29 - Up before 7am, woken by Sally clattering around on the bedroom floorboards . . .walked with the tripod, determined to test out the camcorder with the new battery. .work appears to have started in earnest on the 'regeneration' stuff. A digger was tearing up the old slipway. Spent quite a while filming that, hoping to get a bit of timelapse out of it, before eventually moving on to film the central car park for an hour (not only testing the battery, but also the quality of the footage on 'long play' - which actually turned out pretty acceptable (especially for such a shoot)). Boring and cold, and wouldn't you know it - I pick a really quiet day down there! Hmmph. As with so many of these videos, I really should be doing them in the height of the summer and the tourist season, when all the crowds are about. On the upside, the new longer life camcorder battery made a hell of a difference, enabling me to not worry 'quite' so much about conserving it. . . eventually back home via the charity shops (bought a glass fronted picture frame for £1). . PCd this mornings video for several hours. . cooked and ate four sausages with four pieces of bread and butter followed by a couple of buttered hot cross buns . . eventually napped despite the wind and rain battering the house, until woken by the alarm at 7pm. . skipped this evenings walk, because of the storm and also because I'm becoming increasingly concerned about Sally's rheumatism-like persistant limp on her right front leg. :o( . .TVd ('Ice Truckers') and then PCd some more on the 'Dig It' video . . BB called but, with me in the middle of awkward edits and sound fades, was rudely dismissed. . PCd until almost 1am before calling it quits. It could be 'neater', but I just can't face spending any more time on it! YouTube link . .touched base with BB . . ate a bowl of muesli before finally to bed after 2am! s
28 -
Woke around 5am, snoozed on then woken by
Sally around 7:30am. .PCd a bit of this . . walked carrying the
tripod, just to test if that strap is gonna work or if it is too
short. It IS short and just a bit more uncomfortable than the
last one, but it'll have to do. Grey and misty damp. Messed
around in BGdns despite the poor light, and tried to take
pictures of Sally and daffodils, with a 'diy' mothers day card in
mind. . eventually back home by around 10am to find a plastic
carrier bag on the doorstep!!?? I'd missed the post - it was my
new camcorder battery already. :o) Bit risky leaving it on the
doorstep like that, but I'm glad they did. Straight out of the
box, before I'd even charged it, the camera reported a possible
90 minutes of available use! Exxxxxcellent. :o) . . Mum called to
touch base . . PCd for ages and finally printed out what will be
the front of the mothers day card to Mum/pottered around . .
napped until after 6pm . .ate biscuits . . walked . . ate sausage
rolls, crisps and pickled onions . . touched base briefly with BB
. . TVd until bed around 1am. 27 - Up around 7am. .
PCd this. How bizarre - there was an
earthquake up-country around 1am this morning. I guess it didn't
reach down this far. . walked and carried on down to the harbour.
A group of at least three seal were all splashing around in the
water by the fish quay slipway - but as usual all dispapeared
under the water as soon as I touched my camcorder pocket. .
handed the woman at the desk in the harbour masters office a copy
of my DVD by way of an explanation of what I'm doing hanging
around down there some of the time. We'd exchanged a word the
last time I was on the covered walkway of their building filming,
and she'd expressed 'concern' over my being there and said I
should be asking for the harbour masters permission etc!! So -
the next time I'm seen hanging around down there, either it'll be
'accepted' (as just that weirdo with the camera) or I'll be
quickly 'driven off'! I suspect the latter from some of the looks
I've got. .grabbed a quick snap of some scaffolders as I walked
around the harbour. I'm not sure the tiny picture does the scene
justice. The guy at the top was straddled between the scaffolding
and the roof of the adjacent property, passing poles and timber
back down to the guy next to him. He wasn't tied on or secured in
any way - just teetering there! Fearless nutter! . . ate a couple
of buttered hot cross buns . .pottered around a bit. Cut the
carrying strap off an old bag I once found, and fitted it to my
camera tripod to replace the one which recently snapped. A bit
short but may do the job. . balanced my accounts and rang up and
renewed my (£135.50 !) TV licence and set up the annual direct
debit. . ate chopped salad, crisps and four pieces of bread and
butter . . still feel SO tired (and aching?) all the time! Napped
the afternoon away until woken by the phone ringing (no message
left) around 6:15pm . . walked . . TVd . . touched base with BB .
. cooked and ate two sausages, two eggs and chips after 10pm. .
coffee and biscuits and TVd until bed around 1am.26 - Up around 7:40am. . PCd a bit, checked Google maps and polished off the 'titles screen' as best I could and then uploaded the little 'calming' type waterfall vid. YouTube link . .walked and briefly down to the harbour and back. . PCd this and that - YouTube link . .Mum called to touch base . . .ate ham rolls and crisps . . napped the afternoon away until around 6pm . . walked . . PCd and eventually e-mailed PS all the pics I'd taken over the weekend which included him. Took ages having to reduce every one in size etc. .touched base with BB . . did some paperwork/accounts . . surfed looking at replacement camcorder batteries. Hmmm - they seem to have come down in price from what I remember them being a couple of years ago! . . eventually used pretty much the last of my Paypal money and ordered one from some ebay company in Cornwall. A BN-VF714U type (non-oem equivalent) for £10.98 including postage. That's the next size up from the one that came with the camera, which allegedly should give 'at least' a two hour period of full camera use. If true - that'll be much more practical/useable and matches the tape capacity on long play, albeit bulkier and heavier for stuffing in a pocket. . ate bowls of cornflakes before to bed around 1am.
