Life with Nat - EP105: Tony talks #7

Episode Date: April 9, 2025

Tony's back in the hot seat with Nat and they dive into the mailbag to chat about all sorts of things from DIY advice to gameshows and holidays Please subscribe, follow, and leave a review. xxx You can find us in all places here; https://podfollow.com/lifewithnat/view INSTA: @natcass1 We're also on Facebook now too: https://www.facebook.com/lifewithnatpod A 'Keep It Light Media' Production Sales, advertising, and general enquiries: [e-mail] SHOW INFO: Life with Nat - it’s me! Natalie Cassidy and I’ll be chatting away to family, friends and most importantly YOU. I want to pick people's brains on the subjects that I care about- whether that’s where all the odd socks go, weight and food or kids on phones. Each week I will be letting you into my life as i chat about my week, share my thoughts on the mundane happenings as well as the serious. I have grown up in the public eye and have never changed because of it. Life with Nat is the podcast for proper people. Come join the community. ♥️ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With the Fizz loyalty program, you get rewarded just for having a mobile plan. You know, for texting and stuff. And if you're not getting rewards like extra data and dollars off with your mobile plan, you're not with Fizz. Switch today. Conditions apply. Details at fizz.ca. Hiya, it's Katie. Just wanted to say I've caught up with your episode with Tony and I absolutely loved it and I thought it was all very relatable, especially the worrying and the feeling guilt about what's going on in the world. And actually ever since COVID, where we used to be glued to the news at five o'clock, whenever it was and all of that, I actually had to stop and I made a

conscious effort to stop watching that and reduce my news intake. And it has definitely helped, but it can, I can definitely feel guilty about that. So that was just nice to hear that I'm not alone in that I guess. But I think what Tony said was spawn and you know it's not just putting our heads in the sand and pretending it's not happening but you know let's focus on what we can do in your circle as a family and as a community. can do in your circle as a family and as a community. And I think that's really important. Anyway, this is too long, but just another cracking episode, thank you.

Thank you very much. And I'm here with Tony again. You all right? Yeah, I'm good. Hello, Nat. That's true though, isn't it? It's nice. We're relatable.

That's good. Nice. I would hope so. I'm a normal bloke. You are. So there should be some relatability in there somewhere. Definitely. I put a message out when you were on the way up. Yes.

And I thought, oh, you're coming up. What are we going to talk about? Yeah. I know we find things all the time, but I thought, well, I'll pop a message on Instagram. And we've been inundated this evening. Oh my God. So it's just really lovely. I just want to thank everybody for having the time and putting the effort in. And being bothered to just reply. We are very, very grateful to everyone. It's so nice.

Very grateful. It's lovely. And we've got loads to get through. Oh, brilliant. Loads. Firstly, what's been going on? You're good? Yeah, I'm all right. Yeah, sun's shining. So nice. Yeah, we're out the back of winter. It's been a long, hard, difficult, cold, horrible winter. And to be driving around in the sun, you know,

I'm no longer wearing four layers of fleece and whatever else. It must make it much easier for the job you do. Much easier, yeah. It's miserable in the winter. All this winter I've been in houses, some have not got windows, you know, or some have got no heat. You're walking in the morning, it's like walking into a fridge. It's horrible. But you get going and whatever and it's all right. But it gets harder every year as well. So it's not terrific sometimes. But the summers, this is beautiful. I said to you earlier, didn't I? I always say, I love the winter. Everybody knows if

you listen to this on a regular basis, I love and I say I love it when the clocks go back and yeah I feel like a different person when the sun's out mmm mmm well we're alive aren't we yeah that's right so I don't know if any of our lovely listeners have been the same as me this week but my days are all up the pictures, I'm all over the place. Because of the clocks? The circadian rhythm's all gone. I've got no rhythm. Honestly, I was sitting there with Evie and James's girlfriend Olivia last night, and we were all looking at each other going, what day is it? Is it Tuesday? I said, no, it's not Thursday. I said, I'm seeing that Thursday. He said, it can't be that. And we're all been the same this week

I know what the other week is and where we are well I thought it was Friday this morning yeah there you go and then I thought oh no it's not not Friday because I'm seeing Julia on Friday and you're right it's been a bit of a week of it yes it's been a bit it's been a bit odd when people have said to me oh what are you doing Tuesday whatever I've genuinely said I've got no idea unless I've got my diary yes I can't tell you yeah I don't know what I'm doing that's right which is not great how's the Filofax going by the way? It's very good yeah yes it's excellent my dear friend from work Kelly Bright she is a listener of the pod fan of yours oh that's really nice but when she

heard about your love of philofaxes, she asked her husband Paul to get one for Christmas, and that's what she got for Christmas. Fantastic. She was thrilled with it. Excellent. So. Excellent.

There you go. Yeah, I'm sort of quite disorganized person. So if I use, not diaries, but I use little books at work to write stuff in. And at one point I had nine all with different things written in it. What was in them? I don't know, notes about jobs.

Nine books? All different little notebooks. Yeah, I had to put electrical stuff in there. I have to, I put numbers, it just all over the place. No, we've got to pick this apart. When you say nine books, was it nine different jobs? No, nine different little silly notebooks, different types.

But did you not all get very discombobulated with what you were writing and what one? Yeah, because I'd be accusing people of not telling me stuff. And then I found another book and it was written in it. So the file effects has streamlined my life. Good. I'm pleased. It's made my life easy. Easy-er. Not easy. It's not easy, but easier. Very good. We've got a lovely message, haven't we, from Amy? We have. Well, it's to you.

