Dig It with Jo Whiley and Zoe Ball - 44: Early Onset Festive Frazzle

Episode Date: December 10, 2025

Spoiler alert: may contain mice destroying treasured advent calendars, teenagers issuing hostile birthday-party ultimatums, and a Proud Mum crying her way through a graduation. Also featuring: a shockingly effective Christmas wreath crafted from a humble potato. DIG IT LIVE AT CROSSED WIRES PODCAST FESTIVAL Our first ever Digit Live is happening at Crossed Wires Festival in Sheffield on 5 July. Potting Shed presale opens 11am on 10 December, general sale 11 December. https://crossedwires.live/ SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER Stay up to date with Dig It — new updates every Friday straight to your inbox. 👉 https://digitpod.substack.com/subscribe GET IN TOUCH 📧 Email us: [e-mail] 📱 Text or Voice Note: 07477 038795 💬 Or tap here to send a voice note or message on WhatsApp:⁠ ⁠https://wa.me/447477038795 SEND US A CHRISTMAS CARD Dig It C/O Persephonica F17/18, Leah's Yard, 22 Cambridge St,  Sheffield  S1 4HP⁠⁠ CREDITS Exec Producer: Jonathan O’Sullivan Assistant Producer: Eve Jones Technical Producer: Will Gibson Smith Video Editors: Danny Pape and Jack Whiteside Dig It is a Persephonica production 

Coming up on Digit. Nell's got a couple more days of school. She's having her 16th birthday party on Saturday. I am not allowed to go under any circumstances. How rude. I was shouting over to Alexa, I was going, Alexa, let's listen to some Christmas music. Alexa, play Michael Boubley and Francis went,

no, theme from casualty. That's hilarious. No, Francis, that's not Christmasy. All of that right after this. Zoe, are you ready for Dig It Live? I so am. I'm really excited about this. We're going to be in Sheffield at CrossWires on Sunday the 5th of July. If you haven't heard of Crosswires, it's basically the world's biggest podcast festival. People have called it the Glastonbury of podcasting. It's a whole weekend packed with live shows from some of your favourite podcasts. They take over venues across Sheffield. There are after parties. There are DJ sets, outdoor bars, food stalls. and lots and lots of free events too.

And we'll be at the Crucible, which is such an iconic, intimate venue, eyes down at the crucible. The Home of World Snooker, of course, will be properly up close with all our diggers and we can't wait. The whole festival is organised under the creative direction of Greg James

and it isn't just us. You'll also be able to catch great shows like How to Fail with Elizabeth Day and get a grip with Angela Scanlan and Vicki Pattinson live. Plus dozens of other podcasts, great festival vibes and so much more. Tickets for potting shed members are on sale today, 10th of December from 11 a.m. You get 24 hours of exclusive early access. All the details are at crossedwires

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Hi. How are you? I'll be honest. I've hit a wall. I don't know whether. Anyone else listen to this right now can resonate with that, but I have hit a wall. I feel like there is not a second of my life when I am not driving, visiting, working, sending emails, sending texts, organizing stuff. I feel like there is no time left to do anything at all. And I'm just exhausted. I've properly hit a wall. Making lists. I'm like, make a list, cross it off the list, do another thing on the list, do this thing, do that. It's this time of year, isn't it? I feel like Christmas should be now. Can we? Can we? We just have Christmas now because everyone running on empty.

I know we can't have it now because no one is ready, but that's because people went too early. We need to stop. That's why we need to take time with Christmas. We need to kind of build up to it. And that's my thing about not going too early because it does feel like it should be Christmas at the end of this week now. But it's not. It's not for ages. It's the frenzy.

It's the frenzy. But I had a bit of a disaster. Sorry. Oh, no. What's happened? So Christmas decorations, we're doing slowly, slowly, like you are as well. And we put the ho-ho-hoes up. I will post photographs of the ho-ho-hoes.

I haven't, I don't post photographs because I never have time to put makeup on before I can post a photograph of myself in it. But I will do that today. So the ho-ho-hoes are these lovely bright colours that go outside, on the wall outside our house. And they illuminate and they just declare that Christmas is here. So they went up at the weekend. And then Coco just kept saying, but Mr. Snowman hasn't appeared yet. Now, Mr. Snowman has been in the family now for about 33 years. So we had the original Mr. Snowman, which was the Indias.

