40ish - Lightbulbs, Chickpeas and The Everything Rant

Episode Date: June 10, 2025

Today on unfiltered, Nicole's is in the grip of a midlife meltdown encompassing everything that perimenopause has thrown at her and the list is long - very long (and it includes chickpeas.) Lauren’s... is raging over a pair of trousers that refuse to move. Elsewhere, one woman breaks down in B&Q over the emotional minefield that is buying a lightbulb, and another returns from a weekend away to find her husband has absolutely annihilated the dishwasher. It’s chaos. It’s midlife. It’s Unfiltered. To buy tickets to our live show click here -  https://cheerfulearful.podlifeevents.com/festival/40ish---live-from-cheerful-earful-podcast-festival-16-oct-2025-tickets?clientside_routing=true Get 10% off Daily30+ today. Go to zoe.com/daily30 and use promo code 40ISH10 We love to hear from you! To share your feedback, dilemmas, rants, funny stories or general complaints about midlife please be in touch at: Email hello@40ish.co.uk Instagram https://www.instagram.com/40ish.podcast  TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@40ish.podcast Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/share/DVQWb6y2vesgeHEK/?mibextid=LQQJ4d  To order our book HAVE YOU TRIED THIS?” click here  https://www.amazon.co.uk/Have-You-Tried-This-Only/dp/1801293139/ref=sr_1_2?crid=1O7EA4ZF1O5CS&keywords=have+you+tried+this&qid=1699449028&sprefix=have+you+tried+%2Caps%2C125&sr=8-2 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 Is Zoe's Daily 30 supplement possibly the most scientific way to support your gut? Well, we think so and let's be honest, in midlife we need to be thinking about our gut health. With Daily 30, Zoe have created a whole food gut supplement featuring over 30 handpicked plants high in fibre that easily fits in with your day. You can add it straight to the meals and snacks you love, no steps required. Handy when you are already juggling brain fog and a million other things. Daily 30 isn't a synthetic green powder or probiotic, nope it's far better because it has whole ingredients and is packed with fibre and is good for gut health and digestion. And by the way, whenever we talk about what Daily 30 can do, UK laws require us to say
Starting point is 00:00:41 that it's a natural source of calcium which supports digestion and copper which supports daily energy. Eating 30 plants a week is the more up-to-date advice than eating five fruit and veg a day. Diversity is king and when you grind plants to powders it destroys their food matrix but daily 30 is a whole food gut supplement. Lastly and in our opinion most importantly it actually tastes great unlike most supplements and we use it to top it off our lunches, we put it on salads, scrambled eggs, on a bowl of yoghurt and berries. And my favourite thing is to sprinkle it on poached eggs and avocado toast.
Starting point is 00:01:13 Basically we're obsessed with it and we use it on everything that we can. Ready to make Daily 30 your new healthy habit? Well head over to zoe.com forward slash daily 30 to start this week. All 40ish listeners will get 10% off plus you'll get a free Zoe Tin and magnetic scoop with your order. Go to zoe.com forward slash daily 30 and use promo code 40ish10. That's zoe.com forward slash daily 30
Starting point is 00:01:40 and use promo code 40ish10. Hello everybody, welcome code 40ish diammers. If you want more 40ish in your life, and of course you do, then please follow and subscribe. It is an exclusive Apple subscription and when you subscribe you will get early access, you will get ad free across both this show and Self Care Club and you will get bonus content. Yes! And if you want to be in touch with us, which we would love, we would love it. Where do they find us? They can email us hello at 40 ish dot co dot UK. That's four zero ish dot co dot UK or you can DM us at Instagram at 40 ish dot podcast. Please share any issues, any rants, anything you're struggling with, any midlife meltdowns.
