Life with Nat - EP118: Scraping the Barrel #19

Episode Date: May 21, 2025

Nat and Marc are back, chatting TV career advice, doll naming with Joanie and is Nat off to the races? Enjoy! x 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 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

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you've been searching for. Public Mobile, different is calling. Click, click, click, click. ["The New York Times"] You've cheered me right up again, Nat, you and Mark. It's the birdie song, come on! Da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da Just driving home from dropping my boy back at uni in Bristol and feeling a bit sad again at the family home all weekend and going back to just a quiet house and as nice as it is I do live off my baby's home. So yeah, thanks for

cheering me up. Have a fantastic holiday both. Hope the sun shines for you. Bye guys. Kept saying the chicken song didn't I? I don't remember. It was a long time ago. It was quite a long time ago, but I kept saying the chicken song and we must have had over 50 plus messages of people either just screaming, birdie song, or in capital letters writing, birdie song. So another faux pas from me. Well, and me, to be fair. At least you didn't call it a chicken song. No, I couldn't remember what it was though.

We haven't done one of these for ages. No. No, we've had plenty of people willing to be on it. That's not the case. That's not the case. Yeah. They've been super busy, haven't we? You haven't had a day off in about 16 days. However, I did have two months off. Yes. Pretty much. Well, not two months off, but not working a lot. No, that's true.

For two months. Then a mad two weeks and now it's quiet and down again. Which is handy because I got away today. I can hear some sort of music in the background. Can you hear that? Uh, it's Joni. I hear some sort of music in the background. Can you hear that? It's Joni. What's she listening to? I'm not sure, but she's into her music at the moment and it's extremely loud. I'm gonna close the door.

All right. We had a lovely message about Joni actually. Just listening to the podcast, you know, snippets from Cornwall etc. Joni, she is comedy genius that girl. I actually pulled over, I was driving into town to do a bit of shopping, had to pull over, I was laughing so much when Mark questioned her. How do you feel about mum being on the TV, etc. Do we have to do this now? She just creases me up. The pure honesty of a child.

I absolutely adore it. Shame a lot more children are not like it. Absolutely beautiful soul. Loved it. You want to try living with her? It's quite a full-on job, isn't it? Yeah, she's a good girl. Beautiful soul. Loved it. You want to try living with her? It's quite a full-on job, isn't it? Yeah, she's a good girl.

We should play that message in a little while. See what her response is. You sent me a message which was really funny. What's the first? You didn't write it. Oh, I see. It was about how someone said I didn't want to be involved in this podcast. And it was like April, 2024. Oh. April, 2000.

But where's that got? Oh, yeah, it was really good. I mean, I've basically just done the message. So I don't know if it's worth now spending 10 minutes trying to find it, but I don't think you put it in our folder. Having a quick look. It's from Naomi. We may as well just be on the pod all the time

because she gives the best content. Mark, 28th of April, 2024. I am not being involved. 28th of April, 2025. I just want the listeners to hear the atmospheric pitter-patter of the Cornish raindrops. That made me laugh. It was good. Very good.

Very good. Our holiday seems like two years ago. It does. It was a while ago though. And I suppose what's also happened is obviously once we came back from Cornwall, the sun came out again and the weather's been lovely for about a month so it does feel like a season ago doesn't it because of the weather we got the weather well it wasn't too bad was it and people have asked me and I've sort of said it was right it was yeah it didn't actually matter no it never matters it never matters it all sort of worked out all right in the end I need to put up a little picture of our new troughs.

Yes, well you do need to do- Massive shout out to Zest Outdoor Living. Beautiful new wooden troughs and a miniature greenhouse. And a cold frame. And a cold frame, but you've kindly been working, coming home and sort of making these things which is handy. And now we've filled them with soil. Did we?

And we're ready to plant them aren't we? Ready to put stuff in them. Yes we are. But I'm away for this week. Yeah that's funny. Well it wouldn't be the both of us doing it would it? No but I think I'm going to listen to everybody's advice. Yeah. And there's some sort of rhyme about the last bank holiday of May. And you have to put stuff in after that. Well, you don't have to, but it's safe food, isn't it? Yeah.

But your stuff has been sort of outside. I know it's been in a zip up thing. Yeah. And they've been a bit protected, but you have left it open a few times. Yeah. I think it's probably all right. I normally put the tomatoes out, outside because I haven't got a greenhouse, in the beginning of May, usually around then. But I wonder if they'll be sweeter and I wonder if something else. I don't think there's ever been an issue previously with tomatoes.

No, but you never know. We have had a few split ones. That's over-watering. Oh, fine. Yeah, or irregular watering, I think that is. Little and often. Yeah, something like that. Same with the cucumbers that I've planted.

Yeah, leaving those in the... I am gonna leave those in the greenhouse. Yeah, I need to buy some sleepers really to build that sort of cold frame up a bit. Would be really good, Would be really good. I'm gonna get that done. But I'm so pleased. I've got to get Cara over really. Yes.