And then we had the Mr. Snowman Part 2, which is Coco and the boys. And it has their names written on it. It's a fabric advent calendar where the elves put their bits of chocolate or whatever they put in the different pockets. So Mr. Snowman appeared this morning, and I'm going to hold this up to the camera. So if anybody watching, you will be able to see, here is Mr. Snowman unraveling. Mr Snowman has lost half his body He's lost his leg Where's it gone?

The mice have taken it The mice been nibbling into it Nibbled him I got a phone call from a really distraught Coco going Mr Snowman has appeared But where's his body And honestly he's lost a leg We've lost number 18

He's got a massive hole in the middle There are going to be some very very comfy well-fed mice somewhere But I've got a very distraught cocoa And I said it's all right I'll get another one for this year And she was like no you've left it too late. It's got our names on. I've always had Mr. Snowman. And therefore, Christmas is

over. It's a disaster. That's it. Cancel Christmas. Yes. Cancel. A man has been nibbled. I feel like a failed mother as well because obviously I didn't put the lid tightly enough on the box when it all went away. And the mice have got in. What are the mice doing with it? Do you think there's a little mouse family who last year went to put up their ho, ho, ho and their Mr. Snowman? And they were like, Mom, something's eaten the Mr. Snowman. And so, you know, I'm I don't know, some bats that live in the loft have had that and they've had theirs. So now they've nibbled yours and the little circle of life goes on. Things, what are they doing with it?

Are they eating it or are they using it for a bed? Yeah, they're using it for a bed. Because I can't imagine that cotton is going to give them any nutrients. This is no man is not made just of cotton, Zoe. Sorry. This has got padding. It's made of love. You know, one of my radio two listeners made this for me and sent it to me many years ago.

So I am actually really sad about it because he's really beautiful. But no, it's got padding in it. So they've just taken away all the padding. And yeah, they've made a really, really lovely home. I'm sure, and I really hope they're happy now. So many crafters listen to dig it. They listen to your radio show. They always, I hear them sort of saying, oh, I'm listening whilst I'm doing this.

We've seen the craft abilities of many of our diggers already. I'm thinking, you hold up, Mr. Snowman. Someone's going to go. Send it into me in the post and he will be repaired and will live on in time for Advent next year, I reckon. I think I might need a new one. If anyone's willing to take on the task of a brand new one, it's got to have all the kids' names on. So it's got to be India, Jude, Cass and Coco. And I would love that.

I mean, if someone does think they can restore this to its former glory, that would be amazing. Cocoa is so happy. Does Disco Steve need to be on there too, you know? No, it's a children thing. It's all right. No, we don't deserve it, yeah. It's window number 14 seems to have gone completely. And number 18 and then literally, oh God, I don't even know what.

Look, there's a whole, his whole leg has gone, so there's a couple of numbers missing there. He's been viciously savaged by the mice. Well, I hope the mice are happy up there in the loft, wherever the Christmas decorations belong. That's Christmas, yeah. I don't know if Christmas is overstrained, but I'm done. How are you? How am I? I am all right, actually.

Good. Yeah, I don't even, do you know what? I'm glad you asked, because I haven't checked in. I've just been online trying to buy tickets for Wolf Alice, who are playing at Teenage Cancer Trust concerts at the Royal Lab. a hall next year and I have been sat online waiting to buy the tickets at 9 o'clock. I'm thinking, why are they not there? Why are they not there? But they go on sale on Friday and it's actually only Wednesday. So that's how together I am at the moment that I've written off the rest the week. So that's where I'm at. I'm literally just, it just at the weekend. I already think

it's the weekend again. You were very busy last week, though. You had Cassus graduation. Yeah, I did. Oh, it was gorgeous. It was so lovely. It was at the Royal Festival Hall in London, which is very grand and I hadn't appreciated that he went to BIM which is a school for performing arts and he's a music producer so he studied

and it was his masters that he was studying for so he is now a certified master as you know with Woody obviously if you're a big fan of Doctor Who Cass was more delighted at being able to call himself

the master than anything and also it's a big thing yeah Jude is studying doing a PhD so he one day will be the doctor so the boys

they're just like you're the doctor I'm the master and they're very happy with those wrong But anyway, the ceremony was lovely because he had lots of kids who were singing and dancing and playing musical instruments

and all the siblings turned out we weren't even supposed to be there we had to kind of beg, borrow and steal extra seats but Jude and Coco and India and then Steve Disco was there as well of course Oh, you all look so proud look at him in his hat and of course I got there

and when I've said this before when he went to Falmouth and I went to his graduation I cried the entire way through and this time I was like oh I'm fine it's only his master's I'll be absolutely fine. And of course, as soon as you walk in and you see your child with that mortarboard on their head, you're gone.

