Look, it's another audio post. It’s almost as though I like the sound of my own voice. (I don’t, particularly, yet here we are again!)

If we’re connected on social media you’ve probably seen me mention Queer Out Here. (For good measure: Like our page on Facebook! Follow us on Twitter!) Queer Out Here is an audio zine that explores the outdoors from queer/LGBTQIA+ perspectives. I’m co-editing it with Allysse from Beste Glatisant. The idea is that queer/LGBTQIA+ folks create outdoors-related sound pieces and submit them to Queer Out Here, then we collate them into an issue of the audio zine. (What’s an audio zine? Think of it as a sort of cross between an art journal, a zine and a podcast.) We launched the Queer Out Here website and call for submissions a couple of months ago and I am super excited to hear what people create. (Fellow outdoorsy queers, please submit something! Deadline is 2 January 2018.)

Here was our initial mini-introduction and invitation to contribute.

And now, Allysse and I have recorded an interview with each other as a kind of pre-zine introduction, or Issue 00, if you will. You can listen to it here (includes content notes and links to transcript on Google Docs and as PDF.)

Click the button below to listen to Issue 00 on the Queer Out Here website.

I was nervous about recording this. I usually redraft my blog posts a couple of times and have Dan proofread them before I publish because I don’t like to make mistakes, say something that hurts other people, or something I’ll regret. So the idea of talking unscripted, then recording it and putting out there for everyone to hear - ugh! Add to that my self-consciousness about my speaking voice . . . Well, I almost didn’t do it at all.

“But, hey,” I thought, “If I want people to make audio for Queer Out Here - people who will also have their own hang-ups and anxieties about various elements of it - the least I can do is face my own discomfort.” And of course, it didn’t end up being as horrible as I feared. In fact, it was quite fun. As Allysse and I live in different parts of the UK, we played tag with questions and responses, recording our sections then emailing them over to the other person for their answers. I looked forward to hearing Allysse’s thoughts and the sounds of wherever she was recording. It wasn’t so bad doing my own parts, either, because I got to think about my responses before recording, make a mental (or written!) note about how I could answer the questions and re-record something if I stumbled badly over the words, or went off on a wild tangent or really couldn’t stand the way I sounded.

The interview is based around four questions:

• Does being queer affect your experience of being outdoors?
• How is your creativity influenced by being outdoors?
• What do you love about field recordings?
• What kinds of outdoor places are you drawn to?

There are things I wish I’d said, or said differently, or not said. I wish I'd mentioned that submissions can be about all kinds of outdoors experience, not just travel, nature, sport, etc. I wish I'd acknowledged that when "I grew up on the Snowy River" or "lived in Melbourne", this was on GunaiKurnai/Krowathunkaloong and Kulin/Wurundjeri country. There are moments when I cringe at my voice - and there’s nothing like transcribing yourself to, like, I guess, realise all your bad speaking habits, you know? But it is what it is. Hopefully it’s mildly enjoyable for other people.

So, please pop this on your listening device and let Allysse and me chat to you for a bit. Issue 00 comes in at a bit over 50 minutes, which might suit your commute, or perhaps you could listen while making dinner . . . or maybe it’s something that will send you to sleep.

We’d love to hear from you - about this interview (content or format), about ideas for your own Queer Out Here submission/s, about our RSS feed (does it work for you), about groups and/or individuals you think we should get in touch with. You can leave a comment here, or contact Queer Out Here on Twitter, Facebook or by email.

You probably know the feeling. You’re out for a walk on a beautiful day, the breeze on your face, the path beneath your feet. You’ve been going for a couple of hours and you finally reach the top of your hill to be rewarded by a gorgeous view - marred by rubbish. Grr. *

Whether it’s empty drink bottles on mountain tops, crisp packets strewn across local footpaths, the detritus of summer BBQs on the beach or dog poo bags hanging from hedges, there are parts of the country where litter seems to be a constant feature. But there is also a growing movement to clean up the countryside, the beach, the streets. Grassroots organisations like Clean Seas Please hold regular beach cleans, and the #2MinuteBeachClean campaign has been launched in Ireland this year. Online communities are pitching in, too - inspired by the Meek family, the Outdoor Bloggers network ran the Big Outdoor Bloggers Clean Up earlier this year.
 