Have a little look and have a little chat about them. Someone that knows what they're talking about would be handy. I think I am going to plant all of those out though on that bank holiday Monday. Because that's the only day off I've got now for about three weeks. Okay, yeah. So I think I'm gonna put them out that day. Brilliant. Check the forecast maybe, find.

Be pissing me rain probably, but we'll see. We need some rain. Yeah. There's no rain this week. No. Well, it is a possible bit of rain. Don't wanna date this podcast because goodness knows,

this is probably gonna go out in September. So, you've got so many guests who wanna be on it. It's like the backup one. I'm just gonna sort of file it away for an emergency use. I could be a year older when this goes out. It's definitely going out soon. Okay. Got a date for it, though out. It's definitely going out soon. Okay. Got a date for it though?

Thursday. Right, okay, yeah. Thursday, not a date, just a day. Well that narrows it down, because it only comes out on a Monday or Thursday, so you're down and next to the Thursday. This Thursday coming. Brilliant, it's quite a precise date.

I can't think of the date, that's all. No, fair enough. Handy, that. Any voice notes? What are you doing today? You just completely ignored me. No, I just thought we'd have a chat before we run out. We don't want to run out on the voice notes, there's not many. Well, I'm not surprised.

It's because we haven't done one for ages. I think it's nice to have a lovely chat and a catch up. There's at least ten voice notes there. They're all about the holiday. Can't go back to that. But people have gone to the trouble of leaving a voice note. That is true. You do get a lot of voice notes. I do, yeah.

And it is worth pointing out for obviously, I suppose it's a little bit like when I sent my birthday card into CBBC and it didn't get read out. But they did put it up in the background. And you were you please somewhere on a VHS. I've got the link. That's good. You know, the link for presenter on my birthday. My card's in the background. That is really good.

But it wasn't read out, which was a shame. And I feel for the listeners who do voice note and get read out. But obviously, you're not able to read all of them out because that would just what the episodes would be about five hours long. to do a voice note, no, don't get read out. But obviously you're not able to read all of them out because that would just, what the episodes would be about five hours long. I had a lovely picture here from Izzy and she found a Vianetta in Tesco's in St. Neots.

And she said, is this the lowest one yet? And it's one pound 75 for a large one. It's not bad. Probably is actually. I think that could be the cheapest one yet. Not, now that's not bad value is it for a dessert which you can cut into? Eight.

Well, depends, it depends how hungry you are doesn't it really? Depends who's eating it. For you that's two isn't it? No, it's not. That is absolutely not. I have a sort of a five centimeter. Slab.

Slab of it. It's like a chunk of it. I reckon that would be five portions maybe. Possibly. Yeah. Yeah. Probably bang on. But yeah, one pound seventy five. It is mint. No. That's true. The best bit about the Viennetto is that last slice that you get. Oh. Oh, we've got a guest who's just walking in. Come on then. Two guests are walking in. Hi darling.

We all have. Well I think you might say a bit more than, this dolly of yours, this new dolly, what's her name? What's her name this morning? Um, what was her name? Amelia. What's her name this morning? Um, what was her? Amelia. What was her name yesterday night? Winnie.

And has there been a different name? There was going to be a new name this morning? Yeah, now there's a new name, but her name's actually Lottie. And we're not going to change it. You're going for Lottie now. And I'm not going to change it. I like Lottie. Lottie's a lovely name.

Mummy, look, I changed the necklace. That's lovely. That's really good. I'll put Lottie there a lovely name. Mummy look, I changed the necklace. That's lovely. That's really good. I'll put Lottie there on the seat and you can talk about what you've been up to today. Oh, Joni, put Daddy's earphones on a minute. I'll just go like that so you can hear Daddy's earphones and listen to this lady, what she says. Joni, she is comedy genius that girl. I actually pulled over.

I was driving into town to do a bit of shopping. I had to pull over. I was laughing so much when Mark questioned her. How do you feel about mum being on the TV, et cetera? Do we have to do this now? She just creases me up. The pure honesty of a child. I absolutely adore it. What do you think of that, Joni?

I like her. Do you? Yeah. She thought you were really funny. What did you think? Have you got anything to say? Well, she's not wrong. Fair enough. Have you got a good joke?

That could be a regular feature. Joni's jokes? Joni's jokes. Give us your best joke. Come on, think of a good one. What did the big telephone say to the little telephone? I don't know. I'm too young to be engaged. Very good.

So a teacher, this is like a riddle, funny riddle. Yeah. A teacher said stand up if you're an idiot. Someone's standing up and said, the teacher said, why do you think you're an idiot? The boy said, no, I don't. I just don't want you to be the sadden on your own. Very good. Very good. And what are you gonna do today? Oh, I've got another one, it's really good.