It's not to me, but it's to you. Well, here we go. Amy from Worcestershire. Amy says, I just wanted to reach out and say thank you for being part of my weekly podcast rotation and getting me through some tough times. I've been looking for a job as a teaching assistant for a long time since leaving uni. I've had countless interviews and predominantly positive feedback, but sometimes I lose out to people that are over twice my age. She's 22. So even though I have plenty of experience in school, sometimes I just can't compete with people that have been teaching longer than I've been alive. Anyway, staying motivated with the job search after being knocked back so many times can be really tough and the podcast has really helped cheer me up on some difficult days as I feel that I'm just listening to a friend. So thanks again. Love to you and yours. Well, what a lovely message.

My daughter's 22, my Eve is 22 and went to uni and all the rest of it. And she has been struggling to get a foot in the door, very much like yourself. And it's been tough. It's been tougher. And there's lots of kids like it. There's lots of kids of your sort of age where, you know, you go to university, you think it's the right thing to do. You think you're going to get your qualification, come out and get a job. And it's not like that anymore. It's not like it was years ago. You know, there's so university, you think it's the right thing to do. You think you're going to get your qualification, come out and get a job. And it's not like that anymore. It's not like it was years ago. You know, there's so many hoops to jump through and all the rest of it.

So all I would say to you is, Amy, is that keep at it. Keep in there. You will get a break. It really is about, you've got to be persistent and it's horrible. It's hard though, isn't it? It's tough. It's tough. And if you've, I don't know what support network you've got around you, but if you've got friends or you've

got family or mum, dad, whatever it might be, or sister or brother or whatever, try and get them involved. Make sure that I'm sure they, your family are and help that, get some support around you, get some positivity around you and it will happen. I mean, my AV, you know, she's been knocking on doors for God knows how long and she's finally got her foot in the door of a law firm and she's there this week on her, on her vac scheme, hoping fingers crossed that she gets a two year training contract or whatever. But it took her a long time and she was very disheartened at times. So, Well, it's very hard not to be disheartened when you're getting knocked back.

It is, it's really difficult. You've got to have a real thick skin, haven't you? Well it's like being kicked all the time. You get up and you're kicked again and get up and kicked again. So what I'm saying is that there's times when it was difficult for her, but because we were there with a, you know, we just said the same things over and over again really and tried to make things a bit easier and I think that's all you can really do. I completely agree. Amy, honestly, what we are saying is...

Persistent. You're brilliant. Yep. You're doing all you can. Absolutely. You've got to believe in yourself. Yes. Stay positive.

Stay motivated. Yeah. And some people might not see what you see about yourself and you've just got to keep doing it. Very rarely have I, because I was in EastEnders for such a long time, as an actor, if you're a normal actor, not in a long running thing,

you're going to auditions all the time. So I had lots and lots of friends, you know, lots and lots of people, they're going to auditions all the time. So I had lots and lots of friends, you know, hear lots and lots of people, they're going for auditions, they're getting knocked back, they'll spend hours doing a tape, a self tape, which is what, you know, you do it on the internet and you send it across like an audition, hours learning the lines, doing the best they can. They don't even hear back from people.

They don't even get a thank you, but no thank you, do they? So just keep doing what you're doing and know that you're doing your best they can. They don't even hear back from people. They don't even get a thank you but no thank you do they? So just keep doing what you're doing and know that you're doing your best and if you're doing your best that's all you can do. It's something will break for you Amy, it really will. So best of luck. Best of luck. I've got a message here from Sarah. Oh right okay. Have you always got along as my husband hates his sister?

Yeah, I think we have. We've had our moments. I think everyone has their moments, don't they? I think so. But in terms of getting on, I do think we're quite close. Because of the age difference. I mean, I sort of love you really, really, really deeply because of the age difference. I don't know what it was, but when you was born, I was 15. Yeah. To me, it wasn't a normal sort of brother, sister relationship because you're normally quite close-ish, aren't you? And I just felt a different bond with you

because of the age thing. I can't explain it. Yeah. Really odd. But I just, yeah, I just sort of really love you to death. Really. I know what you mean. But I just, yeah, I just sort of really love you to death, really. I know what you mean. But I have been a pain in the arse at times. Listen, we've all been a pain in the arse. We all do things we shouldn't have done in the past. You've got to just not look back on that. You just don't look back on it.

It's done, it's finished. We move on, we step forward. We always do, don't we? And we always do, yeah. So, yeah. And you're right, everybody in life goes through situations, be it with friends, partners, husbands, sisters, brothers. Oh, absolutely, yeah. We all do things that we shouldn't do or we might say things that are a bit inappropriate. Yeah, and we shouldn't have said.

Whatever it is. That's right, yeah. I think you've got to be honest with yourself and if you're honest with yourself and you think, I know that that wasn't great, I've messed it up, bit of emotional intelligence, learn, and then try not to do it again. That's it. And that's all you can do. Yeah, the people that piss me off

are the ones that keep doing it. Yeah. That's probably another, that's for another night. That's another pod. Brad has created a group and they are massive EastEnders fans. Oh, okay. So they've sort of created a Sonya's fan page and there's about four or five of them on my group, my Instagram page.

Okay. So it's a bit complicated. That's right. But Brad, thank you. I'm not going to answer your calls when you call me on the business number. I don't answer calls. I'll respond to messages. But if you could perhaps slow down the five or six calls, that would be really greatly appreciated. But I'm going to mention you, Brad, because obviously you're a very big fan. Yep.

