Life with Nat - EP133: Nagging with Auntie Linny #13 - the things that need to be said

Episode Date: July 13, 2025

Nat and Linny aren't putting up with nastiness - not today, not ever. There's also a dilemma, some pressie inspo, and the wrong footwear fights back. Enjoy! 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 megaphone.fm/adchoices

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We can now confirm the stolen favorites have resurfaced at McDonald's Canada. The international menu heist. Try them all while you can for a limited time in participating McDonald's in Canada. ["The New York Times"] ["The New York Times"] Hello and welcome to Life with Nat. We've been talking again for an hour. I'm with Auntie

Lynnie and we've got a lot to get through. You all right? Hello love. I mean hello love, but we've been talking for an hour. I've been here too. Hi everyone. Scraped together a bit of old roast chicken and chips didn't I? It was nice. It wasn't? It was delicious. Thank you.

Well considering you've not eaten all day, I think it's worth it. Enjoyed my rose as well. Thank you. Excellent. Good, good. I feel like I haven't seen you. Well we have. I know. But it's just life's busy and it becomes a bit of a blur doesn't it? Don't you think the busier you are even though time goes quickly. Yes. Because you cram in so much it feels like we then haven't seen each other forever. But we were here a couple of weekends ago. Yeah, so true. We've got a lot going on, haven't we? Oh dear. But we sound like a broken record. But my goodness me, it's overwhelming. So at the moment, what have you got on in your head? Let's just read it off. My brain is frazzled. I've got birthdays coming from every angle and special birthdays

to 60th's, Maria's, Ruby's, my neighbour's, my brother's 60, Dave's 60. That involves presents, cards, organising the party. I know I've not been too involved girls before my daughters have something to say. I just haven't got the mental capacity to deal with that as well. Thankfully, they're taking that on, organizing to go away because we're staying in a house by the sea. That'll be lovely though. It'll be lovely. But again, there's all of us, the grandkids, so I want to make sure we've got the right

stuff to bring with. It's just a lot. Work, the house, viewing houses for Annalisa, viewing houses for us. I just feel so overwhelmed. I really do. But the girl at work today told me that, is it a full moon tomorrow? Full moon tomorrow. And I'm not sure I'm into this like you are, Natalie, but it was really interesting that she said it because everyone at work is feeling very wired, everyone's overwhelmed, just yeah every phone call is like oh my goodness

me now what why are they bringing me again I feel harassed I feel like you know like as if your mind's going ten to the dozen it's like every bit of traffic that's passing by is going at a hundred miles an hour...? Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. And she said it's because it's the full moon tomorrow, once it's come out we'll all just... You will. Friday you'll feel better. I really hope so, but if that is the case, I have never ever made this connection.

Babe, we're 90% water and the moon controls the sea. How can it not affect you? Well, I've never ever, ever. I know, but it's not even about being woo. No, no, it's about, it's a fact. It's a fact. I find, I think it's a fact. I mean, I did, today I just sort of laughed at her, but, and it's interesting because as I was leaving, your brother had come in, he's been golfed golf today So yeah, he's stressful day playing golf

No, he's fine. And he said I feel bit strange today Did you know I kid you not as I'm walking out the door. So what do you mean? He said I just don't feel right. I think because we've got full moon tomorrow Randomly he said that yeah, it's been absolutely fine., all the students where I'm working, all of them feel drained, aggravated. Is this really a thing? Yes, it is. Well Friday, I look forward to Friday. I'm going to send you a voice note and I want one back.

You can be honest how you feel Friday. 100% Yeah. Then you think, are you overthinking it? And are you making yourself feel that way? But just try and forget about it. Yeah, no. But you'll have the worst night's sleep ever tonight. Oh well, I've not been sleeping. over thinking it and you making yourself feel that way but just try and forget about it but you'll have the worst night's sleep ever tonight. Oh well I've not been sleeping. Oh I

shocker tonight. Why is that then? Just because I never ever sleep on a full moon. Oh my. Oh I do but I get nightmares and sleep paralysis. Oh it's shocking, awful and you know I'm a good sleeper. But yeah I know I can wake up and I say to my I'm looking now, there must have been a full moon last night. And every time it is, my sleep's been that bad. Interesting stuff. So there you go. Talking of thoughts and 100 miles an hour. Hello, it's Harry. So when you left EastEnders, how did you manage your thoughts going around your head? Because I can remember you saying that you was how did you manage your thoughts going around your head? Because I can remember you saying that you was wondering why you had the thoughts

of whether you're doing the right thing or not. And basically I'm leaving flying to become a driving instructor. If that got really loud, then it's because I itched my nose. I've got bugs all over me. I'm on a dog walk and it's them field flies. They're stuck to my face and everything. But yeah, I'm leaving flying don't enjoy it anymore not for a long time it's a job that you've got to

