Hey It's Diggy

This week I tell the story of Toby's first ever school fight. What started as a disagreement over some playground tyres somehow ended with Toby taking on two older kids, earning himself a new nickname, and coming home looking far too pleased with the whole situation.

As a parent, it's a strange conversation to have. On the one hand, you're trying to explain that fighting isn't the answer. On the other hand, it's difficult not to be proud when your child steps in to protect a friend who was being picked on.

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Thanks for listening. Genuinely. You could’ve been doing literally anything else.

If you’d like more of me, head to heyitsdiggy.com. There’s a blog, links to my socials, and the general digital clutter you’ve come to expect.

If you prefer to read your podcasts there is a full transcript of every episode on the blog.

Got feedback, a question, or a burning need to correct me? The best way to do that is via the form.

This week I tell the story of Toby's journey through Forest School, his excitement at finally earning his "knife licence", and the disappointment of discovering that the new Forest School had completely different plans.

What started as a lesson in whittling somehow turned into pottery, resulting in one of the most impressive examples of accidental design I've seen in a while: a cup that technically exists, but only stands up if you balance it on the handle.

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Thanks for listening. Genuinely. You could’ve been doing literally anything else.

If you’d like more of me, head to heyitsdiggy.com. There’s a blog, links to my socials, and the general digital clutter you’ve come to expect.

If you prefer to read your podcasts there is a full transcript of every episode on the blog.

Got feedback, a question, or a burning need to correct me? The best way to do that is via the form.

This week I tell the story of the time my daughter went missing after returning from a school trip. What should have been a straightforward coach pickup somehow turned into nearly two hours of confusion, panic, teachers searching the school grounds, and me driving around trying to work out where she'd gone.

The strangest part is that nobody had actually done anything wrong.

We were looking for her. She was looking for us. Somehow we still managed to completely miss each other.

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Thanks for listening. Genuinely. You could’ve been doing literally anything else.

If you’d like more of me, head to heyitsdiggy.com. There’s a blog, links to my socials, and the general digital clutter you’ve come to expect.

If you prefer to read your podcasts there is a full transcript of every episode on the blog.

Got feedback, a question, or a burning need to correct me? The best way to do that is via the form.

This week I tell the story of a DIY job that sat on my to-do list for about a year before finally forcing itself to the top. What should have been a quick trip to B&Q and a simple repair somehow turned into multiple journeys, far more effort than expected, and a level of frustration that only DIY seems capable of producing.

The worst part is that the shower wasn't actually the problem.

I was.

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Thanks for listening. Genuinely. You could’ve been doing literally anything else.

If you’d like more of me, head to heyitsdiggy.com. There’s a blog, links to my socials, and the general digital clutter you’ve come to expect.

If you prefer to read your podcasts there is a full transcript of every episode on the blog.

Got feedback, a question, or a burning need to correct me? The best way to do that is via the form.

This week I tell the story of a man on the tram who genuinely believed he didn’t need a ticket because technically the journey was for his dog, not for him. What followed was one of the strangest arguments I’ve witnessed on public transport, which is saying quite a lot at this point.

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Thanks for listening. Genuinely. You could’ve been doing literally anything else.

If you’d like more of me, head to heyitsdiggy.com. There’s a blog, links to my socials, and the general digital clutter you’ve come to expect.

If you prefer to read your podcasts there is a full transcript of every episode on the blog.

Got feedback, a question, or a burning need to correct me? The best way to do that is via the form.

I’m back.

After taking a bit of an unexpected break from the podcast, I thought this episode would be a good chance to catch up on what I’ve been doing, why I disappeared for a few weeks, and how a simple character-count shortcut accidentally turned into me learning app development.

Also, important context: I made the mistake of eating a Cajun burger right before recording. I am terrible with spicy food. So if I sound like I’m fighting for my life during parts of this episode… that’s why.

I talk about why I needed to step away from recording for a little while and how difficult it became trying to balance podcasting with everything else going on in life. I chat about getting into a more consistent gym routine, preparing to eventually run the Manchester 10K, and discovering that regular running does actually make you feel better, which is deeply inconvenient for someone who enjoys sitting down.

I also get into the strange world of Apple Shortcuts after trying to solve a very small problem that somehow consumed four hours of my life. What started as a simple idea for a text analysis shortcut quickly spiralled into building tools for my Dungeons & Dragons campaigns, including fantasy name generators, shop inventory generators, tavern name generators, and random loot systems.

Eventually, I hit the limits of shortcuts entirely and decided to start learning proper app development using Swift and Xcode, with ChatGPT acting less like a chatbot and more like a coding tutor that never gets tired of my questions. Somewhere along the way, I accidentally started building what might eventually become a full D&D companion app.

I’ve realised I learn best when I’m building something I genuinely care about.

Tutorials never really stuck for me because once they ended, I had no reason to keep going. But the second I started building tools I actually wanted to use, everything changed. Suddenly I wanted to solve problems, understand systems, and keep improving things.

Turns out the secret ingredient was hyper-fixation all along. Who could’ve guessed?

• heyitsdiggy.com
• Apple Shortcuts
• Xcode Developer Tools

If you enjoyed the episode, I’d really appreciate you sharing it around, leaving a review, or sending it to someone who has also convinced themselves they’re “just building a small tool” before accidentally creating an entire project ecosystem at 2am.

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Thanks for listening. Genuinely. You could’ve been doing literally anything else.

If you’d like more of me, head to heyitsdiggy.com. There’s a blog, links to my socials, and the general digital clutter you’ve come to expect.

If you prefer to read your podcasts there is a full transcript of every episode on the blog.

Got feedback, a question, or a burning need to correct me? The best way to do that is via the form.

A man gets angry at the wrong person and commits to the bit… all the way into a taxi.

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Thanks for listening. Genuinely. You could’ve been doing literally anything else.

If you’d like more of me, head to heyitsdiggy.com. There’s a blog, links to my socials, and the general digital clutter you’ve come to expect.

If you prefer to read your podcasts there is a full transcript of every episode on the blog.

Got feedback, a question, or a burning need to correct me? The best way to do that is via the form.

What should have been a routine gas safety check turned into a bizarre encounter involving unpaid bill accusations, a “fake” boiler flame, and a faulty testing machine.

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Thanks for listening. Genuinely. You could’ve been doing literally anything else.

If you’d like more of me, head to heyitsdiggy.com. There’s a blog, links to my socials, and the general digital clutter you’ve come to expect.

If you prefer to read your podcasts there is a full transcript of every episode on the blog.

Got feedback, a question, or a burning need to correct me? The best way to do that is via the form.

From a beloved Mini to a disastrous Volkswagen Golf, this is the story of my best and worst cars, packed with breakdowns, chaos, and driving mishaps.

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Thanks for listening. Genuinely. You could’ve been doing literally anything else.

If you’d like more of me, head to heyitsdiggy.com. There’s a blog, links to my socials, and the general digital clutter you’ve come to expect.

If you prefer to read your podcasts there is a full transcript of every episode on the blog.

Got feedback, a question, or a burning need to correct me? The best way to do that is via the form.

I got a new toy and going to tell you all about whether you like it or not.

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Thanks for listening. Genuinely. You could’ve been doing literally anything else.

If you’d like more of me, head to heyitsdiggy.com. There’s a blog, links to my socials, and the general digital clutter you’ve come to expect.

If you prefer to read your podcasts there is a full transcript of every episode on the blog.

Got feedback, a question, or a burning need to correct me? The best way to do that is via the form.