Life with Nat - EP223: Tony talks #20 - Bank Holidays, Big Decisions, and Bad Rodents

Episode Date: May 3, 2026

Nat's serving up another Tony Fix - he fixes Bank Holidays, gives the BEST advice for getting on getting started in the industry, and lets his thoughts on rats out.Enjoy!! xx Please subscribe, follow, and leave a review.xxxYou can find us in all places here;⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podfollow.com/lifewithnat/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠We're on Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/lifewithnatpod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Nat's insta:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@natcass1⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Marc's insta:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@camera_marc⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Niece's insta:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@natsnieces⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Tony's insta:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@tonycass68⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Linny's insta:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@auntielinny.lwn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ MORE LIVE SHOWS!10th May 2026 - The Grief Show with Auntie Linny - Studio, Chelmsford Theatre, Chelmsford -⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ TICKETS ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠24th May 2026 - Hertford, Beam⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠SOLD OUT⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Book Club: April's Book -⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Kathy Burke - A Mind of My Own - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.simonandschuster.co.uk/books/A-Mind-of-My-Own/Kathy-Burke/9781398548145⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Nat’s solo chats - any rants always welcome. Loads on the radar - living our lives for ourselves, the constant comparisons with others on social media... and the audacity of teenagers! Scraping the Barrel - SCAN AND SHOP VIRGIN NO LONGER! Bonce vs list! - Are you a list maker? Always collecting for Nostalgia Fest!What’s brewing with the Nieces - AGEING & non-negotiablesThings we’re nagging with Linny about - More lateness stories and some cleaning questions, please!The Tony talks chatter - Keep your DIY questions coming. What are your favourite films & albums? Nat and Tony's big life changes clinic is open for advice questions Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello and welcome to Life with Nat on this glorious bank holiday Monday. We're recording this actually on Wednesday. It could be pissing down. I'm with my brother Tony. You're all right? Yes, I'm very good, thank you. I don't know if it looks a bit of a washout the weekend. What do you think?

No, I thought it was Waterwall Sunshine. Is it? Oh, fantastic. Well, that's what I hope it's all sunshine because I'm going fishing for the first time in 18 months. I'm really, really pleased. Genuinely I am. No, I'm really pleased. Because with the back pain you're experiencing at the moment,

can it really get any worse? And just go and have a go. Yeah, go and have a go. And if I'm going local and if I have to pack up and come home, I will, so it's not the end of the world. But even a couple of hours. I'm giving it a go anyway, that's the main thing. So, yeah.

May I just point out before we get loads of messages of people saying, that looks really upset, has she been crying? Yeah. I went for a walk in a field earlier. Brilliant. That's a really good idea, given your history. I know. I know you want to tear your eyes to pieces, don't you?

Yeah, and they're sort of slowly closing up. Yeah, yeah. So the hay fever is fully in swing. Don't get some sunglasses. Well, no, it's not right. And before anyone says, you can do this, you can do that. It's very kind of you, but I've tried the injection. That doesn't work.

I just have to take bits and pieces, but I've got no eyedrops. But thank you very much. And there you go. We ain't been sat here for ages. I know we did our little stimp for two years. Yes, yeah, we did our two years, didn't me? Which was really lovely. I think we've done quite well.

Very well. I think with lovely messages on Instagram. Absolutely. Yeah. Really, really positive. We're into our third year. Right. So.

Better make it a good one. Yeah, make it a good one. Yeah, definitely. Now, you have had a message. I have. I have. I must talk about it because it's very important. Yes, I have.

So a mate of mine and I have fish with, I haven't seen Paul for probably about 18 months because I haven't been going a lot. Messaged me out of the blue. And to cut a long story short, Paul hired a. who's over in Essex, Paul, with Lisa Parker, is his partner of 20 plus years. He's messing me to say that she's been diagnosed with the dreaded breast cancer, I'm afraid.

Right. And she's waiting for surgery at the moment. It's going to be extensive. And she's, you know, she's got a long road ahead of her and all the tests and all the rest of it. So he asked for a little video of us, personal, no, private video. And I said, well, I can do better than that. I said, we'll do something at the start at the next pod I'm on. Absolutely.

Just really to send our love to Lisa. It's a horrible, horrible thing, Lisa. Yeah. We get a lot of people, listeners, who talk to us about their journeys through illnesses and what have you. You've got to keep positive. It's horrible, but it sounds like you've got a really loving partner in Paul. Yeah.

And you'll get through it. And hopefully you can come to one of our live shows at the end of the year. And you will be our special guest. Special guests. We've got some to ponder over, haven't we? We've got some to ponder over. And they're local, so that would be good. So, so anyway, Paul and Lisa, yeah, sending you all our love, best wishes.

From the whole of the pod family. Yeah, absolutely. Just keep bright and we'll be thinking of you and keep us updated. I will, and I will speak to Paul in a, you know, in a couple of three weeks time and just, I don't want to pry, but hopefully he gets in touch and lets me know it's going on. And we do, we do document people who are doing well and how they're feeling. So, you know, Lisa's one of those. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Yeah, so, yeah, much love.

Yeah. Brilliant. Fantastic. Great. Now, what we're going to do is we were talking, weren't we? And you are right. You kind of said, I'm always right. We're not always. No. No, most of the time, actually. Most of the time. But you are right, because we ask people to send to the truth. We elicit, what is it, sort of listener stroke viewer interaction and say, yeah, please get in touch and ask us some questions and whatever. And then we ignore them. Well, we don't ignore them. No, we don't ignore. We just haven't, we just haven't, or we haven't got time.

