Life with Nat - EP59: Tony Talks #3

Episode Date: November 11, 2024

Nat and her brother chat about who pays the bill at dinner. Tony gets a suprise voicenote and listener gets Tony’s tv watching spot on. Enjoy x Please subscribe, follow, and leave a review. xxx You can find us in all places here; https://podfollow.com/lifewithnat/view INSTA: @natcass1 We're also on Facebook now too: https://www.facebook.com/lifewithnatpod A 'Keep It Light Media' Production Sales, advertising, and general enquiries: [e-mail] SHOW INFO: Life with Nat - it’s me! Natalie Cassidy and I’ll be chatting away to family, friends and most importantly YOU. I want to pick people's brains on the subjects that I care about- whether that’s where all the odd socks go, weight and food or kids on phones. Each week I will be letting you into my life as i chat about my week, share my thoughts on the mundane happenings as well as the serious. I have grown up in the public eye and have never changed because of it. Life with Nat is the podcast for proper people. Come join the community. ♥️ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

well it's been too long we're all busy aren't we that's nice to be back lovely to to have you back, Tone. Yeah, I've been looking forward to it. You've got a lot of fans. Oh, more than one. You've got some fans out there. Well, you know, there's no accounting for tasting that, is there?

It's really nice if people like what we do. That's what we're here for. It's good. It is nice. Yeah. I think you hit the nail on the head earlier when we were having a chat before we do. That's what we're here for. It's good. It is nice. Yeah. I think you hit the nail on the head earlier when we were having a chat before we started. It is quite a female-dominated pod.

Yeah, I just, you've got quite a lot of the family and people that come on are female. And maybe every now and again some bloke chattering about old rubbish. You know, it's a different spot for people yeah maybe that's what it is yeah you're very modest thank you very much hi nat just been listening to the podcast with your lovely brother and about the uh inevitable pile of carrier bags that people have in various cupboards and it's just a thought really

i'm a volunteer at our local food bank and one of the things that people don't really think about donating is carrier bags and at the moment we have to buy them and for every penny we spend on carrier bags we're not spending on food so i just encourage your listeners if they do have a bag pile of doom perhaps reach out to their local food bank who might be absolutely delighted to take them all off their hands loving what you're doing cheers well isn't that interesting yeah never knew that well i never ever would have thought no no so if anyone's got a shitload of carrier bags in the cupboard that jump out every time you open the cupboard door get down to the food bank down to your local food

bank and drop them off yeah how many carrier bags do you reckon you've got at home or do you not have any? Well, I think now, because you do this bag for life thing, don't you? So Sharon tends to have a little cotchall in the boot, probably half a dozen, along with the inevitable wine carriers as well. Yeah. Because that's really important for the booze, isn't it? Yeah.

Because they don't go everywhere. So not as bad as we used to be. I mean,, aren't they? Yeah, they are, Because they don't go everywhere. So, not as bad as we used to be. I mean, I remember when they were free, and you know, hundreds, they just stood up everywhere.

It is something that has worked. I think it has, definitely. And not a lot works in this country, but that's quite a good one. Yeah, yeah, and I think it does,

even if it's only 5p, I think, I think that's almost, that doesn't even if it's only 5p i think i think that's almost that doesn't even it's not even about the money sometimes it makes you think that if you rather than just taking something even paying five pence or ten pence for it makes you think about it and basically the point i'm making is if something is free inevitably it's got no value yeah so if something's free people just take it and even if they don't need it and that's what that's made a difference yeah by just putting a token amount of money on it whatever it is 5p 10p 20p whatever it might be um it it makes you think actually no i can carry

this to the you know if i've got you know a sandwich or whatever and a drink or you know a couple of bits and pieces i think actually I don't really need a bag. I'll just carry it to the car like this. I do agree with you. There are a few times I must have eight bags in the car like Sharon. Yeah, yeah, yeah. In the back. Yeah, yeah.

And there are times when I go into a massive shop. Right. And I think, oh, I forgot the bags. Forgot the bags. Then I think, shall I just run to the car? Yeah. Say to the till lady. Yeah. Yougot the bags. Then I think, shall I just run to the car? Yeah. Say to the till lady. Yeah.

You know the, you know the 30 people behind me that are waiting? Exactly. Just tell them to wait because I'm going to run to the car. That's exactly the reason why I don't run to the car.

Yeah, I'm just going to spend 10 minutes getting some bags out of the car while that bloke at the back is spitting blood because he's got somewhere to get to. Two packets of crisp. Yeah, that's right, yeah. is spitting blood because he's got somewhere to get to. Two packets of crisp. Yeah, that's right, yeah.

Oh, don't, don't. But, you know, I do think it's worked. Although the marks is, I know why they've done it. I understand it. It's brilliant. They're paper now. If you go in there, they're paper bags that you pay for. Right.

But it ain't good in torrential rain. No, no, no. when you've got a heavy joint of lamb yeah yeah some leeks and potatoes yeah and it's raining yeah i'll get it yeah don't go shopping in the rain then that's the answer to that one oh fair enough i've always got an answer everything you know i know that I can see the point. And it's funny because I used to watch American films as a kid. And in every American film, they basically had brown paper bags, not with handles.

You used to have to hold them like a baby. Yep. And I used to sit there as a kid thinking, what happens when it pisses right? So we've come around. So, yeah. Yeah. So we're now in this position in this country

with certain supermarkets and outlets and whatever. What happened in those films? Mm-hmm. Because those bags weren't overly big, were they? No, no, they weren't. And they used to come through the door after a family shop with two bags. Yeah, that's right, yeah. They were all eating onions and Brusselsussels sprouts that's all they had

yeah they obviously had no cans because they're too heavy no wine no bottles because they're a break so it was perishable goods only I would say

and not a lot of it and not a lot of it no or they went shopping five times a day oh that's true that's the other option yeah yeah yeah

so you basically go you go five times a day breakfast lunch supper dinner snacks whatever snacks drinks yeah That's the other option. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you basically go, you go five times a day. Breakfast, lunch. Breakfast, lunch, supper, dinner. Snacks. Whatever, snacks, drinks. Yeah. Just always go shopping.

