My Mum's Bad Diaries - podcast cover

My Mum's Bad Diaries

Jenny Ackland and Lilika Maywww.mymumsbaddiaries.com

You're invited to eavesdrop as a mother reads out her teenage diaries to her daughter. Funny, candid, poignant and brave, this podcast is both living memoir and an investigation into what makes (and breaks) a woman. No scripts, no prep; just 40-year-old (diary) gold being unearthed. Even Jenny doesn't know what's going to come up as she lays bare her inner teen world to her daughter Lilika. Their motto is 'we go there', so what could possibly go wrong?

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Episodes

18 days to Sydney (Vol.5, 1983)

*** Content note: mention of hard drug use; violence + Part 2, following on from episode 7. It's early May 1983 as Mum reads on from her diary. She wakes from another late night with a wrecked throat (not remarkable) and mentions that she's using a 'Safeway Bag' as a handbag (which needs some unpacking lol see what I did there). She goes to see SCUM at the Ballroom, and talks about the girl who has a $20,000 'contract out on her'. Words like 'scrag' are used, and there's a fight outside the Ball...

Jun 11, 20251 hr 6 minSeason 4Ep. 8

SIDE CHAT (dramione)

What is Dramione, you may ask? If you don't know - and it's reasonable that you don't - it's a mix of Draco (Malfoy) and Hermione (Granger) from Harry Potter. And Dramione is specifically a genre of fan fiction that has proliferated online and which we talk about in this side chat. + Follow us on Insta @mumsbaddiaries and thanks for listening! We'd love to read your comments or questions! Send us a text!...

Jun 11, 202521 minSeason 4Ep. 7

Modern technology (Vol.5, 1983)

Here we are with Episode 7, part 1 of a 2-part recording on a Friday in early May. Yes we're a bit behind but will be catching up soon! We know how important it is for people to be hearing our current-day news close to real time. The 1983 readings? Well, they are timeless. But these days when we record we seem to go for hours and so have to split the gold! As well, I'm all over the place (Seattle-London-Antalya) while Mum is actually bed bound. We're not up to that yet in the podcast. But yes, a...

Jun 11, 202544 minSeason 4Ep. 7

Pots v pints (Vol.5, 1983)

In 1983, Victorian pubs didn't have pint glasses, it was just a glass or a pot. Who knew? Not me. This is part 2 of the previous recording, where Mum just carries on reading her diary from 1983. It's her first Friday at home for more than 3 months and I'm kinda impressed. Though her reading is funny: she toggles between Sex Pistols books and Jill's pony series. Cute. Simon seems to have vanished off the face of the earth and we think mum maybe sent another letter, and she worries in the diary th...

May 28, 202547 minSeason 4Ep. 6

SIDE CHAT (severance)

Enormous warning about SPOILERS. But if you've seen the second season of SEVERANCE, listen in and see whether you agree with Mum or me, as we disagree on several points! + Follow us on Insta @mumsbaddiaries and thanks for listening! We'd love to read your comments or questions! Send us a text!

May 14, 202516 minSeason 4Ep. 5

Hostile & ravenous (Vol.5, 1983)

This is part 1 of this recording session, with part 2 (Episode 6) to follow in a fortnight. We start our chat with a catch up on Life: but I start out by saying how good mum is at Garage Band, and she tells me how she fixed the family kettle back in Ashburton years ago, one of the old ceramic Hecla electric kettles. (In the ep we don't know the name but we Googled since!) I also hear about a yacht problem-solving time at Lakes Entrance, and we mention the Bennington College podcast, which we're ...

May 14, 202548 minSeason 4Ep. 5

Boys called Smear, Spike & Rat (Vol.5, 1983)

Content note carries over from the first part, which was Ep 3 (food, weight, eating, diets etc) + Welcome to the second part of the diary reading, where Mum continues on with her 1983 life. She cooks a roast, she likes Rod, she goes to another party, in Lygon Street. Getting into punk: there's bands called Justifiable Hatred, Depression. You get the idea. She goes to Smear's house in Caulfield and Spike's house too, and we wonder whether these are private school boys just going through their own...