And you have asked me a question, which I think is quite good so me and Tony can both answer. If you could be in any other family in EastEnders whose would you pick and why? It's a difficult one Brad because you know I've got my loyalty lines with the Jacksons and the Fowlers but I think as a viewer and a fan of the show, I'd have to go Mitchell's. I'd have to live in Phil's house. Yeah, maybe, yeah. What do you think? Yeah, I've just probably got to be a certain type of person to be in Mitchell though, haven't you? You know? Mmm.

Bit abrasive. Yeah. You know? Bit of a villain. But maybe I fancy being a villain because Sonia's been... But can you be a villain? Listen, I've always fancied being a villain, but whether you can be one or not is a completely different question.

Yeah, that is true. That is true. So, yeah. I'd probably want to be a Bill. I'd probably want to be related to Ian Bill because he's always got food. Oh yeah, that is true. So yeah I probably want to be a Bill. I probably wouldn't want to be related to Ian Bill because he's always got food. Oh yeah. He's always got a restaurant or a cafe or something so I'd basically get free food because I was a Bill. It's really good. It's great thinking. Well you know I'm just I'm

sort of I suppose I'm just trying to, I'm trying to think of it, you know, what would, what would impact me positively and probably having a free fried breakfast every day would do the job. Yeah, calf, he's got fish and chips. Exactly, fish and chips. Yeah. Bill Zills. Yeah, you know. He's got it all. Fantastic. Yeah. No, I think that's a great question. Discounted food. Good question, Brad.

It shows you what sort of people we are. Do you know what I mean? Because I've just gone Mitchell's for a bit of sort of excitement and you've gone down a really logical, sensible route of food. Not really, no. It's just, if I don't get some free food somewhere,

then I'm all for it. Yeah. When I sent the message, Carla said, "'Yay! Love a pod with tone. "'The most soothing voice. Looking forward to it.'" You and your voice, people really, really think you've got a calming voice. I know we've said it again, but I've had another three or four.

That's interesting, because most people, I know we can't stand the sound of it, but there we go. Well, there you go. People really enjoy your voice. That's nice. Maybe you could start. Bit of voice over work. Yeah.

One listener said about an app or something, a sleep app. Is that right? A calming app. Oh right, yeah. And they do stories on there and things like that. Yeah, I'd give that a go, yeah, definitely. I wonder if we could just record a few and just put them out. Yeah. Tony's calming...

Yeah, just little short stories we could find, can't we? Sort of tales of the unexpected of an evening when you're falling asleep. Yeah, that'd be good. So that's quite an old reference for all you youngsters out there. People loved your reference last time, so don't worry about it. What was that, cameo? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I honestly thought you meant the bloke that sung word up. I did, yeah. People loved it. Oh, that's good. I didn't know what it was. No, I know, I know, I know. I showed you afterwards though, didn't I?

Yeah, no, you did. Yeah. But people enjoyed it. So there's people out there who like your references. If they're enjoying it, let's get it on. We've had a bit of a strange message here. Oh dear. How strange is strange?

Hi, Nat. This is Michelle from Connecticut. I know there's a lot of Michelle's that call in. That was the first one. Poor love. Okay. Went off. Whoops, ignore that. I got distracted, I'm at work.

Hi Nat, this is Michelle calling from Connecticut. I just wanted to ask your brother if he knew of any eligible bachelors who are not weird. Yeah, I wouldn't mind having a British husband. I'm half British and I have my citizenship, so it's not for that reason. It's just because I love the Brits. And yeah, we could live in America and Connecticut.

It's in the tri-state area, not too far from New York City, but it's very nice and suburban. And we could also live in England. I think that would be a great life. Thanks, Nat. Wow. That's quite a large ask. Don't even wanna know where we start with that one.

It's a lot to ask. Michelle has gone straight in. She has. And not only do you know someone, she's not willing to come here. So she's asking you to ask a mate. Oh no, she said they would live in England and Connecticut. Oh England, I thought she said Connecticut.

No, both. She said they'll go, I mean, this sounds like a remarkable opportunity for somebody. She sounds like an intelligent baby. She sounds intelligent, she sounds very, yeah, very eloquent. Don't quite know what's wrong with blokes in America. Obviously there's something not right. She likes British guys. Right, yes, yeah. I'd have to get my thinking cap on. Get your thinking cap on.

I would definitely have to get my thinking cap on with that one because, yeah, I won't want to put her wrong. It's not fair, is it? I could lumber over a right old Dossa. That's not good. No. A right old Dossa. Well, we haven't got enough info about her either, really. We haven't, and I didn't want to say that, but I mean, a little bit of background would be nice.

A little bit of background. Age. Yeah. Is it 20 or 80? Yeah. That makes a big difference. But I love that message. I just thought good for you. Yeah, fabulous. And she was at work. Yeah. Is it 20 or 80? That makes a big difference. But I love that message. I just thought good for you. And she was at work. Yeah. And she just sent you that over.

What a brilliant message. Probably the best one yet, actually. I really liked it. Yeah. Yeah. I just, good for you. Why not? No, absolutely not. Do what you want. Yeah. I just, I can't imagine getting a message from a podcast I listen to and sending something like that over. Which is why I just think how brave, right? Yeah, amazing.

So let's have a think about it. Michelle, send me a little bit more info on yourself and then maybe we can sort of re-discuss it at some point. But thanks for listening to the pod. I hope you're enjoying them. Hi, Nat and Tony, it's Joe here from Church Langley. Just getting ready for holiday. Five days in Bruges, then back for a couple of days before an 11 night cruise.

