Life with Nat - EP115: Tony talks #8 - Birthday spesh!

Episode Date: May 11, 2025

The birthday boy and the birthday girl reflect on their years and look forward to their innovative million pound idea, prevarication-free! 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

Hello and welcome to Life with Nat. I hope you're all very very good. I hope you've all had a fantastic weekend. I thought I'd do a little birthday special with Tony. How are you, Tone? I'm good, Nat, how are you? Yeah, I'm all right. Now, when this comes out, it'll be your birthday this week. That's right, yeah. Yeah.

How you feeling? Yeah, all right, same as I always do, really. Yeah. It's just a milestone, I think. I'm not big birthday celebrators, really. No. Not parties and stuff, but it's nice that there's a little bit of sunshine on you for a day, I suppose, and a few cards and your present and that.

So it's always nice and we always go do something, go out. So this, when it's my birthday, it's the second semi-final of the Champions League. Ah, we're in a bit of a two and eight. We're in a bit of a pickle. I was there the other night, it wasn't great. So we are in a bit of a pickle. We're gooners, by the way. Yeah, we are Arsenal fans.

But you never know. So it will be a couple of drinks around the pub with the dog and maybe the kids, and then back with a takeaway to watch football. Let's hope we win. It'd be nice. Yeah. It would be nice. Yeah. It would be nice. That's a present for you. Yeah, we'll see. We'll see. And then it's my birthday the week after.

It is, yes. Six days after. There you go. Yeah. Both Taureans. Yes. I don't know what that means, but yeah. It just means we're good people. Torre us the ball. Yeah. Good people. Is that what it means? Grounded. Right, okay, yeah. Quite materialistic sometimes. Yeah, not we're good people. To harvest the ball, yeah. Good people. Is that what it means? Grounded. Right, okay, yeah. Quite materialistic sometimes. Yeah, not so much now. Certainly when I was younger, if I wanted something, I really wanted it.

Yeah. Like, you know. Just light comforts, creature comforts, nice things. Yeah. Good hearts. Honest. Yeah, I'd like to think I'm honest, yeah. Yeah, so there you go.

Right, okay. So I know there you go. Right, okay. So I know what a taurian is now. How have you been anyway? All good? Everything okay? Yeah, mad, busy, mental busy. Yeah. Oh God, honestly, I can't tell you're just mad.

I don't really know why, it's just what I do. When you're trying to run a business and work and do all the other stuff as well, it's just non-stop full on all day every day yeah no I know I know it gets a bit tiring of course but you look really well thanks as always thank you I like that shirt do you I do actually it's a nice color on you yeah I think it's a ted baker I think it's very nice yeah sort of a plum color I'll put it on instagram we We're gonna have a photo after We'll have a nice photo. Yeah. Yeah, do you know what I did today? Go on

So I went out for a little jog and a run right? Okay, sort of two minute walking. Yeah, three minute jog how you should start since I haven't done it for ages You can be very careful. So it's quite nice Downwear River. Yeah, I've turned around I've careful. So it's quite nice, down by a river. Yeah, lovely. I've turned round, I've done quite a lot of it, and as I'm running, I turn around to come back again, because that's what I do, I didn't want to go to Hartford, so I've turned around.

And there's this lovely lady standing up, lady on the floor. There's another younger lady like me, if you call us young, but sort of helping, so I thought I've got to stop. This poor lady, she tripped over a stone. She'd completely smashed her face in. Oh no.

Pouring her blood, her lips, her teeth. Oh God. She was about 70. Oh, don't. So we got some wet wipe. We sort of scrambled what we had. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We helped her, we cleaned her.

I had no water on me, which was a bit stupid, but the other lady had a big Stanley cup. Right. So she had water on me, which was a bit stupid, but the other lady had a big Stanley cup. Right. So she had ice in there, which was brilliant. So we broke it up, iced her hand. She was all cut on her hand. Bless her. Oh, I'm done. But the mate, she was all right. She was going, oh, it's always, we've got to get to the food bank. We've got to get up the road because we work for, we're walking from Hartford to where? And we're busy.

I said, all right, give her a rest. She ain't meant to do it. But there were quite a double up. Once we cleaned her up and she got up, I said, are you feeling faint or do you think you're okay to walk? All she was worried about, bless her, was her teeth. And they didn't look great, but I said, don't worry for now. But as we started walking and we just walked slowly back with them.

But bless her. I just, if anyone is listening and knows the lady who lives in Hartford, I really hope she's okay. But she seemed to be all right when I left her. You know? But you never know what's, it worries you, doesn't it? I can go out on a river walk or run. I don't have no water, no antiseptic wipes.

I know it sounds silly, but I'm not an overly prepared person. No, no, no. And it made me sort of think, Yeah, sometimes you have to see stuff happen and then think, Oh, a lot of life is like, what I do is like that. You sort of think that's never going to happen. And then when it does, you think,

Oh, we've got to prepare for that. Or we've got to be ready for stuff like that. Yeah. And I think it's the same all the way through life. You know, you go through merrily not caring We've got to prepare for that or we've got to be ready for stuff like that. Yeah. And I think it's the same all the way through life. You go through merrily not caring and not seeing risk or not seeing anything or not thinking about stuff that you might need to do just in case. And then when you have a few experiences and you're a bit older and you've seen stuff that

happens. You begin to be more aware. Yeah. I had a plumber work for me once and his motto was, people were saying, well, that's never going to happen. And he used to say, they said that about Chernobyl. Yeah. With nuclear reactor going up. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

They said that had never happened. And yes, that was his stock standard answer to anyone. Oh. Well, that had never happened. And he's quite right, it's like the Titanic, isn't it? Yes. That's never going to sink, but it did. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So, you know, prepare for the worst, hope for the best, I think, but certainly what you're doing, and you should at least have some water. Yeah, no, I know. But it wasn't a long fit. Don't get me, I'm just beginning again. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Dom sort of inspired me,

and I thought I really did enjoy running. Not saying to that level, but it's easy. You get out, you do it, you come home, you have a shower. There's no gyms, no this, no classes. Do it at any time. I mean, I used to run a few years ago until performing knees and everything went a bit belly up. And a good run is exceptional.

