Bridechilla, Podcasts
Quirke's Cast and Crew - Animal Wranglers, BBC Radio 4
IT is spring and the cherry blossoms ought to be on their way, whipping confetti everywhere.
Never mind, maybe it's time to download a wedding podcast. There are loads of them.
Perhaps it is because there are millions of brides out there chewing their French-polished fingernails off.
There are people out there who worry about the exact shade of the bridesmaids' dresses and whether the chair covers match.
There are those who weep over seating arrangements. Family wars and relationship breakdowns hover on the horizon.
Bridechilla is a very popular podcast.
Comedian Aleisha McCormack - she's an Aussie - believes in the mental F*** it bucket. Try it, it rhymes... then when things are bad, go into a corner and keep saying it to yourself...
Her message is "Banish the bullsh*t" and save your sanity. First ditch is the rehearsal dinner. Then the "day after" event.
There's a serious discussion about same-sex marriage - it was not possible when Aleisha recorded that first podcast, but it has since been made legal in Australia.
Aleisha's mantra is you should never fake smile on your wedding day.
She does a good chat about obligation guests.
One episode is called 'Stop Saying Yes to Sh*t You Hate' and, yes, that includes the pressure to lose weight for the wedding.
Another podcast on weddings discusses how you can include your beloved pet in your big day - yes, weddings send lots of people barking.
Wranglers are people who look after animals on film sets.
It's challenging. You have to get the animals to do what the director wants without being seen yourself on set.
Wranglers can end up hiding up chimneys, being buried in pits or lying in the boots of cars to stay close to the animals.
Then the dog lets off a pungent fart and the set clears.
Quirke's cast and crew was truly quirky - a window on to a world about which I knew nothing.