Yeah. And then the bags work. Mind you, talking about always going shopping. Mm-hmm. Ellie has had the baby, hasn't she? Yes. Yeah. And she's not here to defend herself, but.

Right, okay. I think it's very easy to get into now. Instead of, you know, you can go on to, say, Sainsbury's or Ocado, and you book a slot and you get your shopping. Yeah. Everyone knows, if you listen to this podcast, I'm not a fan of online shopping. Okay.

Just for me, I can't stand it. I think they give you all the crap that's at the front. I like to go right to the back of the shelves to get the good dates, to look at stuff, see if it's fresh. Well well there is a hybrid way of doing it go on which is you don't buy fresh stuff online you only buy your cans and your soap powder and your waters and your wine and stuff that isn't out of date quickly and then you do your fresh shop shop yourself so the heavy stuff yes gets delivered yeah for instance my counter argument to you yeah in this house right is mark will go to costco and he does the heavy stuff you've just blown me out of water costco that does that's not fair no well no it's not you can't just drag costco into it all

of a sudden that's that's that's just completely unfair i mean i'm talking about standard you know sainsbury's waitrose you know lidl i know but he'll go to i know what i know and he'll go he'll get 600 weight of water and 27 000 cans of coke and stuff i know exactly what you mean. But you just, that's it. There's no argument in there because you've cost-coded me out. I'm done. Yeah, you are. I'm sorry.

It's all right. You've won. You beat me. Go back. You could do these online slots. Yes. Now, if you haven't got a slot and you think,

oh, I need five things for tonight. But obviously for earlier, baby James is there. Yeah. You know, she's a cesarean, can't drive. Can't drive. Hasn't done the slot, needs some bits, what have you. Deliveroo now. And Uber, Uber Eats do it as well.

Deliveroo, Uber Eats. On Sainsbury's, half hour, you can get five things. You can. But it's eight quid. It'll cost you 600 quid, but you can get five things, yeah. It's true though, isn't it? The other thing as well is, if you, let's say you go to a Tesco's, a normal Tesco's, yeah, and I don don't know a bottle of water's x if you go to tesco's in a

supermarket sorry in a petrol station somewhere yeah um that bottle of water's x plus y like marx's do it marx and spencer's so you would pay so much for a bottle of something in a normal marx and spencer's if that's but if you go to marks and spencers a small convenience one or in a petrol station yeah in a petrol station then everything's more expensive is that got to something to do with the rental or the start i don't know no it's because i'll tell you what it is it's because people go in and go i need i'll pick that up pick that up, pick that up. Convenience. Convenience.

So you're paying more money for convenience, which is the same as the Uber Eats thing or the Deliveroo, where you order stuff and it comes. Waitrose do one now, I think, where it comes in half an hour, whatever it might be. But you're not going to pay, you know, 20p for something. It's going to be 30p or whatever it is. So it's just a way of making more money because of convenience.

Yeah. But we're also, everything's so fast-paced now, isn't it? Yeah, but I think that's just life. It's not right. No, but I'm saying it's the immediacy of things. Yeah, everyone wants stuff immediately. You know, I've got Amazon Prime, and I am absolutely guilty of going on there at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and when it says it's coming not tomorrow, next day i get annoyed about it yes but but that's not your fault that's the

expectation you've been given by a service that's being provided by somebody else so if someone wouldn't if someone didn't have a service or didn't have a business that suggested that you can go online at two o'clock in the afternoon and get your fan eater or your whatever at five o'clock in the afternoon then you would never expect it but because there is a possibility of that for certain things you that's your expectation and when you go on and it's actually a day later you're disappointed yeah because I'm also paying however much a year for that service for that service as well

it's not free we all forget that yeah yeah yeah you pay a fee for it yeah correct so I think that's just that's just been created

by that business the expectation that you can get things really quickly and when you can't you're frustrated about it but if that was never there in the first place

you'd do what everyone else does and go to Argos it's true and go and get it and if they ain't got it in But if that was never there in the first place, you'd do what everyone else does and go to Argos. It's true. And go and get it. And if they ain't got it in stock, you've got to wait for it. Or you'd go down to Curry's. Yeah, or Curry's or wherever. Dixon's.

Yeah. Are they still about? No, I don't think so. No, I think they're gone, aren't they? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Blast from the past, that was. That was good, wasn't it? Yeah, Dixon's, yeah.

Yeah. Comet. That was another one. One of my oldest memories right okay and favorite is when i was desperate do you remember i was desperate for a computer yes in nanny liz's room yes and you took me where did it selfridges was it selfridges selfridges what for the computer yeah it wasn't a caries or a Dixons? No, I'm sure it was Selfridges, your first one. Really?

Yeah. Not the Atari ST? I'm not so bad at the Atari ST. That was my first one. With my monitor and all my games. I remember we had a terrible problem with a dot matrix printer that we bought from Selfridges. I had to go and have a row with a bloke about it

because it never worked. Yeah, and that was for you. But I just remember when wanting a computer, my brother Tony would come and help me. Yeah. And you'd come and help me choose the right one. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's quite a good memory for me, that.

Oh, that's nice. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There's odd ones back there somewhere, good ones. Got to think really hard. Really hard. We'll get one, yeah, at some point.

No, but you did. You were the technical whiz. Well, I sort of had to be a little bit, really, because I was doing college and stuff at the time and I was putting myself through that and I had to learn it because if you didn't, you were knackered. Yeah. You couldn't do what I was doing part-time at college

without knowing, teaching yourself how to use software and stuff. And that's the only reason why I was forced into it. I didn't necessarily want to do it, but I was forced into it. But it stood me in good stead, you know. It helps me run the business now. Yeah. So it's good. Very good.

Bit of an autodidact, aren't you? Yeah, if you say so I don't know what that means Do you know what It's one of the only words That's quite clever that I know Really Well that's not true

But an autodidact is someone Who likes to learn And learns because they They're not told to learn But they enjoy learning They enjoy learning They enjoy it Oh I see

Right okay And you're a bit of an autodidact. Nice. I'll go for that. Yeah? Yeah, yeah. It sounds like a dinosaur, doesn't it? Yeah, a little bit.

