I'm back!

Um the overall podcast, not just this season or series, uh it does have a structure of sorts and I haven't respected that religiously. Um In the past it's been shown that it's easier to have several seasons running alongside. As I cover quite a few different subjects within this podcast. In any case, uh the reason for resuming season four.

is that was where my more journalistic podcasts were beginning to be aired. And I want to try and differentiate this from any other uh ongoing and uh as yet incomplete seasons. So if you're rejoining me after this long gap, um there's been a lot of water under the bridge, and it would take pretty much an entire season based on my previous statistics to review and go into all of that's passed since uh I last recorded anything or last published anything.

Um there are several reasons for this pause, of which I've got a few which I want to explain here. So I'm gonna detail those reasons and then I'm also gonna give a brief um rundown on why I intend to resume. I want to preface all of this with an apology for the quality of my voice, as uh for the second time in two and a half years I've fallen

To the dreaded COVID. I had it before it was a diagnosable disease back in january twenty twenty, and I recently caught it probably less than a week and a half ago. I'm just back on my feet and regaining the use of my voice. Uh being obliged to take time at home also has meant that I've been able to give some more time to this podcast. Um there are many reasons though why I paused the podcast or didn't give it as much attention and energy for a start and then completely let it slide for a while.

Um firstly uh I found f one and then another full time job. Not long after the uh restrictions started to be eased following the pandemic, um everyone was still wearing masks, but uh the restrictions around certain businesses were lifted and also I confirmed that I wasn't going back to my existing job from which I'd been laid off for just over a year at the time. Um so I took on a full time job and that was then swapped out for another full time job with less than two weeks' break.

in the April of this year. Um so those permitted much less time than I would have liked for recording and even less for planning the podcast than I had during those laid back um pandemic days when I was literally laid off and laid back and had a lot more time on my hands. That I think could be taken as an excuse rather than a reason though. Uh another simpler thing, I changed my phone.

for a newer model without a headphone jack, which is more of a problem than it seems because I wasn't willing to invest the money in a uh a wireless microphone at this point for something which is more of a catharsis and a a hobby for me. So I kept on the old phone and And I'm actually now recording this new episode On my old phone, which is fully functional, it just has a extremely battered screen and no no voice connection, no internet connection except for Wi-Fi. So that's not a problem.

Um I did try to use my new one with um a very fancy adapter and the quality was beyond abysmal. So unless I invest in some more expensive recording equipment which is not on the horizon, or I get connected to my second or my previous phone It's likely that my actual recording or at least um uploading of these podcasts isn't going to be quite as regular as before.

Thirdly, I've been following other pursuits and I've found other methods to decompress. The podcast, as I said, is a very cathartic form of expressing myself. Um I did go back a little bit to blogs and tried recording a few videos also, um especially as it's more convenient to record a video than an audio file in some ways. And the uh the quality obviously from my cameras is better than from my phones. Um Also I found other ways to

to uh to decompress and find new ways to to get out the stress of the day, which incidentally hasn't been so bad with my current job. Um For a while, I thought the cathartic value of this podcast, the whole process, had run its useful course, because it's not just the recording, the using of my voice and expressing myself. But the process of planning episodes, seasons, And the direction this cast is going in.

Yeah it helped me to get my thoughts in order and to act as a secondary form of journal. I'll be saying more about those pursuits and developments eventually. Uh that's not for the Um I don't have any intention to recap, as I mentioned, everything that happened since the last episode I uploaded, which wasn't specifically a journalistic one. And I'm trying to balance suggestions from social media followers and those who are still on my listener list um for their new ideas plus to um

To evaluate whether it really benefits me in a cathartic way. I feel it does, and I'm raising rather weak excuses to not resume it. Um Finally, I think the production is going to be a little bit uh ropey and inconsistent to start with. As I've found it much more difficult since contracting this second round of COVID. To collect my thoughts together exactly as I would before. Um let's liken it to a hangover without the headache and without the fun of the booze.

So that aside, uh why am I resuming this blog? Or I should more uh more accurately call it a multi season podcast. It's not a collaborative venture at this stage. Um I'm finding increasingly that I'm finding excuses to lapse into older coping mechanisms such as with social withdrawal and um turning too much to alcohol as well, which is uh never been a bad never been a good um coping strategy for me.

Um especially when those two are combined, it uh results in a dangerous mix which leads me off down a rabbit hole. And I found that um blogging and Podcasting were a huge outlet in the in the absence of those two uh faulty coping mechanisms and in the absence of therapy. Um Also, the other pursuits that I use to uh deflect my energy and to collect my thoughts. Meditate, if you will, Um

are kind of summer pursuits and um they have less possibility in winter. Again it's a case of how much can you make the motivation and energy to get out and do them. But that's things such as uh fishing and cycling. Now those um are definitely gonna decrease even more than they have so far. during this autumn and I want something in place to be able to um to just uh detalt at the end of the day.

Another reason why I'm resuming it is following on from quite stimulating recent discussions with new and existing acquaintances. Which prompted me to open up a lot more about myself, um my background and the old life story thing, which um even thirteen, fourteen years after leaving the E V system is still is still cathartic to be able to to talk about these experiences and to to view them From other people's point of view and to also hear My experience is voiced by myself and

and bounce back to me. It's a like a low key form of therapy. So I realized once again the cathartic benefit of sharing somebody's story.

And how just putting it out there sometimes is all that's needed, regardless of uh how much of an audience you have, if any. So there there is that reason. That more or less summarizes um What I wanted to say in this very short uh episode was Which uh marks the restart, if you like, of season four. The season four, as I said, is gonna be the journalistic uh ramblings and

the events, the thoughts and feelings that are more current in my life. Um the next season to be continued it could be the one regarding my employment, but that really is uh only up to the recent history and not very not very relevant or interesting to anybody. So I'm I'm thinking on the lines of opening up about one o another of my passions which um has become a blog recently.

that uh that particular passion is fishing and for anyone who wants to filter out those episodes it's easier if they're clearly demarcated as uh As belonging to a particular season. So the season four is the one where you will hear a lot more of my um A lot more of my experiences, feelings, thoughts for the day, so to speak. So I've been transmitting this and recording it um I'm going to do it in one tape because I have zero

voice energy left and not much concentration. So I'm recording it on a l I guess it's a late autumn day because the leaves are well on the way to falling now. Uh when it's slightly raining. and I'm just getting ahead of the household chores before resuming work tomorrow. And I'm not anticipating having a great deal of energy after a full working day tomorrow, let alone at the end of the week when I have a whole bunch of errands that are backing up now.

But that's more or less everything for this episode. Please as always feel free to leave your audio commentary or remarks under this wherever you see it shared or wherever you hear it. This has been the Englishman in Montreal and thank you so much for listening.