Dear funmuffins,
How are you all?
I know, you are as surprised as I am that I am sending out a newsletter within a month - like I said I would at the start of this journey! However, I have just spent a few days with the person that encouraged me to do it in the first place and that always inspires me to write another - so this time of year, you’re pretty much guaranteed another sumptuous edition of whatever it is that this newsletter is about!
This edition will include:
Cryptocurrency and me
A Brexit update from M&S in Paris
My Book Problem
and much more!
So, dabbers at the ready and eyes down for a full house…
Mentored
When I started writing this email, I was on a train back home after a week in Paris. The social media and content creation session that I teach with Christian Payne (@Documentally for those of you on the Twitters) is always fun but also always a stretch for the students. It is one of those classes that requires a lot of focus and hard work and that does not necessarily fully reveal itself until some time after the course when they get that ‘oh, that’s why we did that’ moments.
I should explain that I purposely don’t fully discuss what we do in that module so that we can maintain an element of surprise for future students who might have been doing a bit of pre-class googling and come across a description!
That all aside, for me, every class is an opportunity to learn and be inspired by the people around me and that’s very much the case with Christian. He is a fantastic content creator who has the inquiring mind and the eye and ear for a story that comes with the very best journalists, documentary makers and storytellers. And I think I have finally worked out what makes the difference… he listens and encourages you to tell your story without you ever realising it - and that’s an incredible skill.
Every session is a learning - and it is always a joy to learn.
Photowalking
Another joy of teaching in Paris is going for a walk with the lecturers. I always take the time to spend time with our lecturers when I am in town and, where possible, show them places that I particularly like.
It’s even more of a pleasure when you’re with a professional photographer! Here are some of my (not as good) efforts!
My Book Problem
My name’s James and I have a book problem.
Well, actually, I have two book problems. The first is that I cannot stop buying them and the second is that I don’t have enough time to read them.
To illustrate the first point, I recently opened a box from… two moves ago? Maybe?
Anyway, I found…
…a copy of the second volume of Leaflets from the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries from 1913.
I mean, don’t get me wrong, I have no reason to have this. But I do! And I kind of like it!
That said, the way things are going, I could probably sell it to the UK government - it might give them some post-Brexit agriculture ideas….
Cryptocurrency and Me
I have a very odd relationship with cryptocurrency. In my (limited) opinion, cryptocurrency is basically an entirely sentiment-based wish platform - currencies without any intrinsic value beyond the collective decision to believe they are worth something. And we can all be sniffy about that - but most money is now in the same twilight zone of imaginary value. There’s not enough gold around to back up most currencies and, even if there was, that gold only has value because we pretend it does…
Also, there’s the incredible environmental damage that many cryptos do. That can’t be ignored.
Anyway, before I convince you all to go back to a barter system, as much as I don’t believe in the intrinsic value of cryptocurrencies, others do - and, on that basis alone, some years ago, I bought and sold some cryptocurrencies. I figured that it’s not for me to like everything I sell.
So, I’ve started looking at crypto again. The best thing (IMO) is to get into these things early either very cheaply or, ideally, free.
Pi is a very low energy, green crypto that requires no payment. It is in its very early stage of development and, at the moment, it is possible to earn free Pi by clicking a button once a day. It is based on a mobile app but, other than clicking the button once every 24 hours, you don’t have to leave the app on as the mining happens elsewhere.
The purpose at the moment is to build a committed community - that’s how value will be created. And when I say ‘will’, I mean ‘could’. It could easily end up being worth nothing. Or it might be worth something. I predict it’ll definitely either be worth something or nothing! My gut feeling is that it will be worth something because it actually has a purpose (and that’s something that not all cyrptocurrencies can say).
If you want to take a look and maybe try it, you can give it a go by signing up here >> https://minepi.com/markojmb
I’ve decided to share the co-pilot’s link there (my son - previous readers will know!). If you sign up, you (and he) will both get one free Pi to start you off and you’ll be in at the faster mining rate that, hopefully, should continue until the end of the year. Let me know if you give it a go! Any questions - email me here or on Twitter!
A Brexit update from M&S Paris
Regular readers of this missive will have known that M&S in Paris was in trouble well before it was reported by the UK media. At the time of my last newsletter, it was announced that the M&S Food shops in Paris except those in train stations and airports would be closing. That leaves a tiny handful of stores that are available - mainly to commuters.
I have just walked through the store in Gare de Montparnasse in Paris and this was how it looked…
Also, 3€19 for 150g of chocolate buttons?!
Between the supply issues caused by Brexit and the ridiculous pricing, I cannot imagine M&S’s adventure in France continuing much longer.
Coffee Updates!
Thank you all for your coffees for the newsletter!
Especially, Ilicco, Khaled and Lucy who have all bought me a coffee since the last update.
Ilicco, in particular, raised the bar with his coffee gift. He wrote…
1 coffee on me - the other two are only if you can find illy coffee and drink out of in one of their pucasso insipred espresso cups
Now, I’ve had the first coffee but I am having a lot of trouble finding a Pucasso inspired espresso cup. If you know anywhere in Paris that has these and would be willing to let me use one, please let me know! I will also put a shout out on Twitter!
This is the first of Ilicco’s coffees - an Illy double espresso taken in a paper cup on board a train from Paris to Brest.
It was a very responsibly consumed coffee!
Thank you also to Khaled…
…and Lucy…
Thank you all again! :) Your coffees help support all the content that I create online and are much appreciated! (But don’t feel you have to! This one will remain free!)
The EV Update
Just over a year ago, when we first got an electric car, I could come to this charging station in the Cotes d’Armor and, despite it having six charging spaces, ours would be the only EV charging.
The last two times I have been, there have either been 5 or 6 EVs charging.
Times are definitely changing!
However, sadly (and, in my opinion, inexplicably), the Renault Zoe will be discontinued in 2024.
Until next time…
Life seems to be returning to normal but we await an announcement from President Macron on Tuesday evening - so maybe it isn’t. Anyway, “normal” includes masks and jabs. Normal isn’t normal any more.
Although, on the upside, we can go outside and walk about and take our masks off for a moment and, this time last year, that simply wasn’t an option…
On that basis, maybe we should be grateful for little mercies. Maybe that’s what normal is.
And so, as we hurtle towards Singles Day, Cyber Monday, Cashback Tuesday, Debt Wednesday, Haven’t You Bought One Of These Thursday and, of course, Black Friday, I bid you farewell until next time!
Take care!
James x
Final thought…
Thanks for reading, sharing and supporting this email newsletter. I am aiming to keep them freely available. If you’d like to show your appreciation, I’d appreciate a coffee! You can get me one here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/jamesmb If you don’t want to or can’t, that’s fine too! Thank you!
This work (and the photos) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. So you can use it for non-commercial purposes if you attribute me and don’t mess around with it! Thank you!