Hello our little autumn leaves and welcome to the show. Have you been watching or listening to the Rugby World Cup matches? Óran is delighted that Ireland managed to win victory over South Africa, aka The Springboks (sorry Gary Hough like cough). Óran is also hoping that the Scots cry like little girls once Ireland trash them this coming Saturday (sorry Blind Gordon).

…Anyway on with the show:

U2 are back on the scene folks! And instead of losing their money on the slots in Las Vegas like normal people they apparently found a huge football, called it The Sphere, set up the band gear and started playing some of their ancient songs. But! Here is Óran’s question: did they even think about accessibility? Or read his guidelines for sign language and audio description at rock events? Well let’s find out.

Our guest this week is Jakoline from the Netherlands. Jakoline is a guide dog puppy raiser and was the first person to introduce Jan to a guide dog. She talks to us about the puppy raising process in The Netherlands and why she does it. Perhaps after listening to Deirdre from episode 79 and Jakoline on this show, some of you might consider puppy raising a guide dog, even if just for a short while.

Clodagh’s email inbox is full to the brim and this week she has pulled out some gems for us. We have a query from Patty Murphy about accessing the podcast now that Google podcasts are shutting up shop; Pete Torkington has some lovely comments about the show (thanks Pete!) and he even gets a special blessing from Fr Stuart; Dave Nason has some comments and corrections about the new iPhone 15 and Sky Stream; and we find out if Derry Lawlor has written to Santa asking for a new iPhone.

Finally, Stuart has a little treat he would like to share with the whole world and he can find no better way, literally no better way 😢 to communicate this with the world other than through the medium of song, so stay tuned until the end.

So, put away the suntan lotion because summer is definitely gone. Take your thermals out of the airing cupboard, find a snuggle buddy to cling onto as the nights draw in, and hit play on the most ultimatish, supremeness, bigliest podcast this side of a bird dropping: Blind Guys Chat. 12 out of 16 gas stoves prefer it to electricity.

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Hello our little ducklings and welcome. First things first: Some of you did not believe that Stuart did in fact climb Mount Kilimanjaro. Well... we have proof! For those of you who have not seen this picture of Stuart standing at the top click on this link and you will have your proof. (Before you scold us – there is alt text, don’t worry!) Now, on with the show. Yes, it is number 80 which in numerology terms is a symbol of abundance and prosperity. “If you have been working hard towards your goals, the universe is letting you know that your efforts will be rewarded.” So that means the Blind Guys are stuffed, because as you know, we’re a bunch of slackers. Jan and Óran have recently experienced some issues with taxis - we want to know if there is government legislation in your country which prevents a taxi driver from refusing you and your guide dog? Let us know: [email protected] Do you look forward to autumn? Well, someone on the team thinks Óran is too cynical, and especially about autumn. Yes he hates autumn and winter almost as much as he hates the fact that iPhones have the best screen reader available for smartphones. Talking about poxy iPhones, will you be purchasing a new iPhone 15 or are you like the Blind Guys and are completely fed up with the lack of innovation from Apple lately? Stuart has ordered a Sky Stream box, but will it live up to all the hype? And how does Stuart feel about not being able to record content? Mr Cynical is querying if Stuart will be able to watch the content he wants with audio description via the 'on demand' section. Stuart has also hinted that he might record a demo of setting up the box etc but Jan and Óran reckon he will make some excuse for not doing this for the next show, probably something like having to sack his pool boy for not cleaning the pool correctly... BTW, don't forget that you can now use the Be My Eyes app to get in direct contact with a Sky rep to get real time video assistance if you ever need help. Our guests this week are Peter O'Toole and Eleanor Martha Burke who are here to talk about “forest bathing”. Peter is Head of Counselling at NCBI and has recently started this “Role of Nature in Health and Wellbeing Series” so that people with vision impairments can get the benefits of being outdoors and bonding with nature. Eleanor gives us her views on a recent event that Peter hosted in Co. Wicklow. Mr Cynical-pants was not overly enthusiastic, but Clodagh highly recommends it. If you are interested in attending the next event in October you can find out more, and register your place here: www.ncbi.ie/event/the-role-of-nature-in-health-and-wellbeing-series-final-in-person-event-for-2023/ We have emails from Ana Cody who thinks our guest from ep 73 has a yummy voice and also has strong opinions on beer slushies at the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. We have Axel in Sweden (cool name, Axel!) who liked our chat with Tim Dixon, and would like to know about any upcoming assistive technology events. Well Axel, you can check out www.qac.ac.uk - you can find all the info within the “exhibitions” and “news/events” sections; and you never know, you might see the Blind Guys at some of these events. Also, Ms Cavendish sends in a request/threat to spank Óran. Ooh la la! So, strip down to your birthday suit and lie on the forest bath floor, ignore the swarm of midges going to town on your nether regions, and bask in the petrichor that is: Blind Guys Chat. 4 out of 5 trees prefer it to bark.

