I'm just a renting platform in front of a tourist asking him to use it
When the temperatures rise, over tourism flows.
Welcome to a new edition of mostly cool stuff, a space dedicated to the the random news and things I come across online and offline that get my attention as per the dozens of screenshots, pictures and links in my phone to remind me about them.
Today’s newsletter is sent out from Spain, where the average temperature is 37 but in the evenings it goes down to 27 so we’re doing fine. It’s nice to have a bit of proper heat at last and not that London simulation of summer. I’m aware humidity makes things worse (we have dry heat in my region so the feeling is similar to asphyxiating inside an oven in the middle of the desert rather than being sweaty) but maybe it’s about time for the UK to embrace the Spanish lifestyle and instal curtains and shutters at last in every home as a way to regulate temperatures both in winter and summer. And also to preserve privacy, please. I’ve seen things walking past people’s homes that you wouldn’t believe…
Last week I spent most of last Friday trying to get to France in time for my sister’s birthday (hence there was no newsletter), which happens to be on 21st June, the same day as Fête de la musique. To mark the occasion the lovely team at Eurostar decided it’d be fun to start the day by letting people know our train -one of the few not cancelled- had been replaced for one with significantly less capacity and therefore we were cordially invited to partake in a delightful game of musical chairs. While the idea may have seemed amusing on paper, it failed to strike the right note on the day at the station. The true meaning of cattle class was finally revealed to me as we all spontaneously enacted a very convincing rendition of Jumanji trying to secure a seat.
If you too are getting ready for your upcoming summer vacation in a coveted European city, you are probably bracing yourself to fight other holidaymakers for a spot in the shade at every bar, restaurant, terrace, gelateria, and toilet queue as a plague known as mass tourism descends all over Europe when the temperatures rise. And who is responsible for all these people making your dream holiday a nightmare? Hotels, of course. At least that’s what Airbnb thinks. Quite ironical considering Airbnb has recently launched Airbnb Services to provide extras usually available at hotels. Airbnb accusation somehow doesn’t seem to take into account the fact that protests against over tourism in Southern Europe have focused on the disruption Airbnb has created on the renting market and how it has made life a lot more difficult for local residents. As expected, the tourism industry has pointed the finger back at Airbnb and accused the short-term rental operator of not acknowledging how their model has prompted an unprecedented housing crisis, which has led the Spanish government to demand the removal of 66,000 properties on the platform in an attempt to regulate the holiday rental market. Meanwhile with tourism back to pre-pandemic levels and a growing demand for European destinations the pressures over tourism puts on certain destinations during peak summer holiday season seem far from over as tourists only want to have sun and aren’t that bothered on where they need to stay to achieve it. But perhaps it’s neither the hotels nor Airbnb to blame after all but each and everyone of us. What if the key to solving the issue of over tourism is to examine why we travel and how, especially to already overstretched destinations, and be more conscientious of how our individual actions affect the locals and put pressure on living standards for people who inhabit a place year around as opposed to a few days maybe once in their lifetime? Yes, I’m looking at you, Jeff Bezos.
“It’s your fault!”, Airbnb, hotels and the tourists back at it.
Corporate jobs get a lot of bad rap on account of the internal toxic culture and by extension the people they tend to attract. With the pandemic putting the importance of mental health on the spotlight, even the Big 4 are ready to acknowledge something has to give and so Deloitte has announced they’re taking their employees wellbeing seriously and are offering their US employees up to $1,000 for them to spend on pre-approved wellbeing products, which include Legos and puzzles. At least Deloitte employees can now customise a Lego to look like their boss on company’s money and do voodoo on him/her for pushing them to the point of burnout.
Coolness is like energy: it never dies, it just transforms
While Londoners wait for the new Piccadilly line trains with air conditioning to be ready at some point, a restored art deco train from 1938 will be running along the Piccadilly line from Friday July 11 to Sunday July 13. Ticket prices and routes vary, but you can secure a place via the London Transport Museum website. Just remember to carry plenty of cold water and a fan as London weather is predicted to be surprisingly balmy in the next couple of weeks, which means it’ll be at least double that on the tube so be ready to melt like a marshmallow in a bonfire the moment you step inside.
