WE SPENT the weekend watching the tennis, and while the women’s singles final was less than stellar, the men’s final was gripping. With white wine in cut crystal glasses and the last of the July sun streaming in, we couldn’t tear ourselves away from the three hours and four minutes it took Sinner to win the championship. We were, of course, rooting for the Italian, despite once being honorary Spaniards for a few years.
Earlier, before the match and amidst the third UK heatwave, we’d stopped by the pub where a seat on the terrace was waiting for us.
Despite my famously low-maintenance skincare regimen, this morning I started using this nanocurrent device the company had sent. The technology works by delivering low-grade electrical currents that boost blood flow and stimulate skin tissue and muscles in the face, with the aim of toning, tightening, and lifting. The promise is that it will stimulate collagen and elastin production for plumper, firmer skin, improving skin tone and texture and lifting the contours of the face. It will apparently take at least six weeks of consistent use before there are any results, so I’ll report back. However, one thing I did notice immediately was that my makeup settled into my face much more than usual—it didn’t look good, and my pores seemed larger. I’m told this is perfectly normal; the first use can cause temporary changes in skin texture and tightness, which affects how makeup sits on the skin. A short-term effect as your skin adjusts to the treatment, so I think I’ll need to moisturise more deeply before applying makeup next time to see if that makes a difference. To be honest, I’m a bit skeptical about the whole thing, but it’s only a few extra minutes in the morning, and there have been some good reviews, so who knows? At worst, I’ll have wasted a bit of time (it actually feels a bit calming). At best, perhaps I’ll emerge from this six-week experiment with the lifted, toned complexion the marketing promises—though I suspect the truth will lie somewhere in between.
Though we’ve moved away from our Weekend Links format, we still like to write about what we’ve been up to lately and these thoughts have found their way into Hyperreality, our weekly newsletter. 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 recent weeks.
1
Listening, Reading, Thinking, Shopping, Watching
We were having a discussion this morning about how, perhaps, the internet might be over. Not the infrastructure, of course—the servers are still humming, fibre-optic cables still glowing beneath oceans. We spend most of our waking hours tethered to it, switching between tabs and timelines, scrolling, always scrolling. Not in a literal sense, but in a more poetic, existential one: the internet as we once knew it is over.
2
Moments and Musings /008
It’s been a rather adventurous few weeks: Newcastle’s winding streets gave way to two languorous weeks at the seaside, where I found myself drawn to the shoreline each morning, the silk of my favourite shorts catching the salt breeze. Manchester followed—a study in contrasts, all industrial grace and unexpected beauty.
3
Notes Between Us /002
When we first began this newsletter, the plan was for long-form content—thoughtful essays, philosophical reflections, and critical examinations of culture and aesthetics. After launching, however, it became clear that many of us simply don’t have the time to read longer pieces, or perhaps can’t, given our increasingly fragmented attention spans. Writing longer pieces hasn’t been straightforward either—it requires considerably more time than assembling the bits and pieces of inspiration we gather throughout the week, which, whilst still time-consuming, feels more manageable.
4
Notes Between Us /001
Hello. We hope you’re managing amid all that’s unfolding right now. Like many of you, we’ve been wrestling with the pull of constant news cycles—that unconscious reach for our phones, the ongoing tension between staying informed and staying sane. We hope this letter adds a little calm and culture to your day, even if just for a few moments.