Yeah. Hi, Nat. It's Jo and Hitchin. So I was just listening to the great podcast with your brother, Tony. And, yeah, we're the same. We have a crap drawer that's got, like, you know, your screwdrivers. We've got tape measure. We've actually

got a whole bundle of keys that the last owners left in we've been in our house 10 years now none of the keys have ever been used i don't know what any of them are for and then we got the other drawer that's like got really random stuff in it so similar with the christmas paper we've got christmas lights in there that i forgot to take down and they never made it into the Christmas boxes that went back in the loft because I've got to take them down and then even more bizarrely I've got baby bibs in there my daughter's eight and I just sort of kept the baby bibs just in case anyone I know with babies might come around and need a bib really the only person I know with a baby is my sister and she always brings the baby bag so I've no idea what i'm keeping these baby bibs for uh love the podcast love your

brother uh bye well there you go yeah i mean i had a look in house the other day oh did you yeah my wedding video's in it on vhs oh you gotta get that out i can't i just why be too upset and too many dead people oh no it's nice you should get it put on a dvd oh god no no no oh no you've got to keep it. You're terrible, you lot, for photos, for memories. I'm not saying I'm not going to keep it. You've got to keep it. But, yeah, so it was in the back of it.

I've got Mum and Dad's wedding video on VHS in there. Yeah, I know you have, yeah. And I'm going to get that on DVD. Yeah, yeah. It is upsetting, but they're lovely to watch. Yeah, yeah. It's nice. Yeah.

I wonder if we've got, I'd love to know if we've got a video of daddy laying on the floor whilst everyone's doing a conga over him no i don't think that was videoed i think i think by that time mum was sharpening a knife to stick in his eyeball i think oh fine yeah yeah because she was um uh yeah not too uh not too pleased i don't think he enjoyed himself anyway which, which was good. Yeah. Thank you for all your pictures of crap drawers. I shall post some of these when this episode goes out on Monday.

But we've had some cracking drawers. Lots of balloons, Tone? Oh, yeah, balloons, yeah. I mean, I think the balloon thing is definitely, obviously people with younger children and, and, you know, parties and stuff like that sort of stuff.

Oh yeah. So I think we probably, we've had a purge of our crap drawer obviously over the years. Yes. And the balloons have definitely, that they've sort of gone. It depends how often you purge it. But now ours is all,

like I said, it's all grown up crap. You know, if you was, if you was stranded on a desert island and you poured all the stuff out of that drawer into a bag, you could probably use it to survive for a few weeks. Yeah, fair enough.

There's candles. Like I said, there's this, there's that. There's pins. There's needle and thread. There's some very, very, very poor tools, some really poor screwdriver and stuff. Philip Schofield could have had your draw couldn't he for his program well i didn't watch it to be honest um and wouldn't

no so and i certainly wouldn't give him my draw no no i wouldn't sorry i'd be a little bit bitchy about that i'm sorry you can't have my draw no philip no philip absolutely not not on my watch you're not having my draw you know so um yeah i'd prefer to think that tom hanks in castaway might have wanted my draw yeah and you would have happily handed it i would have yes i mean i'd have given him a football as well as a basketball or whatever it was he talked to for the two years he was on the island yeah you know i would have happily given it to tom but not philip i'll draw the line there sorry hi nat uh is ali here um i'm on dark for teeth at the moment walking my dog it's nice and quiet apart from the traffic in the background um yeah i love your brother tony i tell you what you say you could listen to him i could listen to him every week

i think you need to do this once a month with him at least because it's so interesting. I'm so glad you said about the dehumidifiers. We had this issue with my, we've got a couple at home actually, but we live in a 1930s house. But my daughter, when she was at uni, was in the cooler bedroom. She got the tiny bedroom and there was literally water streaming down the walls by the time we got to November because they weren't putting the heating on and it was really, really cold. And we bought her a desiccant dehumidifier oh absolutely fantastic we've got it at home now that she's home and uh honestly brilliant would recommend it to anybody it's got a laundry setting on it that you whack

on put your laundry in the same room and it dries it right out so yep anyway we just wanted to say that love love love you and tony together please more more of this because it's fun and it's great to listen to. Thank you. Oh, thank you, Claire. Wow, Claire has got taste. My goodness, what a classy lady. Claire's got class. Claire has got class.

So, yeah, the dehumidifier certainly works. Yeah, Martin Money, you know, Martin Money Lewis. Oh yeah. I sort of saw a little snippet on something somewhere and he sort of, that was one of his tips for the winter. So don't use your tumble dryer. Don't, you can put your central heating on obviously, don't say, don't freeze to death.

But if you get one of these dehumidifiers um that claire mentioned is it desiccant i don't know the different sites but they're on amazon and other sites and they do actually dry your washing because they take all the moisture out there and they run really they're really cheap to run they're sort of 7p or 10p an hour or something compared to a tumble dryer that's 80p an hour or something like that i think they're a tenth or an eighth of the cost of a tumble dryer that's 80p an hour or something like that i think they're a tenth or an eighth of the cost of a tumble dryer so yeah not just for damp problems and i had a woman phone me up this week funny enough of asking the same sort of question she's had got a patch in her bedroom and thinks the roof's leaking i said i'm pretty sure it's it's a bit of condensation so the tip about drying your washing is uh is also if martin money lewis says it then it must

be it must be true it must be a great idea mustn't it i agree because he's a clever bloke yeah he's done well brilliant yeah from nothing just started it from not a lot really did he sold it for about a billion t zillion t pounds yeah yeah yeah he sold it for a gazillion million trillion pound or something and and still it, still does, you know. He had a lot of, he had a fight, didn't he, about, not a full-on fisticuff fight, not in the pub. Oh, good. Down the Weatherspoon.

I can't see Martin having a ruck in the Weatherspoon. No. Absolutely not. But his face was used on adverts on Facebook and all that sort of stuff. But a lot of people get that. I've got that. Yeah, yeah.