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Hello our little sweltering lemmings and welcome to this episode of the podcast. We begin this week’s show with very special birthday wishes to Rosalie Bloem; Jan’s wonderful princess daughter, which is swiftly followed by a hook up with Sherpa Radi, one of the 2 very patient Sherpas who helped Stuart to summit Mount Kilimanjaro recently. Radi gives us a blow-by-blow account of his journey and explains the extreme difficulties in not only carrying Mr “big-bottomed” Lawler, but also his beer. Jan and Óran were not afraid to ask the hard questions, which included:

1. How do you open a bottle of beer when the temperature is 5 gazillion degrees below freezing?
2. Did Stuart eat the yellow snow?
3. Did Stuart make the yellow snow?
4. Were Stuart and Radi snuggle buddies?

After hearing these answers, Jan and Óran visited their psychiatrist and hypnotist to erase those images from their brains, we continued with the show. It seems here in Ireland we are experiencing a heatwave but not so much in The Netherlands, but fear not dear Jan, we are sure very soon the cold weather will bite our butts.

Have you subscribed to the JAWS beta program? Jan is telling us about a nice new feature called “Face in View” which should help all of us ensure your laptop camera is not pointing at the ceiling when you are in an online meeting. This new feature tells you about key visual details like: Is my face centred in the view? Am I looking directly at the camera? Is the lighting adequate? Are there additional people or items in the picture? Unfortunately, it won’t tell you if you’ve spinach in your teeth.

We’ve decided we’re going to devote some shows over the next few months to learning more about guide dogs. We’ll talk to a variety of guests about the whole process which might help you understand more about being a guide dog user, and maybe help you decide if you would like a guide dog. Our first guest for this series is the wonderful Deirdre Fahy. Deirdre has puppy raised more than 10 dogs for Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind, and is also a brood holder. We’re big fans of Deirdre around here. Listen to find out why. We reckon you’ll love her too after listening to our chat.

Clodagh has emails from Roisin Lenehan who has a question for Jan about trains in the Netherlands, and Blind Gordon has raised a complaint for which the Blind Guys need to apologise, but not Clodagh for some reason…

So, strip down to your odd socks, slather on your out-of-date suntan lotion and let yourself melt into that wobbly plastic garden chair while listening to the only podcast still audible after a nuclear attack: Blind Guys Chat. 6.8 out of 10 guide dog puppies prefer it to going to the vets.