Starting point is 00:02:43 We love the meltdowns. Oh yeah. Any feedback that you have on our shows, we would love to hear, just we just want to hear from you. Be part of the conversation. Hit us up. Hit us up. Hit us up. How modern of you. I know. What's your midlife meltdown this week? I've actually written a list. Oh God. Wow. Okay. I have written a list. I'm ready for it. Please share with the group. Let me get my list up. I was just so fed up the other day. Utterly, utterly, completely fed up of being 40 ish. I don't even know if it's going to be worse at 50ish, but I reckon it might be 40ish. And it's things that I now have to worry about that I didn't five years ago, not even a long time ago. In fact, I think even three years ago, you know, things seem to be on the fucking turn. Eyebrows, that's the first one.
Starting point is 00:03:45 They're disappearing. Yeah. And they're going a bit gray. That's not cool. So now I have to color in my eyebrows, chin hair. I'm actually not even talking about that one. I'm just not. But it seems to be here.
Starting point is 00:03:56 My hormones, they're constantly, constantly changing. I never know how I'm gonna feel, never know how I'm gonna wake up, never know what I'm gonna say, or who I'm gonna fuck off, or who's gonna fuck me off. I never know. It's a constant fucking surprise. I'm not here for that. I'm constantly injured Look at my arm. This goes all the way up to my ears
Starting point is 00:04:15 This this thing here. I'm constantly injured. I get a small little Shred of an injury and it takes about six weeks to figure out Skincare regime I now skincare regime. I now have to have, I now have to do that apparently. Um, early nights or I feel like shit nutrition has to be on point or I feel like shit alcohol. Can't have it. Feel like shit sugar. Kind of that. Cause I feel like shit. Um, chickpeas. What's wrong with them? They'd suddenly seem to make me feel like shit. So suddenly they suddenly don't like me. Chickpeas. That's random. That's new. I was making crispy chickpeas until very recently. I won't anymore.
Starting point is 00:04:54 I love a chickpea. Who doesn't love a chickpea? I sight. Oh yeah. I mean, I even can't see with my fucking glasses on now. Oh, my teeth are moving. Oh yeah. That does happen. Yeah. And the gray hair. my fucking glasses on now. Oh, my teeth are moving. Oh yeah, that does happen. Yeah. And the gray hair. I have the strip now. The strip.
Starting point is 00:05:09 You know the strip. The strip. They are all the things that weren't happening three years ago that are now happening. And I am just fucked off about it. I don't blame you. Thanks. I mean, they sound fairly like generic to everyone of our age, but yeah, it's all annoying. Apart from the chickpeas that might just be you. It's not funny. I don't know why you're laughing. What happens with the chickpeas? Tell me more. No, no.
Starting point is 00:05:39 Can't you use your imagination? Just no. Okay. Okay. Just no. Just they just I like a chickpea. You know, I like chocolate. Who doesn't? I like a glass of wine. None of these things can happen in my world anymore. Or I feel like shit. I think we should just say to anyone who's 35 and younger, please indulge. It's not 35. It's 45. Okay, if you are... I was flying up until 45. If you are 44 or younger, just please indulge in all of those things now, now, while you still can. Just eat as many chickpeas as you can. Have the booze, have the sugar, have the chickpeas, have it all. And wake up tomorrow feeling normal.
Starting point is 00:06:19 Good for you. Have late nights. You know what, it wasn't even 45. It was the menopause. It was the minute I started with the perimenopause things very slowly and then suddenly very quickly went downhill. That's, that's what's happened. And now it's just everything. Everything just feels different. Ah, it just fucks me off. Fucks me off. Not a lot you can do about it really though, is there?
Starting point is 00:06:43 Yes. What? You're here now? What do you mean? You can't get in a time machine and reverse it. I don't mean that, but you have to be so up on how I look after myself. It's so boring. So boring when you could just like have McDonald's and go to bed at 3am and go to work the next morning and everything was fine. I mean that to me just sounds like a stomach ache, a dry mouth for three days and possibly a migraine. I mean, I just couldn't do that. Okay, let me ask you a question and don't lie. Have you been fiddling with my Spotify account? Have you? Have you? Are you laughing because
Starting point is 00:07:29 you have? Have you? Have you? No. First thing, why would I fiddle with your Spotify account? Secondly, I don't know your password. Thirdly, you always play. Passwords? I don't have a password. It's just, you just press Spotify and it opens. I know what you mean. So I locked. Oh, like what? I do love how technically backwards you are.