Lovely. First cruise she's done. Travelling solo. Wow. Interesting to know if you either have or would cruise. Also, what is your favourite holiday destination? Love the pods, very often listen several times over. Glad the ship has Wi-Fi because I'll be able to take you with me.

That's lovely. That's really lovely. Thanks, Joe. Yeah, thanks, Joe. There's a few things to say there. Again, how brave going away on your own. Massive. Yeah. I mean, I wouldn't have a problem with it.

I'll be honest with you. I'm quite outgoing. Sorry, it's not about me, but I'm just saying. So I'd imagine Joe's probably quite an outgoing person, hasn't got a confidence issue because it's a big thing going anywhere on your own really. But I know lots of people that just would die if they had to do it.

I put a, we'll go back in a sec, sorry, to digress. I put a photo the other day up of me out for lunch on my own. Yeah. It's one of my favourite things to do. Just go and sit some, if I'm in between jobs or whatever, I will go and sit somewhere on my own and I'll have lunch on my own. I had so many messages saying I wish I could do that. I would never walk into a restaurant on my own. I just haven't got the confidence to do it. So that's just

going back to, like you say, you have to be a certain type of person. Yeah. Absolutely. So I was going to Bruges, which I don't know Bruges, but I've seen the film in Bruges. I haven't seen anything. Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson. Any good? Bernie, my father-in-law told me to watch it. Right. And I watched it and I thought it was a bit mad and wasn't sure about it. But the more I think about it, it's actually a work of genius. It's funny. Really? Yeah. Yeah. Because Colin Farrell and Brendan

Gleeson together, they just kill me. Right, okay. There's a lot of swearing in it and it's a bit sort of, the plot is, it's slightly far-fetched. Right. But it's actually quite... But you say that, what is it in films? Yeah, I know, I know, I know. I've never been to move up, I've seen it in films. No, no. And the crews, well, I don't know where Joe's going, but I've always fancied it. Have you?

I have. Sharon's not keen, she's a bit claustrophobic, doesn't like enclosed spaces. So I think there's this thing where people think you're going to get in this little tiny cabin and there's no sunlight and all that sort of stuff. So I'm not sure. But I would have a go. It worries me. In terms of getting on a ship and I know you get off and stop and whatever, but it panics me about, I know they're big, I know that, but I can't help it.

I think what if you've got people on the ship who are really annoying and And then you can't get away from them. Yeah. That's what worries me. Or is that the same as an hotel? People are probably saying- Well, I think you're out, sorry, if you don't mind, I'm saying your perspective is gonna be way different to my perspective.

Yes. Because people are not gonna start walking up to me when I'm having my dinner saying, hello, can I have my picture taken? That's right. Or you can if you like, by the way. I would quite like it. If's right. You know, or you can if you like by the way. I quite like it. If someone wants to do that it'd actually make my year. No, but I think the

perspective is different. Yeah. But anyway, and holiday destination. What's your favourite? There's only one for me and that's Val do Lobo in Portugal. Right. Now I've told everybody there'll be millions of people there. It's beautiful, we love it. And if you go out at a season, it's not really expensive, it's not terrible. It's got golf there, I can't play at the minute, but it's got a lovely little bit in the centre where it's called the Prasa, where there's shops, there's a few little shops and restaurants and bars and stuff. And there's places just up the road, it's about 20 minutes from Villa Mamora. It was the first five-star resort in Europe. Right, okay.

The McAlpine family built it. Yes, the builders. The builders, that's right, yeah. The McAlpines, I mean, because when you go to Valdeloba, there's stuff in the reception, there's pictures of, you know, the first, how it started. It was basically two houses built by the Macalpines on what is now the first fairway of the Royal Court or wherever it was. And it just got bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger.

Is it a complex? It's a complex. It's a complex. Like La Manga. Like La Manga, but not, sorry, not La Manga out of the park. Right, okay. Seriously. I mean, you've got, the only thing with Portugal is you're on the Atlantic, so the sea is cold. Yeah. Right. Okay. Seriously. I mean, you've got, the only thing with Portugal is you're in the Atlantic, so the sea is cold. Yeah.

At Val Loba, you've got, you know, five miles of beach to just walk up and down and whatever. You've also got swimming pools and all that sort of stuff. Kins of the Largo is just up the road, which is another resort. There's a shopping city centre thing just up the road. Yeah. Daddy had a white t-shirt that said Kintryne. Kintryne de Largo, that's right, I took him to golf there. There were restaurants half an hour away. There's one where Chris Evans, I think Chris got married.

Oh, right. At one, Sharon knows the name of it, but it's a Michelin star, but not like poncy. It's really not super expensive. Anyway, yeah, for us. So that's for you. That's for me, yeah. What about you? I always say the same thing. Go on.

I've been to a few places. I'm not overly bothered about getting on an airplane. No, I understand that. I'm not keen now. I'm not really a holiday person. I'm doing it this year. The kids for the kids and summer. That's what we used to do. Yeah, try and take them away every year to make sure they had a holiday. You know, you do it. But it's got to be common for me. Common for you, yeah. When I get there, I just breathe a sigh of relief.

My shoulders go down. I know where I am. We even now see people that live in Newquay and they go, oh, you're doing. Because it sounds so stupid, but it's a home from home. It's not, it's not. I'll be honest, if you could, we all say it, I know it's an old, you know, it's boring, but if you had the weather,

there's no better place than this country. No. But when you've got 10 days off in the summer, you know, the kids had 10, whatever, we took them away for 10 days or two weeks. As everyone will know, you've got to have some sunshine. You've got to. And so you've got to fly. Yeah.

