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PODCAST

Life Litter Pod

Weekly pieces from a Substack Featured Writer 2023, read out loud by the author. Life Litter is about the things we leave behind — and how they connect. www.lifelitter.org

society & culture

All Episodes

11:53

The Hamptons of England

Life Litter Pod ·

2025/05/14

A friend sent me a Guardian article a few days ago about how loads of Americans—specifically: young, wealthy, tech-y Americans—are moving to the Cotswolds to escape Trump. The rationale is it offers the chance to live in the quaint English countryside where there is no risk of water shortages, wildfires or demented, roving bands of preppers (at least in the short term).I showed this to Joel and, with a lofty air, suggested that my newsletter probably helped to popularise the Cotswolds for that

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15:11

Dublin

Life Litter Pod ·

2025/05/01

This morning I nearly spilled a full cup of coffee on my laptop.Reflexes and dexterity aren’t what they once were. Forty looms large.Joel took delivery of replacement razors for his shaving implement. After years of being, shall we say, pogonotrophically challenged, he now needs to shave every day. Puberty finally harpooned him at the ripe old age of 32. I told him if he starts growing chest hair, it’s game over, so watch this space.Anyway, back to the razors. I was at my desk, AirPods in, and

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6:57

14 - Nerds

Life Litter Pod ·

2025/02/21

Not long after the thing with Rob fizzled out (not that it ever really fizzled in), along rolled the man everyone thinks I left my husband for.He had it easy. I was primed. It was like Rob had warmed me up: pre-heated to the right temperature. Ready to cheat.It turned out it was still too early for me and Rob: neither of us was ready to dive so catastrophically out of the safety of our relationships.I’d have given it a damn good go. But Rob was—remains—a void of unsatisfied longings.I could show you

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15:29

13 — Shag, Marry, Kill.

Life Litter Pod ·

2025/01/14

⬅️ Read previous 12 — Sex Chess ⬅️⬅️Read T H E N O T E B O O K S from the start here.The thing you have to understand about Rob is that he wasn’t a real person.Not saying he didn’t exist. He definitely existed (insofar as any of us do). I mean he wasn’t a real person you could really know. He didn’t express real opinions or preferences. Sure, he knew what was desirable or what his friends might want or what someone in his position ought to have. But Rob himself? He existed at the Venn centre of

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18:45

Sarajevo

Life Litter Pod ·

2024/10/07

On the flight to Sarajevo, a man with two bags of crisps sat next to me. After a brief negotiation, a woman behind us swapped to sit next to him on the other side. She took one of the bags of crisps and placed a pot of hummus on the tray table between them.I looked out the window. It was a Ryanair plane so the wings appeared to be held together with superglue and prayers. Cracks around the window edges had been mended—clumsily—so the joins were still visible.You know how I feel about flying, and

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33:14

Five trains.

Life Litter Pod ·

2024/08/30

The bed was so comfortable when my alarm went, and Joel so safe and warm, that I was loathe to get out. What madness compels this? For a moment, I sank back and thought how easy it would be to cancel my tickets, change my plans, stay put and have a nice childfree week at home with Joel.Not doing the thing is always easier than doing the thing.Joel made me coffee and I had a quick shower, packed last minute items. Charger, toothbrush, book. Another book. Then a third. It’s ok, two of them are small

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7:20

Home alone

Life Litter Pod ·

2024/08/13

Joel was on a rare work trip last week. That meant I was home alone for a few nights.It was not easy. You may have noticed: I tend more towards anxious-neurotic than sanguine. When I’m home alone, I imagine home invaders, burglars and horrors of the most rape-y kind. I jump at my own shadow, and then imagine I see other shadows and jump at those too.It’s incredible because I lived on my own for many years in my twenties. I hitchhiked with strangers, slept on the floor of the Greyhound bus terminal

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13:20

11 — Myspace

Life Litter Pod ·

2024/06/24

⬅️ PREVIOUS⬅️ ⬅️ READ FROM THE BEGINNINGBefore that drink with Gabriel, I had to make it from the mountains to the city.Back then, I didn’t drive and had time on my hands, a precious gift. I was on no one’s schedule, no boss to satisfy, no hours to bill.Just hours to kill. The train was cheap: for a seat in coach, just 200 bucks. I would read and knit. I would see the unknown, possibly mythical, states. Utah! Nebraska! The train was an adventure.Plus, I fucking hate to fly.Rashly, I booked the

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16:16

Lost time

Life Litter Pod ·

2024/05/28

Do you have a cave?If you live in Paris, you might.In that case, you will pronounce it like what a whale does when it gives birth. Or what Bostonians do to a turkey at Thanksgiving.Cahhhhve.It’s kind of a basement but French people will tell you, actually, a basement is a “sous-sol” (literally: under-sun), a place that can also serve as living quarters. La cave is something else entirely. It’s the cellar, the larder, the storage place. It’s where you keep your extra bits and pieces, dry goods, wine

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26:46

Zero

Life Litter Pod ·

2024/05/13

… in aerem …( … into air … )I smashed my phone the other day.Oh cool, you’re thinking. She hates her phone, she did it on purpose, she’s so angry. Smashing phones like the patriarchy. I don’t need this, I’m going back to a flip phone. Woo! Yeah!Nope.Actually, I just dropped it and it just smashed.It happened the same day Apple dropped its latest ad. You know the one: for the new iPad.If you haven’t seen it, it’s a hydraulic pump smashing all of human creativity—trombones and toys, paint and