25 - Up around 8am for much condensation window wiping . . .PCd a bit waiting for PS to appear and had a go at using the waterfall video I'd taken with the camera on video. Didn't do the scene justice of course, but wasn't 'too' bad considering it was the stills camera. . all walked and carried on down around the harbour and then along to the breakwater beach intending to grab a breakfast at the bistro on the beach. When we reached it, there was some sort of building work going on with a disc cutter noisily cutting through some concrete right next to it. NOT a pleasant place for breakfast THIS morning! Walked all the way back and ended up sitting outside a little harbourside cafe for a breakfast and coffee, all paid for by PS again of course. . back home to crunch an annadin tablet, check the car started, and then hang around for a bit, before leaving Sally at home and taking PS to the train station for his 'just after 2pm' train. . .determined to make full use of being out in the car, and stopped off at the pet store on the way home for bulk supplies. The bad news about that pet store is, it's right next to the Staples office supplies place. Couldn't help myself and spent a small fortune in both!!!!! (£42.16 , £71.63!!!!!!!! which included a pack of expensive genuine Epson printer ink cartridges. ). . stopped off at Sainsburys on the way back to spend another small fortune (£71.39). .by the time I was back home (alive - I made a mistake on the road and very nearly got crushed by a mobile home on the move - although in mitigation, I don't think he was indicating!) and unloaded, I was feeling exhausted and rather down in mood! . . napped until around 6:30pm . . still felt utterly exhausted, really very down, and with wind and rain outside, I just couldn't face this evenings walk. Poor reluctant Sally was eventually persuaded to use the garden . . ate ham, mayo and lettuce rolls with crisps and then some buttered hot cross buns and chocolate . . touched base with BB . . TVd, almost motionless and needing to be quiet all evening, (couldn't even find the energy to turn the PC on at any point) until bed around 11:30pm!
24 - Woke earlier, snoozed on then up around 8:45am . .PCd this over coffee and cigarettes breakfast . . all walked and carried on down to the harbour taking a few 'tourist' type photos for PS . . . breakfast and coffee at a table outside a harbourside cafe. . stopped by Mums to borrow her DVD rental card, to save me having to get ID and household bills and all that nonsense to join up .rented a couple of DVDs at the local store . . back home to sit around and TV for just a bit before driving in the car and getting lost looking for somewhere to park that would have enabled us to make a 'short' walk to MSands beach. Eventually somehow ended up at Coleton Fishacre parking space . . walked the long walk down the really steep hill to the beach and evntually back in a shower of rain . .touched base with BB . .TVd and watched the first film . . ate pastie and crisps . . watched 'Die Hard 4' eating chocolate biscuits etc. . to bed around 1am. s
23 - Woken by Sally around 5am for no apparant reason! I assumed she needed the garden so had to get up and let her out, but she didn't!? Grrrr. Typical - just when I need a 'full' nights sleep!. . back up around 8am. PCd a bit of this . . drove Sally for her walk. Typical - the one day I can't really waste the time wandering around down the harbour, it looks as though there are a pair of lifeboats on station today! . stopped at the store on the way back for a few supplies, just in case PS expects to eat something when he's here. . .tidied up/charged batteries/pottered around/PCd this, etc. .drove with Sally to the train station to pick PS up. . . stopped off at BSnds on the way back and wandered around aimlessly on the beach and about for a while. . sat at a bench on the front and had a coffee and doughnuts before returning home . . TV and chats. Forced PS to watch some of my videos. I don't think he was impressed and only suffered sitting through them to be polite! Oh dear. I hadn't thought they were THAT bad and boring! :o( . . all walked. Stopped in at the local pub on the way back and took advantage of their two for a tenner meal deal. Ate ham, egg, mushroom, peas and chips with a half of lager. .a guy at the bar was messing with one of the pub dogs (which are allowed to roam at will around the place) and somehow he did something stupid, hurt the dog and it yelped and bit him! It caught his nose - good!! The guy ended up stood at the bar being fussed over by his lady, with blood pouring from the bite mark on his nose!!!! Twit. . .TVd the night away (boy did I have trouble trying to stay awake) until bed around 1:30am. s
22 - Up around 8am . .PCd over coffee and cigarettes breakfast, and finished and uploaded the nasty little shark snippets video (problem with the poor audio on the small compressed file) YouTube link . . walked and although utterly exhausted, just couldn't help having a quick walk back through the harbour (in case I was missing something! It really IS an addiction!!). A small film crew were on the inner harbourside filming some 'to camera' scenes for some future childrens production on CBBC about nature filming or some such. . the preparatory work for all the 'port regeneration' works seems to be picking up its pace with much activity/chaos around the fish quay, and with much of the usual daily business activity of loading lorries and working on trawlers seemingly getting pushed more into the streets and inner harbour!! Ok - so I'm new here, but I have grave misgivings about what this so called 'regeneration' could make of the town. Seems to me, it's oldy worldy 'behind the times' appearance and feel, is its charm and main tourist/would-be-resident attraction. Take that away through irreversable potentially incompatible 'regeneration', I'm not sure I can imagine what would be left? . .set the camcorder up on the tripod on the upper walkway of the fish quay building, and videoed some workmen stripping the slates off a small store type outbuilding. I presume that entire structure will be gone the next time I'm down there. I regret not having got hold of the plans for the regeneration, and worked out what was going where and having photographed everything before they started, for a future 'then and now' type photo set. All a bit like too much hard work I think. . . found 11p along the walk . . PCd this mornings footage and of course had to make a video out of it YouTube link (although with hindsight - I think I have actually lost the plot completely now. That really is a rather mundane, boring and pointless piece of video - and overly long just to fit the unedited music! I need a break from it all. Thankfully, PS visiting this weekend is going to force me to have one). . . ate a tin of sausages in baked beans with a pork pie and four pieces of bread and butter . . finished off the 'Rooftop' video and then slept the rest of the afternoon away until woken around 6pm by PS leaving an ansaphone message confirming he has received the tobacco from SH and will be arriving early afternoon tomorrow. . PCd a bit of this. .touched base with PS . . walked . . PCd some more of this trying to bring it just a little more up to date than I have been doing of late. .touched base with BB . .did dishwashing chores until early . .coffee and biscuits while TVing until to bed around 2am.
21 - Up around 8am . .bizarre number of hits on YouTube on the 'washing pigeons' video - and that before I've even mentioned it here!? Never ceases to surprise me what people find interesting. Of all the actually 'interesting' stuff I've videod, a couple of pigeons and doing my laundry appear to be particularly popular!?? People! . .
walked and
headed straight down to the charity shop I'd spotted the brass
candle sticks in yesterday. I'd mentioned them to Mum on the
phone, and she'd gone down to have a look but hadn't found them
in the store. . suprisingly, they were still there (although
probably because of the price. £6.50 for the pair with the
'twisted' design, and another £6 for the more 'ornate', really
rather interesting one.) Utterly absurd waste of a rather
considerable amount of money - but I bought them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Like I need more brass nonsense cluttering up the place! I MUST
now sort out some of the less desirable stuff which I do have,
and donate it back to charity. . . 
headed back towards BGdns via the harbour.
