The one with the cup
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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Transcript
Hey, it's.
Speaker A:I'm gonna do that again.
Speaker A:Hey, it's diggy.
Speaker A:So my boy Toby, he.
Speaker A:He at school, does something called forest school.
Speaker A:You've probably heard of it.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:There's lots of different ones available.
Speaker A:Like he used to go to one on a Monday evening where he would build campfires, toast marshmallows.
Speaker A:You know, generally learn how to live in the wilderness.
Speaker A:Well, not live in the wilderness, but, you know, I suppose the whole point is that you're learning survival skills at a very, you know, basic degree.
Speaker A:And they do forest school on a Thursday and he's really into it and they've been doing whittling and it turns out that he's dead good at it.
Speaker A:And he.
Speaker A:He's been making like, all kinds of stuff.
Speaker A:I mean, I've not seen any of it, but apparently he's really good at it.
Speaker A:The teachers keep saying.
Speaker A:Yeah, he's like one of the.
Speaker A:The students that's most into it is really, is really into it.
Speaker A:He uses it like a stick and then he does, well, whatever you do when you're whittling.
Speaker A:He essentially, he got his knife license, as they put it, which meant he's allowed now to use a knife to do his whittling.
Speaker A:And he's dead excited about it, or he was dead excited about it.
Speaker A:He was like, I can't wait.
Speaker A:And all week he went on about it going, oh, I'm going to get to use my knife.
Speaker A:I'm going to get to use a knife.
Speaker A:I'm going to get to use a knife.
Speaker A:It's great.
Speaker A:And then the day came and he was up early.
Speaker A:He was like, right, Dad, I need a big breakfast today because I gotta get to use my knife.
Speaker A:I need to make sure my brain's sharp so that my concentration skills are at the best because I want to be safe with the knife and I want to be able to listen.
Speaker A:I'm like, oh, wow.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:He's taking this very seriously.
Speaker A:He does.
Speaker A:When he wants something, when he likes something, he really does take it seriously.
Speaker A:And anyway, he got to school that day and he went to school.
Speaker A:He came out and I said, how did it go?
Speaker A:He's like, well, we didn't do forest school.
Speaker A:I was like, oh, why not?
Speaker A:He said, well, they've cancelled it.
Speaker A:Oh, okay.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:The two people that do forest school, they're not allowed to do it anymore, so they've had to cancel it.
Speaker A:But they're going to get somebody else to come and teach it instead.
Speaker A:So I'm like, oh, Right.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:I've never found out anything about why the two people that did Forest School no longer do it.
Speaker A:But for whatever reason, they just were, in his words, they're not allowed to do it anymore.
Speaker A:It might just be that the license with the school run out, you know, or something like that.
Speaker A:Who knows?
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:I don't think there's anything nefarious.
Speaker A:I think it was just because it was a third party company that was coming in and doing it for the school.
Speaker A:So I have a feeling it's probably just a licensing thing or they've had to go to a different school or something like that.
Speaker A:Anyway, a few weeks go by.
Speaker A:He comes out of school one day and he says, dad, you never guess what.
Speaker A:I was like, what?
Speaker A:He said, forest School's back on next week.
Speaker A:I'm like, brilliant.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:And he said, that means I get to use my knife skills again.
Speaker A:I'm like, okay, are you sure?
Speaker A:He said, yeah, it's Forest School.
Speaker A:It's just, it's where I was up to.
Speaker A:I'm like, just bear in mind it might be a different company now that's doing Forest School.
Speaker A:So they might start again or they might do something else.
Speaker A:I said, obviously, tell them what you were doing, but I just, I just want to, you know, build the right expectation here.
Speaker A:Don't expect you'll just get a knife next week.
Speaker A:I don't want you to be disappointed.
Speaker A:And he's like, I won't.
Speaker A:And he gets dead annoyed when you tell him stuff like, you know, when you try and manage his expectations, as it were.
Speaker A:He doesn't like it, which I kind of get because, you know, he's excited about something and I'm essentially being a bit of a bummer and saying, oh, it might not happen.
Speaker A:You know, I, I understand why he gets excited, but at the same time, I know he gets very upset easily if, if his expectations aren't met.
Speaker A:So I like to make sure that the expectations are brought down to a reasonable level sometimes.
