BYAMPOD, DIGI, et al

Hello, you lot.

Think we should address the BYAMPOD-shaped elephant in the room. We've not ended the podcast! But... we've found it impossible to keep up with it alongside the preparation for Digi Level 2 and Digi Live. Both of which were made all the more difficult by my sudden - and unexpected - day job workload.

Something else that's sort of happened over the past year is that there's no wiggle room in our lives anymore. I'm good at juggling multiple projects, but I've effectively lost a day or more each week to helping care for my mum. Work, Digi, BYAMPOD, have had to be squeezed around that. 

We tend to run her around at least one afternoon a week, Sanja's in a couple of times to do her breakfast, I do her tea a couple of nights (and if you're anything like me... knowing you're going to have to stop what you're doing at some determined point in the day is a real bugger to building creative momentum). Then there are unexpected things, like taking her to the doctor, or emergency shopping!

So, when something like a Digi Live Weekend comes along... it gets even more squeezed, and something has to be give. I mean, we've even struggled to get regular Digi eps out the past couple of months, due to preparing for the show. With everything going on, I've had the busiest four or five months of my life. 

Not least because - as it's our 30th anniversary celebration - we're trying to make Digi Live as memorable and special as we possibly can. Plus, it's two shows rather than one, and it's just Sanja and I doing all the organising. 

Therefore, we've made the decision to put BYAMPOD on hiatus until the end of August/beginning September (which should give us time to recover from the show, and start listening to Marillion again). It's not what we want - we REALLY miss doing it, and BYAMPOD is incredibly special to us - but realistically, we just can't fit it in. Obviously, BYAMPOD was born in the pandemic, when I had a LOT more time on my hands, so we need to adapt it to the new reality. 

We will be back, and regular again. Promise. We love it too much to abandon it entirely. And Digi will be back soon too, and everything will be normal once more. Well, normal being a relative term for us.

Anyway. Thanks for hanging in there. And I can't end this without another plug for Digi Live, so... Come to Digi Live! It's less than three weeks away! The Travelodges in Harrow and Wembley are very affordable now. Yes, trains are up the spout a bit, but there are means and ways to get around still. And if you join our Facebook group you can board Tom's Digibus, or get help from other attendees who are offering lifts etc. I can't stress enough that it'll be the ultimate Digi experience, and you will kick yourself if you could've come, but didn't.