Dig It with Jo Whiley and Zoe Ball - DIG IN: Has This Neighbour Gone Too Far?

Episode Date: August 24, 2026

Jo and Zoe call in from Cornwall and Ibiza to settle a marital debate over post-holiday unpacking and explain why their suitcases are heavier than ever! Plus, the gals are divided as Sarah asks, is it normal for a neighbour to trim your hedge without asking? 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/447477038795SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR SPONSORSThis episode is brought to you by Starling, Panda London and L'Oréal Paris True Match Hyaluron Tinted Balm:📱 Starling: the bank that helps you organise your money, build great habits and stay in control of your spending. Do life together with a joint account - find out more at starlingbank.com/current-account/joint-bank-account 🐼 Panda London — Make hot nights more comfortable with Panda London’s beautifully soft, breathable and thermoregulating bamboo bedding. Head to pandalondon.com and spend over £50 to receive a free Bamboo Eye Mask with your order using code DIGIT.💄L'Oréal Paris True Match Hyaluron Tinted Balm - Ready for a new era of foundation? Discover your perfect shade of the New L'Oréal Paris True Match Hyaluron Tinted Balm online or at your nearest Boots or Superdrug counter.CREDITSExec Producer: Jonathan O’SullivanProducer: Harriet ThurleyAssistant Producer: Eve JonesTechnical Producer: Oliver GeraghtyVideo Editors: Danny Pape and Jack Whiteside  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Coming up on Digit. We've now both. We've taken on holiday with a salon-sized bottles of glycolic acid. I get to the airport. I'm like, why does my bag weigh 27 kilograms? I'm going for 10 days. It's so ridiculous.

Maybe that you've got an understanding that we're completely unaware of. I think that's probably the heart of it. Or Sarah, you could just say back off. Thank you very much. Not right now. Good cop, bad cop. Good cop, bad cop.

I'm a naturally messy person. Are you? A lodger is so tidy. And now I like to make the house tidy. if he's coming around and I'm always like, I want to reward. Look, everything's really tidy. Like a child. All of that right after this. Hi, and welcome to Diggin. Hello, we diggers. Hi, Zoe. Hi, Joe. Still on our holidays. It's our holiday special. Yes, if you're on holiday, sending lots of love to you, if you're not on a

holiday and you're sick of hearing about people on holiday, then I can only apologize. And I hope you've got a little treat in store at some point for yourself, whatever that might be. What have we got this morning then, Joe? Okay, so our first message comes in from Helen, and she said, I'm hoping you can settle a debate. I love this. I love when we are like the judges, and we can settle debates. This is between me and my wife.

We've recently been on holiday, and since we returned, which was a full week ago now, her suitcase has just sat on our bedroom floor. Oh, my God. As most of her favourite clothes came away with us, she's been picking things out and then just wearing them, but the suitcase remains partially packed on the floor still. It doesn't seem to bother her while I cannot relax after a holiday until my suitcase is totally unpacked,

the clothes are washed and they're back in the wardrobe. It's driving me mad. I'm hoping I'm not alone. And that is from Helen. Helen, I presume that you've had the conversation and that nothing has changed as well because I'm with you. I get back from a holiday. Zoe, I don't know about you, but I get back from a holiday. And I love, I love the process of washing everything straight away, getting it clean, getting it back in the wardrobe and then just feeling like all is well in the world.

like everything is right. Steve will, and also some of the kids like Coco in particular, sorry Coco, will just live out of a suitcase for as long as it takes until there's no more clean clothing to wear. But I'm so anal about it. I really, really like to get it all put away. I think it's something about I get that back to school feeling, especially with a summer holiday,

is there's something about right back to school, holidays are over. You know, at this point I'm always looking forward to autumn clothing as well. and I'm like, get all of these clothes away. Unfortunately, as we are now living in a Mediterranean climate back in the UK, that might not be the case. But I now, I like you, I find it really therapeutic to get home. You know, it's like you go through the mail, you check the garden, and I get the wash on as soon as I can.

And I quite like to see my holiday washing on my own because I like to sit myself and anyone else decides to take it on. I'm like, no, please don't, because there's various things that all run with color like some shirts and wafty things. And I like to get it done, hang it up, back in the drawer, draw, shut, everything out the case. Do, do, do, do. Put away. I'm a naturally messy person, so this doesn't always happen.

Yeah, I'm very messy. The lodger is so tidy and I know that I have got better because my chaos has been calmed by his calm. And now I like to make the house tidy if he's coming around. And I'm like, I'm always like, I want to reward. look, everything's really tidy. Like a child, but I find it really satisfying. Helen, if I was you, I'm surprised that you haven't actually just unpacked it for her. Because I think I would get to that point.

