26/09/23 07:43

48 days to go until I either manage to pull off some amazing interviews or royally fail.  The failure could either be with absolute floppage in terms of interviews or simply nobody to interview. I’m still not mentioning names until I’ve met, recorded and replayed the people chatting with me.  And this is in relation to those that I’ve requested to have Coffee Pot Conversations with.

Where am I up to?  I’m up to the part where I need to change the ink in this Cross fountain pen.  Okay, the Cross didn’t take the Herbin cartridges so I’m using my latest non-3D printed pen from Kickstarter and I’ve popped in a Vert Phe cartouche.  One of my episodes, which in theory you may have listened to before you get around to reading this entry is about Herbin, briefly.  The post may be up in a few months but the Instagram edition will be late-2024, I suspect.

There is talk of Nev coming over on the second day of my trip to Paris which is cool.  I’ll have the Monday to do my bits, Tuesday morning – in theory – for the boulangerie visit and then either she’ll meet me at an interview point or the hotel.  Or (that last bit was the first half of the either) I’ll meet her at the station or the hotel.  If it happens, it’ll be nice, if it doesn’t it’ll be a little upsetting but it’ll mean that I can focus on getting photos and videos for additional possible paywall material in the future (although it may be outdated by that point).

I still can’t decide on microphone/gimbal setups.  I’ve taken a few examples and made practice runs by the office Aldi as well as going to Mary’s and back with the boys.  I know I want the ambient sounds but as I’m not doing post-production, I don’t want too much noise that overpowers any speech.  Everything is sort of still up in the air with the trip and yet it seems that everything is slowly coming together.

The same can, and should, be said about the podcast.  I’ve a pretty spreadsheet keeping me abreast of what needs to be done – blog, Instagram, podcast – which is helpful but with life being a little topsy-turvy at the moment and for the previous 10 weeks or so, I’ve not actually gotten around to doing much.  It took me about six weeks to complete the episode on King Louis XIV and I only briefly covered his military campaigns.  But that’s fine as it gives me other aspects to use later on.

I’m using the 10 episodes a season structure and not including the planned Paris interviews – or the unplanned ones with unsuspecting people in Paris (I’m not sure if it will happen on this upcoming trip) – I’m up to season 4 which is nice.  Hard work, but nice.  There’s a heap of research to do and I honestly do want to keep technology to a minimum, which is difficult as I thoroughly enjoy using technology.  I have been using my Meta Quest 2 Virtual Reality headset which is cool.  I can sit in a virtual coffee shop and use either my own desktop or a built-in internet browser to do my research on.  It’s so much nicer than looking at my cluttered bedroom whilst the light fails and depression slowly creeps in.

I actually would like to get a decent microphone for all the recordings but then I see the mixing desks and I look at my bank balance.  And cramped working environment.  I think I’ll end up getting something more than just my lavalier microphone for the ad-hoc street interviews to make it le “phone shoved in your face” style of verbal assault.  The badges and business cards are nicely prepped for giveaways, not only in Paris but also for Caffe Culture in the London Business Design Centre next week.  I’m hoping for some networked connections from this expo.

And now, as Désolé, Je Suis Anglais comes to its last page, I take a quick affectionate, reflective flick back to the first page.  It’s been less than a year and it started with the trip to Paris over the gap between Christmas and the New Year with Nev and the boys.  An Englishman in Paris doesn’t have any major updates although it has maintained a fairly level consistency.  The Instagram page anenglishmaninparisblog has almost had a daily story posted to it since January and from the Spring (I think) it’s had a post every Thursday relating back to the blog.  It stands with 161 posts, 265 followers.  I’m now on Threads but rarely use it.  I’m back to Linktree as well as using Start Page.  The podcast, Coffee Pot Conversations has been my new focus and I maintain excitement for it, as long as my brain is able to flow.

Two quick points and an additional note.  The Herbin ink I’m using is actually Orange Indien – it had blended with the Diabolo Menthe remnants.  The second point is, I’ve forgotten but the additional note is the fact that this uear, I ran the Paris Half Marathon, Marathon and 10km, plus the London Big Half, Big Mile and finished with the London (Virtual) 10k.  Oh yeah, second point, the injury from the last entry was, I suspect a chipped foot bone in my right foot and a diagnosed cracked rib. 

I ran the half marathon with both. 

Sorry Muvva.