You know? Yeah. Yeah, well we're going to Cornwall quite soon. Lovely. And the reason being, I said, don't go in the summer because you're desperate for it to be dry. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whereas if you go earlier in the year or later in the year,

doesn't matter, fuck the weather. That's right, yeah, it is what it is. We're going. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And if you get a sunny is. We're going. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And if you get a sunny day, it's lucky. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. So that's what we're doing.

No, lovely. Lovely. But yeah, great question. I've been to some places. Did you? I remember your honeymoon. Yeah, we went to the Maldives. Did you enjoy that? Yeah, brilliant. Beautiful. And we are, again, this is, you could probably have a podcast just on this topic.

Yeah, of course. We a podcast just on this topic. Yeah, of course. We are big friend makers on holidays. So am I. We like a drink and we will make friends and we've made brilliant friends on holiday and never seen them again. We've tried to keep in touch. It hasn't happened.

Yeah, you always do. It's true. And so when we went to Maldives on our honeymoon, we met Julie and Steve from Essex. They lived at Chafford Hundred. They'd got married same day as us. Steve was mad as a march here. Brilliant, absolutely brilliant. Julie was the most beautiful, gorgeous girl.

And we met Sonia and Ian from the Lake District. Ian was a Scottish engineer. I love how you remembered them all. That worked in India, right? Sonia, they had a B&B in the Lake District in Keswick. Brilliant. Sonia went to the Maldives, Ian came and met her from India, flew from India to Meher and they were there at the same time, honestly, and we just had the best. And the brilliant thing was, we all knew when we needed space.

Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah. But we were all singing karaoke and it was absolutely, it was amazing. I like meeting people on holiday so it's like you say it can be a bit dangerous, it's a high risk scenario because if you get someone you're not keen on and they're driving you mad but I've never had that to be honest. No and I think as you get older, I'm not rude but I think I make it pretty clear if I don't want to spend time with someone. You have to.

Yeah, you have to. Yeah, you can't be having all that. Yeah, so you do it. But we had some cracking friends when we went to Greece last year. Yeah, exactly. I can't remember their names. Like, you know, I feel absolutely terrible about that because it was only last year. Well the funny thing was, we tried to keep in touch with Julie and Steve.

We phoned them a few times at Christmas and whatever and then just petered out as it does. And with Sonia and Ian, she gave us the number of the... I was ringing it for days and this phone just kept ringing and ringing. It must have been a fault on the line or she gave me the wrong number. I don't know. And we never saw them again, which was terrible. Perhaps they gave you the wrong number and thought, fuck that when we go. No, definitely not. No, Sonia was a little Welsh firecracker mate.

Really? Yeah, she was brilliant. Well, who knows? Listen, who knows? The power of the pot, wouldn't it be brilliant? Oh, wouldn't it just? If Sonia or Ian got in touch. Yeah, well, you know, it was a long time ago.

Goodness me. But, yeah. But you did Hong Kong as well, didn't you? Yes. I remember that. That was brilliant because we won that. Sharon won it at work. Yeah.

She used to do all the travel for people at Abbey National before it was Santander. And we went to this do one night, it was the girl that used to do all the travel for Sharon. It was a travel company. And it was an annual do and there were raffle prizes. And the top prize was three days in Hong Kong in the Mandarin Oriental, flying club class with British Airways.

So, you know, you don't think about it. Anyway, they called her name out and that was it we went to Hong Kong and we how old would I have been because that is a memory of mine yeah I was we were probably I was probably 20 21 22 so I was about five or six yeah I remember you coming home and you had the brochure from the hotel from the Mandarin Oriental. The Mandarin Oriental, yeah. And I remember being really excited and looking through that. That's mad, isn't it?

Yeah. That's a very strong memory for me. Isn't that mad? Yeah, that's incredible. Yeah. Yeah. So that was brilliant. That was brilliant.

I think it's, as I get older now and the children are getting older, because you don't need any paraphernalia, do you? You know,ia do you? There's much less paraphernalia. There's a lot less stuff you need with the children and I do think about how wonderful it would be to do a safari as a family. Yeah well I know people have done it and they said and they say it's amazing absolutely amazing. I would really like to experience that. I'd also like to go to Lapland. Yeah, fair enough. But like a, you know, maybe. Yeah, Egypt's been the thing for me.

I've always wanted to see the pyramids and stuff, but I think it's so dangerous out there now. The guy that works for me, Mark, he went to a place in Egypt last week or a couple of weeks ago, just for a week, he followed his son. And he said the pyramids were two hours away. And every six tourists is looked after by a heavily, heavily guarded security guard,

heavily armed security guard. Wow. It's dangerous. Right. No, I don't know if it is or it isn't. I was going to say. But he's no, I know, I don't know if it is, but he said to me he didn't fancy it. No, I don't know if it is or it isn't. I was going to say. But he's, no, I know, I don't know if it is, but he said to me he didn't fancy it. No.

Because for that reason. Because they had to be escorted. Right. By heavily, not sub-machine gun armed security guards. Oh God. But that's what he told me. Bloody hell. So that's put me off a little bit.

We'll just keep watching the documentaries on how they were made? Yes. Yeah. All right then. Hey Nat, long time listener. First time I've messaged. Thank you so much. Love you and Tony together. He makes me howl out loud.