Or we go off on a tangent. Because we get quite a lot, don't we? And also we're doing a new subject. Exactly. But it is very important to go back and have a little recap and pick a couple out. So that's what you've done tonight. I have. Which is fabulous.

Yeah. So this is the first. First one. First one. Yeah. I know. I am listening to 20 talks episode where you're talking about making a change, career change.

I'd like some advice, if possible, in regards to, I've currently got a job where I'm earning very good annual income. It varies from year to year because it's hourly rated but there's never a quiet period and I just want to change more to spend more time with my family but by doing that I'm on the risk of losing

quite a lot in regards to would I be able to afford the house that we live in would be able to afford the basics and stuff that can give the kids things that they deserve and then on the other side is I want to spend more time with the family and that could mean you know it's something similar to being home every night because at the moment I work sometimes I work away for a few days a few weeks and the longest I've been away from home at one point was two months

and with technology and you know what's face time was not the same and my biggest question is how to get over that hurdle of weighing up the risks, but the rewards potentially could be just as lucrative as your normal employment. So my advice I'd like is how do I take that initial first step without the fear, because that's what I'm scared of at the moment. and I'm a macum of a monster smogs hopefully Tony's got some sound advice oh what lovely message bloody hell that's an episode in itself

it is in it really yeah yeah he didn't leave his name as well which is a shame but anyway obviously a massive subject for me there's two things that really stand out in that so the first one unfortunately unless we can you know you're one of these people that make money in their sleep which we're not

financially, that has to, with a family and, you know, dependence, that has to be a massive, massive part of the decision. Yeah. And then that leads on to me, the next thing is how did a family feel about that potential decision? So I think it's something that as an individual man or whatever, you know, as a husband or a partner who's got kids and dependents, clearly, you know, providing a man. making sure everyone's happy and they've got a nice house and all the rest of it is a huge part

of their life. That's what this man does. But I also completely understand the, well, you know, there's more to life than work. If you've got a young family, etc. So for me, I think it's a power whale around the table. I think it's major. Yeah, it's massive. Yeah.

Because I'm very, you know, wear my heart on my sleeve. I'm very happy to talk about it. there are often nights where I sit and I say or for instance watching I'm a celebrity get me out of here and Eliza will go oh you've got to do this really

because you should you know you've got to go in there mum or whatever and then you're watching it and they're on the campfire or whatever and I'm going oh no yeah no do you know what it might be quite nice it looks all right

it looks all right bit of fun and then suddenly someone's standing on the edge of a cliff with shit being thrown all over them and I go I can't I don't want to do that Yeah, exactly, yeah. And I think there's a line, really, what is more important?

Because I could sell the house, have a smaller mortgage and not have that pressure. And that's the thing, isn't it? Exactly. Is everyone prepared to maybe downsize? It's, are you prepared to compromise your lifestyle, your financial income, your, what you can materially give your children? Yep. That is the crux of.

of that particular question. I agree. So the answer is, if you're serious about it, you've got to sit down, I don't know if the kids are old enough, if they're not, you sit down with your partner, your wife, whoever it is. You say, look, I really want to look at doing this.

You know, I've got an itch I can't scratch. I really want to look at it. Analyze the implications of doing it, and then are you prepared to sell that house and move to a smaller house? Are you prepared to maybe not have the holiday that you're used to? Are you prepared to not have a brand new car once, every three years. Are you prepared to say to the kids at Christmas, look, things are a little bit

tight this year and we can't get you a new fight? I'm sorry, but that's reality. I know. It is reality. That is reality. I agree. But I also think that if you've got that in your mind, if you really think that that is something that you've got to do for you and your family, then you have to sit down with the family and you have to work out a way around it and work out how you're going to do it. I think once you've had the discussion and the conversation, the step is quite straightforward. Yes. Once you've got a resident, you say, right, we are happy to do this.

Yeah. I'm not going to do a job that pays so well and travel so much. I'm going to do a job that's more closer to home that enables me to be around more, and that has an attendant drop in income, salary, whatever it might be. But I think you've got to come at it as a couple and as a family and agree. I agree with you. I think if I were to say to the children around the table,

I'm going to sell the house but I won't be at work anymore they'd say go to work Yeah Yeah I'd like to stay with the life we have Yeah Well you don't

Yeah exactly Yeah you don't know that But yeah if he feels that way And they would love him to be around more And it would make a happier home life Yeah Yeah Yeah

Then that's great But as I say with most people 99% of the population That will come in an attendant Drop in your standard of living Whether you like it or not Yeah Unless you're lucky and you've, you know, you've got money rolling in from property or whatever.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever people do. Yeah. So, yeah, I think it's a huge life change and it's got to be a family decision. Also, the pressure, though, is so high, isn't it, to make that change, even if you have sat around the table with your family. And they go, yeah, we're happy about it. Yeah. And then it happens and suddenly the wife doesn't like the new house.

And it's hard, it's just a hard decision to me. It is a tough decision to make, yeah. Yeah, really difficult. But you can only take that decision. It's got to be a gut fell decision. It can't be anything else. It can't be your head going. Well, maybe it'd be good or maybe it'll be a good.