Starting point is 00:08:00 But it never ceases to amaze me because it seems endless to how technically backwards you are. I mean, these are your words. I mean, you say why, why have you, but you did like make me a lanyard saying professional numpy. So you clearly enjoy sometimes occasionally messing with me. And I wondered if this was another one of those special times. Listen, you always claim that you don't listen to Spotify.
Starting point is 00:08:27 You don't use Spotify. You don't really get Spotify. There's always things that I get Spotify. I don't need Spotify. Who needs Spotify? Yeah. You know, you're very middle-aged when it comes to Spotify. But then sometimes I have DJX on as I told you the other week and Post Malone was
Starting point is 00:08:43 playing and it was really sweary and rude and it was about the hose and the drugs and my mum was here and I'm telling the honest truth I was in the car and I thought okay I'll you know hit up field because I'm alone and maybe I'll get a bit of gangster rap going while I drive home. Is that what you would have put on? Dry cleaners. Is that what you would have put on? Well, TJX serves me stuff, you know.
Starting point is 00:09:10 If you had to pick something to listen to immediately on Spotify, what would you pick? Like what would be your song of choice? That would really depend on my mood. This mood. Right now today. Right now, yeah, because you seem a little stroppy. I mean, I could happily go with a bit of M&M. Anyway, I turned it on.
Starting point is 00:09:30 On my word of honor, the song that played out was High on Hills, the lonely girl turns. You lay, you lay, you lay, you lay. Right? The sound of music. And then I thought, it's you, you and your musicals obsession and you've hit, you've like put some musicals list into my thing. And now it's just playing me musicals, but not like cool musicals, like children's musicals. Not like a bit of Les Mers, a bit of Hamilton, not that I've seen Hamilton, a bit of like Phantom. No, it's giving me children's.
Starting point is 00:10:07 Firstly, I like how you say cool musicals and then you pick out like Bar Hamilton. Like these are not adult musicals. These are not contemporary musicals. Musicals have moved on since Phantom of the Opera. Just saying. It's playing me children's musicals. Listen, there's nothing wrong with Julie Andrews. It was not what I was expecting. That's all I can tell you. Okay. Maybe, maybe you know how like a lot of the time on my laptop when I go to, you know, auto fill my details, yours go in to my Laura Mishcon and then it's like your
Starting point is 00:10:44 address, your phone number goes in. I'm like, sometimes he does it with bank details. Like sometimes your bank card is on my Google pay. I don't know. I really don't know. Worrying. But it happens. Yeah. Well, you know, it happens because Daisy made an urban outfit order on your bank card. She did. Yeah. So I don't know how that's happened. I think we're just like slowly sinking into one married basically was it's more than married because now I think you've just logged into my Spotify account. You must have done. I don't know what happened, but it was very weird. And also by the way, you do need to
Starting point is 00:11:22 log into Spotify. You do actually in order to access Spotify, it does require a login. It's not like, oh, I just open Spotify. It doesn't work like that. It needs an account. You must have an account. I don't know. Maybe. Give me your phone. I have a family account. Anyway, can tell you the other thing that really annoyed me is that on our banisters outside our bedroom, Ollie has had a pair of trousers hanging there for over a week. Haven't moved.
