Podcasts – [the_Last-BROADcast]

The Heart of the Forest

This was a much needed break and an eventful weekend. I started the day by driving Lucas to school and saying goodbye to him for what I thought was a week. He was heading off to Florida with his Mum for a well deserved holiday for them both. I made my way down to the south coast, Barton on Sea in relatively good time, with a small amount of kit for my first camp of 2025. I walked along the cliff top to Naish and ended up in the holiday park and you needed a code to exit the park, one issued to residents only. Frustratingly, I made my way back out of the main entrance and along a coastal walk called Chewton Bunny nature reserve, I successfully made a young lady jump out of her skin, I apologised and continued walking. As I made it to the beach, I walked along the sand and pebbles to High cliff and then made my way up to the spiral.

I thought about buying an ice cream but didn’t, I wanted to walk further along the coast up to Mudeford Quay, a place I love visiting but I ran out of time. Mainly because I wanted to get to the campsite, set up and head out again for a night walk through the forest. I chose the option of walking on the beach instead of back up the cliff and along the main road. There is a restricted section that you are advised not to walk along, an area that is signposted if you walk from Barton but not if you walk from Highcliff. When I was walking back, I noticed there weren’t any other people or dog walkers etc, it was a secluded section, a woman appeared out of the sea and went and sat down on a rock in front of me, roughly 30 metres. As I was walking towards her, she started to take off her swimming costume, I mean not just take down her top but completely remove it, bottom as well. I raised my hand to my face to do the horse blinkers and she said

“Sorry, I’m not an exhibitionist, I am a swimmer”

I thought ‘err yes you are, me dear’,

I said “It’s ok, I’m not looking”.

She only had to wait two minutes for me to pass and I wouldn’t have looked back. That was her choice. Boobs on a beach in Barton.

Anyway, I arrived at the New Forest YHA, chose my spot and set up in about 15 minutes. The kitchen there was very good as I would expect for a YHA. I had tofu and rice for my supper and then headed out for my night walk. You can hear my adventure below 👇.

Recorded on my Tascam DR-40X, Edited on a Raspberry Pi5.

All is so so quiet…

January 26, 2025
by admin

I have at least attempted to create a blog and vlog post,s plus two new podcasts for this year. I just didn’t try very hard, I did manage to create a new youtube video for the ‘Pi’ concept I have created ‘The Pi_Verse’. I spent some money buying a new HQ camera module and put together a working camera for stills and video, plus I demonstrated it working as a vlog cam. A video that unsurprisingly is better on vimeo.com because youtube sucks. I am however addicted. So here I am without a podcast to share or photos as such, despite spending the past 3 weeks making things. How you ask? With my 3d printer that I have managed to wear out the mat and just bought a new one, so mu pointless prints have to be put on hold. I will list the prints I have made and whether or not I am still using them.

Design	Success	In_use
RPI 3b case	Yes	Yes
Cat x 3	Yes	Yes
Bluetooth amp case x 2.5	No	No
HQ camera case	Yes	No
Heart shape	Yes	Yes
Ghost character	Yes	Yes
Camera module	Yes	No

I want to print a new HQ camera case for the cinepi project but I am waiting for my new mat to arrive. I attempted to print something today even though it has a small hole in the centre and it took ages and s few tools to remove the plastic after a failed print.

To alleviate my boredom and frustration of 3d printing, I designed my new logo or at the very least started the first draft which you can see on my from page. For positive reinforcement, I decided to go with a name and design that I love the most. Knowing full well people will pronounce Samhain as Sam Hain instead of salwin, in part my fault after creating a Halloween character of said name. I love the design and proper pronunciation of the name

There are other elements I want to add to the design so I am happy it’s a work in progress, plus my new trading name of ‘Spookarium Events’ but no logo as yet.

Give me back my socks

A pointless recording to start off 2025.

The last & the first 24 -25

January 2, 2025
by admin

The Brief

I had one more hike left to do in the series and, one more day in which to do it. That was new years eve, it seemed like a great idea, I don’t party anymore and I love hiking. Benfleet to Shoeburyness, I have done it a few times now, maybe I am too comfortable with it for it to be a real challenge. I checked the Southend website and they were putting on a fireworks display, I knew then I could time it to come back to the seafront and see the new year in. I left for Leigh on Sea around 4:45, got there an hour later and discovered I’d left my walking boots at home. I changed the route accordingly as the original Hadleigh route takes you across the sea wall which is potentially muddy. It added a further 3 minutes to the journey, it wasn’t very scenic. I jumped on the train at Leigh to make my way to the start point of Benfleet and got there 5 minutes later, knowing that I would pass Leigh 1 hour and 40 minutes later. As I did, I passed my car and got a sinking feeling that leaving my car in a open station car park until the early hours of the morning would add to my anxiety.

I made may way towards Shoeburyness and by the time I could see Chalkwell station (the next stop after Leigh), I thought, I could jump on the next train in 4 minutes, travel 2 minutes back to Leigh, pick up the car and drive back to Chalkwell and park it on the seafront in front of a residential area and feel more comfortable. 20 minutes and £1.90 later I was back on track and heading to Shoeburyness. Apart from the savage wind and the darkness, Southend was quite empty and there were even less people as I passed through. By the time I reached Shoeburyness, there weren’t any people other than 2 people getting out of a car in the distance. I made my way up to MoD fence on the beach, put my feet in the north sea and then made my way back. When I reached Southend or Highcliff, it was packed, which made me feel better only because I knew then the fireworks weren’t cancelled. When midnight came around the display itself was very good, just a shame it was so windy the fireworks couldn’t get up in the sky very high. I also got to speak to Lucas. Once it was all done, I still had a few miles to walk back to my car in Chalkwell. Totally worth it though.

It was a great way to see in and start the new year.