Wow - near the fish quay sat on top of a wooden pallet, waiting
to be loaded into the back of an articulated lorry was a shark!!
The way it was sat there, 'trophy' like, high, dry, gutted and
bleeding, waiting to be loaded into the back of the huge
refrigerated articulated lorry with all the tons of other
'plunder' and death, with passers by (and me!) stopping to stare,
all seemed a horribly humiliating end for such an awsome top of
the food chain creature, just trying to get on with its life.
Very often, the bigger they are the sadder it seems somehow. :o(
. .
I try and avoid it as much as I can, but
there really is NO avoiding it - this entire town owes it's
existance to and is built around a marine abattoir! That smell of
'fresh' fish in the air? That's the smell of untold suffering and
lingering death for billions of sea creatures - day after day,
year in year out! You don't appreciate the scale of it until you
live in such a place and see the tons and tons of containers
being shipped off in multiple articulated lorries and all manner
of other trucks and trailers - every day! (If you view the shark
video - you can see the contents of the massive plastic container
(just one of them) which it is sat on top of. FULL - packed FULL
of scallops! Look at the size of that (one) lorry - FULL of
(different) containers.) And this is just one small place, on one
piece of the coast, of one little country! How on earth mankind
imagines that nature can cope with such continuous plunder is
beyond me. It's obvious common sense. It IS NOT sustainable. All
systems on this planet are linked in ways we have yet to fully
comprehend. If you break down the ocean food-chain like that,
it's liable to spell disaster for quite a few species - mankind
being only one of them (the most deserving?). Blah, blah, blah,
rant, rant. :o(. . . popped in the local store on the way home
for tobacco and a can of liquid brass cleaner. . . stopped by
Mum's on the way back to let her have a look at the candle
sticks. She agreed they WERE rather nice. . PCd just a bit of
this. Had a trawl through my music trying to find a piece for the
shark images, but I found it so sad seeing the thing end up like
that, I just couldn't find a single thing which seemed to fit the
mood for me. Actually made me start feeling pretty down and I
eventually just had to give up and turn the PC off for a bit! . .
Mum popped in to see the latest videos etc. When she left there
was the usual argument when she insisted on leaving me a £20
note to pay for the candle sticks, plus!!!! . . messed around for
quite a while having a go at cleaning up the more ornate candle
stick, with the brass-cleaner, a fine wire brush, an old tooth
brush and dusters. Hard work getting all the old gunge out of the
ornate carving but made 'some' progess - until that is the old
rusty metal threaded stud that screwed the top to the base,
suddenly decided time was up and actually quite literally turned
to the consistancy of cheese and just disintegrated. DAMN! :o(
Somehow managed to gouge out the rest of the rust, and botched it
back together with an old bolt. Not good but good enough as a
temporary measure (really needs a new thread cut into both
parts). It's useable anyway. . ate Mum donated ham rolls with
crisps . . napped the rest of the afternoon away until the alarm
at 7pm . . walked . .cut my hair . . TVd . . touched base with BB
until early. .I knew I shouldn't have, but before going to bed I
ended up having another go at putting some music to the shark.
Somehow stumbled into a bit of Hendrix, and in the abscence of
anything more 'fitting' (?!), given the title ("Bleeding
Heart - Blues in C (sea?) Sharp"), felt obliged to use that.
:o| Couldn't help myself, despite being almost asleep at the
desk, and ended up working on it until it was all pretty much
there except for the titles screen, before finally to bed after
4am! s20 - Woken by Sally climbing onto the bed around 7:30am . .watched yesterday's video again and figured it'd be fun to e-mail the link to the tug company. lol That'd be weird wouldn't it? Working in an office somewhere and suddenly being able to see what one of your ships was up to yesterday? 'I' think that'd be so neat! lol . . .walked. Misty - and I feel utterly exhausted and headachey and blah! The floating crane had been moved and was berthed against the outer harbour side of the fish quay. If not for my ever diminishing camcorder battery-charge-holding ability, I guess I could have hung around and got that too yesterday. Shame. THAT would have made a good timelapse. . PCd (sucking annadin tablet) and somehow managed a little 'snip' out of the couple of minutes of filming I did do this morning on the way back home. YouTube link . . Mum called to remind me about 'escorting' her later. First I need food and sleep. . . drank most of a mug of red wine and cooked and ate four sausages, two burgers and chips . . napped until woken by the alarm at 6pm . . escorted Mum down to the theatre for her to meet up with Auntie B to watch the show . . back to trim my beard and then PC (silly little pigeons washing video YouTube link .) until shortly before 10pm, when it was time to head back down to escort her back. . PCd more. . ate pork pie, crisps and a banana followed by chocolate covered raisins . .TVd briefly before bed around 1:30am.
19 - Up around 7:30am . . walked. The weather and sea seemed pretty calm, although the breeze WAS kind of easterly and blowing directly into the far side of the breakwater. In the distance by the end of the breakwater, every time a ship came in or out of the outer harbour, it was pretty clear they were getting a bit of a rough ride as they had to go side-on to the rolling waves. Oooh - now that's a camcorder opprtunity if I get out to the end of the breakwater. . Carried on down the harbour heading for the breakwater. Sally seemed to be in a weird mood having a 'bit of a go' at a couple of passing dogs (who duly had a go back)!? Tied her to a bench at one point while I was messing with filming the seagull eating the big fish (YouTube link ). Little did I know the bench wasn't bolted down. She lunged toward a passing dog and the bench went with her heading for the harbour's edge!!! Embarassing and actually quite dangerous. Incredible to me, that bench is still there, all loose like that just feet from the water. Imagine how long that would have lasted like that back in Bristol, before it was thrown in or stolen for someones garden or drug/drinking den. . .