Floodgates opened. And the kids look to me and they were like, Mom, you said you wouldn't cry. But you cannot stop yourself. Like the pride, it was just beautiful. It was lovely. I think there'd be something wrong with you if you didn't cry at that moment, actually. Your kids doing amazing things and getting a fricking master's. My God, he's graduated.

Annie's now he's done a master's. Yeah. I think the thing that made me cry, like watching the ceremony. is you've just got these gorgeous children, because they're still children. There might be 21 or 24 in this case, but they're still young people who have so, their whole lives ahead of them, and they're so excited and they're giddy and they're so full of life and hope. And it's unbelievably moving, yeah.

It's like watching fame or high school musical. It's just like kind of, just life waiting to be fulfilled. And that is what I found incredibly moving. And also Jarvis Cocker was there. What? Because it turned out, when we had Pulp in concert, Cass looked at the other stage and he went, that's my lecturer on stage with Pulp. What's he doing there?

Turns out his lecturer is in pulp. So Jarvis came along, did his friend Andrew a favour and did all the shaking of hands and the speeches at the graduation, which was wonderful. That is pretty amazing. Did you get to say, did you go and say hello to him? Do you get to see him? No, no, I didn't get to see him. And also he left like literally three people before Cass. So Cass did he actually shake hands with Jarvis Cocker, which was a big.

of a downer but never mind has cass met jarvis before through no no never cast has no interest in famous people whatsoever and he good for him he yeah he hates me being his mom in a respect so he'll just always like never mention me whatsoever it'll be like yeah whatever yeah exactly did you go out afterwards do you have a meal did you celebrate did you have champagne no we had a little meal and then i went and did my show i was doing my radio show so that was fine it was a it was really low key that's what cass is like and it was just lovely it was a nice thing to do. Were you clever kids? But then Jude did a thing at the weekend because this is his birthday coming up. I know you've got Woody's birthday happening soon as well. So Jude decided this time

he wanted to take all his friends to see what he does for his job. And he's a, one of the things he's doing is a Jack the Ripper tour guide. So we went and we watched him in action doing his Jack the Ripper tour guide and we went all around Whitechapel and the east end of London. He told us all about the five women who were killed by the Jack the Ripper. And it was a really dark night And the moon was out and it was very, very creepy and evocative. And it was like watching, that's not, sorry, there's a photograph. That is not Jude, by the way. We all dressed up and we had bonnets on and we had pinnies like aprons.

And we just dressed in kind of Victorian times. It was just hilarious, really good. This is so good. So how do you go on the, did you learn loads about? I learned so much. No, we all did. Yeah, about the women who were killed and the way they were killed. There were the most gruesome photographs, which he had on an iPad and he sort of took them around

and showed us all. And then at the end, he was saying how the police force has changed. Where the murders were originally done, it was one police force. Then Jack the Ripper went into another territory and it was the Metropolitan Police, I think, and they took it more seriously. And then Queen Victoria was alerted. And apparently, I hope I'm saying this right, Jude, when Queen Victoria heard about the women, she was devastated and she made them install lights. It was when streetlights began so that the lights were illuminated. So women were in less danger of people like Jack the Ripper so it was very important

Queen Victoria there you go this is great and I love the group photo that is amazing did you tip him handsomely at the end because you've got to tip your tour guide

yeah I realise that now now the Jude's doing it I realise how they survive on those tips but it was like watching a one-man show it went on for two and half hours and he was just there doing all the you know

the drama and the facts and presenting the whole thing performing it I was yeah very proud Oh, your kids are brilliant. Yay. Well, all kids are brilliant. How are yours?