Apr 30, 20251 hr 2 minSeason 4Ep. 4

SIDE RANT (Meghan, with love)

What can we say. We hate watched some episodes. Those of you who know us know we don't love the Meghan. Follow us on Insta @mumsbaddiaries and thanks for listening! We'd love to read your comments or questions! Send us a text!

Apr 16, 202512 minSeason 4Ep. 3

SIDE CHAT (mafs)

While MAFS was one of grandad's shows, we'd never watched it until recently! Here's our chat about it, after pounding through most of the episodes within a week. Follow us on Insta @mumsbaddiaries and thanks for listening! We'd love to read your comments or questions! Send us a text!

Apr 16, 202540 minSeason 4Ep. 3

Vows and jackets (Vol.5, 1983)

Content warning: LOTS of food and body and weight talk. Also a lot of jacket talk. + Mercury is in retrograde and we're grumpy, but we make it work!! I talk bone brother and village soup recipes while back in 1983, mum is obsessed with getting rid of the matted bits in her hair ('dreadlocks' she calls them. Sure.) She's thinking about Simon a lot. There a day of car trouble. We talk '80s cheque and banking conventions as well as the virtues of a leopard skin dressing gown. Oh and there's a $1 de...

Apr 16, 202554 minSeason 4Ep. 3

Noodles part 2 (Vol.5, 1983)

Content note: food talk, exercise talk, weight talk Apologies the sound quality is NOT GREAT... back to our normal crystal-clear audio next episode! * It's 1983, still Feb and we both Mum and Bret Easton Ellis are seeing the Psychedelic Furs. (I don't know who they are of course!) We continue straight on with the reading. The letter from Simon has come and Mum show the influence of his writing style in her diary entries, with lots of 'n's and dropped g's... it's embarrassing but totally understa...

Apr 02, 20251 hr 7 minSeason 4Ep. 2

Noodles (Vol.5, 1983)

Content note: diets, food and weight. * It's the first episode of season 4 and this one is all about noodles, breakfast of champions for the young back in 1983. It's February 1983, mum is staying with girlfriends down at Queenscliff and the big fires are happening. Gran is ringing worried but all mum seems to care about is reading a new book Tom, being interested in a photography course, the F-Plan Diet and the No Nonsense merch: yoyos! Mum's also waiting for a letter from Simon from Bristol, wh...

Mar 19, 20251 hr 3 minSeason 4Ep. 1

Xmas bonus - part 2 (A Very Bronte Christmas)

We continue our Boxing Day bed-chat with an up-to-date missive from Haworth, epicentre of Bronte Country. We talk about our visit to the Parsonage Museum, the church where Patrick Bronte was the minister. We also talk about our walk on the moors, up to Top Withens, the setting for the house Wuthering Heights in the book. We're now on hiatus until March next year. Join us then for Season 4!! We'd love to read your comments or questions! Send us a text!...

Dec 26, 202447 minSeason 3Ep. 24

Xmas bonus - part 1 (A Very Bronte Christmas)

We're in the UK. lying in bed on Boxing Day after a big lunch yesterday, lots of British Bake Off, and -- believe it or not -- church and needle point. How very Bronte of us. We are in fact in Haworth, village of the Bronte sisters, but in this part 1 we catch you up on our travels since early November. We'd love to read your comments or questions! Send us a text!

Dec 26, 20241 hr 31 minSeason 3Ep. 23

Melodram dizzi (Vol.5, 1983)

This is part 3, and we’re straight into the reading (continuing on from last episode). It's a short episode 22, and Mum is in a shit with Granddad though it’s unclear what about. She tries to drive to Black Rock beach and can’t find Black Rock beach! Then heading back home ,there’s the wall of dust, yes! Melbourne’s historical dust storm that turned the streets black with the dirt blown from the Mallee. Hottest Melbourne day ever: 42.3 degrees. And while there’s always exact attention paid to th...