The feeling you get a bad run is awful. Yes. But I remember I had some really good runs and you come in and you're just totally elated. Yeah. Because of the endorphins that are released and all that stuff. And it's, I really miss it, but I can't

just because my physiology doesn't allow me to. No. You know, with dodgy knees. I'm not sure if my physiology allows me to anymore. It weren't easy. Even doing three minutes, you know, my knees were a bit funny. You've got to be careful. You've got to be careful. Even doing three minutes, you know, my knees were a bit funny. You've got to be careful, you've got to be careful because I, you know, I read somewhere that when

you run you put 50 times your body weight on your knees. That's the impact. Really? I might, I don't know if I'm misquoting it, I'm not sure, but it was, I remember thinking that is, that's ridiculous. It wasn't, you know, it wasn't double your body weight. No, it was a lot. It was 20 times or whatever it was, it was a lot. And that to me tells me that if you've got knee issues, and we have in our family, not a lot of us have got iffy knees. Iffy knees. Iffy knees, yeah.

Running is not your go-to form of exercise really. So yeah, I think you need to be a little bit careful. Maybe a little visit to the doctors to have a little check out and see whether they're all right and stuff. Yeah, maybe, maybe. But anyway, it was nice to get out and I did feel great to be moving. Yeah, yeah, that's right. I haven't done any exercise. I'm not joking. I don't know, 14 months. Like a long time. I've not done a bit of weight or a Pilates class or anything.

I've done nothing. And it does make you feel better. It's a cliche, it's boring, but moving about, getting out in the sunshine. Bit of a sweat on. Definitely makes you feel better. Yeah, yeah. 100%.

Well, funny enough, I've got, you know, I don't want to go on about my, I've got this back problem, herniated disc and all the rest of it. And it's been a tough old year to be honest, but I'm now doing physio with the NHS. Yeah. A guy called Marco, I go at Barnett Hospital.

Right. And he's making me do resistance training. Waits. Yes. So dumbbells, kettlebell, I've now got to get a thing you put under the door and you like a resistance band. Yes. To pull and twist.

And I don't want to speak too soon. Touching wood. a thing you put under the door and you like a resistance band to pull and twist and I don't want to speak too soon. Touching wood? I think that's knocking wood but anyway. It's for the listeners so they can hear it. Oh yeah okay alright yeah. But I'm cautiously optimistic because I feel better this week than I felt for a long time. Oh that's brilliant to hear. And I'm not saying that's the answer. No. But I'm hoping I've found something. Because basically the specialist said to me, you've just got to find something that works

for you. It could be chiropractor, it could be osteo, it could be... Acupuncture. Yeah, it could be Indian head massage. There's loads of stuff out there. And you said you've just got to try and find what works. So I'm hoping that doing some weights and resistance is helping. So the point we were making was is that even after doing that for 15 minutes in the morning,

it makes me feel so much better than not doing it. Even though I hate it, I'm lazy. Well I'm not lazy. You're not lazy. I don't really enjoy doing it but I can feel the benefit. I'm so pleased to hear that. That's brilliant. Here we go. Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday Nat and Tony. Happy birthday to you.

Sorry guys, no it's a little bit early but just thought I would get that in there. It's Jo from Bristol and I just want to wish you guys a really happy birthday. You asked if we do, you know, anything special for birthdays or anything like that and I always take a week off my birthday and feel it doing lovely, lovely things and I think everyone should be made, you know, to feel special on their birthday and to be celebrated. My husband is of the opinion that you shouldn't really bother it, it's just another day and no, he has to have a first mate for him as well. Anyway, love the pod, keep going and have a good day. Bye.

Well, I'll tell you something. A week off is quite extravagant for a birthday. I haven't had a week off in about 15 years, I don't think. It is quite extravagant, but I don't think there's any wrong with a bit of self-indulgence now and again. Absolutely. And if that's, I think all the messages we've received, and we've received a lot haven't we? Yeah. It's all, like most things in life, it's very personal, isn't it? You've got people saying, I can't hate it, hate my birthday. We've had the birthdays near Christmas again, which we had at Christmas didn't we? Yes. Again, which again, I feel sorry for those people, I really do. And when we've had people that have, you know, they

go on holiday every time it's their birthday or big parties every single year so it's just it's just how you want to do it it's just a purchase totally personal I feel like I'm going the other way obviously I turned 40 nearly two years ago and that was lovely I had a party but it was only in the Again, it wasn't an extravagant party somewhere and everyone had to dress up. It was very casual party. And it was lovely getting everyone together,

but I still think that those events that you hold, you just don't get to see anyone who's there. You've had a really good time, but you feel like you've not really spoken to anybody. It's like a wedding or a christening I'd imagine. You know what I mean? I don't, or maybe I'm just not very good at it. I don't know. No, I think it's very difficult to spread yourself so thin if you've got a lot of people. Yeah.

Really difficult, you know, and you're trying to get around and see people and then you get caught up with this one and caught up with that one and you say, I must speak to them and then they've gone because they've gone early or whatever. Yes. So yeah, I know what you mean. So it was really lovely, but this year I'm working. I'm working all day long. Yeah, yeah.