love to do I know there's somebody else on here that flies that listens to the pod and I'm sure they'll agree you've got to really really love it to do it it's a lifestyle it's not just a job and I don't enjoy myself anymore I'm so unhappy when I go to work and it's been like that for a while so I'm taking the punch but equally I'm absolutely shitting my pants thinking oh my. I'm so unhappy when I go to work and it's been like that for a while so I'm taking the plunge but equally I'm absolutely shitting my pants thinking oh my god I'm doing the right thing I'm gonna make money I've got mortgage I've got dog what the hell am I doing why would I leave a safe job to go into being self-employed taking a risk but you know we've got family my

mum and dad and Lucas's mum and dad can help us if we need to but we don't want to rely on them we're fortunate enough to have that back up but yeah I just want to any advice to calm my nerves I think thank you bless him Harry honestly he's one of my favorite listeners Oh is he a regular? Regular listener right from the beginning. Oh Harry, don't be stressed about it. Harry you've you're not enjoying your job, you're not enjoying flying so the decision is so easy and you know what even if you end up not enjoying what you're going to do or it's not bringing in the money it needs to bring in or whatever the case may be, it's going to lead you to where you need to be. Absolutely.

So please don't overthink it. You are a billion percent making the right decision because you've just said in the very first sentence, I'm not enjoying my job. And if you don't enjoy your job, you need to get out. It is brave to do though. Natalie. There are so many people who don't enjoy their job. Oh my goodness. And they can't get out of where they are and they get up and they dread it every day. But

if Harry, if you have got the choice, you are making a choice. Yes. And that is brave. And he's got the support of his partner. Absolutely. He's got the support of his parents, which maybe some people don't have. Imagine, I don't know, single mum, you know, holding her own with kids and she'd, I understand the fear of taking that plunge, but eventually it will...

You will, you'll look back. Yeah. Harry, you mentioned my job. It was really, really hard for me to make that. Lyn, how many hours of discussion do you think you and I had about my job? Endless amounts. Endless. And I was humming and ahhing, but I knew it didn't I? Shall I, shall I, should I, shouldn't I? But your

guts, you knew, and you just had to get to that place where you thought, right, no, this is it. I know this is the right thing. Yeah. And I totally understand that because yeah, it's a huge decision, especially if you've got a good job, earning you good money. And as you say, it's a lifestyle, it's a career. But if you're not happy, there's nothing worse than going to work and being so unhappy. What do they say? If you love your job, you're not doing a day's work in your life. So true. So, you're, Harry, you're doing the right thing.

And also, you love the outdoors. You love your walking. You love your dogs. I would imagine driving instructing, you can be your own boss. You can put your hours in when you want them. If you can do that, that is fantastic because life is short. I know we bang on about it, but it's true. I've had lots of messages from listeners.

May I just say thank you to all of you? Bundles and bundles and bundles. And I know we have a laugh. I've had quite a lot of messages this week saying that I, myself and everybody on the pod has really helped people with their mental health, Lin. Quite a lot of messages. Lovely to hear.

And it really brings me joy, but I'm saying it and I will reiterate it. We're all the same. We're all going about life, trying to get through it, do every day, be happy, placate people, look after people. But you do have to look after yourself. And if this is going to change your mental health, Harry, and make you get up in the morning and think,

I can't wait to go to work, that's brilliant. Well, you'll be a happier person for it. You'll be a nicer person to be around. It's win, win, win. And Harry, what's the worst that can happen? It doesn't work out and you need to move on to something else. Even if you go back to flying.

Absolutely. It doesn't matter. With another company and you might find new friends and you get a pay rise. You spend too many hours at work to not be happy then, to not feel fulfilled. So it sounds like the decision's been made. Do it, embrace it, try not to worry about it, don't overthink it and you'll smash it, I'm sure. So good for you, Harry. And like I say, you've got plenty of support, so you're very fortunate.

And we are here. I can't wait to hear when you've left. Let us know if you have a leaving due. Let us know your first day at work. And we'll have a chat with you, me and Lynnie, one evening. Let's get you on the pod and let's have a little chat about the change you've made and how you feel about it. 07788 20 1919. Remember guys, let us know if you're going through changes, how you're feeling. But we're all in it together how you're feeling, but we're all in it together. We're on this little tiny planet altogether, so we should all support

each other and it's great to talk. So thank you for listening as always. I don't really know where to start now. I'm going to start by saying, it's very complicated, Lynne. Maria, Roro and Eliza went out for the day yesterday. They had a lovely day up the West End or whatever, really nice cousin day out, which is rare. And obviously Maria's starting her new job soon. So she's cramming everything in. Cramming it in, which is lovely. The train got delayed so she couldn't get back in time. So myself, Elia and Roro were going to do a podcast last night. It was a bit of an extra one actually, we didn't desperately need to do one, but we were going to do it on Agony Ants. So a few questions

from people and a few little things and maybe I could pop that episode in when I'm on holiday. Right. So it was a little extra. Okay. Not needed, but lovely. So I've popped up a little message on my Instagram account, my Life with Nat channel, said, hi guys, hope you're alright, we're doing a little pod tonight, me, Elia and Ro Ro, a little Nats and Issy special, aging aunts. Well, I am aging.