a couple of what I assume were surveyors,
were walking up and down the waterside path next to the fish quay
measuring, noting and filming the cliff face!? I 'think' I
overheard mention of railings or some such. I wonder if they are
going to be closing that path when all the fish quay building
work gets started in earnest? That'll be a hassle for everyone if
they do. Part of their measuring equipment was one of those
wheeled devices used to measure distance. There ya go. That's
what I had in mind for the camera. THAT's what I need!!! Imagine
being able to mount the camcorder on something like that, either
facing forwards or side on and then doing some filming. That
would take away all that up and down shakiness of trying to walk
with the camera. That silly 'walking the length of the
breakwater' video I did - imagine that done all nice and smooth,
with a good bit of zoom, so the two thirds of the screen that was
wasted with empty sea and sky, would be full of the view of the
distant boats and shoreline. THAT is what I had in my mind all
along, NOT the jerky silliness I ended up with. . .starting the
walk out along the breakwater, I spotted something weird out to
sea in the distance.What the ****?!! Quickly set the camera down
on the tripod and zoomed in to discover what to me was a really
bizarre sight. A tug towing a crane! Messed around filming for
ages before finally realising the strange procession was actually
making for the harbour! A guy with a 'professional looking'
stills camera passed me by at one point, as he quickly headed for
the end of the breakwater for the photo opportunity. Damn - why
did I waste so much time (and camcorder battery charge) filming a
seagull eating a fish!! lol . eventually picked the tripod up and
hurried off along the breakwater. . 
despite
actually running part of the way, it soon became clear I just
wasn't going to make it to the end of the breakwater in time to
set up and get the shots. Ended up just stopping where I was and
set the camera down on the tripod in a desperate attempt to just
get whatever I could from where I was. As it turned out, this was
no particularly bad thing. I think it gave a rather interesting
'out of the ordinary' point of view, of the tug and crane heaving
around on the waves, as they passed behind the lighthouse. :o)
Somewhere along the line I did move up a bit further and got some
of the scene as the crane was pulled in alongside the
mooring/remains of the 'Longbow' facility near the end of the
breakwater. As has become usual of late, all the potential
'pleasure' of doing the actual filming was spoiled, by constantly
worrying about the state of the low battery and trying every
trick in the book to make it last as long as possible! :o( With
it very near completely dead (I try to abide by that rule of,
'always leave a little bit left just in case something crops up'
- although my camera with its videoing ability takes a bit of the
pressure off of that) I eventually headed home, very chuffed to
have been in the right place (well, almost) at the right time to
get those unique shots . .on the walk back home, all of a sudden
my tripod disappeared off my back and crashed to the pavement,
luckily without too much damage! Damn. The old wide, heavy duty
woven fabric strap I once found which I've been using to carry it
around across my back, has worn away and snapped in two! I'm
gonna have to try and make up a new one out of something (dunno
what?). It's far too heavy to just 'carry' around. . PCd for
hours - again! . Over eight minutes long!!! An epic - and I like
this one!!! YouTube
link That's probably around
four or five I've done now, which I think are really pretty
interesting, with either 'historical' value or some sort of
social commentary. . . walked. . ate ham, mayo, onion, tomato and
lettuce sandwiches with crisps followed by chocolate covered
raisins . . watched the latest videos on the TV . . .PCd some
more (YouTube
link ) and then
touched base with BB, until getting on for 3am before bed. 18 - Up around 7:15am . .
walked. Pretty cold and grey. Makes a change
for the rest of the country to be getting better weather than
down here!! Hmmmph. . . pottered around and did laundry chores -
and yes, I DID make a video out of it! lololol YouTube
link What a nutcase - but you
don't know the half of it! I spent a fair proportion of the
afternoon experimenting with an idea for another one. I
cellotaped a miniature wireless camera to the front of my upright
vacuum cleaner before doing some vacuuming!! lolololololol Rest
assured in the knowledge, the resultant video will NOT lend
itself to any use! . . SH called in response to my desperate
e-mail this morning, after failing to get hold of him on the
phone for the last week or more. If he can drop off the tobacco
he has for me, at PS place before he next comes down, that'll be
a real neat way out of the difficulty for me with getting hold of
the stuff. .touched base with PS to ok it and tie things up . .
walked. . ate ham, mayo, onion, tomato and lettuce sandwiches
with crisps followed by chocolate and biscuits . . BB called . .