Starting point is 00:11:52 They haven't moved. Right. Now they're not going to move. Why would they suddenly move? Because he psychically expects me to understand whether they are for the dry cleaners, are they for the dry cleaner, are they for ironing, are they for the wash, are they for the charity shop? It could be any of those things, but he doesn't share the information nor does he put it in the required place. He just leaves them there. Where's the required place? Well,
Starting point is 00:12:17 either a dry cleaning bag, the charity shop or the laundry room. There's a dry cleaning bag. Yeah. We have a dry cleaning bag so we can take it all to the dry cleaners at the same time. So organized. Yeah. So organized. How often do you go to the dry cleaners? I don't. He deals with dry cleaning. I don't dry clean anything. I don't own anything that's dry clean. I don't either. I refuse to buy it these days. Me too. How middle-aged is that? Well put it in the washing machine or don't own it. Yeah. Yeah. I don't need to keep investing in like silk. I've got nine week old puppy at home. Time for silk. Satin crepe. Anyway. Yeah. Anyway, on Sunday, I just thought I'm just so I'm just I can't look at them anymore. So I came down and I
Starting point is 00:12:56 said, you know, your art installation upstairs, you've called it an art. Yeah. I said, is it a permanent exhibition or are you planning on touring? He knew exactly. He knew exactly. And then he said, Oh no, it is, it is going on tour. I was like, great. Any idea when the exhibition might be moving on? I've seen it now and I'm over it. So, um, yeah, that was, that was how it really annoyed me. Just like put your staff where it goes. I am really sorry. I said it was very minor compared to gray hair and gray eyebrows and being allergic to chickpeas. Would you leave a top out or a pair of trousers out for over a week and expect Adam to psychically know where they go? No, you just put them in the correct place.
Starting point is 00:13:41 I don't like it. It's annoying. I told you you was a bit stroppy today. You are a bit stroppy today. What's happening? Tell us. Tell us what's going on. I can't talk about it. Why? Because it's just so long boring. Oh, is it about the doctors? Yeah. Oh no, we don't want to hear that. Trust me listener. Neither do you. No, you really don't. But something really surprising happened. What? Last night. Yes.
Starting point is 00:14:08 Late at night. Scrolling on my phone, you know, I can get up to no good late at night scrolling doom scrolling. Yes, how you end up with puppies in your house. Yes. Yes. Yes. What did I find?
Starting point is 00:14:20 For some reason I was on TikTok. I don't know why I was on TikTok. Yeah. This isn't a melt, midlife meltdown. It's just more of a, you know, at the age of 48, few things surprised me. Well, apart from the chickpeas, few things, you know, I'm not often sort of taken aback by things. I've seen a lot of life. You've seen a lot of life. I've seen enough.
Starting point is 00:14:47 We've seen, you know, I've seen bits and pieces. I would say at 10 o'clock on a Wednesday night, it's not usually the time where you are taken aback by something. I was a bit taken aback by Aidan's wanking in and just like that. We all were. Episode one, the hand palm licking, unnecessary. That did, I was taken aback by that it just wasn't cool go back to the wood making that's the only wood I want to see out of Aiden is his carpentry do you know what I mean I'm not into it it was gross it was so gross anyway yeah um
Starting point is 00:15:20 also who wanks in the truck? Oh, just the whole thing. I'm just trying to think of who I know that has a truck. But it's also like drunk wanking in a truck. There's nothing you shouldn't be driving either. He wasn't. He was parked in the field at the back of his house because of Wyatt. This child that's ruining their relationship was in the house. But still don't drink beer and wanking. He's trying to drive the truck there. No, I think it was on his land. I don't drink beer and wanky truck. Drive the truck there. No, I
Starting point is 00:15:45 think it was on his land. I don't care. It's a bit tragic. I mean, I know what you're doing. I know what you're doing. So you're changing. I'm not to me. It's a need. It needs to be. Please. I have nothing to hide because you know, Lauren and I usually tell each other everything. Don't we? Would you say we tell each everything? I would say we do. Yeah? Yeah. Would you? Everything. Everything. Occasionally Lauren goes a little rogue and she'll do things that are quite surprising like when you have your matcha. I mean wow! Just saying. Occasionally. Sometimes I order a match and I don't tell you in advance I'm going to order it and then
Starting point is 00:16:30 you're very surprised. I am because you bitch about it most of the time and then all of a sudden you're stitching there with a match latte and I'm like hold on. I thought we hated matcha. Sometimes I like it. You know it's like when you slag someone off and then you expect your best friend to hate them. It's like that kind of thing. Hold on. I don't like match because you don't like match. What's going on here? Yeah. Yeah. I allowed to like match. I fancy to match up. Yeah. It's a bit like that. Okay. Anyway, scrolling on tick tock 10 o'clock. Don't judge
Starting point is 00:16:57 me. And you know how it sometimes pops up with a few accounts of people you may know. Well, who popped up? Who? Lauren's puppy popped up. Beba, new account, people you may know. So I'm like, hmm, she looks very much like Lauren's puppy. I'm going to have a look at what this account is. Oh, it had a profile name, a profile picture. It had two, not one, two videos. And I would say the second video even had an overlay, an audio overlay. What's that? You put some audio over the video.
