Ever considered wood turning? Well if you have, stay tuned, cos we are talking to Mr John Furniss, 'The Blind Woodsman' who lives all the way over in Washington State, USA. That's in America you know! John is here to tell us all about this craft that he loves. It's a fantastic chat and it might even inspire you to pick up a lump of wood and a chisel.

Big News. Jan and Sjef are going to be in a movie!! Yes, he is starring in the new marvel sequel 'SuperDog, Below Sea Level'. No seriously, Jan and Sjef are going to be in a movie, for real, totally!

Stuart has news about his favourite app, Chat GPT. Apparently some guys in China have programmed it to work with Siri on IOS.

Talking about IOS, are you having any problems with dictation when writing a text or email on your iPhone? Well Óran is, and he is looking for answers, because Jan and Stuart don't have a clue.

Clodagh has emails from Aaron, Saleem and Anna. Are Saleem and Anna offering themselves up as replacements for Stuart? Stay tuned until the end and you will find out.

So, brush the sawdust off the couch, strip yourself down to the fine grain, throw nextdoor's treehouse onto the fire to keep warm, and listen to the number 1 podcast this side of a mahogany dining table: Blind Guys Chat.

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Welcome back Stuart. Yes, Clodagh has washed, ironed, and pressed Stuarts favourite off the shoulder number so he can wear it for this week’s show. After a bout of pneumonia remedied by beer and crisps, he is back with tons of information for you, dear listeners. Óran, Clodagh, and Larry have returned from a recent trip to London (that’s in the UK you know), and while they did have a lovely time, Óran has some stories to share about the London underground and also being refused from some establishments. He is thinking about writing a strongly worded letter to the King. Will you be purchasing an iPhone 15? Well Jan has some news about the lack of buttons on the upcoming release that might change your mind. Stuart has news on Windows 11 and how it will support Apple i-message amongst other things and also how Microsoft have now integrated Chat GPT into Skype. Clodagh has lots of emails to get through, most of which seem to be offering alternative presenters to replace Stuart. So, forget about the fact it’s cold, wet, and feckin’ miserable; warm up some hot chocolate; open a packet of milk duds and settle back and listen to the number one podcast this side of a conscious mind: Blind Guys Chat.

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We have a proper star on this week’s show: Bonnie, a wonderful young Irish actress and singer, along with producers Colm and Aidan, are here to tell us all about their fantastic podcast ‘Maddie and Triggs’. The show’s main character, Maddie, is visually impaired, and together with her dog Triggs, they get up to all sorts of adventures. This brilliant children’s podcast may be making its debut on TV soon. We certainly hope so, being toddlers at heart! Jan is on cloud nine because his local football team haven’t lost a match so far this year. But hang on – it’s only February and they’ve only played a few games so far - isn’t it a bit too early for loud cheers and celebrations!?! Have you heard of the Access Card? Óran was delighted when he was approved for a shiny new Access Card recently. The Access Card (sometimes referred to as a CredAbility Card or a Nimbus Card) is like no other. It indicates your disability/impairment with subtle symbols that help service providers understand the barriers you face and the additional needs you might have. Some providers may also give you access to discounts, concessionary ticket prices, or free sighted guide/helper monkey tickets. And you might get to skip the odd queue (“line” for our American friends!). Think of it as a “disability passport”. You can use it in the UK, and parts of the USA, New Zealand, and other countries that support it. Go to accesscard.online to read more about the card and how to apply. Clodagh’s got an email from Aaron Linson who among other things is offering his presenting services if Stuart becomes sick again.

So put the ball on the penalty spot, look at the goalkeeper with an air of defiance, and plant that ball in the top right hand corner of the onion box. Then celebrate by listening to ep 63 of Blind Guys Chat. Clodagh says it’s better than football.

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It seems to be all about tech this week. We kick off the show wondering what that Chinese balloon was doing flying over the USA. Was it looking for a birthday party and if yes, can the Blind Guys come along? Jan is refusing to sell anymore microchips to the Chinese until the balloon is shot down by Donald Trump. Stuart has news about Microsoft. Apparently, they have announced the official end of supporting Windows 10 as of January 31 2023. Can we go back to Windows 95 please? Also, Google are integrating 'Google Meet' into Gmail. Have you used Google Meet? What was your experience of this communication application? Sticking with Google, seemingly they are also running scared of Chat GPT - the Blind Guys have been experimenting with this AI application and they share their thoughts. Microsoft have also announced that the popular mobility app Soundscape is no longer available for download and existing downloads will only run until June 2023. Will someone try to keep it alive via open source or is that the end of the road for Soundscape? It's a welcome return to friend-of-the-show, Kevin Sherwin. Kevin is here to give us his take on last Friday’s ‘Song for Europe’, which is a contest to decide who will fly the flag for Ireland at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool? Will it be Father Ted and Father Dougal with their catchy melody 'My Lovely Horse'? Tune in to find out... Derry Lawlor has sent in an email with his details of his favourite holidays. Is it the Guinness brewery? And Blind Gordon is on the email machine to tell us that the Spring twitter app is no longer working. Major bummer!! So, forget about the Grammys, throw those Richard Clayderman audio cassettes into the fire. Stub out that vape, and get ready for the most techie-licious and awe-inspiring podcast this side of a big pile of party balloons: Blind Guys Chat! 16 out of 22 newborn lambs prefer it to chicken nuggets. 😂