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Hello our little butterflies and thank you for tuning into this week’s show. At long last we are a family again as Stuart managed to bribe his sherpas to come back up the mountain and rescue him from the flagpole. They then drop kicked him all the way over to the BGC studio just in time to record this episode with us. As usual the guys are talking about the weather and in particular storm ‘Betty’ which roared through Ireland over the weekend. Have you any weather stories? Let us know by emailing [email protected]. Stuart has purchased a new iPhone 12 SE and is loving the return of a home button. But is it an upgrade or downgrade and is Jan tempted to make a purchase also? Are passwords about to become a thing of the past? Apparently, Microsoft, Apple and Google are all working together on an alternative to pesky passwords. What do you think? Will it ever happen? Óran really hopes so, cos he hates Microsoft Authenticator for its lack of proper accessibility. Does your guide doggy get distracted? Well Jade McCormack, Jan and Óran have a chat about this topic and would be very interested to hear from anyone who is having similar problems. It would be great to hear any good ideas around how to deal with distracted doggies, and the people/things who distract them. Share your stories here: [email protected]. In TV corner, Stuart and Óran are talking about ‘Hijack’ on Apple TV and ‘The 6th Commandment’ on BBC. Clodagh has news on Braille gift cards available from Marks and Spencers: https://corporate.marksandspencer.com/media/press-releases/ms-rolls-out-braille-range-including-industry-first-gift-card. The guys are in trouble with a new listener, as we forgot to post the link to Nora Casey’s Van de Graaff yokey in the last episode’s show notes, so here it is: https://www.mos.org/live-presentations/lightning. Sorry listeners, but better late than never, right?! Kevin Farrell is wondering if the Blind Guys are being head hunted by RTÉ? In case you didn’t hear there was a bit of trouble recently involving a presenter and it seems the Blind Guys could be taking over a radio slot, and maybe even a major chat show -  woohoo! Finally, do you want a laugh? Have a listen to this very funny air traffic controller’s after dinner speech that Óran mentioned during the show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqm73DLtwD0&ab_channel=twan1945 So, strip off your radioactive suit; stop pumping plutonium into the Yellow Sea; and get ready for the most listened to podcast on the moon: Blind Guys Chat! 17 out of 20 Russian space probes prefer it to crashing and burning on the moon’s surface.

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Hello our little hatchlings and welcome to a shiny new episode of Blind Guys Chat. We begin our show this week with some almost-but-not-really upsetting news: It appears that Stuart’s adventure to Mount Kilimanjaro has hit a little bump in the road; apparently his sherpas have had enough of lugging his beer supply up the mountain, so instead of raising the Blind Guys Chat flag at the summit, they decided to mount Stuart on the flagpole, possibly by his very attractive thermal underjocks. But don’t despair - Jan, Óran, and Clodagh are considering the possibility of creating a crowd-funding site where you can donate to get Stu down again. Unfortunately, our next management meeting is not until December 4th, so Stuart will have to wait for that decision to be made. However, Jan and Óran have realised there is a bright side to this. Since they retrofitted lightbulbs into Stuart’s prosthetic eyes, he has now effectively become a beacon for aircraft flying in the area, warning them to steer away from the high mountains and thus Jan and Óran are actually saving lives, So, as you can see, it’s not all bad news.

But , Clodagh brought up the fact that they won’t work when Stuart has his eyes closed. We may need to rethink this...

Jan is back from his sixth holiday of the year. He has been fighting the French in Normandy. We say French but really we mean fighting his deck chair because he has been spending his time visiting World War 2 historic sites with his family while camping in a forest and living the life of a well-mannered Frenchman, (is that an oxymoron?). Yes, the Bloem family jumped into the Tesla and took a spin to France. Apparently, their campsite even has a treehouse you can stay in. And the Bloem family were not alone - oh no! There were loads of Irish campers there too: sorry about that Jan. Jan also shares some other recent dramas – be sure to listen out for that scary story.

Talking about the Irish, Óran has a story from a work colleague who has just come back from Greece, a place where you could fry an egg on a stone at the moment.

Clodagh has an email from Nora Casey who in the interests of science has taken one for the team and entered a big science yoki-thingymajig in order to experience lightning. Did it smell like barbecue chicken? Nora explains all…

Aaron Linson also emailed in to tell us about his new job. We wish you the very best Aaron.

So, strip down to your furry outer coat, dump the wet gear in a stinky pile inside the door, and get ready to be a hero on the beaches of Normandy, cos it’s time for the French to get used to the sound of Blind Guys Chat - 8 out of 10 Frenchmen prefer it to having a bad attitude.

