Life with Nat - EP96: Nagging with Auntie Linny #9

Episode Date: March 13, 2025

Linny's back! We debrief her holiday and dive into International Women's Day and celebrate all the women in our lives 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

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I'm your host, Lisa LaFlamme. Carry the Fire, a podcast by the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation, featuring inspiring personal stories about what happens when world-leading doctors, nurses, researchers, and their patients come together to ignite breakthroughs. Carry the Fire launches Monday, January 27th, wherever you get your podcasts. Hello and welcome to Life with Matt. Today I thought myself and Auntie Lynnie could have a little chat about International Women's Day which was at the weekend but I think we

should be celebrating women every day quite frankly. How are you Lyn? I'm fine. Again it feels like, I know we saw you last week but it just feels like this was months ago. Oh no. I don't know, the time goes so fast and yet these pods feel so far between. Far and far between. But to be fair I looked, it was only a month ago but yeah I'm all good. I feel like we were so busy at the moment that we haven't had a proper conversation. Absolutely.

We're just going to have to do what we did on the last pod. We sort of forgot we were doing the pod, didn't we? We were just chatting. I think we're going to have to do the same, although I'm a bit shocked that I'm sitting inside. I know, I'm really sorry for everybody. We're recording this on a Saturday and the weather is the best day of the year so far. And as you know, Lynnie does love a bit of sunshine, don't you? And

I'm keeping her in. So I'm afraid this is going to be 45 minutes and done guys. She's got to get out in the sunshine. I mean, because we might not see this again for another three months. I know, I know. Joking aside how amazing for March, just to see a bit of sunshine. Beautiful. Well, if you're going around to see Ruby, you can maybe get out in the garden and go to the park or something. Yeah, I will take her to the park. She'll love that.

You've got a little bit of a tan though from your holiday. Yeah, I mean, Natalie, we've already been back a few weeks. A few weeks. Three weeks. Yeah. I mean, that again, work said to me, did you have a nice holiday? I had to think about it. I said, holiday? Yeah. That's the only thing we're going away, isn't it? Feels like a distant memory very quickly. Build up to it, it's so huge and you're so excited

and you can't wait to go and then you get back and within 24 hours you feel like you've not been away. Yeah. Especially if you've got a job as well because just, you're playing catcher. You're straight back into it. There's no- Oh my goodness me. There's nothing slow about getting back into routing.

Well, I mean, I didn't come away from it because I'm one of those terrible people that takes their laptop on holiday with them. Yeah, you shouldn't do that. Terrible habit, guys, do not do what I do. But it's so difficult, isn't it? Sometimes you just can't let go and I'm one of those. So what were you doing then? Just having a look for an hour? No, I was paying clients because I pay clients their rent on a daily basis. We're really overwhelmed with work understaffed as always. So I was, yeah, didn't really have the heart

to pass it on to anyone else. So I was, yeah, paying rents, just glancing through my emails, anything urgent, directing them to the appropriate stuff. I'm not very happy with that. No, it's not good. I must say even I thought this is not good, but trust me, I did feel rested. And what about the unicorn? Everyone wants to hear your side of the story. Oh, I can't wait to give you my side of the story with the blimmin' unicorn that I hasten to add is larger than the table that we are working on at the moment in Natalie's studio.

But no, guys, this is the best thing here. So Roro, as you know her, my daughter Maria, really confident young woman, got a really good job, very creative, isn't she Natalie? From writing poems to putting together wedding albums to styling Natalie to doing fashion. There's many more skills that I can't even think of at the moment. So anyway, I'm not going to go into too much detail, but as you know, off she went, she goes to buy two Lylos. I'm expecting her to come back with a couple of rubber rings. I see her walking towards me, as did everyone else with these massive Lylos. Alfie was a shark, so it kind of worked. He loved it. He's older.