All kids are brilliant. My kids are brilliant. Nell's got a couple more days of school. She's checking out and she's got her mocks coming up. But she's having her 16th birthday party early because she's got mocks in January. So she's having her 16th birthday party on Saturday. I am not allowed to go under any circumstances. I'm rude.

I'm going to. I'm just going to hide in the kitchen and pop out. She's got a brother DJing a dad's deal. at some point. I think her boyfriend is DJing. It's going to kick right off. I think it's about 60 of them. And they are a good gang, her mate. So I'm hoping that I can just wait till a certain point and then just sort of appear at the back. I won't stay for long. But I've been at every single one of her birthday parties. Suddenly to not be allowed at 16 is really unacceptable. The thing is, I'm thinking back to mine thinking, yeah, I didn't want my parents on my birthday

parties either, really, to be honestly. So I do appreciate and understand. But I just just, I'm just going to pop in, even if it's like a steamy face at the window. I think if I was a DJ, I'd probably be allowed in, actually, because I might guess so. But, yeah, sadly, this is not fair. If Dad's going to be there, Woody's going to be there, they're both DJ and her boyfriend. To say, you can't go. Exactly. I'm going to go in and do a show tune set at, or a yacht rock set and clear the room.

So we've got that on. And then it's Woody's birthday on Monday. I've just been, he's decided to spend it in Bristol with all his mate. So I've just been getting, he's really into. plants. So I've just got a delivery of plants going. He's got some Lego arriving. What did you go for? He wanted either the Avengers Tower, but you can't get it at the moment. It's really hard to get a hold of. So he's gone for, he wanted a part. It's like this amazing pub. He's collected all the houses and the, you know, so you get the street. So I think one for the pub,

which seems very fitting for Woody as well. I am still trying to get my hands on. on the Avengers Tower. They're not cheap. I'd tell you what, they're getting more and more crazy expensive, but they are brilliant. Yeah.

I mean, The Avengers Tower sounds amazing. As soon as you said that, I thought, God, I need to get cast of that, but if you can't get hold of it, I watched,

is it Deck the Halls, the one with Arnie, Arnold Schwarzenegger, was on yesterday. Yeah. Yeah. And we watched it on TV and where he's trying to get

Turbo. It's like the one toy that you can't get and he's trying to get it on Christmas Eve. And I was watching it going, oh my God,

every parents was like there. When you've left it too late. And that's us now. That is us now. Oh, it's not, sorry, it's not deck the halls. It's jingle all the way. That's the one. There's so many.

Jingle all the way. Yeah. What is the thing that everybody wants this year that no one can get a hold of? I don't know what's going to have to tell us. Yeah. What's the crazy toy that everyone's desperately trying to get hold of that everybody. I was really chuffed out. I got them, Willie Wonka one for my nephew.

Oh, because he's a massive Willie Wonka fan. And I will, I'll give you some pictures. He dressed up as a little. really wonka all time. His friend was very committed umpalumpur. Um, so I'll sent you some pictures to show you. Um, but I've managed to get him that one. I think, I'm hoping that someone buys me a Lego set for Christmas actually. I always get them for everyone else. I'm like, if someone wants sent me a Lego set, I'd really appreciate it by the way. Yeah. Cass bought me Lego flowers last last year because I love Lego as well. Yeah. It's a really lovely thing. We do. We sit around in the sort of,

you know, the bit in between Christmas and New Year and, um, yeah. Woody normally plays us some really demented podcast that we all listen to and learn something. And then we all sit around building Lego while stuffing our faces. It's a really, it's quite a lovely thing to do. I did spend quite a bit of Sunday in tears, though, watching telly, because firstly, Lando Norris won the F1 Championship. And, you know, I watch a little bit over the shoulders of Nell, because she's massively into Formula One and the lodgers really into Formula One. So I watch quite, sometimes I sit down and watch the whole thing, certain weekends. Other times I'm busy doing other stuff. So I'm kind of slightly paying attention. But it was so emotional because it's been quite a