Speaker A:And so the big day comes, it's Forest School.
Speaker A:He comes out of school that night and he says, I didn't get to use my knife, dad.
Speaker A:Like, oh, that's a shame.
Speaker A:Oh, well, you know, there'll be other times, you know, maybe we could look into it for you at home.
Speaker A:Like I'll look into maybe getting you a whittling kit or something like that.
Speaker A:He went, well, no, it's not, it's okay.
Speaker A:He said, the teacher said I might get to in the future, but we're Doing pottery now instead of whittling.
Speaker A:So I'm like, oh, okay.
Speaker A:Now in my head, I'm thinking, what the hell has pottery got to do with.
Speaker A:With forest school?
Speaker A:But, you know, you could argue what's whittling got to do with forest school?
Speaker A:It's all about learning skills.
Speaker A:I suppose it's probably something that they're just calling forest school at this point, just so that it's the same for the kids.
Speaker A:So anyway, he said, yeah, we're doing pottery.
Speaker A:And I went, right, okay.
Speaker A:He said, yeah, I've made a cup.
Speaker A:I'm like, cool.
Speaker A:I'm thinking back to all the cups that I've made when I was in school.
Speaker A:He said, yeah, it's not a very good cup, though.
Speaker A:You can't drink out of it.
Speaker A:So, like, oh, okay.
Speaker A:Why can't you drink out of it?
Speaker A:He said, well, when he said we were making a cup, I didn't realize that we were going to be making a cup to drink out of.
Speaker A:I just thought we were making a cup shape.
Speaker A:So I said, right, but what does that mean?
Speaker A:He said, well, it's not very big and the bottom of it isn't round, but you can make it stand up if you balance it on the handle.
Speaker A:I'm like, what do you mean the bottom of it isn't round?
Speaker A:He said, well, I just didn't think to make.
Speaker A:Sorry, the bottom isn't round, the bottom isn't flat.
Speaker A:He said, I just didn't think to make the bottom of it flat.
Speaker A:I'm like, you didn't think to make the bottom of a cup flat?
Speaker A:He's like, no.
Speaker A:So what shape is it?
Speaker A:He said, it's round.
Speaker A:You made a cup, a thing that sits on a table, round at the bottom?
Speaker A:He's like, yeah, we're both laughing our heads off at this point in it because he's obviously understanding the ridiculousness of it.
Speaker A:And I.
Speaker A:Who doesn't think to make a cup flat?
Speaker A:He said, I just didn't realize we were making a real cup.
Speaker A:I just.
Speaker A:I thought we were gonna randomly make the shape and then just, like, throw it all away and start again.
Speaker A:He said, but no, he's actually setting them.
Speaker A:They're going in a kiln.
Speaker A:So a week later, he comes out and he went, right, dad, don't laugh.
Speaker A:So, like, okay, I won't laugh.
Speaker A:Let's have a look.
Speaker A:He shot me the cup, right?
Speaker A:It's so small.
Speaker A:It's like.
Speaker A:It's an espresso cup, essentially.
Speaker A:But the bottom of it isn't completely flat and it, it doesn't stand up.
Speaker A:The handle's massive.
Speaker A:You have to balance it on the handle to get it stand up.
Speaker A:But it does look really cool.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:It's actually not that bad.
Speaker A:I really like it, but he, he's a bit like, yeah, if I'd have known better, I would have made it better, but I just didn't realize what they were doing with it.
Speaker A:So, yeah, I'm gonna, I'll, I'll include a picture of the cup.
Speaker A:I, I.
Speaker A:If you go to the show notes for this episode, I make a.
Speaker A:Just in case you don't know, on heyitsdiggy.com I make a blog post for every single episode so that people can read it instead of listen to it if they want to.
Speaker A:It's a summary.
Speaker A:It's not quite like the entire.
Speaker A:It's not a transcript of the episode, it's an actual blog post for the episode.
Speaker A:And I'll, I'll add the, the picture of the cup as the header for it so you can see it.
Speaker A:But I really like it.
Speaker A:But it's not a cup.
Speaker A:It's not usable as a cup.
Speaker A:I suppose it is, but you'd have a.
Speaker A:It'd be a mouthful and that's it.
Speaker A:That'd be a lot.
Speaker A:So, yeah, that was Toby's cup.
Speaker A:See you next time.