Well, I didn't realise I'd made the typo of aging. And then I got cursed by your daughters saying what the F have you put up? Aging aunts, I didn't even realise. And then I said, oh, now I realise why I'm getting messages about aging aunts. Oh, stop it. I swear to you. But what I love is people went with it. I still got messages for aging aunts. So I'm just going to find one. You dope. It's quite amazing.

Here's one from Mia. Thank you Mia for going with the typo. Aging aunt, hairy chin. Why do we sprout these coarse hairs out of our chins? Grosses me out. I never knew it was a thing until I saw my friend constantly playing with her chin. And I asked her what she was doing and she said she had a hair. I was like, ugh.

And with that I checked and I bloody found one. You can fill them. And now I have to pluck them and I have about three and they keep coming back. Bloody gross, I'm going to have to get IPO on my chin I think. Oh Mia, Mia, they're awful, isn't it awful? Really bad. Oh, have you got them Nat? Yeah, bad. Oh have you?

Do you pluck yours? Pluck mine. And the plucking mate. How about the one that my mole that I always get, big one? You like to point that one out because I forget. No I forget, don't I? I've had it for years. You go Nat. P one out because I forget. No I forget, don't I? I've had it for years.

You go, Nat. Pube growing out your mouth. Yeah. The worst thing you can do is pluck. Well. Unfortunately, you're better off waxing. What about hairy nipples? Yeah, don't you? I've got quite a lot of those.

Do you, Natalie? It's like a beard actually. I can't say I saw, that's something I haven't really had. Interestingly, because I always think because I'm dark, you're just going to be hairier. I'm Mediterranean. But no. Oh, have you got hairy nipples? Quite a lot. Have you? Yeah, I'd say a good three to five. Again, that's not a hormonal thing, is it not? I've got no idea. Mia, I'm with you. We've just got to pluck them and we see them. Oh no. Or laser or wax. Try not to pluck Mia because they're coarse and that's why her friend's playing with it because she can feel stuff all the horrible. Isn't it horrible?

All the joys. I do that all the time. I look like Jimmy Hill. Always playing with my mind. But anyway, thank you for your aging answers because actually it's agony. Well, talking of aging aunts, seeing as I'm an auntie, Lynnie, I spoke to your niece, my daughter, a little while ago, and she sees some lady that she does have some treatments from. I said, I'd ask her, just ask her what I can do just so that I can have a little bit of a, because you know I don't do anything. No. So just I can have a little bit of a, because you know I don't do anything. No.

So just I can have a little bit of a freshen up, you know, just meant something that would give my face a bit of a boost. Yeah. She went, okay, mum, she wants a photograph of you, so she took a photo of me. Go on. Anyway, I get this random text. I mean, I don't know whether to just throw myself out your bed. Yeah, so she sends this message to Maria who forwards it on to me saying yeah I think your

mum would definitely benefit from Botox, Profilo which will plump skin and will give a bit of lift as well. Re-horize I think she would need surgical correction on both her upper eyelids, some lip fillers and cheek filler to lift. What would help as well? I'm ready, I'm with some real... Wow! Is she having a laugh? Well that's really made me feel better. I better not send her a photo. She'll say, please have you got a large chainsaw? What she needs to do...

I'll stick a carrier bag over her head. No, that is ridiculous. Well, this is what the world is. So you can look exactly the same as everybody else. So I'll just carry on looking the way I am, guys. I think that's good. And you do, as you know, all our listeners think you look amazing. No, I know what you mean about a little facial, a plump, a bit of profilo. That's not needle, isn't it?

Well, yeah, they just put a bit of collagen in you. It just gives you a bit of a boost. Bit of a boost. It makes you look fresh-eyed and your skin, yeah. But, ooh, I couldn't do this lady. I need the full face. I think she's skinto and is pulling your leg, quite frankly. Wants a bit of, you know, a few spondoolies.

Well, each to their own. Oh, you don't need all that. How stupid. I'm going to phone Naomi. Oh. So Naomi is my number one listener. She wrote our poem for the first year anniversary. She is a true, true fan of the pod. And we

met up a few weeks ago and we had a lovely evening. And I know if someone is a nice person and she is, and like-minded because she likes the pod, likes the family, and I feel that she is now, I would call her my friend, not just a pod listener, a new friend. I'm going to ring her because we've got quite a lot to talk about. So... Hello. Hello, darling. Hello, you okay? I am good. How are you? Yeah, I'm all right. Good. Hi, Naomi. Hi. Listen, I've got a, well I'm not apologizing. Natalie has only just given me your card. Thank you so much. That's really sweet of you.

Well I felt bad sending that huge box to your office. Oh bless you. I didn't realize who had sent it and obviously delivered it to Natalie. And she just said, we were speaking about you and she said I've got a card for you I've had it ages. So thank you very much. It's alright I'll send you a Christmas one now you might get it by Christmas. Don't have a go at me I've got a lot on you know that. I'm always busy can't talk about it. Always busy. How are you getting on?

Yeah I'm alright. Good. I've just said to the listeners actually I've just got to ring you I haven't gone into anything so I thought we could just start from the beginning of a few nights ago because I'm really really angry and cross about it all and I think everyone deserves to hear it actually. Yeah it's been a weird 36 hours. Has it only been the last 36 hours then? Yeah I think it was well I'm assuming it was since Nat shared the ice cream van picture and tagged me in it. Oh.