tough season and there was times where it looked like he was going to walk it. And then, you know, it's been quite sort of complex. And I know Oscar Piastri, who's his teammate, has also done really brilliantly. And then Max Verstappen obviously always wins. And, you know, everyone gets really bored of Max Verstapp. I think he's actually a really cool bloke. But he's the kind of villain everyone loves to hate because if he wins all the time, it's really boring. And there was some moments where it was looking a bit tough for Lando, but he totally aced it. And of course, you could just hear, he's only 24. He's 24, you know, and we've all watched him grow up from when he was go-karting and, you know, first started out in the little car. I don't know, it's just something about

seeing this boy who has worked so hard and he thanked his mom and his dad and he's crying behind his helmet and he kept sticking his fingers into his helmet. And then he was being interviewed saying, I can't believe. I look like such a loser. And I think it was David Coulthard was saying, you don't look like a loser. You're a winner. And of course you can cry. And then his mom, Siska, was just sobbing. She was all dressed in orange because their team colors are orange. And it was so wonderful. And I sat at the lodger was looking at me like, you're all right. And I was sobbing my heart out. I think it's the mum thing. It's the proud of seeing a young lad do so, well. And he's so gracious because obviously it's a huge team effort, Formula One. I mean,

the teams are unbelievable. And there's only 35 people have won that title. And that's been a lot of slog from when he was very, very young. So bravo to him. It was amazing. And then just after that, I watched Strictly and Lewis, Lewis, Lewis and Catcher. Oh, my God, nearly fell out of bed. I was watching on Catchup last night. I know. Just so heartbreaking because at this point, There were five couples left, and they all deserve to be in the final. They all are so brilliant. And, you know, I thought it was really heartbreaking that Amber, who had got 40, with the most perfect Charleston ever, is in the bottom two. You know, because at this point, it is popularity.

And also, they are all amazing. Balvinda has gone through so much, and she's been in the bottom two, so much done so many dance-offs. And she danced and was really emotional and was fabulous. And Karen, I'm obsessed with Karen Carney. I think she's the favourite to win. And lovely joy. I love the more. I think so, but I don't know whether the favourite necessarily wins.

So they all deserve to be there. But seeing Amber and Lewis go up against each other, this is just really upsetting. Even Shirley Ballas was crying. Yeah. Because they're so good. And I think the thing that kind of broke my heart is that they have been so good. Lewis's

couple's choice at Halloween was phenomenal his Charleston at Blackpool so so good and Amber and the thing is

this is where people go on about they've had training there it's like yeah they've had training and I know they're on stage and stuff

but they work as hard each week because their dancers are probably more technical than perhaps some other people but they all work

they all train really hard they all want it as much and it just gets really tough at this point when you see really good people go

And I think the semi-final and the final will be lacking Katchez's incredible choreography. Oh, Kathir, I love her. She's so good. And my heart was breaking for her. She was so gracious and you could see her really battling the tears. So Kachia, be so proud. I think what you've done is amazing. Can I just say, Lewis's speech was like so unbelievably gracious and articulate and was, oh, so impressive as a young man.

His family must be so proud of him. Hartlepool was proud. of him. We're all proud of him. And he should just, you know, go out being really proud. And I'm sure we're going to be seeing and doing amazing things anyway. I mean, I know he's in Emmerdale. And also, Amber and Lewis were both last minute. I know. They came in last minute. And they've been so brilliant. So anyway, and also I got a bit sad. Oh, no. Because then it was like, oh, my God, we've only got two more show, well, three shows, I guess, with Tess and Claude and the Christmas show. And then I got really sad about that as well.

So I was a right basket case last night. Do you think I'm hormonal? Do you think that's what it is? Maybe. Maybe. Anyway, well done, Lewis and Kachow. I thought you were fab and I really wanted to see in the final. But yeah, I think we feel the emotions, don't we?

Like, our emotions are quite raw. Because we're tired, we're a bit frazzled. So everything, you just feel it really hard. I always get really emotional at this time of the year. I think lots of people do because with the sort of coming of Christmas, there's all the memories of all our lovely people who aren't here anymore, you know? And I'm, I've got that thing. Every time I see a card that says,

Merry Christmas, Mum, I'm like, dig deep. Dig deep. And it was National Grief Awareness Week last week. And as part of National Grief Awareness Week, the Good Grief Trust had put out some really lovely little booklets to help people when they're grieving. So if you ever want any support, they're such a great charity. They were set up by someone who was bereaved, who'd lost her husband. And it's a charity set up by bereaved people for bereaved people, which is so wonderful. And what they've done is They've collated all the charities and all the support systems that you can contact. So if you are grieving, if you go to the good grief trust.org, you can find loads more information or maybe someone you know, maybe one of your friends or a family member is going

through it at the moment and really just needs some support. Then if you go to their website, you'll find lots of ways that you can get support. And there's a really beautiful thing where loads of buildings were lit up orange because It's the colour of the charity, including the Blackpool Tower. So I'm sending out lots and lots of love to everybody who's just really missing people at this time of year, you know. I put my little angels on the tree when I decorated the tree. But gosh, I miss my mum at this time of year. I really do.