On a project, you hate it when I do this, I'm really sorry listeners, on a project that I can't mention yet. Sorry about it. Listeners, I'm going to get it out of a later. Don't worry about that. I know, it's so boring, I'm sorry. But it's something that I am, put it this way, I couldn't think of anything better to be doing on my birthday.

Right, okay. So it's going to be a lovely experience. Lovely, what are you doing? You going fishing? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Because that's what I used to do. You're not doing your trip at all this year? No, it's sort of finished anyway. It's a real shame. We used to go, me and all my fishing mates used to go Norfolk and it was always the first bank holiday in May and it was always around my birthday. So it was, that was the thing, you know, and we used to go, we'd go on the Saturday and

we'd fish Sunday and Monday and we'd stay in a little hotel, a little pub in Norfolk and just have a real laugh and just talk fishing and just have a really, really brilliant weekend. And did it for seven or eight years, but the place got sold, so the new owners, I don't know if they're keen on us booking it out and various reasons really. And the guy that used to organize it,

he's sort of gone off the radar a little bit. So just, you know what happens, it changes. Yeah, yeah, of course. And you die, guys are deaf. But you never know what you've got, what you've lost until you've lost it really. And when I look back now, they were special times, you know. But you didn't think about it at the time, but they were.

Really, well that's lovely. And how lovely to have. Yeah yeah brilliant memories brilliant memories. We've got a message here from Timbo. Okay. Regular listener. Mm-hmm. He was the one who sent a selfie of himself with a spanner today. Oh that's right yes yes he was working on his coach I think. Correct. Something like that. Yeah there we go. Happy birthday Tony and happy birthday in advance to you Natalie. Currently in the back of a mini coach at the moment repairing a bootstrap

but just thought while I was taking a break and looking for my 13mm spanner I'd send you a voice note and just say happy birthday. Whatever you do on your birthday, I hope it's a good one. And yeah, hopefully I'll speak to you soon. Oh, found my spanner. Right, have a good day. Bye bye bye. Thanks Tim. Yeah cheers Tim, that's very nice. That is really really nice. Hi Nat, saw your post that Tony was coming on. I love listening to you both and the closeness you have is evident. Your relationship reminds me of me and

my older brother, eight year age gap. He was my protector. My first memory of him was him lifting me out of my cot on Christmas morning. Sadly, he died five years ago after a brief illness and I miss him terribly. We had such a close relationship. When I listen to you and Tony, it reminds me of the times I spent with my brother. So thank you for that. Keep your family close and appreciate the time spent with them, love listening to your pods, keep it going, take care, Julie from Fife. Wow.

So that's so, so lovely of Julie. Poignant, isn't it, poignant. Poignant, and I really, really, we said it a little bit on the year anniversary pod, but I feel really, really grateful for starting this and spending more time with Tony. Because it means that I get to see him more regularly and it just wouldn't happen otherwise. Because we try and there's just always,

life takes over and there's always something more important. Always. And by doing this, I mean mean I absolutely love coming up here. Yeah. I mean you know the journey I've had today. Tell everyone go on, what a nightmare. But there was a set of traffic lights out on the A10, it took me two hours to get here, it normally takes me 40 minutes. Oh it's a nightmare, we should be in the pub by now. We should be but I said to you because of what we do and the fun we have and all the rest of it, I'd walk over hot coals to

get up here because it's brilliant and to be able to just see each other more because of this, because we are both so busy, terribly busy and life is busy, but this makes us get together. It does. Which is, for me, is just fabulous. You say that, but also you could have gone, no, I don't want to do that. So I'm very thankful for it. Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, yeah, that's right. Yeah, I could have said no, but then as soon as you told me there was like 25 quid and a pint of lager at the end, I was in. I'm in, you know me. Might have a Turkish tonight, is that okay? Oh yeah.

Because it's warm and you don't want anything too, nice and clean, nice little kebab, bit of hummus, bit of whatever. Bit of lamb, bit of this, bit of that. Lovely, bit of salad. Yeah, excellent. Yeah, definitely, I'm up for it. Hi Nat, loving the podcast and especially when your brother Tony is on. Was just wondering whether he could recommend any reliable, honest and

quality builders in the N21 area of North London. They're hard to come by. It's a bit cheeky. What's all that about? Actually. Go on. To be honest, we are clients of his and I just wanted to give him, Paul and their team a shout out for being so great with my mum and her property. Oh, this is Julia and Pat, isn't it? Yes, it is. Here we go.

They have been nothing but helpful and caring with her. She's 80 and are doing a fantastic job. Can't recommend them highly enough and couldn't be happier with their work. I didn't realize how funny Tony is. That's the shortening of your name with the clients. Yes, yeah. Until I heard him with you.

He's always so professional. I'm sure this will embarrass him, but I felt it had to be done. Thanks for everything, Juliet and Pat. That's beautiful, that's amazing. Thank you so much. So naughty sausages, I'm gonna chastise them severely next week when I see them, for embarrassing me like that.

But yeah, we're doing Pat's bungalow, Juliet's heavily involved, obviously, in helping out and making decisions and stuff. And Pat is an amazing woman, absolutely amazing. She's 80 and she runs around and jumps about and jumps out of her car and she does that. She does choir and she does something else and does rock choir and she's absolutely amazing.

Wow. Amazing woman, inspirational woman. Well Pat, perhaps we could pop you on here one evening. You never know. Who knows? We could get her on and just say, what's the secret to being 80? And being so-

Rocking? Yeah, absolutely, yeah. There you go. Yeah, super. Let's do it, let's do it. Thank you for that. And I know he is wonderful on here. I'll message you privately, but yeah, he's pretty great.

