It’s that time of the year – round ups and summaries everywhere – so I thought I’d do a few of my own, highlighting some random bits and bobs from my 2023 for your entertainment.
My first list is three of my favourite YouTube channels – not necessarily ones I discovered this year, but the ones that I have watched the most over all.
Two are animal based, and one is about food – I feel like this will not surprise anyone here.
Luke’s Goldies
Or, as Caius likes to call it: ‘*eye roll* Goldfish Man.
This started out on Facebook, where it randomly fed me a few reels from Luke’s Goldies about looking after goldfish. They’d come up for Liberty too, and her husband loves his goldfish so we’d share them as a joke… but then suddenly I realised that rather than him getting addicted to the Goldfish Man videos on Facebook, I was actively looking him up on YouTube just to watch for fun.
I was suddenly invested in this random 21 year old American’s dream of running a Goldfish Farm. I knew his favourite fish’s names, and knew more about goldfish than anyone who doesn’t have fish needs to, but also I couldn’t (can’t!) stop watching.
It wasn’t just 30 second reels anymore, I was watching full 10-20 minute videos and not regretting a second of it.
I have enjoyed following through the year as Luke has bought his own property and moved his fish across the country to start up on his own rather than running the business from tanks in his parents’ greenhouse.
Luke is genuinely a pleasure to watch/listen to, and I enjoy learning things I don’t need to know about fish and watching him adapt and develop his new home.
The fish basement has become a happy place for me, and yes, I do have a favourite fish. And also yes she is my favourite because she causes all the drama (she’s called Jill and she likes to eat her tank mates!)
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Snake Discovery
I don’t even really know how I discovered this channel, I just suddenly found myself watching their entire back catalogue and am now firmly addicted to their updates.
Snake Discovery is a channel run by Emily & Ed, and they like snakes (surprise!) and reptiles in general (and invertibrates too). They breed snakes, run a rescue, AND they have a reptile zoo.
It is a very good job they are in America and I am not, because otherwise I’d probably have adopted a snake, or a skink, or some other adorable derpy reptile from them at least twice over this year.
As it is, I make do with following along with their channel and keeping up with their animals instead.
I love the channel partly because the subject is fascinating, but largely because Emily and Ed clearly love what they do, and their passion and enthusiasm for the animals in their care is utterly contagious.
ALSO there are lots of baby snake videos. Baby snakes are adorable. And sassy.
My favourite snakes are the Hognoses because they are drama queens – if they think they are going to get eaten, they will roll over onto their back, open their mouth and flop out their tongue like a cartoon character, to try and convince you (the potential threat) that they are actually dead and thus not worth eating. They can even burst a blood vessel in their mouth for an extra dramatic show of dead-ness if they feel it is needed.
This is adorable, and hilarious. Especially when they stop being dead to see if the threat has passed, realise that it hasn’t, and promptly ‘die’ again. Saying very clearly: ‘You didn’t see anything. Am dead. Was dead the whooooole time. Dead. No eaty. Deaded.’ in Snake language.
I challenge you to watch the next clip and not laugh at the little drama noodle.
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Sorted Food
A group of mates in London who love food, making food, playing with food, enjoying food and each other’s company.
They are not only highly entertaining to watch, but they are great for hints and tips and ideas for home cooking, reducing food waste, and discovering new flavours. (And their recipe app is excellent, too!)
The fact that it is a British channel makes so much difference – their recipes and ideas are all in measurements I don’t have to convert for a start. And whilst it is definitely easier for them to get hold of some ingredients in London than it is out here in the Shropshire Wilds, they very rarely use things that are impossible to get hold of (or use random names for things so I think they’re crazy exotic, but actually they’re not.)
These guys have totally replaced my MasterChef addiction, and Caius enjoys watching them (unlike the fish and the snakes) so I get to watch with him, too. Everything’s more fun with friends.
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I know I said three but I feel like this list is incomplete without featuring my most consistent YouTube addiction of all – DashCam videos.
I dread to think how many hours of my life I have spent watching these, but they’re just endlessly entertaining/horrifying/amusing. It’s like Police, Camera, Action… only there’s an almost endless supply, because Internet.
There’s one playing on the TV in the background as I type this, in fact. Someone just got sideswiped by a recovery van on a motorway in the dark…
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What are your favourite YT channels?
Which of my three addictions is your favourite – fish, snakes, or food? (or cars)
Carole Finds Her Wings 