Starting point is 00:17:39 Yes, you did. Don't pretend you didn't. What is it? What is the audio? As in like a song? Some music or a sound bite, or I can't remember what it was now. Wasn't it just me talking? No, no, the first one was you talking. The second one had an audio piece of audio on it. Wow. There was like some serious editing involved. So I'm lying there, lying in bed. I'm very confused. I'm like, has Lauren actually gone onto TikTok managed
Starting point is 00:18:09 somehow managed to create a new account on her own? It's not even attached to all of our accounts on TikTok, right? Let me tell you something. You heard what she said about Spotify. Didn't you listeners? You heard what she said. I don't need a login for Spotify. I just go in and it's there. Like Lauren does not know how to do these things and throughout our entire working relationship, I have had to do these things and she pretends that she can't do these things. But suddenly there is this brand new TikTok account with two videos, one which has audio that she has intentionally put on top of the audio. What is the audio?
Starting point is 00:18:49 So there is editing involved. She has edited two videos and set up an account. I will also state it has no followers. And then I thought, oh, maybe I'll follow her. And I thought, no, she's been lying to me. She didn't even tell me. Fuck that. I'm not following her. Oh my God. Okay. I mean, so I messaged you last night. What did I say? A whole like, we have to discuss this immediately. There's an account. It's your account. You sent a'm going to take care of your puppy. Where are you? Hello? Hello? This needs discussing now. And I was like, she's lost her fucking mind. She hasn't lost her fucking mind. It's like, hello, you can't do anything on social media. Nothing. Nothing. Sometimes, sometimes like an element of genius hits me and then I'm able to do stuff and
Starting point is 00:19:44 then I can't remember anymore. And then you set up a whole account. Yeah. You uploaded two videos. I'll assume it was at two separate times. It wasn't just I think it was at the same time. I basically manifested this puppy into being because my whole feed is just gay comedians and golden retrievers. That's like my whole algorithm. I need to, we're not getting off this. This is the same subject. And then I thought these videos have like, they've brought me so much joy and love and I just love watching other people's golden retrievers. And then I got the puppy and I have basically been housebound apart from coming into the studio for two weeks now. I was bored and I thought, oh, that'd be
Starting point is 00:20:23 cute to like share her with other people and then other people could enjoy it because I enjoy other people's golden retrievers and then don't really know how I did it, but I did it. And then I think I did both at the same time. And then I was like, oh, I can't be fucked with this. But then I didn't know how to delete it. So hold on, I'm stuck with it, but I don't know how to delete the account. And then I got absolutely terrified that if I did try and go in and delete it, I was going to delete our work TikTok. Cause I have no idea if it's a link, not link what I was deleting. So I thought best to just shelve it, leave it alone and
Starting point is 00:21:03 ignore it. So I just did two on the same evening and just I've left it. Two more favoritism. If, if you are interested, go and give her a follow. I don't even think I can get back into it now. So I haven't even seen, I haven't even seen them since the day I did them. So here's the question. Non event for me. Here's the question. I loved it. I loved it. Made me so happy. Great. So happy. So confused. So unexpected. Keep you on your toes. Keep you on my toes. And I'm like, well, maybe she is more able
Starting point is 00:21:36 than she makes out. Have you seen my matcha account? I cannot tell you what pleasure that is. It's where I travel the cafes of London and I test out all the matches and then I put videos and I rate them. Yeah, but also you'd make matcha, maybe you made matcha muffins. Oh yeah. You make all the matcha bakery. Yeah. It's called rate my matcha.
