Life with Nat - EP246: Scraping the Barrel #48 - what's Nat packing?

Episode Date: July 15, 2026

Marc and Nat chat packing, pants, being spotted on the telly, and (surprise surprise) ice creams. Enjoy! Get in touch with Nat, buy tickets for upcoming live shows and link to Patreon, all the family's Instagrams, and more: ⁠⁠⁠lifewithnatpod.komi.io⁠⁠ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nat will be here in just a moment. Before we get started, if you're after even more Life with Nat, you'll find plenty waiting for you over on Patreon. From bonus episodes and Nat's newsletters to the members group chat, where the whole family regularly pop in for a gossip. It's the perfect place to keep the conversation going between episodes. Just search for Life with Nat Pod on Patreon. Hello and welcome to Life with Nat on this wonderful Thursday.

I'm joined by Mark for a scraping the barrel, or as Emma producer says, an SD, not an STD. It's definitely not an STD. No, it's an STTP. No, that's a sticky-y toppy toppy pudding. Yeah. Jack's favourite dessert. STP was an additive I used to put in cars.

Oh. Micromachines used to use them. Micro machines. What's a micromachine? Micro machines. The little cars. No, you've lost me. I've just had like a little, I forgot about micro machines.

They were little tiny cars. What with tiny people driving them? No. But you know you'd have your corgi cars or your matchbox cars. Matchbox I've heard of. That's that sort of big. You could get micromachines. They were tiny little, tiny.

And they had STP in them. No, I. I had a racing kit with a little lorry, and it was blue with STP. And STP apparently was an additive for, they'd obviously done a brand deal with micro machines. I see. Anyway, this is an STB, which I like. I like Emma, you know, shortening it up. STB.

Studio B, that used to stand for at QVC. Oh, we're getting into all of the acronyms now. Yeah. Good. How are you? I'm right, thanks, yeah. I'm a little bit tired at a busy couple of weeks at Wimbledon. That was fun.

We're going to go into that later. Do you know what? Do you know that briefing you gave me before this started? I'm not stupid. I don't know. I wasn't going to start talking about Wimbledon. No? I mean, as if I talk about anything random all of a sudden.

Never. Never going to happen. But I've got a reference of fact that that's why I'm tired. You've been working quite a lot, haven't you? Yeah. But you just need to get over it, to be honest. I've got over it, thanks. Have I moaned?

No, it's just, you know what it is? You don't go to bed. So it's all very well being tired. But normal people, if they're tired, they'll come home, have a bit of dinner. They're in bed by half nine. Yeah. But you don't do that.

So the whole being tired, you know, we were up to a quarter one last night. Yeah, but we had loads of exciting things to discuss. Exciting things on the horizon. Had a great phone call last night after work. Yeah. It's really important. Yeah.

Just, you know. No, it's nice. Not sitting around. Live a little. Well, burning a candle at both ends, as they say. So I've done some packing. Mm-hmm. I hate packing.

Like, I really hate packing. Yeah. People find it easy. You find it quite easy to pack, I find. You're quite blazer about it. You'll do it last minute. You never forget anything. You've got everything you need.

For me, it's two days. Up and down the stairs. Looking at that. Do I need anything else? I like how up and down the stairs is now a factor. Like it's an issue. No, it's not an issue. It's just annoying.

And that's why I looked, you could definitely, you know, transit the stairs acceptably. No, it's fine. It's just I've been up and down them so much today. Right. Where I've thought, oh, I've got a charger there, or I've got to iron this, and I need to do that.

I can imagine you doing this. I bet you're all over the place. There is a lot of all over. I bet you can't just... I mean? I can talk... We're both quite similar in that respect. All, I bet you're mad.

I bet you're doing like... One minute I'm in... I bet you need four pairs of socks. You put in three and then you go off and do something else. Because you think, I'll do the fourth pair of socks in a minute. And then you come back and then you do the fourth pair of socks. And then you go... It's like me.

It's like me. It's like me. With anything I end up doing, I go from doing one thing to the next to the next. I would really love to have a set of travel things in a box. Yeah. So I'm talking about all my makeup. It's extravagant. I'm not saying I'm going to do it. But I would like copies of everything.

Because my worst nightmare is, oh, I need that before I go. Mm-hmm. I need the hairspray. I need this. Mm-hmm. I need my blowbrush. I need my rock. Do you know what I mean?

Your rocks on. Roller or whatever it is. I'm saying I'd like that in a little pack. So everything could be zipped up now by the door two days early. That's what I'd like to do. But there'll be stuff in there. Maybe not. Maybe not.

No, I'm saying charges, everything. All right. Doubles, doubles of everything. I mean, you're always going away, aren't you? Well, you say that. I'm getting a little bit more adventurous. I'm enjoying it a bit more. Yeah.

I like it because it gives us complete family time. We're away from everything and just concentrate on family stuff. Yeah. Phone goes away. Lovely. Yeah, so it'd just be nice to have all doubles of everything. So you haven't got to worry. That's what I find.

So you'd have doubles of everything in this... bag so you can just grab it and go. Clothes, no, because that would be ridiculous. Oh, okay. Well, this is getting a bit more kind of... I sort of mean, just things you need the night before. You need your charger plugged in, don't you buy your bed?

You need... It would just be nice to not do that last minute thing of putting stuff in a bag. Right. I mean, it's completely extravagant and ridiculous. Some would say lazy. But there you are. I do have to tell you something, though.

Yeah. Which you're not going to believe. Joan has packed her case. Yeah. Amazingly well. She rolls all her clothes, Japanese style, saves loads of room. She's got plastic bags with everything in it.

Really methodical, really good. I spotted that, yeah. Very good. I don't know where she gets that from. We're both quite organised people. Have you looked on your other side of the case? It's all right. Okay.

She borrowed my phone. Yeah. And she said, I just need to print something out. Right. I was busy. I said, okay, whatever. And she had a little frame in her room with a picture that she'd drawn

with her name on it. Right. She's printed out a picture of Alan Carr and put it in a frame to bring on holiday. Fair enough. Now, she's a girl after my own heart because I love a camp man.

However, that is a bit mad, isn't it? She said, I'd like to bring the picture and she's quite defensive about it. That's an interesting one. I might have to ask her about that. But it really tickled me that she'd got her frame. She'd put it really funny.