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19:33

Private inequity and nontent

Life Litter Pod ·

2024/04/30

The world had moved on since then. The world had emptied.- Stephen King, The Gunslinger⬅️ READ PREVIOUSI’m really angry about the pub. Not sad-angry. Not cute-angry. Not quick-temper angry.Rage-angry.Slow-building, simmering, volcanic-caldera-when-the-gates-of-hellfire-open-and-weep-brimstone angry.Everywhere I turn, I’m told: let go, relax, release your anger. Be at peace. Accept your own futility.And I get angrier.It’s been awhile since I offered an update on the pub, hasn’t it?That’s because I

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39:48

WW III

Life Litter Pod ·

2024/04/19

⬅️ PREVIOUS“And the smell of the air! I used to spend a week just breathing.” (Tolkien, LOTR)“To me, a hike is like a six course meal with walking in-between.”That’s Joel, halfway up a hill in Wales, around a mouthful of mushroom quiche. It’s getting colder the higher we go but he needs another calorie-fortification stop. I’m impatient. Still many more miles to go.Joel says I’m like a dog that needs to be walked. He’s a cat and will purr indoors for hours, in front of his computer. I get antsy and

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9:51

Geek House

Life Litter Pod ·

2024/03/06

“ … and they will read our diaries to find out what we were … ”Joel and I had a fight the other day about AI. Not a debate: a fight.I’m reading Bleak House at the moment — a novel about a protracted argument — so this seems appropriate. At least the Jarndyces were rowing over a pot of gold. We had a fight about AI. What a thing to fight about. What dorks.I’m kidding, of course. Joel is my thought partner. With him, I think externally.But the thing is we really do disagree about AI. I don’t… like AI

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17:47

009 — Bluegrass

Life Litter Pod ·

2024/02/27

⬅️ PREVIOUS⬅️ ⬅️ READ FROM THE BEGINNINGHe walked out of the pub lips still wet.“Didn’t think you were coming with us…!” Gentle ribbing. We’ve all just watched him make out with the girl who does open mic nights.Consternation. “Well, she didn’t invite me back...”“You need to stay longer.”We’re down at a pub in Jericho in Oxford and I’m talking to a neighbour, a new friend. He lives on my road but we’ve never had much occasion to chat. I only met him once before, last summer back when our village pub

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8:10

Germany calling

Life Litter Pod ·

2024/01/27

I got an unexpected email the other day. It reminded me that deliverance arrives in unexpected ways, at unexpected times.Let me explain.Earlier this week, deliverance came at the dentist’s. About three months ago, I went for a long overdue check-up and the dentist did an X-ray.“Oh, you have a cavity. You’ll need a filling.”I was surprised. I’d made it to the ripe old age of 38 without ever once having my teeth drilled. This was my first ever cavity.“Are you sure?” I was dismayed.“Yes.” She pointed

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16:03

More enshittification

Life Litter Pod ·

2024/01/17

Turning and turning in the widening gyre…W. B. Yeats, The Second ComingI thought about enshittification again last night.We watched the new Napoleon movie. Actually, technically: we watched half. It was so bad we decided to stagger the experience over two nights rather than subject ourselves mercilessly to the whole awful two and a half hours in one sitting.Because Napoleon is AWFUL. Not the man, the movie. The man maybe too, who knows, I wasn’t there.But the movie? I was there. Convince me that

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23:24

Stocks and ’stacks

Life Litter Pod ·

2023/12/13

One night a few weeks ago, it was storming. I got a call from a woman in the village. She works up at the school so I assumed it had something to do with my son and answered it with a small degree of alarm.“No, no.” She assured me, nothing to do with school. “It’s the pub.”“What about the pub?”It turned out she had walked past and noticed a window ajar. It must have blown open in the storm.Upon closer inspection, peering in from the other side, she saw water on the floor. She knew I was involved in

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5:07

Mouth music

Life Litter Pod ·

2023/12/05

“Oh please give us something for the little bird’s wake …”The Wren in the Furze, The ChieftainsThere’s certain music that speaks of my childhood, and of Christmas. The Chieftains’ album The Bells of Dublin is the perfect Venn diagram overlap of the two. Have you ever heard the album? Go have a listen. I made Joel listen to it this weekend. It’s very… below-decks-on-the-Titanic. He liked it, but with a bit of a shrug. I said: it’s because you’re not Irish, and winked at my son. If you are even a bit

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22:02

Vienna

Life Litter Pod ·

2023/11/20

One minute it was there, the next minute it was gone. My suitcase, pinched off a train somewhere between Paris and Vienna. Did it contain items that will cost me thousands to replace? Yes. Are they of even limited commercial value to anyone else? Probably not, apart from a Patagonia jacket (eBay onsell value: circa 200 bucks). Was there anything irreplaceable in it? Not really — apart from my sketch notebook, containing the originals of this Venn diagram, this Venn diagram, this map of Oxford and

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17:36

Bread jobs

Life Litter Pod ·

2023/11/03

Who makes the money in your house?That’s a real question. Think about it.It might just be you. It might be you and your partner (if you have one). It might just be your partner (if you have one).Or some other option?What I’m asking is: who provides the money that gives you a measure of freedom to do what you want?Joel and I both work reasonably well-paying full-time jobs.That hasn’t always been how it is. When I got married, over ten years ago, I was the one who had to bring home the bacon. My

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