a car boot, on a bus, train and under the table in a pub, but it’s a lot of cash. The 16” original really does rule the cities but I can see this more comfortable, faster 20” owning long distance rural adventures far away from rush hours, escalators and packed coffee shops.

I’ll not sell my original to buy this, but I will start putting money in a pot in an attempt to save for a second hand one. At least until I talk myself out of it.

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#TheThanks

Huge thanks to the paying subscribers who continue to support this dispatch and the adventures/experiments that make it. You know who you are. ♥️

If you value these words, ideas and curation, please consider an upgrade to paid…

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#TheWeb

• The amazing story of Yoshie Shiratori. The man no prison could hold.

• It’s a strange thought that doom-prepping billionaires might be the only ones left. Good luck to them.

• Have you added yourself to the Documentally community map? If you are the first person to log yourself in a new country (where you live) I’ll unlock all posts for a month ;-)

• Should you (for research purposes) need to bypass a paywall I have found the ‘hide items’ option in Safari works well, for all other uses I hear uBlockOrigin is the thing.

• A South London lock-up is home to a massive cultural archive. The article says ‘one of the country’s greatest repositories of information’ but it might just be a load of gossip. ;-)

• Not tried it, but Podcast Magic looks like a cool tool for easily extracting clips from podcasts. Let me know how you go.

• Some of my other places include these… Supporting subscribers also get access to a Discord server. Message me for a link. 👍🏽

• It’s hard to make good decisions when you have limited knowledge… but we do it and sometimes survive.

• I have said it before and I will say it again… Embrace boredom*! It’s good for you. (*also known as being present.)

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#TheEnd

Thanks for reading.

On reflection this looks like a brain dump that might serve me more than you, but there could be some meaning in there.

This weekend we’ll be celebrating my daughter’s birthday and next week there’s a chance I’ll be photographing a John Grant gig in Newcastle. Yes I do still take photos for money. There’s always something i’m saving up for. Like food and stuff.

Have a great week and be more Blessed. ;-)

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“There will be no funeral! Before I get too old and ill, I’ll go to South America and live among the Pemon people and meditate. When the time is right, they can throw my body into the volcano.” — Brian Blessed

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Get wild.

See you out there.

Over…

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