Oh, go on. Why did the girlfriend bring two pairs of socks? Don't know. In case he got a hole in one. I like that. Nice. What are you doing today? Going to the railway. And what does that involve? Explain a little bit about that. Doing tickets with daddy, playing with Jim.

Right. Jim boss, me bossing Jim around. Right, okay. Jim's probably got to be in his early 50s maybe. Poor Jim. Poor Jim. You run him right up the garden path, don't you? He doesn't care. And how's your homework coming on? I've finished. Have you?

Have you done all three things? No, I'm doing a lot of seed. I've done like five questions of seed. You have to make your own and I'm doing five of seed. So it looks good. I'd love you to go up a stage and do the next one. Okay, I'll do that in a minute. Well, why don't you go and do that now?

Because I'm making Lottie's necklace. I'm doing her another one. Oh, okay. And I want to make me a necklace and I want to make me a bracelet. Okay. I hope your other dollies aren't being neglected now you've got a new dolly. Yeah but she's had two days so this is her second day alive. Wow. So yeah. Are you gonna take her with you today? I was actually gonna ask you that. Yeah. Probably not. I'm going to get Sophie to look after her.

She's my imaginary carer. Okay. That looks after the kids when I'm at school. That sounds like a good plan. Right, so I don't want to get her dirty. No. That's a very sensible idea. Yeah. Right then. You're going back to do some homework I hear. I look forward to seeing it in a minute. A little bit more. You've done very well this morning though. Very proud of you. I don't want to. Go on, a little bit more. Make your necklaces as well.

I feel like the kids have been very good regarding this job because it is quite strange that, you know, I disappear for an hour in here or we both disappear for an hour in here. To do a podcast. Yeah. Yeah. But do you know what I mean? What you laughing at? Just, I thought I'd just clear that up.

What I'm saying is they have done well. They've adapted quite well. Yeah. I mean, it's not the most revolution. Some children have to put up with their parents like doing overnight and not seeing them for weeks. Some children have parents that go off and work on an oil rig. Yes.

I think them acclimatizing to you spending two hours a week in a room where they don't see you for one hour at a time. I think they're doing just fine. Bless them. The poor little things. I mean, less hopes no one rings child line after listening to this. Mind you, is it acceptable to leave an eight year old downstairs on their own? Oh, I think that's fine. I always thought there was a rule that you couldn't leave a child on their own in the house under the age of 12. For some reason that was in my head.

Have you fact checked what you're about to say? Because I can see and hear the messages now, the legal advice. Listen to me. That we should have a lawyer. You need a lawyer actually. Yeah. To be on permanent standby to listen to these.

Listen. Go on. There is no set age, a child. It's not only, you can leave a child over the age, I think of two or something on their own, if you want to. It's just parental responsibility. Right. So what you're saying is you can't do that. You shouldn't do that.

No, but it's a point of law, isn't it? So it's not, what you're saying is not a law that they can't do that. No. But legally you've got that they can't do that. But legally you've got a responsibility not to do that. So it's the same difference really, isn't it? No, because if you were to go out and leave a two year old and a six year old, as long as they are safe in the home, you're not in trouble.

A friend of mine tell me this. Okay. I mean, I have to do my, you are right. I don't think you can just come out with that. And actually, I think if you looked into it, you'd find that, yeah, there's no law that says you can't do that. Let us know. 0778 20 1919.

Cause I do worry about laying in bed sometimes and Joanie being on her own or doing the work and her being on her own. But actually she's very self-sufficient. She watches the telly. She makes her jewelry. She plays with her dolly. She's quite a good girl really. Yeah.

We've never had an incident of we were, she's like turn a hob on or build the kettle. Eliza at this age was cooking. Can you believe that? Oh. Eliza was full on cooking at this age. Born out of necessity, I would imagine. That's not true. Poor kid. I haven't eaten for five days. She's had to like get the cookbook out.

Shut up. Watch a TV program on cooking. Talking of TV programs. About cooking. Yeah. No, not about cooking. Oh no. Off the telly's finished. So I heard. So off the telly is no more. Or didn't hear. More to the point. Lots and lots of people have been messaging in to me to say they're very, very upset that off the telly is gone.

Where will they get their television recommendations from now? Well, I was thinking about it and I think if me, Elia and Roro have a little chat and Elisa, Dominic's wife, I don't think she'll mind me saying this, she watches a lot of telly. She watches every series going. So I actually might have a little think about who in the family watches a lot of telly and perhaps they can give some recommendations that I can pop on. Just so you feel you know less bereft. I know Joe's not here but you can follow Joe other places. I've told Joe to do our own pod. Said to her, go for it. Do one. I would have her on as a guest,

but you know, she's not gonna earn out of that. I can't have her on and just call her up for, you know, 10 minutes every four weeks. I don't think that's fair. So anyway, I'm thinking about the television side of things and we will do a bit of tele-talk in the future. I think that could be a really nice little slot for Annalisa.