She loved Christmas so much as well, you know. And she, but we're all doing things in her memory and we're doing, I'm hoping she'd be proud of me at how organized I'm being. Oh, of course. She was wrapping and the cards and everything. She'd be like, my God, who is this? Mom, I'm batch cooking. Look, what's happened to me? She's smiling down.

She is beaming. She's waving. She's like, bravo, that's my girl. Oh, my God, that's my girl. She's feeling all right. I went over to my parents' house yesterday. Just thinking there'll be other people who might be in similar situation to me where things are different this year.

And it's, you know, I'm used to your parents doing up their house and you go around And you're like, oh, it's Christmas. And, you know, mum and dad decorated the house and the tree. And and mum is not the same as she was six months ago since we started doing this podcast, really. And my dad's less able as well. Yeah, I'm thinking of people whose Christmases are a bit different to how they used to be. I've really found that this year with my parents. My mum is, you know, we're waiting for test results. She's waiting for three different operations to try and make her body less pain. So she's She's a bit of a shell of who she used to be and my mum was a real force. So yesterday and my sister was home for the weekend and my sister's obviously got learning differences and she's quite a force on her own.

So yesterday I went over there and there's a friend of ours, Emma, who helped. We decorated the house and we got down all the boxes and got the old tree down and got the decorations out that mum's collected over the years and she's always done that thing of getting newspapers for every single year. So when she puts away the decorations, there's a fresh newspaper that goes in the box. So you go back and you're looking at newspapers from the 70s or these adverts look really funny. Jill Dando, like remembering her. And it's just like this, whoa, this time warp that you go into. But it felt weird.

It felt really weird decorating my mum's house because I'm not used to that. Normally your parents decorate the house. And to be the one that was having to. She's always done that. And to be the one that was sort of going, do you want this here, mum? Do you want, should put the lights there? And everything's just a bit more of an effort for them this year.

So it just felt almost like a coming of age yesterday. It was a strange thing. Yeah. This had my sister dictating, lights there, lights there, put a tree there. I kept saying Francis, do you want to come and help? And she's be like, nope, not yet. And then I was shouting over to Alexa, I was going, Alexa, let's listen to some Christmas music. Alexa, play Michael Boubley and Francis went, no, theme from casualty.

That's right, no, Francis, that's not, that's not Christmas. Black box. ride on time. No. Francis is such an icon and I think she's just gone seriously next level with that, that's what she wants to hear, the theme from casualty. But I'm sure also there's quite a lot of families and siblings who are, you know, Christmas is challenging when you've got someone who's got quite strong demands and challenging behaviour and it's like, you know, routines are thrown out of the window and some people find that very, very difficult. So there's a lot of navigating going on at the moment, I think. How is it for your mum at the moment with

you sort of needing to do more things for her. Is she all right with that? Is that, has that been really hard for her? Yeah, really hard. But also, she's in so much pain and on quite a lot of painkillers that she's not quite the same. So we're trying to organise help for her and for my dad, my dad, just come in and take some of the pressure away. But mum is desperately trying for everything still to be the same for Frances. She doesn't want her to know that there's anything different, that mum can't cope or they can't look after us or well. But the reality is, you know, Mum can't walk at the moment. She has to use a walker. And if she goes out, she has to use a wheelchair the other day. So it's this weird game that we're all trying to pretend so that

nothing's different. Everything's so safe. And mum finds it quite help and dad. I mean, my dad hates anybody helping him. So they're finding it very difficult to accept having help from professional people. So that's why you tend to rely on family friends and people who have known us for a long time to come in and just fit into the family and make it all feel. normal when it's actually not. So yeah, it's a challenging time. Challenging time, but you are amazing and it's good that you're nearby. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. I'm only talking about this because I think other people will be doing the same kind of thing and going through the same kind of situation that you're just like, I don't know what the rules are. I'm literally tearing my