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Tia Rosa, Tia Rosa. Hi, Nat. Debbie from East Sussex here, just answering your question about birthdays. I love birthdays. I've just turned 40, couldn't be happier about it. I heard it described as your fucking 40s and I'm completely here for that. But I have noticed a lot of people weren't so happy about turning 40. And I wonder which you might be able to help with, whether it's to do with sort of your life experience a bit more. We've had a history of cancer in our family. I had a cancer scare myself three years ago, thankfully it wasn't, but life's not promised and as far as I'm concerned your birthday means you've made it around the sun another time and another year and that's fantastic.

I particularly love being on holiday for my birthday and strongly recommend it if you can get away with it. I'm lucky mine falls in use to holidays because it just means you can milk it all month. So I actually celebrated last month, but we've got family over for a barbecue this weekend to keep celebrations going. Anyway, hope you both have fantastic birthdays when they come. Cheers. Thank you so much for that, Debbie. Lovely, lovely message. Great that you've turned 40. I really enjoyed turning 40. I know what you mean about the fuck it phase

or whatever you wanna call it. But to be honest with you, I think by the time you're 40, you've got the friends that you know are your friends. I don't think you let people take the piss out of you anymore. You've sort of learned your lessons, you've made your mistakes and you really sort of know who you are. Yeah. And that feels quite satisfying. That's what it felt to me.

And I felt, I did feel braver. Yeah. I felt braver. That's when my changes started coming in about work and what I wanted to do. A bit of a watershed moment. I think so. How did you feel? Do you remember turning 40? Well I must have done it because I'm 57 next week. What did I do before? I can't remember. No, no. Terrible, isn't it?

No, but you just don't remember any sort of feelings. No, do you know what? I was thinking about this a lot because over the last year or so, you know, and getting older or at whatever age, I think there's one word that is absolutely critical in all stages of life. It's confidence. One word, whether you're a teenager, whether you're at primary school, and I'm not talking about being cocky or boisterous, I'm talking about inner confidence. And that message flooded with inner confidence. She's a confident lady, you can hear it.

Yes. You know, she's going to get up every morning, take life by the balls. She's not gonna prevaricate, she's not gonna, you can hear it. Yes. And confident. What does prevaricate mean? I love your words. Oh, I'm sorry.

No, don't say sorry, because I like learning new words. Well, now I might not have got the right word, but it means mess about, you know, it means sort of. And how do you say, is it prevaricate? Prevaricate. Prevaricate, oh, I like that. A derivative of provocative or not? I don't think so, no. Prevaricate. Provaricate. Provaricate. Oh I like that. A derivative of provocative or not?

I don't think so no. Provaricate. I might have just made that word up actually. Well we'll find out. O778201919 but I liked it. In my deep and distant memory it seemed to come out. So as you get older and you have more birthdays, you mustn't lose your confidence at stages in life. Yeah. See what I mean? So, like, when people get older and then they lose the confidence to drive, it affects them massively.

Huge. Daddy did, didn't he? Yeah, Dad did. I've seen my friends do it. I've got friends at the moment that are not great and then they're not looking after themselves and they're sort of digging themselves into that hole hole and you can see their confidence draining away. Which gets the human side of you lower and lower. Absolutely.

I agree. So the less you're confident, the less you can deal with issues and then small issues become big issues and so, you know, Clint Eastwood said from a bloke's point of view, don't let the old man in. Yes. And that means keep getting up, keep pushing, keep working, keep being positive, think about now, don't worry about the future because it's probably never going to happen anyway. And you can't do anything about yesterday.

Can't do anything about yesterday. Absolutely. All that good stuff that people talk about. Yeah. And I think that for me, as I get older, that's something that I really focus on, is the confidence thing is to try and keep confident, try and keep positive. And that's how I'm trying. And I think you're absolutely right.

I would say I'm a very confident person within myself. Yeah. Sometimes can second guess myself or the little voice comes in and says, oh, I don't think you should do that. Don't think, but I have a go and things can be nerve wracking. But in terms of, for me, I would join you and say confidence is big, but for me, positivity. That's right.

As you get older. But confidence gives you positivity. Yes. If you're not confident, you can't be positive. Yeah. I honestly believe that. Yeah, no, you're right. So, you know, I think we've all had times where you're down, something's happened, whatever, and because you're not confident about life and stuff.

Everything goes. Everything goes around you. Yeah. So, sorry, it was just something I've been thinking about this week. I think you're absolutely right. And it's sort of been brought up as age, birthday, what we're doing. Bit serious, but... No, it's not serious.

And I think people enjoy the heart-to-heart side of things. And I'm going to open up here because I think people enjoy it. Yesterday, I really had a day of... It was a really weird day. I was fine. Everything was fine. And I ended up, it was a really weird day. I was fine, everything was fine. And it was, I ended up, it was the monthlies, women's stuff. And at the end of the day I went, oh, that's what it was.

But mentally I wasn't, I wasn't right. And I was saying to Mark, you know, because I had to pay a tax bill. Paid a tax bill in the week, then a VAT bill come, you know, and I was going, what if I don't earn enough money? And he went, what are you talking about? I said, no, but I'm just saying because however everything works, I've been so used to regularity, weekly things, and what am I going to do? And I just, I doubted myself yesterday. Fear of failure is very powerful.