Dec 18, 202437 minSeason 3Ep. 22

Dragon Phoenix (Vol.5, 1983)

Simon is gone and Mum’s trying not to write about him in her diary! So she plays guitar and goes to see bands, and of course watches TV – The Partridge Family, Gidget, Young Doctors and Rock Around the World, and Carson’s Law. We have the vivid summer memory of picking up the school books from Campion and we also have ‘yet another dinner stuffed at the Dragon Phoenix’ with Grandad/Roger. We become confused by ‘mewing’ and all-round Gen Alpha terms before getting back to the ‘80s and Mum’s burgeo...

Dec 18, 202459 minSeason 3Ep. 21

SIDE CHAT (the singing imam)

We learn a lot about stone in this episode! This is part 1 of a mega recording push, with part 2 to publish on 19 December and part 3, well we'll publish that on the same day as part 2. Why not, it's the festive season. Lily has the imam and his wife coming to afternoon tea and her linen pants are ruined because of stone dust after visit to the stone men. Yes it’s an update on Lily’s life in south of Turkey where she’s living with her father, and we also have Jenny’s current fixation on a couple...

Dec 04, 202447 minSeason 3Ep. 20

The Germans (Vol.5, 1983)

Content note: mention of sexual assault It’s still January 1983 and we wonder: skin diving – is it a thing? We continue straight on with part 2 of the reading, continuing from last episode. There’s more about the Sydney trip and it seems it might be off due to parental opposition, but then just as quickly, it’s back on again. And there’s a struggle to cook eggs for Simon from Bristol, and then Jenny… drives Simon home. Again. Shortly after, down at Inverloch, she starts reading The Story of O, P...

Nov 20, 20241 hr 8 minSeason 3Ep. 19

The date (Vol.5, 1983)

This is part 1 of this recording, with part 2 publishing in a fortnight. We start off with a Lily travelogue update including a Britboy update, also a Jenny riding – and falling – update And then we’re back in January 1983. Jenny is trying to tidy her room, she plans to drive to Sydney in the VW Beetle with her friends and her mum is opposing the idea. Finally also there’s some Simon from Bristol action but Jenny is wary. She organises to defer uni and then goes on a date. Talk about a happening...

Nov 06, 20241 hr 1 minSeason 3Ep. 18

SIDE CHAT (pocket bf)

In this segment from our 8JUN record, Lily tells us a bit more about britboy. Does he see her as a pocket girlfriend, or is it her who sees him as a pocket bf? These are only some of the questions Jenny has... Listen in for the lowdown. (Apologies for being so late with this, we had to wait a bit... had it hidden on patreon but NO ONE LISTENED.) Follow us on Insta @mumsbaddiaries We'd love to read your comments or questions! Send us a text!...

Oct 23, 202453 minSeason 3Ep. 17

SIDE CHAT (all of the tv)

** Content note: a bit of weight talk It's another side chat and it's all TV... we talk Kardashians, ozempic, the crab theory, and choosing unsuitable people. There's a BritBoy update along with more relationship insights. The big question is, though: how many times can Jenny say 'cinque terre'??? Link you probably won't be interested in but here they are anyway: Indy Clinton on tiktok https://www.tiktok.com/@indyclinton?lang=en Kardashians 5 seasons on Disney Millions of earlier seasons on HAYU...

Oct 09, 20241 hr 12 minSeason 3Ep. 16

The push (Vol.4, 1982/Vol.5 1983)

*** Content note: mention of suicide We’re back to diaries and it’s late December 1982… Jenny has a new-found ambition to be a ‘successful musician’ (because she learned some chords), and to get a job in London. She hates ‘everyone’ because they don’t ‘take her seriously’. Ah, to be 19 and totally delulu. She goes to the Ballroom, for the ‘Punk Revival’ night; sees bands Genocide, Depression and The Boot Boys. Jenny tells Lily about finding a No Nonsense page on Facebook, run by Richard, lead si...

Sep 25, 20241 hr 1 minSeason 3Ep. 15

SIDE CHAT (miscellany)

Content note: mention of EDs and weight We catch up with Lily’s reading, Lady Chatterley’s Lover, SPOILERS obvs but it was published yonks ago, unbanned also yonks ago, so we don’t feel responsible for any spoiling. Other cultural touchstones mentioned: Twilight – books and films Harry Potter The Smart-less Podcast and their interview with Kristen Stewart The Jill’s pony books by Ruby Ferguson Mortal Instruments series Vampire Academy True Blood Dead Until Dark, the Charlene Harris series of boo...

