<<Return to My Diary
March
31 - Woken by Sally around 8:45am. . walked in the
sun. First day of feeling positively summery. Carried on down to
the harbour. Nothing caught my eye to video, however I did see
the fisherman I've filmed in the past working on his boat
('Thankful') moored in the harbour. That was one of those I've
done which I think is pretty cool, and I'd wanted to be able to
let him see 'what I'd done with him' ever since I did it (out of
'courtesy'?). I called out to him, he clambered over all the
boats to the harbourside and I was able to explain about my
'hobby' and how he was on one of them. He didn't seem to mind the
idea and I left him with a full set of the DVDs. :o) . . checked
out the charity shops and scored four pairs of thick black combat
socks (like I live in) for just 50p each! Excellent. Not so
excellent is the cheap training shoes I've hardly worn have
already developed a split! . . 
sat in the sun
in the garden for a bit. Good grief - once again something large
has been digging in the garden border, right next to the fence
behind the seat under the pergola. Given the whole garden to
choose from, it seems really weird,THAT particular spot is so
attractive. The last time that happened, I'd cleared up the mess
then put down three bricks on top of the earth to stop it
happening again. Those bricks had been just tossed out of the way
as though they weren't there, and all the earth dug out and piled
up on the patio slabs again!! That's just GOT to be a badger - to
be able to move so much, so easily. Amazing. First off, where on
earth can a badger live around here. Secondly, how the hell does
it squeeze through into my garden? SUCH a shame I'll probably
never get to see it. Crossed my mind to attempt the long process
of encouraging them by leaving out peanuts and the like, but what
with Sally and all (who would eat the peanuts - and the badger
given the chance!), it really would be SUCH a time consuming and
difficult business. Shovelled and swept all the earth back into
the large hole and then dumped a couple of breeze blocks on top.
Lets see it move those! . . been putting it off for the best part
of a year now, but with it really threatening to all collapse in
on me and take the rest of the fence and trellis with it, I
figured I HAD to attend to the rotted, broken fence post in the
back garden. (The neighbour had also courteously warned me there
may be a little noise some time this week, because it was his
daughters 18th and she was going to be having some friends around
for a bit of a party. If that spilled over into the garden (I
dont think it will - they don't seem to be the type to have a
raucous crowd), that leaning fence would be a real safety issue
and almost definitely end up collapsed by someone.) . 
I've no real experience of dealing with those
'metal spike' type fence post footings, which are driven into the
ground and then have the post just rammed into the top a few
inches. I've never liked them. Don't think they are ever sturdy
enough (and you never know what you may be driving it through
underground!). Sadly, that is how this whole garden fence has
been constructed - and then building blocks were cemented in
around the spikes! It was my hope that I could somehow prise off
and disconnect the fence timbers from the rotted post and those
either side - then dig out the rotting timber from the spike, and
just insert a new post in its place and put everything back as it
was. That way I wouldn't have to disturb the dwarf-building-block
wall or concrete paths etc, etc. Measured up (no idea how much of
that post is down IN the spike!) then left Sally at home and
walked to the builders merchant and bought a pre-treated 75mm x
75mm x 1.8m fence post for £4.24 and walked it back home. .
managed to prop up the trellis and sawn-off rotted post enough to
temporarily support the near fence timbers, more or less in place
as a whole, without having to take them all down one by one -
which is what I DID have to do with the upper lengths! . digging
out the rotten timber from the spike with chisels and the
electric drill turned out to be a particularly awkward,
laborious, time consuming affair! Plenty of blood sweat and
swearing. Got there in the end. Cut the new post to length and
then used my little lump hammer (heaviest one I possess. Really
needed a sledge hammer) to eventually drive it down into the
spike. Yayy. Seems to have worked out 'ok-ish'. . took hours and
hours to pre-drill and screw all those seperate lengths of rotted
timbers back to the posts (some difficulty finding enough solid
wood left, to actually screw through on several of them!). That
whole (weird) fence really could do with replacing (or at the
very least painting with something) - but that is the last thing
I'm gonna spend all my time and money doing! It'll just have to
last as long as it can and gently carry on rotting away for the
forseeable future. Luckily when next door arrived home from work,
he produced a bit of rotting scrap timber from behind his shed,
and I was able to use that to replace the two totally rotted-out
and useless mid section support pieces. After having spent a good
seven hours battling away with it all, with the main lengths back
in place and as secure as they can be, I'd had enough - despite
needing to attend to a few other areas and needing to
rebuild/reaffix all the trellis! There WILL have to be a 'day
two'! Uggh! . . breifly sat in the garden to recover with a
coffee and cigarette as the daylight faded and then walked a bit
late. Incredibly good visibility tonight. Should of videoed the
bay lights on such a night . . hadn't eaten all day! Ate chicken
and stuffing slice rolls and a pork pie with pickled onions and
crisps . . touched base with BB . . TVd until exhausted to bed by
11pm.
30 - Woken
by Sally earlier, snoozed on then finally up around 7:45am when
Sally passed wind and then made a big clattering noise as she
kinda ran away from it! lol Poor dog - feeling the pressure of
her decision never to poop in the garden. . well - the storm has
passed. Sunny spells. . walked . . pottered around, cleaned more
brass and cleared up a little. . cooked and ate sausage and
microwave-melted cheese and onion sandwiches . . napped. .
walked. . balanced my accounts and finally cleared the big pile
of paperwork I've been putting off and putting off. . touched
base with BB . . PCd/TVd until early.