I really doubted it. Fear of failure is very powerful. Yeah. But if you turn it around, it also spurs you on. And it's the same with me. There's times when I think phone's not ringing, not very often, but there are times that we've, since I started the business, we've been through three recessions, financial crash,

all sorts of stuff. Yes, yes. And there's times I'd lie awake at night thinking, it's not happening, what am I gonna do? But it always turns out okay. You gotta have faith, haven't you? Yeah, but also you've got to not worry. Because if you start worrying about stuff

that's not even happened yet, then all that's gonna do is destroy you now. Yes. So you've got to try and stay positive and think, well, I've been doing this a long time. And unless I get run over by a bus tomorrow, it's not gonna change. I'm gonna still keep doing it

So I understand exactly where you're coming from because you are effectively now self-employed. But again, it's crazy because it's a mental, emotional, it's irrational It's irrational, but And that's what happens But thoroughly understandable given your situation But it's all hormonal and it is, we have to remember and we see it all the time. I do because I like Instagram. I follow very positive things. I get nothing bad on my Instagram. Everything I follow, everything that comes up is all nice quotes.

Nice stuff, yeah. It's all nice. Positive stuff, yeah. And you need them. Yeah, you do. That's why that stuff is good. It can be a good thing. It can be. It can be a good thing. It can be. It can be.

Without a doubt. I've read some stuff and looked at some stuff online and it certainly made me think about life and how you try and move forward and how you try and get up every day and try and make the best of it, whatever you're doing. It's not easy and there's a lot of people that are in a lot worse situations than you and I are. Absolutely. I completely understand that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I think, again, it's a crazy thing because of the mind. We're all humans, we've all got minds, and it doesn't matter whether you're a pauper or a king, we all have the same thoughts. That's right. It doesn't matter what it's about. We all feel those ways, and we are very, very lucky. Yeah.

Very. Yeah, exceptionally. Very lucky. Yeah. Very. Yeah, exceptionally. Georgina, my fact lady. Fact lady. Fact lady.

There we go. Ladle. Yeah, that's him. Georgina the ladle. Sorry Georgina. Words are not coming out. It's the two hour drive. I'm really sorry.

And I've got no excuse whatsoever, apart from being a pug. The things that affect me as I get older. Forgetting things, finding things that I've lost in bizarre places, injuries caused by closing bottom drawers, or even worse, putting socks on. Taking several days to get over a night out. Yeah, that's really true, we'll touch on that in a minute. Coming up with excuses not to go out as it will mess with my routine of going to bed early

and stare at my phone for an hour. Afternoon naps are not only a little luxury, but a necessity. And that is from Georgina, who's 54, likes naps and dogs. Excellent. Let's pick that apart a little bit. The first thing I'm going to say, I haven't started losing things, you?

No, well, no, that's not true. I'm absent-minded. So you can forget bits. Yeah, so like this week, I had something in the van and I took it out the van and put it down on the job somewhere and still haven't found it. Oh, is that, drove you mad? Yeah, it's driven me mad. And I regularly, if I'm, I'll be doing a loft conversion,

I'm working up in the loft doing some electrics or the bath and whatever, and I'll run down four flights of stairs to the van and I cannot remember why I did it. And I then have to walk halfway up the stairs to try and remember what I came to the van for. That happens a lot. Right. For me, yeah, a lot. Okay. I don't know if it's early onset or something, I'm not really sure.

I'm sure it isn't. I'm sure, you know. No, but it does get frustrating when, you know, I went down for some wipes and a screwdriver and I come back with a pot of paint or something and then I get all the way up and I go, oh, it's the wrong one. What did I do that for? I don't know if that's where wrong one. What did I do that for? And it happens a lot. I don't know whether that's where our brains

are so filled up with stuff. It is, and I jump a lot. I've got a bit of a chaos brain. So I'm always, I'll be doing something and thinking about five different other things as well. Yeah, me too, me too. So it might be a bit of that as well. Yeah.

We just, you know, we just, we've got whizzy brains of all stuff flying around. We have got whizzy brains. Whizzy brain. Joni had a lovely lady going to her school this week to talk about different children, different people on the spectrum. Right, yes.

Autism, ADHD, and they had an assembly talking about it all. And she got into bed and she said, I mean, do you think I've got ADHD? And I said, well, I said, we haven't checked it. But when I speak to your teachers, they don't think so. And it doesn't matter if you were to have it. It just means you've got a very busy brain. Lots going on, very special.

And she said something brilliant. And again, it's so brilliant. They do these assemblies and things. She said, you know, a normal person's brain, my mate, as the lady explained, this is all in bed, you know, trying to get to bed. She said that a normal person's brain has a root that's quite straight. She said, and someone with a neurodivergent brain

may have loads and loads of loops and roundabouts and roads and this and that and she went maybe I've just got a couple of loops and I thought that's brilliant that's really good really really good so yeah yeah yeah yeah bless her she really enjoyed that assembly. Following on from our message from Georgina, she sent us a little fact. Oh right, okay. Hi Nat, a little fact about birthdays. So why do we put candles on cakes?

Apparently it can be traced back to the ancient Greeks who often burned candles as offerings to their many gods and goddesses. The ancient Greeks put candles on a cake in a special way to pay tribute to the Greek moon goddess Artemis. They baked round cakes to symbolise the moon and candles were added to represent the reflected moonlight. So there you go, a little fact about birthdays. Anyway, happy birthday to Tony for next week and for you the week after or whenever it is. Speak to you soon. Lovely, lovely fact. Speak to you soon.

Lovely, lovely fact. Love that about birthdays. Hang on, we've just got, do you know the film Silence of the Lambs? Eliza's just popped in to say hello and that's what she looks like. She looks like she skinned someone, doesn't she? Yes. She looks like she skinned someone alive and then stuck their face on hers. Are you alright darling? Yeah, just for reference I've got a face mask on that hasn face on hers. You alright darling? Yeah just for reference I've got a face mask on that hasn't actually happened. You okay? Yeah maybe don't touch it

because it's wet. Sorry. I've got the LED blue light, the actual mask I can wander about with it now. Okay lovely. Brilliant. You look very tanned. Thank you I've been out in the sun. Have you? Yeah yeah. I think we all have but I just don't go brown. I was stripping a roof on Tuesday, an extension roof and it was about 80 degrees. Yeah, but he goes brown. He gets a good colour. Yeah, it's like Ryan. Yeah. It was really brown. Yeah, please don't pull on that curtain. Sorry. Thanks. I'm gonna go and have dinner. Alright. See you in a bit. Are you staying tonight?

