I cut it fine editing episode 14, and really it was only just about ready to go a few hours before it dropped. I’m not entirely sure why this happened. Obviously recording and editing podcast episodes can be difficult when also holding down a full-time job but Ben and I, cognisant that the run-in to the end of term is always busier than one might anticipate, had actually got ahead of schedule on the recording and we had the rough recordings of episodes 14, 15 and 16 ‘in the can’ before we even dropped episode 12.

I think the fact that I had so many episodes to edit might have been a touch overwhelming though, and actually there was quite a lot happening in real life which got in the way too, outside of work.

Not least was the fact that Ben and I managed to actually meet up outside of school to socialise on ‘non-podcast’ business which we realised was something of a rarity of late. We went to see the band ‘The Pixies’ in a field in Aldermaston, which was pretty cool. Unfortunately those pre-booked tickets coincided with the weekend that I completed my black belt grading, a topic which will no doubt feature in a future episode.

The following Saturday and Sunday were also pretty busy as I was visiting my family in Wales. I did take the PodTrak P4 with me and managed to record some clips of my family, which will also feature in future episodes, which I think might help freshen up the format a bit. Some of my family love the show, while others have never listened. That, and the fact that the ages of the participants range from 4 to 74, should ensure we mix things up a bit in the next few months.

During the week, when I might actually have turned my attention to editing, I was also quite distracted by the World Cup, of which I am a fan. Ben, as I think we discover in episode 12 is not. But he doesn’t edit the podcast so his non-interest in football was of no use to us.

But I did get episode 14 ready just about on time.

I think it’s a pretty good one. Most of the usual beats are followed, we predictably open with a discussion about snacks, Hula Hoops in this case, but it quickly turns into a weird discussion about Ben recreating my life as a Sunday night drama in the kind of conversation that neither of us could have scripted in our wildest dreams.

There is also more than a nod to the profession this week as we seemingly remember that this is notionally a podcast about secondary education. It’s a terrible list about transition from primary to secondary but I think we make the best of it and it is weirdly topical for the time of year.

As for the postcard, even I find this one hard to defend. I’m not entirely sure why the message of ‘Hey it’s gonna be ok’ is not actually ‘Hey it’s gonna bee ok’. Because, y’know, there’s a picture of a bee…