If you've got this gut feeling where you think, I really have to do this, then it's making it work. It's about making it work. I don't think it's about saying, how do I do it? You've got to look at it from the, well, I want to do it, so how can I make it work? Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it may be, he says, well, I'm going to work like a dog for six months and get a little bit, and then we're going to pull our horns in and we're not going to go on a holiday, we're not going to do this.

And we have a little stash of, you know, a little buffer. So they can then sort of pack him what he's doing and go and find something else and you're not struggling in between. So you plan that six month or nine month period to be. So at the end of it, you've got a war chest of a few grand that you can say, right. So, you know, if I'm going to go and do this thing, at least I'm not scrabbling around. I've got a month for six weeks or two months to find what I'm going to do. And be sensible, make the right option. Yeah, exactly.

Don't just take the first thing. Yeah, don't jump into it because that can be wrong. Yeah. There we go. So that's what I would say with that. There's our next one. Hello, just a quick one. I was just wondering if Tony could give any advice on how to look for painting and decorating jobs

when you're self-employed and you've only just started out. I hope you're worth well. Thank you. Oh. Lovely. Well, this is right up my strass of this one. Yeah. So striking out on your own, starting your own business, doing your own thing,

exciting, scary, all that stuff. This would be my advice to that particular person if I were in their position, given my experience. Number one, tell your friends and family what you're doing. Make sure everybody knows you're starting out on your own. Make sure everybody knows what you're doing, what you can do, what you're willing to do, what you want to do. Yeah, number one.

Number two, if you've got a van, get a sign written. Number three, make sure you've got a little logo, Tc, or whatever it might be. You can go and buy a domain name, Peanuts if you find the right one. Don't use a hot mouth thing or whatever. If you want to seem professional, go and buy a, you'll see if you can go and do Tcdecks at London.org

or whatever it might be. And I think you can pay like 100 quid for a domain name for your little website and your emails and stuff. If you know people at schools and stuff, make sure that you get in there and you let people know. So around the school gates, everyone's talking. Yeah, they can whack it in their parent WhatsApp groups. Yeah, WhatsApp groups and stuff like that.

Yeah. If this is a good one as well, if you've got a couple of local churches or whatever it might be, they might do their own little, you know, magazines and stuff like that, or school fates, getting those, very cheap to advertise, gets your name round. You can, as a new starter, you can try stuff like, you can try advertising and you can try going on websites to get work. Yes. I would say to people, be very careful. That tends to be a race to the bottom. Okay.

So if you go on to a website where you register. Yeah. And people then come to that website to find people for work. And you then pay for that lead or whatever it might be to pair you up with a potential customer. Nine times out of ten, all the customers go in there will pick five people and just go for the cheapest. Yes.

Yeah, that's all they know how to do. It's like they're going shopping for some bag of onions. Yes. I want my bedroom decorated. I've got five prices. One's a thousand pound, one's four hundred quid. I must all be the same. So I'll go for the cheapest.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So be careful with that. Try and spread word of mouth. Try and spread local presents. When you get your first job, get a nice little couple of balls made up that you can strap to the outside of the house. You just stick your board.

Or you can tie one of those kind of flaggy type things to the railings. Yeah, anything like, yeah, yeah. A little banner or a little, just get a couple of little placards. made up and sort of use cable ties to put them outside your job so people driving past and see. So for me, it's very much about getting a presence, getting an identity, and then getting it out there in the local community, word of mouth, and people know you are. And once you get your first one or two jobs, make sure you're doing properly. Do them right. Look after your customers. Be kind to people. Be kind to people. And also critical, do

written estimates and quotations that are very clear at what you are and are not doing. Because so many people, they'll just go, I'll come in and I'll do X, I'll do that for that much money. And then there's grey areas and arguments. Well, where you, well, they'll get in there and see a problem and that's going to cost more money. Yeah. What do you mean you didn't know that, you know, the ceiling was in the state it was in and what you're not saying in it. There's a million and one different things. Yes, of course. So be very specific when you provide a price to someone exactly what you're doing, how much you're doing of it, what it covers, what the exclusions are, so avoid grey areas and that avoids arguments with customers.

I think that's great advice. Hopefully. And it's free. Yes, that's right, yeah. Bloody brilliant. Thank you. Now what I'd like you to do, because you didn't leave your name again, I'm so sorry, is to make sure you spread the word about the podcast for me.

Get a few followers, a few subscribers, and then we're quids in. We're squit. We're even. Yeah. So I whacked out a question today. I saw that, yeah. This is a bank holiday Monday episode. What are people up to and what do bank holidays mean to you?

And I just thought, it's an interesting one, bank holidays. I know some people really look forward to them and, you know, it's sort of nostalgic maybe, or people go out and we've got loads of messages to play. But for me, most of my life, from when I really can remember from sort of age 10, bank holidays have been non-existent because filming, you always filmed on bank holidays it was just a normal Monday and especially as getting older

the last 10 years for me and Mark there aren't bank holidays so when there is one it's lovely but also we do get days off in the week we've both been off today we can have a Wednesday off together so it's a bit different for us

Right, showing off. No, I know, but do you see what I mean? We can have a day off during the weekend, that feels lovely because we get that time. But then Mark can be working a weekend, for instance. So it's a bit different for me. So I just wondered, your take on it. My take on it.