Once she gets it out by the bedside table, I'll do a picky fuel. But I just thought out of everybody in the world she could have a picture by her bed. She's chosen Alan. Because she's been obsessed with watching Alan since last one laughing. Yeah.

She loved him in that. Then she's gone on to Amanda and Alan. She's loved that. But she really, really loves Ellen Carr. And I love her for it. Girl after my own heart. Excellent. That's a bit random.

Where was the frame from? In her room. So she had a little picture which she'd drawn. Right. And she'd sort of, so she's covered that over, obviously, because she wanted it in a frame.

Right. But it really made me laugh that she'd thought about that. Quite a few frames in there she could have had. I don't think I need to use a new frame for it, if I'm honest. What, who I'd take? What, in a frame?

Yeah. Who would you take along? I don't know. It's a strange one. I mean, I don't really know why she's chosen the... He obviously makes her really happy. Yeah. If I'm honest, I could have a picture of Alancar by the bed quite happily.

Right. He makes me happy. So it's quite a joyous thing to look at. I think his new series is out, actually. The Changing Ends. Is it? I think so. We need to catch up with that.

We liked that, didn't we? It was very good. I did tell Joni about it and she got very excited. I don't think she started it yet. Okay. I'm surprised you not watched it all. No, I know. Very good.

But thank you. What I did want to say is we had so many well wishes for Joni after the arm break. But I can confirm she's back to her normal self. She's doing loads and loads. We went to the hospital yesterday for a check-up and it took me an hour to park the car. Well, what's new? I parked my car very well. The other day I was in your car and I put it in reverse.

When you put it in reverse, the mirrors automatically adjust to how you need them to reverse. And I put your car in reverse and one of the mirrors just pointed up at the sky. I use my camera. I know. I just thought, says it all. That mirror is not been ever, it's never been used. You've not noticed that when you put your car on reverse, it points at it. No, I've got camera.

Right. Really dangerous. It's really dangerous. It's really dangerous. I have a look round. No, you don't. I have a scout round. You fail a driving test.

When? When? When you reverse a vehicle. What's the first thing that you do? Look in your mirror? Nope. Oh. Look at your right shoulder.

Right. How many times you've done that? Never. Never. Right. Anyway. Luckily, I drive, so we're all good. Yeah.

So anyhow. Any road. We went to the hospital. Yeah. Appointment was at 2pm. Mm-hmm. I said, we'll leave at half past 12. Right.

That gives us half an hour to get there and park. Mm-hmm. If not 40 minutes. Then we could go to Costa because she loves a little cheese toasty. And we'll have lunch there before the appointment. An hour.

Driving round and round and round. I nearly parked it anywhere. But I thought I don't want another ticket. No. But that's a long time, isn't it? And you can just see frantic people, obviously. Why didn't you just park it over the road like I did before? Joni directed me.

We went there. Yeah. It's all. Permit now and double yellows. Oh, okay, fair enough. So she couldn't believe it. She said, me and Daddy parked down here, and she directed me to where you parked. Okay.

And I'm at a park. So that was a bit annoying. You should just open the door and say, oh, we go and talk yourself out? Well, it was all right. It was fine, because I'd left so much time. We ended up getting a space, so it was all right. Okay. But, yeah, they're very pleased with her progress, everybody.

And, yes, thank you so much for all of your wishes. I've got a few here, actually. Good morning. It's Denise from the Holbridge. Just caught up on your native scrape at the barrel. I just wanted to say, I'm so sorry to you about Joni. And, yeah, it's great that you and Mark are such a good team because, yeah, it's not good when something like that happens.

I really hope things are sorted so she gets her fit to fly letter as well. And, yeah, it's been a really good episode today. And I just wondered, how did you get on going to the shops in your bikini cover? I'd love to know. Take care. Lots of luck. Well, Denise, I got on fine. Thank you for the message.

Yeah, the cover-up that I'm talking about is a very kind of long leopard print number, long sleeves, quite long and has buttons. So when I said cover-up, it could be a bit deceiving because it does look like a leper-print sort of dress. But I was fine. Went in without a problem. Without a shadow of a doubt. Not an issue. No one really looked. So yeah, it went down really well, thank you.

Sorry, what are you talking about? I've just sort of caught up, sort of daydreaming then. What was the cover-up thing about? Me going to the shop in my bikini and a cover-up when it was really hot. Don't remember talking about that? No, well, you don't listen, do you? That wasn't of you and me, though.

I think so. No. No, I think it was. Oh. I hope Joni's doing well. Sorry to hear she's broken our arm again, bless her heart and yours. Totally understandable that you'd be having a breakdown about it. it's your baby and you'd rather have the pain than them.

And then your holiday coming up, we work so hard, look forward to them from the minute we book it. So when something puts a spanner in the works, it is a big deal. I hope you're going to have an amazing time, enjoy your break. Pods are amazing and I always look forward to the next one. Love Fern. That lovely. It's true though.

You feel like you're overreacting, but you're not really. It was a big deal, wasn't it, at the time? I know we're okay now. But it was traumatic. Yeah, of course it was. Terrible timing. Terrible thing to have happened. Absolutely. Awful.

And then do you remember when we were talking about that? And I said we were of a great team. Yes. And when emergencies happen, we really stick together. And I said to you, you know, there will be people that don't do that. And you were quite again, you were like, no, everyone must stick together in those situations. Listen to this. Hi, Nat, listening to the last scraping the barrel about supportive partners.

Years ago, probably 10-11. My friend was walking her daughter to school, and as kids do, the little ones was a few yards ahead with her little friend. Suddenly, a car reversed off the drive and ran over the top of my friend's daughter. Still awful, but thankfully, she went right under the car and the wheels missed her. Blimey. Obviously, it was still incredibly traumatic for all. After she was checked by the ambulance, I took the little one into preschool with my own child just to make her day about having fun. rather than the trauma of the accident.

I then took my friend to the GP and had her checked over and got her sedated, as of course she was understandably a wreck. I called her now X, important to remember, husband at work, and I told him what happened

and his response was, well, she didn't get her and they're both okay, so I don't need to come home. I gently lost my shit with him. A couple of hours later, he knocked at my door looking very, sheepish to collect his daughter, who had spent the rest of the afternoon in the paddling

pool with my son after preschool. I've never known such a lazy, narcissistic pig in my life. I'm glad they're no longer married and she's happier than she's ever been. From Debs, good for you, good for her. He sounds like a really horrible man. There's more where that came from. That's weird, because I had an ex-wife whose child once got no, didn't really. I think you'll remember this message.