29 - Up
late, not long before 9am! . . walked and got caught out in the
wind and rain without a coat. .another cold, damp day of waiting
for my clothes to dry out on me. . PCd this as the weather got
worse and worse . . Mum popped down (despite the weather) bearing
food donations, for chats and coffee . . drank a tea cup of red
wine and then ate Mum donated ham rolls, crisps and chocolate. .
napped until the alarm at 6:30pm. Strong winds and heavy rain
were still battering the house, so Sally had to make do with the
garden again this evening. (Nice to see a couple of frogs out
there) . . TVd the evening away and actually ended up messing
around for hours, cleaning and re-arranging some of the brass
ornaments in the living room. Haven't cleaned some of that stuff
for years! Even the fire grate surround I inherited with the
house has come up pretty well, although that needs more work.
Sure getting through that little tin of Brasso pretty quick . .
touched base with BB . . ate a whole box of Mum donated Mr
Kipling almond slices and then some chicken and stuffing slice
sandwiches . . TVd until bed around 2am (or was that 3am? Not
sure - the clocks changed an hour forward to BST tonight). sd
28 - Up
around 7:45am. .still really down in mood. No particular reason
why, I can think of. Wasn't particularly helped by a bunch of
small things which all seemed to mount up on me this morning to
make me feel worse. .slow getting going with wind and rain
lashing outside. Eventually walked in full rubber gear, although
by the time I reached BGdns the rain had largely stopped, so I
got mostly wet from overheating! . one of the dog walkers I'd
recently let have a copy of my DVDs to view, was there for our
first conversation since he'd had them. All he had to remark
upon, at some length, was the quality of the filming and the
dropped frames/'jitters'! Fair comment, but that seemed to me
like missing the point rather (particularly since he'd just
dipped in and out and hadn't actually watched them through)! Oh
well. :o( .
-//unfinished//- reactions etc. I've
actually had someone refuse to have it to look at. 'Too busy' to
watch it seems pretty common. I'm probably gonna end up with
people running away when they see me coming. (may have already?)
lol
. just leaving to head back home, I
passed another dog walker who let me know that one of the walkers
I've seen and chatted with most days this last year, with a real
characterful cute little spaniel type female dog (who grumpily
always let him know that is was time to go, when she'd had enough
of just sitting around waiting while he chatted), has just had to
have her put down! She was diabetic and had VERY suddenly taken a
downward turn. Apparantly he'd put in an appearance yesterday
morning 'as usual', presumably to let everyone know (because of
course suddenly he won't be going there every day now), but he'd
just been tearful and silent looking out across the bay before
soon having to leave. :o( Something to dwell on, on the long
boring walk back home. Really upset me. . On the way back I saw
and gave a copy of DVD volume 2 to the couple I occasionally talk
to (the ones who gave me the expensive bedside cabinet they were
getting rid of - who of course have been 'forced' to have Volume
1 already - although they seemed to genuinely like it, and have
apparantly forced members of their family to watch it when they
visited! lol). Ended up having a brief conversation which
unfortunately included them asking what it was I did now, in
terms of work etc. Not the best subject matter for when I'm in
such a bleak mood and just 'doing my act' and pretending I'm ok.
Ended up giving my usual difficult-in-brief explanation of
'depression', post office, retirement less-than-dole pension,
penniless, unemployable, Sally, etc, etc (actually didn't even
bother to mention all the Bristol yob stuff!). Impossible to
convey the complexities of it all in a brief one liner, as such
conversations warrant. Their response included "oh well. As
long as you're happy." My answer, which pretty much ended
the conversation, was a considered 'No. No, no.' . That all just
made me feel worse. :o( 'As long as you're happy'! If only. . .
aimlessly PCd, yet again avoiding having to face up to sorting
out my growing pile of finances/paperwork. Really all I wanted to
do was go back to bed and be warm and oblivious!! . . mum called
to let me know Sis1s party were on their way and to see if I
would be coming up to join them later. I felt so awfully low, I
just couldn't face the prospect and said no. . Mum called again
later to say she was putting together some food and did I want to
join them all. I initially said no, but felt obliged to make some
sort of appearance to not appear really rude, so eventually
called her back to say yes and then left Sally at home and walked
up for chats and ham roll, sausage roll, scone etc snacks.
Actually turned out to be fairly ok, but mostly because there
wasn't the usual pressure to HAVE to all go out and about. They
even humoured me by wanting to see a few bits of my DVDs. That
was actually interesting for me, because on Mums prompting, I was
encouraged to play the 'Titanic' video (YouTube
link). Gave me my
first opportunity, to actually see in peoples faces/responses how
that goes down when watched for the first time. Seems to work.
:o). . couldn't hold on any longer, said my goodbyes around 3pm,
and returned home for much needed sleep . . napped until the
alarm at 6pm . . couldn't muster the energy for the evening walk
again . .PCd, mostly looking at PC adverts and the like .
.touched base with BB . .ate some biscuits and ended up aimlessly
PCing more until deep into early before eventually to bed.
27 - Up
around 7:15am. .clear blue sky and sunny. So - how is 'my mood'
gonna be today? Unenthusiastic to start with I think. :o( . .
walked and carried on around the harbour and eventually out along
the breakwater as the clouds began to build. Breifly shopped a
little on the way home. . ate ham, mayo, lettuce and tomato
sandwiches with crisps a little earlier than usual . . napped
until around 5:30pm . . walked . . PCd the night away doing the
pilot boat video (YouTube
link) and then the crane
(again!) (YouTube
link) until gone 1am. Touched
base breifly with BB along the way . . ate ham sandwiches and TVd
before bed as another storm rolled in, the wind clattering my
letterbox!
26 - Woke
earlier, snoozed on then up around 7:15am. Wow - that's like a
full nights sleep for a change . .walked . . intended to get on
and sort out all my stack of bills and paperwork but found myself
in a pretty down mood (understatement!) and somehow ended up just
sitting around mostly in front of the TV for the entire day .
