Life with Nat - EP267: Tony talks #26 - The only constant in life is change

Episode Date: September 27, 2026

Refurb or relocate, Nat's celebrity lift sharer, and Tony's pant updateGet 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.

Hiya. Just wanted to check in and say, hope Tony's okay. As much as I've been loving all pods while recovering, which is still not going great four weeks on, I've noticed it's been a while since we've had a Tony Talks, and I'm missing the sound of his soothing voice, which I think I need right now. Have a fab weekend.

That was from Trudy. Well, Trudy, your dreams have come true today. Here we are with a Tony Talks. You all right, Tone? Hello, Trudy. How are you? Yeah, Trudy's not been well, bless us. So get well.

Yeah, get well soon, Trudy, yeah. Yeah, definitely. It does feel like you've not been in here for about 10 years. I'm a bit nervous. No. I am, yeah. Yeah, it feels such a long time. It feels like my first time all over again.

Really? Really? You've been good. Yeah, not so bad. Yeah. Yeah, had a nice, half-decent summer. It's been right. You, you've been all over the place.

All over the place, yeah, busy, busy. Good. But it's, I don't know about you, but come in. in here, this sort of time of night, it's what is it, quarter past eight, whatever. Yeah. But it's that autumnal, it films now, well, the room's not baking.

No, that's good. It feels quite comfortable in it, isn't it? It does, and I've come to the conclusion. It might be a little bit, yeah, I don't know. I don't know if I should say it, I don't really like autumn. You don't like autumn? No, I don't. Oh, it's a massive one.

Sorry, I don't. Can we have some, I don't like the autumn smell. Autumn's got a smell. It has got a smell. I like it. I like spring smell. I like smell of spring.

Don't like autumn. No. Smells a bit cats pissy at times. Can do. Can't explain it. It's that you're sort of straddling summer and winter, aren't you? So that's the uncertainty of, are we going to have a late summer?

Or are we going to have an early winter? Don't like it. I like to know where I am. Fair enough. summer, winter's winter. Spring I like, because obviously you're coming out of those January that's got 3,000 days in it and all the rest of it. So we're coming out of that, aren't we?

And we're going, looking forward. Yeah. Six months of relatively nice weather and stuff. So, yeah, don't really like autumn. I love the seasons. I don't say, yeah, I'm not saying I don't like the seasons. I think we need the seasons. But I think even though I don't like winter, really, because of what I do and stuff.

But sometimes there is a bit of a finality about winter. There's a, it's nice and structured and it's nice and stable winter normally. It's dark, go home, get in, you know, you're in. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? It's sort of, you know where you are. With autumn, I'm sort of in the middle of nowhere. I'm sort of flapping about a bit.

Well, I know what you mean to an extent when it comes to sort of clothing. Oh, God. Don't get me on that one. Because I went out this morning. Yeah. And I had a... Balaclava. Blalava.

Gloved. Mums old fur on, fox fur. All done it. All wrapped round. And then by 10 o'clock, you had your bikini on. It is, though. It's like that, isn't it? It is like that, isn't it?

Exactly that. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly that. Yeah. Yeah. It's definitely layering up. Yeah.

And taking off as the day goes on. Well, I went to well, because it was quite chilly this morning. It was chilly. It felt chilly. Yes. So I had a t-shirt under my work t-shirt, my 21 t-shirt, my red one. Yeah. So it feels a bit chilly.

And then I put a fleece on to get in the van. So for the first time in six months, I've actually got some clothes on. And got to work. And it was the house working in because there's no one in there. It was a bit chilly. By 10 o'clock, I was sweating. I was rolling off me. Soaking wet.

Yeah. You know? So, yeah. It is all about the layers. Yeah, the clothing thing really does. does you in a bit this time of year definitely but I do

I love the leaves I like the colours I like the smell I like that damp sort of it reminds me going back to school and maybe because you ate it you didn't like school

I did like school that's probably what it is yeah you hated it whereas I don't remember hating school I quite enjoyed it and I even

walking the children the girls to school it reminds me of that when they're a little more than school yeah I know what you mean yeah so I do I do think smells and all of that.

It does play a big part in the how you feel. Yeah, definitely. Very good. Very good. We digress. We've got loads of messages. Really?

Mm. Loads. This one I sent you. And sometimes I just think with me and you, it's really nice to read out things that really matter. Yeah. Hi, Nat. I messaged back in December about my son homeschooling.

A lot's house. happened since then and I had to stop listening to the pod for a while, but I've come back and it's making life feel normal again. So that's lovely. We took our son out of school and it was a bumpy start, but six weeks in, we found our groove. The start of the February half term, my husband had a terrible accident and broke his neck and back. Our life turned upside down. He's been away from home since February the 16th and is due to come home next week. He's unfortunately paralyzed from the chest down so life will be different. Not horrible though, we are all really positive. I'm now homeschooling my younger child too as it's been so positive and having their dad's home soon

will help. We have had to close our business down and looking to move as our house isn't suitable. But with all that said, I'm so grateful to still have my husband and the boy's dad with us as it very nearly wasn't the case. I couldn't listen to the pod as my life had changed so much but slowly, after the last few weeks, I've started to listen again and I feel so settled. Thank you so much for the pod. Isn't that lovely? It is, yeah.