So do I. I can see that now. It is isn't it? Popping up every sort of five minutes. What's she been watching? What she's been watching recommendations. Do it over the phone, give her a little ring. Or a question.

There could be a question at the end of each podcast, couldn't it? What have you been watching lately? Little chat at the end. Then you get a nice mix of different people. That's true. Not the same people. That is true.

But at least it could be sort of the expert on it. The expert TV watcher. Yes. Brilliant. I mean, what sort of, what university offers that degree? What a brilliant qualification. Oh, darling, I'm an expert at watching television. I'm thrilled it's over. And that isn't being rude.

But I like watching what I like watching. I can just watch Gardeners World now, University Challenge. I haven't got to watch these scary zombie series, which are incredible, or medical dramas or true crime. I can just watch the things that I like watching now. But you did open your eyes up to some sort of, you know, to new TV. I did. I did. But I'm quite happy with the things I like. Brilliant. So your repertoire of, not repertoire. What's the word I'm looking for? It is repertoire.

It's going to be quite narrow again, isn't it? You're not going to be looking... We've watched some really good dramas off the back of you doing that. You and I always watch another drama. That's the thing I'm upset about, about you not doing that anymore. No, it'll be really good because we can start a drama and finish it. That is true. about that, but you're not doing that anymore. No, it'll be really good because we can start a drama and finish it. That is true. Because what happened was I'd watch a couple of one and I'd be on to the next one.

That's fair point. Yeah. So actually you and I can actually finish a box set or a drama, which will be good. Yeah. Because we're always watching telling, aren't we? I do think we need to calm down a little bit. I feel like we just run around when we're at home. I mean, we've jumped up this morning, Sunday morning, and I'm not joking.

We've gone downstairs and within five minutes, you're doing something. I'm unloading dishwashers. We don't relax at all. No, that is true. On the subject of telly. Yes. There was a nice message I got sent on Instagram. Yeah.

At camera mark, which said, hi Mark and Nat, love listening to the pod, et cetera, especially Joni, who makes me laugh with her little phrases. She sounds just like her mum. Was interested to hear you mention about working or not going out. And it got me thinking, are camera sound operators freelance or are you employed by the BBC? I thought you worked on Extenders, so I was surprised to hear you mention another show.

How do you choose what you work on? Or do you just go where the work is? My son is currently studying to be a sound engineer so your comment piqued my interest. Thanks from Sandy. Oh that's what a lovely message go for it. Well I did I replied to Sandy so specifically regarding her son I've given a bit of advice. That's nice. And I've had a bit of a chat I just thought, I do get a few questions about that and you get a few questions about it. And I am freelance. And yes, I do do EastEnders.

And obviously we met on EastEnders. We did. And, but yeah, I do. I'm lucky enough to work across quite a few different things. It is a funny thing. When I talk to people, they just think that you work at EastEnders. Yeah. Well, I understand the connection because...

Do you think that's my fault? Possibly. Yeah. Possibly. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry about that. Yeah. But I've also worked on it for a very, very long time.

On the other side of the coin, which is quite funny, since I've left EastEnders, I've had loads of people say, Oh, is Mark not going to be there anymore? As if we come as a pair. I've had that. Like we did a package deal, didn't we? We just sort of sold. Well, you know, I'll do it. But you've got to use him to do the cameras.

You can give him a job, you know. He says, yeah, so is that is funny. But I thought it was worth mentioning, but I am freelance. It is hard for you though. You should go into it a bit more because as a freelancer, you don't want to turn things down. It's very difficult to balance. And also you don't want to fill up the diary so if things come along, you have to say no to it.

But you haven't got a crystal ball. No. But also the other thing is, is once you've done a couple of years, you get a very good feel of what you might be up to. Yeah. So it does become easier. Sort of on a seasonal basis. So I know for example, at the beginning of the year, I'll just note down certain events

that perhaps I'm going to do because I've done them the year before and it's normally likely you might do them again. Not guaranteed by any means, but you do have an idea. And it's a bit like Wimbledon, for example. Yes. It's very easy to find out what date, you know, what are the dates for Wimbledon in this year or trooping the color, anything like that. Yeah.

And you know, when things start and finish. So you can roughly pencil things out and. And certain series, as soon as the dates are released, you know, that we're doing it, that's normally reasonable notice. I've had, I'm lucky enough to have something like EastEnders, which sort of I sort of dip in and out of and do now and again. Don't tend to do so much over the summer,

but tend to do quite a bit over the winter. So I wanted to ask you, and I think people will be interested in this. Going back there with me not being there, what's the vibe like? It's absolutely... I mean, I never really ever worked with you anyway. I know, but you haven't got a dressing room now that you can go and sit in and snooze. No, that is true. Is that annoying?