Well, now I just know that I've got five people sitting home getting paid, which has cost me a fortune. That's the type of business owner in me. So what it means now, for me, is it's another day where I'm not forced to go to work, which means I can be productive somewhere else. I'm going fishing this Monday. Obviously, that's quite slightly different

first time in ages. And historically, I think as a kid, I never really, when I was growing up, Sundays were like bank holidays. There's no shops open. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So a bank holiday was no different to a Sunday, really. Yeah.

Whereas now, you know, Sunday's like a Saturday. Saturday's like a Friday. Everyone's busy, busy, busy. So a bank holiday Monday's just a real bonus day. Normally would have involved, like, As we got older and when we were in the flat without kids, it normally meant you could go to the pub for lunch on Sunday afternoon and then not get until midnight.

Yeah. And then not have to go to work the next morning. And have a lazy day. Have a lazy day on the Monday. Our hangover bank holiday Monday would be pizza at about 1 o'clock. Yeah. And then a takeaway curry. About about 9.

A few lucasades in there, I hope. Yeah, probably diet coax and all sorts of, yeah. Yeah, all manner of stuff, yeah. The only bank holiday I massively remember back in the day there was an August bank holiday where we did go to the pub in Islington where we used to go to. We ended up in there all day meeting people,

strangers and getting drunk and telling everyone how much we love them and all the rest of it. And then I remember getting up the next morning at about, I know, 10 o'clock to go to the toilet and we put the telly on. And it was the day Prince of Diana. Yeah, first of September, yeah. I died, yeah.

And that's the one I'll just really vividly remember as a bank holiday, you know? Yeah, I remember that. Yeah, like I say, it is lovely if I'm off, if we're all off and you think, well, great, you can have a barbecue. Yeah. Doesn't matter if it gets a bit late. Yeah. It is lovely.

But as I say, just a bit different really for us. We've had loads of messages. So here are a few. Hi, Nat and Tony. Yesterday, we spontaneously booked a lodge. only a few hours away for me, husband and the two kids. I just looked at the diary and we didn't have plans so I thought, F it. Weather now looks rainy, but two nights away with my favourites,

a castle or museum to visit, bald games to be played and hopefully a couple of glasses of Vino for me and the husband when kids eventually fall asleep. Also, why are there two bank holidays in May and none September to November? I'm sure there are some sort of historical reasons, but it annoys me especially so close after Easter. Any ideas?

No. No. I don't know, actually. Let's have a look. What I would say is... I'm looking at chat, GBT. Go on, you carry on. What I would say is I love the sort of impromptu nature of...

We just fancied booking somewhere and we're doing it. Yes. I think that's really exciting. Because you've just gone, old sod it. We're just going to go for it and go away for a couple of nights and a last minute thing. I think it's often more exciting than something that's been in diary for ages. Yeah, I'm not an overly sponsored.

No, I know. I know you're not. But it's nice. But I think it's quite nice. I think it's great. Yeah. Really good. In fact, when I listen to that, it kind of, I'm very lucky to what we do, Mark and I. It's great.

I kind of wonder what that's like to have a job where you know it's Monday to Friday. You know the hours you're doing. And then you really do look forward to, you don't take it for granted. You look forward to that bank holiday and you're going to get something in. I feel like our life, you go, oh, there'll be time. to do something, but you never do it. Never plan things. Things have got to be planned, you know, but we can't plan because we never know what we're doing.

Yeah. So there you go. Right, here we go. Here's one for you. The pattern of UK bank holidays is mostly shaped by history, religion and later tweaks to the spread banks throughout the year. There are actually three in May some years, but normally two fixed ones. early May bank holiday

introduced in 1978 to give a break in spring because you ain't got Easter of you that's weird isn't it yeah but there you go that's mad and then the spring bank holiday you'd need a break in October or November

well yeah yeah go on spring bank holiday late May Whitson that's called Whit Monday here we go used to be tied to the Christian festival of Whit Monday Pentecost

and then it was fixed in 1971 to make it more predictable. Right. See, I wish I'd fix Easter. Mm. Because that can be really off. I know, but it's a great, it's brilliant though, in it?

Because come March, everyone, all the going on, when's Easter this is? Is it late or is it early? It's so true. Is it early? Because if it's... If it's early, it's going to be cold. Yeah. If it's late, it might be warm.

It's so true. And if it is late, it's really horrible because the kids have two weeks off. Yeah. And you have Easter Sunday and they're back to school. Yes. And that's crappy. I like it to be earlier because then they can enjoy they're Easter bits or one of you.

Yeah, yeah. And all it says on chat GPT is there is no deep rule. It's just how things evolve that there are none in September to November. There was a, I think there was a movement

a few years ago to try and get another, I think they wanted another bank holiday. Was it for, to do with the Battle of Water? When we beat the French at Waterloo in 1700 something, or other rule?

I can't remember. Well, and a movement a little while ago about that. Yeah, it would have been a few years ago, There was an attempt to bring in a, I think it was like a British day, bank holiday to celebrate being British or whatever it is. I don't know. I'm sure it was, but it never, obviously never went anywhere.

And then we've got St George's Day, which we've just had. That would be a nightmare because that's all together then. April, May. Yeah. So that don't work. You could just have the whole month off. Yeah, just April and May. A couple of months off.

Angie said bank holidays usually mean a walk and a pub lunch halfway if weather is good. Can't beat a pint of lager in a beer garden. However, this Monday I'll be packing for two weeks in Florida. Ooh, bring it on. Oh, I had to get that one in. Bring it on. Oh, love the pod. Had to slip that one in.