I definitely get to that point with Nell where I'm like, oh, I'm just going to do it. I'm just going to unpack it. I'm just going to wash it and going to do it. I'll put it all back neatly in the room. She won't even notice. And then you'd have a happy space. I don't know. What should she do, Joe?

I think it is to do with the chaos, isn't it? It's just while there's chaos where you can't find things, if your head is muddled and then you can't find all the stuff around you as well, it just, I mean, flaws me completely. So absolutely, I want to know where everything is. I love the toiletries. Like, I like packing all the toiletries for a holiday. I really, really enjoy that.

I have so many bags and compartments and I'll put the, I'll put my pants in there, I'll put my shampoos there. And it's just a really lovely feeling of satisfaction when you get into a hotel room or an apartment or wherever you're staying to just undo the bag, put everything out. And it's like home from home. This is definitely something that's happened to me over the last 10 years. I would never, ever, ever like this before.

And Steve always used to be really messy. Like in hotel rooms, he would never unpack his case and would just live out of the case while we're on holiday. And I think I just huffed and puffed and probably kicked his suitcase and just was really unbearable to be with the holiday that now he knows that as soon as we get into a hotel room, he has to unpack his case and he'll put all his things away as well. And also when we get back, he's really good.

I think maybe just grow into it. I don't know. Yeah, maybe grow into it. I wouldn't do it for a Helen. I would, oh God, yeah, is that a bit passive-aggressive? I would be like, please, it will make me so much nicer to be with if you just put all your stuff away as well. Maybe that's the answer.

Yeah, maybe just plead, maybe a little, a very kind plead would be good. I still use the Gail Rinkoff method of packing with my clothes. Gail's some really amazing stylish. She looked after me for years. And she, I remember seeing her do an Insta story where she bought really light hangers and then all her clothes were on light hangers and she keeps them hang out and then you fold them into the bag like that and then when you get to your destination you depending on what kind of holiday are going on you unfold them and you hang them up and then they're hung up

and you don't even have to do the hanging up thing um i have to say toiletries packing drives me mental as a woman with ADHD because i go round and round and round and round and round and round I cover so many miles packing i should do it one year and one year actually going to see how many miles I cover packing drives me mad because I can't make decisions. And so it bring everything. And then I get here and I'm like, oh, for God's sake, I've forgotten the one thing I really, really need. Can I just say, because we had a chat before, like, messaging each other before we went on holiday. And I was going, oh, my God, I hate my skin so much because it's just so creepy and dry and

scaly and flaky. What the hell is going on? And this is definitely something that's happened in the last year or so. And you were like, yeah, no, I'm exactly the same. And we both had our eyebrows died. so we look like Burton Ernie or whatever. And then you recommended, you'd like send me a checklist of things that I should get to make my skin less creepy.

So I bought everything that you suggested. I literally just went, yep, yep, yep, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll have that. And they arrived and they were massive, though. They were huge. I'm so massive. I'm so sorry. My suitcase, oh, it was so heavy. Also, I used one of them and then was like, oh my God,

it's sort of taken the top three layers of my skin off. I like it. And now I'm just more crassies. baby than I was before. No, I think it's good. It was glycolic acid. It's really good, yeah. I think it's that thing was so supposedly it's what we're doing for our faces as women, you know, in our 40s, 50s, 60s, you know, and men as well, apparently you might want to do

that for your body is just getting rid of some of the dead skin cells on your body. And obviously, it was looking a bit dried and creaky and all the rest of it. So supposedly, exfoliating your skin helps with that. And then, but I'm reading conflicting advice, people saying, don't use a dry brush. Yes, use a dry brush. So I've been trying these creams. I can't remember the company's name, but I bought, of course, is it, what are they called, naturium? Maturium or Naturium, I think.

Naturium, which are really good. But of course, being me, Joe, I've bought every single one. So I've got eight bottles. And I possibly need to do a bit more research on which ones I should probably use, don't use them all at same time. And also, they are salon size. It's like you've got a salon and we've now both, we've taken on holiday with a salon-sized bottles of glycolic acid. And I think, thanks for that. I get to the airport.

I'm like, why does my bag weigh 27 kilograms? I'm going for 10 days. It's so ridiculous. But yes, good luck with the unpacking. I definitely think it's better for your head. I feel your pain, Helen, because it's so much better when you get back and it's just done. And then you're like, right, I really love the end of the school holidays into a new. school term time mentally for new books, new school, new term, new, is sort of like a refresh.