So... I'm assuming that. Yeah, well, I've, I've, I've, Naomi has done a fantastic mock-up of, um, Mark in an ice cream van and me standing looking pissed off and it's just brilliant and I've made it my cover photo actually for the Facebook group and everyone absolutely loved it but unfortunately I tagged Naomi in it because she made it. Thank you. Yeah absolutely and tell us what happened.

Well I just started getting, I hadn't noticed one to start off with. And then I got message requests from fake Instagram accounts. No followers, no picture, hiding behind a handle. And there were just really bad hate messages towards me. They were homophobic. They were hateful. And it just seemed to be, it was linked to the pod because there was references to you in it. And there was references to like me basically being on the pod too much I think.

That was the gist of it. How did they make you feel Naomi? What's going through your mind then with regards to this trolling? Well, it's a difficult one because I'm quite hardened to things like that. I've got quite a tough exterior. So initially I kind of laughed it off. Is this because of the job you do Naomi? Or is this you as a person? Yeah, I get called all sorts. I'm fine with that. So initially I was like, yeah, fine,

whatever. It's not going to affect me. That's fine. And then it's like getting a bit threatening towards me and my dogs and my wife and stuff. And I was like, I'm not too happy with that. And although I'm quite tough on the outside, I do care a lot about things and about people. And so it sort of started bothering me and it just was like every half hour for literally until I managed to change my settings this morning with the help of somebody. So excuse my ignorance here is this multiple people the same person? Well no it was multiple different accounts but I think it's the same person. Right.

As I was blocking an account a new account would pop up but all the language and the way things were spelled, it was the same rhetoric in every one and it was so quick that it had to be the same person but yeah. I think it's outrageous and me and Naomi had a little chat because I said I want to mention it and then you go well don't give the trolls any time. No. But actually. Oh no, they deserve this time. They really deserve the time because what they've done is bring Naomi to the forefront of the podcast. Absolutely.

Which they won't like. Of course. Naomi, as I've said to you, is now my friend, not just a listener. And they're very, very sad individuals. Which looks like they may have a mental health problem that they need to sort out. Yeah, possibly. Or they're just clearly very envious. Very envious, very jealous. I mean, I haven't had any hate messages, so that's interesting. I mean, yeah, where do you go with stuff? I mean, I remember years ago,

something in the Sun about you, and it really upset me. You were young. You were a young girl. and I phoned the editor, Rav Singh. Did you? I phoned him up. There was a number, it was in the days where you'd have a paper and there was a photograph of you and he was criticizing your appearance and I lost it and I phoned him and I said, they put me through to him, I mean I didn't expect to be put through to him. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I said, how dare you? And he just laughed at me. Do you know what's really funny about that, Lynnie? And I've told Natalie this.

The whole reason I started following Natalie was because I saw something. I have a really clear memory of being a teenager and seeing Natalie in a magazine where basically, or it was something where basically people were ripping into teenage stars. And I remember just being outraged. And I have this memory of like,

that was my first kind of realization of What the media can be like and it was at that point that I was like I'm gonna have this girls back And then I followed Natalie ever since I don't watch EastEnders But I've been a fan of Natalie and followed Natalie because I saw something in a magazine that was bullying her Interesting, that mad? Interesting Well, I just want to apologise because I feel bad. Is there no way they can trace back, you know, I don't know, technically?

I mean, probably technically. I've deleted, reported and blocked all the accounts and I've changed my settings on my Instagram. Probably technically, but like you guys said, like, ultimately ultimately where I'm at with it now, I've gone through laughing it off, being really angry, being a bit upset about it this morning. And then where I'm at with it now is this podcast has tens of thousands of listeners and this is one person. I was thinking in my head, earlier on I was a bit like, I genuinely love love this community and I'm always saying to now we should do this with other listeners like I want everybody to be involved in it I don't want it to be about me I want everyone to be involved.

So for me I felt like a negativity towards it and I was like pissed off but not not anyone just like it was just a weird feeling. So I've kind of gone the other way. Like I've just, actually just before you called me, I've just shared Bex's business on my Instagram because I was like, how can I turn this into a positive thing? I think as a community, we should all be supporting each other. So I'm like, right, okay, share Bex's business, do this. Do you want me to like reach out to Mel?

So I was like, we should all be there to support each other. It's ridiculous. We're all like like-minded people, like you always say. And where I've got to now is, this person is obviously a really sad individual if they have to do that. And tearing me down isn't going to build them up. It's not going to make them feel better. It's not going to get them on the

pod. It's not going to get them any time with Natalie. So for me, this person's probably a really sad person sitting in their own in their own home. The sad thing is if anybody needed to talk even if this individual person wants to talk they can message me and I will talk to them I will always be there like if this person is really sad and suffering mental health problems message me. Obviously you can do it off a fake account as long as you're not being abusive I will talk and be there for anyone. Oh, that's nice.