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Hey folks, it's time for another rip roaring episode of BGC and this week the holiday maker Mr Juicy bits (aka Stuart) is gracing us with his presence. Yes, fresh from waxing his juicy bits in the Maldives, he returns to the show and is already moaning about how messy Clodagh made his marble and gold lined desk.

We kick off the show with a request from Óran asking if Blind Gordon knows how to populate twitter addresses when using Spring. Then we talk about our second favourite topic, holidays. Have you ever used Traveleyes or Seeability for your holiday? Let us know - the email is [email protected]

Stuart has sacked his driver and is wondering if you lovely people have used Uber or Bolt taxi services, and what you think of the app and service in general. We also learn that Jan has his own personal taxi driver and it's not his wife Chantal.

Stuart tells the guys about ChatGPT (well, there was some confusion about the name!). It's an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot that can generate text on almost any topic or theme. It's so good that people are using it to write their essays for school and university!

In TV corner we talk about 'Treason', 'Kaleidoscope' and 'The Rig', and Óran thinks it's high time we had awards for audio description (AD) - he would like you to send BAFTA an email suggesting that they create an award for "excellence in the field of audio description". The email address is [email protected] for the attention of Sarah Pitt and Jane Millichip.

Propped up in her sick bed, Clodagh has emails from Gary Hough and Aaron Linson, and an audio message from Blind Gordon.

So, grab your cough bottle, call an Uber to take you to to the kitchen where you can make yourself a nice hot chocolate and listen to the greatest showstopping podcast this side of the flu vaccine: Blind Guys Chat.

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Happy new year to all our listeners. We hope Santa brought you lots of gifts and you are ready to embrace 2023 with vigour and hot chocolate, which is what one of our crew is doing this week. Yes, Stuart is skiing in the Maldives, or that’s what he told us. Is there snow in the Maldives? Jan and Óran are not so sure. So stepping in again, at great expense we might add, is Clodagh. We start off this week with an ask: The Blind Guys would love to know what holidays you have been on that you really enjoyed, whether it be because the accessibility was great or the public transport was fantastic, or the people were very helpful, etc. Maybe you have been on a cruise with your guide dog? Drop us a line and tell us how you got on. We’d love to hear about your travel tips also, like don’t forget your long cane, as Jan did! The email is [email protected]. We’re looking forward to hearing from you. Our guest this week is Mark Pollock. Mark is a blind paraplegic adventurer, and he was a lot of fun to interview. We hope you enjoy hearing about his exploits. In email corner, Clodagh turned the tables and wrote to one of our regulars. She heard a rumour that Scottish people can’t say a particular phrase and she wanted to find out if it’s true. Our Scottish correspondent tells us all, which triggers a rather confusing side chat about Smurfs. And then Clare McLoughlin of “Seen Unseen” got in touch to tell us about their new 2023 schedule, which is available at https://tinyurl.com/SeenUnseenschedule. All “Seen Unseen” events are free! You can get more info and book your place by emailing Clare at [email protected] So put on your wind breaker, take the curlers out of your hair and have a listen to the best podcast this side of a drunken crab on steroids. Blind Guys Chat.

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It’s that time of year again folks! Yes, it’s time for a World Cup final - ahem… …no, it’s our Christmas Show and this year we have a twist. The Blind Guys were all set to chat with Santa but it seems Santa has had a problem with his glasses and can’t make the show. However, Mrs Claus has come to the rescue and we get to chat to the woman behind the red suit, or does she wear a red suit also? Let’s find out. Yes, wonderful Mrs Claus is here to tell us all about what is happening up in the North Pole and we even get to guess what her first name might be. We also hear about how Mrs Claus and Santa prepare Christmas Day lunch for all the hard working elves and she even has some of her own jokes which leaves the Blind Guys in stitches. In other news, we hear how Óran and Clodagh took their first trip away with Larry. How did Larry get on in the plane and did he make some new foreign friends? Blind Gordon has sent a very detailed message on using Mastodon and is very pleased with the overall experience. Dave Nason gives us his views on Mastodon and The Crown. Dave also has news on a free 6 month subscription to Apple TV courtesy of Sky. So, throw your baubles in the fire, put more whiskey in that eggnog and prepare yourself for the best podcast this side of a meteor shower: Blind Guys Chat. (Oh, and happy Christmas to all our Blind Guys Chatters!)