Yeah. Lovely. See you later. See you in a bit. I love you. Bye. Bye. Oh yeah, sorry, quickly. Monologue. I found my way to learn it. I've just been typing it out. The whole day. I've just been typing it out the whole day, I've just been typing it and typing it. That's the way it works, that's the way it works. I love you.

Ta-da. Talking about brains working, I like to talk a very big monologue to learn and she's not been able to do it and she's typing it out. Yeah, I still- I couldn't think of anything worse. No, I used to write stuff out when I used to do it. Did you?

Yeah, presentations, write over and over and over and over and over and over and that would go in. Amazing. But just reading didn't go in. No, see me, I'm read it, read it, read it, read it. Hi Nat, just saw your post out about your next talk with Tony about birthdays. It's Linda from Dorset and I just thought I'd let you know about my experience. 15 years ago now, I was really dreading my 40th birthday that was just coming around the corner. Even though I was settled in a great relationship and had a really nice life,

I still didn't want to turn 40. And I actually ended up spending my 40th birthday in the hospital, having had a stroke that just came out of nowhere. Awfully well now and spent six weeks in hospital, but it just kind of makes you appreciate every birthday you have because actually you just don't know what's around the corner.

I spent my 50th birthday in COVID, so that was literally a small thing in the garden, but grateful for every birthday that comes around now. So yeah, great pod. Love Tony, love all your family. Being a listener from the beginning. Love you all. Thank you. Bye. Wow. What a brilliant message. It is, and I think it shows that us that haven't had that experience,

life experience, negative life experience, we just jog along and don't really think about the consequences of it. So someone who's had a stroke or had a cancer diagnosis and got over it, I think, I don't know, but I would imagine maybe changes your outlook a bit more. Very much so yeah. Makes you think what's important because we all get just we just get wrapped up in life don't we?

I just I think life is so quick and we get complacent. Well it is quick because I don't know. I don't know where this year's gone. This year's been the quickest year for me ever and I know everyone says it, but I genuinely mean I can't believe we're in May. No, I can't believe I'm 57 next week. I mean, I still think I'm about 22. I mean, mentally, that's how I feel. You know, but I'm knocking on the door of 60, I can't believe it. It's a shocker. It's an absolute shocker. But you're in great form.

You really are. I know you've had your bits and pieces. Touch wood, grateful. Yeah, so I'm grateful. I'm very, very grateful for that. Don't get me wrong. But certainly, yeah, someone that's had an experience like that is just bound to change stuff, isn't it really?

Absolutely. I quite fancy a 50th birthday party in the garden with a few people. So I don't feel bad about that either. No. Because I bet it was lovely. No, that's right. Hi Nat and smooth talking tone. Actually, smooth talking tone, listen.

This is a major thing. Is it really? Yeah, we need to discuss the voice. People are obsessed with your voice. They want you to read stories to them. Right. They listen to the podcast repeatedly to go to sleep. They think you've got a really soothing,

relaxing, great voice. Well, that's really, really nice. It's nice to, yeah, it's lovely, really. I'm not quite sure what I could do but maybe we'll have a chat about it. Maybe we can, maybe we do a couple of spin-off episodes. Maybe. That just go out as bonuses where it's just you reading a story. Or we do an audiobook series or I don't know short stories. Is that what people would like? I don't have no idea.

I mean, I'm not gonna say it's strange because I would never call people, any of our listeners strange. I don't mean it like that, but it's very surprising because I've never felt that, you know, my voice is whatever, I don't know. But so it's surprising. It's very nice very flattering

the reason I'm bringing it up I wouldn't bring it up but it's been genuinely sort of every other message really is that consistent it's very consistent I know your message the other day didn't you and I said to you I'll blime it you know this lady's said something about the voice thing again. Yes. That's why I call it the voice thing. It's the voice again. Yeah, and then you said it's ridiculous. Yeah. And I said, what, this or the amount of messages you get?

And then you said, no, the amount of messages. Yeah. Which obviously I don't see all of them, but I don't know really. I'm up for if people want to hear it and I'm up for... Maybe some poetry, you could do just a little something. Yeah. Lovely. Short story.

I could give them the match results out of the Anglin Times this week. But you know what, that's a bit... No, you laugh. Now you laugh. The shipping forecast on Radio 4 is one of the most relaxing things ever to listen to. Oh, it's unbelievable. Oh, but that bloke's different gravy. Come on.

No, but I'm saying that- Beaufort 47. Oh, it's lovely. Or whatever it is, yeah. See, that makes me relax. So I understand people. I think reading what you just said, what was it? The fishing?

No, I'm joking. But yeah, it would be really boring. I think we should do it. No, I do. No, no, no, no, no. Honestly. I'm honestly going to find something better than that. If we're going to do anything, it's going to we come. Whoa, is this economy? Free beer, wine, and snacks. Sweet! Fast free Wi-Fi means I can make dinner reservations before we land. And with live TV, I'm not missing the game. It's kind of like I'm already on vacation. Nice.

On behalf of Air Canada, nice travels. Wifi available to Airplane members on Equip flight, sponsored by Bell Conditions Supply, seercanada.com. Uh, excuse me, why are you walking so close behind me? Well, you're a tall guy. You throw a decent shadow when I'm walking in it to keep out of this bright sun. It hurts my eyes. Okay, well you know what, Spec Savers, you can get two pairs of glasses from $149 and oh you'll like this, one can be a pair of prescription sunglasses. Sounds great! Where's the nearest store?

