I POD UPOD HE PODS SHE PODS

TO POD...is it yet officially a doing word? I'm forever doing with my pod, ipod! If it makes me look cool, then -so be it! Of course I'm not rapping away, swept up by Indie or even acoustic sounds..no, I am more commonly sitting or lying and listening to the beginning, and I stress -beginning- of another wonderful Radio 4 podcast. From Thinking Allowed to Womans Hour and of course a few specials from BBC World Service too, I'm fully switched on and tuned in whenever I have the time ...The trouble, and there always is-trouble i mean, that the melodic and ear tickling voices of the presenters have the mesmerising effect of lulling me into reverie faster than any other means thus I rarely hear more than the first 15 minutes of any podcast. Is that a real problem i hear you think!? Well only that the programme plays on even though I miss it and when I reboot it to try to hear it again, I have to start it from the very beginning thus the likelihood is that the pattern of hearing only the beginning is repeated. Interestingly whilst I wouldn't say that getting to sleep is a major issue for me, like most women of a 'certain age n stage' my head is always full of to do lists, what I haven't done lists and what I should do if I could do lists. Curiously of all the podcasts the most heavenly and quickest way to wipe out the issues of the day, week or month is SCOTLAND OUTDOORS OR RAMBLINGS with Clare Balding. Having one or two good friends who are Scottish I shall reserve my comments of irritation when listening to certain harsh Highland accents (yes, i realise, I 've done it now!) ...but then there are the gentle and most attractive accents which bring a sort of poetry to the ear. That combined with the sound of squelching upon a muddy bankside or the rustling of leaves as the commentator makes his way leisurely through a copse and describes the walk and countryside views with vivacity and geeky historic nouse and natural history or horticultural enthusiasm makes my mental journey so completely joyous and relaxing. It takes me back to my primary years when i'd have a day or two off school with a 'sickie'. In those days a dose of influenza or tonsillitus was a few days in bed, being served hot n creamy tinned tomatoe soup, ambrosia creamed rice and most important of all, I was allowed to have the oddly green/grey cased BUSH radio up by my bedside. I'd agitate the dial until I fell upon voices speaking about subjects most of which was academically 'over my head' yet it would be their voices, their accents and their use of words which would draw me in. I doubt if I had ever really worked out why I enjoyed such programmes but perhaps it was the musicality in their pronounciation or simply their obvious knoweledge and enthusiasm for their subjects. All this new technology has made access to such a wide range of worldly topics available to us all in many various ways but unhesitantly I have rapidly become a super-fan of my silver, sleek,slender and seductive ipod!