It is 10.30am and on a normal working day I would be thinking about my first podcast.
There is no point today – I wouldn’t be able to hear anything over the cacophonous leaf-sucker-upper (technical term) – one of the least pleasant of the Autumn noises.
It has stopped – fabulous! From my pocket I take out my smart(ish) phone and I lose myself in the careful selection of my first podcast of the day.
My first toe-dip into the (then) mysterious world of digital audio downloads was in about 2007. I needed to relieve the monotony of my average work day in a private garden (where the plants were so over manipulated that it felt like I was tending a stage set of tortured vegetation – poor things – rather than gardening).
Listening to music allowed my mind to wander; this led to too much thinking, which in my case is dangerous territory. Too much thinking = over-analysing and worrying. Podcasts allow me to get on with my work whilst expanding my little world for however many minutes they last.
Gardeners of a purist persuasion might say that I am losing out on some of the sensations of gardening – birdsong etc. I have a rule that I don’t listen to any podcasts before 10.30am. I soak up the sounds of the Cotswolds at the best time of day and then when my mind starts to worry about life’s complexities I fire up “The Archers” and worry about fictional people instead.
I have podcasts for different moods and different times of day.
☀️ I never listen to ‘The Weekly Mayo’ podcast unless it’s nearly lunchtime because the descriptions of Nigel Barden’s food leave my stomach aching with hunger even if I’ve just polished off a doorstep of a cheese sandwich.
☀️ If i am feeling glum then I call upon Sandi Togsvig and her News Quiz on the ‘Friday Night Comedy’ podcast or Graham Norton for some silliness.
☀️Those inevitable moments of self-pity (come on, we all have them) require a bit of ‘From Our Own Correspondent’ to remind me that my life is pretty damn brilliant compared to most people on this spinny planet.
☀️ If I need a bit of an energy boost I will reach for Chris Evans (what a perculiar thought). He gets paid to wake the nation up from Monday to Friday for a reason.
☀️ For inspiration I press the ‘Desert Island Discs’ icon. I particularly enjoy it when the guest is a successful woman. It is, and there is no other word I can find for it on a windy December afternoon, inspirational, plus I can do a little trowel-jig to some of the castaways’ selections.
☀️ There are two podcasts that I have to listen to weekly without question – my two gardening ones – ‘Gardeners Question Time’ and ‘The RHS Gardening Podcast’. I am always learning (geek).
☀️ None of my podcasts are terribly highbrow, except maybe the ‘Books and Authors’ one from Radio 4. The ones that were too intellectual fell by the wayside. I am afraid that most Melvin Bragg ‘In Our Time’ podcasts are a blur and as for the fun sciencey ones….well, my brain just isn’t wired that way. As long as I learn a few new facts every day and listen to happy people enjoying what they do, then I am happy too. If a podcast happens to make me laugh out loud when I am up to my neck in a herbaceous border, it’s a bonus. I must have looked very silly yesterday but I could help myself; Kermode and Mayo as Pinky and Perky creased me up.
I honestly do not know if I would be gardening today if it wasn’t for discovering podcasts. I like to think I would be gardening in some capacity but professionally? I’m not sure if I would have looked forward to the darker days quite so much.
Favourites = ‘The Archers’ and ‘Desert Island Discs’
#podcastoftheweek …..I’m embracing the # …….’Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo’s Film Reviews’. I am easily pleased and the Pinky and Perky voices did it for me. Smiley face.