Ordinary Hours is a narrated story podcast. Short stories about ordinary life, the kind of thing that happens to everybody and almost never gets told. A kitchen drawer that stuck for two years. A haircut nobody ever liked. A phone call that came every Sunday for eleven years.
Some episodes are funny. Some are strange. Nobody gets hurt, nothing gets wrecked, and you can start anywhere.
5 Things People Found Where They Shouldn't Be | Calm Stories to Relax To
Five calm, narrated stories about things people found where they shouldn't be, to relax or drift off to sleep to.
A hidden shelter beneath a backyard. A snake in the toilet at five in the morning. A tin of baby teeth in Mum's drawer. A witch bottle beneath an old fireplace. A child's bicycle grown into a tree.
Some of these finds are funny, one or two give you a small chill, and some turn out to be unexpectedly personal. None of them are horror.
Settle in and listen at night, while you work or travel, or whenever you want to switch off for a while. You don't have to follow every word. Every story stands on its own.
00:00 The Hatch · a door under the long grass
03:55 The Snake · 5 a.m., and something in the toilet
10:37 The Teeth · the sweet tin in Mum's drawer that rattles
15:27 The Witch Bottle · a bottle with a face, under the hearthstone
22:24 The Bicycle · the tree she left standing, on purpose
Which one would you have kept?
New stories every Friday. This is Ordinary Hours.
The video version is on YouTube: [https://youtu.be/DVcLeCt2AOM]
These are written stories, some drawn from things people have told me. None of them are reports.
Music:
'Cylinder Four', 'Cylinder Three' and 'Cylinder Five' by Chris Zabriskie - licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). chriszabriskie.com
'Hymn to the Dawn' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au
'Borealis' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au
Additional ambient music written for Ordinary Hours. 'Cylinder Three' is lowered by a semitone; 'Cylinder Five' and 'Hymn to the Dawn' are raised by a semitone.
Until the next hour strikes.
30 Sept 2026
13 Times Life Had Perfectly Bad Timing | Calm Stories to Relax To
Some days the timing is so bad it's almost funny. The one day you take the case off. The one minute you step away from the door. If today was one of those days, you're in the right place.
Thirteen short, calm stories about perfectly bad timing. Nothing loud and nothing scary: ordinary moments you'll probably recognise, with soft music underneath. Put it on while you cook, while you wind down after work, or as you fall asleep. Every story stands on its own.
00:00 Case Off
01:37 The Fast Line
03:05 The Bus
04:25 The Quiet Bit
05:47 Sorry We Missed You
07:23 The White Shirt
08:44 The Cable Box
10:27 Wet Floor
11:31 The New Glasses
12:54 Sick Day
14:16 The Update
15:33 Three A.M.
16:50 Red Light
In this episode: a phone out of its case for five hours; a checkout line that speeds up the moment she leaves it; the very same bus sailing past a minute after he gives up; a stomach in the one silent second of a wedding; a chair that comes the one minute she goes upstairs; a pen in the pocket of a new white shirt; a box of cables thrown out the day before it was needed; a wet dog on a freshly mopped floor; reading glasses found on the walk home; a sick day and a manager on the next towel; a TV update at kickoff; a smoke alarm at three in the morning; and the same song in the car at the next red light.
Which one has happened to you?
Written and narrated for Ordinary Hours. These are written stories, some drawn from things people have told me. None of them are reports.
The video version is on YouTube: [https://youtu.be/_9jDThQQb8c]
Music:
'Unraveling' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au
'Penumbra' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au
'Borealis' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au
Additional ambient music written for Ordinary Hours. 'Unraveling' and 'Penumbra' are lowered by a semitone.
Until the next hour strikes.
27 Sept 2026
Rough Day? Theirs Was Worse.
If today was hard, here are six days that were harder. Nobody gets hurt, and every one of them ends better than it started.
00:00 The Bucket
06:41 The Stowaway
15:26 The Church Five
21:37 Both Ends
27:39 The Fire Escape
33:31 The Road Home
In this episode: a new kid, a pan of hot oil and a plastic mop bucket on his first night in a kitchen; a bus driver who hates the microphone, and a passenger with eight legs; a valet paid with a five-dollar bill that isn't one; two halves of a path that are never going to meet; a fire door behind forty cases of oat milk; and a road home that isn't there any more.
Written and narrated for Ordinary Hours. These are written stories, some drawn from things people have told me. None of them are reports.
The video version is on YouTube: [https://youtu.be/nnC1kRyHjpU]
Music:
'Unraveling' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au
'Penumbra' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au
'With These Hands' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au
Additional ambient music written for Ordinary Hours.
21 Sept 2026
An Escape From Reality
Six quiet stories for anyone who needs a break from September's tension . Nobody gets hurt, and every one of them ends with an enlightenment .
00:00 Start
00:19 Stillhour
10:46 Ten Out of Ten
21:02 Continuity
31:45 Rainy Night, 1998 Bedroom
42:02 The Final Broadcast
51:39 The Summer I'm Owed
In this episode: an app that freezes time and charges for it in birthdays; a wristband that finishes your habits for you; a bank that erases the people it fires; a rain stream made of forty thousand real rooms; a television showing five minutes into the future; and a sous chef whose summer will not end.
Written and narrated for Ordinary Hours. These are written stories, some drawn from things people have told me. None of them are reports.
The video version is on YouTube: [YouTube link]
Music:
'Hymn To The Dawn' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au
'Shadows and Dust' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au
Night sounds: "Cricket Insect Sound for Sleep" by mVitalie and "Gentle waves on a lake" by TheFlyFishingFilmmaker, both CC0 via freesound.org.
Additional ambient music written for Ordinary Hours.
15 Sept 2026
Six Small Mysteries Better Left Unsolved
Six small mysteries from ordinary life. Nobody gets hurt, nothing gets wrecked, and not one of them gets solved. Put it on while you work, cook, clean or wind down.
00:00 Start
00:21 Sunday, Six O'Clock
06:54 The Video Call
11:00 The Tree in the Shoebox
16:56 Number Fourteen
20:57 The Margin
26:35 The Seat
In this episode:
A landline that almost never rang, until it did, every Sunday at six.
Two and a half years of teaching a mother to use video calling.
An aunt's apartment to clear, and a shoebox that didn't fit the rest.
Emil lives at number fourteen, and everybody's parcels go to Emil.
Every book Teodor owned had his name in the front.
Six years on the seven forty-two, second car from the front.
Written and narrated for Ordinary Hours. These are written stories, some drawn from things people have told me. None of them are reports.
The video version is on YouTube, with illustrations and gameplay from Shrine's Legacy by Positive Concept Games: [YouTube link]
Music:
"Oxygen Garden" by Chris Zabriskie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Artist: https://chriszabriskie.com/
Borealis by Scott Buckley – released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au
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