.Mum called at some point and let me know that Sis and all her
side of the family were intending to be down in this part of the
country (to visit) on Friday. . .eventually mustered the energy
to cook sausages, bacon, beans and chips and ate, followed by
some choclate raisins. .so much for the full nights sleep. Still
ended up having to lay down for a nap after eating . . woken by
the alarm at 7pm - and STILL feeling tired! Why oh why do I
ALWAYS feel SO tired!??. . walked . . TVd . . touched base with
BB . . ate biscuits, chocolate and a mum donated miniature
microwaved treacle pudding . . to bed at 2am.s
25 - Up
around 7:30am . .walked. Back home via town and a quick tour of a
couple of charity shops. Gave Mum a quick call on the mobile and
tipped her off about some shoes she may wish to investigate (a
certain type of interest, because of her bad feet). . Felt a bit
warmer and more 'spring' like than of late. Sat in the garden in
the sun for a bit enjoying the warm . . cut my hair and then
spent the day doing tidying up, vacuuming, laundry etc chores.
Sally has an upset stomach so I'm afraid her half finished bone
which has been laying out in the garden (and occasionally pecked
at by gulls) was confiscated and put in the bin. . Mum called
around my usual nap time to confirm she'd been to look at the
shoes but they weren't what she was after. A couple of
infuriating sales calls saw me decide to try to get through the
day without a nap and maybe get back to a more normal sleep
pattern. Haven't had any of those type of calls for a while, then
all of a sudden I get a couple in one day!? Also got some mail
for the previous occupants. I guess any mail re-direct they had,
has now run out. Hope it doesn't become a reular thing. Scribbled
return to sender on it and eventually just dropped it back in a
post box . . PCd briefly . .walked . . ate chicken and stuffing
role , mayo, and lettuce sandwiches with crisps, a banana and
chocolate. . TVd . .BB called briefly . .TVd almost falling
asleep on the sofa before having to have an early night. In bed
around 10:30pm!
24 - Up
around 8:30am . .walked and ended up doing the long walk through
the woods to the beaches etc. Actually not too bad weather wise.
Seemed to be a lot of people around walking and scooting about in
boats. Looked like the cross-bay ferries had started up for the
season too. 'Summer Theme Park, Devon' open for business! . .
dish washing chores . . drank a tea cup of red wine while cooking
sausages, bacon, potato, half a tin of baked beans and then ate
with four pieces of bread and butter . . napped until around
5:45pm . . TVd . . touched base with mum and BB . . TVd. . ate
chicken and stuffing sandwiches and some chocolate . . to bed
around 2am. ds
23 - Another
broken night of poor sleep then up around 8:15am. . .walked in
rubber gear but somehow managed to miss most of the rain . . PCd
and spent hours and hours messing around trying to print out a
photo, to put in the frame I'd scored in a charity shop for a
little over £1. Mum seemed so enamored with her 'daffodils and
Sally' mothers day card, it seemed pretty obvious she'd like a
proper picture done. What took most of the time was trying to
work out how to get an A4 size print to fit 'properly' in the
8"by 10" photo frame. Ended up experimenting with some
of the thick lining paper I'd used on the walls of the bedrooms,
using it to cut out and make up an inch-around border for the
photo print. Worked out pretty ok in the end. Still amazing to me
what that photo-quality printer can do. With that ability and the
number of photo frames tht are always cheaply available in the
charity shops, creating any sort of picture to put around the
place or hang on the wall is relatively easy at pretty minimal
cost. Shame I don't like pictures cluttering up the place.
.popped up Mums around 1:30pm and gave it to her, with forcible
instructions I would not be offended if she didn't want it
cluttering up the place. Seemed to be well received and took
pride of place on a unit in the corner of her room. :o) . . ate
ham rolls with crisps and chocolate . .napped . . .skipped the
walk . . PCd surfing looking at hard drives a bit before
experimenting a bit with the bundled DVD creator software that
came with my DVD drive. I've become increasingly disatisfied with
the software I've been using, because of its finished compiled
video quality. I've noticed it seems to drop frames every now and
then for no papparant reason and insert a jitter into the video!
My experiments suggest the alternative software I have is MUCH
better at producing the final high quality file, but is much more
difficult (actually pretty unuseable on my old machine) to use to
actually cut, edit and assemble the project. Shame. . BB called .
. pcd until early. . ate bowls of cornflakes before to bed around
3am.
22 - A
dreadful night (well - about three hours!) of broken sleep then
up around 6:30am! . .PCd over coffee and cigarettes and somehow
ended up having a look at the Breakwater Bistro webcam. Oooh -
that's a little rough. . . quickly walked and headed on out to
the breakwater to have a bit of a play with the camcorder in the
neat light of the sunny spells. Blowing a real gale from the
north and oh so bitterly cold. Oh my god was it cold! By the time
I'd messed around and walked on out to the pool, I couldn't feel
my fingers at all - apart from the pain! . .had to give up and
headed home, put the heating on AND the electric fan heater next
to the PC! Took ages to thaw out a bit - helped by doing a small
amount of laundry 'pre-wash', by hand in hot water! . . Mum
called in with yet more food donations for coffee and chats.
Incredibly (especially for down here) while she was here,
somewhere around 2pm there was the briefest of snow flurries from
a quickly passing cloud before the sun returned! . . ate a
pastie, lumps of cheese, pickled onions and crisps . . napped
until around 6:30pm . . walked . . PCd the rest of the night away
and knocked up a short weather video again. (YouTube
link) Keep an eye out for the
cormorant in the bottom right hand corner of the screen during
the second, five second cut, doing a 'crash dive'. I didn't even
see that until I was building the video. I just HAD to include
it. lol . (There's a limit to how many of these I intend to
bother with. All a bit 'samey'. I think I need some really,
REALLY bad weather now before I do another.) . .and the silly
Sally one. I just found it fascinating watching her fur blowin'
about. (YouTube
link) . . ate hot cross buns
with coffee around 2:30am and then got interested in a TV show
and didn't get to bed until after 3:30am!!
