Six Things, Volume 50

Waxwings | Sports | Cards | Pools | Depth | Machine

You might have heard that Substack has a Nazi problem. This has made many people, including me, uncomfortable. Some have left the platform altogether; others are making plans to do so; others are staying.

If you were previously unaware of what’s happened, there’s a pithy summary in this piece by Margaret Atwood, the open letter to Substack management from Substackers Against Nazis is here, and an excellent analysis of the situation by Ken White is here.

What am I going to do? I don’t know. I’d love to think that by staying here and publishing my weekly (soon to be bi-weekly) whimsy I am, in some obscure way, sticking it to these people. No doubt Peter Cook would have something to say about that.

“those wonderful Berlin cabarets which did so much to stop the rise of Hitler and prevent the outbreak of the Second World War”

I’m sure I’m not alone in wishing that Substack – which in so many ways is ideal for my needs, and, I suspect, for the needs of my readers – had taken a different stance. Maybe they will. Meanwhile I’m looking into other platforms (while only too painfully aware that this whole process could easily repeat itself elsewhere, as elucidated by Joel Morris on Bluesky.

"Gap in the market: a platform for independent creators to make and monetise our work at a subsistence level and reach people who like it, but (here’s the USP) NOT run by a weird sort of hunch-souled Apocalypse Techbro with worse politics than Eric Clapton."

So: yes I’m unhappy about it. No I’m not leaving just yet. Yes I’m looking into alternatives. And no this is not my final answer.

Do feel free to email me with your own thoughts, concerns, misgivings etc.

Meanwhile, on with the whimsy.

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Thing 1 – Waxwings

I’d like to think I’d be this excited if they were commonplace. And maybe I would. But there’s no doubt that the irregularity is part of the charm.

Back in November I wrote about waxwings in The Guardian. (Tl;dr: once a decade or so, circumstances conspire to send these superb birds our way in large numbers, and this is just such a year.)

“Maybe this winter they’ll make it to my patch and I’ll see them. Chomping the cotoneaster by Tesco Metro, hanging from the hawthorn in the cemetery, entertaining the locals and triggering a spark of interest in the natural world in a solidly urban environment.

We can but hope.”

Well, guess what.

I don’t usually travel to see rarities, but Balham is just round the corner, after all. It would be rude not to.

The resolutely suburban setting; the gaggle of Paramo-clad birders hanging around, mild and patient, lacking in urgency; the mechanical street-sweeper making its slow way up the road as I arrived, sending the coveted birds (thirteen of them) up and away and over the roofs, perhaps never to return (and one frustrated birder into paroxysms of rage at the absolute gall of a street-sweeper doing their job when there were birds to be watched) – these were all part of the experience.

They returned. And we admired. Their plumage, their acrobatics, the unanimity with which they moved from the waiting tree to the pink berry-laden bush.

Once they’ve stripped that bush, they’ll move on. I hope there are enough berries. And I hope their return journey, when it comes, is smooth and trouble-free.

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Thing 2 – Sports

Back in Volume 28, I wrote of the joy of the World Jump Rope Championships and the Finnish Hobby Horse Championship. And of course the ancient sport of bus racing is always worthy of introduction to a wider audience.

So it’s good to see this round-up of weird sports (of which my favourite is stone skimming) on Atlas Obscura.

Just before sending this, I learned that there is a Frisbee Dog World Championship.

Of course there is.

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Thing 3 – Christmas Cards

This is a delight. Since the age of 3, C W Moss has drawn and sent a Christmas card "to friends, family and enemies".

Here they all are.

(from Brendan at Semi-Rad)

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Thing 4 – Pools

Thanks to Fiona for sending me this short film, The Ephemeral Pools of Moab. Life is everywhere.

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Thing 5 – Depth

Diagrams you never knew you needed until you had them. The depths of London Underground stations, a project by Dan Silva born of curiosity and doggedness.

He sells A2 posters of the diagrams, as well as a booklet, so you can know how deep you are at all times. Email him to buy.

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Thing 6 – Machine

Joseph Herscher’s on his nonsense again, and we should thank him for it.

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Happy New Year, everyone. I’m taking a break for a couple of weeks, but will be back with more nonsense before you know it. A reminder of what that will entail is here.

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