Wow. What a life change? Yeah, life is so... Just anything can happen. It's a knife edge, isn't it? Yeah, anything can happen at any time. And hearing that and the decision to, you know, homeschool and having all that sort of stress

and then something out of the blue just bang. obviously life-threatening, thought she was going to lose him. Yeah. And having him back home, that change and what he's going to go through and the house and all that doesn't matter because he's there. Yeah. And I just unbelievable positive, isn't it? Yeah.

Which is, I suppose, it's difficult to look at these things sometimes and find positivity in it. But with that, that's such a positive message out of obviously such a terribly difficult time. Yeah. So I wanted to say, thank you so, so much. And I'm pleased you're back listening. And I hope it all goes well.

Yeah. And I hope he's home and the boys are doing really well. Maybe we can have a little update in a few months as to how to getting on. Yeah. That'd be really lovely, wouldn't it? Yeah, it would, yeah. Before we get into our stuff, there's a couple of things I've got to ask. Go on.

This is an ongoing thing. Yeah. I spoke about a couple of weeks ago. What is, do you think, Yeah. In your kitchen, the most useless something you've bought for the kitchen that sits in the cupboard? Well, no, sorry, can we change it slightly? Is that possible?

Yes, for you. So for me, the most useless thing in my kitchen of all the appliances, everything we've got is the dishwasher. Oh, you hate it, don't you? Just fucking don't know how it works. What do you mean? I just look at it and I don't know when anything goes like stuff ends up upside down I've broken two dishwashers

because I just put stuff in it and then the thing tries to spin round and it stops and it blows the dishwasher up But that is ridiculous for a man of your skill and craft But I don't know I just literally dishwashers are they are a black art They're a complete anomaly to me

I don't understand them I know you put plates in the bottom bit Yeah That's it When it goes to loading it with glasses And putting things in here And little bits there And I break a few glasses

I just cannot I just look at it Right And I just said to Sharon Look Can I just get a plastic bowl And do the wash nut Please just let me do the wash of

She won't Obviously she won't have that Because we've got our new kitchen Right So she loads the dishwasher But I just come clueless with it Absolutely clueless. Isn't that funny?

Honestly, and I've watched to do it. I've watched to do it, and I still won't know, I still don't know how to do it. I'd bake it again. Yeah, it's a funny one. Yeah. But you like washing up?

I do. I'd like washing away all the crap and the stuff, you know, like, I thought, don't mind washing up. Look, we probably had various gizmos and bits and pieces before. We definitely had an ice cream, that we never used. Yeah.

There was probably some things that were stuck in a corner cupboard that we just never ever went near. Definitely. But I think most of the stuff now, because everything's so expensive now, we really, not maybe,

Sharon really researches stuff. Yes. You know, she looks at reviews and makes sure that when she buys something, it's the right, as best as we can, it's the right thing.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, fair enough. But sorry, for me, yeah, the most pointless thing in the world in the kitchen for me is a dishwasher. I just can't use it. Yeah, see where I was. I don't know what I'd do without my dishwasher.

But yours is different. Right. Because yours is a pull-out, it's a big draw. Yeah, I've got two drawers, yeah. Exactly, so you put stuff in the drawers. Yeah. We've got racks and stuff and... Yes.

And there's a rack at the top, and I try and put something in it's too big, so that it gets stuck. For anyone listening to this who doesn't know your craft, would think you're like... got two left hands. Well, yeah, just some sort of poet or something, a bohemian person. Yeah, no, no, no, I'm very hands-on.

What is interesting, though, and it is, when we got the new kitchen, A, you do a dishwasher where you pull out the, you know, very bottom thing, and there's a handle on it, and you touch the handle, and it comes up. So the bottom thing comes, actually sort of counter-leavers up towards you to make it easier to put,

the stuffing. Oh, okay, yeah. So normally it's at six inches or whatever, eight inches above the floor. Yes. But this one, you pull it out, pull the handle, and then the whole thing comes up two foot.

So you haven't got to do your backing? So you haven't got to do your backing, and she never uses it. Yeah, I mean... So whenever she's loading it, Shannon, she's bending down, doing it. I say, use the handle. Oh, no, it's all right.

I'll do it like this. Yeah. I get that. Yeah. I do get it. Yeah, yeah. I don't know if I would have, oh, I'd use that. Because obviously I've been done to do mine.

Yeah, no, yeah. And I've done it once and nearly broke it, so I never touched it again. Seriously, I'd nearly, there was sort of, there was a big creak and a bit of a bang and a squeak, and I thought, I'm not touching that. Leave it. I'll leave that alone. And that is not a wind-up. That is absolutely true.

If you said to me, there's a load of plates and stuff and glasses and whatever, Fulks, cutlery, a few jugs. Some bowls, and you went, load the dishwasher. I'm 90% certain that an hour later that dishwasher would be broken. It would not work because stuff had all got stuck in it when the thing spins round and whatever, I don't know. Yeah, just... Just terrible. Failure with dishwasherers.

Yeah, yeah, completely. Listen, if that's the only thing you can't do, I think we're okay, if I'm honest. And another thing, before we move on. And another thing? And there's another thing. Hope You're well. This is really funny.

I've got to keep it anonymous. Right, okay. But she's already had... Anon. She's already had a real rage about this. And I do believe that me and the girls spoke about it, right? Right.