Go on, Ange. Yeah, get in there, Ange. Oh, that's lovely though. Florida. Yeah, but is that not, it's out of school time, isn't it? Well, maybe they haven't got, you know. Oh, maybe they have. So fucking expensive.

They're good luck to you if you take your kids out, quite frankly. Yeah, yeah. Because it's a lot of money. Yeah. Controversial, but, you know. It is controversial. but it's so different. The prices are so ridiculous.

For years I had it. We used to go to Portugal in like end of July, whenever it was. And then it was whatever, how much it was. And then the first week in September, when the kids were back at school, it was half the price. Half the price.

Flights, transfers, car hire, accommodation. Mad. Profiteering, that's what it was. Yeah, absolutely. Bastards. Laura said, love a bank holiday, barbecue in the rain, blowing a game on the beach, leg of lamb out the freezer that got special Christmas, wine, beer and way too much food. Yeah.

That's great. Fantastic. I never really freeze meat. Yeah. Odd times, yeah. If I do, I find it sits in there for six months and I've got to throw it away. It's mad, isn't it? Well, that's where you've got to be regimented, you see.

Yeah. You know, you really have to rotate the freezer. We're very good with our meals Frozen meals Yeah Very good Yeah But I forget stuff's in there

You see Yeah you've got to be on it You've got to be on it No good Talking about bank holidays And doing stuff Obviously very weather You know

Based is it Yes go on Oh yeah Like massively weather based You know So if it's going to piss for a rain On Monday Everyone's going

Oh god You know What's on the tellies You know Is a load of carry-on films on Or whatever it might be I'm sure That there's this

Sort of secret Movement in the country To pretend that the bank holiday weather's going to be really good. Like a week before, they're going to go, oh, the bank holiday weather's looking good. And then it's actually shit when you get to it. Well, I agree.

And I think they do it to try and get everyone out to the coast and start booking stuff out and whatever. Yeah, definitely. 100%. There's someone in a room in Whitehall. Yeah. Right? He's like the, he would be called something like the bank holiday weather

like a coordinator, something like that. Weather like a coordinator. Yeah. And what he would do is, The weather devil. The weather devil. And he would come up with all these ways to try and make it sound like the weather's going to be really nice on the bank holiday

when it's absolutely going to piss with rain. Get people out spending the old one guy. Yes, that's right. Yeah. What can you say? I could be wrong. But it's happened loads and loads and loads and loads of times. You know, the week before, they're saying, oh, bank holiday is going to be a nice weekend.

You know, it's looking nice. It's look really. Several things, right, okay, well, we'll go to brawl stairs, or we go to such and such and we book up and we do this and we do that. And then... Down to the supermarket, loading up with all the barbecue stuff. Yeah, going out, getting a new barbecue. And all of a sudden, Tuesday, Wednesday, you know, look at the weather and I go,

well, there's a slight front coming in from... It's like chance of rain. From Ireland. And if that's it, if it's coming in from Ireland, that's it's a washout. Forget it. Put the heating on. Yeah. You know, stick a film on.

That's it. Make some soup. Oh dear. Very true that. Hi, Nat. This is Tamzin from Chelmsford. I remember to tell you my name. Bank holidays.

Every this May bank holiday I spend at the Vauxhall Holiday Park in Great Yarmouth at the Soul Weekender, which started as K-star when I first went. So I went, I was booked

to go in 2016, but I broke my hip, so I couldn't go in the end. But I have been every May 1st May bank holiday since. So this will be my ninth. I met my partner there, and we're now lived together in Chelmsford. So this weekend is quite special for us because it's kind of our anniversary. So that's what I'll be doing this weekend. And every weekend, a bank holiday, May, weekend, hopefully for a few years to come.

That is lovely. Yeah. When she said every weekend, I thought that's a big stream. You can't go to a sole weekend at every weekend, can you? No, I think, yeah, that would be a struggle. It's a lot. Yeah, isn't it? Yeah, isn't it?

Yeah, it's a lot. Yeah, sort of all over the world. Just try and find a sole weekend of somewhere in the world, San Francisco, Zurich, all over the world. It's lovely. I mean, it'd be no good to me because I don't like, music. No, that's true.

I remember Caster years ago. Do you? Well, I say I remember something about that when I was growing up and it was all the flash good-looking soul boys that used to go there with their wedge aircuts and all that. And I was this sort of nerdy kid. It didn't find himself until he was about 20. Nice story, yeah.

Yeah, very nice story, yeah. Hi, Nat and Tony. Hope you're having a good week. For me, bank holidays mean nothing. I'm self-employed, enough said. But they used to mean a massive day sesh on the Sunday, which was such a treat. Easter Sunday and the first Sunday in May

were always epic days out. Great memories from my teens and 20s. Hannah in Del Beatty, Scotland. There you go. So there you are. QED, point proven. There we are. There we are. Oh, here we go. Look at this. It's my birthday on May the 4th and also my brother-in-law, Wayne

Eaton's 2. I share it with a few celebs including Chris Packham, Audrey Hepburn and Kate Garraway. Not forgetting Jay Astham from Bucks Fizz. May the fourth be with you. Joe, happy, happy birthday. And whilst we're on the subject of birthdays, it's Tony's birthday this week on the seventh. So many, many happy returns to you. Thank you very much. And you're six days after? Six days after. Yeah. Although what I haven't said, and no one actually knows yet on the pod, so I'm very happy to tell you now, is that we have been waiting for Joni's

metal work to come out of her arm from when she broke it. Oh, right. Okay. Yeah. And that is now happening on your birthday. Oh, good. So. I've got a better one than that. Go on. Is that the, um,

the dogs having an operation on my birthday. Brilliant. So there's Joni and Nelly having operations. On my birthday, yeah. Is she going under? Yeah, yeah.