Hasn't really been an issue. No. Probably more so in the winter when we work until midnight and I'm freezing cold. Yeah. I just want to go and chill somewhere. But occasionally, obviously I work with you on EastEnders. Yeah, but we did a lot. Our paths didn't cross that much, I agree.

Well, there's a large cast, company of cast members. So naturally. Anyone missing me? No one really said anything. Oh. No, they did. Quite a few people did ask how you were getting on. Yeah. Yeah, no, it is nice to, and I hadn't been there for a while actually. In fact, I don't think I'd been there since you left.

So it was quite nice going back and seeing it one couple of weeks ago. It's lovely you're still there so I can get the gossip. I don't think there is a huge amount of gossip to impart. But yeah, I think answering Sandy's question, being freelancers, it is hard to juggle jobs because you just never know what's around the corner. And you might say yes to something and then you can't double book yourself. It's all about luck and sort of, it's hard really. I find it really hard. For anyone specifically interested in working in that sort of area of television.

Obviously it depends on the individual and what they're specifically interested in. Yeah. Are you talking on the technical side, Jermaine? Mainly on the technical side, yeah. And so I would say my general sort of advice is something that, I mean, anyone who does the job gets asked it a lot. There's always someone's nephew or whoever they're interested. Obviously you need to have some kind of education after A levels usually or get a job somewhere

and work your way up. And actually from what I mean everyone's got their own story and their own little path of how they've worked in television, but a lot of extremely good and successful people that have become whatever, you know, whether it be a director, they've worked their way up from the bottom or whoever it might be,

a lot of people do get an entry level job. Well, Colin Raton, who I work with at EastEnders, who went on to executive produce, he was executive producer of Killing Eve. Mm-hmm. So big cheese. Started off ironing in the wardrobe department at EastEnders.

Yeah. Carl Nielsen, brilliant director, was a runner when I was 10. Yeah. Oliver Kent, the same. So you're absolutely right. You never, ever, ever should be rude. Absolutely not. To anyone. But it's a very good job because you go in and you service all of the departments So you have an understanding of what every single person does or every single role is which is fundamental

Yeah, there are people Maybe might come into the industry Later on having done maybe maybe a media degree or I'm generalizing a lot of very very good ones. Yeah. Yeah but generally speaking a Bit like when I saw, it's easy to speak about me. When I was at college, I had an interest in cameras. Yeah. But I had to have a general view across everything. That's what the course was about. But always had an interest in cameras. And when I was at college, I was always shooting stuff for people and I was always in the studio or whatever, whatever, I was on a camera.

But I was never gonna leave there and suddenly walk into a job and operate a camera. Despite the fact I'd spent three years basically doing that. I think people would like to know what college it was just in case their children are interested. Was Ravensbourne College, but that's now moved. It's now next to the 02.

When I was there, it was in Chislehurst. They don't really offer the course that I did when I went there. There's many, many others which are very, very good. But also the other thing, the fact of it is, is there's loads and loads of people that want to do that. I don't know how it's affected now actually with social media and what have you and how the landscape's changing,

but traditionally loads of people want to do that. And really it's about knuckling down and just don't ever give up. And if you keep trying, eventually- You'll get in some way. You'll find a little pathway and then you'll decide what you want to do. I think that's the same really.

If you've got a passion, follow it. It's the same really in anything. Absolutely. Anything you want to do. What about my college course that's starting soon? Already done a couple of placement days. Laptops arrived. Scary stuff, isn't it?

I don't know what to say to you. Are we allowed to talk about that? Yeah. Right. Yeah, we're allowed to talk about that? Yeah. Right. We are allowed to talk about that. OK. So, yeah, you're doing a course, a qualification. Yeah. Yeah. It's going to be good. You're going to get a job. You're going to do a career change.

What does you've got the qualification on? Well, it's a level three certificate. I am your first qualification. Yeah. Yeah. Did you do your A levels? No. Did you do your A-levels? No. Did you do GCSE? A few. I mean, surely you have to have done GCSE.

I did a few. Was there something you just didn't do? Yeah, I just didn't go. Just didn't turn up. Brilliant. How lucky. It's not lucky. I'm lucky because I was working.

But yes, I'm really looking forward to the course and I've not lucky. I'm lucky because I was working. But yes, I'm really looking forward to the course. And I've had loads. The reason I mentioned it is I want to say thank you to everybody who's messaged me, who are in health and social care. And they've said to me, I've done that course. If there's anything you're stuck on, drop us a message. You're going to start copying their homework.

Yeah, basically. That's terrible. No, they've said they'll help. And people have said that I seem a very caring person. I was just about to say, that's really weird you just said that. Why? I was just about to say, that's exactly the next sentence I was going to say. So we are a very caring person.