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Hello our little hibernating bunny rabbits! We hope this week’s show finds you warm and cosy. Well, this week Stuart (wearing his man-pants) is back with us after his travels to northern Germany, and yes he has indeed been suffering from a hangover due to his consumption of shots. He claims some mornings he cannot lift his head, however, we think he is just lazy. Once we get Stuart in an upright position it’s time to kick off with the show. Jan and Óran are, to put it mildly, disappointed with the FIFA chairman and his recent comments during the current World Cup. Basically, he’s a spanner!! Have you been watching the new series of The Crown? What do you think? Stuart and Óran are less impressed with this series and especially with the lack of aristocratic-ness of the characters. Óran feels they are not posh enough while Stuart is largely unimpressed with the storylines. However, they have no such comments when it comes to their favourite audio describer Veronika Hyks. As usual she is doing a wonderful job in this series and Stuart is still very much in love. Have you started Tootin’? The Blind Guys are wondering if it is time to kick Twitter to touch in light of Mr Elon Musk’s shenanigans - escape the dark side and defect to Mastodon. Do you have a Mastodon account? Do you know much about how it works? In other words, the Blind Guys haven’t a clue and are looking for advice and user experiences of the social media client. We have actually set up a Mastodon account – it’s @[email protected]. Friend/follow/Toot us! Clodagh has received an email from Ms Panty Bliss who has with a very strange question for Stuart. It has something to do with boobage, so stay tuned for that one. So, take a break from decorating the Christmas tree, strip down to your “I heart Mrs Claus” briefs, and listen to the number one podcast, hosted by those most likely to fart in a space suit: Blind Guys Chat!

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It’s time for your favourite podcast again folks. We have a small change to the starting panel as Stuart has gone to Germany searching for gas to heat his massive penthouse in the sleepy suburbs of Kathmandu. So, wearing one of Stuart’s off the shoulder numbers is the wonderful Clodagh. Ooh la la… We kick off this week with Jan and his new video doorbell. Yes, it appears Jan’s wife is getting a bit sick and tired of Larry bursting through the front door for playtime with Sjef. So the Bloem household now features a First Security video doorbell which Jan thinks is the business. The great news is that it is not a subscription service but rather has an SD card for recording locally instead of on the cloud, like Ring doorbells. Check it out here: www.firstsecurityserviceinc.com/video-doorbell.html Now that the security is sorted, it’s time to move onto a great discussion on mental health. Clodagh is joined by Peter O’Toole, Head of Counselling, Wellbeing & Emotional Support with NCBI; Kathryn Sinnott, Senior Fundraising Executive and Insight Counselling Service Insight Groups Coordinator in Fighting Blindness; and Ken Walsh, who is visually impaired and is a guide dog owner. The panel talk about how to recognise when you might benefit from some support with your mental health, what support groups are available, and the difference between counselling and support groups, and much more besides. We have compiled a list of supports available from Fighting Blindness and NCBI which you can access here: tinyurl.com/BGCsupports. We will add to this list as time goes on. If you would like to add information about these kinds of services from your country, please send the info to [email protected]. So, throw caution to the wind, throw frisbees to the dog, and settle in for the number 1 podcast as voted by COP27 delegates: Blind Guys Chat. 27 out of 27 attendees prefer it to overpriced sandwiches and desalinated water.

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Hello dear listeners and welcome to episode 56 of BGC. This week we get straight into chatting with our special guest who has won the hearts and minds of all the Blind Guys, even Sjef & Larry. Yes it’s a huge welcome back to Veronika Hyks, audio describer extraordinaire!! We get the low-down on some of the storylines from the new series of The Crown which will be available from November 9. We also talk to Veronika about the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, the state of politics in the UK, and the work she has been doing updating the way in which audio description should be written and more importantly, the Who, What, Where & Why of AD. It’s a fantastic interview and we are so grateful that Veronika took the time to speak with us. We also have emails from Clodagh, where we hear about Blind Gordon’s Excel sheet of shortcut key commands, hmmmm… could the Blind Guys pass this off as their own?!! and an email from Fiona commenting on the discrepancy between the cost of a digital stamp compared to a real stamp. So, loosen your suspenders, stick on a pot of coffee, light up those remaining fireworks, and get ready for the number 1 audio described podcast this side of an articulated truck … Blind Guys Chat! 16 out of 21 koala bears prefer it to returning boomerangs.

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