So is Joni. Yeah, yeah. It's going to be a cracker this year. I'm really looking forward to it. It's true. So, so a few weeks ago. It does get more ridiculous though,

didn't it? A few weeks ago, Eve was going, oh, what we're going to do? Because her boyfriend Toby, he's the six. Yes.

So we're thinking we go out with all of us on the night of the six and it's my birthday the next day and da-da-da-da-da-da. And where should we go and we were going to go to house, the nice Chinese in Cuffley or we were going to go, this wonderful pub over in Mill Hill and think, oh, that would all be really, you know, I'm not a big birthday person. Don't get me wrong. I thought it'd be quite nice.

And then the phone goes the other day and Sharon, she went, I've had to put Nelly in for her operation. Nothing too serious. but she's got to have this thing done. I went, okay, she went, it's on your birthday. She went, but don't worry, we can go out another time for your birthday. Yeah.

I said, that's fine. I said, well, obviously, we can't, you know, if the dog's ever made you up, then when she comes home, everyone, you know, everyone's worried and falling in her and whatever else. I said, so it's fine, we just cancel my birthday. Yeah. Completely.

And I thought, you know, we'll just worry about it next year. Yeah. Yeah, I've just cancelled the whole thing. Now, you're saying that in a way that's a little bit antagonistic. I'm not going to lie to you. If you don't do it, you've got to get, when the date's coming, you have to do it. There is a reason because the vet that treats Nellie and she loves him and knows him,

he, after this is the only date he's got before he goes away. There's always a reason? I am taking the mickle. I know you are. So that's the reason why we're doing it on that day so that he does the thing and Nelly knows him and all the rest of it. It'll be a lot easier. And so, yeah, so that's what we're going to be doing. we're going to be nursing doggy on them.

I shall be, Mark and I were going to go out. We've got that lovely restaurant voucher that you gave me for Christmas, still not done it. I said, well, we're going to do this, going to do that. And then the hospital phoned. And I said, actually, I want to be around for that week, really, because it's a lot of pain. Yeah, of course.

It's general anaesthetic. They bandaged the arm afterwards. They don't put it in plaster because it's not broken. She has to be at home. She can't go to school for a few days. No, she'll be all careful with it. So, you know, again, that's just sort of put the kibosh on at the beginning of May, but it don't matter, is it?

No. Not really. No, we'll do something at some point. Do something in June and get absolutely plastered in the garden. Have a barbecue. Yeah, whatever you like. There we are. Yeah.

Hi, Nat, regarding this bank holiday, we will stay and sort our garden out. Now that, I love that. We did that last weekend, so. Out of, sort of picks. Sunday. Out there. I say I was out there. I didn't get up to 11 o'clock.

Oh, you know. There's no rule, is it? I know, but I keep, I feel. I think there's something, I don't stop sleeping. Sleeping sickness. I think it's the hay fever though. No, genuinely, I get very tired. Yeah, your body's under attack.

I do get tired. But anyway, Mark didn't wake me up, and I got up. It was about half ten, actually. But I got up, and there was pile. When I say, every washing basket was filled the night before. So immediately I got up, I thought, I've got to get all that washing, run into Joni's room, empty basket, rises room empty.

So he'd got all the washing down. He sorted all the washing out. That was on the line. doing that. He was jet washing the furniture and I thought, oh, this is nice. This is nice. I continued with the washing, but we potted out some veg that we needed to do. Yeah. We just got all the garden lovely and then at about

four o'clock I said, we're not doing anymore. And we sat down, we had a glass of wine and we had a barbecue. Lovely. And it was really nice. Nice. But I understand what she means. I like that day where you sort out the garden. Yeah. Very, very good. I saw her with me shed out last Sunday. Lovely. Yeah.

Nice feeling. Mm. What'd you do to it? Well, it was all rammed with stuff. And so I couldn't get to my fishing gear. Yes. So that was all in the corner. Yeah.

So I actually sort of had a B&My bonnet at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon. Because I'd spent all morning sorting my van out. Okay. Because I'm getting a new van. I've got to get rid of this one. And it was a shit tip in there. Yeah. So literally it took me five hours to get it all out, sort of chuck a load of stuff away,

you know, put stuff in the right places. So I looked at the shed at 3 o'clock and thought. going to go for it. Go for it. Have I got the time? And at 7 o'clock I finished. Oh, that's good. And in that time, I'd add it all out, got rid of some stuff,

rearranged load of stuff, put some shelves up, got a unit that we didn't need for the kitchen, installed that in there and put an MDF shelf on top of it, put a load of stuff in the skip. Yeah, so it really went for it. Four hours? Four hours of full on. It's like one of those fucking, what do you call them?

DIYSOS programs. It was a bit like that, yeah. Yeah, but you've got into it. to it, didn't you? There's a lot, though. So I sort of started moving stuff about, and I thought, I'll put a bit of MDF on top of that to make a bench on the fridge and the thing. And then I thought, well, then it's going to move.