Heat scales
It seems we have to thank GenZ for the resurgence of bookshop bars, a concept that has been around for a while but which has been reinvigorated by younger audiences due to their preference for shared experiences to connect offline on the one hand and the influence of BookTok on the other, which has made reading cool again. For the record, I’ve always advocated for book bars long before GenZ. In fact one of my favourite watering holes in Paris features a wall to wall shelf with an excellent array of new and classic titles opposite the bar, where you can order a glass of wine while enjoying a bit of reading or indulging in some people watching. I would give you the name but how can I be sure you won’t visit it next time, put it on social media and ruin it for me as potential tourists could find it online and would be dying for a selfie that says ‘been there, done that, no idea why but someone on Instagram said I should come so here I am, can we leave now’?
However, since we’re on the topic and I’m a generous creature, here’s Vincenzo Latronico, author of Perfection (shortlisted for the International Booker Prize) talking about his favourite books at, drum roll please, BookBar, a very cool London bookshop + coffee shop + wine bar I’ve visited a few times and highly recommend for literary picks and great vibes.
Denis Villeneuve will be directing the new 007 movie. The attachment of Villeneuve to this project is very exciting as he is a filmmaker with a great dominion of visual language and personally I think he has done wonders with his recent Dune adaptations. Villeneuve had long dreamed about directing Bond, so I’m very curious to see how he puts his own spin on the character and the franchise, fingers crossed Amazon doesn’t curtail his creative freedom on behalf of mass appeal. As the identity of the new actor who will incarnate the famous British spy is still a mystery, I wouldn’t be surprised if Thimotée Chalamet tongue-in-cheek introduces himself in the upcoming Dune Messiah as “al Gaib, Lisan al Gaib.”
Anna Wintour has announced she’s stepping down as editor-in-chief at Vogue after 37 years. It really feels it’s the end of an era in fashion publishing as Devil Wears Prada has shown us. I wish Wintour had waited until the sequel was out on cinemas next year to make her announcement so that we could have seen her reaction but maybe she was really eager to say “that’s all.”
Last time I was at Waterstones Piccadilly I spotted the most amazing socks ever. They’re from a brand called Chatty Feet and their website offers plenty of famous writers and artists (as well as Kate, William, Harry and Meghan in case that’s how you roll) to choose from. Still undecided who I want to tread on, but I’m inclined to go for Jane Austoe once the temperatures drop a bit.
Big shoes to fill in If there weren’t enough minefields to avoid in modern dating already, here comes the hobosexual, that is a person who pursues romantic relationships for financial gain/support and access to housing rather than any real romantic interest. In other circumstances I’d be very quick to judge this type, but given the harshness of the London rental market, I can see why someone with their own home becomes immediately highly desirable.
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A United Nations State of the World report has revealed that the combination of the rising cost of living, gender inequality and uncertainty about the future are stopping young people from having as many children as they'd like. I’d go further than the UN report and say that those factors are stopping young people not only from breeding as if there was no tomorrow, but from virtually everything else as well, starting with finding someone to conceive a child with. Consider yourself lucky if among the financial and material precariousness endemic to millennials and GenZ you manage to match with someone on a dating app who is not a hobosexual (and neither are you), secure a date without much hassle, can afford the tube ride to travel to Central London from Zone 5 and also pay for a drink at a book bar after rent and bills. If by the end of the night you also have to worry about procreation, or rather how to avoid it, that would mean you’re doing very well indeed no matter what any UN report says.
Pedro Pascal is not only the internet’s zaddy but also a state of mind. During the London premiere of Ballerina, the actor was caught on a now viral video speaking to a friend who invited him to get a drink at his house after the movie. Pascal’s response was clear, “Hell no, I’m a lazy 50 year old bougie bitch.” I only have respect for a man who speaks my mind even though he doesn’t know me. Also, I need to put that on a t-shirt asap.
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Coolness is like energy: it never dies, it just transforms
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oh no, I feel out-of-the-loop because I didn't get the “al Gaib, Lisan al Gaib” reference.
My company does the same as Deloitte with the money to spend on wellbeing pre approved stuff 😂. Look at them solving the mental health and burn out crisis one lego at a time. I guess we have to take what we get...