I was driving to work sat in horrific traffic relating to the conversation you were both having about roadworks and the council being collections. Love everything you're doing. Jodie from Oxford. Thanks, Jodie. Very, very kind. I love making people laugh. Yeah, it's good, isn't it?

I let you into a bit of a secret from this morning. Okay. But more for the listener. Because I'm not sure when this is going out and when this, the one I'm talking about is going out so just bear with me everyone you know what I'm like. But I did a pod this morning with Kerry Godelman. Oh I love Kerry. She, now Tone, I hosted an evening, a charity evening for Choose Love at the Bedford in Ballum and she did 10 minutes. I'm not making it up. I was crying, but I couldn't breathe.

But I had to get up once she'd finished, say thank you and introduce the next person. I couldn't do it. So we had a chat and she really kindly, we had 45 minutes this morning. Oh, that's brilliant. Which was absolutely brilliant. And to think that people sit and how a laughter at you or me or it just you can't beat laughter. No, you cannot beat howling and she's put howling in the car. Yeah, that's right. I think we've got um was it Charlotte of is that Charlotte of Dubai? Yeah, yeah. Charlotte said I've only just discovered the podcast and I've listened to it every morning in the gym for the last two weeks. First episode I discovered was you and Tony

talking about the bins and I almost fell off the back of the running machine. It made me laugh so much. Have subsequently listened to every you and Tony episode. So funny and so much love between you. Shukran, thank you in Arabic for reminding me of home. Sending love from the desert. Charlotte." Brilliant. I'm a bit concerned about you falling off your running machine because I think that could be quite dangerous. So please don't Charlotte if that's alright. I don't want her old man on the phone saying, listen, she's hurt herself and it's because she was laughing. Yeah, it's because she was laughing. Yeah, it's your fault.

So we're going to go miserable. Go miserable now and all that. Just talk really dull. I'm not going to make anyone laugh. Just talk really dull about stuff. I've had a lot of people say they listen in the gym. One lady said that she was on the running machine once. She laughed so much she wet herself. Excellent. Excellent. Better than shitting yourself. It is better than shitting yourself.

There's always a bonus. Yeah. There's a positive side to every situation. There is. I was gonna go into shitting yourself conversation. I'm not going to. No, no, no, don't do that. I'm not gonna go there.

No, don't do that. You might have to do a special adult. It could be three or four years down the line when we run out of things to say. I'm gonna leave out there. Yeah, I think so, yeah. It's not for now. Sun's out. No, it's just not appropriate. Yeah, we're out of things to say, I'm gonna leave out there. Yeah, I think so, yeah. It's not for now. Sun's out.

No, it's just not appropriate. Yeah, we're going out for dinner later. I apologize. Yeah, that's fine. No, I brought it up. Well, no, but I had the thought. No, that's fine. I'm gonna change the subject.

Question for both of you. If you had the choice to live in any country in the world, where would it be? Taking all your people with you. Sharon from Northampton. You've really helped me with that actually, because when you've said taking all your people with you, I think I could live anywhere. Yeah. If I had everyone that I cared about nearby, I think I could go anywhere. But I'm very happy

living where I live. I don't really... There is a part of me that would like to live in the middle of Italy, growing white, you know, having vineyards, some olive oil, some olives, I could squash my own olive oil, grow me with tomatoes and be sort of in southern Italy somewhere, live in a very simple life. that does appeal to me greatly. Really? Yeah. Sounds fucking boring to me.

Yeah, with all your people, that's what I'm saying. Oh right, okay, so I'll be there treading the grapes. You've got everyone with you. I'll be treading it, I'm going to tread them grapes. You'd be there. Yes. So I'd have everyone I care about with me. I'd have to learn Italian electrical systems.

Yeah. Which won't be probably not too hard. I would imagine we could just do something else. Yeah. Yeah, like it. Where would you live? I'd live here. Yeah.

Sorry, I'm English, British for a through. Yeah. No, I love where I live. I feel a bit Irish sometimes because of the, you know, our background. I can't help it. I'm a plastic. We, because of our background. I can't help it. I'm a plastic, we're all plastic paddies, but we go back a few years, I know, but I do feel, I feel a very, very strong affinity to Ireland.

So do I when I go there. Massively. Yeah, I do. Massively. And I can't explain it. But I say the same with Ireland, Italy, Cornwall. I really do. Yeah, yeah.

There's something when I go to those places. Oh, you know Nanny Dole was half Italian, wasn't she? I know, but I feel genuinely, I get there and go, I could be it. I could be it, yeah. There's something when I go to those places. Oh, you know Nanny Dole was half Italian, wasn't she? I know, but I feel genuinely, I get there and go, I could be it. I could be it, yeah. Yeah, it doesn't feel like a holiday. No, I understand what you mean. Well, when we go to Portugal, to Valdez Lobo, it's the same with us. We get there and we just know it.

We haven't been, saying that, we haven't been for 15 years, but we used to go a lot when we were younger, but life takes over and we do other stuff. So we haven't been for quite a long time now, but we used to go a lot when we were younger but life takes over and we do other stuff so we haven't been for quite a long time now but we will go back. Oh I was going to say it's definitely the way you speak about it you have to go. Yeah we will go back definitely. You should definitely go back and enjoy what you love. Yeah yeah yeah. Brilliant.

Oh this is brilliant because Vicky from South Wales hasn't done her homework. Right, okay. Hi, Inet. Wanted to ask Tony if he could be on any TV quiz show, which one would he do and why? And have you ever been on a celebrity quiz show? I would like to see you on the chase or catchphrase. Love you guys. I don't know where to start, Vicky. Shall we start with the one Vicky we've been on together? Yeah. Me and Tony did supermarket sweep.