TVd until bed at 11:30pm.17 - Up around 8:30am . . walked in the sunny spells and cold breeze. Ended up having another go at walking the breakwater with the camera - at right angles this time. I've come to the conclusion, it just isn't going to work as I had in mind - and frankly, it's a rather boring thing to do to be honest, despite the obvious scenery. Just one of those things that everyone HAS to do when they come down here I guess - because it's there. I reckon the only way of doing it justice, would be to have the camera mounted on some old bike wheel or some such - but imagine the looks I'd get THEN, never mind already! . . back home and PCd the footage, and uploaded it anyway YouTube link. . touched base with BB briefly . .FINALLY called a halt to the silly, yucky little video project I've been working on for the last several weeks and uploaded that one too. I guess I'll put the link here, but would suggest no one look at it, cause it ain't nice (and kinda sums up how I feel about 'that' sort of awful 'music'!!! (YouTube link) Having said all that, it really wouldn't suprise me one little bit if it ended up getting more hits than any other I've done, such seems the way of people! :o( Glad to have that chore over with every time I walk Sally. lol Actually - on that 'number of hits' subject, as I understand it, the hits that show up on YouTube are NOT an accurate record of all the hits the videos 'may' be getting. I gather other sites (like Google Video for example) list YouTube videos and enable you to view them there, presumably without showing as a hit on Youtube. So - who knows how many views in total they may have had. .walked and because it was all but empty, went into the 'local' for a half pint of lager - "the cheapest you've got please"! . . ate Mum donated ham rolls, crisps and some chocolate. . . touched base with BB . . TVd until bed around 11:30pm. d
16 - Woken in the night by Sally climbing on the bed, and then again and up at 7:15am! . .walked and carried on around the harbour up to the breakwater with the cameras, but it was blowing a nasty cold wind and somehow nothing anywhere seemed worth filming. . one of the neighbours (the policeman) called at the door to return the DVD I'd thrust into his hands in the street one day. Good grief - turns out he used to live in my house before the previous people! What a small world . . .Mum called in and watched the latest few videos . . ate Mum donated ham rolls and crisps . . napped until gone 6pm. . felt increasingly down. So down, I couldn't even face venturing out into the seemingly increasingly biting cold, and Sally had to make do with just peeing in the garden again. . . TVd the entire evening away, motionless, wrapped in layers trying to feel warm. Damn this house is cold and draughty. .breifly touched base with BB but SO didn't want to have to be making conversation and roughly ended the call . . ate a tin of stewed steak with bread and butter after midnight . . to bed around 2am.s
15 - Up around 9am! . . walked in the ral cold breeze . . gave Sally another bone in the back garden and sat out in the cold in a hint of drizzle and filmed her eating it! . . PCd and had a go at just doing my usual (with maybe more frequent saving of the current video project) pretending there is nothing wrong with it. 'So far', so good (although I'm 'fairly' sure that compiling the final high quality MPEG file, is going to see the software crashing immediately after!?????). . . ate ham sandwiches with crisps mid afternoon . . . napped just a little until woken around 5pm by PS leaving an ansaphone message . . PCd and succeeded in finishing off (as much as I could be bothered) the 'Bone' video YouTube link, without any particularly significant computer problems it would appear (although I was being a little bit careful). . walked late . . TVd and watched the latest few videos on the TV screen. . touched base with BB . . ate chocolate log and bowls of cornflakes . . TVd until bed around 2am. s
14 - Up around 7:30am . . walked. Grey and overcast and feels damn cold again all of a sudden . . PCd only to discover I really DO have an unidentified system problem of some sort!! At the very least, the video-maker software keeps crashing. :o( . . . PCd all day going round and round trying everything I could think of, removing software/drivers, re-installing, defragging, etc, etc, etc, but to no avail. Something has gone horribly wrong somewhere and I haven't a clue where. That'll be the end of my video making for the time being then. :o( Bugger. In fact - I've a horrible feeling, that's gonna be the end of actually just 'using' the PC for a while, while I tear it apart and try to rebuild/reinstal everything from scratch! So - how do I manage it THIS time without losing a bunch of data (videos?)???!!!!!! Really pi**ed off! :o( . . . re-partioned and formatted the disk from next doors old machine (without assimilating their music files, as I'd planned to. :o( ), intending to probably re-instal everything on that one! . .ate corned beef and mayo sandwiches with crisps, a banana and biscuits, while the disk formatted . .carried on PCing and with the case off, took the opportunity to unscrew the power supply to see if I could open it up and get to the bottom of why it makes SUCH a noise on startup from cold. Suprised to find that it wasn't readily possible to open the power supply case to get at the fan!!???? I thought(seem to remember from an old one) they just unscrewed and came apart? Not this one. I'd have had to 'unbend' the sheet steel to get into it!!!??? Oh well - so much for that then. I'll just have to live with it making that noise. :o( Copied over files and disconnected my 'precious' data drive - and then just before fitting the blank disk and having to go through the nightmare of reinstalling/registering everything, figured I'd have one last try at sorting the thing out, having come to the conclusion it was DEFINITELY something to do with the damn video card/drivers/setup, which I've NEVER got to work as 'properly' as I think it should. . . The irritating thing is, I'm not sure what I did differently this time round, but somehow the system seemed to settle down a bit, and I even successfully had the video card output displaying ok on the portable TV (and/or the camcorder as I'd been wanting - for doing the smooth fast forward thing)! The video creator software STILL crashes every time I attempt to manipulate the last few videos I've produced, so the jury is still out on what I do next. Suffice it to say, the machine (minus the case etc) is for the most part fully functioning again - so I think I'm gonna postpone any more radical solution until I've done a bit of filming of something or other and have attempted to create a video like normal. We'll see. Fingers crossed. . . walked. . TVd, definitely fed up with cameras and computers at the moment. . cooked (while drinking half a mug of red wine) and ate four sausages, two rashers of bacon and two eggs with four bread and butter . . BB called . . TVd/PCd until bed around 2am.
13 - Up around 7am . . walked in the beautiful weather and carried on down around the harbour and along a bit of the breakwater. Ended up sitting down on the ice cold concrete for ages, filming a fisherman busy at work 'de-netting' his catch. Looks as though my camcorder has suddenly started to feel the strain of all this filming! The sixty minute battery is giving little more than 30 minutes now on a full charge, which makes much of what I've been doing borderline impossible now! :o( Not sure what I'll end up doing about that. That same old dilema - the replacement batteries are SO expensive - and a good percentage of the cost of a whole new camera!! :o( . popped into the butchers in the high street on the way past and bought a couple of slices of beef for me, and scored some free bones for Sally. Bought a couple of loaves of bread and then eventually back home to PC the footage and ended up with the fisherman video - which I think is one of the few I've done that is pretty cool, although I have concerns about having filmed someone without their knowledge or concent! YouTube link. . . PCd . . ate beef sandwiches with crisps . .looked as though it was going to maybe be a bit of an interesting colourful sunset, so I couldn't resist the temptation to head back out with Sally, cameras and tripod, and walk across town and up onto the hill overlooking everything. Ever since I discovered that hill and its view, I've wanted to do a video set to the 'Fool On The Hill' music. . sadly when I reached the hilltop, the view wasn't very good. Too misty to do it justice, and that weird low winter sun effect giving poor light. Should have waited for a fine summers day. Nevertheless, since I was up there, I thought I'd mess around and see what I could come up with. My usual problem of being unable to get a smooth pan from the camcorder on high zoom on the tripod. . eventually (trying to time it right, with very limited battery charge left) set the camcorder up on the tripod and left it running to get the 'sun setting behind the hill' sequence I wanted. Messed around at the same time with the other camera, and tried the 'spinning around facing the camera' effect I'd imagined may work. What I hadn't spotted until I was mid spin, was a couple of people walking their dogs, coming towards me! I felt SO silly. What on earth must that have looked like! lololol Turned out they were carrying some bundles of hay and were on their way to check on the horses in the field below me, and give them a snack. That meant, they actually had to walk across directly in front of the camcorder recording the sunset timelapse! Arrggghhh! Oh well - nothing I could do. As it turned out, the lay of the land meant they were not visible on the recording. Exchanged a word or two as they passed, just to explain what I was doing there and to alay any concerns they may have had about their horses. . eventually headed home in the twilight after sunset . . . PCd but BIG problems with the machine!!?????!!!! Keeps crashing! :o( Managed to knock up a silly video of me (and my shadow lol), fooling around on the hill nontheless. YouTube link. . . . played around in the kitchen with the camcorder, having a go at an idea I'd had for another 'interlude'. I 'cooked' an ice cube. . BB called in the middle of the melting. Sadly, the idea didn't quite work out right on film and wasn't worth all the time, effort and gas! . . TVd watching the latest videos on the TV. There is something wrong with that full TV quality version - at the end it lingers on a black screen for longer than it should? That isn't MY doing!!?? Oh dear - I can feel my 'manic mood' ebbing away by the minute!!. . . ate a tin of spaghetti bolognese, with a spoon, cold from the can. . TVd until bed around 1am.