I recently interviewed Adam Watts, founder of Summit Snappr, and talked to him about his new venture to help clean up the UK’s mountains.

Hi Adam, thanks for your time. Could we start with a brief introduction?
​
Hey man, I’m Adam Watts, founder of Summit Snappr, and one of a group of four adventure bloggers at Dorks on a Hill. In my day-to-day, I’m a trainer/project manager, and my evening routine usually consists of sterilising baby bottles and reading bedtime stories to my daughter. As a father of two, adventuring fits around my life, as opposed to the opposite - which is the perception you might get looking at our Instagram account!

Tell me a bit more about your new project, Summit Snappr. What is it, and how did you come up with the idea?
 
Summit Snappr is the manifestation of an idea I had - or, actually, I’ve married two existing ideas together.  We interviewed The Real Three Peak Challenge for Dorks on a Hill and the work they do to keep the mountains tidy completely inspired me. They arrange litter pick events on Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon and last year they picked a tonne of rubbish (literally a tonne) from just three mountains. I was really trying hard to think of a way that we could help to battle this, too . . . and then I remembered a news segment from maybe two years ago or so, where a school had developed an app for their students to analyse what litter was being dropped in their playground. I really liked the idea of using social media as a way to engage with people and encourage them to take action against littering.

So Summit Snappr is part litter pick and part litter survey?

Yes. Basically, you just head over to dorksonahill.com/summit-snappr and sign up using your name and email. Then when you’re out and you find some litter, take a photo of it, pick it up and (once you have coverage) send your photo to our Facebook page. When you send a photo, you’re entered into our monthly prize draw to win outdoor and adventure goodies.
 
I’m hoping the project will create a pretty substantive litter survey that we can then use to educate and influence the public, companies and even government on the issues facing the UK’s mountainscapes.

Is it only for mountains?

You don’t have to be on a mountain as such and I hate to see littering anywhere. I’m keen to build this litter survey as a piece of original, crowd-sourced environmental research, so my suggestion is get involved regardless - just let us know where you are!

I’ve taken part in a few litter picking events - some that are organised by a local group in a specific place, some that are coordinated online. What do you think the benefits are of those different approaches?

I think any action that a person takes to improve their environment is awesome. What I’m trying to do with Summit Snappr is take away any potential barrier a person might face in being involved in litter picking; there’s no set date to be involved with Summit Snappr, no expectations, no location. It really is an as-and-when type of micro-volunteering. And the fact that by being involved you have the potential to win prizes is all the better!

 Some people can find joining groups quite intimidating, and some groups can be quite cliquey. To be honest I don’t really care much for those kinds of people - we’re all fighting the same fight, so surely there’s power in numbers, right? Anyway, Summit Snappr sidesteps some of those potential issues. 

Speaking of sidestepping, dog poo is my pet hate - unbagged and kicked off the path or bagged and hung from a tree. I can’t stand the litter and it makes me think that irresponsible owners should be banned from having pets! Is there any particular kind of litter or pattern of littering that irritates you more than others? What are the main culprits where you walk?
 
Hahaha, I can sympathise with that, I can’t stand seeing plastic poo bags, full, and left hanging on a branch?! Makes no sense! For me it’s empty water bottles, I cannot stand them – but generally on the mountains I feel there’s such a lack of care. They are a true asset to the UK which is massively underrated.

Finally, what can people expect once they’ve signed up to Summit Snappr?

So, once you’ve signed up (it’s at dorksonahill.com/summit-snappr if you need a reminder!), you’ll receive a couple of emails with instructions on how to get involved with both the Snapping and the community of Snapprs we’re building.

We don’t arrange physical outings, and hopefully there will be a time when these are no longer needed, but that’s a long way off yet. We encourage you to get out there, get Snapping, and become one of the incredible people who are coming together to build a massive online community taking massive environmental action, one Snap at a time!

Thanks to Adam for setting up this great project and for taking the time to answer my questions. I also asked him where the name Summit Snappr came from. “I have no idea, to be honest,” he told me. “I was trying to think of something which would be easy to communicate across to people, oh and yes, I dropped the ‘e’ just to be cool!”
 