Me and Ro Ro Ro and Ells. I think we spoke about it. But she's messaged again, so it's really aggravating her, right? Okay. Hi, guys, hope you're well. Just wondering your thoughts on people selling things you've bought for them,

on Vintid, please. I did briefly speak to Nat about this when I was incandescent with rage and I'd still like to know what you think will have to be anonymous as it's a family member. Right. So I wondered your thoughts. Let's get a different take on it.

You've bought somebody a present. Yeah. Sharon's gone to all the trouble in the world, right? She's thought about it because she's a great present by her, Sharon. She's gone to John Lewis or whatever she's done and she's taking the time and then she's on vintage with Evie for some reason. and she sees her family member, me, let's say, I've put my shoes that she bought me, for instance,

up on Vinty for sale about two weeks later. It's not good practice that, is it? Well, I think it depends what the scenario is. So if you found out what that person wants, so if you've just gone and bought a random pair of shoes, yeah. So, our answer to that always is, put the receipt in the box.

Yes. If you don't like the present, you can take it back and change it for another one or give voucher or get the money back. Yeah. So if we buy a random present, but I think we've bought you some gym stuff before and Sharon said, I don't know if that's going to like it.

So she's put the receipt in the bag to say, look, which is basically saying, look, if it's not for you, we don't mind if you want to go and change you for something else, whatever. So I think that's the first thing is that if someone's said, I would like that or, you know, would you get me that, and you've bought it for them. And they've then put it on Vinty. I think you've got a reason to be a bit fed up.

So you do think if, oh, that's interesting because I think it's really bad. Even if you've not picked something, a birthday present, even if it's a surprise, it's your birthday present. And I do think you should be grateful for that present. I think you should be grateful for it, but then if you don't want it, sell it two weeks later, sorry. It's like the moon pig gate all over again.

I don't know, but I think it depends on who you're dealing with. So if you're dealing with people with really, you know, sort of, they're, I don't know, they've got very high sort of sensibilities. They're very, you know, they're not, what am I trying to say?

If you're dealing with someone that gets the amp very easily, various things. Yeah. So they might get the umpiff. They say to you, do you want to come home for lunch next Sunday

and you go, well, we can't because we've got a previous engagement and then they don't talk to you for six weeks because of it. Well, no, that's ridiculous. No, but I'm saying,

I'm talking about the person. Mm. So the person that you've bought for or who has bought for you, if they're reasonable and normal and they'll just go, oh, it is what it is,

you know, and you don't like it and you've put it on vintage or so what, you know, blah, blah, blah. But other people, that would be a reason

to stop talking for someone So that's the thing I'm talking about, is that it depends on the person. I know it does, but I still think putting up, if I'm right or maybe right, this could be, do you know what, this could be another person, this could have been a completely different person. But the last person that spoke about Vinted, she'd bought her nephew a present or something, and it was a toy. Yeah, I think that's, yeah.

So, you know, it was a toy, and then the next minute it was being sold. And she thought, it wasn't clothes or something that didn't fit. I think it was actual object. Yeah. No, I do understand that. I definitely understand that. But again, I don't know, maybe I'm, I just see things in black and white. But with your kids, we will ask you,

yes. Look, it's Lys's birthday. What do we get her? It's Joan's birthday. What do we get her? So rather than buying a load of crap, we're going to end up in landfill or vinted, we tend to try and, you know, we tend to try and make sure that we're buying something that is wanting.

And I think the more I think about that, I agree with you, lots of people now, we all do it. What would you like? Is it going to be nice, you know? But then I think it is nice, for instance, for Sharon's birthday, I was away. And it was a bit risky, but I just saw a couple of things that were very personal. But handmade, you're never going to buy them anywhere else. It's an independent shop. I think that's slightly different. But, you know, I haven't asked her.

I thought of her. Yeah. And I think sometimes a present should be that. Yeah, yeah. That you think of someone. I think, oh, that's so whoever. And that'll be lovely. So the whole present-giving thing is a, I mean, it's a complete maze, isn't it?

But that's what it boils down to. And it came, what I find is just writing out lists of things you want. Like, it's very different, actually. You say, Sharon or say, what's a, what do the, the girls want, but it will be, it will still be around, I still don't know exactly. No, so it might be that, I might be this, she likes this or, and then I won't know exactly what it is. When you're sending people, which, which does happen, because everybody's busy, you want to know what it is, you're sending people the exact thing that they want or whatever.

I just feel like it doesn't make it as special as it should be. Presence should be a fault for that person. Yeah. I do it all the time. I've just done it with Amelia's birthday and Elisa send me some bits I've done it

I don't know what everyone else is buying and send me what she so you do do that you know you can't help but do that Maria yeah but I think well you're coming from this sort of rose-tinted you know lovely happy place

where you sort of spot something in the shop and you know you send it off and everyone loves it and it doesn't work like that it just doesn't you know people now because life is tough and everything's so expensive sorry I think it's incumbent

upon you as a present buyer to do some research and make sure that what you're going to give that person they in some way, shape or form won it, need it, like it, whatever. Let's say it's your birthday next week and I went out and bought you an orange

cardigan. Lovely. Let's just say, right? Orange cardigan. It cost me 200 quid. Yeah. Cash me at orange cardigan. You get it and you hate it. What are you going to do with it? You're going to chuck it. You're going to leave it in the bottom of the wardrobe, you're going to give it to the charity shop, or you go, hang on a minute,

I can earn 150 quid here. Yeah. I think the present giver, I'm afraid, I think needs to take a bit of responsibility because you can't just buy someone a load of old shit and then if they don't like it. But it might not be a load of old shit. No, I'm not saying it is. I'm not. All right.

