Peeling Potatoes 29: The Year the Potato Rolled

A Peeling Potatoes dispatch from the kitchen table, with dogs barking, socks showing, and big things said accidentally

There are podcasts that open with slick jingles and confident certainty.

And then there is Peeling Potatoes.

This one opens with:
“Are we live?”
“Yes.”
“We are live.”
Dogs barking. Weather comparisons. Someone overslept. Someone didn’t. Nobody knows what episode number it is, but it’s probably 29.

And just like that, you’re in.

Not as an audience member.
As someone sitting quietly at the edge of the table, coffee cooling, listening to two people who forgot they were supposed to perform.

This is Episode 29.
The year-in-review.
And somehow, without trying, it becomes something else entirely.

Nothing Polished, Everything Real

South Africa is 22 degrees and windy.
Europe is grey, damp, and clinging to single-digit optimism.

Fruitloop is in a cardigan because the wind has opinions.
The Mayor is wearing reindeer socks because Christmas demanded something.

There are guest dogs. Two of them.
They are not intelligent contributors, but they are present. Which, as it turns out, is the theme of the year.

This is not a podcast that edits out reality.
It invites it closer.

Missed words (“fireplace”).
Coughing fits.
Weather envy.
Long pauses where thinking happens out loud.

And somehow, this is exactly why you keep listening.

A Year Told Through Small Things

What does a good year look like?

Not in metrics.
In moments.

A child walking into “big school” without crying.
Running slowly, proudly, and therefore getting to go home early.
A Kruger trip that feels less like a holiday and more like a pilgrimage.
A colour run. A hike. Steps that hurt more going down than up.

A 14-year-old talking about Germany, ice skating badly, and €5 strawberries “for the experience.”

A new article appearing quietly on the Pineapple while someone is sitting on a train, thinking they’re done for the day—and then suddenly feeling joy.

This episode doesn’t list achievements.
It remembers them.

And in doing so, it reminds you of your own.

The Magic Hidden in Ordinary Conversation

Somewhere between jokes about stocking fillers and debates about whether elephants can jump, something shifts.

They talk about identity.

Not in a TED Talk way.
In a “we stumbled into this while laughing” way.

Language isn’t grammar.
It’s life.

Community isn’t scale.
It’s recognition.

Learning isn’t performance.
It’s permission.

Fruitloop talks about why personas feel safe—because inside them, you’re allowed to be fluid.
The Mayor realizes, out loud, why he feels more himself as “the Mayor” than as just Frank.

No one declares a manifesto.
But one appears anyway.

If you’ve ever felt tired of “learning” that feels empty…
If you’ve ever wanted belonging without pretending…
If you’ve ever suspected that conversation itself might be the point—

This episode quietly nods at you and says: yes.

Why You’ll Feel Left Out If You Miss This

Because this isn’t just a recap.
It’s a threshold.

They talk about next year:

• Topic-of-the-month arcs (thought through, designed, human)
• Growing Brida without losing its soul
• Keeping it small enough to care, big enough to matter
• Meeting people face to face again
• A promised meeting in South Africa, champagne included, come hell or high water

And beneath all of that is something rarer than strategy:

A partnership that works.
A trust that’s named, not assumed.
A shared awareness that what they’ve built is fragile—and precious.

People told them: don’t screw this up.

They didn’t laugh that off.
They carried it carefully.

This episode sounds like:

• Kitchen-table radio with a wink
• Gentle roasting that never wounds
• Big ideas arriving disguised as jokes
• Two people speaking with each other, not at anyone

It feels unfinished.
On purpose.

Because life is.

Final Peel

Episode 29 doesn’t try to convince you of anything.

It simply lets you listen long enough to realize:

• You don’t need to be fluent to belong
• You don’t need to be perfect to participate
• You don’t need a lesson when what you really need is a conversation

And somewhere between a cardigan, a reindeer sock, and a forgotten word for “fireplace,” you may feel it too:

That quiet urge to pull up a chair.

The table’s still warm.
The dogs are still barking.
And next year is already knocking. 🥔