WE’VE BEEN at the seaside since Saturday. The tide outside our window marks time differently here—not by deadlines or notifications. Here, the rhythm of daily life has gradually aligned itself with something more fundamental—the steady pulse of tides ebbing and flowing beyond our window. Days blur into each other in the best way: coffee that lingers past noon, toes in the sand and finding a perfect seashell. The distance from our usual routines has a clarifying effect. We’re reading more deliberately, having conversations that meander, making plans for the coming months with a new optimism, allowing space for the kind of reflection that the city rarely permits. The work continues, but it breathes differently here.
Though we’ve moved away from our Weekend Links format, we haven’t stopped sharing these quieter observations. They’ve found their way into Hyperreality, our weekly newsletter, tucked into the spaces between larger ideas. For those who’ve come to expect these glimpses of our thinking-in-progress, they’re still there—just in a different form. Below, we’ve gathered a few recent letters that have made their way to subscribers over these past weeks.
1
Listening, Reading, Thinking, Shopping, Watching
I was listening to David Duchovny’s podcast recently, where he was interviewing Graydon Carter, and something the latter said caught my attention. He spoke about the first magazine he created while at university, which didn’t do well. In hindsight, he realised it failed because “it didn’t really have a point.”
2
10 of my Favourite Things /002
There’s something deeply chic about the confidence to pare things down and let quality speak for itself. A room with just the right amount of negative space—not sparse, but uncluttered enough that each piece can breathe. The capsule wardrobe approach: fewer, better pieces that all work together effortlessly.
3
Moments and Musings /007
This letter began to you from a window seat in a busy pub. It’s Saturday afternoon and it’s been one of those days filled with mundane but necessary errands. It’s good to get things done, despite the queues and bureaucracy and all the waiting. We’re currently in a new city, one that we haven’t been to in nearly five years. It feels busier than it used to, although the last time we were here was during the pandemic. I am becoming quite adept at working anywhere as long as I have my laptop and a reliable wi-fi connection.
4
Life Update /007 (Three Days in Limbo)
On an ordinary Thursday morning last week, after our usual coffee together, I climbed the stairs to begin my day as I had many times before. But at the top of the landing, something shifted. A strange weakness crept through my body, accompanied by a rising wave of nausea that seemed to hollow me out from within. The familiar surroundings suddenly felt precarious, as though the ground beneath my feet had suddenly become uncertain.
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