21 - Up
around 7:45am. I think I 'may' have been woken by the phone
ringing just once - or did I dream it!? . . .walked in the
freezing sunny spells and howling gale! I swear it was gusting
more than on the 10th! Amazing colours to the sea when the sun
came out, with white caps on all the waves. Sat in BGdns for
longer than usual just looking . . PCd working on the 'smoke on
the water' video. I can't believe that at the crucial moment of
the filming, I had a Sally hair stuck to my glove which got in
front of the lens!!! Grrrrr. . Mum called to touch base and then
called in, bearing food donations, some hot cross buns and a
rather neat ashtray she'd scored in a charity shop. Plain
circular white glass, but with a deep engraving of a german
shepherd on the underside. :o) . . coffee and chats until around
2pm! . . ate Mum donated ham rolls with crisps and some chocolate
. . napped until around 6:30pm . . . walked . . PCd for hours
more. .grabbed three buttered hot cross buns around midnight
while the PC was processing a video . . worked on and managed to
finish off both the nasty video of the seagulls (YouTube
link) and the rather
interesting 'smoke on the water' one (YouTube
link). Amazes me how laid back
those guys always seem to appear doing what they do. All in a
days work to them I guess. . . .
20 - Up
around 8am . . walked and headed for town intending to buy a
couple of new windscreen wipers. Distracted on the way by seeing
that divers were working with the crane, to remove the huge
ironwork of the old slipway by the fish dock. Couldn't help
myself pausing to do a bit of videoing before eventually heading
for the car parts shop. . Ouch. £5 per wiper blade!! That seems
like a lot to me. Probably the premium paid for using a small
local shop. :o( . . walked back via the harbour and did just a
little more videoing as I passed the (freshly painted) crane .
.with the easter bank holiday almost upon us, the place appears
to be gearing up for the summer. Everywhere seems to be opening
and coming to life, several coaches were parked up in the car
park and even the BGdns gun emplacements were being painted and
the hedges trimmed by what appeared to be a pretty motly crew of
so called 'volunteers' . . fitted the new windscreen wipers
without too much hassle. They work. . dug out the wind damaged
(in the storm of the 10th), leaning, half dead fir tree from the
front garden. Actually only took around half an hour to get it
out. Put the muddy root in an old dog-food sack and carried it
through the house and dumped it at the top of the back garden.
That's gonna be part of a trip to the tip some time. . ate ham
sandwiches, pickled onions, crisps, banana and chocolate . . PCd
a bit . . napped . . skipped the evening walk again. Just
couldn't face having to venture out in that freezing cold wind .
. PCd burning a few more DVDs . . BB called . . PCd listening to
music for a while. If it's possible to do anything with todays
video footage, I'm not sure I can find the right music for it.
The obvious really doesn't seem to quite fit. . knocked up the
little amusing 'Trust in Me' video by around 1:30am. (YouTube
link) . . TVd and ate a tin of
sausages in baked beans with grated cheese and bread and butter,
before finally to bed at getting on for 3am.
19 - Woke
before sunrise, snoozed on then up around 7:30am . .sunny but
rather cold. Walked and back through town. Scored a big bone
chunk for Sally from one of the butchers and a thermal hat for
£1:50. . mowed the lawns before giving Sally the bone out in the
back garden. The recent high winds have taken their toll on the
rotted/broken fence post half way up the garden. I'm gonna have
to start thinking seriously about trying to do all the
nightmarish work to replace it! :o( . . just couldn't seem to
'get going'. PCd a bit (unpleasant video - unpleasant music! Gave
up.) before ending up just sitting around feeling pretty down. .
cooked four sausages and chips for lunch while drinking a tea-cup
of red wine (stopping quite a bit in the middle of things to race
to point the camcorder out of the window. A fearless seagull was
'prowling around Sally hoping to have her bone! Amazing.) .
napped until around 5:45pm . . walked . . sat in front of the TV
all evening hardly moving. Touched base with BB briefly . .
TVd/PCd until bed around 3am. Well - while I was keeping busy
doing videos I didn't have to face up to it, but now I've stopped
I find I am very much in my usual 'this time of year' black mood.
:o( It's almost as though 'the spell' of the last few manic weeks
has suddenly been broken, and in the cold light of gloom, it all
seems so utterly pointless and pathetic. What WAS I thinking?
What must others think?!!!!! :o( sd
18 - Woken
by Sally around 8am. Sunny but a bit chilly in the wind . .
walked . . stopped off at Mums on the way back and swapped her
two hour DVDs for the twin-disc higher quality versions, with
less of the software-inserted jitters! . . .burned and printed
and then walked back up the post office to mail a couple of discs
to family and friends. Funny way to be spending all my money!! Oh
well - the cost of sharing a bit of - um, err, um - happiness?
Entertainment? Who can tell? I just figure if anyone watches the
thing - all the way through from end to end - I've kinda grabbed
their attention for and used up two hours of their life! That's
worth a bit ain't it? . . PCd yet more trying to tidy up some
loose ends and then actually PCd just a bit of this for the first
time in a long time. A bunch of unfinished entries to catch up on
- although it's all just turned into a nightmarish blurr of days
and days wrestling with the damn PCs and crashes and discs and
hardly any food or sleep and the like. . I'm also desperate for
more hard drive storage! Oh dear - I can feel an e-bay purchase
coming on again!!!. .ate ham sandwiches, crisps biscuits and
kipling tarts . . napped until just before the alarm at 7pm .