He could sit on it. He was playing with it. It was great. The other one I hasten to add, I mean, it was even too big for me. So she comes towards me and she said, straight away, what am I going to do with this? And I said, well, I suggest you get yourself back there. I mean, obviously they played a blind and thought, oh, got some mug here. Who's willing to spend a hundred quid on a couple of Lilo's. And they could see that she had a three year old daughter. They should have just said, this is way too big, but I don't know where that is. Not suitable for this child. Which is what they said to me when I then went back. So obviously I said, well, no,

you go and do it. She went, no, no, you do it. You're so much better at it than I am. That old chestnut. So I've gone back, said, look, I'm really sorry. My daughter, he thought I was Maria when I went back. I was about to say, did he think that you were the same person? Yeah. So yeah, I was going, no, no, it wasn't me. It was my daughter. I said, you've sold her this, but her little girl's only three. She can't play with this. Blah, blah. I said, can you, I said, you can have it. I said, no, I'll take a smaller one for the same money. He's had a right touch.

Yeah, hasn't he? Just, I said, but I can't have this. I said, oh, have it. I said, and I'll take a smaller one for the same money. He's had a right touch. Yeah, hasn't he just? I said, but I can't have this. I said, oh, can I take a couple of small ones thinking we can use it for Amelia, whatever. Anyway, he said, I can't sell it. I haven't got the box. Yeah, so anyway, I'm sort of doing the usual negotiations, which obviously I'm quite good at because that's my job.

And he wasn't having any of it. And then in the end, I think he felt a bit sorry for us. And he said, oh, we'll just pick another one and you can have that for free. So I wasn't willing to take that risk because I couldn't tell what was what. It was very difficult. They're in boxes Natalie. So I've gone back as a Tamiria, get yourself back there and go and pick one. And she didn't want to take one, she was embarrassed.

But then also the other thing I found with these blimmin' Nylos was obviously we didn't want to take them back to our room. So I had to ask someone if we could store them where the suitcases were being stored. Oh yes, yeah. They didn't really want to do that. But anyway, in the end they did. And then when we were, initially we were cutting them both back with us to the pool when we were going to the pool. It's incredible how many, so again, met a couple of nice English families and we were saying to them, one lady said

to me, oh, my children are already bored, we've only been here 10 minutes. I said, tell them to play with the unicorn. They can honestly, it's fine, tell them to play with it because they're older. They'll enjoy it. Oh no, she said, couldn't do that. That's very kind. But it was amazing how many people from other cultures, countries would come over and say, can we have your unicorn? My daughter or my son wants to play. Oh really? Yeah.

The English are very polite. We're so polite, we're so reserved, whereas some people were just taking it. Yeah, we had a bit of Lilo Wars last year in Greece. A few times kids would just come up and take Joni's Lilo. Not sure. And she had her arm, so it was very integral to her being in the pole, where she'd lean it on the lilo. And people would just come over and take it and the parents could see them doing it.

And they just let them. And they'd be like, are you fucking joking? You tell your kid that's not your lilo. No, by the end, I got, like you've just said, I was getting up saying, excuse me, that's our lilo. Because they're... Bashing it. Yeah. And then when they puncture this lilo... It's not theirs, is it? It's a puncture. Yeah, they're not going to replace it. Yeah, it then when they puncture this, Lilo. It's not this, it's a puncture. They're not going to replace it.

Yeah, it was funny. It was a funny old thing. Funny old thing. And the sun, quickly? I have to say, having, for three months prior to going to Dubai, saying, well, the reason we're going to Dubai is so that we just guarantee the sun. We don't have to wake up every morning

like we did last year at the Canary Islands, going, oh, it's gonna be sunny today, it's gonna be sunny today. Get there and it's blooming overcast. But I have to say, it was exceptionally warm. It was a perfect weather for the children. You've still got to turn. And even for me, Natalie, we had sun. We're making out. We saw no sun. We had sun and when it was sunny, you knew about it. So actually it was very nice to be able to just lounge,

read a book, not feel overly hot that you've got to have the parasol up or move out in the sun. It was actually really nice. Would have been nice to see a bit more sunshine. Yeah, and obviously you heard about our dramas with the room, which was incredible. Maria failed to tell you that when we did get our own room eventually, there was no bed for the children and no balcony that we had booked a room with a balcony and a bed for the kids, which is why we then got upgraded in a heartbeat to a beautiful, beautiful room. So you should.

