There's no place like home [518]

Greetings from the in-between...

I’m Christian Payne, autotelic, photographer and writer. Also a little sore as for the past six weeks my family have been gradually moving home. We have moved in part. Just not all the way.

Normally 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. But this is just a brain dump with some links. All going to plan things might look a little more normal next week.

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#TheAction

Our old house only sat empty for a few hours before its new owners began building their new life within it.

This is our first house move in about 15 years and the first ever with two teenagers.

On the face of it, as well as multiple times during this process, it’s looked like a crazy idea. We had a lovely house and garden, great friends and a village with shops, pubs, post office and a library.

So why move?

Mostly we are looking for more space, so my Mother in law can live nearby and just incase the kids take their time to move out. We also want to be closer to nature and enjoy the change in lifestyle that a little land in a costal region will offer.

With this in mind, we found a place in Scotland at the end of November and fell in love with it. Then we got our house valued on the 17th of December, with our sale finally completing on the 8th of April.

As of now, as things work a little differently in Scotland, we are currently between homes.

Thankfully we can stay at my Mother in laws house in Warwickshire, but the clock is very much ticking as we need to be in Scotland on the 21st so my daughter can start at her new school. Our eyes are on every email as we await signs of progress with the purchase of our new home.

This limbo extends to me being outside of the normal channels I might frequent. Screen time is at an all time low and I’m only really chatting to people via voice comms. Radio or telephone.

I’m writing this on a laptop I managed to retrieve from the last load of boxes hurriedly packed as we exited the house. All the material things we possess appear to fit in around 400 boxes not including the bulky stuff. The ladders, garden furniture, bikes, scooters, motorbike, cars, amateur radio gear, plants and tools etc.

The act of sorting, packing, transporting and storing all of these things has me wishing I could to return to the 90’s where I mostly lived out of a 35lt backpack.

You might ask, “Why not pay someone to move it all for you?” And on reflection it seems like a bloody good idea. But doing it ourselves has saved around £5000. Money that will hopefully go on a battery for storing solar energy.

It’s also good to get a clear idea of all the things you have and a grasp of what it is you don’t actually need. I’ve promised myself that over the next year I’ll be spending a lot of time on eBay, Vinted and all the other places people sell their stuff. We’ll see how that pans out. Especially as the new house comes with a chunk of land and a ride on mower.

I’ll share photos and whatnot from the new abode when we get in. The current owners have been amazing and allowed us to move in a bunch of our stuff. We have one small load left to get up there.

I know i’ll very much miss my shed but can’t wait to create some kind off den in the new house.

This is where the contents of my shed currently resides.

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#ThePictures

Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting with the French multi-media artist, designer, and sculptor Alan Reullier.

His artistic practice involves transforming discarded industrial and natural materials and more recently, forgotten blueprints and technical drawings.

I got to see many of his new works of art close up and was particularly taken by some of his enhanced Land Rover blueprints.

Once these waxed linen wonders are scanned, they are usually destined for destruction — but Alan has persuaded a few open-minded archivists and organisations that these amazing drawings deserve a second life.

By illustrating around the schematics, I feel Alan not only resurrects the original designs but also honours the creativity of the original draftsperson.

This amalgamation of technical precision and imaginative interpretation invites the viewer to reconsider these lost works and the stories they tell.

Intricate, relevant, and engaging, I really enjoyed this past meets present as his art merges with the mind of the designer, and he resurrects and re-creates.

I recommend visiting his multimedia artworks, especially his sculptures. You can find his work and where he is currently exhibiting at AlanReullier.com.

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I’d love to purchase one of Alan’s works for my new office/shed/den but will have to save fast before his art reaches the rest of the world and it’s all gone.

This might be a good time for me to ask you to upgrade your subscription ;-)

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#TheWords

I loved the book Underland and it’s currently 99p for the ebook.

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#TheSound

Check me rocking the phone box like it’s 1994.

Me and my daughter found it in the village of Marton. I had no idea if it would work and it did! Not only that but calls sounded great and were free! I’d heard a Jeremy Vine piece last week on BBC Radio 2 saying that if you find these phone boxes make a call and if there are a certain number made in a year it will remain operational and free to use.

So go find a phone box and use it!

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BBC Radio 4 has played a big part in my driving time this last week and as i’ve all but withdrawn from most socials for the moment, it might be the only way i’m getting my news. Apart from some half-arsed coverage of Palestine it seems ok.

Looking forward to getting back into my podcast backlog. I’d also like to record more audio updates like I shared with you last week…

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#TheConsumed

I’ve eaten a few ‘meal deals’ while on the road. I also considered getting a Greggs loyalty card but it won’t accept an email with a ‘+’ symbol in it, so I may have gotten off lightly.

I’m also scanning a lot of my food purchases with the app Yuka so I can see what carcinogens and toxins are hiding in the ingredients.

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#TheFound

I’ve found so many things while packing. Long thought lost curiosities and trinkets. Things kept because I love what they do or stand for, and others I cannot bear to let go of.

It might be I share them in this section in the future. It might I wise up and sell them on eBay.

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#TheThings

Remember when rather than throw it away, I ritually burned my Grandad’s chair?

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#TheThanks

As well as thanking all the subscribers who continue to support this dispatch I’d like to thank David, Gordon, Adrian, Martin, Louise and Hugo who alongside my amazing family have acted above and beyond to assist in our move. ♥️

Nearly there.

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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

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#TheWeb

• The great AI Art Heist.

• For the first time since its creation I have modified my location on the Documentally community map. Are you on there?

• I was in a cash only barber’s shop today in Rugby. Friendly and a great service. I imagine most of them are, but who really knows what might be going on behind the scenes of any business.

• All going to plan I will have transported three record players to the new house, so I really do not need this Toshiba wireless portable record player.

• Wordpress has an AI generated website builder.

• A glimpse into the butthole logo epidemic.

• Some of my other places include these

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#TheEnd

Thanks for reading.

All spelling mistakes might go some way to proving I’m human. Who knows where we will be next week. Hopefully in a place we can call home.

Life is never boring when you learn to love the little things. Or if you can turn challenges into stories.

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“Sometimes chaos is the very thing that deliberately shakes up our neatly ordered world’s in order to get us out of the neatly ordered ruts that have kept us stuck.”

― Craig D. Lounsbrough

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Move.

See you out there.

Over…

A ❤️ is a high-five, a comment is a hug. A supporting subscription earns my undying love.