Episode 304 - Let Us Entertain You

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HostsMelissa Ellis Oliver Spake

Roving reportersJanet Reid Tony O'Connell

Show notes

From the Facebook post

Olly is back!! But he's tired…

While he was a 'Better Man' doing a Fiji nottie,

Mel was 'Doin' it for the Kids' – well the furkids - on a long car trip to visit Northparkes Oval (opens in a new tab) parkrun.

This episode, we have

the Streakmeister, plus roving reports from

TOC at Frank Keenan Reserve (opens in a new tab) parkrun and

Janet from the Mothership – wait, no - at the Memorial Park (opens in a new tab) parkrun launch.

There's

Dazza's, an

Obi, and some

parkwalk and

International Podcast Day chat.

From the podcast feed

Olly is back!! But he’s tired… While he was a ‘Better Man’ doing a Fiji nottie, Mel was ‘Doin’ it for the Kids’ – well the furkids - on a long car trip to visit Northparkes Oval (opens in a new tab) parkrun. This episode, we have the Streakmeister, plus roving reports from TOC at Frank Keenan Reserve (opens in a new tab) and Janet from the Mothership – wait, no - at the Memorial Park (opens in a new tab) parkrun launch. There’s Dazza’s, an Obi, and some parkwalk and International Podcast Day chat. Listen in for all the fun. ‘No Regrets’.

Roving reports

1Frank Keenan Reserve2Memorial Park

In this episode

• Welcome starts at 0:24

  Ollie Spake on Dharawal Country, just back from a family holiday in Fiji where he ran a self-made 5.1 km parkrun around Denarau Island in his ugly singlet, and Melissa Ellis on Wurundjeri Country, thanking Simon Mackley for hosting last week. Mel, Paul and Zoe road-tripped with two of the dogs to Parkes on Wiradjuri Country for the radio telescope, the Elvis museum and Northparkes Oval parkrun, where Mel was swooped by a magpie and met Timekeeper Cameron, who is heading to Shellharbour next week.

• Listener Feedback starts at 13:20

  Ollie: "Ah, but Mel, did we have some feedback from last week's episode?" A message from The Ideas Man, following up the Parkwalk logo discussion, with two black silhouette designs of the state of Victoria that Ollie describes on air. Mel suggests putting him onto the pod's own logo; Ollie sees a market for a design per state and territory.

• International Ugly Christmas Singlet Day starts at 14:57

  Ollie confirms he got his order in before the 25 September cut-off, "I did manage to purchase my Ugly Christmas Singlets and shirts, visors", including for Hannah and his mum, and wore the singlet for his Fiji freedom run. Mel points listeners who missed out to the Facebook page and iheartugly.com for future chances.

• Streaky September starts at 19:14

  Final instalment of the month's streaking encouragement, a pre-recorded piece from Streakmeister Pippa on habit-forming, streak savers and bingos, plus the announcement that the group carries on as "Streak to New Year's Day" from 1 October, with the name change to be made by the Office Lady or Melissa. Preceded by Mel confessing she missed Tuesday and Wednesday streaks while editing last week's episode.

• Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew starts at 21:36

  Two roving reports this week, introduced by Mel "time to throw to our two roving reporters this week. We have got Toc and Janet." TOC reports from Frank Keenan Reserve parkrun, Yarrawonga (new attendance record, 103); Janet reports from the launch of Memorial Park parkrun, Port Pirie, SA.

• Emails starts at 29:41

  Ollie: "So Mel, do we have any mail?", the inbox is empty again and Mel suspects a technical fault she hasn't fixed. Becomes a running gag through the rest of the episode (the missing Informant, missing emails from HR, "there's something to test out whether our email is working").

• Dazza's starts at 30:12

  AFL Grand Final-themed edition; Dazza's prompt asks for pre-footy parkrun fun and notes the Office Lady is a one-eyed Swans supporter. Contributions read from Ollie (Bula from Fiji, ugly singlet by the pool, top of the ledger for likes), Tim Robbins (NZ), Lee Cabarita (Parramatta), Roberta Winters (Echuca Moama), Chris Gore (wife Karen's 250th), Jo McLean (Whalan Reserve), Caro Vos (Durban Point, South Africa), Richard (Frederick Back, Montreal), Helen Rutter (Roosevelt Island, DC), Joanne Blackbird (Portland) and Christine Imbert (Rimini, Italy).

• the Obi Award — Caro Voss starts at 38:45

  Ollie opens a bright pink envelope from the Office Lady and awards the Obi to Caro Vos for completing her Cowell Club (100 different events) milestone at Durban Point parkrun in South Africa while overseas, "Congratulations, Caro, on your cow [Cowell] club achievement. And yeah, what a place to do it too."

• the Informant starts at 39:54

  The segment is thrown to but never plays, after a long silence Ollie says "Mel, no informant." The hosts speculate (was the car in the car park? has the caramilk gone from the bar fridge? any emails from HR?) and Mel delivers "my abridged version of the stats" instead. The closing skit resolves it: the Office Lady finds a resignation note, "We're gone, Office Lady. Out of here... The debacle over Ollie getting all the caramilk at the last stupid harbour front was the final straw. We'll keep publishing our spreadsheets on theinformant.me, but we're not coming to level two with a view that isn't even that great anymore. Try having fun without us."

• Consolidated Club Report starts at 41:28

  Saturday 24 September: of 301 club members, 239 took part at 136 locations, across Australia, New Zealand, the UK, South Africa, Canada and the USA. Largest turnouts: five adventurers at Frank Keenan Reserve, Victoria (Toc and Jacqui O'Connell, Bruce the ideas man, Matthew Billow-Billington, Joe Richards, plus two who signed up on the morning); five at Umbagong in the ACT (Erica and Matt Hopcraft, Marvellous Mark, Dawn Branton, Jiang Ting Huang); four at Stockton, NSW (P1, P2, Paris Lawrence, Lorraine Collison). Mel thanks Christine for suggesting the report link be added to the Facebook post.

• the Frond starts at 42:52

  Ollie asks for the largest frond; Mel doesn't have it but offers two at Northparkes Oval, Paul and Zoe Ellis, as the mark to beat.

• parkrun news bulletin starts at 43:09

  Ollie reads the official parkrun announcement of the new optional parkwalker volunteer role ahead of the October Parkwalk campaign: positioned ahead of the Tail Walker and behind the runners, receiving both a volunteer credit and a walk/run credit, with new parkwalker vests and parkwalk prompt boards being distributed. Followed by discussion of prompt boards (the first-timers board is the most-used) and confirmation that juniors is included in the promotion.

• International Podcast Day starts at 50:10

  Mel notes Friday 30 September is International Podcast Day, "something that we've always highlighted in this very same podcast". The hosts swap recommendations, Ollie mostly soccer podcasts and With Me Now; Mel health and psychology podcasts, Julia Gillard's "A Podcast of One's Own", With Me Now and the news, and ask listeners for tips on where to leave reviews.

• Sign-off starts at 54:16

  Mel said it was time to start wrapping things up and Ollie asked where she was off to next parkrun day: she had no idea, was not over the previous week and thought she might just post her decision on the Office Lady's Friday post, while Ollie would run direct at home at Shellharbour and look out for Cameron. Mel told him to go and get some sleep after his week in a tropical paradise, gave the email address and said that was it for another week.