hair out here, but I'm, you know, one foot in front of another every day. Yeah, making it up as you go along. Yeah, absolutely. There's a lot about, like you say, a lot of navigating. Yeah. on. This episode of Digit is sponsored by QVC. I've been improving my bedtime routine lately. Lights low, limited phone time, just trying to introduce a bit of calm before I sleep. Limited phone time, I've impressed already. I know. But honestly, I found a gorgeous neon magnesium bath milk and body butter on menopause your way at QVC. It helps me unwind. And then I use this retinal night moisturiser from Perricon and I am out cold in minutes. That sounds divine. Menopause your way at QVC is such a brilliant hub for women who are

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Upgrade your business and get the same checkout skim's uses. Sign up for your $1 per month trial period at Shopify.com slash audio boom, all lowercase. Go to Shopify.com slash audio boom to upgrade your selling today. Shopify.com slash audio boom. Shall we do a spot of gardening? Oh, let's do that. Well, as it's festive, we got a text from Elaine and she says, how to make a Christmas wreath using a raw potato by landscape gardener Tommy Cross

popped up on my social media a few weeks ago. I thought, you know what? This might actually be a really fun thing to do with the kids. We finally tried it at the weekend and honestly, we had the best time. Right, I'm all in here. Very wholesome, no screens, Christmas music on. wreath making in the dining room, just thought I'd share the video with you and the diggers. Elaine, let's have a look.

Five easy steps to help you make a regal Christmas wreath this Christmas, and all you need is a few bits of festive foliage and a potato. Step one, gather up your festive foliage. My festive favourites are spruce or white fur. Any Christmas conifer will do, in fact. Holly, Mahonia and Osmanthus all add a festive flourish. Step two, it's time to pick up your potato. Create a series of holes around the outside of your potato. This is where you're going to start inserting your Christmas cuttings. Step 3. Gather up your greenery and trim down those Christmas cuttings. You need three different sizes of festive foliage.

5, 10 and 15 centimetres max. Set 4. It's time to start pushing your prickles into your potato. Work slowly and carefully and build up your festive foliage to create a present around the outside edge of your potato. The idea is to work into the centre of your spud with smaller festive foliage finally covering the potato completely. And step five, top off your tato with all their trimmings, pine cones, ball balls or even ribbon to wrap up your wreath. The moisture in the potato will help keep your festive foliage looking fantastic all the way through the holidays. Candle holders, centrepieces or larger wreaths can all be made using a humble potato. Seasonal spud and your Christmas cuttings, I hope you have plenty of fun making your.

your very own Christmas wreath. Elaine, thank you. You know what, Tommy? They're absolutely beautiful, aren't they? Come on, Joe. Do you want me to make one? I've just ordered mine yesterday. I might start selling them out in front of the house.

I've got loads of stuff. What happened to Zoe Ball? Oh, she's making potato. Really ingenious. Elaine, thank you for sharing that with us. You know us so well, Elaine. You know the things that tickle our fancy. And that is right up my street.

So thanks for introducing us to Tommy. Should we do crate digging? Have you got any musical offerings? I blame you that you have got me obsessed with Geese, the band. And then I discovered, obviously, recently that Cameron Winter of Geese had his own album called Heavy Metal, which has been on heavy rotation in the car and in the kitchen. I'm obsessed with him. This album is amazing. This album is absolutely stunning.

It's so beautiful. I tell you some of my favorite songs now but I never know the names of records anymore and I basically have got my lenses in and they're so small I can't even tell you I think it's track three and track seven that I really really love hang on if I hold it like that

I can read it I'm sure this one called Time Will Tell Is that something like that If I look at my phone I can find it on my other way of it Oh there it is if I put it there I can sort of see Oh my God we are we are identical I can't remember the tie

I've been playing it on the show. Love takes miles. Oh, that's it. Time will tell. Love takes miles. Norzica, which is track two, I really, really love. But it's just, he's so, his voice is so unique. I remember the first time I heard Geese thinking,

this is slightly sort of jarring my brain because it isn't music as I'd heard music before. They're so unique. And like no one else, Geese, and Cameron's voice is incredible. And quite a few of my friends went to his gig at the Roundhouse last week and just said it was incredible, just him playing up there on the stage. So, Joe, I thank you for introducing me to Geese and finding Cameron Winter in Rounder Records. No, Rounder Records is close.