And I'll be interesting to see what the weather does, whether that happens. I'm sort of really looking forward to autumn. I'm really looking forward to. I said the other day, I was like, I want to live in a temperate climate. Because I know it's been such an amazing summer, but that heat, I don't think I can take anymore. No, I always get really sad at the end of summer. like the end of this holiday that we're on at the moment because we've had all the children together

and then their partners as well and then friends. And I just, I would happily live in a commune with all of those and we all really enjoy being together. So even the kids want to be together and it's just such a special precious time that we just spend every, not every second of the day, but we just, we enjoy hanging out and playing on the beach and playing games and eating together.

And as the days draw towards the end of a holiday, I just get this overwhelming sadness that's just like, oh, I just, I never want it to end. and I never want the summer to end. And I just wanted to carry on forever and ever. But I remember this last year when we were talking, because your birthday's coming up as well, isn't it? In November, yeah.

In November, yeah. And you love the whole school term thing. I love the autumn, weirdly. And I like lighting fires and having stews and wearing jumpers. But we'll, you know, let's not end summer too soon because it is absolutely amazing. There's still loads of festivals to go to and lots of fun to be had. Yeah.

If you're enjoying Digit, don't forget to hit follow or subscribe. so you never miss an episode. And if you listen on Spotify, we would love your vote, please, in the British Podcast Awards listeners choice. Just open Spotify on your mobile, search British podcast awards, and you can give Digget up to three votes. Thank you so much for your support. We've got an email from Sarah. She says, I'm house and pet sitting for three weeks. And before the owners left, they warned me that their neighbour has a habit of watering their front garden plants most days, completely unasked for. Apparently, it drives the mad.

I was thinking that sounds quite handy. On my very first day, the neighbour appeared with watering can as I was heading to the shops. Introduced myself only for her to casually mention she'd be back later to cut their back hedge. What? Sure enough,

the next afternoon she marched into the back garden electric hedge trimmer in hand. Whoa, this is way too much. Started pruning the hedge and picking the apples I politely told her not to, please don't do that, thanks, explaining I was actually planning to do it myself later that day. I was enjoying looking after the garden. She agreed she'd stick with the front garden plants, except the next day, she let herself into the back garden again and started watering everything.

Who is this woman? Do I ask her to stop? It feels such an invasion of privacy. I just can't understand why she's doing it when nobody has asked her to, or should I ignore? her as I'm only the house sitter for three weeks from Sarah. I couldn't cope with that. That would drive me mad. And what I would do being the Brit and the people pleaser and the polite person, I wouldn't say anything, wouldn't say anything, wouldn't say anything, and they would completely explode. Oh, really? At some point, yeah. Oh my God, Joe. There's something about

house sitting, which I think is really lovely. It's, you know, you're in someone else's place. You haven't got your own obligations and things that you have to do. And it's like going on holidays. Holiday, yeah. Yeah. But someone to invade your holiday. I think that's a bit out of order. I mean, you can back off for three weeks, can't you? I don't think I'll be able to cope with that. Also, has she been asked to trim the hedge and pick the habit, you know? I'm sure she's trying to, she's only being a good person and she's seeing things that need doing, so she's doing it.

But if no one has asked her to do it, if they don't want her to be there anyway, then it's a bit out of order. Also, when you're a house sitting and someone else who's like, it's nice to enjoy that space, isn't it, and feel comfortable there, that someone's not going to appear over your shoulder every five minutes. When you're in your bra and pants. Yeah, exactly. You should have your privacy. And it reminds me, if it's it Freshfields, where the neighbour was always coming around,

she was called Sonia, only Sonia! And it just sort of reminds me of that. It's so bizarre, seeing a random person in your garden when you're just feeling like, this is my space, or I'm looking after this space, and then someone's there, you'd be like, what the fuck? Where are you doing it? Yeah, it makes me really grateful for my lovely,

neighbours. I've got Alan and Sally one side and we've got Rebecca and Stuart the other side and they are so lovely. In fact, there's a whole gang who live for one side and everyone's so friendly and we do anything for anyone and we do share sort of garden bits and stuff like that and I really love that. I'm very lucky with my neighbours. I do feel bad that we're wading in and we're saying to this poor person who's incredibly well-intentioned and wanting to sort out the garden while her neighbours are away and we're saying, no, you shouldn't be there. So maybe that you've got an understanding that we're completely unaware of and you're just being a really good person. I think that's probably the heart of it.

I think you're probably not doing anything out of order at all. Or Sarah, you could just say, back off, bitch. Thank you very much. Not right now. Good cop, bad cop. The thing is, I would never say that. I'd be like, so lovely to see you. And it's like, really understand.