.TVd . . walked . .PCd . . touched base with BB . . TVd . . ate
chicken and stuffing sandwiches . . to bed by 2am.
17 - Up
around 7:45am only to find the PC still compiling!! Actually
finished just minutes later. A good seven hour process - and as
I'd feared, all to no avail! STILL the same dropped
frames/jitters effect on the finished videos. :o( What a bugger!
:o( . . walked . .decided there was nothing for it but to re-work
the whole DVD project, and split it into two, one-hour higher
quality discs. :o( Should have been easy enough but the PC and
the software had other ideas. Not only did I find one of the high
quality files I'd only yesterday compiled had mysteriously
disappeared, but then something somewhere became corrupt and the
machine kept crashing. Eventually thought I had it sorted and set
the three hour compile process going, on disc number two which
was the largest/longest play of the two, and touch and go it
would all fit on one DVD. About two hours into the compile and
'write to hard disk for later burning', the time elapsed bar
appeared to freeze. For goodness sake!!!! This is driving me
absolutely nuts. Everything I'm doing with these videos is
definitely on the absolute edge of what the software and more
particularly my machine can cope with! Agonised over it for at
least half an hour before finally deciding I had to - and pulled
the plug and had to start everything all over again. Think I did
that twice before having to rebuild almost the entire thing from
scratch before it finally looked as though it would work!! . .
ate ham rolls and crisps . . 
napped leaving the machine running again
until around 6pm . .skipped the evening walk again and watched
both discs through (YET again! God I'm sick of them!) with the
stopwatch going, to re-check all was well and to confirm the run
times for each. None of my player software seems capable of
giving an accurate reading by just having the disk in the
drive!?? This really has turned into SUCH a pain in the rear, I
can't see myself ever doing anything like it again! It's all cost
me quite a bit, physically, emotionally AND financially! I must
be utterly mad. .BB called only to have me all short tempered and
ranting . . printed covers (all but one of my first set of ink
cartridges had to be replaced!) and burned discs all night! . .
ate bowls of cornflakes . . uh oh. Comments on one of my YouTube
videos (the rough sea back on 23rd January 2007 (YouTube
link)) saying that is NOT the
pilot boat as I'd stated, and was in fact the lifeboat (a
neighbor had also suggested it was the lifeboat but I didn't
agree because it clearly wasn't our local one!??)! Checked my
original full quality video file (frame by frame), managed to
make out the numbers on the keel, and then somehow ended up
on-line around 3am surfing RNLI sites and trying to get to the
bottom of exactly what the boat is. I'm pretty sure I've got it
right now. It's all weather RNLI lifeboat 47-027 the 'George
Gibson' from Appledore in North Devon. (That very lifeboat is
being depicted on a new set of Post Office commemorative stamps).
.That's embarassing to get it SO wrong. I'll have to re-compile
the video to change the details on the 'titles' screen at the
end! Also - the file on youtube (complete with all comments and
hits - apparantly NOT possible to edit an existing upload) will
have to be deleted and replaced with an updated replacement
sometime. More hassle! Some other time! Jeeze - this little video
'hobby' has turned into several full time jobs all at once -
cameraman, editor, production, research, print, distribution,
etc, etc, etc - and 'I' am paying ££ for the privilege! This is
utterly insane! Volume 2 may well have to be Volume The Last!. .
finally to bed around 4am.
-//unfinished//-
16 - Back
up around 8am . . walked . . up Mums . .jitters!!! :o(
napped leaving the PC running . . .
walked . . recompiled all the videos
back into High Quality until gone midnight. Touched base breifly
with BB along the way . . Set the PC recompiling the compressed 2
hour DVD from the HQ files in the hope it would improve things. .
. grabbed some chocolate log and a banana before to bed before
2am.
15 - Woken
by Sally around 7:45am . . .pouring with rain outside and messed
around on the PC delaying the inevitable . walked in full rubber
in the rain.
Mum and Bb called to touch base . .
to hell with the neat ending for the DVD (sadly). Threw together
a silly one which was rather less time consuming, using Sally and
some cut up raw potatoe! YouTube
link . . ate a pork
pie before finally to bed around 4am!!
14 - Woke
earlier then up around 8am . . walked, carried on down to the
harbour and ended up unable tto help myself videoing a little,
despite having set off this morning without the tripod and
determined to have a break from it!. . back home to PC the day
away. Polished off the 'high tide' video by around 4pm (YouTube link) . plagued by indian sales calls and wrong
numbers on the phone all day!! Grrrr . . ate ham mayo cheese
onion lettuce sandwiches with crisps while watching the news. A
bit of good news for a change. They'd found the nine year old
girl who'd been missing for a few weeks - alive and 'unhurt' so
they reported. Bad choice of words I'm sure. I have no doubt she
was 'hurt' quite gravely, one way or another! :o( . . napped for
almost a couple of hours until the alarm at 6pm . . skipped the
walk . .TVd . . pcd trying to figure out what to do about 'an
ending' for the latest videos when put on the DVD. Eventually
stumbled into a neat bit of music and started messing around with
an idea for hours, but I'm not sure I can face trying to complete
it. It'll take days just for a silly end. .touched base with BB.
. ate biscuits and kipling apple tarts before to bed by 3am. s
13 - Woken
by Sally around 7:30am . . .walked in the drizzle. Remarkable
flat calm sea with not a breath of wind!? . . PCd the rock and
roll video all day (YouTube link). Time consuming, but I think it works
pretty well. :o) . . .ate ham mayo cheese onion lettuce
sandwiches with crisps . . napped for almost a couple of hours
until the alarm at 6pm . . skipped the walk . . pcd on until I
had a half finished rough and ready version of the naff 'high
tide' video at getting on for midnight. . touched base briefly
with BB . . transferred all files to the living room PC and then
ran them all through back to back with the stopwatch going, while
drinking a tea cup of red wine. YAYyyyy - a handful of seconds
over exactly two hours. THAT'S what I've been aiming for. .ate
ham sandwiches around 1:30am. . . eventually to bed after 2am. d
12 - Woken
around 8am by Sally . . set the PC converting AVIs from the
camera with the camera software into an asf format. Experiments
prove that makes them run smooth in the DVD authoring software.