* If you don’t know the feeling, you’re lucky to live in a very clean area . . . or perhaps you need to make sure you’re not part of the problem . . . ?

Psst, don't forget to sign up to Summit Snappr! Do you know any other great initiatives to help clean up the environment? Feel free to link in the comments.

For Pauline, this adventure includes time painting in the little studio at the bottom of her garden. She cites Helen Oxenbury, Michael Foreman, Inga Moore and Barbara Firth as influences, and she hangs Quentin Blake illustrations on her walls. Pauline is also inspired by the natural landscape, getting out for long walks around Hastings and the “truly wild” places of the Peak District and Yorkshire when she can.  Her pencil and watercolour illustrations appear in Glenda Quinnell’s The Tooth Recycler, as well as Pauline’s own Find and Seek Trails, a series of Hastings walks with clues and puzzles for children to solve. She is typically modest about her publications, but they have been popular among customers. Her sweet pictures of mice are also much-loved by her friends and colleagues, who hope she can find a publisher for them. Pauline also has plans for art shows, craft projects and charity events.

But the Hastings Children’s Library will always hold a special place in her heart. Pauline still remembers the shiver of excitement she felt when she first picked up The Snowman by Raymond Briggs back in 1978. “At that moment I just knew that sharing the love of stories and illustrations with children, being able to encourage them to read for pleasure and introducing them to new authors and illustrators was what I wanted to do. Imagination fuels discovery, invention and creativity. That’s why the library service is so vital. It’s not just about the books, but the expertise, the encouragement, the enthusiasm you find there.” Indeed, I think. These are qualities Pauline has in abundance.

I ask Pauline if she has a message for all the people she’s inspired over the years. “Where did all the time go and how can I possibly be old enough to even contemplate it?” she says. “Thank you to everyone, staff and customers, who have made my almost forty years at the Children’s Library so wonderful. I hope I have instilled a passion for stories in several generations of children. Keep reading, everyone!”

First of all, while I’ve never met a person who wouldn’t want cake delivered to their doorstep, how did you come up with the idea of a cake delivery service?

We have a customer who regularly comes up with schemes and things for us to make, do and sell. They are usually very silly things. This time we thought, “Actually, this is a really good idea!” so we went for it. We launched our Cake Club in August at the London Vegan Festival, and the first box went out on the 12th of September.

And how does it work?

It is just like a veggie box delivery, but for cake! Subscription boxes are all the rage at the moment – think Graze. People hop on our website to buy a trial month or subscribe for 6, 9 or 12 months. The first month was mostly trial boxes, but people are beginning to subscribe now.  It costs £12 a month, including delivery to mainland UK. Customers can tell us their preferences – like if they hate fruit cake, have allergies, or want a gluten free cake – but each month’s cake is a surprise. We send four good sized portions each month… what we call the “Hastings Slice”.

You said it’s a surprise, but do you have any hints about what kinds of cakes subscribers can expect?

Well, we ultimately choose the cake but subscribers are encouraged to issue “Cake Challenges”, where they suggest a style or flavour of cake for us to make. If we accept a Cake Challenge we will give the challenger that month’s box for free. It is too early to have had any challenges through Cake Club yet, but challenges via our shop have included gluten free Eccles cakes, vegan lemon meringue pie and Pimms cake.

Where’s the furthest you’ve sent a cake? And has anyone subscribed who could’ve just walked down to the shop and bought one, because that sounds like something I’d do?

I think Manchester is the furthest our cakes have gone so far. We haven't had any orders we can hand deliver yet, but one customer has threatened to order when she moves from Hastings to St Leonards!

Finally, do you think there’s a need for more vegan food in this area? What’s your favourite vegan thing to do in Hastings?

There is always a need for more vegan food in Hastings as I am a colossal pig and am also vegan. There are loads of businesses who cater really well for us, in part I think because it's so common here.  I think, my favourite thing to do on a Sunday is go to Foyles for a nice vegan pie and mash, then to the Jenny or Crown for a pint. There is almost always someone about to chat to, or a nice bit of music to listen to, before taking a little post-pint waddle home again.