Starting point is 00:22:01 It's blown up. Why didn't you tell me? Why did I tell you? Come on. We want the truth. We don't want no. And this is the answer. This let me just clarify. And then no, I don't want that answer. I don't want the, oh it didn't occur to me to not tell you. I want the real answer of why you didn't tell me. Make it up. And make it juicy. Okay, so after the thong-thong gate, Jen says, a total first world problem but following on from last week's lady with the flappage issue, I want to have a little rant. I'm finding it impossible to buy swimwear. I find it all so revealing or, on the other end of the scale, so frumpy. I just want something pretty that covers my bottom half a bit better. I don't want to have to
Starting point is 00:23:10 shave or wax while I'm away for two weeks, so knickers are a bit too revealing. I feel annoyed that men don't have to decide whether they want their pubes on show. Why do the bottoms only cover half a bum cheek? Perhaps a lot of retailers believe that women want to bear as much flesh as possible. I just don't get it. You know what? I like, I hard relate to that. She is right. We just accept this stuff and it's not okay. She is right. She is right. accept this stuff and it's not okay. She is right. She is right. She is right. Yeah. Toilet paper hanging debate. Knox of Knox tasks says this is an HR issue. How can this explain what it is? This was a woman in the office who there was a mad woman in the office who kept turning the toilet roll so that the paper came over rather than under and she was leaving passive aggressive post-it notes
Starting point is 00:24:06 and this woman was writing in to say this woman in the office was nuts basically. This is an HR issue. How could she be this emotional about toilet paper? Do not let it go! Hang your toilet paper under. Someone else said, I used to hang it however I wanted, but my ex, near the end of our marriage, suddenly became bothered about it and wanted it over. I couldn't care less but he would change it if I put it under so I used to change it randomly just because it was very satisfying so I say hang it under. Okay.
Starting point is 00:24:37 I can't remember what you said was. I said over. My mum said over. Oli said under. You said you don't really care. I could not care less. No, Christine says it is always over and I would swap it at work, but I wouldn't leave a note about it. It's more of a hygiene thing with me because if it's over, you don't touch the wall
Starting point is 00:24:58 where the other hands have touched. What? Do you touch the wall if it's under? Also at work work I would imagine it's more of a dispenser. Oh not the shiny tissue paper toilet paper. That's awful. They had that at the gym. It is awful. Oh no. I mean this went on and on. Leslie, mine are over. Donna, over. Adam, always over. Dr Sweden, over is easier to grab and the original patent displays it like that. Who cares? Do we actually care? You don't care about this to you. I don't actually have emotional feelings about it. I have a general
Starting point is 00:25:39 preference. So you do have feelings about it. I have a preference but it doesn't, I'm not emotionally attached to the preference. You know? Like I prefer hermeseed to sweeteners, but if you gave me a candorl, I'm okay with that. I have a preference but I'm not emotionally attached. Yeah. Know what I mean? That is a very, very good analogy. Thank you so much. Because I feel exactly the same. This I don't care about.
Starting point is 00:26:05 It doesn't, it does not take up any, not any headspace. Nor should it. You've got enough going on. Thank you. I have, I have with my gray hair and my chickpeas and all of it. I do have enough going on. Remember with the coffee grounds in the garden, I told you that I got my coffee grounds. Oh my God. How many messages did we have about that the people all do it? I am gobsmacked. I do it says Maximus Wee Woo and I'm pretty sure my sister does we're both in our 40s. Twiggy says I'm 32 and I do it. Nicole says not you. My husband does it every day and our plants are loving it. And AC said, you are both going to be exactly the same in 30 years. I love the dynamic between you both.
Starting point is 00:26:50 Is it talking about you and your mom? You and me. They're talking about you and me. We're going to be exactly the same. Yeah. In 30 years. Why? I don't know. We just are. We're like polar opposites. Aren't we? Yeah. Now I think he means exactly the same now as we are now when we're in our seventies. He means we're going to be exactly the same. We're not going to change. That's what he means or she means. Now, I mean, no, we're not going to be exactly the same as each other. No, just exactly the same. And Raylan says, if you compost as well, I don't chuck it in there too. And if you and it helps, I'm surprised you don't. I don't.