My PC definitely doesn't like DivX/MP4 type formats for some
reason? .. left the PC running and walked. Still really windy,
from a wnw direction today which seemed to be blowing a swell
straight into the outer harbour mouth. Something about the
frequency of that swell was giving all the moored small boats a
hard time, throwing them around all over the place. . sunny for
much of the time giving a most amazing light on everything. .
back home just before midday, only to find the PC still running!!
. just as well perhaps. With no choice but to have a break, I
cooked up four sausages with a mass of chips while drinking a tea
cup of red wine, and then ate with four pieces of bread and
butter followed by a little chocolate. .TVd . . PC finally
finished converting around 3pm! Turned it straight off and
napped, until woken by the alarm at 6pm . . PCd. Downloaded
(makes a change!) some film clips from YouTube and eventually
managed to make up the silly 'Titanic' interlude video I've had
in mind every time I walk past those cormorants. Shorter would
have been funnier, but I left it long to save all the hours of
work required to make neat edits of the audio (because of the
background music)! Little did I know, the 'slight' lipsink
problem I left it with, was greatly exaggerated in the process of
uploading it to Youtube somehow!??(YouTube link) Oh well. Not worth spending more time on .
.threw together the easy 'steps' video (with the converted AVI
file replacing the original I'd initially used but found all
jerky again). Mum will like that one, cause I couldn't help but
use one of her beloved Johnny's songs! lolol (YouTube link) . . touched base with BB around 1:30am . .
ate a kipling tart and a banana before bed after 2am. Dreadful
nights broken sleep complete with the odd nightmare. I didn't eat
enough befiore bed! d
11 - Woken
around 6:45am by the fridge noise! Grrr. Fixed it with another
severe beating . . drove to walk. . windscreen wipers have
disintegrated!?? Won't be using the car in the rain then!! . .
.tree branches down since yesterday!? ........walked down to the
harbour for a look . . damn by theslipway.
back home to PC. Hours messing with
the wind video downloading pictures I didn't use (YouTube link). . .ate burgers . . napped until woken by
the phone ringing but no message left . .felt awful and
'blurred'. . skipped the walk . . PCd the DVD cover picture. .
touched base with BB . . PCd on until around 3am before bed.
10 - Up
around 7:30am. Well - apart from the tall fir tree in the front
garden, I think I'm mostly intact 
. . walked.
VERY high tide but as I'd predicted, no waves to speak of at all.
All blown flat because of the wind direction. Plenty of big waves
crashing on shores in the far distance on the other side of the
bay.
Carried on down to the inner harbour
for a quick look, despite the wind and rain. I've been told it
gets higher (not much!), but I've never seen it so high. The
swell at high tide was pushing water up onto the outer
harbourside walkway!
back home by around midday
absolutely freezing and drenched . . Mum called to touch base .
.TV news reporter Alex Bushel was on the news, reporting on the
care-home abuse story in Jersey today. Funny how I'm gonna kinda
'notice him' for ever more now, after doing those 'strike'
videos. What an incredible life those people must lead. . . PCd
the 'for BB' video (YouTube link). . ate ham, mayo, cheese onion tomatoe and
lettuce sandwiches with crisps mid afternoon . . napped until
woken by the alarm at 7pm . . very blowy/rainy out still . .
skipped the evening walk and PCd more for hours . Bb called
briefly . Carried on PCing. . grabbed a banana and some chocolate
log along the way . . PCd on the 'Stairway' video and then the
'Wind' video until eventually to bed around 3am.
9 - Back
up at 11am for some reason. :o( . . messed around surfing on the
PC and ended up modifying my (quite out of date) 'links' page (what I use as my browser homepage)
and got serious with including some weather/tide links etc.
(which I've recently got into the habit of checking quite often,
since it is SUCH a feature of life here!). I still think being
able to see those satellite images/animations is just AMAZING!
You can sit back and watch your impending doom! :o/ . .
walked just before dark. Actually
quite calm and pleasant out. Not as many ships sheltering in the
bay as I'd imagined there would be. Had yet another go at
videoing the lights across the bay, because it wasn't yet fully
dark and gave the camcorder a chance of capturing something. . .
back home, yet again the results proved disappointing , but I
went ahead and threw a video together anyway, trying to ignore
the increasing battering the weather was giving the house. . put
in a considerable amount of time trying to figure out a play
order for the entire set of 'DVD2' videos (to date!) and then set
them up on the living room PC and watched them all through on the
TV, with the stopwatch running. . ate a banana and then sausages
in baked beans with a spoon, cold from the tin while I watched!
Took me until after 2am to watch them through (NOT including the
'poop' vid.). Worked out at almost exactly one hour and forty
minutes!!! I guess maybe a handful more and that'll well fill a
'short-play' DVD, and then maybe I'll call it quits for a bit and
have a much needed rest? . . TVd the news before to bed around
3am, which was when they were forecasting the storm would be at
its worst. It WAS real bad out there. Much 'woosh-bang' type
noise on the windows and creaking from the roof and entire
structure of the house so it seemed! Really scary and worrying
but nothing to be done of course. Eventually managed to sleep
through it by curling the duvet and pillow around my ears!