I've got to look into it. It's all generated by ai and whatever and it says that this person is endorsing stuff this is all about diet pills that's right because my friend of mine sent me really he actually phoned me up and he said um oh your sister's advertising diet i said no she's not he went she is i said well it's a snide it's a it's a wrong and i said because there's no way a she wouldn't do it and b she's contracted to um do other stuff and whatever and she's not allowed to do that sort of thing i said so that is i said there's loads of celebrities have that where their faces are used for things and then you have to you're gonna have to take out some sort of

injunction i don't know what you do but it's i think for people like yourself now it's so difficult because there's stuff that can generate you and you do it and people believe it. Oh, they do. They actually believe it's true. The amount of messages I've had on Instagram and stuff saying, oh, I've seen you with the pills. Do they work? Because I'm struggling. Because I'm struggling, yeah.

You know, people do. And it's just so wrong because it gives you a bad name. It makes it look like you're punting a load of old crap that, you know, shouldn't be sold to people probably. No, absolutely. Because God knows, you don't even know what's in them. No, no. So it's difficult, but yeah, you really must look into it. Yeah, I should, shouldn't I?

You should do, yeah, yeah, definitely. Yeah, I will do. I mean, I could look into it, but I could get a couple of blokes, but it's not particularly legal. And they'd have to find whoever's doing it as well. And they'd have to physically find them, you know. You couldn't just get a lawyer and stuff like that. These blokes would track them down.

That's a joke, by the way. I'm joking. Claire next week. I'm very upset with Tony. I was really enjoying it, but he's quite threatening. Yeah, and now he's brought it down several tones. With the Fizz loyalty program, you get rewarded just for having a mobile plan. You know, for texting and stuff.

And if you're not getting rewards like extra data and dollars off with your mobile plan, you're not with Fizz. Switch today. Conditions apply. Details at fizz.ca. I've had a message here, Tone, that I've kept for us to talk about. Okay. Hi, Nat. Just wondering, what is your view on paying at the restaurant when there are friends and family? I hate it when everyone starts trying to work out how much their bill is. I get very embarrassed that i mostly say don't worry about it i'll pay for it i need to stop doing this i don't go out very often

but when i do it gets a bit cringy is there a name on big stevie oh big stevie hello big stevie so big stevie this is definitely one for me and my brother to talk about well you've read that out to me and i completely understand where steve's coming from me too because it is i'm sort of one of those people that i don't like i'm not tight no i'm not a penny pincher no and i'm the sort of same i'm you know i think oh this is quite embarrassing so i'll just jump in sometimes and say i'll pay a bit more i'm exactly the same but and this is the but i think i think it's it's who you go out with is one thing. Agreed. So, for instance, like when we go out, you know, as a family, it will just be, we'll just all chip in and whatever. No, we don't.

You're absolutely terrible. We all went out for a Chinese. Yeah. Lovely evening. I'm getting it. You go in the pub, I'm getting it. You're terrible. Yeah, I know, I know, I know but but that's because i am the way i am but so what i'm saying is is that like for instance we go out with a couple of friends of ours a couple of times a year yeah and they're and they're not

and they're not big drinkers so for me the issue for me is is that if you have got alcohol involved yes right i think that's a bit of a there's a bit of an issue because i don't want someone to pay for me to get pissed no i completely agree right so with with the joe and mark we go out with they're not big drinkers which is good because we have a lovely lunch and it's not all boozy and and joe will have you know a glass of wine and and and water and sharon she'll be driving and me and mark will share a bottle of red wine and have a lovely lunch and we go halves and it's all wonderful but i've been in other situations where there's people that are not drinking and and i'm sorry when i go out i'm gonna have a drink yeah um and i do feel feel that I feel a little bit bad about that

I don't think that you should split a bill if there's lots and lots of alcohol involved If someone isn't drinking without a doubt I go for a curry with a few of the lads once every three weeks or whatever and Johnny

one of my bestest mates John doesn't really drink he'll have one beer and then he'll drink coke yeah but we'll drink four or five bottles of coke or whatever and then at the end of the night we split it all up and and we we all pay equal and i'm i'm uncomfortable with that yeah yeah yeah no i get it because alcohol is the thing that hikes up the bills it is massively and i'm so the last few times i've said to him look you just give me that and i've and he doesn't like it because he goes no i want to put the same in but i said look you know you haven't drunk i've drunk you know 30 quid to

offer exactly yeah and i don't want you paying for my drink and whatever so so what i'm talking about i understand yeah my thing is when you'll be around a table, and forget the glass of wine for a minute or whatever, but someone will go, I had a Diet Coke and I had a garlic bread, but I shared a bit of that with... Yeah. Well, that is... It's really, really awkward. It's awkward and it's also um

it's sort of degrees of uh awkwardness if you if if if people are if everyone's quite happy to say well look you know we've all read roughly the same and whatever and someone says well i've had a bottle of wine that was 60 quid so i'm going to pay for that absolutely yeah it's really what i'm getting at is elements sort of levels of reasonableness if you like isn't it um and in that situation i would probably say to him look just give us what you want and then i'll make the difference up yeah because it's getting embarrassing it's not right but no but you don't say if everyone gives me 20 quid yeah and then I'll probably do 80 but I can't be bothered yeah

yeah but I did think that was a very good question it was it was I do know people as well who

like two lots of friends of mine one chap I know he's quite a wealthy man and his daughter-in-law whenever they used to go out to eat um because they knew he would pay it would be the lobster chateaubriand the most expensive a bottle of champagne honestly now that's a piss take right but because she knew that he was going to pay um and he used to say that to me and laugh.

He said, because I know for a fact that when she goes out with her husband, it's, you know, not egg and chips. Cheese toastie. Yeah, but it's not. So there's a little bit of a liberty taken there. And another mate of mine told me a story about, I used to go out as a family. So there's, I don't know, four couples,

brothers, sisters and whatever and partners and this one particular fella because they all used to split the bill equally he said without foul every time we went out he would order the most expensive thing on the menu he would order the most expensive bottle of wine on the menu and then sit there and enjoy it and drink it and then really enjoy it when everyone sort of paid towards his dinner yeah he said until we went at the fifth time and at the end of the meal the others all said to this bloke well we're all paying for our own today he said and his face said he's chin it absolutely hit the table no yeah because he had to pay brilliant instead of instead of it being 80 pound a head he had to pay 140 pound, because he had to pay. Brilliant. Instead of it being £80 a head, he had to pay £140.

