In this weekly dispatch I explore fresh ideas, trace the connections between things and give thanks for both the vast and the ordinary.
I’m Christian Payne, professional over-sharer and currently more grateful right now than I’ve ever been.
Thanks for being here.
#TheAction
Ask me the worst sound I’ve ever heard, and I can now tell you. It’s my daughter screaming as she’s swept out to sea.
I can’t fully explain what went through my mind as time did strange things and the world narrowed to that one sound.
One minute we are body boarding the best wave ever and the next she was caught in a rip tide. It’s the kind of thing you read about in the news and there’s rarely a happy ending.
Just days earlier, on World Drowning Prevention Day, I’d spoken to Jennifer from the Coastguard and RNLI on Eyemouth beach. She told me how many ordinary people drown trying to rescue others. The stats were far worse than I expected.
I didn’t know it then, but her words might have saved us both.
That day, the waves were perfect. We were next to each other, riding them in together, laughing and shouting. We slipped slightly down the beach but were still able to stand while catching waves. I said we’d catch one last one and then head in. A big one came, right on cue. I caught it. My daughter didn’t.
I was whooping my way to shore when a family friend walked up the beach. I turned to call to my daughter and she wasn’t there. She was further out. Still in the waves, but drifting. I could barely see her, but I could hear her screaming.
I can’t put how that felt into words other than I never, ever want to hear that sound again.
I dropped my board with our friend and ran back into the water. Just a few metres. But that is the last thing you should do.
The seabed disappeared beneath my feet and I began to be pulled out. It took all my strength to get to some rocks. I shouted to our friend to call for help and he managed to get the attention of some people with phones.
Clambering onto a rock spur, I positioned myself so she could see me. As bystanders shouted that they’d called the coastguard, the crashing waves drowned out her voice, but I shouted what I could… That help was coming, to stay calm and to conserve her energy.
While holding onto her body board with one hand, lifting and dropping in the waves, she gave me a thumbs up with the other.
That moment changed everything.
The adrenalin was still ripping through me but that quick thumbs had me thinking everything would be ok. She wasn’t panicking anymore. She could see that help was near. Although drifting further out, I knew the board she was attached to would help her and figured if she could get out past the riptide she could perhaps paddle round it and back in.
My wife and her friend had reached the water’s edge. With others shouting at them to stay back, they waded in to waist level. Just enough to be a focal point. Something to aim for.
I mimed to my daughter to paddle slowly toward them. She tried. Once. Twice. Then, with sirens closing in and an ambulance crew running down the beach, she made real progress.
She was out of the rip.
I scrambled back across the rocks and sprinted to meet her, wrapping her in the biggest hug of my life. Five minutes later, we were sitting in an ambulance.
She was being checked over for hypothermia but was already pretty much back to her old self. Asking for a photo and commenting on how exciting everything was.
The rest of the week faded into nothing next to that one defining moment when everything could have gone horribly, irreversibly wrong.
It was all over in twenty minutes but the weight of what might have been still lingers.
I’m so proud of my daughter. Only thirteen and she’s an adventurer, an explorer, an artist and now after this incredible feat of self composure, bravery and resilience, a fighter and a survivor.
I’m profoundly grateful and only now starting to untangle the gratitude from the shock. It’s a sharp reminder of how fragile life is, how close we can come to losing everything that matters.
In the ambulance we were told that two lifeboats had been on the way and two helicopters were on standby. Thank you to everyone in the emergency services, and again to Jennifer, whose advice stuck with me.
Should you see someone struggling in the water, do not go in after them. Instead, call 999 immediately and ask for the Coastguard (Fire and Rescue if inland). While waiting for help, shout clear instructions to the person such as “Float on your back” or “Stay calm” to help them preserve energy and stay buoyant. If possible, use a pole, scarf or roap to reach them from land, or throw something that floats. The key is to never attempt a rescue unless trained to do so, as many would-be rescuers drown trying to help.
And if it is you in trouble, fight the instinct to thrash, lean back to keep your mouth above water, spread your arms and legs, and float until you can control your breathing and call for help. But above all, just like my daughter did, stay calm.