Genuinely. I do feel genuine. When I went into the hospital, I did a placement. I don't go into it too much. But I was in this little room with all the nurses and I gave someone, I put a needle in their arm in their vein. They were like, go on, do a blood test on me. I was like, what? We were having this laugh and doing whatever. How are you allowed just to randomly put a needle in someone's arm? Because she's got, she said on my veins, she said, I always let all the students have a go.

She's like this nutter. It was like, I'll just have a go, go on, it's fine. Sounds like she just put a tap in there. Yeah, I know. But being in the environment of this hospital around the back, having a cup of tea with these nurses, I couldn't have been happier. Everybody in that environment are a certain type of person

because they all want to help people, they all want to care for people and they're doing that job because they love it. And it's really lovely. It's a real eye-opener and I think it'll be really good fun. Very good fun. Talking of your job, we had a really lovely message from someone you work with. Oh, Hannah. Here we go.

Hi, Nat. Hannah here. I've just finished listening to Nat's chats too, while driving back from the horse racing, where I often work with Mark. And I can't believe that you haven't had a day at the racing yet with him. You would love it, it's brilliant. So if you want some tickets just bypass him and let me know and I'll sort it out for you. And for any of the Mark fans out there, he is brilliant at

his job and provides us with such fantastic shots that make my job much easier. Anyway, loving the pod, keep it up, all the best. What a lovely message from Hannah, but we need to dig deep into this. Okay. You have never said that I can come to the racing. No. Ever. Well, there seems to be an opportunity. That's because Hannah is very well respected and very well connected within

the racing community. Yeah. Better connected. So you couldn't get me a ticket? I wouldn't know where to start. I am a mere person that points a camera. I'm going to get in touch with Hannah. Wouldn't it be lovely to come one day?

Oh, brilliant. You follow me about. No, I'll just have a nice day at the races and I might see you. Right. I fancy that. Brilliant. My last Saturday. Hey. Nice Saturday working. Naps free. I think that over there wandering around. Yeah, you know, you should do you. Which one would I like? I don't fancy all the big ones not being rude.

What do you mean? I've got all of that ladies day. I don't know. I'd rather just come to a sort of one where I can dress down. Who would you go with? Chuck on a barber coat. Who would you take with you? Maria earlier.

Anyway, it'd be a nice day, wouldn't it? So basically you just need to find somewhere with like a champagne bar. That's really what we're talking about. Which one would I like? I don't actually, because I know that the posh ones have all of that, but for me it's all a bit much. Yeah, we go to loads of really nice race courses. That's what I'm saying.

I'd rather go to maybe a smaller one, something just a little bit more. Okay. So we'll have a think about that. Yeah, definitely. But no, you should message Hannah. I will sort it out for you. No, I will do. You'd like that.

I'll tell you what you know. I'll tell you what you would like. Actually, you you you would probably just as much enjoy sitting in. Hannah works in the VT department. It is absolutely fascinating watching that team of people working. You would love being sat in there. Yeah, well I'll go there and I can go and see her and have a little look behind the scenes. You'd like that because you've been in a gallery. You know what it's like in a gallery and you

know what goes on. You've been on talk back. But to see how that team work, especially when they're, when they're really like watching a race and now they're all sort of, it's really clever, really, really clever stuff. And that, and actually, I'm not just saying this, the VT department on the racing is extremely good. It stands out the quality, the closers that they do, the replays they're across everything. Yeah. Well, I think that'll be a lovely day out one day. I look forward to that. Be good. The quality, the closers that they do, the replays, they're across everything. Yeah, well, I think that'll be a lovely day out one day.

I look forward to that, be good. Well, over to you now to arrange that with Hannah. I will do. This isn't really a message for us, but I wanted to read it out. It's from Susan. Hi Nat, after listening to your podcast, and I can't even remember which one to be honest,

but today I did something really brave and I faced a long time of fear, mainly to help my health, but I showed up and I did it. I swam in a lake. Seems simple, not with a fish phobia and a phobia of swimming in anything other than a pool. So Susan, I wanted to read that out. It didn't matter what pod absolutely amazing to face a fear and be brave. So well done you.

It's brilliant. Isn't it? Yeah. I wouldn't do that. You went swimming in the lake. What do I do? Well, I sort of have done that when we had a boat on the medway. Did you fall off the boat?

No. Do you know something amazing? You never fallen off. Everyone says that. Everyone says at some point you will fall in. Yeah. And from the age of nine, I think my dad was eight or nine when my dad got out, we've got a lovely little 20 foot motor cruise on the Medway. And then we changed to another one, which was slightly

riskier. It was all a bit smaller around the outside. And my brother fell in. I think my dad fell in. I was going to say, I can imagine God rest his soul. No, I think he, no, he fell in. He did trip up a lot, didn't he? He did. I think, I think a leg fell in. I don't think he went in properly. Our brother went completely under. Yeah. I don't think my mum went in or sister didn't, but they didn't go as often. Yeah. And then once we were aged about 18,

was then allowed to sort of go out on my own with it. You went out with Brendan and took you out to the pub and all that sort of stuff. And again, I never... Never fell in. Over a good sort of 15 year period. So when did you swim in the lake or river? I sort of elected to swim in the river on a really hot day. I think because we were with some friends on another boat and the husband always used to go for a swim in the river.