So then I went and got some timber and a jigsaw and cut some bits down, screwed it up, so that works. And then I looked above it and said, oh, I could get another shelf in this. I found some shelf brackets and went to the van and got me drill and put them up. And I thought, how that works. Oh, that's great. Yeah. So I was quite pleased myself, actually.

Really good. Really good. But a productive day. A proper productive day. And then you sit down in the evening and you, your drink or whatever. You go and go and I'll go on to work tomorrow. Great.

Brilliant. What am I doing tomorrow? I'm going to work. Do much the same again. But it's nice when it's for your own. Yeah, yeah, it was, yeah. It's very good. Hey, Nat and everyone.

Just seen your message about bank holidays. Going to Flamingo Land Friday before the weekend rush with the hubby and daughter. Sunday's drinking day with my bestie. Hopefully it will be a sunny day. Whatever you're doing, enjoy and have fun. Lots of love to everyone. And be good.

Lisa from Hull, long-time listener, long-time texter. So I hope you have a lovely day. You have a great day. Where is Flamingo land? Flamingo land. Is it in Hull? I'm going to have a look because... I didn't know there was a flamingo.

I mean, I could imagine if it was on Dolly Parton's Ranch or something like that, it'd be a Flamingo land. Yes. Flamingo land. I didn't realize there might be one in Hull. Theme park. It's a theme park in England. What's the theme then? What is it, bears or dogs or something? What's the theme of the park?

Well, it's Flamingo Land. The theme is, hang on. Cats. Theme park rides. Right. There's an award-winning zoo. Right. Which does have a picture of a flamingo on it, funny enough.

Oh, well, there you go then. And where is it? It's in Kirby Misperton, Moulton. I'm going to show you a map here. All right, okay. Near the North Yorkshire Moores Railway, which Mark might be interested in. Okay, so it's. It's up north.

Flamingo land. So I've learned there's a Flamingo land. I do wonder if maybe they've got the best sort of collection of flamingos. It's got a lovely word that, hasn't it? What's that? The group of flamingos. I think it's a flamboyance. Oh, I might be wrong, but I think it is.

You reckon? I'm not even going to bother looking it up. You can let me know. Listen, you know, right. Yeah, that's wrong. That's wrong. That's wrong. But I think it is a flamboyant.

You know, you have your sets of. different. Yeah, like owls. Do you know, owls is a parliament, an owl. Parliament, that's right. Yeah, which I thought

was quite a good one. Lovely, and giraffes are good. Can't remember what they are. Anyway, maybe it's a tower. Collectives. A tower of giraffes, which is quite an Anamatapeic,

because of the necks, you know. Nice, isn't it? Do you like watching David Attenborough? Well, that's a no. Immediately no. Some, some time. The one I like the most

was when, you know, he's been all over the world and he's seen everything and every single animal living and dead and dinosaurs and whatever. And he did one on my pet hate and he did one on rats. Right. Which was very interesting

because he said, out of every animal in the world, everything he's seen, touched, looked at, whatever, he is terrified of rats and I am terrified of rats. And it was very interesting. and you can see after it why you're terrified of rats.

Really? Oh yeah. They're filthy, disgusting creatures, yeah. They really are. Do you remember? Sorry to laugh. But one of my favourite stories of yours. Right.

I've got a few. No, one of my absolute favourites was the Fruit Bowl. Was it the pears? One of my favourites. It kills me every time. Go on, tell the pear story. It's great. Sure.

Yeah. Right, okay. So, well, it started off. When we first moved into our house we're in at the moment, I was doing a bit of renovating. I was rewiring the downstairs. All the floor balls were up. Sharon was pregnant with James.

And one day, I came down on a Sunday morning, and I was doing this a bacon sandwich. And so outside of the kitchen door, as was, we had the bins there. We didn't think of it. You know, we'd lived in a flat before. Yeah. So we just had two bins there.

So I looked up, and I don't know why I looked, and I saw something come out of the bin. I thought, oh, don't know, look at that. And then it came back, like at lightning, bead and then back out the bin but it was going towards the house. Yes, yeah.

So it was like coming underneath me. So anyway, I went outside and someone had very kindly, when they put central heating in, they'd smashed a hole in a metal airbrick and the hole was probably size of a 50p piece. But what people don't know is that mice can dislocate their backs

and get through a hole as big as your little finger. Yes, we've had this conversation. And rats can dislocate their backs and get through a hole the big as big as your thumb. They can squeeze for it. Anyway, sorry, long story short, I had to get the local council.

The rat man round. The rat man round. And I just thought, I really hope that, like, would only just move down, just hope he doesn't turn up and he's got, you know,

rat man written all over the van or whatever because it's going to be a little bit embarrassing. And this bloke, honestly, it was like a film. He pulled up in his Enfield Council, his little van, with Enfield Council written on it. I thought,

oh, thank God for that. And then he got out in his overalls, great big Wellington's, big rubber gloves on, and this box that went, said poison, rat poison. Like a comic strip. Yeah, it was literally like, and he strode up, knocked on the door, Oh, right, I'm here for the rat. Anyway, the rat had got under our floor and he did what he did with it, and we put bait down, and we killed it.