You can't potentially buy someone a load of old shit. No, not a load of old shit. That's wrong. Sorry. All right, let's, if you potentially buy someone something that they don't want, need, like, whatever, then you've got to be prepared for. I know, but shouldn't you be appreciative? That's what I'm saying. Why?

Because I think it's really rude. Why would you? If someone bought me something that was, clearly, I'd never going to wear it, don't want it, don't need it, and I opened it, and I just go, I'd say, what the fuck is that? What's that all about? Mark, Mark, could you return that leper print? G-string for Tony for Christmas. So his favour. He's going to put it on Vinted.

No. No, I like this conversation. I'm not saying, we don't know the specifics of it. I know. This is the problem. Of all these things we get, we get loads, hundreds of questions. Yeah.

And we don't know the specifics of both sides. And all I'm saying is, is that for me, if someone sent me, I wouldn't probably want to sell it on Vinted because I couldn't be bothered, I'd probably just, I'd keep it for you and put it in skip. Yeah. because I couldn't be,

I wouldn't be asked to go and list it and, you know, because I don't do that sort of stuff. So it would, and it's happened, some people have bought me stuff before and bits and pieces.

And you've never, like when I was younger, and you've never worn it, you've never used it, and then you put it in the loft and then every six years we have a clear-out, big skip,

it all goes in that with the ball games. Unbelievable. It really is unbelievable. I'm moving on. I'm moving on. Lisa Richmond. Yes.

One of our lovely members of the family over at Patreon. She sent a picture, my latest fishing trip. Oh, oh yes, I saw this. Yeah? I was carp fishing, but I caught an eel instead. After being inspired by Tony talks about fishing, I've started going and I'm completely hooked, excuse the pun. Any advice on best baits to use for carp going into winter or

Other winter tips for fishing in general. Thank you both, Lisa from Shefford. You've got Lisa fishing. How about that? That's brilliant. Well done, Lisa. That's fantastic. I love it. I love it.

We've got, you know what? It's brilliant. We have got it. I match fish. We've got some amazing female anglers. And I mean, they'll bash me up off the next peggot. You know, they're brilliant. Yeah, yeah.

Honestly, some of them, Kayley Dowd, she's up north, Sam Sims. She's from, wherever she's from down near, Bournemouth. I think she's down that way, I don't know. But she, you know, they come. compete with the blokes and whatever. And I love it. I love to see it.

So, to answer the question, big, big subject. So well done on catching an eel because there's not a lot of them about. So that's, even though she didn't mean to catch it, it's a memorable catch because it was quite rare now. So going into the winter fishing for cart, right, so number one is, I don't know what you set up is and stuff. If you're just going during the day and not camping out at night, I wouldn't think you're camping out at night.

But if you just go during the day, number one, winter fishing, you've got to be comfortable. So you've got a proper warm clothes, good warm boots, toe warmers. Even with warm boots, I get cold toes. So I buy the little toe warmers that you take out the packet. Yeah, it's like tea bags. Yeah, put them in. So you get, you can now get, um, uh, you can get coats and stuff that are heated, good umbrella. So if you do have some inclement whether you can get under it, a chair that makes sense and is nice, uh, take a flask. So just be comfortable generally. That really, that's really important, we're winter fishing. And if you're fishing with carp in the winter, a lot of the time carp, once the temperature drops, they will shawl up very

tightly and they virtually go into hibernation. They're sort of dormant. So you can still catch over the winter, but you've got to find the fish. So that's number one. And number two, I think, again, some of my friends are more carpy anglers than I am, but you don't want protein-rich bait in the winter. So things like boilies and stuff that's got lots and lot of protein in it, which are brilliant during the summer months because they feel the fish, like the fish are and their water temperatures up and they're gnawing away and they're eating and, you know. So protein rich stuff like boilies and that type of bait is probably a no-no. So I'd probably look at things like bread.

Good old-fashioned bread is very good. Sweet corn is very good as a winter bait. And then they do these other things, like these little fluorescent and coloured pop-ups, which are little semi-boyant baits that hang off the bottom. Probably that sort of thing. But the main thing I think is to try and find the fish. because if you find the fish you'll catch them but you won't, in the summer they will come to you

because it's warmer, they're more active, they're because they're more active, they feed more, but in the winter, you know, I've seen, I've seen in matches, I've seen someone have £200 pound of carp there and the guy next to win blank in the winter where those fish will not move, they just sit there and they're there.

So you have to find them. If you find them, then you'll catch a few of them. Right. It's a big subject, but generally, that's my... tips for winter carp fishing. Very good. And I love that. I really loved that she was inspired by you.

Well, I haven't inspired many people in my life, so that's quite a big one, actually. That's brilliant, isn't it? I'll tell you what was funny. Your picture you put on. Did you like it? I did like it. I thought, so Tony posted a picture on the family chat on Patreon yesterday.

I found a yellow beret on a job. We're clearing the job at the moment. We're doing a lot of sort of clearing demolition. and in the back of an old wardrobe was a yellow beret. I went a bit a low-a-low. Yes. There's been a few U-Bettys. O'Bettys.

Oh, better, yeah. A bit of Frank Spencer. But the main one was from the Don the Prawn. Yes. Because Dawn's prawns all wore pink berets to a show, if you remember. So now someone has actually put you... A photos shot you in. Photos shot you in with a pink beret.

