Miranda Keeling’s podcast captures the magic in everyday moments and includes episodes recorded in Lloyd Park, St Mary’s churchyard and Vestry House
A Walthamstow-based author has been nominated for a British Podcast Award for her podcast Stopping to Notice.
Miranda Keeling’s podcast features short episodes of five minutes in length that capture the small but magical moments of everyday life in binaural sound.
The podcast includes episodes recorded in Lloyd Park, St Mary’s churchyard and Vestry House. The podcast has been Apple, The Guardian and The Observer’s pick of the week.
Miranda’s documentation of moments between friends, the interactions of strangers, and children delighting in the world around them have proved wildly popular. Her Twitter account has over 27,000 followers.
A tweet from May reads: “The camera lenses of two tourists in the British Museum clash, as they simultaneously lean in to examine the Rosetta Stone.”
Another from June says: “A man outside a café drinking a hot cup of takeaway tea peers mole-like at London through the fog of suddenly misted-up spectacles.”
Miranda has also authored a book based on those tweets called, The Year I Stopped to Notice which has had recommendations from authors such as Phillip Pullman and Neil Gaiman.
She told the Echo that the nomination was “such a lovely surprise” and that it “feels really validating for me, for my producer Oli Seymour and the fantastic team at Fresh Air Production, who work on it behind the scenes.”
Given the short five minute lengths of the podcasts, Keeling said it was “wonderful that such small pieces are having a larger impact, and that amongst so many wonderful podcasts out there, this one has been noticed.”
The author and podcaster grew up in Tottenham and as a young person she would regularly hang out with friends in Walthamstow. Miranda made the move to Walthamstow during the pandemic, and it “felt like home straight away”. She lists the hustle and bustle of Hoe Street and Lea Bridge Road during the day and the tranquility of Lloyd Park and Fellowship Square in the evening as favourite E17 areas. As a keen fan of water in cities, Miranda also appreciates the Wetlands.
Miranda has advice for anyone who is running through life, often without ever stopping to take notice. “Noticing takes me out of my head with its whirr of thoughts and away from the world in my phone and places me in the here and now. I’d recommend it to anyone because life is short and it can help to slow down for 30 seconds, notice a tiny, strange, silly, ordinary or even melancholy moment and really take it in.”
“In a 24 hour news-cycle world, with endless, often negative distractions to grab your attention, a few minutes walking through a park, down a street or around a quiet supermarket or museum can offer an escape, which in turn can make you notice your own world more clearly.”
You can vote for Stopping to Notice here
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