We did celebrity supermarket sweep. Yeah, we did, didn't we? That was fun, wasn't it? Yeah, it was, yeah. Yeah, I made myself look a right knob, but there we go. No. The kids were saying, apparently there was a, thing I was looking for was right in front of me

and I couldn't see it, you know, the star or whatever was on the shelves. I don't know, I don't know, but I got some stick for that. Oh, but it's great fun. Yeah, it was. And the thing is, when you're watching anything, okay, I'll say this about quizzes, Vicki, because you've asked me if I've done any quiz shows. I've done a lot. You've mentioned The Chase. It was appalling. I missed questions. I won't

look back on it now, but when I watched it I was so embarrassed. I looked like a complete idiot. But when you're in a studio with the lights down and there's an audience, it's completely different. Just sitting at home going, you didn't get that one right. Because when you're at home... Oh, that's easy that one. And you know them when you're at home. It's like Popmaster.

Popmaster, every day I answer about 36 points worth of questions. No, I don't. I get quite a few right. I'm doing my work and I'm going, yeah, Jodie Mitchell, simple mind, 1976, whatever it is. And I get quite a lot. And I know for a fact that if I was on the end of the phones again, doing it, I would literally forget my own name. So it's pressure, isn't it? When you're putting that pressure situation. It really is difficult. Catchphrase I'd love to do.

Not done catchphrase. I did blankety blank a couple of times. I did it with Lily Savage, Paul O'Grady, God Rest His Soul. That was years ago I did that. And then I went on recently with Bradley Walsh. That's right I remember seeing that. I was away in Cornwall fishing actually and it came on. Yeah, yeah that was really good. But I've done bundles of them. They're really good fun but you never ever do what you can do at home. Ever.

I'd like to do Deal or No Deal. Because you've got all the boxes. Well it's a bit mad, Dalvah. But you can have all the... It's a bit of a cult apparently. You have to live in a hotel with them and all that. It's all a bit nutty, I don't think. No, I don't want to.

I just want to do the chase turn up. Say hello to Brad. How are you mate? Talk about the arsenal. Yeah. Slag off one of the chasers. Lose. Yeah. Have a few beers, go home. Fair enough, fair enough.

I did it with the hairy bikers, one of which has passed away now. Yeah, yeah, that's him, yeah. But they were such gentlemen, what lovely fellas. And they were really intelligent, they won. Yeah, yeah, good. That was good fun, really good, really good. Who wants to be a millionaire is another one. You could do that as a couple, couldn't you?

They do celebrity ones of that. They do. I think millionaire would probably be my one, actually. I'd like to do the chase. I never will, I know about the chase because it's very quick fire and it's quite high pressure. I think with millionaire, you can be more relaxed. Yeah. Because what you see is like seconds, but people have taken 25 minutes to answer a question and all that sort of stuff. So there's no rush. I don't mean the clocks on you. No. The chase the clock is on you and all that. And I think that's where you get stressed

and forget stuff, you know? Yeah. I do quite well sometimes, but again, I know it's really cliched, but you know what you know. Of course you do. You just know what you know. It's like mastermind. Sometimes I'll be, you know, mastermind, be rattling through the questions on the general knowledge stuff. Yeah, yeah.

And I'll get not loads, but I will get maybe six or seven right out of the questions, you know. And then there's other times when you don't get any right. No, that's right. It's just not what you know. If I got asked to do Celebrity Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, I know exactly what I'd do. I'd say that's brilliant.

What I'm going to do is I'm going to flip it on its head. I'm going to be at home on the phone and my brother David and my brother Tony are coming on. My brothers will come on, but I'm not coming on. And I reckon you two together would get to the end. Bit of a problem. What? Like the clues in the name, there's got to be a celebrity somewhere.

So you being on the phone doesn't really help. Maybe you could look, you know, remember when Ricky Gervais did Extras? Yeah. And you had all those sort of fans in the big T-shirts. You're having a laugh. You're having a laugh. You two could go on. Right.

But with sort of wigs as me and like a T-shirt and me on it. Listen, if it's for charity, I'll do anything. If it's for charity. No, yeah I'll give it a go. I don't mind. Who wants to be in the middle of you two? Dressed as you. Dressed as me, the pair of you. I think you'd go all the way you two. That sounds like stuff of nightmares to me, sorry. It's comedy gold that would be. Don't know about that. Comedy gold. I must mention Valerie Gibbins. She messages really often and I haven't got back to Valerie. And she said, hi Nat, I'd love a shout out on the podcast. I've been listening from episode one.

Really look forward to it every week. Take care. So Valerie, that was it. I just wanted to say, I know you're there. I'm sorry I haven't got back to you. And it's absolutely brilliant that you message me all the time. So thanks very much. Thank you. I mean, I feel a bit, I feel terrible sometimes because we get lots of messages specifically to me about stuff, you know, building stuff or whatever. And we don't talk about them and we don't answer them because we just don't have time because there's just too many.

Absolutely. So I'm looking at potentially I need to find a mechanism where I can answer those for people. I need to find a way of being able to, if someone needs some help, I can help them. Yeah. Yeah, whatever that is, you know. I think you need an Instagram page.