Yeah. And I will pop it up for anyone who's watching the pod. Go for it. Definitely. Because I think she messaged me and said we have pink ones. And I said, oh yes, I should have got a pink one to match my eyes. My bloodshot eyes.

Very, very good. Okay, on to a little bit of the stuff that matters. Okay, yeah. Building. Far away. Advice on your stuff. Hi, Nat and Tony. First time messaging in.

Thank you for messaging. I've been listening from the beginning, and I absolutely love the podcast. It's my go-to listen. My partner and I are looking to move house soon and I have found a bungalow we like. I'm having to downsize due to ill health and I want to make sure we're making the right decision.

What are the things we need to be looking out for? Thank you, Bex. Oh, blimey. It is again quite a while. It's monstrous. Where'd you start with that? Well, I mean, there's the obvious, obviously, it's not just a building thing, is it?

So the obvious one is make sure you like the area you're moving to. Yes. So bungalows, they are a particular sort of type of lifestyle, if that makes sense, being all on the ground floor. I'd be really happy in a bungalow. I'd love a bungalow. Yeah, I agree. I agree. So with buying any property, look, people do surveys, and I'd be honest with you, most of the time they're not worth the paper they're written on.

People pay a lot of money for surveys. And there's so many caveats and exclusions in there that even if there's a problem, you're never going to prove that the survey. was negligent. Really? Oh, absolutely. Wow. Absolutely. We've just started a large property local to us, a complete refurb.

And I saw the survey report that was 110 pages long and I read it. And it was basically 110 pages of saying, this is a house and we can't really access any of it. Therefore, we can't tell if anything's wrong with it. Right. You know. Helpful. Not very helpful. So for me, if you're not very helpful, so for me,

If you find a property that you like, on the basis is going to be in your local area, hopefully. I get lots of calls from people that say, we're looking at buying a property. Would you mind coming around and having a look with us? Yes. Because what I do, I'm not a surveyor that's talking about, I don't know, you know, whether the roof tiles are red or brown or whether the chimney needs a bit of pointing. I'm going to go in and say, look, that's dated, that's dated. Boiler looks like it's 15 years.

old. Electrics look a bit knackered. So people go in thinking we're going to downsize. We need to release equity and some money. We need to... And before you know it,

you're going to the new place and you're in for 30, 40 grand doing a bar from a kitchen, a rewire, plumbing, this, that, whatever. So I think that's really important that you understand what you're buying. What you're going into.

Not where it is and what it is and whether it's falling down, but what you're going into, the superficial stuff, if you like, that you wouldn't necessarily recognize. You know, people would go in and go, that's a boiler,

there's a boiler on the wall. Well, I would look it and go, that's probably 15 years old. It's probably the end of its useful lives. That's going to cost you three and a half grand or whatever it is, you know. Yeah. And so the other thing with bungalows is, like generally in the south,

so most bungalows, you don't get many that were Victorian bungalows. No. So what are they, 60s? Some of them are just after the war. All right. 50s. Okay.

60s. So there's an asbestos issue with some of them. Yeah. So you do, I'd have an asbestos report done just to be on the safe side because I've seen stuff in roofs, eaves and stuff like that made out of asbestos.

It's not an issue. Asbestos isn't a problem as long you don't touch it. Yes. If you start getting up there and drilling Christmas lights into it and stuff like that, then it can be an issue. So I think asbestos is something to look out for bungalows because they were built in an era

when a lot of it was used. Yeah, fair enough. And then silly things like the windows and it sounds silly, but the windows, you want the windows to be able to open and lock in a slightly open position. Yes. For security.

Yeah, you can't have them wide open, can you? You can't have them wide open. Oh, what? Like, in the bedroom, of course. Yeah, or even in the living room, because someone just opens and jumps in. So, again, you'd want to make sure, or if they didn't have that facility,

then you knew someone that could put that in. So in the summer you can open the window, but you can only open it four inches and lock it. Sorry, also, what's the difference between then a first, having the window wide open. The same thing. Or someone needs a ladder. Sorry, not the ground floor.

Excuse me. Same thing. If you're on a ground floor flat, is that the same? Right. Okay. So for instance, a lot of houses

that were converted into flat, say, say Victoria and they'd sash windows and stuff like that. You get sash locks. So you can open the sash, but you can only open it four inches. Right.

You know, so unless you put like a two-year-old kid through the window, You can't get burgled, but you still got the air. Same at the top. So you have these little sash locks that you drill into the sashes so that when you pull the sashes down, they can only come down four inches.

That's, that's, you know, lots of houses that are Victorian, have got that facility. So on the ground floor you can open the windows, but you can't open them fully. Understood. Yeah? And it's the same principle, but that's in Victorian and period properties.

I'm talking, most of these are going to be post-war 50s, 60s. Yes. So again, it's silly things, but it's just things to bear in mind. So, yeah, if you haven't got locks on the window, that's more expense. Yeah, that's right. It's looking at those things that can cost a lot of money that you might not think about. You can walk into a place and it looks like, to the untrained die, you'd go, oh, it looks fine. But then I might go and go, you know, you're going to have to spend money on this and this and this and this and this and this and da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da.