Not far, come on. Let's hurry then! To my count! One, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one,

one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, one, two, one, two, one, Hi Tony and happy birthday for next week. I'm 50 next year and I love a birthday. To be honest I get more excited about other people's birthdays than my own. There's so much more joy in giving a gift or surprising a loved one. As we get older every birthday is a blessing. There are too many people that aren't fortunate enough to still be here, so go celebrate whatever your age. My birthday is just after Christmas. It's a rubbish time of year but I still appreciate it. I also love a card to me that shows that

someone has thought of you. I don't care about a present but a card is lovely and that's Helen from where? From Plum Inn. Oh that's a lovely Helen yes. Ah brilliant. That's a lovely message. I love a card Helen. I really mean that. I'd prefer a card over a present. People think you're joking don't they? But I really, really love a card and I keep mine up. And I love people writing a little bit more than usual in them and yeah, that makes my

day. Speak for yourself. I'll have a bottle of gin all day long. Yeah, fine. No. So I know Helen. Helen runs the bathroom showroom in a large Plumbers Merchants I go to. And I found Helen, where my place where I used to use

closed down and I was distraught because my local place where I used to send all my customers for their bathroom stuff shut down. I thought what am I gonna do? Anyway, out of the blue, I went into this plumbing in Enfield and realized the bathroom section, popped around and sort of said, well hello, and she said, well hello, and we had a chat and I said, you know, I can send quite a lot of people to her, I do loads of bathrooms and shit,

she went, yeah, I've heard all this before, you know, not, but obviously, I didn't know me from Adam. Of course, yeah. And we basically struck up a fantastic relationship. I mean, she is brilliant. Oh, that's brilliant. She is brilliant. She makes my life easy. If there's problems, she solves them.

She's amazing. She's gonna help me with my bathroom, isn't she? She is, she is. Brilliant. And honestly, she's really, really good. And what I would say to anyone, and I don't plug things, but if anyone's within an hour's striking

distance of North London, Hertfordshire, whatever, and you're looking for some bathroom stuff, please, please have a look at Plumbing in Enfield and Helen who does the showroom because she's just absolutely brilliant. Oh, that's brilliant. Well, thank you for your message, Helen, and I'll see you soon because we're popping up there. Brilliant. Yeah, and going back to Helen's message, I really do you know join her in saying that every birthday is a blessing. Yeah. When you've been to Great Ormond Street and visited the wards there and you see what goes on, children that are ill, children that you know are terminal, we don't know how lucky we are really.

No we don't. Again it's that but that's about life experience. By doing that your life experience is different to not doing it. Correct. So your outlook will be slightly different. Yes. You've experienced something that most people don't experience. I think also having Arianna, Joni's best friend. Yes I know yeah. Obviously had cancer, stage four neuroblastoma. She's clear a disease at the moment. It's fantastic, amazing. But yes, it is life experience, you're right.

It does change you. It changes you, yeah. It changes you. Yeah. Yeah. Well, go back to Carla's message, actually. Smooth talking tone, which we haven't done yet. We went right off on a tangent.

Sorry Carla. Here we go. Hi Nat and smooth talking tone. Love love love birthdays. Not for the being spoiled, but I'm always so happy to see another year so many people would have loved to have lived to my age. Myself and the pod 24th of April share a birthday. Fantastic Carla that's brilliant. My brother-in-law, his nana,

auntie and two first cousins, not twins, all share the same birthday. Wow. And they're all one side of his family. That's incredible. That's crazy isn't it? Yeah. Love the pod as always. Thank you Carla. Thanks Carla. Hang on brother-in-law, nan, auntie and two first cousins. I'd love to know when it was because it, well I don't know what was going on around that side of the family. That's right, nine months before. I mean I don't know. Good grief. Talking about shared birthdays it's funny. So I fish and whatever, and I've got three other close fishing mates. They don't all share your birthday?

Same birthday. Same birthday. Ages? Do they differentiate? One is exactly the same age as me, born on the same day. And the other two are both older than me. Wow. Yeah, but it's mental.

But you say that, and I know that everyone's like, oh, rolling their eyes. But again, star signs and the moons and astrology. Yeah. I think people born on certain days, et cetera, as they grow up, have the same sort of outlook, possibly the same interests. Maybe. That sort of thing, the same sort of person. Maybe. You know? Yeah, possibly.

Hi Nat. Firstly I'd like to wish you and Tony the happiest of birthdays. I love birthdays. I think this comes from having cancer when I was 34 with two young children. God, Lyn. I was so frightened that I wouldn't make my next birthday that I vowed to celebrate well every year I did. Well, here I am 20 years later and I certainly celebrate well, usually carrying on the celebrations through the whole of June. I also love giving family and friends wonderful birthdays. It's a feel every passing year should be celebrated no matter what age you are. I've listened to your podcast from the first episode and I love it and your big extended family, it reminds me of my own. Much love, Lim from Bristol. What a fantastic message, Lim.

Wonderfully positive, brilliant message, brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. And the exact opposite of people I know that basically say well why don't you celebrate your birthday it's one year closer to death. Which is, so it's a glass half full, yeah is it half empty or half full? It's the same thing you know, the way you look at it, is it a positive thing or is it a negative thing? And also it's definitely positive, definitely, because you're here another year longer than anyone else.

But along with that, I forgot what I was going to say. It's because I'm turning 42 in a week's time. For fuck's sake. Oh, this is great. This is Kim. This is about, she loves Christmas, but this is about her birthday. Here we go. From Kim, right?