When we got this, we both looked at each other and said, well, at least it's not just us. Right. This is from Helen. And Helen said, hi Nat and Mark, just been listening to today's pod. And I just wanted to say I totally sympathise with Joni's broken arm. My daughter Lucy has broken 13 bones since her first fracture when she was four. We are on first-name terms with the plaster team and orthopaedic surgeons.

They joke, they will name a wing after her. Her first break on the left arm needed surgery, second time I left untreated for three days, and the third roller skated, literally the day after her cast had come off. She was invited on a ski trip and my reaction was absolutely not. I hope Joni heals quickly and isn't too uncomfortable from Helen. 13 bones. I then messaged Helen.

Right. And I messaged her and said, sorry, may I ask you, is there any deficiencies or anything wrong with your child? Because, you know, as we think, you overthink things and what have you. And she said, no, nothing at all. They just said it's bad luck. But she is.

But have I done tests, so? Yeah. Right. But she's hypermobile. So being hypermobile, obviously is a factor. So I wonder if Joni's a bit hypermobile. What does that mean?

Don't really know. Okay. Do you know what Tamika said to me today? What did she say? But Joni, we need to get Joni every night to put some books on her head. Yeah, balancing. She told me that on the phone.

And get her to walk in a straight line. Yeah. And I said, do you know what I'm going to do? That's a really good game each night for Natalie. See if she can do it, especially after 6 o'clock. So everyone had a right old laugh in the studio. Did they? They thought it was hilarious.

Well, I'm dyspractic. So, yeah, Johnny could be disfusc. dyspraxic like me. Okay. But she can ride a bike and she can ice skate and her balance is better than mine. Who knows? We might all be hypermobile. I don't know how you check that out.

I don't know. I don't know what it means. I don't know. Helen also said one of the reasons she isn't with her husband anymore is because of certain things to do with those accidents and she's happier than she's ever been as well. So there's plenty of people who really take it seriously. To be clear, though. Yeah.

Is that, that's not because of anything like dodgy? Oh, no, no, no. That's what it just sounded like. Sorry, I beg your pardon. No, no. It's about them not being supportive and not being around. Yeah, but. What do you mean, but?

There was another message which I've noticed you haven't chosen to read out, just fair enough. What was it? It wasn't very good. It was on that same subject. Oh, really? So it's fair enough. But, yeah, it's disappointing to hear that.

I don't really know how you could be, well, I don't know. I'm not to say. But the good news was there wasn't loads and loads of messages about people. Well, here's another one. Hi, Nat, listening to your scraping the barrel episode and you asked if anyone out there had partners

who were less helpful in an emergency situation while myself and my two children were involved in a car accident. I ended up in A&E. This is the one. And my other half had left me there on my own because he wanted to go home for a beer. Once I'd finished in A&E,

I got an Uber home. I shit you know. not Amy from Northampton. That's really bad. That spang out of orders, isn't it? I was quite shocked at that. However, if you, not the children,

but if you had a little tumble over or something. No, no one cares. I can tell you for a fact, do you remember the time I had blood pouring down my head and Eliza was petrified and crying? Well, I do remember that.

And you absolutely did not give a monkey. I did. I got you a flannel. and I said, but it'll be right. You did not care. And Eliza was screaming at you saying you've got a... I got you a cold compress. Natalie.

You could not... How did you do that? I can't remember now. I bashed it on... Was it like a cupboard door or something? Yeah, something like that. It's quite a lot of blood going everywhere. It wasn't a lot of blood.

I have to say, what... Well, okay. You're over-dramatizing it, but yeah. All right. I did give you a cold compress, and I said, I think we'll be okay. I did. I remember folding up the tissue

and putting some water on it, giving you a cold, compress. Like a nursery teacher. Right. Sorry about the planes, everybody, and the birds, but it's still baking hot in here.

I don't apologise for stuff that you probably won't hear. Oh, do you think so? The other day, we didn't hear the fan? Really? No. That's good to know, isn't it?

No, and quite often, I mean, it depends what you're listening on, really. Yeah. You're listening in your car. Probably wouldn't hear it. Because of the noise outside? No, just because of how close we are to these microphones.

I see what you mean. Fair enough. The old post went down well, didn't it? I don't mean postman. I mean the post about, the postie. What, the 500, no, sorry, 800. How many, it was a lot. There's a lot of views on that video.

A lot of views. You know what that is, sweetheart? Yeah, go on. People are kind. Right. People love it. The thing is about that video. I'll tell you now.

People are missing the point. The point was, you answered the door in your beckon. Plenty of people, I think about a thousand, have said, yeah, I've done that. I've given the post-dee some... Yeah. Because someone cares what I mean. It doesn't matter. It's irrelevant.

Disagree. And again... Irrelevant. Relevant. Okay, fine. All right. However. Next person to knock on the door... You can go out in your pants.

Absolutely fine, yeah. By wire fronts, it'd be fun. Just wear the ones that aren't stained? or the ones you turn inside out and then round the other way and you know what I mean, those ones. I see. I need some wire fronts actually.

Pardon? I need some wire fronts. No, you don't. I do. You want wire fronts? I might start moving into them. Oh, no, stop. No, I might do.

I like you in your boxes. Okay, but I just feel that they don't do as much as the... Well, as in whole... Yeah. M&S have got a new range in. Right. An underwear range for men.

Okay. Which have a lot of secret support. Secret support. Yeah, so you can't see it. It's sort of like a brawl, you get a secret, or you can get knickers, which are secret support for women because they sort of hold your tummy in, stuff like that. Yeah.

But they've got pants, I think, within sort of enlarge things, or a little bit of padding in them. Shut up. be wrong, but yeah, I think so. M&S? Yeah, they're big on their underwear. But they've got some really good, really, really good undies for men.

Right, okay. Oh, we'll have to have a little look. I've got a pan... I'm quite capable of buying some pants, speaking. I've got a pant try on to do with Tony yet for Patreon. I can't... Maybe we both do it? Well, I can't move on to pants with you as well.

Or maybe you could economise it. That's true. You could both do it, yeah. Yeah. I'll be a bit weird, but... Okay. Hello, babe. I had to send you a message because I've just been catching up on podcast.