Sep 18, 202456 minSeason 3Ep. 14

SIDE CHAT (on finding balance)

In this catch up, Lily dials in from Ortigia, Sicily to talk about having deliberate alone time, needing to find the balance between being with people and being on her own in a mindful way. There's also 2nd thoughts about going to London for the Henley Regatta and to see Britboy, along with lots of insights and learning. We talk about the perils of a long-distance thing (not even a r'elationship'), the feeling of being in limbo, and the art of detachment. The concept of 'leaving quietly'. Do we ...

Sep 04, 202444 minSeason 3Ep. 13

SIDE CHAT (farm life)

In this recent recording from last week, we chat about Lily's housesitting for 10 days in the wonderful English countryside. Horses fish birds vegies flowers summer heat and a feral cat, as well as a gorgeous Tudor house. Tudor, not 'Tudor-style'. Lily also visits a historical house nearby, rambles the country lanes and picks blackberries from the bushes. All very Thomas Hardy. Warning: there is a seriously tortuous discussion towards the end about some kind of cowboy novel that we just can't th...

Aug 08, 20241 hr 8 minSeason 3Ep. 12

Anti everything (Vol.4, 1982)

Content note: fat talk, food talk, beauty talk In this episode, Lily learns what it means to have a bad fringe. Starting off, we have a Lily update and catch up where she’s at in the world, her filler/scar/fringe updates (see fringe pics on insta) and then move onto the diary reading from 5 December 1982. Jenny’s life, she says, is ‘reading, writing, listening to music and going out’… pretty typical for most almost-nineteen year olds. She doesn’t really want a job in a shop or restaurant; she wa...

Jul 31, 20241 hr 27 minSeason 3Ep. 11

All the YMs (Vol.4, 1982)

Content note: racially insensitive language, body and weight talk, food talk And we're straight into reading: it’s 28 November 1982 J is working at St Kilda Road, on the general ledger J and L still don’t know what a general ledger is so here’s a link from the people who know at Xero: https://www.xero.com/au/glossary/general-ledger/ There’s more CB radio talk than there is accounting talk, thankfully. Jenny chats with a whole list of young men (YMs) on the rig, and has another eyeball in the loc...

Jul 17, 202456 minSeason 3Ep. 10

New Order = boring (Vol.4, 1982)

It’s 24 November 1982 and there were all types of spaghetti restaurants: Tree, Theatre and Graffiti! We go to the Seaview Ballroom in St Kilda, to see Allniters, INXS, Soldiers of Fortune and No Nonsense. We have more sunburn, more disillusionment with uni, more thinking and more existential angst. There’s a bad poem: Do Something, a party upcoming in Box Hill and an English guy at The Ballroom tells Jenny she looks like Janice Joplin. Jenny isn’t sure this is a flattering comparison, but Lily s...

Jun 26, 202444 minSeason 3Ep. 9

SIDE CHAT (Turkish dispatch)

** Content warning: brief mention of self harm/cutting This is part 1 of this recording session; next episode publishes in two weeks Have you ever wondered what a 6-hour Whatsapp chat must be like? Join us for a taster! In this episode, Jenny learns more about Lily’s beauty treatments in the South of Turkey, and you're along for the ride. Nails! Hair! Face fillers! We catch up with Lily's movements since we last recorded, and about how she also reverts to ‘child role’ when in a domestic space wi...

Jun 12, 202446 minSeason 3Ep. 8

Eyeball (Vol.4, 1982)

We jump right into the reading as this is essentially part 2 of the last episode where we used up all the time just chatting as we are wont to do We hear more about the CB radio and Jenny’s addiction to it (there's a 'big fight' with brother Jim because he won’t let her use ‘the rig’. Lily laughs about Jenny using the term ‘the rig’ and rightly so because it’s very 1970s CQ CQ Rubber Ducky trucker talk. But the thing is, Jenny is chatting to Brian and George, local station masters and then in th...

May 29, 202449 minSeason 3Ep. 7
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