Right. That really, really doesn't appeal to me. Well, Brendan, funnily enough, about 10 years later at Tunbridge did swim in the river and he got E. coli poisoning, which apparently when he went to the doctor, the doctor actually said, by any chance have you been swimming in the Medway? Because the canoeing club, everyone in the canoeing club, you know, they sort of roll over when they do those rolls. Everyone in the canoeing club two weeks earlier had it.

Oh no. There was obviously something going on in the water. I would really, really love to do a narrowboat holiday. That would be absolutely. Absolutely. If anyone's got any recommendations for a narrowboat hire a company, but I would love to do with the kids four days on a nice barge. I would love that. What's brilliant about it on inland, inland rivers or canals

or whatever. I actually know what I'm doing, but I actually, from a very young age, it's one thing I'm, it's so sad we don't do that now. But I'm so used to, you know, we used to go through locks. Doing the locks, I was going to say that. Going through locks and, you know, it was something I didn't do. Joe Wilkinson loves canals. But yes, yeah, no, I think that's something in the future we should. Little fact. No, I know, well it's true. It's true. Yeah, yeah, no, we're talking about canals, I just think of Joe. But there you go, Joe's just done the future we should... Little fact just slipped in. No, I know, it's true, it's true. Yeah, yeah, I know, we're talking about canals, I just think of Joe.

Okay. But, there you go, Joe's just done the traitors. He's just done it? Yes. Has he actually, would have recorded it? He's done it, he's out. Tamika was in it. Right.

I am going to be glued. Just to clear something up. Yes. Because that, as a listener then, that could be misconstrued as he's done it, he's out and there's still other people there. Oh, no, I don't. That's what it sounds like. You think everyone's done it?

I think it's all done. Well, let's hope so. No, because it was on the Chatterbix email that I received to say that he's out. Yeah. They're doing some episodes about it. Right. And in true Chatterbix style obviously they're gonna be out once it's the show has been on in true Chatterbick style they did three hours recording and got through day one

right that's how i know fair enough but but in fact it wasn't a spoiler alert no spoiler no no no spoiler they're all out now but the lineup looks ridiculous i need to text Tamika about that ah so good i sent her a voice note but she hasn't got back to me, but I could imagine she's a busy lady. I want to know, did Tamika have a Bailey's, you know, once they've done the room? I would like to know that. Has she gone in the bar and had a Bailey's? Yeah.

I would be disappointed if I don't see Tamika with a Bailey's. Agreed. And if she hasn't got a Bailey's, I'm going to be asking why. Tom Daley, Alan Carr, Stephen Fry, Claire Baudin. It is insane. It is going to be on. I would imagine they're going to, it's autumn launch. Right. That's I mean, I'm guessing I would imagine that's going to be a September thing for the babe. They'll do that. And then the normal traders comes on in January, doesn't it? I think they should just have it on continuously myself, but there we are.

The best thing that's come out of the BBC for a very long time, in my opinion. The marmalade bar recipe I do is a good thing that came out of the BBC. Eh? It's BBC Good Food, the marmalade bar. Which incidentally actually, well. When you say marmalade bar, it sounds like a bar of gold.

Is that what it's called? It is. And actually... I thought it was a marmalade loaf. On my Instagram, that is another thing. I mean, I don't get, obviously, I don't really do a lot on Instagram, but I do get messages from people saying, could you send me the recipe? Why don't you do a story with the recipe on it? No, I'm saving the effort. I'm just saying it now.

So basically... No, the reason I'm saying that, and I can put it in my highlights for people to read. No, I can't, but you're not allowed to do that. Yeah, but you've changed the recipe. I was talking about this the other day to a chef friend of mine, and they said, as long as you have tweaked two or three ingredients in it, then it is yours.

All right. Well... And you do that. If you go on BBC Good Food, search for the marmalade bar it's a loaf tin cake and all I do is I do it for 10 minutes less than it says. Yeah. So I bake it I do everything the same but bake it for 10 minutes left that could be because of our oven. Yeah. So maybe an hour does work for other people. And the only tweak I've done is I put a little bit more milk in it just to keep it moist. And it's a hundred

grams of fruit, like mixed fruit. And what I do is I do 50 of the orange peel. So there's less salt on us in it. And the orange peel complements the marmalade. Well, other than that, it's exactly the same recipe. Perfect. That's not complicated for anyone at all. No. Do the fruit but bias it towards a bit of citrus peel and put a splash more milk in. And experiment with the top. It's very simple but a lot of people have asked me that and I do go to the trouble of replying to people for a message. That's very kind. A lot of people have asked me that and I do go to the trouble of replying to people for a message. I do have to sort of say it's really just very good recipe.