Yeah. And all of a sudden, you're not, you've gone from thinking you're going to move in and that's going to be it for the rest of your life. There might be 20 grand to be spent. That could be 20 grand to be spent. What I would say from a girly point of view, is just make sure if you really like it, you know, having a feel about a place when you walk into it is so important that you feel like you want to be there.

That's not girly. That's anyone who buys anything. When we bought our house a long time ago, you know, we walked up the drive and I thought, this is lovely. And then within 10 seconds of walking in it, we knew we wanted to buy it. I knew within five seconds.

of walking into the last one. Yeah. And that was a shit hole. I mean, Elliot come with me and it was hilarious. There was a fireplace with baked beans and fluff. And I think I've spoken about it again. I mean, you couldn't see through. But I just went, this is brilliant.

And here I did the same. Same, yeah, yeah. Here I did the same. So, yeah, I think if you've got that feeling, I'm not saying by it, if it's got low, you know. You've got to be realistic. If everything ticks the boxes, but you really got to like it.

So the point I'm making, sorry, just going back to it, the point I'm making is don't rely on the survey. No. To say, honestly, you read them and a lot of them are not worth the paper they're written. They'll cost you six, seven, eight thousand pounds for a survey. And you probably want more of a realistic view from a local tradesman builder to give you the, you know, the sort of detailed nuts and bolts of, I think you're going to need to do.

I think you're going to need to do that, because they won't say that. No, no, no. They'll go electric's untested, boiler untested, this untested. You know, is there, especially we don't know, you know, is the roof okay? Well, from what we can see, they'll describe it. Yes. It's a 1950s roof with, you know, concrete, fawn-colored pan tiles and a do-da-da-da. They'll do this big description.

Yeah. But they won't tell you if it's pissing water or if it looks like there's something wrong with it. So, you know, I think that's my, that's all I would say is just be double careful. And to all the surveyors that listen in, enjoy yourselves. Well, I used to be one, not one of those surveyors, but, and it's not their fault. It's not, it's not the surveyor's fault. That's just what every surveyor does it. Well, yeah, because I haven't got the means to.

No, there's no, they won't lift carpets. No, no, no, no. They can't do that. But that's what I'm saying to you. The point is that a lot of the time there is just not really much of a commitment now in terms of, they'll tell with the age of the house and the general condition and, you know, if there's a big crack in it, they'll tell you or if they think there's a real problem with something.

Well, I heard a survey on this. Yeah. Exactly the same. And no one checked that the water from my kitchen tap isn't drinkable. No. Potable. Potable. Oh, beg your part.

Yeah, sorry, let's get it right. Potable. But there you can. go. I don't know. I don't know if I would have bought it. If they would have said actually... Oh, but you've survived all this time. It's been fine. Yeah. But again, I know what you're saying. I have a question for Tony. Our house has the original kitchen from when it was built over 30 years ago, which is obviously very dated. It also has an old and cold leaking conservatory leading off of it. So both need sorting. We're kind of in a Kirsty and Phil Lovett or List it situation. Do we remove the

conservatory and replace it with an extension for a big open plan living space or sack it off and just move. To get a house of a similar size but with the same space and modern kitchen, we're looking at houses that are worth 200k more. Is it cheaper to do the renovation or move? Not sure I can be asked with either option, to be honest. Lull. Joe from Reading. Oh, so you've got to make some basic assumptions in order to answer the question. Yeah. If they don't like the area in, they're straight away, then move. If they need schools for the kids or whatever, then if you can move, then you've got to move, you don't like the area.

But assuming they like the area that they're in and they're looking at, do they do this or do they move two minutes away into a bigger house and whatever? If they're looking at 200 grand plus for a house like that, that doesn't, that's not going to include moving costs, stamp duty, etc, etc., etc. So you're probably looking at the thick end of 250 grand. Yep. Yeah. To do what they want to do in that house is not going to cost $250,000. Yeah, so from what I've seen, if you were to put a small extension on, like a nice extension on the back of a pitch roof, so V-lux windows and some bifolds in it, probably $50,000.

And then you might spend another $30,000 doing the kitchen and whatever else, and maybe a little bit more, depending on what your spec is. Yeah. So if it's $200,000 plus to move, I would say for half of that, they could create their dream kitchen extension you know, again, that's all on the basis that it's pretty standard stuff and they're not going to have a bespoke kitchen or gag and how appliances, which costs 50 million pounds or whatever. But if, you know, generally to extend and renovate that bit will be cheaper than moving.

About half. But if they said, well, we're going to renovate the whole house, so we're going to redecorate everything and new flooring carpets and we're going to have a new bathroom and we're going to have new windows and we're going to do this and we're going to do da-da-da

then they could be getting up towards that amount of money so why not move so then you think well actually we're better of just leaving this to somebody else and we just bite the bullet and try and move into the something that's done something that's done

also if you haven't got an appetite for refurbishment and I cannot stress this highly enough if you've not got an appetite, if you don't want dust, if you don't want nine months of upheaval, that is a massive issue. And also you've got to find the right builder.

If you get the wrong one, you're in for like a year of hell, basically. Yeah. You get a good one, a decent one that looks after you, then it'll be manageable. You know? So there's lots of factors. But generally speaking,

to extend and refurbish that would be considerably cheaper than the other house. but the other house is probably bigger. It might have an extra bedroom. So there's lots of factors. There's loads and loads of factors there. And that's why there's a whole programme,

the Love It or List it thing, is exactly what that is. Yeah. Exactly. It's exactly what they do. I watched a bit of grand designs last night. I can't watch it. Well, every time I watch it now,

I just think of you because you hate it. But this was really, I tell you what, me and Mark sat there, we went, you know, when he's standing there, Kevin, he's on the balcony and he's going, this is the most incredible. And I went, it looks shit, actually. Sorry.