I mean, what? The organisation of things, honestly. No, honestly, and we're tired. Oh, what about this quickly. Talking of people and letting you down. I went to a lunch yesterday. I got invited to Donna Ashworth, the poet I had on. Saw the photos, lovely. An International Women's Day lunch, so it was beautiful.

Davina was there, Davina McCall, who I've not seen for ages. And she looks amazing. She just is beaming with gratitude. She's just crying all the time. She just can't believe she saw me. I gave her a kiss and she went, oh, and she started crying. I said, what are you crying? She went, oh, I haven't seen you for, she said, I'm just so grateful for everything after what I've been through. But she looked amazing. Lisa Snowden was there, who caught

up with her. Tamsin Althwaite, Lisa Faulkner, who I've not seen for ages, and lots of other people. And Donna had her sister there and her two best friends from Scotland. So that I really liked. You know, you go, oh, you've really, you are a real person. Because even at something like that where she's got a few celebs there. She's got her family there. She's got her core people there. Of course. And I said, that's what I'm like, you know.

So that was really lovely. But Maria styled me for the event. Yeah, you look lovely. Thank you. It was lovely, wasn't it? So the dress was lovely, the shoes were lovely. And she said, you just now need a bag. And I said, well, I'd like to get a buttermilk bag to go in my shoes.

So she said, oh, it's a bit matchy-matchy, but if you want to. I said, yeah, I'd quite like to. I said, but I want a big bag because I'm out for the day. Order this bag off of Anthropologie, which is quite a nice make. Turns up, I didn't have any time, it turned up the day before I was going. So it's a bucket bag and then inside the bucket bag, there's a large pouch, you know, like an organiser. It's covered in black marks. It's poor, isn't it?

Covered in black marks. Luckily, it's isn't it? Covered in black marks. Luckily, it's inside the bag, but I'll have to show you it. And I just thought, how can these people sell this stuff? I've got to send them an email about it. So you used it. I did. I had to. I had no choice.

Yeah, but maybe you should say that. Maybe you should email them, say, I had no choice but to use the bag because I had planned my outfit. However, I received it covered in stains. I'll be returning it. And it's not stains you can get off. I don't know what it is. It's poor.

It's really bad. I know we spoke about this on our last pod. No, but I just think... But it's just everywhere, anywhere. Anything you buy, anything you ask for. Genuinely, on holiday, I said to myself, I had to say to myself, just go with the flow. Don't moan about anything. I wasn't even complaining about the weather.

I think Maria was moaning more than me, but maybe she felt bad for me, but I had to resign myself to the fact that this is what the weather is. Don't stress. Just embrace, enjoy. But even when you try and embrace and enjoy, when you see that things are just not being done, like we know Emirates brilliant, listen guys, I'm making this sound really negative and it's not because I would go back in a heartbeat. I loved the whole flight. We went economy, but it's still comfortable. You know me, I don't sit still. I just loved sitting there for seven hours, watching

a film and watch the Amy Winehouse thing again. I watched a couple of films. It was just lovely. Yeah. But again, I could have continuously complained. We'd been on the plane an hour and a half before there was any drinks. We have got children with us. It's a night flight. Yeah. We want them fed. I mean, we'd fed them at the airport, but still they could have had another snack, you know, a snack, a drink, go to bed. Yeah. A little carton of milk would be handy, wouldn't it? Why are we waiting two hours before we've seen a drink? It's really poor. It's really poor. You could so complain. As we're getting off the flight, Ruby's having one because by now she's exhausted. She just wants milk. I've gone and asked someone

for milk. No, the bar's closed on the plane this is. And we've thrown all the milk away. I've just looked at her. I didn't have it in me to say that. I've never heard. It's absurd. Anyway, as I'm walking off the plane, our air hostess, because you had like the same air hostess on each aisle, clocked it. She went, did you get your milk? I said, no, they've thrown it away apparently. She went, wait there. Off she's gone. Gone and got me a bottle of milk. So are they just lazy then? Yeah, people just don't care. It's really bad. It's not good, is it, at all? I just think it's so disappointing. I agree. Because isn't it lovely when someone just, I want to say goes the extra mile, it's not going the extra mile.