And I was listening to the scraping the barrel with you and Mark about offering the postman ice cream. Last Thursday, when it was really hot, my children were at home. And we were all out in the garden. I had my bikini on. Heard for the dustmen come. And I actually run to the front door, opened it. Remembered I had my bikini on and thought, oh my God, what am I doing?

So shut the door again, called the kids and said, kids, run out and see if the dustman want to drink. But they went out and the dustman said, oh my God, yes, please. We'd love four glasses of ice cold water. You're the only people that have asked us. We have got water. It's in the trunk, but it's gone really warm. And it made me feel really sad. But yeah, no one would have wanted to have seen me in my bikini.

Or maybe they would. Who does you know. I don't like seeing myself in my bikini. but yeah, much you had a mat, mate, in it? Anyway, happy Friday! I bet everyone wants to see you in your bikini. Love yourself a little bit more. And luckily I just asked for four glasses for ice cold water

because you sort of left that open. Is there anything you want? Hey? Risky, isn't it? Is it? What if they said, yeah, would I want to have four cups of tea, for instance, or... I know it was hot, but they could have said anything.

Four pints. I think that's risky. Right, okay. And if you remember, I did realise I was in the bikini, but I was sort of already there. And I just sort of popped my head out to him when I offered the lolly. Yeah. I didn't sort of go out and flaunt myself, so to speak. No.

Natalie and Mark, although don't know whether to use Nat or Natalie now. Very good. Use what you like. I don't mind at all. Just listen to scraping the barrel at 2.4.1. We've done 241 of these? No, darling. but you've done 241 episodes of your podcast

Oh sorry fucking hell Yeah we do about one a month For a minute We would have been doing it for about 40 years But yeah you carry on 244 No one would be listening now

241s of these No chance When you talk about offering your postman An Ice Lolly I do this Just not in my bikini ha ha If I'm at the door, I'll always offer a drink, as will either food delivery people or any delivery person for that matter. In this extreme weather, an ice lolly.

The number that say yes or are so surprised and appreciative, small gestures go a long way. I've had a supermarket delivery driver having a cup of tea in my kitchen on a freezing day, and even the bin-lory driver was over the moon at being offered a squash as he needed to keep his sugar levels up from Heather. I mean, Heather's gone the whole hog there. I mean, imagine what the neighbours think. She's got delivery drivers in the kitchen. Yeah. Having a cup of tea.

Yeah. I don't know. I don't know if I'd do that. Well, I hope not. I'd offer something out. I don't know if I'd invite people in. Oh. I mean, if it was Laura, our long-time listener,

delivering something, she'd come in. Yeah? She'd probably have a bit of dinner. I mean, yeah, as if you'd invite a fan around to our house to come and sit inside the house. Just, you know, be a bit weird. Bless and light there, eh? Anna, I'm just listening to Scraping the barrel

and you offering the posty a lolly that I do the exact same and I think it is lovely and we should never change. If ever anybody delivers anything or I've done it for the binmen in the past where it's been hard and I've left ice lulls or some Coke Zero's out.

I've always got Coke Zero's the fridge because got a bit of an bit of an addiction. So yeah, last week especially, any Amazon deliveries, you know, daily, I was offering out Coke zeros. It's rare that they take me up on it, but when they do, I can see that they're really, really grateful. So, yeah, something's so miserable, Mark. I wasn't being miserable.

I was talking about it. It was nothing to do with offering the stuff. There's some funny old messages. Because that video, by the way, on the Instagram account. Because it had so many views There's quite a lot of comments And there's some very funny ones Some people that don't

I don't think they're necessarily fans of the podcast That have commented as well Oh that's all right I like them ones It's quite amusing The old Daily Mail readers It's quite funny They're all good

Hello Nancy Shine again You're not going to believe this But your postman reference Martin My husband is a postman And I've said it before And I'm saying it again

you must think I'm some kind of nutcase who whatever you say I come up and go, oh yeah, me, me, me, I've got that too. But I just can't believe that the things you say, there is some kind of connection to me. So yes, Martin's a postman, and we were having this very conversation last week because he was telling me that people are being really, really friendly and offering him water and something to drink when he knocks on their door with a parcel, or, you know, he pops a letter through the door and they catch him. And he said, I'm really, you know, makes me feel really happy that people want to do that.

He said, it's really kind. He said, trouble is, I can't accept the drinks on all of them because then I need to go for a wee. And there's nowhere to go. He delivers out around seven oaks. So it's like in the countryside. And I mean, he could just stop going behind a bush. We've had that conversation before. But yeah, so he tends not to take all the drinks.

So, of course, when I saw your Instagram thing today, as well as listening yesterday at the pod, I said to him, what would you do if a lady in a light of leopard skin bikini came running out at you to say, would you like an ice lolly? And he laughed and he went, I'll definitely take the ice lolly.

He said, I'm not sure about the leopard skin, leopard print bikini, but yeah, I'd definitely take an ice lolly. So, no, you weren't mad. You were very kind and very thoughtful, and there would have been hundreds of postmen who would have probably beaten down the door to get to your eyes lullies.

Take care. And just keep being you. Don't stop. Offer the next postman a nice lolly. And they will be truly grateful. Take care. Bye. I love Sean. Sean again, she says. Always messages. Every pod. Near Seven Oaks. Nice part of the world. Lovely part of the world down there. I remember there was a big electrical shop there, wasn't there? There were loads of tellies in it. Was it a Sony or something? Richard sounds. I just remember it loads of tellies in the window.

Yeah. What, in Sevenoaks? Yes. I don't know why. What a random thing. I know. Why were you in Sevenoaks? Oh, me and Jack Ryder.

I thought he was in Tumberjew Wales. He was, but we went to Seven Oaks a few times, having to wander around. Fair enough. Bless his heart. I've got a question for you. Spain of just obliterated France, by the way. We've just missed the semi-final there. No, that was Tuesday night.

Pardon? That was Tuesday night. People know that this is not on time, darling. They're not stupid. are they? We don't, don't mention, it's been like the wall. Don't mention the football. Don't mention the football.

And let's not talk about what happened last night. That's all brilliant and it's all good fun. But the football's on tomorrow night. There's a lot going on. I've bought a projector screen. I've bought a projector to take away with us. It's very, very stressful. Very, very stressful.

You'll be all right, won't you? Because you're at home. You'll be fine, won't you? Sit out at home watching it. I don't know if we're going to be able to stream it. I don't know what's going to happen. It's very, very stressful. Anyway.