And they were building it. That's terrible. I'm going to go to hell. Because I was going to laugh and it's not funny. But they'd bought this house. And it was all about the view, all about the view. And then sort of, you know, when they go 12 months later, she's standing there and someone's just, there's a roof now in the bay.

Oh. And she's going, well, it doesn't matter about the view. But they're in Cornwall. The view is everything. Of course it is, yeah. So now they've got sort of a little bit of the sea rather than all of the sea that you would have seen. That's just unlucky though, isn't it?

Really unlucky, really unlucky. But it was just quite... Oh, it does be heading grand, isn't it? It was funny. It was quite funny. But yeah, it is... I understand now because I think of you all the time. Your voice is in my head.

Sorry? No, it's not a bad thing, but... It just wasn't amazing. Because you do it all day as well, this is the problem. You know, I mean, people that are interested in... Now, some people are interested in maybe doing a renovation. Yeah. So, you know, he's a solicitor and she works in a school, whatever it might be.

And they're not in the business. They're not in it. They've never done it before. So, you know, I know loads of my customers, they first thing they do when they're going to do is go to the idle home exhibition. Yes. And I get fed all this crap about what you can have and what you can't have. And I come back with all these ideas and then I go,

do you know how much that's going to cost? Yeah. Or we've seen this home automation lighting system. I said, do you know, it's going to cost you $25 grand. And they say, we'll have dimmer switches. Because they get, you know, they get sucked in. And they're... Well, those exhibitions, I mean, that's a pod in itself.

Yeah. And there's Mother and Baby. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The food ones. Yeah, yeah. I went to one, didn't I? Yeah, spent 8,000 million pounds on wine. Yeah, I mean, it wasn't that much, but yeah.

Yeah, I did. Yep. Lovely, guy. But, yeah. It's nice, nice wine. Lovely. Hook, line and sinker. Yeah, yeah.

Joni really likes four in a bed. Seen that? Well, I've seen it advertised, but I don't think I've actually watched it. It's the most ridiculous, but brilliant. What is it? You'd hate it, I think. Did you ever watch Come Dime with Me? Yes.

It's like, come die with me. Yeah. But you're watching, you watch it, and you think this can't be real. And it's couples, there's four couples, and they all own B&Bs. Yes. So they're absolute characters, these people. Oh, I have seen it. Have you seen it?

And they each go to each other's B&B, and then they try and find, and they try and find, they put their finger up in the corner of the top of the, of the wardrobe, and they get a earbud and find some dust, and they go, that's terrible. They're getting a one for this.

And then they sit around the table. I know, and how much they're going to pay and stuff, yeah. And the bloke the other day, because Joan really likes it, yeah. He was getting really irate. And he said, I'm sorry, why have you given me a three? And they said it was just absolutely filthy.

He said, I'm not having that, not having that. And then they get all the money out. Yeah. And it's if you've paid. I've given you 12 quid instead of 60 quid a night or whatever. It's so bad, it's brilliant. It's one of those. It's excellent.

I know I have seen it. It's really good. I didn't know it was called four in a bed. It's really good. Yeah. Terrible but brilliant. Yeah. One of those.

Have you been watching anything lately that's terrible but brilliant? Terrible but brilliant. Not really. I don't do the series thing. No, I know you don't. I just thought, is there anything? No, I'm really boring. When it comes to stuff like that.

I don't think you are, because you sort of educate yourself with television, don't you? A little bit. You like watching... Yeah, a bit of history and stuff. Yeah. A bit of our stuff. No, I've been forced to watch the voice.

Hmm. Because Sharon likes it. I was up, there you go, a little bit of him. inside info for you all. Yeah. I popped up to Manchester on Monday. As you do. As you do.

Did a little job. Okay. Really boring. Can't talk about it. Blah, blah, blah, blah. Really boring. Anyway, I was up there for the day, and it's where they film the voice.

Okay. So anyway, we're wandering around. Bop, bop, bop, bop, bop. Oh, I don't know. Can I say this? So you met the winner of the voice? No.

Cheryl Cole was in the lift. Oh, well, she's replacing Tom Jones, isn't she? Is she? Yes. Do we know that? I'm going to say, I saw Cheryl Cohen a lift in Manchester. Did she say hello? She said hello to me. Oh, that's nice.

Dave her a big cuddle. Yeah. She's about as big as my phone. Yeah. That's how big she is. Tiny little thing. She's like a Kylie. Yeah.

They've got a certain size. A little bundle of joy. Tiny little people. They're not normal size. Yeah. Kylie, a lot of girls are loud. Jerry Halliwell. They're all very, very tiny.

And I don't mean thin. I mean, their proportions are. I could pick them up on my hand. Yeah. But it was lovely to see her. Always nice, never changed. I like show on. I like her a lot.

Sorry, yeah, sorry. That's what I was going to say. I saw her. But as you've been roped into watching it, yeah. Poor old Tom, what do you reckon? Well, I find it really outrageous, actually. What it is, he's had a good run.