La, la, la. But please don't. And then by the end of it, I'd have backed down and go, yes, please, help yourself. Just come up for dinner. Why don't do the dishwasher? Right. On the subject of ranting, Rebecca's been on the rant hotline. Let's hear what Rebecca's got to say.

Oh, my God. I went on a holiday for two days. And I said to my ex-husband, and I would distal water, the plants. Do not let them die. And this is what I come home to. Ex-husband for a reason, yeah. There we go. People have divorced over less.

Yeah. Claire Foster was saying, wasn't she, on Wednesday's episode, no one will water your garden like you will. Yeah. But I like that you have, you've obviously got quite a good relationship with your ex-husband though, Rebecca, to even have him at your house and know that he, maybe you're still showing the same house. I don't know what the situation is. But yeah, two days, eh, that's the one job, one job they had.

That was possibly a lovely hanging basket, Joe, you're looking at that? You've either got gardeners eyes or you haven't got gardener's eyes, you know. And, yeah, if they're your plants, you really care. If there's someone else's plants, you don't give a shit. Right. A problem shared is a problem halved. We would love to hear from you, please, if you have a particular rant. I was talking to my friend Dee, who I met up with the other day,

and she was like, oh, I heard about the rant hotline, and I thought, yeah, I've got a chikined out. Don't chicken out. Share with us. You'll feel so much better afterwards. And you can be anonymous as well if you don't want anyone to know who you are. So get in touch with your rants. It's our number that just trips off the tongue.

0747-0-7-0-7-9-5. It gets easier. 074-7-7-038-795. We want to hear your rants, please. Brilliant. So before I see you next, Joe, I am going to a festival. We out here, it's Charles Peterson's festival, which I'm really looking forward to.

And I think the weather is cooling down a little bit, which is also exciting. I'm looking forward. Apparently there is you can paddleboard. You'd love it, Joe. paddleboard, there's hot tubs, you can swim, and you can dance in a forest. Sounds amazing.

And Ollie, who works on the podcast, is going to be there. Ollie, I promise you, I'm not going to do like mum embarrassment. Although I say that now. No, Ollie, she is. She'll be there. Well, hide. If you see her, run. That's great.

It's like, who's that woman in that glittery cane? Having it large. Oh, Jesus. It's like, it's be as bad as running into your mother at a rave. Dress as an astronaut. Yeah, that'll be Zoe. I will not be in the astronaut outfit. Although it did go down quite well with a certain member of the house.

I'll say maybe I will. You've got a second leg of your holiday. Day part two. Yeah, so I'm here. At the moment I'm in Cornwall, so we're doing two weeks, we're in Cornwall. And this is because I've done so many weeks in Cornwall where it has rained solidly and I've been in a caravan and I got to a point a few years ago and I was like, I love Cornwall with all my heart. I love it so much. But I need a hot holiday guaranteed hot sunshine afterwards. So this time we've been like blessed with the sunshine and it's been like, I've never seen Cornwall so beautiful. And it's my favourite beach where we go to. It's in,

there's an estuary between Padstone and Rock and Dame Bay. And it's, Honestly, when the tide goes out and you've got this landscape, it's like the moon, and then the sea starts to trickle in, it's like green and blue, and it's just the most beautiful place in the world. So we've had a really lovely time here. We're going to go mackerel fishing this afternoon. Oh, good luck. Wish us luck, yeah.

Will you be having mackerel for tea tonight? Yeah, of course, because I've got India and Alex who cook, who are amazing cooks. So they will take the photographs, they'll cook the mackerel, and then we'll eat it later on tonight. And then after that, we're going to go to Italy. I've never been to Italy before and we're going to go and have a nice sunny hot holiday with a slightly more pared down group but still some of the partners

and so we're going to do that so I'll report back Do you say you've never been to Italy before? No, I went skiing when I was on a school ski trip like many years ago so no, never done Italy you're going to love it. The food I'm going to eat all the food that's all I'm going to do. The food is everything so fresh

and the olive oil and the tomatoes and the wine you're going to have a lovely time And the weather. Yeah, I just want to jump in the sea. That's all I want to do. I want to swim and I want to eat. And that's the plan. Okay, well, we can't wait to see the mackerel fishing feast photographs on the next boards.

And enjoy leg two. Yeah, thank you. And Diggers love to hear from you soon. So do get in touch. And Joe, it's been so lovely to see you. Oh, it's been so nice, so nice to be back. Sunny, so much love. Lots of love.

Bye. Hi. Digit is a Persefonica production.