12 - Eventually there was no escaping that I was absolutely too hungry to sleep (and cold as a result), so got up around 5am and ate Mr Kipling tarts and biscuits before returning to bed at 6am. Back up around 8:30am. . . walked. Had intended to wander around the harbour with the camcorder, but didn't even get that far before getting bogged down in trying to get some more footage of the fisheries patrol vessel in the outer harbour. Didn't get the footage I'd wanted (whatever it may be?) because I got all distracted filming a bunch of guys heading out into the bay in a 'rowing boat'. Is that what they call a 'gig'? Those are TOUGH men! Conjoured up images for me, of what it must have been like for the fishermen and lifeboatmen, years ago! Imagine trying that in rough weather! Incredible! . . PCd . . briefly popped up the post office . . PCd the rest of the day away again and knocked off the rowers 'Adios' videoYouTube link. . . ate a tin of soup and a bunch of bread crusts . . napped until woken by Sally after 6:30pm. Feel tired. REAL tired! Oh so, SO tired. :o( Sorry Sally - no walk tonight (again!). . PCd a bit of this . . TVd . . BB called . . ate four defrosted sausage rolls with a little chopped salad and some chocolate log . . TVd until bed around 1am. s
11 - Up just before 8am. .usual breakfast of cigs and coffee at the PC. The sun was rising in and out through a strange blanket of mist, which demanded I set up the camcorder, recording through the window for almost an hour. . walked, actually leaving the camcorder/PC running at home, attempting to capture the clearing of the mist from the distant church. Turned out to be a wasted effort because the mist hung around for hours. . . PCd and had a go at sorting out my 'dual monitor' video card, in an attempt to be able to have a A/V 'video-out' on my main PC (for doing the fast forward sequences. It's much 'smoother' and more flexible using the DVD player software to do the fast forward and reverse - and I laboriously record the output back to the camcorder - and then that back to the PC!! As it stands, I have to do all that on the living room PC because I haven't been able to sort out the second video output on my main PC!!) Went round and roun in circles as always and got absolutely nowhere. In fact, I screwed things up a bit - and then found I had absolutely zero 'restore points' on the system (????) despite it being turned on, so I couldn't roll back and am stuck with it as it is, worse than if I'd not attempted it!! Grrr :o( . . tried starting the car, but as I'd rather suspected would be the case, the battery was dead. Pulled the battery out, brought it into the kitchen and put it on rapid charge for a couple of hours while I PCd some more . . ate bacon and egg sandwiches . . refitted the car battery, left Sally at home and did a drive around down by the harbour, with the camcorder running on the dash mount. . stopped for gas on the way home (19.24ltrs@£20) and then set about PCing the video . .napped for an hour I think . . walked . . BB called . . .PCd on both PCs and managed to use some of the footage to knock up the 'Drive Thru' video. Satisfying - and I always have regarded 'that' music as driving music.YouTube link . .pushed on, burning the midnight oil yet again, searching my music collection (with the headphones on) attempting to find something appropriate to do with this morning's sunrise footage. Oh wow. Oh WOW - WHAT a beautiful 'simple' piece of music THAT is! Oh wow. Trawled through all the video, kinda starting at the end of the music and moving back, and managed to find a piece which really fitted remarkably well in it's little details. .something about that bit of music. Very powerful. Quite literally brought me to tears while I was working on the video, and still very nearly can if I'm unguarded (of course I have to play everything over and over and over, ad infinitum during the process!)YouTube link . . . eventually to bed after 3am. Dreadful dreadful couple of hours of nonstop tossing and turning and having to get back up more than once.
10 - Woken by Sally climbing on the bed around 8:15am . . PCd with coffee and cigarettes and actually built up the 'Pebbles On The Beach' YouTube playlist (not that I can imagine anyone actually sitting on line for an hour playing it through! lolol . . walked (eager to get some 'feedback'). Well - the verdict from the couple of dog walkers who'd seen the DVD, was, I think genuinely positive. One of them said he'd actually watched it three times. Well, I guess that (and the handful of comments on YouTube) was the 'validation' I needed? Simply having 'hits' on YouTube, doesn't mean the videos are any good - and at least two or three of those hits on average are ME, checking they are uploaded, checking they play, adding to the play list, etc, etc. . burned more DVDs and printed out more cover pages. Well - there goes pretty much the last of the printer ink already! :o( This all has actually cost me a pretty penny (although all the blank DVDs, and plastic pockets I've been putting them in, I've had hanging around for ages. I've even put some in the plastic cases of a box of CD-Rs I enherited with the house). Oh well - what price an inflated ego? lololol Actually, although it may not look it - it really isn't much about ego at all really. It's just that 'I' think there really IS something entertaining and interesting about what I'm 'coming up with'. Yes, yes - I suppose it should be I'm just doing it for my own satisfaction, - but seems to me, by it's very nature, what I'm doing is, for an audience of some sort. Without 'an audience', they don't exist. Hard to explain. . . finally got round to sorting out and sealing up the belated birthday card to DS, and rushed up the post office to get there before they closed for their lunch. They were already shut! Huh? Checked my watch. That can't be right? But it WAS right. They were closed because it was Sunday, and they are of course always closed all day Sunday!!!! Sunday! I had absolutely NO idea whatsoever, what day of the week it was!!! I don't recall that sort of thing ever happening with me before!!?? I recount this to illustrate how I really am totally absorbed in doing this video stuff, and actually in a bit of a state with it all! . . .ate Mum donated ham rolls with crisps . . napped . . . walked . . BB called . . .at some point during the day just 'playing' (can't recall when - it's a blurr), I managed to make some silly use of the seal footage from yesterday. YouTube link . .PCd until early? (Most likely!!)