Oh dear. We shall see. We shall see. I have to say, I was very upset to miss the Wimbledon men's final on Sunday. I had a wonderful event, actually, and I loved it. But I really, really enjoyed watching the tennis this year. Didn't watch as much as I'd hoped, but I watched enough to get excited. How was the final?

It was good. Was it well-matched? I didn't see. really any of it? Well, matched. As in... Yeah, I think it got... I think you could, as of always,

I think you can tell with tennis when there's like suddenly a turning point and just sort of happens in a space about 20 seconds. You can just see it happen. Yeah. And that kind of happened and that sort of...

Incredible, the tennis. Yeah. The mental side of it, being on your own. Yeah. I know you've got your team up there and they sort of go to their team and they look for their team

after each shot. But, you know, those solo sports, I've got a lot of time for them. The golfers, tennis players, racing car drivers. It's quite pressure, a lot of pressure. Saw a few fans of a pod when I was there. Saw Hannah. Saw Tim's mum. Saw...

Tim's wife? No? Yeah, I said Hannah. You said Tim's mum. Hannah, Tim's mum. I saw Hannah. I saw Tim's mum. Ah, there you go.

Bad grammar. It's all right. Well, I had some lovely, lovely messages from different people talking about Wimbledham saying they'd spotted you. Lots of people were playing Where's Marky? On the Patreon, they were shoving up pictures left, right and centre. So thank you for those. Very, very good. Steph sent a lovely picture of you.

Look. Lovely. Yeah, we had a few of those. Karen said, yay, Mark, I've just seen you on this. the telly at Wemburden, I've been looking out for you. So thank you, Karen. I got a photo sent. You're going to like this one? This was a good one.

Pauline said, complete and utter hats off to you. I was completely melted in the shaded part of the stand. How you work in over 30 degrees is incredible. True, it was hot for you, wasn't it, darling? Not a drop of rain for two weeks. It's been pretty hot in general, hasn't it? I know, but to sit and work in it. It was hot, yeah. Down the courtside it was.

Loads of people, sounds, I know how you do it, hats off. We had, in the second week, a lady called Katie, who's listener, was there. Yes. She managed to get a photo from quite close by. It's quite, it was almost like paparazzi style. So true. I was on my camera and then suddenly looked and there was a photo of me. I'm going to find it for you.

One moment, please. Oh, no, I'm not. It's a shame. Where is that then? What about that one? Who's that one from? Let's have a look. that's off the telly, isn't it?

Yeah. I think it's off the telly. I wasn't quite sure. Yeah. Don't know. Catherine in person. Is that a bit weird? Do you find that weird

that people are looking for you? Same thing happened last year, to be completely honest. No, but do you find that concept a bit strange, or is it fun for you? It's all right. I mean, it's not really the object of the exercise to be on telly. There was less this year. Mm. That's a bit more discreet.

You're very prominent, I find, on the old cameras. What do you mean? When you're on one that's on the telly, I always feel that you're sort of to the side. I've got a side mount viewfinder. I see. Some sort of stood looking. Do you remember, you text me, going,

get off your phone! I was like on the middle of a football match. In the middle of a tennis match. And I came off on my break, and there was loads of messages from you saying, get off your phone. No. You text kept, and it's because I was looking at a viewfinder, and it was side-mounted, and so I was looking down.

Oh, right, okay. But I thought, hang on, I've been doing that for two hours. Did you genuinely think for two hours? I was on British national television. No one's going to notice that, but I'm on a camera following a tennis ball on my phone. On the old dog and bone. Not going to happen, is it? Impossible. No, I don't remember that, darling at all.

One funny thing, you know, talking of the final. Yes. So. How all the stars. Did you spot a lot of stars? Well, obviously on the final, there are loads of people in. Yeah, every bloody day there's people there. Yeah, but on the final, they're everywhere.

And it was interesting because where I was for some of the final, we're at the sort of at the back of the tennis court, sort of looking towards the Royal Box. And those seats, where you came and sat my mum back time. Yes. And those seats tend to have people who have been in the Royal Box, over the couple of weeks, like little comp tickets, perhaps.

I don't know, I don't know what it is. And anyhow, on the way into the Camry, I have to sort of climb over people. So I come up to give Emma a break and I'm climbing over these, and I'm thinking, and as I'm climbing over,

I think, oh, I'll recognise you, recognise, oh, yeah, sorry, excuse me, and everyone's having a bit of a laugh and a chat and, you know, it's all very jovial. Of course. And then I sort of sit down and look back and sort of, it's almost like to survey the damage of who I've just climbed over.

It was like a load of people I didn't I recognized but I didn't know who they were. David Tennant was there. Oh, yeah, I like David. He was very polite, I climbed over him. And anyway, so that was that. But what was funny is we changed over cameras and Emma was sat next to me.

She'd just been on for a couple of hours. And there was this almighty champagne cork pop. Classic. But usually, that happens all the time at Orden. It happens every 20 minutes. But it happened. It was right behind. her by this camera, like absolutely, like, the seat behind.

And there was an exclamation of, like, you know, scream and whatever. And then Louis Faroo, this is the most surreal thing, isn't it? I look around. Louis Faroo grabs it, puts his hand over the end and stops it going everywhere. Yeah. And he just looked at me and he just went, wow. He was horrified at what, just that boy, was petrified. She just looked around, and she's like, blah.

And then the cork had like got wedged like under a seat and there's all this. Anyway, that about an hour later, I said, how funny, that was bizarre, wasn't it? What a strange situation. I mean, when you're at work, you're at work. Oh, and this champagne bottle went off beyond my head and it startled me. But it's all right because Louis Faroo put his hand over the end. Did it stop me getting wet? He found it, it's really weird, isn't it?

Strange life. You only think it's funny this. whilst while I'm doing the Wimbledon final working on it. Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah. Whilst that's going on, that's going on up there. I just found it funny. It is funny.

Random little anecdote, but you do see some funny people. I can really imagine Louis Fruh saying, wow, in his voice. He sort of looked over his glasses. Yeah. And I'll tell you about that. What got me after that, I wasn't starstruck in any way, but I did think, I mean, obviously,

the thing about Louis Fruh, because he does those long-form documentaries, You spend a lot of time watching him. Yes, you do, yeah. So it's an interesting one, that. It's not just, and not only that, he's done some pretty incredible things and met some incredible people.