No, Resident Records. Resident Records. I'm so jealous of you having that record shop near you. I love going into Resident Records in... I know. I haven't got anything like it near me. It's really frustrating. So I found it really hard to get vinyl.

He's 23, I think. Is he 23? Like we were saying about, you know, was it Landis who won the... Landau. Landau. Yeah, 24. Cameron, I think is 23, 24 is staggering. He is amazing.

So we'll stay in that realm. And supporting Geese was a young guy called Dove Ellis. And he's got an album out called Blizzard, which is my crate digging recommendation to you. If you like Geese, if you love Cameron Winter, particularly that solo album, which I think is more accessible, just like you were saying, then you will. love Dove Ellis. So very much in the same vein. Beautiful, like epic, intense songs, but not scary songs. And he's another one for next year, a star to look out for. So an amazing name, Dove. As soon as I saw that, was like, oh, if I was going to have a baby, I think maybe I'd put Dove on the list. But Dove Ellis, yeah, Dove Ellis. And the album to look out for is called

Blizzard. Again, I'm looking at my phone, trying to remember the tracks that I particularly like. Love is, is epic. Really, really amazing. I'm going, I'm going to go to. I'm going to go to rounder later today and I'm going to pick that up. You're not, you're going to get to resident. I'm going to resident. Do you know what? Rounder records is where Norman used to work and it was on his resident records. I used to go to Rounder Records. I'm sure when Norman worked there. Yes, you probably did because didn't you study down here? Yeah. I used to see Norman when he was Quentin at the time. He was Quentin. I always laughed at the fact he changed the same from Quentin to Norman. Another. But his sick is so, bless him, he lost his mum this year. He lost his

My man is dad this year, Ros and Ron. Amazing. Both of them were so wonderful and been celebrated big. So, yeah, it's a tough Christmas for him this year. Yeah. But I always love the fact that Ros and Ron, you know, his sister is called Lois and his brother is called Simon and the norm was named Quentin. It was his real name. It was his real name.

It's his stage name. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. I remember he had all these brilliant cassette tapes that, mixtapes that Paul Heaton made him when they were young. They were like in a skiffle band together and the pond frogs and then he eventually became the house partings. But they were all like Q Box because, you know, everyone called him Q and Quentin. And his mum occasionally would still call him Quentin. But he changed his name by Deepol to Norman.

Another great day. But yeah, rounder records. So it's resident records. That's what we love. And it's in the lanes. So if you're ever in Brighton, it's such a great job. They always have really good people go in and do. like little sessions and stuff in there

and you can buy your tickets, really good for Christmas presents if you are around in Brighton. Yeah, so remember those names, Cameron Winter and Dav Ellis. We think you will really love them. If you're a fan of music, yeah, absolutely go for those. And that's it. That's all we've got time for today, I think.

If you want all of our reviews, all recommendations for free, and in one place, the easiest thing to do, and this is so simple, and there's a load of information there. So all the stuff that we love, you can learn about it. It's on our free Substack newsletter.

We will send you a weekly email, mail with everything from the show every Friday just kind of drops into your inbox. The link to sign up is in the show notes. So it's dead simple. We'll see you on Monday to dig in and hear what you've been saying. If you have any questions, tips or general thoughts, especially on this time of year, contact us, our WhatsApp and our email address are in the show notes. And if you're loving the podcast, please leave us five stars on Apple or Spotify with a little review. It just really helps other people to find the show and join our gang and to become a digger. Best of luck. Yeah, well, getting through the rest of the week.

The day, really. I might unscrew my brain, wash it under the tap, and pop it back in and try again. Everyone's like it. We're all the same. Bye. Take care.

Bye, darling. Digit is a Persefonica production. If you love to travel, Capital One has a rewards credit card that's perfect for you. With the Capital One Venture X card, you earn unlimited double miles on everything you buy. Plus, you get premium benefits at a collection of luxury hotels when you book on Capital One travel.

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