9 - Up just before 8am. Wiped down the condensation from all the windows but strangely it didn't seem to make any difference to being able to see out? Huh?!! Wow - an absolute 'pea souper' - thick fog! . .walked with a bunch of DVDs in my pocket, and carried on down town (debating as to whether or not I dare actually hand them out to people!). Along the way on the sea wall of the outer harbour, I was confronted by a rather bizarre sight. Two fully equipped frogmen were sat on one of the seats, like some old couple just enjoying the view!?
As I approached, desperately wrestling my
camera out of my pocket, one of them stood up, took a couple of
paces forward and then happily just walked straight off the path,
and dropped the several feet into the freezing water (which 'I'
would have thought was a bit shallow with hidden rocks for such a
stunt, despite the tide being fairly in - and I thought they were
supposed to have a marker buoy to stop boats killing them?)! Even
Sally seemed a bit nonplused by this unusual event. It was so
unexpected, I didn't have the camcorder out or the stills camera
set to video, and I missed the shot!!
Damn, damn,
DAMN! Tried to get the shot as his partner followed suit, but I
missed that one too! There is, so it transpires, a 'slight' (or
longer than slight!) delay on a digital camera between pressing
the button and having it actually take the shot - and when
someone is moving so quickly, it can really make a difference to
getting the shot or not. All I got were the splashes, twice - the
divers invisible under them. :o( Shame. That would have been a
really cool video sequence. Oh well. Can't catch everything -
although I HAVE got the bug where I want to!!! :o/ . .the harbour
had a whole different, quiet, atmospheric feel to it in the fog.
Took a bunch of pictures of course. . headed for the two cafes in
the high street intending to hand the pancake race participants a
DVD each. Along the way a woman gave me a good long look making
me feel all uncomfortable. lol Turned out to be the counscellor
I'd seen for several sessions last year. Exchanged a few words
and - yes - I'm afraid the poor woman was forced to take a copy
of the DVD with her! lololol What on earth she'll make of that
(from a psychology point of view) I can only imagine. lololol . .
scared and confused the cafe staff by dropping off the DVDs
before heading back the way I'd come. 
Managed a
couple of seconds (all that is EVER acheivable) of totally
unuseable shakey video of a seal by the fish dock again. HUGE
great thing it was, manhandling a fish it was gnawing on with
great big flippers! At least one of the blurred frames captured,
conveys something of the scene. Amazing. :o) . . passing back
through BGdns, a couple of the usual unsuspecting dog walkers
were assembled, and they were forced to take copies of my DVD to
try in their players. lol (Actually, they genuinely appeared to
be interested in what I've been up to thankfully.) . . back home
to PC and try burning another copy of the disk for Mums machine,
this time on a DVD+R instead of a -R, just in case that makes any
difference. Who knows?!!? . . Mum called in as usual and had her
copy of the DVD swapped . . ate Mum donated ham rolls with crisps
. . fitfully napped the rest of the afternoon away until around
6pm . . walked. Saw a couple of cops patrolling BGdns by
torchlight (actually looking in the gun emplacements where the
kids have their parties) which was unusual and welcome. Is it
half term? Is that why they are stepping things up? A seasonal
thing? . . sat in the cold of the front garden with a coffee
before heading in to PC this and try and catch up on the last
week or so. . Mum called to touch base and report the DVD she now
has had played perfectly all the way through. :o) . .PCd more and
discovered it IS possible to set up a play list on YouTube, to
reflect the sequence of the complete video set on the DVD. .
returned BBs call . . ate a couple of kipling apple tarts . . to
bed around 1:30am or later, to only toss and turn and fitfully
sleep most of the night!8 - Up around 7:45am. . .walked and spent a while down on the beach, taking silly photos of a DVD stuck in amongst the pebbles, to use as the menu page image on the DVD! I'm gonna call it 'Pebbles On The Beach' (Volume 1.). To me - each of those little videos IS like a pebble on the beach kinda. Appropriate metaphor I think. . .straight back home to PC. Spent hours 'tweaking' the final rendition of the videos. Time consuming but I was determined to make of it the best I could - like amending a couple of the 'stills' I'd used in the churchyard monument video, which I'd got the size of wrong, and which didn't fully fit the screen by a couple of pixels - or trimming off half a second here, quarter of a second there from various videos - or adding a bit of text here and there to the 'titles' screens on a couple, etc, etc, etc. I don't think I AM a perfectionist, but I DO expect to get near to the best that is reasonably possible if I can, particularly if I'm gonna have 'the neck' to dish them out and expect people to watch them. . finally called it quits (although really should have re-worked several of them in an attempt to figure out why the MP4 videos - like the 'trees interlude' one - are so jerky when included in the projects) and burned a copy of the completed DVD-set to the hard disk. . .ate corned beef, mayo, cheese, onion, lettuce and tomato sandwiches with crisps while the PC worked at the burn. A LONG process. . fought off the need to sleep, and with the burn completed, started actually burning some DVDs. . .
finally put in the time to produce a
printable copy of the main menu page as a DVD front 'cover' type
of thing, and spent even longer, manually cut and pasting and
reducing in size, the video thumbnail images to simply act as a
miniature numbered list for the back cover. Burned and printed
several, and put them into the cheap flexible plastic CD 'Paxx'
folders I have a packet of laying around (£2 for 25, back in
Bristol ages ago). . . walked and dropped one off at Mums . .PS
called to touch base and suggest a visit in a couple of weeks . .