8 - Woken
by Sally around 7:30am! Uggh. SO tired! . . walked. One of the
dog walkers I'd only recently given a copy of the DVD to, made a
point of coming over and briefly sitting down next to me as I was
having a cigarette. She wanted to tell me she'd watched it and
thank me for it. She seemed genuinely 'enthused', admitted it had
made her laugh and cry, and she said she'd treasure it! YeeeES!
:o) One comment like that makes it all seem worthwhile. Very
chuffed (and rather embarassed). :o) . . .absolutely dire weather
forecast for Sunday and Monday! Actually rather frightening in
terms of potential damage to the house, etc. :o( I suspect the
southerly and westerley wind directions will NOT create anything
spectacular on my immediate coastline. Torquay's gonna have a
spectacle I suspect. . PCd and experimented with compiling the
'high quality' videos at a slightly reduced quality, in the hope
I can eventually get ALL of the latest onto a single DVD. . did
dishwashing chores in between recompiling videos one by one! . .
Mum called in with the paper and food donations for a coffee,
chats and video viewing . . ate Mum donated chicken and stuffing
rolls with crisps . . napped, forgot to set the alarm, and didn't
wake until around 9pm!!!!! Damn! That's gonna see me unable to
sleep at a 'normal' time later.:o( . . Mum called to point me at
a TV show that was on, about Enoch Powel and his 'rivers of
blood' speech. Interesting show. It is my opinion, this country
HAS lost it's identity through mass immigration. It now seems to
be nothing more than some sort of 'boarding house' for everyone
elses! . . skipped the evening walk and ended up back on the PC .
.BB called . . with so much 'down time' while recompiling videos,
it gave me time to think (always a bad move! lol), and I somehow
ended up spending the entire night knocking up an 'interlude',
instead of tending to what I should have been doing. YouTube link . .ate a bowl of muesli around 5am or later!
. . walked early. Actually not a bad morning with quite a bit of
sun reaching around mountainous looking distant clouds.
Definitely 'wobbly' on my feet! . . back home and to bed by 8am. s
7 - Woken
by Sally before 8am . .couldn't help myself - played yesterday's
video 'several' times!! lolol I like that one. In fact, I like
that one so much, I couldn't resist sending the link to that BBC
camerman guy I once sent a photo to - for his possible
entertainment/amusement . . walked and carried on out to the
breakwater beach for a bit of a quiet sit on the pebbles in the
sun. Thankfully didn't see anything really worth getting serious
with the camcorder for. Beautiful day with seal glimpses in the inner
harbour. . back through BGdns to re-do a couple of 'seat' photos,
and then a brief stop in a shop for supplies. . .PCd and cleared
one of the 'backlog' and polished off the 'seats' video I'd
wanted to do. YouTube link There are actually SO many around the whole
town, it could have been better/more interesting, but I
restricted it to just a few of those I am most likely to sit on.
. .ate beef rolls and crisps . .napped for almost a couple of
hours until woken by BB leaving an ansaphone message . . straight
back onto the PC to start the difficult task of doing the other
'strike' video from yesterday. Turns out, I'd spent so much time
watching the BBC guys, I actually didn't have much footage of any
use on the 'stars of the show' - the strikers!! Made it a
difficult job! . . BB called briefly . .skipped the evening walk
again and carried on PCing straight through until gone 1am before
calling it quits on that one. YouTube link . .ate the rest of the beef in sandwiches
around 2am before watching the latest videos through yet again,
before finally collapsing into bed getting on for 3am!
6 - Woken
earlier by Sally clattering into the bedroom and then up around
6:30am . . PCd for an hour and more . . walked with the cameras
and then headed straight down to the harbour to see the striking
coastguard's picket line. Blimey - they must have all started
early. A small group of pickets were assembled near the
Coastguard Maritime Rescue Centre gates, and a BBC satellite dish
van was parked nearby with the camerman and reporter already
wandering around, doing their thing.
-//unfinished//-
napped until just before the alarm
which was set for 6pm. Straight back on the PC to record the
local evening news (which actually was rather disappointing in
respect of their report on the strike and its usefullness to me!
lol) . . skipped this evening's walk and PCd on . . briefly
stopped to touch base with BB . . I think that'll have to do for
this one. There just aren't enough hours in the
day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! lololololol This is 2
('with aplomb'! YouTube
link ) of what WILL be 2 from
todays footage. . 1 of 2 will have to wait until another day. (It
may not be apparant - but each one of these little videos, takes
a minimum of double the time in minutes,
in hours to produce!!!) There just
aren't enough hours in the day!!!. . .PCd until early, before
eventually, exhausted to bed - again! Couldn't sleep through
hunger, and had to get back up to be eating bowls of cornflakes
until getting on for 3am!
5 - Up
around 7am . condensation on the windows and a cloudless blue sky
sunrise - again!! . . walked. Almost the same weather as
yesterday except for the cold wind. Today I was overheating with
the same number of layers on! Eventually ended up at the harbour
messing around with the camcorder again. Scored some bones for
Sally from one of the butchers for nothing but a 20p donation to
the air ambulance, which seemed like a good deal. . gave Sally
one of the pork bones and froze the other . . ate a banana and
PCd the rest of the day away (YouTube
link ) as cloud
filled the sky with a dark grey blanket . . . walked, actually a
bit unsteady on my feet through tiredness and lack of food!. .
TVd . . cooked and ate three sausages, two eggs, black pudding,
bacon, half a tin of baked beans and four pieces of bread and
butter . . touched base briefly with BB before early to bed by
10:30pm!
4 - Dreadful
night of tossing and turning, getting back up and hardly sleeping
at all! Up around 8am . condensation on the windows and a
cloudless blue sky sunrise! . .walked and carried on down around
the harbour and out along the breakwater. It may have been
incredibly clear and sunny, but there was a hell of a cold stiff
breeze blowing in from the north making it pretty uncomfortable!