Yeah, yeah. And we've got a stream near us, so we do get quite a lot of, There are quite a lot of rats in our air. I mean, there's rats everywhere. And anyway, he was telling me these stories. And he said, you know the big flash place, the flash street up the road? I went, oh, broad walk. So it's a very, very salubrious.

It's where Rodney and Delboy had the episode where Rodney was going out with Cassandra. And he pretended he lived there. And he pretended he lived there. Correct. That house is still there. The same people live in it and they still get only Fools and Horses fans there. But anyway, so he said, I'll tell you a story about brawl. He said, well, I went up there one day.

He said, and what transpired was, he said, the lady of the house was coming in, and once a week she'd come and buy, she'd buy some pears, and she'd put them on the sideboard in the living room or whatever, and slowly the pears were being eaten. And so she'd buy some more pairs next week. Pairs were disappearing, didn't think anything of it. Anyway, after about the third week, she said, to her husband, you've got mad on them pairs, isn't you?

And he looked at it like he was, what are you talking about? I can't stand pairs. She said, but I've been buying pairs and you've been eating them when I ain't touched them, I touched them. So they're straight away, they thought, oh dear, we've got a problem. So this guy went around there, got to get some more pairs and then got, I think it was towel and powder or a very fine substance. Yes, yes.

And he said, don't go in the room. And he shook it all on the floor. and he said leave it for a couple of days, don't go in the room. And when they opened the door, they saw the footmark, the rat marks, three feet going up, take the pear,

and it was disappearing. And they finally, after about two days of looking, underneath, I think he said it was underneath the oven. Oh. Right? There was a,

they pulled the drawer out under the oven after tracing it. And there was about four pound of fermenting pears underneath the oven where this rat had taken, Because what they do is they don't eat their food. They take it and they nest with it. And they basically hold onto it for when they need it.

Right, right. And he said it was just the most unbelievable thing you'd ever seen. But how brilliant. I love the fact that she kept going out buying the pears. And when she said to him, you're going mad on them pears, isn't you? And he looks at, I say, what are you talking about? I hate pears. It's my favourite.

That's my pear story. That's a great story. Yeah. I love a pear. Do you like a pear? I don't like sleepy pears. I beg you pardon. Sleepy pairs.

You must know what a sleepy pear is. When you bite into it, it's all soft and gooey and horrible. I didn't know it was called a sleepy. Mommy told me that. Really? Yeah, sleepy peary. No, mushy, furry.

Don't have that. Basically, they've gone inside. And whenever she used to tell me, used to get a pear, make sure it's not a sleepy pair. I never thought that. I can't, yeah, true. So now if I have one, you've got to cut them up.

Can't just bite into them. No. Might be sleepy. Never heard of that before? Yeah, sleepy pear, yeah. Fantastic. Bank holidays to me bring back memories of going to my nans caravan at Canvey Island and either just being out all day playing or down at the beach crabbing

when the weather was bad, just huddled up in the caravan hearing the rain on the roof. Such a great sound from Laura. And I think there will be a lot of people listening and that nostalgia of down the van or with their nans or going around there and, you know, it has got that sort. We should go down in the bungalowlingleau, didn't we? Oh, you did. down in Seesort and Wittsable, the family had. Shame that.

Yeah, just a little bit. Tiny little bit. Tiny little bit of a shame we haven't got it. A tiny little bit of a shame we didn't, we haven't got two detached bungalows in Wittsable, sea sorter, next to each. Just a bit of a... Only worth about three quarters of a million quid each.

And the rest. Yeah, I think they've actually... I don't think they're there anymore. I think they've been demolished. No, I think they are. Are they? No, me and Mark went and had a walk. And you saw...

And we went down there. Ivy caught, wasn't it? Ivy can tell me. We found them. Yeah. Oh, they are still there. We found them, yeah. Beautiful.

Yeah. Shame that. Yeah, but never mind. There we go. Yeah. We move on, don't we? We do, we have to. Otherwise, you want to kill yourself.

Don't say that. Oh, well, it's been lovely catching up. Yeah, it's gone quick. It has gone quick. Sorry, we've not got, because of me, we've not got through any of our... But yeah, we must do these a little bit more often. Yeah. I've had quite a few people say missing Tony talks.

Oh, really? Yes. That's nice. Missing Tony talks. When you say quite a few, Is it more than one? Yeah, two or three. Oh, that's good then.

I'm listening Tony Talks. I see a little comment. Yeah. Tony coming. So I hope this has fulfilled your, you know, Tony fix. Tony Fix. You've got a Tony Fix today. Yeah.

I hope you enjoy the rest of your bank holidays, whatever you're doing. Yeah. And if you are listening on a different day, which is obviously something that lots of people do. You find that with the bank holiday Epsone or holidays. People have to bank them because they're busy. Because they're busy, yeah. They're not in their routine. you know.

Yeah. But I hope you find this a nice, fun, relaxing listen. Yeah. And please, as always, sending your comments for me, 077-8-28-20, 19-19, whatever you want from Ian Tone. And thank you, as always, for listening. Yeah, thank you, much appreciated. And thank you for coming up. It's a pleasure.

And I really do hope you have a nice birthday, even though you'll be nursing now. No, listen, it'll be fine. To be honest, we are, we're more concerned that she's right. Of course. And everything can be good. on that score, you know, so I'll update on the next one. Please do, and I shall give you a little update on Jones' arm. Yes, lovely.

I'm sure it'll be fine. Right, love you. And you. See you soon. Tada. Tada.