After the beach there was a long drive to the hospital and a few more checks before being allowed home.
In 2023, the UK recorded 659 water-related deaths, the highest total in a decade. We were lucky. I know not everyone is and i’ll never forget that day… The bravery of my daughter and the respect we owe the sea.
#ThePictures
As it’s the first of august here is my first photo for #PhotoMonth.
Finally got round to watching the last series of Sweet Tooth.
It was ok. Bit Disney at the end and not as good as the other series.
Also a little underwhelmed with these pictures by Martin Parr. Especially when you look at his other work along these lines. The words were good though.
#TheWords
In the 90’s the ‘Jesus Army’ ran an outdoor clothing shop in Rugby. My friend (who was not a member of the cult) worked there and I still have some of the discounted gear he sold me. I always called it a cult but only because it looked like one. I knew very little about its workings or how big it was. Just that they had a lot of money. I even had good friend who’d escaped said cult. She never really went into details about the place but was glad to have gotten out.
A few years later, while working as a photographer at the Chronicle and Echo in Northampton, I found some disturbing stories in the archives. Two decades later, this long read in the Guardian shows it was just the tip of the iceberg.
Five Timeless books rooted in oral storytelling.
#TheSound
Listen to the sound of melting glaciers…
#TheConsumed
A friend surprised me the other day by taking off the handle to a walking stick and reviewing a long glass vial filled with 18 year old Macallan.
I found something similar but not as refined on Amazon. Apparently it can hold half a pint or a third of a standard bottle.
Not all fat is equal. One type of fat impairs your immune system’s response to cancer.
#TheThings
Quadlock have updated their windscreen/dash suction mount.
I’ve got one but not for my phone. (My phone sits on a vent mount). I’m keen to use one of their stick-on universal adapters to hold a transceiver on the dashboard. I’ll share a review in my HamRadio newsletter.
Remember I said i’d let you know about my current favourite garden tool. This is it.
It’s a beast of a pole saw I bought from Conkauk. It’s called the Barnel 23ft Professional Pole Saw with Tiger Tooth/Tiger Claw Blade. I was initially after the version from Silky but this looked like it used the same blade and was longer. And at 7m it is longer. Also the blade is similar (using folded Japanese steel etc) but it is certainly a little thinner than the Silky blade.
It cost me £250 and paid for itself in its first day of use. My only gripe is the clamps on the sections can be a little fiddly if you don’t extend it in a certain way, but I don’t love it any less.
#TheThanks
Massive 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…
Or if you prefer a random hat tip you can do that via PayPal
or Monzo …Either way… Thank you for reading, sharing, liking and supporting a human doing manual work with their brain.
#TheWeb
A new study shows that conspiracy theories often thrive by fostering a sense of community, belonging, and shared purpose among believers.
Have you added yourself to the Documentally community map?
WeTransfer attempted to back peddle after stating users files will be used to train machine learning models. For me it was a total loss of the minimal trust I had in them and I have now bookmarked Swiss Transfer as a decent replacement.
There’s been some VPN chatter in the backchannel. If you still don’t have a VPN this code for NordVPN (the one I have used for years now) will give us both a few free months. It has worked really well for me.
Some of my other places include these…
Every satellite orbiting the earth and who owns them.
Weird title as I don’t pee on the veg patch but do pee on the compost heap.
#TheEnd
Thanks for reading. All grammatical errors are proof of life.
We still have guests here with more on the way. This weekend is a time for family, friends and a celebration of just being.
Have a great week.
“Brave doesn't mean you're not scared. It means you go on even though you're scared.”
― Angie Thomas
Live.
See you out there.
Over…
Thanks for the comment, Dan,
I have a 10 meter fibreglass pole for sticking antennas on but I’ve often use them for sticking a mobile wireless hotspot with a SIM card in. Maybe that is all you need.
You are ALL brave.
And thank CHRIST that story had a happy ending.
It could have been even happier had you been out with your massive pole and teased her from the briny depths as Gerard Depardieu would oust a snail from its home with a toothpick.