Yeah. Because he'd ordered the Chateaubriand and the bottle of wine and whatever. So that's the other flip side is that there are people that do take the piss. I completely agree. And use it to their advantage. 100%. But that just depends what sort of person you are. Because they'll do that in life anyway.

You know, they'll do that all through life. It won't just be sitting around a dinner table. Yeah. They'll try and nick a penny or a pound off someone. Yeah. You know, regardless. Yeah, yeah. The, you know, the pub that you went to?

The little one over the road? Yeah. That's doing something. And it did it a little, I think it did it last year or the year before. I can't remember. Yeah. But go in, have your meal. Yeah.

You can take your own wine. Yeah. Now that's good. You know, for people who want to go and have a nice meal, but they're not big drinkers, but you want to drink, you can take your wine in. And then you can just split the bill. It's quite easy then for people, isn't it?

Yeah. That's quite good as well, I thought. Yeah, it is um i think you're also not spending 75 quid on a 12.99 bottle of wine yeah yeah but a lot of places like pubs and whatever now unfortunately they have to charge that for their drinks because everything's so expensive yeah you know their rent their, their rates, their electrics, their gas is quadrupled, their electric's quadrupled. Of course, of course.

You know, and they have to charge those prices for it. So I think it's brave, but if you took out, if you went to a lot of restaurants and said, right, we're taking out your alcohol out of your turnover and your profit. Yeah, they wouldn't survive. And then see how you just work on food. Yeah.

I don't think they'd survive. No, no, I agree. But it's great. It's only for a little while. Yeah. You know, a few weeks or whatever. Yeah, a few weeks or whatever, yeah. But I think it gets people in and gets people out again.

Yeah, I mean, I... Because people haven't got a lot of money. When I used to go fishing up in Shropshire with, like, mates up there and whatever, and there's a curry house local to them that we go in, and they don't serve drink. They don't serve alcohol, so you have to take your own. Yeah. Um, which is all right.

Apart from when in the summer, when everything gets warm and so you end up taking ice and I used to really take the piss out of me. Cause I used to have a, I used to have a big carry all with, with, with ice and wine and all that in it. And,

uh, everyone else is turning up with four little cans and I'm turning up with an industrial portable freezer basically and they really used to rib me about it next time you get one of my ice machines yeah just plug it in the wall yeah they said that to them they said why don't you get one they can plug in use their electric as well um so that was but that sort of that sort of works i think it sort of works yeah but again, if I'm going out for a night, do I really want to be thinking about dragging bottles of wine about and bags of OS and things?

I don't know if I do. No, no, no. You know, not for me. But I have to say, you know, I don't, I'll go out and I enjoy it. But it does sometimes blow my, it's different. I think if you go to London and you're in a swanky place, I don't even think about it. No, you know, you're 20 quid for a cocktail.

You don't think about it. You know, you're in for a few quid and that's it. And you enjoy the experience. But some places you go, I can't believe that this bottle of Malbec is 40 quid. Yeah. Because I know that it's from Majestic Wines and it's nine quid. Yeah.

And that aggravates me. I know, yeah. Because I would rather be at home with a 25 pound bottle of wine that's really nice. I'd rather just stay at home. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I know what you mean.

Yeah. Yeah. Again, it's all where you are, the location. Yeah. Yeah. You know, even going to the local, it's nice to have a couple of drinks, but to keep buying large gin and tonics in the pub. Yeah, you need a second mortgage, don't you? Yeah, when I can sit at home.

Yeah. 15 steps away. And sometimes I just think, and I think that's why, I do think that's why a lot of people stay in there, definitely. Yeah, the prices are ridiculous. It is. I used to tell mates of mine, again, lads from up north who I knew, and I said, I went in my local pub the other day,

and this was a couple of years ago. I know, and it's a dear pub. Right. And I said, I'll have a pint of whatever it was and a large glass of whatever it was. I can't remember now. Did he put seven cans of lemonade away? No, he didn't.

Pay a bill and sweep the floor first? No, he didn't. Fine. No, he did. This was someone, this was a different person. Okay. So I can't remember. I ordered a pint of something and a large glass of whatever wine it was.

And he's come back and he's gone, £16.10. Right. And I said, are you sure?'s gone 16 pound 10. Right. And I said, I said, sure. So 16 pound 10. He went, Oh,

I better go and check that. So he's come back. He's gone, sorry, I got that wrong. It's actually 17 pound 20. Done me for another one pound 10, 17 quid for two drinks.

That's nuts. Mental. And you're going back now a couple of years, you said. Oh, a couple of years. Yeah. So what's that now? Well, 17 quid for two drinks that's nuts mental and you're going back now a couple of years you said oh a couple of years yeah so what's that now well it's probably

I don't know is the answer because what they get you if you want a nice big glass of wine they charge you 11 quid for it or something yeah see

and that aggravates me yeah I won't drink wine in the pub purely and I sound really terrible now and I am being terrible That aggravates me. Yeah. I won't drink wine in the pub, purely. And I say I'm really terrible now, and I am being terrible, but I don't want a large glass of their white wine.

Yeah. Just because I don't do Sunset by the Glass or Garvey. I'm a wine snob. Oh, well. Not massively, but. Not a snob. No, you just like what you like. I just like what I like, and I can't get it in there. So I love the gin and tonic or vodka and orange or something like that.

But, yeah, to pay £11 for a glass of wine that I don't really like is shocking. Yeah, so now for me sort of pubs are very much a, you know, it's sort of once in a, not very often really. Yeah, I know, I know. And I think everyone feels the same, especially after COVID because we all got used to staying in and doing stuff at home and getting together. We managed to get around to drink again, haven't we?

I don't know how we've done that. I don't know, because honestly, we're not even big drinkers. No. I mean, I've cut down loads on my drinking. I mean, I'm only drinking two bottles of wine a night now. Yeah, I'm sort of with you. Yeah. Oh, don't.