But because you've got to turn, I'm not going to let somebody's hatred and nastiness towards me make me be hateful and nasty, do you know what I mean? So I literally, I think just as a pod community, I like supporting all the other listeners and I just think that that's the way it should be. Completely agree with you and can you imagine now, you're sort of my age, let's imagine a child at school at the age of 12 having those messages constantly every day.

Oh, I am genuinely quite a hardened person to it and it kind of made me feel really shit this morning. Yeah. So I can't imagine, I was saying this like, if I'm getting that just by being associated to you, like I cannot imagine who actual people in the spotlight and people like you say kids are terrible for it and stuff. It just must be relentless. I think it's a scary thing. I'm pleased we've spoken about it. We've called it out. It's unacceptable. If anyone wants to be rude,

please switch off the podcast. I have no interest in it. This is a joyful fun. Do you think this individual listens then? They're listening to this. Well, it was about an ice cream van with Mark's face. So I'm kind of guessing they're listening. Otherwise, they'd have no idea what it was about.

I didn't know if it was just because they're on social media and they're seeing things, Naomi being tagged into things that you're... No, I think it was you want to be on the pod and some of the language that was used was very sort of podcast heavy. So clearly an avid listener then. Yeah. Well, I hope you're enjoying this pod, whoever you are, and feel free to give us a call and we can have a chat and yeah and

by the way Naomi the frame that you've made for Natalie that I delivered that you got delivered is beautiful I've just seen it it's so good it's really beautiful love it. Is it on the wall yet? No. No. It's waiting for a little now. It deserves to be. It will be. Well done. It's really nice. It'll be up. Very kind. While I'm here, while we're talking about building people up, you know I've got to hijack your airwaves. Yeah, go on. But you don't know why. You know when we were hanging out, we talked about lots of different things, didn't we? And there was one topic that made you really awkward. Do you remember what it was?

British Podcast Awards. Oh yeah. Right, so I'm taking over now. So basically when we went out, I said about the British Podcast Awards, and there'd been a little flutter on Twitter before, where you were sharing a few things. But basically you were sat there going,

oh, you got really awkward, and you were like, I just feel like a dick being like, oh vote for me, vote for me. Yes, I do find it awkward. Yeah and you don't and you feel like a dick asking people to vote for you, so I'm going to ask people to vote for you now instead of you. So basically what you have to do for anyone listening is you have to go to www.britishpodcastsawards.com forward slash voting. You'll bring up a search box and you've got to search for Natalie Cassidy's life with Nat. Then you enter your email address

slash any other email address that you might have access to and then you hit vote. But then you have to go to your email and you have to verify your email to get the vote. You'll then get a little image and that image you need to put on your Instagram and you need to tag Natalie, you need to tag Nat's nieces and tag camera Mark just to annoy him and then they will all share it and then the listeners are going to have to drive this because Natalie's not going to. So we need to do it like that. We've got until the 8th of September to vote, so keep it going, keep the momentum going. And also, I've got no idea how realistic this is by the way. I know nothing about the

awards. It just flagged up on an email to me. But if there's one podcast that includes listeners, it's this one. So I think people should do it. And now you don't have to say it. So there you go. Well done. Thank you. Cheers, Nao. All right. I'll talk to you soon. Talk to you soon. Nice to talk to you as well.

And you too. See you later. Look after yourself. Bye. Bye. She's great. Isn't it a shame as well though? Because you can see she's putting a brave front on and she's obviously a strong woman and

she's got a great career and it can even knock the strongest of people because it's just unnecessary. It's disgusting, it was quite hateful, you know, really quite horrible, threatening behaviour. And you're targeting partners, pets. It's just not good. It's really not necessary. There you go. There you go.

Right, on another note, Lynne. This was quite good from you yesterday. In fact, spectacular. Just seeing the Insta post, not really agony, aunt, but you might have some ideas. As a family of four, we are going on our first trip abroad. Our daughters haven't gone abroad before. And while we're there, we're celebrating our 14th wedding anniversary. The gift is ivory, but now it has changed to elephants as ivory is not a thing anymore. Any idea what I can get my husband? It needs to be easy to pack and matching the theme,

also easy to source as we go away on the 25th of July. So I've sent this to mine and Lynnie's podcast chat group and she's come up with an absolute corker. I shall pop a picture up on Instagram when this episode comes out, but it was men's funny elephant home shorts, cute comfy elephant pajama short pants, novelty loose fit casual loungewear. And as you can imagine, it is an elephant with big ears as pants and the trunk is you know what? Very, very good. Easy to pack. Very easy to pack and would come the next day from Amazon by the looks of things.

We'd win. You then did a more tasteful version, which was a men's animal elephant swim trunk. But they were actually quite nice. Very nice. You did it with such speed. That's what I loved about it. You know me, I'm a do it now person. It was very, very good.

And we have a message thanking you. Okay, I couldn't send us voice note earlier because I was walking back from my lunch duty, but I was absolutely wetting myself walking up the stairs looking at those messages. So funny. So tempting to get it, but I know it'd just end up in a drawer somewhere unused. So reluctant to go with it. But yeah, absolute picture. I showed my husband, I had my mother and father in law round after school today and I showed them all and they were all laughing.