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Hello dear listeners and welcome to the most funlyest podcast in the world ever (and yes, we know that’s not a real word. We make up our own words around here. Don't you?). In a change to our regular programme schedule and because the 2 messers (Jan & Stuart) are on holiday, we have had to invoke the “wheel of stand-ins” to help us fairly select a listener who has offered to guest-host, so let’s give it a whirl and see who comes out a winner!

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Hello dear listeners. Well, with the fall of the Dutch government being a direct result of Jan and Sjef's influence, we begin the show looking for an account of the events that have led the people of the Netherlands into another election. We bring you the full facts and the reasons that brought about this historic event.(Spoiler alert. We don't really!!) Stuart has news about Sight Village which is happening in Birmingham shortly and he an Jan did a webinar recently for Sight and Sound on the evolution of the screen reader JAWS but they didn’t get this approved by their line manager/producer/Óran. …not that he is bitter or anything about being left out of this fantastic event. Anyway, let’s move on. Harrumph. In other news: Stuart and Jan have both found an issue with what seems to be the latest version of Zoom. It looks like the “Share computer sound option” when sharing your screen has gone missing. Have you found the same issue? In other news, Óran seems to have lost all his saved emails in Outlook; do Jan and Stuart have any solutions? Professor John Sweeney makes a welcome return to the podcast. As you will be aware the Very Reverend Professor John knows absolutely everything about climate and climate change and his chat with the guys was so good that we decided to make it a two-parter, so this week you will hear part #1. Tune in on the 27th July for the second part. In TV Corner, we are recommending ‘Hijack’ on Apple TV and Clodagh’s favourite show, not really, Suits on Netflix. Jan is also wondering if there is AD available on the movie End of Days. He is heading off to Normandy and wants to watch the movie before he “fights them on the beaches”. We also have great news about ‘The Crown’ Season 5. In a new departure, the guys are going back to basics. We are talking about keyboards and if they use any bumpons to quickly navigate a qwerty keyboard? Derry Lawler is on the email machine and has done some research for the Blind Guys regarding the smell of lightening. He also has some advice for those of us who have a Netflix subscription.

Phew, it’s an action-packed show this week folks, so get your voting cards ready and remember to vote early and often for the number 1 podcast as recently voted by Dogs who love dogs magazine: Blind Guys Chat!

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Hello you little rascals, are you hot enough? Have you been enjoying the good weather? Well Jan is roasting in his attic studio with 31 degrees of boiling heat and the producer won’t let him leave the fan on during recording, so he’s melting. Speaking of boiling, do you have one of those boiling water taps or a One cup kettle? Check it out here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Breville-HotCup-Dispenser-Variable-Dispense/dp/B078L3WJWM. Well, Óran thinks the kettle is great but Stuart is not too sure if the water will be hot enough for his needs… he has a lot of needs ya know! Have you ever been hit by lightning? What did it smell like? Jan is desperate to know. Tell us all about it on [email protected]. Our guests this week are Dr Rachel Bermingham and Dr Ellen Moran from the research department in Fighting Blindness. They’re chatting to us about the research that Fighting Blindness supports, and about the upcoming Retina International World Congress 2024. This was a highly informative interview – thanks to the two doctors for chatting with us. And if you want more information on what they talked to us about, see these links below: https://www.fightingblindness.ie/how-we-can-help-research-patient-and-public-involvement-in-research-and-development-ppi-for-people-living-with-sight-loss-vip-network/ https://www.fightingblindness.ie/how-we-can-help/research/meet-your-researchers/   https://www.fightingblindness.ie/news/save-the-date-for-riwc-2024-5-8-june-in-dublin/ And finally, in case you are interested, here’s the list of mental health supports that Fighting Blindness offers: https://tinyurl.com/BGCsupports. This list was collated from the mental health panel discussion in Episode 57 of Blind Guys Chat, which you can listen back to here: https://tinyurl.com/BlindGuysChatEp57. In TV corner we are talking about: ‘Best Interest’: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10714820/ ‘Silo’: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14688458/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 and ‘Wonders of the World I Can't See’: (with blind UK comedian Chris McCausland) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt28078974/ And by the way, if you want a quick laugh, check out Chris McCausland and Lee Mack presenting at the BAFTA’S this year here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLhy0Zq95HU&ab_channel=BBC Clodagh and Óran’s friend Antonia Gunko Karelina was featured on RTÉ Radio One’s programme ‘Sunday Miscellany’ on Sunday 25 June 2023. She spoke about how dancing the tango helped her cope with the trauma of having to abandon her home because of the war in Ukraine, and how she feels embraced by the people of Ireland. It’s a beautiful piece and is very moving – you can listen to it here: https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/clips/22266657/ Stuart has news about a webinar he is hosting with Jan next week, see details here: https://www.sightandsound.co.uk/event/webinar-wednesday-catching-up-with-vispero-software-enhancements/ We have emails from Nora from Boston, Blind Gordon from Scotland (with a lovely voice message), another lovely voice message from Suave Saleem, and a final email from Aaron Linson in the USA. Poor Clodagh was feeling the pressure! So, forget about slush funds, jump into that paddling pool, and get ready to listen to one of the sweatiest and most awe-inspiring podcasts in the known universe: Blind Guys Chat… 8 out of 10 CFO’s prefer it to a slap on the wrist.