Oh, yeah, he's an incredible man. I wonder how many other times we could say the word incredible. My fault, not yours. Better than lovely. Quite right. But when I say incredible people, obviously, you know, there's some dodgy ones and some also, yes, fascinating.

And I just thought, wow. Like, what have you, well, full circle. Now it's like James. Wow. Literally just bookended it. Wow. That was Louis Fero.

Brilliant. James' favourite word. He'll go, it'll do far if he carries on. Well, anyways, that was a fun little thing that happened on the last day.

Very good. I love watching it. David Beckham always goes with his mum, doesn't he? Yeah. Love that. Sandra. Yeah.

He wasn't there for the final though. No. He was at the football. He was at the football with Vicki, Vicki. She was well happy. She seemed very excited. Not in the photos that I've seen?

I'm being sarcastic. Oh, okay. I mean, it wasn't a drop of emotion in her, was there? Although I do really like her. Good luck to her. That's the way she sits. No, I don't think so. I just think she's probably there and she was hot

and thinking about loads of stuff, probably thinking about her next collection or when she's going to be the editor of Vogue or, you know what I mean? She probably got a lot on. It reminded me a little bit of when we went on the Festin-Yog Railway And the sort of face that you, Joni and Eliza were pulling for pretty much the whole weekend. The difference is the Festinio Railway hasn't really given me a better life, is it? You know the lady that mentioned Coke Zero's and having an addiction to Coke Zero's and having him in the fridge?

No. Are you joking? No. We've just listened to her voice note, Mark. No, we haven't. We've just listened to the lady talking about the postman and the binman and that she gives out Coke Zeros because she's addicted to them. Oh, I missed that one spit.

I heard about the give it out of Coke Zeros, not the... What I was going to say is we don't drink sugary drinks, do we? No. Only alcohol, obviously. Well, but... I think I was going to say, be carefully, because I think we more than make up for that. No, I know, but what I'm saying is we're not a house that would have fanta's or lilts or Coke Zeros. That's true.

The kids never drink it. We never drink water all the time. Water. Water filter gets hammered. It's flashing. It's redoing. All right. Can you do that for me?

Yeah. Thank you. Here's a lovely message. A little bit random, but I liked it. Hi, Nat. Hope you're well. I would just catch up with scraping the barrel from the other week. For some reason, I always listen to scraping the barrel when I'm in the bath.

I wonder if anyone else does this, but I'm just like always in the bath with you and Mark. Is that weird? I just find it so relaxing and just like, I don't know, and then you make me laugh. And it just makes the bath experience even better. Anyway, I'm just laughing at Mark's sort of stereotypical woo-woo person. And I'm in there with the sage and the crystals and the incense. But how funny would it be if Mark started getting obsessed with it? And then one day you wake up and he's just got chimes all over his train.

I don't know why I thought of that image, but Mark, you're going to get obsessed, babes, join the club. You're going to love it. Lots of love. Brilliant. Obsessed with what? Chains. Chimes.

Chimes. Right, okay. The moon stuff that I talk about. That's not going to happen. Sorry to disappoint. You never know. Okay. Why might I get obsessed with that?

Well, something might happen, and you might go in. to wanting to know a bit more about your inner self. Right. You might think about the world in a different way and think, oh, is it the moon that does that to us? Or are you just a lunatic? Or because we're over 90% water. And the moon, you know, absolutely...

Tell me this, right? You're an expert on the old moon. I didn't tell I was an expert. Sorry, you're into it. The tide? Mm-hmm. How does the tide work, Mark? That's my...

That was absolutely my question. How does it work? Oh, I don't like to tell me. Well, it's about the moon, isn't it? It's a gravitational pole. Of the... Oh, you know more than me. No, I mean, it's really interesting.

What I'm saying is, we're over 90% water. So how can we not be affected by the moon that controls the sea? I have to say, one thing I will say about the old moon, all joking aside, it is a bit weird because there have been many occasions where I felt a bit funny and I've looked outside and it is a full moon. Correct. The police say it. The police say they have their business nights when it's a full moon. Okay.

A&E. They know when it's a full moon, people working in A&E. Right. Major. Big thing. But going back to the gravitational pool of the moon and the tides. It is the gravitational pull of the moon. Yes. It draws the water up. So how do you think that that moon, if we're 90% water, doesn't affect us? I remember that lesson in Cornwall, when we were sat listening to the wishing of the ocean. So do I.

Very good. It's like the only thing I remember from geography. Is it? Yeah. What do I remember? I remember being quite excited about rocks. Different sort of rocks and erosion and doing a piece on that. Do you remember about longshore drift?

No As many people Now are with Longshore Drift No That's quite an interesting one I was probably on Albert Square that day It's quite a big subject Maybe it was a big block

Possibly Do you know what a spit does To stop longshore drift No Okay Do you have to do like rivers A few rivers Yeah

Do you have to do like a big assignment For geography Where you had to like study a river Not that I remember No What about that reading? No. Right.

Didn't really like geography very much. No. Just remember rocks, different names for them. I can't remember the names, but I found that quite interesting. And I love the weather. Well, like sedimentary. Yes. There you go.

That. I enjoyed that. Okay. Tell me about it. No, I really enjoyed that. I really liked to. Learning about clouds. I still to this day

love watching the weather after the news. I really, really respect weather people. Well, you could definitely tell me something because I don't understand about the different, I know like cumula limbus. That's it.

So what I've... Well, you had nimbus. Yeah. There was... What's Nimbus? I don't know. A nimbus cloud? No, I can't remember any of it.

Oh, okay. I'm just saying that I remember really enjoying those subjects. I see. They haven't stuck with me. No. But I've always liked the weather.

Lovely Jamie Brian's grandson, that's what he wants to study. Right. Meteology. Fascinating that. Yeah, I like that. I've just noticed.

If I look at you now, you've got like a white top on. If I forget about the life with that sign behind your head, you could be doing, be at the Wimbledon press office. Could I? Look at it.

Good at the background. I don't know. It's the Wimbledon colours. Why is at the back of my head, have I? No, but it's the same this side. Well, I don't know. The green and the thing. I don't know if it's pink.

What, it's Wimbled and pink now? Well, to be fair, it's more of, it's purple. Yeah, it's that sort of, that's for Wimbledron colours. Happy days. Sorry, I just realised that. It's a nice colour scheme, isn't it? There you go. I have to say, Claire Boulding is amazing at her job.

