I spent the day in bed recovering from the after-effects of getting my annual COVID and influenza vaccines yesterday. It reminded me of my pyjama days after chemotherapy four years ago. Aside from short trips to the bathroom and a quick lunch at the kitchen table with my family, I lay in bed, dozing on and off.

When I'm resting, my favourite activity is to listen to podcasts and drift off to sleep. Today, I put on Gyles Brandreth's podcast Rosebud, in which he interviews interesting people about their earliest memories. As I was snoozing most of the time, I missed large portions of most of the episodes that I had selected. Nevertheless, I caught one clip that really resonated with me—so much so that I picked up my laptop and started writing this post.

In his interview with Scottish radio and television presenter Ken Bruce, Brandreth shares a story about English broadcaster Richard Baker, who was a newsreader for BBC News from 1954 to 1982. In his 90s, Baker was living in a care home after his wife had died. "During the day, he would read the newspapers and cut out stories," says Brandreth. "In the evening, when the rest of the residents at the home were sitting around the table, he would sit at the top of the table and it would be Richard Baker Reads You the News."

What an inspiring story of using one's talents and interests to continue doing meaningful work and, in the process, enrich the lives of others.

In a conversation with a friend last night in which we talked about various podcasts we liked, he asked whether I would ever do a podcast. I replied that I wouldn't take that on now, given my existing commitment to writing every day and the time that would be needed to learn a new technology. However, I didn't rule it out. I told my friend that I had loved the medium of radio when I studied Journalism at Carleton University in the 1980s. I adored the challenge of distilling radio stories down to 18 seconds—a little longer if they included a clip from someone else. I had a good voice for radio: expressive, deep and varied in tone. Perhaps one day I will return to a love of my youth and explore the medium of digital audio.