Starting point is 00:27:35 Also, he says, I don't think I've heard the word nightie in a very long time. When did you say nightie? I said I've tipped it out in my nightie. Yeah, that's not good. Do you have a nightie? No, you don't. I said I've tipped it out in my 90. Yeah, that's not good. Do you have a 90? No. You don't, do you? Of course I don't. Have you ever had a 90 since you were like eight? No. No.
Starting point is 00:27:51 Have you? You have an actual 90? Yeah. It's from Zara. You shouldn't. Why? It's nice. Is it? Yeah. Is it nice? It is nice. It's navy. Oh, you know what? It's from Zara. I do have a 90. Do you? I only wear it on holiday. Oh, holiday nightie.
Starting point is 00:28:06 It's like a very big caftan. Oh, yes. And I just like, I throw it on, you know, when I have to walk around the hotel room, around the hotel room or if we're staying at like an Airbnb, like I would put it on over that to go make breakfast. And you know, yeah, it's very airy. Yeah. Because in days gone by, you didn't really need to wear anything. But when you've got teenage kids, you need to wear something. Well you do to walk around. Yeah. To make breakfast.
Starting point is 00:28:34 I wouldn't make breakfast naked. Neither would I, but a nightie's fine. Yeah. I think the nightie just, it brings up some images that are very like stale. I know, but mine is not like high-necked and long-sleeved and made out of flannel. It's like a little navy, cottony, lacy thing from Zara. It's fine. Why, you're giving me the side eye. Okay. Like my puppy.
Starting point is 00:28:59 She gives a good side eye. Princess Diana looks, she gives. She doesn't mind my nightie. I'm going to put it on TikTok. You and the puppy in your nightie on TikTok. That would be viral. I might buy her a nightie. You might get a follower then. I might. It's true. I don't want to be following it. He had no followers. I'm too old. I'm too old. Okay, this is the first one. Hi. Hi. I'm 46 and last week I had what I can only describe as a full-blown emotional collapse in the lighting aisle of B&Q. Wow. I went in to buy a bulb for my bedside table lamp. It's already so middle aged. So middle aged. But then I stood in front of the wall of LEDs, bayonets, warm whites, cool
Starting point is 00:30:05 whites, dimmables, non-dimmables. And I felt such overwhelmed that something inside me snapped. I stood there holding two identical looking boxes whispering, what do you want from me? I am like, so understanding. It gets worse. It gets worse. Bulbs are a nightmare. I then found myself in the garden ornament area crying over the small figurine of a black Labrador puppy. Oh my god. When I finally got home I realised I had bought the wrong bulb, I had left my coffee on the roof of the car and I had eyeliner smeared down my face. For crying.
Starting point is 00:30:47 Yeah. So now I am questioning everything, my career, my sanity and whether I should just live in the dark from now on. Is this perimenopause? Is this a nervous breakdown or is this just who I am now? Right. Firstly, I'm going to break this down for you. Okay. Okay. Right. The bulb thing. I have never ever come home with the correct bulb. Who does? It's just impossible because you've got all the different bases and all the different wattages and the voltages. Is it a screw? Is it a click? Is it this? I can't stand bulbs. I hate them. I hate them. I also hate them. I hate them. And I hate lithium batteries
Starting point is 00:31:27 because they're all a different fucking size. Yeah. The round ones. Yeah. My kitchen scale ones have run out and I don't want to deal with buying the new ones. You know, and I have so many batteries at home. Guess what? None of them fit. They're all the wrong size. I don't even know what we bought these batteries for. Bulbs and batteries can go fuck themselves. I agree. I agree. I agree. So you know what? What is this woman's name? RG. She just gave her initials. We are with you. We resonate. We resonate. We are with you. Bulbs are assholes. A lot of them. They are. And they are especially assholes when you are in perimenopause. Cause who needs that shit? You need things to be calm and cool and serene and simple and easy.