It's brilliant. She's brilliant, Claire Boulding. Really, really, really, at her job. Love it, actually. Very, very good. Very good floor manager she works with as well. Daniel? He likes to listen to the pod. He does. Hello, Daniel. Please you listen. Got quite a lot of ice cream messages. It's that time of year. Here we go. Hello, Nat and Mark, long-term listener and first time sending in a message. Just got back from a Yorker, or is it Malauca, so confused, and I've been there.

Well, I had to have a Maxibon, and I went for a classic. Well, so disappointing. I really can't see the fuss. An Oreo biscuit ice cream is so, so much better. Sorry, Mark. Love the pod, Emma. Love that you've messaged for the first time, even though you've listened from the beginning.

She had that much passion. She's not a fan, Mark. I can only apologise, but you're very lucky to have enjoyed one. Nisi messaged in £1.75 for a vionetta in I want to say I want to say waitrose but will they sell a vionetta? I don't know. Why are you guessing?

Because there isn't anything but I believe I realise the... Go on, let me guess. Hang on a second. The reason I'm guessing is because I feel like I know the font Right, let's have a look. This is like the logo game. It is.

Oh, what other clues? Oh, interesting. It could be the co-op. Oh, yeah, I think it's the co-op. It could be the co-op. But she has, I'm sure, Nisi would have said where the photo was taken, no? No. Okay.

Well, that was page one error, wasn't it, Nisi? Well. The seventh expires, so it's well spotted there. Hi Nat. Picture this. A nice sunny evening and after finishing the bedtime routine for a five-year-old and 11 week old, I thought I'd treat myself to a nice ice cream.

Well, deserve some might say, absolutely. In the trolley this week was a box of feasts. Yummy, one of my favourites, but imagine my absolute horror to find they no longer resemble the ice cream we know and love. First, your nice layer of chocolate with almond bits, nothing new here, as expected, but hiding underneath an abomination of vanilla ice cream instead of original chocolate. Hey?

How can that be a feast? That would then usually be followed by a nice solid chocolate centre. Yeah? Oh no. Not anymore. The middle is now a softer hazelnut chocolate. Oh. No longer a feast, just an imposter.

Hiding in the rapper, might as well give it a new name. Let's just say, evening ruined as soon as I finished eating it, I thought only Mark will appreciate my disappointment. I do understand that. Anyway, I've not messaged in before, and I'm currently 11 weeks behind on the pod since the arrival of my new little boy, but I'll get a nice surprise when I've caught up if you read out my message. Love the pod.

Please keep doing what you're doing from Haley. Congratulations on your son. You definitely deserved a little rest. and a nice ice cream that you were really looking forward to. Why do they change things, especially without flagging it up? It's a piss take. It's weird as well because you say feast.

I've not had a feast since I was about 10, but I remember, don't... Please don't do that again. Natalie. Feasts. It's really repulsive. Fabs. Phabs.

Fabs are right? No. Well, Fab was used to be out. Fab was like quite a... You know, that was sort of after school, Lolly. I've seen my latest post about fab ice cream? No. I'm not going to talk about fabs anymore.

All right. Why's that? Because I've done a chat about fabs. Oh. I'm not going into it now. Oh, right. Okay. When did you do that then?

With Kate Butch, my drag friend. Oh, right. Someone mentioned via ice pop. You know the long ones? Mr. Freeze is? For long things that were like that. Mr. Freeze? You're dabbard of news, millions of them.

Mr. Freeze. And he used to have to, like, do that and you do that of it. I mean, you'd like squeeze it. The end would like pop out. Yeah. You know what I mean? Those little...

I missed to freeze. Is it that? They used to do long ones. Yeah. But they, they'd have a 30p, I think. Not now. Right anymore. 20p.

And then they used to do a medium length size. When you eat a Calipo, how'd you eat it? Do you like a Calipo? I do like a Calipo, yeah. It's a classic. Because you have to peel it. Yep. And then what I do is I...

You try and do something with it. That's right. Can I roll it. It doesn't come out. You roll it. Yeah. I go straight in because I'm impatient, as you know. Bite the end.

Push it up with my teeth. Right. That's what I do. How does that work? Push it out with your teeth. The end. Oh, with the bottom? Yeah.

The bottom, you push it up? Yes. How'd you do that? With your teeth. Just gives it that. Oh. Yeah, I do like a Clippo, yeah. That surprises me.

Yeah, they're right, those. Because it's not, I'll tell you what we've got in the fridge that's nice. A berry Salero, yes, please. All right. Actually, you know, I like currents, black currant, raspberries, blueberry, you know what I mean? I like a, I like a fruit, I like a summer fruit, a berry. What's funny?

Speaking of puns. Puns of what? Like to stay current, current kind of girl. Very, very good. Yeah. just make myself laugh without having to say anything. You've made me say it now. I've realised I'd just walk past or we've got a very, very large mouse in the house.

Oh my dad, the ghost of him, just wondering about. He used to stand in doorways a lot and aggravate. Possibly. Just saw Robbie Williams on Instagram and instantly thought of Mark. Sorry, it's Gem from Milton Keynes, by the way. Have a look at this photo. With Robbie Williams' outfit. Let's have a look.

For everybody listening, Robbie Williams has got sort of a two-piece silk what I can only describe as a pyjama set but it's covered in different types of tropical ice creams. How funny? I'll have to see where that's from. You could have a little shirt like that, babe. No, I'm all right, thank you.

Why? It's hideous. Yeah, it's all right. But yeah, interesting. It's like the side of an ice cream ban. Yes, exactly that. That's how I'd describe it. Hi, Nat.

I'm in Monarcha at the moment and I thought I'd send you a mark a pick of all the different flavour Maxi Bonds they sell over here. I think Mark would be in his element. Absolutely love your podcast and I've listened since day one. You and your lovely family

keep me entertained on my morning runs and evening walks. Keep doing what you're doing. Love Kirsty from Dorset. Thank you, Kirsty. We all really, really appreciate it. Sometimes you get the odd message and it really, really means something. Have a listen to this.

Hey, nah. Amy from Bulldock here. of my voice notes has been played on the pod before, which I was so excited for about the time when Mark took the mouse away from his mouse family. But just wanted to say thank you really because I'm a single mum. I've always had a bit of an interest in possibly becoming a paramedic, but obviously to retrain when you're a single mum and do shift work. My daughter's only two is a bit, is a lot, basically. I was watching your care documentary. And I saw the section you did about St John's ambulance.