Very very good loaf loaf tin cake recipes on BBC Good Food. Hence why I don't know why it's called a bar and not a loaf. There's a nice honey cake as well on there. I recommend. They've got brilliant recipes on BBC Good Food. But a loaf cake is so easy because, especially if you're lazy like me and buy the little inserts, because you just get the tin, drop the insert in.

No cleaning. And then it's just done. And it's really easy and they keep well and it's nice. And I always struck, when I did your Victoria sponge for your birthday. Oh, it was delicious. Very difficult to do a around sponge, I think. It's just more susceptible to being-

Wonky. Wonky or- I know, but you did it for me and you did black currant jam, which is my absolute favorite, black currant concert. It worked actually, that was nice that. So good. The buttercream was delicious.

That's my favorite. But the sponge wasn't great. Sponge could have been better. It wasn't as moist as usual. Yeah. But it was lovely. Yeah. And it all went. It wasn't as moist as usual. Yeah. But it was lovely. Yeah. And it all went.

It did, yeah. It did. I don't know what to say about that, though. It's lovely. It's just food, isn't it? So what are you doing next week in terms of, oh, you can't say. I can't say.

You can't say. I can't. It's very simple. Your job is very similar to being in the security intelligence service, isn't it? In terms of you can never talk about what you're doing. You would and that you would be a good agent. I would be yeah. Because you can legitimately say oh, I'm doing a project. I can't talk about it. I know. And then you could actually be going off to some sort of foreign country as a spy. That'd be interesting.

Do you know I applied? Yes, you told me. Basically, I was a technical operator. My job role at the time was technical operator, which basically meant you were multi-skilled and you worked in all the areas. Yeah. I worked at a shopping channel. Did a year there. And whilst I was there, I was sort of just looking at other jobs that were available. And, and there was a company at the time and it was SIS, SIS.

And of course, Googled SIS technical operator. I think I knew someone had gone off somewhere to work. Is that? Yes. And before I typed in SIS technical operator and the technical operator. I think I knew someone had gone off somewhere to work, is that? Yes. And before I typed in SIS technical operator and the technical operator for SIS is also a role within the security intelligence service obviously and found this application form. So I then filled it out. There are some funny questions, but I just thought, love the fact you could just fill in then.

Did you ever get a reply? I never got a reply. And not surprisingly, I didn't get a reply, no. But I did try. Joni often talks about being a spy. Should make a good spy. I just love the fact that it's just interesting, isn't it? How you then wouldn't be able to talk to people about it.

You'd have to pretend that you did something else. You'd just say you'd work for the government, don't you? Yeah. An ISIS friend's parents, they just say, oh, work for the government. That's all you get out of it. I do know someone actually, that I've very much suspected as working in that kind of area. Really? And still to this day, I'm in that kind of area. Really? And still to this day, I'm certain that they did that.

Who is it? Tell me. I'll tell you after we've recorded this. No, go on. No. Emma can bleep it out. No, no, no, no. No. But it was very interesting.

And there were a lot of clues. Interesting. And they were very good. I mean, they didn't ever suggest that that's what they did, but there were just a few little things and I just thought that's strange. And... Oh, if anyone's a spy, let us know.

Well, no, they can't. They're not allowed to do that. Oh yeah, sorry. Do you think the security intelligence service... Listen to pods. ...is interested to check what's being mentioned? Can you imagine? Imagine he's got the job of listening to this one.

I mean, who knows? You don't know. Monitoring. You don't know. I don't think they've got any worries. They probably do. However, another listener. I'm happy. That's true. Yeah. But I don't think that would be registered as a listener would it be said have some special thing in place? Do you think so? So it can listen to something. Yeah. It's a good subject that.

Really good subject. Interesting. Well, thank you for listening everybody. I hope you have a fantastic weekend. 0778 20 1919. Me and Mark won't leave it so long. I promise. Lots of love. Thank you so much. And I will speak to you on Monday. Me and Mark won't leave it so long, I promise.

Lots of love, thank you so much. And I will speak to you on Monday. Thank you, darling. So this is definitely going out on Thursday? 100%. Why did you say have a good, I suppose it's close to the weekend. Closer to the weekend.

This timing of. There is one till Monday. Right. I'm not bad at it. You're okay. Not too bad. But what if it doesn't go out on Thursday? It will be going out on Thursday.

What, this Thursday coming? Yes. Why are you so worried? Because I just worry when you like date stuff, when you talk about it. No, it's because I'm away for the week, so I know what's going out this week. So you genuinely, just to clear something up,

it is genuinely recorded this morning, Sunday morning, because you have got nothing else to put out on Thursday. Correct. Gotta keep scraping that barrel. Yeah.