Oh, dear. You're going to laugh. We don't drink that much, actually, can I just say. And we are drinking water tonight. We're drinking water because I've been really ill and you're driving. I'm driving. Let's be honest. Yeah, I know.

That's the only reason, though. That is the only reason. Yeah, it is the only reason. Yeah. Yeah. If I was staying and you weren't really ill, then we'd be on the wine, wouldn't we? We would, yeah. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah. That's made me reason. Yeah. Yeah. If I was staying and you weren't really ill, then we'd be on the wine, wouldn't we? We would, yeah. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Yeah. That's made me feel better anyway. That's just the thought that we would be drinking if we could. Yeah, of course. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, because water's really for having a bath in, isn't it, to be honest? Yeah, it's good for you, though.

Yeah, it is. Do you drink a lot? Do you drink? There you go. Here's one. I do drink quite a lot during the day, yeah. I drink a lot of water. I try to. I forget sometimes. Yeah forget sometimes in the summer it's easy i probably drink three liters

of water a day in the summer but this time of year because you're not you're not getting hot and you know i'll do a physical job sweating your nuts off yeah i tend to probably i don't drink as much as i should probably but i probably do a liter and a half i'd say in a day that's good yeah i try to i do try and, yeah, because I don't drink anything else, you see. I don't drink any soft drinks and Coke and all that. I've stopped all that. Very, very rarely.

If I'm hungover, I like a San Pellegrino in the morning, which is terrible because that's the most sugary drink you can have. Yeah, but if you're hungover, it sort of all bets you off, really, isn't it? Yeah. If you've got a bad one. Bad. Yeah, I mean mcdonald's anyway oh yeah yeah yeah that's right yeah forget the drink yeah that's right it's walkers in the morning it's anything i'll anything i can get my hands on when i when we were when we never had the kids and stuff our hangout we used to go out all night and a hangover cure used to be a pizza for lunchtime, a Domino's at about one o'clock.

And then this is on a Sunday. Yeah. And then a curry in the evening. Perfect. Yeah. Yeah. Proper. I would say very, very rarely am I really hungover nowadays.

But I reckon we got a Chinese on a Sunday night. I think that's what we did. Yeah. That's really bad though. Yeah. Terrible. It's really bad.. I think that's what we did. Yeah. That's really bad, though. Yeah, terrible. It's really bad. What a terrible way to start the week. Yeah, yeah, it's a shocker.

It's really bad. Yeah. Probably with a glass of wine as well, may I add. Well, I think it's hair of the dog. You know, there's loads of times I've felt ill all day and then the only time I've felt better is when I've had another drink. Yeah, yeah. Mate, you sound like a couple of right old dicksos. all day and then I've you know the only time I've felt better is when I've drunk had another drink yeah yeah we sound like a couple

of right old old elkies don't we functioning alcoholics we're not though no I don't function hi in that

I'm so behind with your pod. Currently on EP47, you and Tony, trying to catch up to enjoy all things Christmas. I haven't even started Christmas chat yet. People, we're in November, bonfire night's out the way. I could jump straight in with the festivities,

but I am trying to hang it out for a couple more weeks because a lot of people, it's a stressful time for people. So you're not missing anything yet. All right. You're not missing anything yet. Just to say, I really enjoy all the pods and I love listening to you and your brother. I would love to hear some stories of the TV shows you and your brother have enjoyed over the years.

I can imagine Tony being a minder and the professional sort of guy i grew up in the 80s watching these shows with my family i also loved life on mars p.s my lovely in-laws still buy myself and my wife our refill file effects diary inserts every christmas brilliant father i'm gonna one. I'm getting one this year. Definitely. I'm doing that. I'm going to sort that. Okay.

All right. I just want one. No, I'm going to get you a really good one. Because at the moment I'm using a crappy old book. No. And I'm using this and I want me Filofax back. Yeah, it's happening. Don't worry.

Thank you. I appreciate that. Well, it won't be the only thing because then you've got no surprises for Christmas. Oh, sorry. All right. Anyway, it'll be sorted. Anyway, so what was... He thinks you're a minder and a professional kind of guy.

Yeah? Well, he's got me spot on. He's sussed me out. Is he a policeman? I don't know and I haven't got his name there and I'm really, really sorry. That's a shame. I'm so sorry.

It's because I put these messages into groups and then I forget who they're from. So I do apologise, but I hope you listen to this and I hope you hear me. Yeah, I hope you do. It's because I put these messages into groups and then I forget who they're from. So I do apologise, but I hope you listen to this and I hope you hear me. Yeah, I hope you do. Yeah, absolutely. I think, I mean, our television tastes are going to be slightly different because there's an age gap between us,

isn't there? Yes. So I was a child, I was born in 68. So as a child, I grew up very much, it was Thunderbirds, Joe 90. It was the banana splits but i love the thunderbirds because of you yes exactly i got you into thunderbirds i've got my kids in the thunderbirds as well and if anyone anyone hasn't seen it they can laugh about it you can see the strings and it's puppet but the actual if you think about when it was made and how they made it it's actually astonishing

i read somewhere it cost something like a it was something unbelievable it was a the equivalent of a million pounder series or something yes yeah yeah because it was all frame shot frame by frame by frame so thunderbirds on a saturday morning was we used used to just wait for that to come on. It used to come on at eight till nine. Did David like that as well? Yeah, we both were big Thunderbirds fans. There was Mary Munger. Everyone will have their programmes they watched as a child that they remembered and stuff. But there was other things.

Because we were two boys together we there was other viewing that was really important to us superstars so if you don't know superstars used to be on a friday night yeah david coleman used i think it was david coleman used to uh they used to host it and they would get sporting stars from all different types of sports right and they would then compete against each other they would do a bit of sprint, a long distance run. There'd be archery, shooting, whatever it might be. But you, in that show, you could have a horse rider, a footballer. Sounds absolutely brilliant.

Why has it not been brought back? Well, you tell me. I mean, you know, this is, anyone listening out there, I'd like to host it for a nice few quid, so I'll be happy with that. But no, that's a joke. But Superstars was fantastic and you'd never and you never and they had a particular theme tune it went and every week you would wait to see who's on it because it could be like it could be a judo i think it was a guy david jacks he was a judo champion. I think he was the world judo champion.