Starting point is 00:32:11 And bulbs are the opposite of all of that. Living in the dark might be easier. Just light a candle. Easier. I'm just telling you, just stay away from chickpeas. Okay. Does she say is this perimenopause? Yeah. Yeah. Also when I first thought that I was having a nervous breakdown, remember the Phoenix furniture department? Yeah, I went, I wasn't there, but I was there. You were on the phone to me. I was crying to you. That was your sister? No, I was on the phone to you too. After my sister, I was on the phone to you too after my sister. I was calm then. My sister had calmed me down. This was the first moment where I thought I was having a nervous breakdown. On a display sofa. Let me tell you now on a display sofa, I was in the Phoenix furniture
Starting point is 00:32:57 department. I burst into tears. I couldn't breathe. I mean, it's funny now. It wasn't funny at all. I couldn't move. I sat in the middle of the Fenix furniture department on the phone to my sister doing breath work. I mean, it's so not funny. Breath work. And then I had to sit because there's like a cafe Nero attached to this Fenix. And then I sat there for two hours and I remember phoning Lauren and saying, I don't know what's going on with me. I think I'm having a nervous breakdown and Lauren said, what is it you need? I said, I need to go home. I need the house to be tidy. I need dinner to be cooked. I need everybody's just to be where they are and just doing what they're doing. And Lauren said, so you need a wife. I said, yeah,
Starting point is 00:33:45 I need a wife. I don't have a wife. Anyway. And it took me a long time to figure out and get myself an HLT. It was a whole journey. So RG, honestly, you are not having a nervous breakdown. This is probably the start of perimenopause. It sounds like it. I'm just giving you love and support. And from my knowledge and experience, this is how it starts. Can I just say, go to the doctor and get your blood stung and get someone else to deal with the bulb issue. And also take a photo of the bulb or take the bulb. Take the bulb.
Starting point is 00:34:23 I take the batteries so that I can check it's the same size. It won't get you a bulb though. It won't. Sarah said, Hi ladies, here is my rant. I went away for the weekend with my girlfriend and I came home to find that my husband has been using laundry pods in the dishwasher. Now everything that is cooked in our nonstick pots and pans and the air fryer drawer tastes and smells of laundry detergent. No matter how many times
Starting point is 00:34:52 we wash them and put them through the dishwasher with normal tablets, we have cleaned the dishwasher too, but it has literally permeated all of our pots and pans. Sara. That is a proper problem. Yeah. And I understand why she's ranting about that. I would rant about that too. I would really piss me off. And also because he's done a nice thing because he's just being helpful around the house. But also Sarah, I am interested that he would put an unstick pan in the dishwasher because I would wash that up. I knew, I knew the minute she said air fryer, I knew that you were going to go there. Well, I put my air fryer bits in the dishwasher, but not nonstick pans. They get washed by hand. Lauren is very protective over her nonstick pans and mine. Yes, I am. Yeah. Yes, I am. Yeah. I am looking. I'm taking care of them. Oh, yeah. Well, she, she's not taking care of them. She's judging them. Just so you know,
Starting point is 00:35:47 she's judging them. So who's winning this week? You with your plethora of issues, including the chickpeas, yours with Spotify and the trousers. I mean, I'm not winning. Okay. I'm not winning. You're not. Okay. You're not. Okay. You're not. RG with the B and Q existential crisis or Sarah with her beautiful smelling pots and pans. RG. It's hands down it's RG because this is the beginning of her perimenopause. I'm sorry to tell you. I'm not a doctor. I am not a doctor, but I honestly, I recognise irrational rage, my love these days. That's where we leave you listeners, but we're going to be back on Thursday with our main show.
Starting point is 00:36:40 Don't forget to send us in your dilemmas. We love them. We do love them. Please be in touch, hello, at 40ish.co.uk and we'll be back on Thursday with a brand new episode. See you then. Whether it's a family member, friend or furry companion joining your summer road trip, enjoy the peace of mind that comes with Volvo's legendary safety. During Volvo Discover Days, enjoy limited time savings as you make plans to cruise through Muskoka or down Toronto's bustling streets.
Starting point is 00:37:11 From now until June 30th, lease a 2025 Volvo XC60 from 1.74% and save up to $4,000. Conditions apply. Visit your GTA Volvo retailer or go to volvocars.ca for full details.

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.