. . walking back the clouds increased and with the sun
disappeared behind them, I ended up freezing and real keen to
just get back home (by which point the clouds cleared and the sun
remained out for most of the day). Found 5p by the lifeboat
station, so it seemed right to pop it in their collection box. .
. watched the full set of the latest videos, to get a feel for
how much time they amount to. Blimey - around one hour twenty
minutes!! . . ate Mum donated ham rolls with crisps. . slept the
afternoon away until around 6:15pm . . walked . . TVd . . touched
base with BB . . ate four slivers of cheese wrapped in pieces of
ham, lightly microwaved and then some mum donated chocolate log
and chocolate . . TVd until bed around 1am. as
3 - Up
around 7:30am . condensation on the windows and a cloudless blue
sky sunrise! . . walked and despite Sally's bad shoulder,
couldn't resist walking along to Chn. and then back via the
woods, coves and town. Nice timing - arrived back home just
before the rain fell. . . uh oh! Something (mice?) has nibbled
away a corner of the large plastic sack of complete dog food I've
had laying on the floor of the garage!! . . cooked and ate bacon,
sausages, black pudding, eggs, baked beans and four pieces of
bread and butter . . napped until around 5:30pm. (Deep dreams - I was back on a
motorbike!)The temperature
had dramatically dropped and condensation was on all the windows
already! Sat around with the windows open, freezing. . with
Sally acting painfully stiff, we skipped the evening walk again
and I ended up PCing the whole evening away . . YouTube
link (calm sea) . . YouTube
link (scuba divers). . touched
base with BB . .despite originally saying none of that scuba
diver video I took was was worth doing anything with, after
having had another look at it, I couldn't help myself staying up
until gone 3am making another out of it! YouTube
link (the 'learner' scuba
diver). I think she had a pretty rough time of it if you watch
closely! lol Brave!
2 - Up
around 8:15am . .walked and found 10p. . polished off the mothers
day card by sticking a picture of me inside it, stood in front of
my front garden hedge with all the yellow flowers which are just
coming out. . left Sally at home and walked to Mums. I was all
ready to be outraged at whoever had parked their range-rover
across the pavement in front of her driveway, until I recognised
the second of a pair of matching lamp stands my sister had
promised me, sat on the back seat. Sure enough, Sis1 was down
visiting with her boyfriend. It was his (company) car. . . chats
and coffee . . back home to eat a pastie and crisps. Briefly
touched base with Sis2 to remind her it was the British mothers
day today . . .Mum called to advise that their plan was to all
meet up at my place around 3:30pm . . napped for almost an hour
before woken by Sis1 arriving. Mum walked down soon after. With
Mum to blame, probably more than me, poor Sis1 and her guy were
forced to watch some of my videos (even though clearly they had
little interest) lol. It's definitely an 'age' thing apparantly.
Older people are entertained by them, others are definitely not.
. walked with Sally and met them all down on the harbourside,
just as they were finishing their fish and chips. Ate Mum bought,
battered jumbo sausage and chips on the harbourside seat next to
the vandalised (none new) William Of Orange statue. . Sis1 and
her guy soon left for the drive back . . walked back via BGdns
with Mum as rain started to fall . . TVd . .touched base with BB
. . ate bowls of cornflakes before to bed around midnight.
1 - Up
around 8:30am . . walked in the sunny spells and (despite Sally's
limp!) carried on around the harbour and eventually along to the
breakwater beach for a look about. Large numbers of people were
all getting dressed up in their scuba gear and then taking to the
water. Got absolutely frozen sitting around in a shaded bit of
the beach filming nothing of interest or 'use'. .back home to sit
in the sun in the front garden with a coffee and cigarettes
trying to warm up . . 
Mum called in
with the paper, food donations and Sally treats, for chats and
coffee. She was all fired-up by the newspaper headline poster
outside the local paper shop, telling of how the statue of
William Of Orange down on the harbourside had been vandalised.
Not sure if it's something new that's been done to it (I walked
past it this morning and didn't notice anything), but I have
photos dating back to mid December which show the missing nose
and blue face paint if that's what they are referring to. (A
strange rash of graffitti has recently appeared around town,
depicting seagulls sat on bombs etc, with the words 'Laugh now'
alongside!??? God knows what the hell that is all supposed to
mean. A**holes.) . ate Mum donated ham rolls crisps and pickled
onions . . TVd and watched 'Bicentennial Man' which was on again.
For goodness sake!!!! It made me cry! I'm SO 'unstable' at the
moment! . . napped until the alarm at 7pm . .skipped another
evening walk and PCd the night away YouTube
link . With all the changes
that are planned for the town (IF the money doesn't run out), I
can't help feeling 'differently' about some of the videos and
photos I'm taking. They're definitely gonna be more boring (is
that possible?!! lol), but I feel 'obliged' to put a greater
emphasis on just kinda 'documenting' some of the stuff that isn't
gonna be there in a year or so. That car park is a case in point.
If all the plans go ahead, it'll soon be gone/changed beyond
recognition. . BB called briefly to touch base . .PCd this and
that until gone midnight again . .Well, it's a year I've been
here. Don't feel I've done much of the work that needs doing on
the place, all things considered. Been spending too much time of
late, dicking around with videos! Still surviving financialy, but
only very much just. Dunno why I'm in SUCH a 'down' and
emotionally unstable mood. :o( I SHOULD be counting my blessings,
instead of STILL dwelling on past events in Bristol with
consuming bitterness. I haven't been 'right' since I got that
cold a few weeks ago. That was when my mood really took a
downward turn so it seems. With hindsight, doing the video thing
has just been 'keeping busy' and trying to avoid it. I've not
avoided it very well this week. :o(
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