And I never knew that they were mainly a volunteer-based organisation. So when I say, I paused your documentary, went on their website, applied to be a volunteer emergency responder for Hertfordshire, straight away, got an interview. And then I found out on Monday that I've got the role. So I'm just waiting for my start date for my training. But obviously once I've trained up, I'll be volunteering at local events and will be trained with life-saving skills. So I just wanted to say thank you really. One for the pod, because I absolutely love it. I've been a listener since day one.

And two, just for the documentary and the fact I found out about St John's ambulance. And now I've got a volunteer role with them. But yeah, Amy from Bulldoch. And love you all. Bye. Isn't that lovely? That is absolutely brilliant that Amy has done that.

And look what she said. Oh, and also to add on to that, I actually, when they said in my interview, why do you want to join St John's? I actually mentioned your documentary and one of the ladies that was interviewing me also listens to the pod. So we had that in common

and we started to, I was like, oh my God, the pod's so good, isn't it? And so yeah, that was a, you were actually brought up in my interview as well. But yeah, thank you again. Isn't that fantastic? Well done, Amy. Brilliant. Great thing to volunteer for.

I never ever knew that St John's ambulance was charitable either. All volunteers. Didn't know that. Why are you looking at me funny? I'm not looking at you funny. Amy didn't know it? No. Loads of people didn't.

No. When you're out at a concert or the marathon, you see them all. Yeah, yeah. I just think, oh, it's the ambulance people. Paul. Incredible what they do. Amazing. About the R&LI. Oh, they're brilliant. Volunteers.

Listen, if you want to talk about the R&I, you know you need to talk to, don't you? Oh. Joe Wilkinson? You're joking. I've listened to the episode where he's completely obsessed with them. There's a staff one, isn't they, on the Thames? He's obsessed. Yeah. I mean, me and Joe Wilkinson have got a lot in common.

You have actually. So that doesn't surprise me. And David. Yeah, and David. When are you going to come on Chatterbix, by the way? We've mentioned this before. No, this is ridiculous. Why are you not on it?

I don't know. Maybe I should just message them and say, boys, where's them? Yeah, what's happening with Natsabics? Yeah. We need to catch up. Yeah. I don't know if they've gone a different way or. We've got a different way.

Well, it is what it is, isn't it? I don't think they've, I mean, to be fair, they go several different ways anyway. Yeah, that's true. The sort of subject matter. Well, maybe they just think, oh, she's busy. I won't bother her because she's doing her own way. I know. I loved it.

It was my favourite. It was a Christmas special. It's a night. It's a night. Yeah, I mean, they've even got the theme chain. I know. I'll send them a message. I mean, I actually made me want to send a message.

I will. I'll do it. I will. Yeah. Anyway, there we go. What a lovely pod. I felt like that was a really lovely catch-up with everybody. Loads of voice notes.

Thank you so, so much. They really do make the pods. Please don't ever forget that. Never feel silly. Never think, oh, I've sent one last week. I won't do it again. Just keep sending them in. Keep sending in your thoughts.

Theory, stories, what you think about, what we're talking about. It really means the world. And you do try and play them all out, don't you? I try my best. But naturally, it's impossible. You get a lot of messages. Yeah. But, you know, I choose a few.

You certainly get for a lot. Yeah, I think I do quite well. To be fair. I agree. But no, it's great, isn't it? It is good. from everybody. I also want to say thank you to anybody and everybody who has joined Patreon.

It's going great guns over there. Tomorrow, Friday, there is a very niche special going out. Which actually, these episodes are the reason why I wanted to do a Patreon. Again, going back to Chatterbix. I'm getting to edge of my seat now. Well, getting back to Chatterbix, what I love is that you can do anything you want on there. Right. Because it's such a small audience of people.

Yeah. That really love you. you is they're paying money to listen to you and getting the old bonuses. You can really do what you want. And the other night, Tony and I had had a couple of drinks and we did 25 minutes on Portaloo's and where we've had unusual poos. It's not for the faint-hearted.

It's one to not listen to when you're eating. It is absolutely hilarious. Tony is hilarious. I was so shocked. The stories he told me. And I even said, are you sure you're happy with this? And he said, yeah, no, of course,

because it's for Patreon. Hilarious. You could never, ever put it out on here, ever. So that's what I mean. You can put out really. And you contributed to this as well? A little bit. Ugh.

Yeah, a little bit. Not loads. But it's very, very funny. And again, you can concentrate on people. I'm only trying to get people to sign up. It's... It's... It's great. It's great.

And you and I need to do one. You're going to do a steam engine special for me, aren't you? No, I'm not. Why are you not going to do 20 minutes? Oh, okay. I'll do a little 20 minute steam engine spash. Yeah, but you've got to be on it. No.

I can't do it on my own. No one's to hear that. But maybe you and Tim, you could phone someone. We need to get Francis Bajuer on, really. We do, yeah. But that's really a main app. He could sit there, couldn't he? Yeah.

He's proper. You know, he's just, signs up for the old, the old, what's he called? Top Gear? No, the other one. Okay, anyone help me.

Prime. What's it called? Grand Tour. He's on there now. Right. Did I not tell you that? No, I thought you said he was on Top Gear. I think I probably did,

and I think I probably meant a Grand Tour. Anyway, don't forget, please, if you fancy some bonus stuff, sign up to Patreon. Book Club is also. back next week on Patreon, and that's me and Ro Roe talking about Kathy Burke's book. Next week on this pod, there's a lovely

birthday special, all about Ro Roe Roe Turning 40. We've also got a really lovely episode with a guest listener, which is fantastic. Really enjoying doing a few different ones at the moment as well, you know? And because it's holidays, and as everybody knows, we're all away,

a family are away, we're really, really busy. I will never, ever fail to get one out to you. They may be a little bit different. Let me know what you think, but it's sometimes nice. A change is as good as a rest, I say, and at least we're not off. Don't forget that tickets are on sale for our live shows at the end of the year. If you go to live withnappod.comi.comi.comi.comi, k-o-m-i. And you'll find everything there. And there we go. That was lovely. Thank you so much, darling.

My absolute pleasure, darling. What a lovely evening having a chat with you. It certainly was.