When Your Kid Handles School Better Than You Handle Uploads!

This week on That’s a Free Bee, I confess to a little podcasting oopsie—some of you might have briefly seen Pod Tales pop up in your feed before it vanished into the digital void. Turns out, between flat audio, 40 failed attempts to say “skeletons,” and a rogue unedited section, I had to pull the plug. But don’t worry, because from the ashes of Pod Tales rises something new, something clever, something with a gavel: Lore and Disorder.

I walk you through why the name works, the vibe I’m chasing (dry wit, sarcasm, spooky-but-true stories), and the big plan to launch the show with ten deep-dive episodes come January. Think history, mystery, and a little “DUN DUN” energy.

Meanwhile, on the home front, Seraphina braved her first holiday club at her new school—navigating anxiety, backpack mishaps, and a rocky start with more resilience than most adults muster before coffee. Spoiler: she absolutely smashed it, and it changed the way we’re looking at her school future.

Oh, and because no episode is complete without a tangent, I take you on a nostalgia-fueled tour of the shops of my youth in Bury—Tandy scanners, stationary havens I can’t remember the name of, He-Man hunts gone wrong, and a pork pie so good it deserves its own fan club. Sprinkle in a Shropshire getaway, a cowboy hat purchase, and a peanut butter milkshake, and you’ve got yourself one jam-packed episode of stories, laughs, and unexpected detours.