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Hello dear Blind Guys Chatters - it’s time for your favourite podcast. We begin the show with some very sad news. Our friend Danlami Bashru from Nigeria has sadly passed away. Danlami was our first guest on the podcast back in September 2020, and we would like to dedicate this week’s show to him. Danlami was an erudite, highly educated man, and a great advocate for blind and vision impaired people throughout his beloved Nigeria. The Blind Guys were honoured that he agreed to come onto the show and chat with us. After a little reminiscing about our friend Danlami, we move on with the show to discuss our favourite topic - the weather. Poor Jan has been melting away in 30 degree heat - that's Celsius of course. There are no flies on Sjef though; he’s in the bathroom lounging in a bath of ice. Stuart has actually spent some money - he handed over his chauffeur’s yearly salary for a months subscription to Chat GPT. Was it worth it? Spoiler alert - no, not really, but he does give the new Chat GPT IOS app the thumbs up. Our guest this week is Oleg Shevkun. Oleg grew up in Leningrad and Moscow before taking a pitstop in Dallas before finally settling in Germany. He works as a tester at Vispero and is here to tell us all about his life and how he ended up working there. Clodagh has an email from our friend Gary in South Africa. Gary has taken the time to do a great demo of the Seeing AI app. In his demo we get to see what is in his fridge, and before you guess, Stuart, it's not beer! Finally, we end where we began, and have put together a little montage of our interview with Danlami Bashru from episode 2 of Blind Guys Chat. If you would like to listen to the full episode again, you'll find it here: : https://pnc.st/s/blind-guys-chat/3ffab55fc9c24603/002-dogs-drains-and-the-dreaded-double-d- We would like to offer our sincere sympathies to Danlami's family. May he rest in peace.

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It’s time for another fun-filled 60 minutes with the blind guys, and this week we welcome back part-time co-host and part-time sunbather - Stuart Lawler. Yes Stuart is gracing us with his presence so he can tell Óran and Jan all about his latest holiday - smiling pile of poo emoji.

This week in a change to our normal programming i.e Óran moaning about something, we instead have Jan standing on his soapbox giving out about trying to pay a restaurant bill using a touch screen credit card machine. Have you ever been forced to give your pin number to a stranger? Well we think enough is enough, and action is required.

Stuart has recorded a demo using his very best friend, Chat GPT.

Clodagh’s got emails from Gary Hough like cough, and an audio message from Dave Nason, who has news about Sky support being available via the Be My Eyes app.

So, chill out on your deck chair. Have the pool boy dredge the pool for toenail clippings, and get settled in for episode 72 of the number one podcast in the omniverse: Blind Guys Chat! 8 out of 11 field mice prefer it to a big chunk of emmental.

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