I didn't tell them how I came up with the idea but it did make me chuckle. Thank you Lynnie, that was funny. You're very welcome. I like that. Linny's quick buys. Could be a little thing, couldn't it? Panic buy, got to buy a present quick. Quick. And you could just come out with stuff. And that's the world we live in. With present buying, by the way. Oh, God.

How do you go about doing your present buying? What you mean in terms of what to buy? How to buy it? Yeah, everything. How do you think of something for someone? Well, when you know the person, I guess you get a feel of... I don't know, it's difficult, isn't it?

Like you're impossible to buy for. No, you bought me some cracking birthday presents. See, even I was pleased with that. Amazing. Beautiful picnic set everybody. Colourful, beautiful marxist. It was so beautiful. And a beautiful bag. And that was inspired by sitting in your garden.

We're often sitting in your garden having lunch, brunch, dinner. All of us were getting all the crockery out and I'm thinking, ah, she could do with some really nice outdoor plates. And when I saw them in Marks's, all the pastel colours are beautiful. I thought that's what I'm buying Natalie for her birthday. Bit boring because it's not personal. But you've got the bag. They were all put all in a nice bag that you can take on holiday with you. It's just about you have to be inspired sometimes when you're with someone like I can't give away. I guess not that Dave's going to listen to this pod. So, can I say? Yeah.

You know, on holiday, Dave on the way back left his phone behind, his glasses behind. I mean, what a nightmare. And I thought, you know what, he's got bags, holders, this, that, but he doesn't have a man bag. And he goes away a lot now with his mates, golf, with us, holidays. And I thought that's the perfect gift. It's something you can have across him. He can put his past in it and it's there. And that's what inspired me to get his present amongst other things. I think it's just about knowing that I'm the same with cards. I can spend hours trying to pick a card for someone

because I want it to mean something to that person. It's very time consuming. But I feel like I don't want to just buy a gift for the sake of buying a gift. I want to buy someone something that's... Yeah, meaningful. Yeah, that they'll think... I think that's really difficult to do also on a budget.

Of course Natalie, but again, I was in Primark the other day with Maria. Oh my goodness me. I could have bought Ruby so much stuff and it's so reasonably priced and then some of it was in the sale as well. I mean, again, you haven't got to go mad. No, you haven't. You're quite right. You've just got nowhere to shop. The sales are brilliant. You really, we should be so smart. When the sales come on, we should just be buying stuff,

putting it away. And then when it's someone's birthday or- We're never gonna do that. No, it's a shame. I never gonna do that. I know, I know. It's a great idea. I know.

It's a great thought behind it. But there we go. Right, we're gonna to keep this person anonymous because she's asked. I have three daughters, 35, 32 and 30, and six grandchildren. I've been married for 38 years, not always happily, but we got there. And we worked through some troubles and are very happy together now and have been for many years. Lovely to hear it.

Sometimes you've got to work through things. Excellent. My dilemma is this. My second daughter might not be my husband's. Hubby is fully aware of the situation and has brought her up as his own and has never treated her any differently. The guilt I have is unbelievable, but I cope. My dilemma is should we tell my daughter the truth or is this the more selfish thing to do? It is potentially a time bomb waiting to go off if we do tell her. My husband always said she never needs

to know, but it's still way so heavy on my heart. What would you do in my situation? I mean, that is a biggie, isn't it? Yeah, it's a real biggie. There's so many layers to all of that. There's no right or wrong answer here. No, there isn't. And also we're not professionals in being able to... Of course not, but she's just asked for a bit of advice. Absolutely. I mean, my biggest concern out of all of that is the word might.

Yes. So, are you going to bring this massive, massive thing to the forefront of your life to then find out? Your husband is her dad, a real dad. Well, he's her dad full stop. forefront of your life to then find out. Your husband is her dad, a real dad. Well, he's her dad full stop. Oh, he's her dad anyway. Yeah, he's raised her. It's purely DNA, isn't it? Yeah. Mike, I guess there's a couple of questions I'd really want answers to before I'd be able

to give you any advice. One being, what are you aiming to get from this? Is it just to relieve yourself from the guilt of knowing that maybe possibly perhaps your husband isn't her father and you want to unburden yourself of that concern, that guilt? Is who you believe might be her real dad around. So she could have a relationship with him, a connection with him. And why is she 32? And why have you waited? Yeah. And why, why, why are you raising it at 32? Why therefore has this not been raised when she was maybe old enough to be able to compute, understand, appreciate why you've waited, say, till she was 18?

I'm not talking, I can't be the person, but I'm going to play devil's advocate. Maybe she's getting to a time in her life where she's thinking about age, how long of life she has left. Not in a morbid way, you know, just age passes you by. Totally understand that. And maybe she's thought, goodness me, what if... I'm going to take this secret to my grave. Yeah, possibly. The problem... goodness me what if I'm gonna take this secret to my grave yeah possibly I can I tell you my view hmm honestly don't spoil the equilibrium I for me

your guilt your guilt but it isn't a hundred percent you are gonna ruffle so many feathers for possibly no reason for possibly no reason and unless you can categorically know that and even if you did categorically know that her father isn't her, your husband isn't her real father hmm

what okay, there's another way of doing this have you made those now? As you do. Auntie Lily's got a sweet tooth more than me. Eliza's just popped in with a cookie. Thanks babe, so I'll have a little try. Oh that looks lovely, thanks babe. Come on, being fed and watered and everything here tonight. Lovely. Oh, that is lovely. And the kitchen's immaculate. Cleaned it all up.