And he did 85 million press-ups or something. What could he be like against Jimmy White? Yeah. Like Jimmy White standing there having a fag, wondering what he's doing now. But it was like that. This sounds amazing. It was brilliant.

And then I remember there was one, I used to love Stan Bowles. So I don't think Stan's with us anymore. He used to play for QPR. I know he was an Arsenal fan. I loved him as a player. And I was watching it. And then all of a sudden it comes on Friday and Stan Bowles is on it.

And you couldn't believe it. I could not believe it. I thought Stan's on it. Brilliant. He's a brilliant, I love him. He's a brilliant footballer. He's an athlete.

He was useless. Was he? He was useless. He couldn't run. He couldn't cycle. He couldn't swim. He couldn't do any push-ups. Terrible.

And you could see his face thinking, what on earth am I doing here? Oh, no. This is not, you know, this is not like going training and then going down a betting shop. No. It was really, you had cricketers on it. Yeah. So Superstars was a real good one for us as well. Fantastic.

But yeah, and then during the 80s when I was growing up at secondary school, Minder Professional was the Sweeney. You know, that was just stock standard viewing. Minder, I do have to caveat that with it had to be Terry and Arthur, not the later ones with his nephew in it. It was a lovely fellow and I'm sure was a very good actor, but it wasn't Dennis Waterman dennis walterman and i'm afraid yeah so so for true minder fans i hope you agree with me that that dennis walterman and uh was the was the was the minder that you wanted

to watch and it's and it's still on now i come in from work sometimes and it's on from four to five of not well that's too early for me but it'll be on from five till six on plus one it'll be on in the morning sometimes and I'll still put it on and watch it

yeah old Dave from the the club or whatever that all goes over my head obviously yeah oh sorry born in 83

yeah I know don't apologise I think it's brilliant so but there you go you were right thank you for that. It was bang on.

Yeah. Fantastic. Yeah. Brilliant. Bring superstars back. Definitely. That sounds really good. It was.

It used to be really good. It sounds a bit like a, well, celebrity gladiators. Yeah. I mean. But obviously with only sports stars. Yeah. But it was, it was sports stars doing sports that they didn't do so there'd be archery in it shooting yeah cycling you know not for the

cyclists obviously i mean you wouldn't you know you wouldn't put you know laura kenny or whatever you wouldn't want her doing the cycling she's going to win swimming so i think they would look at who they've got on that week and make sure that they weren't doing one of their sports, obviously. I see. But yeah, yeah, it used to be really, really good. Really good. I might look it up.

Yeah. Bet it's on YouTube. Yeah. Got to be, innit? Super stuff. Yeah, it would be. Yeah. Yeah.

And then, sorry, just very quickly as well. Yeah. Then we had the stuff that we used to watch in the six weeks holidays. Yes. So you only had the back then, you only had kids programs in the six weeks holidays. You only had kids programs on for about four or three hours in the morning. In the morning, correct. Yeah.

So Why Don't You, which was a bit mad. I loved Why Don't You. Yeah. That was all up Geordie, wasn't it? Why Don't You? Were they Geordies? I can't remember now. No, I don't think so.

I don't know why I've got that in my head. Another one, which, sorry, so anyone out there, sorry, you really must look this up. There was a programme when we was kids called the Double Deckers, right? Right. And the premise was that you had five children who were about, one was about seven and the rest were about nine. Right. And they lived in a double-decker bus in their own garage in london somewhere right so obviously social services were not involved at this point

of course not did you ever see the parents never never never but um it's really really of its time because you had um you had like brains was this like ginger kid with glasses who was really nerdy standard yeah and then you had fat so it was this fat kid sorry he was a big boy and he was just permanently stuffing donuts down his face honestly if you go on youtube and look up the double deckers it's true there's this amazing and also it was a there was this amazing theme tune to it oh don't and and one of the really brilliant things about it was brindley ford who was in aswad he was in it as a young as a boy right and i can't remember what his name was but he was like a cool guy and he was in it as a young as a boy right and I can't remember what his name was

but he was like a cool guy and he was sort of like yeah but it was it was real sort of white t-shirt jeans

shades did he have on I don't think he had shades on no but it was real sort of really stereotypical stereotypical un-PC

yeah like you're a fat kid so eat loads of donuts you've got glasses so you must be really clever yeah it was that type of thing goodness me goodness double deckers yeah yeah bloody hell and that was what early 70s must have been i would no i don't think it was early i would say

it was sort of mid 70s i would say so you were seven eight yeah yeah so that used to be on and and then there was things like there was another series called The Flashing Blade okay which was it was a drama about I think it was about the Spanish Civil War or something I don't know

but it was it was quite action packed right okay and it was dubbed so they were Spanish actors or French actors and it was overdubbed with English voices

oh excuse me mate yeah ride that sword yes sir oi governor no it wasn't it wasn't quite like that. But that was another really good series that we used to watch,

The Flashing Blade. It's all on YouTube, all this stuff. That's brilliant. So just, you know, if you're really bored one night, and you'd have to be really bored, but if you were, just have a look at a couple of them. And, yeah, the double-deckers is just really, really funny. Oh, I'm going to do that.

Definitely. Yeah. I'll have a little look. Hello, Matt. I thought I'd just send you a little message. I'm a Nat. A Nat-Nat, actually. A massive fan of yours and the pod.