No, it's just doing your job properly. Just doing your job. Now when someone does something for me above and beyond. You can't believe it. No, I'm like, oh my God. I know. It's amazing. Thank you so much. I know. I'm like, I'm going to mention you on my pod. I do a pod in my sister and I'll give you

a shout out because you're just so grateful that someone's just doing their job. I know. It's terrible. It's terrible. A little shout out here from a lady called Debbie Clark. She said, I just want to thank you for my clean grout. Oh. So she's used the stuff. Do you know how many people asked me about what it was called? I put a photo on. Yeah. Might have to put it on again and put it on my highlights on Instagram. We should have got paid for that. Maybe I should bring one out. Our own one. No, I'm

not joking. People were obsessed. No, I mean, I was shocked by it because as I say, because of my job, 20 years, all I've dealt with is mould, spores. That's kind of a huge thing in the UK because our weather is so miserable and people can't afford to put the heating on so they don't open windows, they have showers, condensation is just festering in that room rather than letting it escape and that just creates mould. Yeah, yeah. So yeah, people are thrilled. No, it's a brilliant, I even thought the same, I thought this is like a bit of a magic product and not even overly expensive.

Annie JB said, I love this, I could listen to Auntie Linnie all day, her voice really chills me out. Does it Annie? I feel like it stresses me. Laura, my nanny said that you're her favourite, little shout out. Laura said, oh, I can't wait. I feel like Auntie Linnie really talks to the listener. She says, guys, it's as if we're in the conversation and I think she does it best. So that was from Laura.

Oh, thanks Laura. Yep. Yep. Joe Marie said, please can you ask Auntie Linnie how she would clean rust from a towel rail? None of my products are working. Any ideas? You can't clean rust. If your towel rail's rusted, I mean, I'll happily do some research for you. It's a common thing, again, in bathrooms where you're not ventilating. So then what you find are like towel rails. And even when you do ventilate, like the edges of a mirror that's got like a stainless steel back, it starts to... Or how about when it's got the little neck? You know, the screws, you see rust around those, don't you?

And that's just condensation, and where you've not ventilated. But generally, rust on stainless steel, I don't think you are getting that out. But I will happily research that. So I don't want to give the wrong advice. Kim Ouellette, Ouellette or Olliette, sorry Kim, I'm not sure. She said, I love Auntie Lynnie. How do I get streak free windows, please? There's so many different techniques. What's your favourite?

I think my cart chair. What's the culture though? It's like a window hoover. So you can use it for your shower screens, you can use it for mirrors and you can use it for windows. Brilliant gadget. I don't know how much they are now, 55, 60 pounds. Okay. Very good gadget. But people do all sorts. Back in the day it was newspaper. I just think a good cloth, sometimes some of these window products, sprays, can smear them, but with the correct cloth and a bit of- Welly.

Physical, yeah, buffing. Trudy from Cornwall said, what would Auntie Lynnie's top five cleaning products be? But she might have to have a little time to think. Putting me on the spot, Dr. Beckman's springs to mind. Barkeepers is very, very good too. It's very good. All their products, the barkeepers products are really good. And do you know what guys? I don't think you really need to... So I'm going to use a prime example. I've always used Viacow. So it's a descaling product. I use it on my shower screens so that they're always looking new. And I do it religiously.

Whenever I shower, the last thing I do is spray my glass inside and squeegee it down, wipe it, squeegee it down. So it's quite expensive, Viacow. So I thought, you know what? I picked up the Tesco's brand, half the price, does the same job. So you don't really have to spend a lot of money. The key is doing these jobs regularly so things don't build up like scale, like mould, like grease. It's doing it on a regular basis rather than leaving it. And then once every six months you decide to clean your extractor hood grids, people don't think to clean those, they get so greasy. And then to clean them, it's like a huge job. Whereas if you keep on top of