Is it? Mmm. Nicely? Mmm. Delicious. Try that. Thanks, babe. That's really kind of you.

I did them for Daddy, really. Oh, cheers. Love you. Love you, darling. She does make a good cookie. Oh, that's delicious. Mmm. Love you! Love you darling. She does make a good cookie. Oh that's delicious. Quite nice the cookie came in.

It's a bit heavy isn't it this one? Very much so. So I guess the question to ask yourself is if you were the daughter and it was your mum that had this dilemma, would you and you're 32, you love your dad, he's been the best dad, you love your sisters as far as you're concerned, or your full sisters, they're not half sisters or step sisters. Would you want to know? Or would you rather continue the next however many years of your life, feeling the way you did the last 32 years of your life? So I guess put yourself in your daughter's position.

Would you want to know? Or is there a reason behind it? Is it because your daughter has health issues and maybe you need to know, because you've got this scenario, haven't you, whereby you might need to know whether it's a hereditary condition or so, you know, I get kind of, although you haven't suggested that, but that might be a reason to need to find out. I don't know, people have kidney transplants, liver transplants. So I would kind of understand it if we were going down that road. Do you know what, I really am on the fence with this one.

Yeah. Because she's 32, you're going to turn her world upside down. Mm. And she might not thank you for it. And you might end up alienating your daughter. When everything's good. When everything's lovely and hunky-dory, to then only establish that your husband is her dad.

I think the might is the biggest thing, like you said. It's not, you know, the fact that you've put might, that uncertainty, that doesn't, for me that... Keep the equilibrium. Yeah, leave things as they are. Leave them. Everything's good. Leave it.

Yeah, she's happy. She loves you. She loves her dad. Yeah. And thank you for messaging. Very much. It's very confidential information. I feel very honoured that you can feel that we can have a chat about it. But I do hope you're all right. I'm sure it'll all work out whatever you do.

So good luck with it all. Good morning, Natalie. It is I, Claire from Swanley. I've just had to share this with you because I don't know if you can relate but today is one of those days where I've done something that I thought would be a really good idea and it turned out to be one of the worst decisions I've ever made. So I'm out on my daily walk, it's a beautiful day. I thought I'd wear my flip-flops, I'll have a stroll around the park, I'll wear my flip-flops. I am 48 years old and today is the day I can no longer walk comfortably in flip-flops. It's really hard work, I'm gripping them on with my toes, I don't know how I've lost the

ability to suddenly lose the ability to walk in flip-flops but anyway there it is I'm now walking around the park barefoot and carrying my shoes. So my question to you is what have you done all of your life happily that all of a sudden you can no longer do comfortably? Have a lovely day, bye. Well, Claire, couple of things to unpick. It's quite amazing that you've sent this message in. It's almost like we've made you send it in. Because I'm to Linnitant up tonight. Let me just explain what she's wearing to everybody. She has a, I would say, midi silk on the bias-cut cream silk skirt with a beautifully tailored actually, quite a thick material. I'd say Reese or somewhere like that, Karen Millan, that sort of, you

know, like a heavy, quite expensive kind of waistcoat with gold buttons and a vest underneath. And she had a pair of lovely, beautiful kind of designer gold sandals on this evening. And when she turned it up, I I went have you walked in that? She's been on a power walk in that and what did you have to say? I'm paying the price for it now. What's this lady called? Claire. Claire I'm feeling your pain tonight and it's not the first time I've done this but these are quite new shoes sandals. This is madness. I've got blisters underneath yeah because I rushed in didn't put my trainers on because I had to feed the dog, rushed out to meet Tina, did our

hours walks. I'm conscious of being here on time, even though we speak for two hours before we do a pod. And I've got blisters under my eyes. I have to take a picture of you in a minute of the outfit that you've done a power walk in. I like to look good when I walk. No, it's mad. I've gone straight from work. I know, but it's crazy that you haven't got trainers on. No, I didn't put my trainers on. I didn't quite go with the outfit. And I was having a go at Eliza yesterday because she walked to Elia's in her Birkenstocks and I said, why have you not got trainers on?

Yeah, I burnt myself tonight. So you've got a blister now, haven't you? Yeah, I'm both, so I was both like that. Under your feet. And that never ever happens. I'm so annoyed at myself. So yeah, feel your pain. But trust me, Claire, there's going to be lots of things you're not going to be able to do in the next many, well, I'm a little bit older than you. Any others? Oh, there's no end of them. I can't open a packet of crisps without fighting them. I have a fight with a packet of crisps. Not that I should be eating crisps, I hasten to add. And then I give up in the end and they just get flying across the room. And Dave's like, what is that? I said, I need scissors to get... You lose the ability to open...

