snapshots // may 2026

postcards, late sunsets, underscores, the handpan, and some travel photos 📸

collecting postcards

I’m currently travelling with a small but growing number of postcards tucked into the back pocket of my notebook. You can pick them up from anywhere, and they’re guaranteed to be cheaper than whatever souvenir fridge magnet / keychain / bottle opener is on display nearby.

postcards across the years: from an artist market, central park, and @inekaspineka at floriade canberra

I like the idea of sending postcards: a photo on one side, a message on the other, simple and thoughtful. But I haven’t yet. The modern equivalent has its own charm: I text “made it to london” to the family group chat with a selfie at the pub, and get a “😁👍” back.

For now, I collect postcards for myself. They come home in my backpack and end up as an art exhibition on my apartment walls. I can write dates, names, and stories on the back to capture more of the moment. Or maybe the rain-warped cardboard is enough on its own.

chasing sunsets at 10pm

I’d understood, intellectually, that summer days are longer the further north you go. Still, I find myself throwing around phrases like “it feels like 3PM.” Our phones say it’s half past seven, but my internal clock reads the lengths of the shadows and how blue the sky is. It’s anchored on Australian rhythms, where the sun only ever sets after five or before eight, and is slow to update.

paris in spring at 7:30pm and 10pm

It’s surreal stumbling through the cobbled streets of the Latin Quarter at 11PM and having it not be completely dark. Or waking up at 4AM to pee (“the middle of the night”) and seeing sunlight through the curtains.

Cultural norms also make a lot more sense when you factor in this updated sense of time. Like, it makes sense why dinner-time in France starts at 8PM and not 6PM – that's basically afternoon! The same doesn’t apply in the UK. The days are long, but it’s still cold and rainy outside.

sunset in edinburgh (around 9:45pm)

(under)scoring train rides

I’ve been listening to a lot of underscores this trip, especially her debut album fishmonger (2021) and her latest album U (2026). I enjoy the hyperpop, electronic, indie-rock, pop-punk genre blenddddd.

Other musical highlights include 11-year-old sprites improvising on the handpan, a percussion instrument designed in Switzerland in the early 2000s.

I like to have my music on repeat, and so unsurprisingly, songs are attached to months of my life, and conversely, my year can be segmented into what album I had on in the background.

I’m taking artist / song / album recommendations to score some more long-distance train rides, so send ‘em over!

out the train window, somewhere in switzerland 🇨🇭

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