Maybe. Yeah. I'll speak to you about it. Can we do this one? Absolutely. Tell me what it is. Where is it? It's the... there's no name, but it's the young lady that's... Yeah. Here we go. Hi, Nat. I'm currently going through a separation with two young children. I'm going to view some houses, but within within my budget a lot of houses need some work. One house I'm viewing this weekend is in the perfect location, £30,000 under budget and from the photos doesn't appear to need masses of work,

however definitely needs an upgrade. Would I firstly be stupid for taking this on alone and secondly what are the key things I firstly be stupid for taking this on alone? And secondly, what are the key things I should be looking out for? You're fabulous, keep being you. Thank you so much. But no name, which is a shame. No, I'm sorry. So when people, if you do write in the future, if you can just put your name on, because

it's a bit impersonal. I'm going to go back whilst you're answering the question, see if I can find it. You go. Okay. Right. So I think first things first, you know, buying a property that needs some work doing to it is not for the faint hearted. Lauren. Found it. Right. Lauren. Brilliant. Well done that. So yeah, people buying stuff, it's not, it's not for the faint hearted, you know, people dipping their toe into sort of renovation work and all the rest of it. It depends the type of person that you are in many ways Lauren. So if you're, I mean you're going for a separation with two young children, that sounds quite difficult. Sorry, I'm not a social worker

or a agony uncle. But it sounds quite a difficult situation you're in. But if you're a confident person, if you're, if you sort of stand and say, look, I'm going to do this, I'm happy to do this. I'm happy to deal with tradesmen, happy to deal with men, because most of us are, sorry, but we are, it's just how it is. You need to be comfortable thinking about the scenario you're going to find yourself in. That's really, really important. If you found a property that's under budget, it sounds like a win.

It sounds like it's something you've got to seriously, seriously look at. In terms of the problems or the things you should look for, don't worry about paint and wallpaper and all the rest of it and carpet. That's all stuff that you really need to be looking at the big ticket items. So it's the roof, potential damp issues. How old are the electrics? How old's the plumbing? How old's the boiler? All this sort of stuff. Yeah. How old are the electrics? How old is the plumbing? How old is the boiler? All this sort of stuff. Windows. Yeah. Windows. Massive. Again, like roofs probably the biggest element. If you're not going to extend, you know, if you're just going to buy a house, move into it, but you, the roof is probably the biggest, you know, the biggest potential issue on that. And all of this stuff costs loads of money to change.

And certainly things like damp are a major issue for some properties as well. So I think they're the big things. I mean, you can go to a good surveyor and get a good survey, but they will pick up some stuff but they won't, you know, they won't be specific. They won't say your roof needs changing. They'll say the roof is of a certain age where it might be end of its material life, whatever, whatever, whatever. So you end up in a situation there where you pay all this money for a server and it's just loads of words, it doesn't say a lot. Especially if you're not in that game.

Exactly. It's hard, isn't it? The language is hard. Yeah. The house sounds great, well under budget, but I think you've got to think about yourself as a person, separating from someone with two young children. Are you really up for the fight? That's what it's about. Because you're going to have to deal with tradesmen, you're going to have to deal with people, you're going to have stuff not turning up, you're going to have people not turning up, you're going to have problems arise where you didn't even realise they were there and all that sort of thing. So I know couples that have struggled with doing work

for various issues, normally because of poor tradesmen and being let down and whatever. And I know couples that have got each other to lean on have struggled in some instances with- So being on our own, Lauren being on her own. It's a real red flag for me. Right. And I'm not saying that, Lauren,

I'm not saying that you're not capable of doing it. You most probably very are, but you need to go into it with your eyes open, you know? I think it's real, realistic what you're saying. Yeah, yeah. And you've also got, whoever you get to do any work, you must make sure they're personally recommended. Yeah, 100%.

Absolutely 100%. Checkatrade.com. Well, it's not, we've got to be careful because these, because Checkatrade and other places that have a viable business and that's what they do. Yeah, of course. They do their stuff. So, I do know that on some of those sites,

Yeah. not specifically Checkatrade, No, no, just... but there's quite a few of them. Right. that the quality is variable. Yeah. Very, very variable.

And what you must also remember is, is that all those sites as a tradesman, you pay to be on there and you pay for leads. And I've always said, unless you're a new business starting up and you've got no, you know, when we started 23 years ago, we had no customers. So we use the old.com whatever to try and generate some interest. Yeah. And a bit of avatar. But if you are a tradesman that is established and good at what they do, you shouldn't really need to have to go and pay for leads. No, that's right. And I'm not, and that is not a slight against checker,

or anyone else. No, no, no. And I also know that there are people that really, really, really struggle to find tradesmen massively. So these websites provide a service, clearly provide a service. But for me, again, as a single person on your own, you've got to go with personal recommendation. Great advice, I think. Thank you very much. No questions really. I just wanted to say I love the Tony episodes I can listen

to him talk all day lovely voice and you of course Nat that's all right just an aside don't worry about me. Yeah so do. Fave pod I think you've overtaken parenting how am I ranking the pods? Get in there! Oh my goodness. Get in! Hope you hear that Rob and Josh you you won't, you will never listen to this. Thank you Fern, but get in there. What do you say about that Beckett? Woo hoo hoo hoo. It's a nice way to end the pod. Fabulous, brilliant. Very nice to hear that people are enjoying it.

Yeah, brilliant. Really really good. Long may it continue. Absolutely. And thanks for everyone again for writing and taking time, it means a lot. It really does. And it does sound like a broken record, but tonight the pub will be completely different without all of your questions,

all of your comments and you helping. Podcast is a community and you help me make it. So thank you. Thank you so much, Tone, I'll see you really soon. Yeah, see you love. All right, love you loads. Bye. Bye.