I've been listening since the beginning. Honestly, it gives me life when I'm out walking my dog every day. And I just wanted to pass on a little hello to your brother, Tony, from my husband. My husband is Martin Howell, and they wanted to say hello from Martin to Tony. I hope you all keep him well and keep up the good work. I am bloody loving this pod. And actually, do you know what I forgot to tell you? You and Tony actually helped my Martin buy my engagement ring. We got married in 2005 and Martin needed ideas of where to go for an engagement ring and it was your Tony that gave him the idea to go to a specific jewellers in Hatton Garden and yeah did him a nice little deal. Went upstairs to the old secret squirrel room picked out a lovely

diamond and i did put it into a band so i've also got your tony to thank for my beautiful engagement event so thank you tony i've never met you but from what i've heard from martin you're a lovely man well there you go oh that's nice i remember yes i remember martin yeah yeah yeah we worked um i'm pretty sure we worked together at a company called AYH, which was a quantity surveying, cost consultancy and project management practice. This is what I was doing back then before I started the business. Because we haven't spoken, but I think it's really special

when I pop into Bluewater. Yes. Because you did all of that. Well, not all of it, no. I mean into Bluewater. Yes. Because you did all of that. Well, not all of it, no. I mean, I do, I like to, I'm a bit like mummy. People tell me, I really do like to expand. Expand a bit, yeah. So I say that you're, you know, you've got your own business

and it's, well, it's true, but I'll say that you do all the houses in Winchmore Hill, for instance. Yeah, well, I've only done 99%. But, you know, or I say David Ow owns barclays you know i just sort of that's how i talk about yeah i embellish it because i'm proud of it embellishment so i'm proud of everyone but you did am i right in saying you designed no no what did you do no so uh sorry so i've got i've got a long and potted history started off as a apprentice electrician yep um became electrician done five years of that then decided to go into the office as a junior surveyor and then spent nine years becoming chartered so i was a chartered quantity surveyor at the end of

it and worked for big consultancies in london i was involved a little bit in blue water but I did for instance I was heavily involved in running the cost side so what we did was we ran the budget for the client so we did we did the Marks and Spencer store in Manchester was blown up by the IRA bomb oh wow and it was the biggest it was the biggest Marks and Spencers in the world at the time so we were the consultants for that that ran the budget and uh employed all the contractors and all that sort of stuff okay and I I did lots of I did we did work for over the years I've worked for big property companies like Hammersons and Landsec and MMPC and all those sorts of people Marks and Spencers um we did some work for Sains. We've done, I was involved heavily with the Emirates Stadium when I was at AYH

because AYH were project managers and cost consultants for the Arsenal Stadium. So that was what I did at that time. And then for some inexplicable reason. So you didn't completely design Bluewater, which is what I've been telling everyone. Well, no, I can't. I, no, I can't.

I'm sorry. I can't. I can't. No, I can't. I can't put my name to that one. But I was involved in blue water to a much lesser extent and whatever. But we'll just gloss that over. You know.

You've said it now. I've said it. So it's true. Yeah, thank you. Someone once said to me that perception is reality. So if You've said it now, so it's true. Yeah, thank you. Someone once said to me that perception is reality. So if you've said it, then it must be true. Yeah. I've done it.

Yeah. I did it all on my own as well on a Sunday afternoon. Yeah. Yeah, did everything, architectural, structural, M&E, a whole lot. Did a lot after dinner. Well, I thought that was really nice of Laura this is some

how lovely this pod can you know someone can just get in touch yeah there's a few people I wouldn't want to

get in touch no me too quite a lot actually so let's hope they're not listening no block and delete yeah

one of the few that are not listening well it's been a real mixed bag this evening. It's nice, isn't it? I think so, yeah. I think it's nice to dip in and out of different things. A little bit of reminiscing. Absolutely.

Which never, it's always quite good for the soul, I think. Of course it is. You know, because it's always, you always think it was better back then, didn't you? When you grew up and you was younger. Always. Halcyon days and all that it was probably just really shit you just block it all out the real bad stuff and just remember the little snippets that was all right i think it's to do with growing older responsibility yeah uh and different needs whereas when you're that age the only thing that matters is what's on the telly what you're gonna have for dinner

yeah what toys you got yeah what makes you go there's no worries there isn't and i think that's the nostalgic part you remember the nice bits yeah i agree we've got one more message here from joe all right so let's play this okay joe from swindon again um loving the pod as always it's a given i don't even know what i've got to tell you it but it's just polite isn't it anyway reason for the voice note is to ask a question for you and the listeners and the question is if you could time travel would you go back in time or would you go forward in time and it could be a point in your own life or it could be eras that you'd like to time travel to so for me i think i'll leave my own life alone but i would love to go back to 1950s america i'd love to experience that

so there you have it have a lovely weekend ttfn ta-ta for now ta--ra. Thank you, Jo. I don't even know if that is such a can of worms that we should leave that with people. I think straight, sorry, the only thing I would say, what you have to decide straight away, is are you allowed to make money out of your time travel? Because if the answer is yes yes then everyone would go forward find out all the football results and the betting results and the racing for the next six weeks and then come back and do all the bets and a million loads of money a bit like the bloke

that had the bob biff who had the book in um he had the yearbook in um back to the future and it made him he got a yearbook from the future and took it back in time and then used it to bet and get millions of pounds and it made him very rich and marty mcfly then went into the future to try and stop him getting the book well i'll tell you what we do joe could you let us know if you can travel forward and make money? Yeah, because I think that would spoil it. Yeah. Sorry. If you said you cannot make money or any personal gain out of it

other than sort of enjoyment, I think that's a big sort of, that's one you've got to decide that before making that decision. Fine. Okay. Well, Joe, we'd like to know. So for Tony and I's next pod, could you please let us know? Yeah.

I think it's sort of what the parameters of the time travel is. Okay, fine. And then we can narrow it down a bit. Narrow it down. Yeah. And we'll decide. And please send in your voice notes about when you'd like to travel back to, or would you go forwards?

Or maybe we need the answer first about the money. It's a difficult one. Oh, well. It's a tough one. 0778 20 1919. Tony, it's been really nice seeing you. And I do want to see you a little bit sooner. Well, we'll have to sort that out.

So the next one. Yeah. We will be, I'm afraid, if we're going to do it in the next month, we're going to be full on festive yeah that's fine so it may be a glass of wine and a mince pie night

okay alright well I can't eat the mince pie but I'll have the glass of wine yeah fine alright then love you loads and you

alright great to see you great to see you bye thanks everybody hi this is Chris McCausland and this is Diane Boswell and we've got a new podcast haven't we Thanks everybody. back here strictly, aren't we Di? We are. I've missed you, Chris. I've missed you too. We're going to talk some nonsense, so why not tune in?

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