them, like the lady last month when we spoke, she said her air fryer. Oh yes, air fryer drawers. Yeah, I was bemused by that because if every time you use your air fryer, you give it a wipe out. Which is very easy, can I add? Super easy, takes all of 10 seconds. So it's like anything in life, the longer you leave things, the harder your job becomes. Whereas if you do it regularly, yes, you might be dedicating a

little bit more time to it, but you're benefiting from that because it's always looking nice. It's not as much effort when you go around it. You probably aren't using as much time. No, because the elbow grease you've got to put into something you've left for six months a year and sometimes you'll never get it back. So it is all about carrying out these tasks. That's why there is an art to cleaning. That's why when people have cleaners and the cleaners dust, hoover, give the bathrooms a once over, give the kitchen and strip your bed. What about all the other stuff, your skirtings, your doors, your door handles, your light switches, your skirting boards, cleaning out your washing machine dispenser, your washing machine seal, your

extractor hood. It's all the things you don't see underneath your kitchen units. Touch those guys and see what your hand sticks, if it does get clean. Oh goodness me. So yeah, I mean, yeah, products. Do I have favorites? I do think Dr. Beckman's smashed it with the carpet, having a dog as well for me, obviously, I rely on it. And the children. Of course, yeah. You know, being sick and...

I've got something for you to look at before you go. What, cleaning? Eliza's new carpet. Oh, I see. Makeup on it. Well... I need you to have a look. Oh my goodness.

Yep. Did you not put, like... I haven't put anything there. Yeah, it was always going to happen. I know. But I need you to have a little look anything there. Yeah, it was always going to happen. I know, but I need you to have a little look for me. Cause there's a few little spots of things. Have you got Dr. Beckman?

I have, but I was scared to use it. Just didn't know. Have you got a bit of carpet, carpets of carpet? No. Didn't bloody save any, did I? Have you put something down now so that she doesn't... I've asked her to, should we see if she has? I need to get her a

little washable rug, you know one of those little, I don't need it underneath and I will be doing that. I might get one today when I go out because we're going to pop to the shops. Because she will ruin that carpet Natalie. I know but why do they? And she had the audacity to say, I said you've got some makeup under there, which is a bit of a shame because I've told you to look after it. She went, oh no that's not me, it's Joni. Said, excuse me? She went, no, Joni came in the other morning and she was mucking about.

I said, no, Eliza, please. I said, that's a bit cheeky. I said, I don't think that's the case. As you sit there for three hours a day, I think it's the likelihood it's you. But yeah, I want you to just have a look at what it is. And if you think back- Does she know what it is and if you think back. Does she know what it is?

Does Eliza know what it is? Well, no. She thinks it's Joni. She's not sure. So that's that. So it's either blusher or... I think so. But I was worried about it being a cream.

It's red. It's red. So I think it's like a blushery type thing. But it doesn't look like a powder. Looks more of a... Oh, cream. Oil-based, should we say. We'll have a look at it.

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Now all things Berlin feel closer than ever. Air Transat. Travel moves us. Right, moving on. International Women's Day. Yeah. Amazing day. I thought we could have a little... Have a look at this, please, Lyn. What am I looking at? We're looking at Joni through the soft furnishings with a pair of binoculars. She's spying on

us. What are you doing? I can see you. I can see you. So International Women's Day is today, but obviously this goes out on Thursday. And I've asked people to send in their inspirational women in their lives. And lots of people have just said that women should be celebrated every day. I totally agree.

So you're very inspirational to me. Thank you. And you are to me. Thank you. And I just thought it would be lovely to talk about having daughters and just being a woman. I know it probably is a quick one because the sun's out, but how do you feel about International Women's Day? Well, I think it's an amazing day to celebrate women because, and I know this again is all

going to sound very sexist, isn't it? Men and women have different roles in life, don't they? And different challenges. challenges, but as a woman, as a wife, as a mum, as a nan, the roles we have to play, the responsibility we have, I do truly believe that women like yourself are core people in a family network. I think the woman, the mum is the glue, is the hub. Yeah, the heart. I genuinely do believe that. And that's not putting honestly dads down at all because I see Dominic and Jack and Tom, how they are with the children.

Of course. They are amazing. They are involved. They have to be because obviously life is so difficult. Now women have to work, blah, blah, blah. Mark's the same. Yeah. And I'm busy.