Birthdays. For mine and my best friend's joint 30th birthday, we planned our own birthday party. It was the beginning of September, it was boiling, and because we're Christmas nuts, we decided to do, they're proper Christmas nuts, like me. No, she's a massive nut. I like Christmas, but I would, sorry. She's a Christmas nut.

All right. I've got her in on my text thing as Kim loves Christmas because she loves it when December comes along. It was boiling because we're Christmas nuts we decided to do a surprise Christmas theme complete with eight foot real Christmas tree decorations Christmas music Santa's Grotto turkey and stuffing rolls. Love a turkey and stuffing roll. Ah, it's the best. Guests were turning up in their summer glad rags and so confused by the whole thing. We'd been so organised, or so we thought, and decorated

the day before we'd loaded the fridge in the village hall with our cooked turkey joints ready to go. But not turn the fridge on. That's right. Boiling weather and a fridge full of warm turkey. A last minute panic phone call to my friend's mum about two hours before the party was due to start and she rushed to Iceland, cooked about ten joints of turkey and we made it in the nick of time. We still laugh about it today. I'd had a freezer full of at least fifty mince pies that I'd brought in preparation in the nick of time. We still laugh about it today. I'd had a freezer full of at least 50 mince pies that I'd brought in preparation in the January sales and my husband didn't even question it. That's a massive Christmas nut to do at Xmas.

It is. Now, I love Christmas, but Kim, I'm sorry to say, if my birthday was in September, well, say it's my birthday coming up, I want to do a Christmas theme party. I love Christmas for when Christmas is, because it's so special. But we can debate about that another time. You could be like the bloke that celebrates Christmas every day. Who's that? There is a, or there was, there was in the 90s, I can't remember that, and he basically had his Christmas decorations

up all year long and a Christmas turkey dinner every day of the week. Or good luck to him. Yeah. If he's happy. Oh no, I'm just saying. Good luck to him. I mean he would sort of take my crown as the Christmas nut. Yes.

He literally celebrated it every single day. I'd love to get him on the pod at Christmas. Which I think takes the edge off it. I don't even know if he's still about. It was a few years ago but he was in one of the tabloids I think. You do see it though on GMTV. In the middle of July with his Baileys and his Christmas dinner and his hat on. Good luck to the geezer. God rest his soul if he's not here, but good luck if he is. And if he is and anyone knows him, pass me his number because I want to talk to him in

December. Hi now, Amy from Worcestershire again. I know you asked for funny birthday stories, but as I am a Christmas Eve baby I thought I'd send you my biggest peeve about Christmas birthday instead. My family have always been great about making sure we celebrate my birthday before anything else but one of my only non-negotiables is absolutely no Christmas wrapping paper under any circumstances. This is in capitals. This is massive from Amy.

She means it. It's a show stopper. Oh, it's a deal breaker. It's huge. It's a deal breaker. I don't care what you've brought. Is there a bouncer at the door? Who checks the present?

No, you can come in. No, sorry. Open your bag. There's a Christmas tree on that one. You're out. I don't care what you've brought or even if you buy anything at all, but if you're going to make the effort, get yourself down to Card Factory and buy a separate roll please.

December babies count too. It's honestly the only thing that bothers me and maybe I'm being dramatic, but I can't stand being an afterthought. Rant over, otherwise it's great. I hear you Amy. I hear you.. I hear ya. I mean, is that any different to if I go in the cupboard and think, oh shit, I've not got any birthday paper

and wrap it up in Easter paper. Or, you know, just wrap it up in something that's, you know, brown paper for instance. Well, many years ago. Oh, here we go. Many years ago, when I would have been about eight or nine I had to go to a birthday party Many years ago, when I would have been about eight or nine, and I had to go to a birthday party and this girl had to have a present,

obviously, so mum bought her a present. Didn't have any wrapping paper, so she wrapped it in tin foil. I swear to God, it's true. Smithy does that in Gavin and Stacey. I'll tell you what, he must have learned it off of our mum, because she wrapped it in tin foil. Well, I never of it and there's all these mums like there's all these mums at this party going tin foil? Who wraps a present in tin foil? They thought it was half a dozen

sausage rolls. I have to say though I think it's a great idea because no sellotape needed. No and also reusable you can use it for your sandwiches next day recyclable so maybe we should start a trend Tim for birthday wrapping paper I think it's great I'd use it over and over no landfill and when you're finished with it you scrunch it in little balls and stick it in your walls for insulation Oh I love it. Probably won't work but anyway. Oh it's brilliant. Totally recyclable.

Here you go Nat and Tone's recyclable birthday paper. With a QR code for Tony's stories on it. Yeah it's a multiple of uses. You can use it to wrap your presents, put your turkey legs in it. Even in September Kim. Stick it together and stick it behind your radiators in the winter, make the room warmer. Listen we should do this now, we should stop now and just go and do it. Well do you know what, we're gonna stop now, we're gonna go to the pub, we're gonna talk about the Timphile Empire.

I hope you really do have a lovely birthday. Where did that come from? I don't know. It's great though. We do talk about some silly stuff don't we? But anyway, I'm going to go and do a business plan for Timphile Empire now. Fantastic. Thank you very much.

It will be, yeah, it's in the middle of the week. It'll be a quiet one. I've got Bernie and Sylvie coming up the weekend. Fantastic. Lovely. We're gonna have a Sunday lunch just local. Really nice. Great. Yeah, you know. And like I say, I'm working and I might do something the Sunday before, whatever. Yeah. Doesn't really matter. A few little bits and pieces but honestly, I'm not a massive birthday head but I am very, very pleased to still be here.

Me too. Have a fantastic fantastic week. I'll speak to you on Thursday. This was Tony Talks. Love ya. Love you too.