MONSTER HUNTING: DELETED SCENE?

Hola. Hope you're all alright. The monster hunt videos seem to be going down well with those who've watched them. 

It's great for me, because it means I can keep the storybox open, and talk about some of the other weird things that I've gotten up to over the years. I did a poll on Twitter yesterday, and it looks like the next one I'll be doing - after I've recorded the genuinely quite spooky final part of the MH trip, and put out a look at my schoolbooks - will be my visit to Chernobyl with my dad. Oh, it's all me-me-me...

Suffice say, the last person you'd want with you in a radioactive wasteland is my father, who I once saw climb into the back seat of his own car, and sit there confused for 30 seconds, because he couldn't work out where the steering wheel had gone. 

There were a few things I left out of the monster hunt videos. One particular story I did record - because, for me, it was a key moment in the entire journey - but had second thoughts about, and did a sneaky cut that you wouldn't even notice. Without telling you the specifics of what happened - it's during the Tebang's Stone section, if you want to try spotting it. 

The expedition was almost 13 years ago, and it felt wrong to bring up anything from that long ago which might upset any of the people involved. Even if it's a good story/anecdote, none of the others involved in the trip asked me to make the video, and I'm not using fake names, so it felt inappropriate to bring up an event which, frankly, I don't know how the individuals responsible might feel about. They might regret it. They might've changed in the decade-plus since. They might not have. Either way, I erred on the side of caution. 

I know that's probably going to drive you mad wondering what happened, but... without naming names, somebody - maybe two somebodies - did a piss up the side of Tebang's Stone. Which, as I said in the unedited video, was a bit like visiting Westminster Cathedral and doing a shit in the font. Suffice to say, it went down very badly with the locals, and the rest of us were embarrassed and angry. With hindsight, I don't think it was intended with malice; just an act of ignorance. It was a mistake, and I'm sure those involved realised it straight away.

We live in an era where we're quick to "cancel", even when offending actions happened a decade or more ago. While certain actions and behaviour shouldn't just be ignored - obviously -  I do think we have to consider some stuff within the context of the era they happened during. Times and people change. I know I'm a very different person to the one I was 13 years ago, so I try at least to bring that benefit of the doubt to others. Especially, as in this instance, they're not celebrities, just people trying to live their life.

But anyway. It feels - at last! - that I'm out of the creative slump I've been in the past month or two. It's actually the final part of Lost Footage I'm now stuck on, while having lots of ideas for new Digi videos. Nicely, I saw Gannon the other day for 10 minutes, for the first time since all this began. I dropped some PO Box packages round to his place - left them on the doorstep, and shouted at him from the end of his drive - but it was lovely to see him. I mean, it's just lovely to see anyone at the moment, right?

Paul