produced more discs . .Mum called to say the last two clips
didn't run properly on her DVD player! The video/music had kept
stopping/breaking up etc. What really got to me was, at one point
she said she'd assumed I'd just made them like that so they'd fit
in with the music!!!!!!!! WHAT?!! For my out of control ego and
in my current 'questionable mental state', for ME, that was like
saying the whole thing was just a crappy amateur job!! Really got
to me and made me feel as though I've completely lost the plot,
wasted my time and it all really is a load of totally amateur
crap, akin to the iconic sad git forcing people to watch his
boring holiday snaps. :o( Immediately turned the PC off in
disgust. . . TVd . . BB called. Attempted to explain to her (with
difficulty) some of what I was feeling. She neatly summed up what
I seem to be requiring. 'Validation'. Yep - that's it. I need
someone to validate that what I'm doing DOES have at least 'some'
intrinsic 'value', just so I know I haven't completely lost my
mind! (It is a source of some considerable confusion to me, that
not a single word of comment has been made by anyone about any of
the videos on YouTube! Other peoples seem to get commented on -
but none of mine. Hell - I was 'at least' FULLY expecting a load
of abuse from someone somewhere. I haven't even had that!???) . .
ate cornflakes . . TVd until early before bed. 7 -
Woken by Sally around 8:30am . . walked under
the grey sky. Actually felt a bit melancholic and burned out! . .
made the incense burner interlude video (which actually didn't
really work I thought), complete with a bunch more cigarettes
wasted. Didn't really mind wasting those cigarettes because, I
only smoke roll ups - and it seems a poetic/fitting use for them,
because they were some of the several I've found in BGdns after
the kids parties. lol At least doing it kinda 'got me going' on
it all again a bit . . . ate corned beef, mayo, onion lettuce
tomato sandwiches with crisps and then chocolate peanuts . .
napped until woken by PS leaving an ansaphone message, which as
with EVERYTHING else at the moment, is going unnattended to!!????
I'm on a mission!!!! . . PCd and ended up doing 'the end' video
to act as the 'bookend' ending to the full DVD I intend to make .
. time to start thinking about winding it all up and see if it
fits on a DVD . .spent quite a while figuring out a play order
for the full 1 hour DVD. No one would EVER imagine how much
effort and thought and work I've put into this!!!! It's become
VERY important to me!!!????? The 'oiled bird' video which is a
real downer, dictates a careful sequence to bring the mood back
up I think. It isn't about the individual videos any more - it's
about an hour long piece of 'entertainment', which either seems
to 'flow' effortlessly and succeeds - or doesn't and is an abject
failure! . poor Sally - sorry mate, you're gonna have to use the
garden tonight - I haven't the energy to walk! . .transferred all
the files in the correct order to the PC in the living room and
then settled down with cigarettes, coffee, popcorn, and with the
stopwatch going on my watch, and watched the whole lot through -
twice! VERY close to exactly an hour. Damn I think that works. I
REALLY do. :o) . . .BB called and had to endure me talking about
nothing but, my current 'project' obsession. I REALLY AM worried
about my current mental state!!!!! Difficult to explain. Even
insane feelings of being 'the instrument of something outside of
myself' throughout much of this!! The way some of it has just
come to be and fallen oh SO neatly into place, it's astonishing.
I am fearfull I am completely losing my rational judgement. Feel
as though I am racing against time again. Racing to get it done
before it's over and I am back down to earth and my more usual
'dark mood'. Definitely a 'manic phase' I'm in. Haven't had
enough of those in my life to learn how to manage them!! I'm
surfing the wave. All very hard to verbalise here . . . to bed at
2am. s6 - Woken around 7:15am by the damn freezer part of the fridge making it's noise again. Sally had retreated up into the bedroom with me to try to escape it. I wonder if it is being caused by a build up of ice maybe?. .sunrise in a clear blue sky was around 7:45am I think. It's slowly getting earlier thank goodness. . walked in the sun and headed for the harbour, to have another go at a time lapse of the proper 'working' bit. Last time I tried, none of the boats moved! . this time was a little more successful. :o) Found 5p. . PCd YouTube link. . right then - I need food and sleep! . . ate a pastie and crisps and then some chocolate covered peanuts . . napped (eventually! My mind racing thinking about videos etc!) until around 6:15pm . . walked . . PCd, listening to music and 'plotting' possibly more videos to fit chosen tracks!! . . ended up cleaning the tap end of the bath (first time since I've been here prety much!) and filmed the filling and emptying of the bath for an interlude speeded up video. lolol That'll have put my water bill up for nothing! . . ate sausages in baked beans, grated cheese and three pieces of bread and butter before to bed around 3am!
5 - Up around 8:30am feeling rather the worse for wear. I've really been overdoing this PCing/video thing haven't I. Walked real late and after another abortive attempt at filming the actually rather fat looking seal pair, along the outer harbourside, headed into town to check out the sponsored pancake race, it being 'Shrove Tuesday' and all. I didn't know what to expect. I HAD expected children. There were none! lolol
. I'd intended to head for the market tables
down in town anyway, so I wandered around a bit beforehand, and
ended up walking around the harbour and doing a bit of
video/photoing along the way. Those damned pigeons (which ARE
gonna be videod at some point) must be some of THE most
photographed pigeons in the south west! Nevertheless, with both
'parking places' occupied, I HAD to take a few snaps. lol :o) . .
went into the market and succeeded in buying a four pack of the
2700mAh Ni-MH batteries I'd seen in there before for only £6,
which seemed like a good deal. They'll hopefully last even
longer, in my oft-used camera, between charges. . 
at one of the other tables was a second-hand,
heavy brass ashtray, the like of which I've never seen before.
The guy suggested £5 - I offered £4 and now I am the proud
owner of the ashtray! Like I need more brass stuff, and can
afford to throw money away like that! NOT! - but it is SO unusual
(7" diameter - 'handle' end to handle end) and heavy and
solid (actually the top part, the inner 'star' and the handles
all can come off) - and will now represent in my brass
collection, my (recently rather 'manic'!?) times 'down by the
sea'. :o) . . PCd the day away again. (