Absolutely. They step in. Absolutely. But there is still a huge difference and there genuinely is. I'll use an example. When your dad wasn't well, Natalie. Yeah. I'll use an example, when your dad wasn't well, Natalie, I would go to bed and I'd say to Dave, where's your phone?

He'd say, oh, it's downstairs. Because Dave would never take his phone to bed, and rightly so. It is good. And I'd be like, but your dad's not well. What if Natalie calls you? He said, oh yeah, but you've got your phone. Do you see what I mean? The responsibility, like, you know, for me, yes, I, oh yeah, but you've got your phone. Do you see what I mean? The responsibility. Like, you know, for me, yes, I would have my phone because

I've got children, I've got grandchildren, I've got brothers who are single, so I'm kind of their go-to woman. So I'm a mum to many people. How am I not going to have my phone with me? I feel like we're programmed so differently, you know? Yeah, I do know. And maybe you do have to sometimes take a little bit of a step back, but it's... I think it's very difficult to... How do you... It's really hard.

The lunch we had yesterday, Tamsin is now hosting and doing this amazing thing called We Free Women. And it's going away, wellness, little retreats. Okay. But it's for women who can't afford or have no idea or clue how to look after themselves after the perimenopause. Because what people were saying yesterday, the women in the room, is that a lot of women when they hit perimenopausal age, they can't handle everything anymore.

No, because again, I'm speaking from experience because obviously I'm through the menopause, I guess, although am I? I don't know. How do you know you're at the end of it? I still don't sleep and I still have brain fog. But my little bit of an experience, and I think I've sailed it, I feel I've sailed it because when I hear stories like you're about to tell me, I feel like I maybe was one of the lucky ones. But I think what happens is something in your brain, you just become completely overwhelmed with life. It's like your brain's going at a hundred miles an hour and there's all these things going on. And where you would normally just cope with stuff, whether it's, I've got to go and get the shopping, I've got to go and, you know, and like yourself,

you're still picking kids up from school. You're going from your perimenopausal. You've got whatever challenges they are, collecting children from school, the shopping arriving, doing your job, what to cook, the washing, the this, the that. I feel like way before you would just do it in your stride, you just take it all in your stride and you just cope and you'd be relaxed about it. I think something happens Natalie where you're completely overwhelmed. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then you're physically going through massive changes. The hot sweats, the deprivation of sleep. Yeah. I'm definitely not there yet. You're not. Touch wood. No, I don't

feel. But then mummy had me at 44. So, you know, when you think about jeans and all of that, I think I'll be late. See, I don't ever remember perimenopause. I never experienced that. I remember turning 50 in the June and then in July I didn't have a period. And that was it. Then I thought, oh, I must be going through the menopause. Again, this is all new. It's been talked about. You probably had all that stuff, but no one spoke about it, so you got on with it. And I didn't even know my body was going through that. No, and it's the same as the menopause for Mummy.

Yeah. You had no one to talk to about that at that stage. And if you got it bad, like she did, it could affect you emotionally, mentally, and you got no one to talk to. And isn't that sad? Very sad. That she could not, and obviously, even for me,

with me, I was young. I didn't know that menopause was a big thing, could give you all these challenges that she was going through. Definitely going through. And that generation will be too embarrassed to say anything. Absolutely. It wasn't spoken about. No.

We were naive to it to a certain degree. Yeah. And look what she had to endure. On her own. On her own. On her own. That's so good now that we can talk. Absolutely. It's so important to talk. And you can't judge anyone because everybody's circumstances are so different.

Completely. You know, again, even for me, in my 40s, my children were in their 20s. Do you know what I mean? So already I didn't have that pressure of very young children running to school. I was still working, but I want to work. I choose to work. I enjoy work.

And I think work has helped me immensely. But like you say, in terms of talking, even this podcast, even my business WhatsApp, I have women in their early 40s who will say, thank you for your pod today. I am having the most terrible day. I've got three children under the age of eight. I'm doing a full-time job working from home and I feel like I'm drowning. Yeah. And that must, that is the worst feeling, isn't it? But how lovely that they can say.