You know, well, did you ever watch your dad? You must, your dad, you must have WhatsApp and watched your dad try and open something or open a tin or open a packet of crisps or open a jar. Turn... Oh yeah, I can't open any jars. Oh my god. I'm terrible. Terrible with jars. Well it gets worse as you get older. Strength, training, muscle. But is that what it eats? Because I feel I'm still strong.

No, you need to do some hand physio. Yeah, my hand. Oh my goodness. This course I'm doing honestly, I could bore the life out of you. We've done all rehabilitation and physiotherapy this week. It's blown my mind. It's blown my mind. I can't go into much of it as you know. The other night I was on my own. I fancied a very traditional Italian dish which is spaghetti with olive oil and garlic. Allio, allio.

That's the one and capers. I had capers to mine. All lovely. She thought I could open the capers. I wanted to cry. I was on my own and you know when you crave something. Very small jars. No, no. Luckily I've got half a brain. So I've run the lid under the hot tap, went to twist it, popped off. But otherwise I was never opening those capers and then I would have been left. I would have had to go next door.

Past June. was never opening those capers and then I would have been left. I would have had to go next door. After gym? Yeah, can you open me capers for me? So that's a horrible thing, they're not being able to open. But simple, that crease. I've got something. Oh, you've got a little... No, I have got something that's quite sad. When we've aged, I can't drink four bottles of wine in a night without feeling terrible. We've noticed Saturday before last.

Yeah, the old booze intake has to go down. It definitely has to go down. Yeah, again, that's something you can't do as a girl, yeah. No, you just can't. You can have a few, but you can't have a lot. Lightweight. When I'm playing with the grandkids, so the grandkids on Sunday, Ruby and Alfie, they decided they just wanted to play Rough and Tumble with me.

Jumping all over you. Oh, Maria's got videos of it. Jump! I mean, at one point, they were pulling their pants down and just decided that would be really funny to see on my phone. Oh, bless them. And when I'm on the floor with them and I try to get up, it takes... Yeah. It takes a while. It just, it's weird because physically you feel like you

could just jump up and sprint around. You know I'm very active. What did you see at the fair on Saturday? We took the kids to, not the fair, the carnival. They had a fair in where Alfie went on the, what's it called actually? Not the waltzer, but it's the one that goes up in the air and is like a waltzer. I know, I know what you mean. Like a rollercoaster. No, it goes round. Round and up. Round and up, isn't it?

I know what you mean. But it was at a speed. Anyway, make this very quick. Alfie had a go then with Maria. Then he said, I want to go again. So Maria knows I love all the rides. That's brilliant, he loves that. Loves it. So Maria went, I'm not doing it again Alfie, you'd have to go with Nonna. So I went, yeah, I'll do it. I'll do it. I was itching to get out there. Then Ruby goes, no, I want to go. I want to go with Nonna. And I'm going, Ruby, you can't go on that. You're too little. No, I want to go. Maria went, well, take her. She wants to go. So Alfie goes on with Dominic.

I go on with Ruby. This thing is high, right? So she sits in it and I'm doing the whole like, Ruby, we're going to pretend we're flying in the sky and you mustn't be frightened because if you cry and the guys come over he's locked us in he said you do know this she's quite young for this I said yeah she'll be fine he said well if she cries I'm not stopping it I said no I've not I said I think it's a don't worry if she cries it's a me problem don't you worry you won't have to stop it anyway I was thinking oh god she's gonna absolutely freak out Natalie we start to go up and I'm going let's wave to mummy, wave to mummy. So we're both waving to mummy and it's getting higher and higher. I'm going come on let's

keep waving and I'll tell her when to wave as we approached her. When it gets right to the top I am literally hanging on for dear life and she's waving her hand. It was so funny. And she was good at gold? She loved it. I bet she did. When we got off the bloke just looked at me I went, I like smirked at him and just said, I told you. Yeah, no, it's, yeah, I can still do things like that, the old roller coasters and that. Very good. But yeah, you unfortunately, mentally you think you can do it all but physically, but yeah,, flip-flops probably not the best thing to walk in either.

I'm going to assume Claire was in a pair of comfy flip-flops for the day. And she's just gone for a small park walk, whereas you've done a power walk in a pair of very hard designer sandals. Yeah, and they've ruined my feet. I've got no, I'm sorry, no sympathy whatsoever. I think it's mental. I think it's mad. Mud. Mud. Oh right, okay. Well that was a very varied. Yeah we covered all sorts of topics there. Very random but I hope everyone enjoyed it. I like a random one every now and again. We'll have to do another one of these. Yeah it, but I hope everyone enjoyed it. I like a random one every now and again.

We'll have to do another one of these. Yeah, it's nice. A few different subjects. I think Agony Aunt or Aging Aunt... In my case. ...is a good topic for us. So yeah, any little dilemmas, be it big, small, funny, sad, whatever they are, send them in to me and Linnie, 0778 20 1919.

You're all joyful, love you all to bits and that's it. See you next time. See you soon. Bye. Bye.