21/11/24 18:27 

Sitting in Costa in Westfield, Stratford.  This was meant to be a practice run.  But, as with Hackney, it’s not quite walk around filming culture around here.  Plus, the cold doesn’t help. The lack of creativity really doesn’t do much to assist, either.  The éclat de saphir Herbin ink does help with the writing as the words are smoothly transferred from head to page very nicely.  The quality of the sentences are as beautifully structured as the writing of the words is transcribed.  Still, it’s a good place for a paragraph. 

My Action 2 just bleeped at me.  I figured it wasn’t the memory and hoped it wasn’t the battery.  Turns out the 10-minute time-lapse was finished.  Much like this 50% off mince pie.  I think Paris will be much easier as there’s more to talk about I won’t, in theory, have my head down in my latest notebook; the title of which will appear in the first entry, I’m sure.  As will the colour. 

I went to the doctor today. It was there I not only lost a pair of gloves, but I was told officially I was diabetic of the type 2 type.  Silver linings, I get an eye test every year and free prescriptions.  That’ll help with the stock of asthma pumps I don’t use.  There’s a whole issue surrounding this diagnosis and I’m not ready to delve deeper, straight away.  My kidney function is slightly off which could be due to the diabetes.  Yet, 8 years ago, it was also slightly off.  Was that a diabetic moment, too?  My cholesterol is off by 1.1 (unit of measurement).  Yet, yesterday, it was bang on the limit.  How did it get worse?  The goal posts were moved owing to the diabetic diagnosis; the diagnosis that could off because of the kidney issue.  So, I’ve been prescribed Metformin and statins, of which I’ve no idea what they do or if I should take them.  But I’m going to wait until my free prescription card arrives and at that point, I’ll be back from Paris and in a better place to deal with any potential side effects. 

The black cherry syrup smell is amazing and I’m reminded at this point that I need to take a sip of the hot chocolate that it is adorning.  What a lovely word adorning is.  I love the way it adorns the page. 

Okay, quick question.  How do I obtain ambient sounds if I’m going to be talking for an episode?  I don’t know.  But looking to camera and seeing it follow my face is quite sweet.  I may be able to source out the lesser-volumed parts and edit these into a separate file. Which leads me back to the whole video editing process.  In theory, I’ll be using multiple files and simply cutting and splicing.  Not an issue.  As long as I can find the software that lets me do this, extract audio and keep the file size appropriate for uploading.  I don’t want to purposely cut the whole jiggy-jaggy kind of video you see on YouTube.  I don’t actually like that style.  Unless it’s a different style of transition, like colour change, zoom in or something similarly videographically creative. 

I’ve managed to get Apple to merge, well add, my ‘other’ podcast to my account.  From there, I’ve archived it which should make figures a lot easier to follow.  Hopefully. 

I’ll definitely need to try and work out a solution for speedily setting up the cameras.  I think the Pocket 3 will be on me, the Action 2 on the street and the Zoom H1N recording whatever it can.  The F2-BT will be rolling, regardless. 

I’m about to transfer the 16-minute ‘podcast’ clip to my iPhone 13 mini to see what it looks like.  Next week, I’ll make sure everything is charged up and memory synced so I can start fresh and work with new material. I don’t think I’ll have any issues and I’ll have spares plus powerbanks, just in case. 

I need to record the street.  I need to record motion-lapse of the street.  I need time-lapse of the street.  Maybe a hyper-lapse of a Metro journey.  Motion lapse of the evening but able to charge overnight.  Sunrise could be an issue.  I may risk the Pixel 8 and Mobile 6 gimbal for the accommodation videos.  As I mentioned to myself on the way here (which may have been picked up by the hidden lav), I may do a recording or two in the hotel.  One episode down.  Booking it, another one.  The journey in that’s 3.  Returning is 4.  Dinner is next and then café.  A morning walk to the boulangerie could be 7.  A mash-up of shops can be the eighth and for number 9, well, maybe a random element.  The Best Bits I suspect will be recorded at home but I’m not sure of the actual location.  Plenty of time for that.  I’ll need to be mindful of audio listeners, though. 

I’m thinking about the filming and how I’m going to carry my bags.  I’m here today with my little Tenerife France bag and a CPC duffel bag.  In theory, or the theory, I’ll be bringing my French Decathlon bag which will have the duffel in it until I’ve checked in at the hotel.  I can then resume, the bag being ‘slightly’ freer although the straps go across my body rather than over my shoulders and the bag on my back.  I may take Sunday as an editing day once I’ve recorded the news for The Best Bit of Season 2.  I’ll also need to listen to today’s audio as well as watch the videos.  I’m going to try and attempt at having a go at possibly recording a special Christmas episode as an experiment I’ll try it first with a little episode on my AEiP blogcast and then I can delete it off, afterwards.  So, when you finally get to listen to this entry on my blogcast, you’ll know that I possibly had a video entry after this one.  And maybe after the Paris ones, too. Especially as this time next week I’ll be there wondering if I’ve recorded enough for the day.  And if it’s come out to a decent enough quality.  Especially as Anchor has once more changed names.  It’s now Spotify for Creators. Presumably because of their push into the video podcast field. 

Okay, last final push for this notebook.  Last page in here (until I stop for the list of places I’ve stayed in) and to be honest with you, it’s been a blast.  Over a year ago, I started entries for my never-starting book.  I’d recorded a preview episode and never truly thought I’d be at the end of the second season.  There’s something strong with Paris that has kept me on this project.  I’ve no idea what it is and I’ll probably never know. 

Do I need to know?  Nope.  As long as it stays within me, I’m happy to keep on this journey of mine.  No clue where it will take me, when it will end or how much time and money I would’ve poured into it by then, but I’d rather be doing this than something destructive.  Or nothing at all. 

I’m going to go home shortly, out things away and watch an episode of Cheers on Paramount+.  Then I’ll fall asleep until around 3, stay awake for a few hours and then drift back to sleep for a short time before having a Friday.  It’ll be date night with Nev, Boys in the morning, rugby Sunday then work for 3 days.  After that, it’s Paris and my first steps into video podcasting.  I’ve come a long way in a short time and I’ve loved it.  Here’s to many more years in the City of my Heart. 

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