And I'm afraid in all of that, You know that industry. Nothing's forever. And it isn't. I know, but I just think, you know what? I'm fed up with the, for me, we need a refresh. We need just. But that's the industry.

Well, just leave him. Yeah. He's a legend. What I would say is that after watching it, knowing that he's leaving, I can see, now I can see why he's leaving. Oh, wow. Do you think, because I've seen a couple? Mm-hmm.

Do you think it's just getting a little bit... It's just getting... A bit old? A little bit old. A little bit old. And I'm afraid, you know, they're trying to attract an audience and Tom banging on about Elvis and whatever and all that sort of stuff.

It's not really the demographic, is it? I know, but again, learn about it then youngsters. Learn about good times. Yeah, but they don't want to be... They don't want to be lectured on... Not lecture, but they don't want to be taught on a Saturday night when they're watching a program, do they so? But they should know about people like Elvis.

I'm sort of in... I've got a foot in both camps, really. I'm on the fence on it. Because I just think he's had an unbelievable career. He's obviously a very wealthy man. He wants to keep working. But how wonderful that he wants to keep going on? But you know what it will do?

It'll start a YouTube channel or something, and he'll have the capability financially and whatever. Do you think we could get him in here? He wouldn't come in here. Why? I don't think he would. Do you not? No, no, no.

I don't think he likes you. They told him when I saw him, he said he don't like him. Oh, really? I don't really like that, Natalie, he said. So I don't think he'd come. Fair enough. You know, I had a chat of him when I saw him and it, yeah, he can't stand you. Oh, fair enough.

But no, for me it's all the stories all the time. I know. I know where you're coming from. I know exactly what you mean. But I think there comes a time where everyone, you know, they've had it, they've, they've had it good. They've had their run. And it's time for somebody else. Yeah, okay.

Fair enough. It's fair enough. You know, it's the, just to end on, if you don't mind. I don't mind. Are we ending? Yeah, we're going to end. We're probably going to end. Yeah.

So I've come to the conclusion, and the way I look at things now is the only constant in life is change. Yeah. And I'll leave that one with you. And that's the way you've got to look at life. It's true. The only constant is change. I like that. I came out with that just out of the blue the other day.

I probably read it somewhere. Should you just have a little? I would say I've plagiarised it from someone. I don't think I probably don't think. I mean, if you've come up with that. I did come up with that. I'm just going to look it uptown. It's probably some management stuff I did 25 years ago when I did my degree or whatever.

Oh no, it's from a Greek philosopher. Oh, right, okay. What's his name? Heraclitus. I don't know him. but I love that it's very relevant isn't it I like it a lot

the only constant in life is change yeah well there you go everybody I hope you've enjoyed this I've really missed our chat have you really yeah no genuinely it's been lovely

well don't leave it fucking eight weeks to the next one then that's the answer isn't it well it wasn't our fault was it I went on holiday last week we were real we were real both of us rot, wouldn't it, that thing we had. Well, she's had it now, Eliza.

It's a shocker. It was really horrible, actually. She had the tummy. She had the stomach thing. No. Thank God she didn't. I didn't have the tummy. Yeah.

I did. Yeah. Sharon had the aches and pains and whatever. James had the aches and pains. And you had the tummy? Yeah. Oh dear. The tomtits.

Yeah. Yeah. I'm sorry, pants update as well. Oh, yes, please. I know, we haven't really sort of, this died of death really. Well, no. We've got lots of people who want to, So I bought a pair of Step 1.

Yeah? Massively. I've got them on tonight, really disappointing. Oh, no. Because they're made for skinny blokes. But we had a couple of people say that they have a half through a little bit on the... They've got these, the band at the top. Yeah.

It's sort of quite thick and elasticated and tight. And they're just... If you've got a bit of a belly and a pair of hips, and obviously I've got a baboon ass as well, which doesn't help. Yeah, they're just, they're not, I wouldn't say they're any more or less comfortable than anything I've ever worn. I'll tell you what.

And at 20 quid ago, I'm not, I'm not going to have another bash on them. I've got one pair, which I have worn tonight, funny enough. Fair enough. And, yeah, I think you just, you just, the idea is great, but the waistband needs to be more flexible, softer. Okay.

And more accommodating to a man of a certain stature. You're really selling you. yourself. I know. Do my best. Any more pant recommendations? Well, there's loads like it. They're all the same bio-fit and this,

you know, they're all bamboo made or whatever, but it's the tops. If it was soft around the top, are they scared that they're going to come down? Well, they shouldn't do, should they? No, not really.

Not really. I'll show you later. Yes. But, look, yes. It's really... By the way, everybody, that's not... Please don't... Like, he's going to show me his waistband, is what he's saying.

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, waistbands, yeah, that's it. No, no, don't get any strange, weird ideas or anything like that. No, no, it's the waistband. Yeah. So, so I'm still searching. Well, and I'm going into autumn, stroke winter now I'm still command, though, so I'm struggling big time. 07-8-28-201919. Let us know your thoughts on the pod.

Let us know any parent recommendations. let us know any programs that you really like that are really terrible but really good because they're my favourites. Come diamond me, four in a bed, anything around that sort of thing. That genre. Yeah, really camp, iffy stuff. It's been lovely to see you. It's been lovely to see you.

And thank you everybody for listening as ever. Follow, subscribe, tell your friends and drop me a message about today's pod. Have a fantastic rest of the week and I'll talk to you soon. See ya. See ya. See ya.