The Music Never Dies

This week Prince became the latest in a seemingly bewildering number of prominent celebrity deaths in 2016. After Lemmy from Motorhead passed away at Christmas, the Grim Reaper seems to have been putting together his own entertainment festival, picking up people like David Bowie, Victoria Wood, Glenn Frey, Ronnie Corbett, Paul Daniels, Terry Wogan, Frank Kelly, Alan Rickman, and many other, with Prince being the latest. We’re only in April and already the year hasn’t been great for the celebrity world.

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Audio Description & DVD Navigation

I’ve just received, and have happily started watching, Doctor Who Series 9 on Blu-ray. And from a visually impaired person’s perspective, I’m very pleased to see they’re continuing with audio navigation and audio description on the discs. Sherlock gets the same treatment as well.

I personally find it very useful for pointing out smaller details that I’ve missed, and for reading text on the screen that I would otherwise have to pause and squint at to read, among other things. But it’s frustrating that such audio assistance isn’t much more widespread. So I thought I’d quickly explain what it is and why it’s useful.

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Journal – January 2016 (Guernsey Holiday)

So here we go with another year – hopefully my final one in Devon, as we feel determined to make the move to London happen now after all the delays.

But to start with, 2016 has got off to a fun start, because I’ve visited my best mate in Guernsey again, the first time I’ve seen him since I was Best Man at his wedding last September. These are my first journal entries since that event, as there was nothing else of interest to write about for the last few months of 2015.

So I hope you enjoy reading about my little holiday – including an awkward bus trip, the latest Star Wars film and a games night, among other things – plus a few other updates.

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Journal – September 2015 (Guernsey Best Man)

This month has seen a big event that I’ve been looking forward to for a while – my best mate’s wedding in Guernsey, where I was one of two best men with his cousin. It was a wonderful occasion in a beautiful location, and it’s the first time I’ve given a public speech as well. So this post is mainly about that, but I also met another friend the week before, I’ve posted my first ever vlog on Youtube, and there have been one or two things to mention from home too.

So I hope you enjoy going through everything here, including some of the photos and video footage that I was able to capture on my new iPhone 6, and a few other photos that people took of me.

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Journal – July-August 2015 (Guernsey Stag Do)

Time for another epic set of journal entries. June was quiet, so I haven’t written anything for that month – but July made up for it, as I had another visit to Guernsey for my best mate’s stag do and wedding suit fittings. So there’s a lot to share about that here, as well as my first iPhone for my birthday, a computer repair, lots of nice food, and other bits and pieces. So I hope you enjoy!

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Journal – March 2015

Welcome to my next set of journal entries. This has been quite an eventful month, including a colleague retiring, electoral work, our builder visiting, a friend’s relationship ending, my best mate’s wedding preparations continuing, and my TV explorations with a new streaming box. So I hope you enjoy!

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Journal – January-February 2015 (Guernsey Holiday)

Here we go once again into another year. This looks set to be significantly busier than the last one, in particular because my best mate from Guernsey is getting married, and I’m going to be one of the two best men at his wedding, alongside his cousin.

So these lengthy, detailed entries to start the year are all about my recent trip to see my friend on the island, where I got to meet some of his family members and relatives, had nice walks, ate lots of nice things, watched various TV shows and films, played video games, and even had my first experience of getting properly drunk. And I’ll be travelling over there again a couple more times in the months ahead. So I hope you enjoy reading about it all!

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Journal – December 2014

Welcome to my final journal entry of the year. I’ve skipped several months since the last post because it’s been a very uneventful year overall. But things look set to be a lot busier in 2015, with my best mate’s wedding and other stuff. So here’s my Christmas roundup for the time being, with the usual mix of updates about home, work and friends. I know it’s short, but I hope you enjoy!

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Journal – July 2014

Here’s another brief journal entry from what is proving to be a very quiet year, along with a couple of jokes I’ve been sent to pad things out a bit. June was very uneventful, so I’ve waited until now before writing another update, talking about a bit of building work, some great news from a friend of mine that will give me a lot more to do next year, and the sad passing of a hugely popular comedian. So I’m sorry this is quite short, but I hope you enjoy!

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Journal – May 2014

If you’ve been following these journal posts for a while then (a) thank you so much and (b) no, you’re not missing anything, there really has been a 5-month gap.

I didn’t write any journal entries for the first part of this year, as nothing happened that was of any interest. Our planned move to London still hasn’t gone ahead, as for various reasons we haven’t been able to get much work done on our current house before we can sell it, which has been unavoidable but frustrating. And there hasn’t been a lot else going on either.

This month, however, I have met up with some friends, I’ve got some updates from work, and we’ve had devastating weather that completely destroyed a vital artery of Devon’s railway network. So that’s given me a variety of bits and pieces to mention here. And as always, I hope you enjoy!

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