Amazing. And how lovely that they are able, because we didn't have pods, that you can just turn on a pod, whether it's one that's specific to the day in the life of a mum, or going through the menopause, or grief, or whatever it may be, and or separations or whatever it may be, and it just makes you not feel isolated. You're not the only one. It's not just you. So you don't feel freakish, do you then? Absolutely, and that's so important.

Agreed. And you haven't got to go to a group to hear that you're not the only one, where you haven't got time to go because you've got three kids that you have to pay for a child mind or that you can't pay for because you're a single mom and you're working. So you just stick it on your phone, plug it in your ears. And it might make you feel better for 20 minutes. Amazing. So even if that's all that comes out of these pods, Natalie, they are so worthwhile. Not wishing to digress, I read, so I listened to Staying Relevant.

Yes, Pete Wicks. Pete Wicks and Sam Thompson. So I read Pete Wicks' book. I mean, I never cried reading a book. And I cried and I had my sunglasses on. Thankfully, Maria turned around and said, you're right. I said, yeah, you've got to read this book. A terrific read. Really? Honestly, he has taken me somewhere. Oh, really? Yeah. I feel like if I ever met him him I would have to go up to him as much

as he'd hate it and give him a big hug. He wears his heart on his sleeve, he does the whole reverse psychology thing, he constantly sort of puts himself down, he says everything that you'd want to say and wouldn't say, what he went through and again with his mum. Right, okay. Oh, it's lovely to know. Oh, Natalie. Oh, I love the read. I'll have to borrow it off you. Tina lent me the book. Oh, I'll chuck it on an audible or something, because it's in the car. It's a good read. And he reminded me, reading his book reminded me of a couple of people I know, two guys and one of them is a female. I could see traits of them in Pete. It was

quite therapeutic for me to read this book and it makes you feel like, as we were just saying about the pods, people go through so many different experiences. Of course, yeah. And even if you take a little bit from that, it makes you feel like you are not on your own. Absolutely. People have so many challenges in life. I know.

And that's why I think these pods are brilliant. Because like when people ring in and say to you, you know, you've kept me company for an hour on my drive to work. That's my favourite. How lovely is that? Or I get a message to say, I'm having my chemo and I put my ear pods in and I laugh even when I'm having my chemo. Amazing. And I just think if I can do that, honestly, it makes me want to cry. No, totally. If I can do that, if I get one of those a year, I'll carry on doing this. Because again, in life, you're in a bit of a bubble. Whatever your situation is, you just assume everybody's life is the same.

Like for us as a family, you know, someone said it to me the other day, what was it? And they said, you do realize it's quite... Rare. Yeah, well, it's quite unique, the fact that you've got all your children live around you. You've got all these grandchildren. You've got a lovely job. You've got the flexibility to be around on a Thursday and see everyone. Your sister-in-law's up the road. Your brother's around the corner. We're all very close. We do everything together like the Walton's. But you just think everyone else's life is the same.

I don't. I'm going to just counteract that because it is so rare to live near people, to get on with them all. Even Tony and his family are in Winchmore Hill. Might not see them as much. But they're there around the corner. Around the corner. I get on with everybody. It's a rare thing. Even your brothers I love. Well, they're at the Maria's at the moment, building. Listen to this. I went, what are you doing Maria? She said, I'm doing some Lego with Alfie and I've got my uncles here and they're doing adult Lego, putting something together for me.

I'm not sure they've succeeded, but that's another story. I saw them at Dom's the other day and I said, I genuinely mean it, I said, I've got to have you over for dinner. So I'm doing that. I said, please. You need to drag them over. No, early. I said, because I do it on a day off and I'll do some dinner and maybe Dom and Annalise can come as well, but I've got to get them over. So nice to see them. Yeah, it is. They're lovely lads. But again, that's the point I was trying to make is that

that's why sometimes it's so important to give people just that little bit of time. The other day, my colleague at work said to me, I ended up spending an hour on the phone to so and so. I was so busy. I thought I was never. And I turned around and said, and you might have been the only person they spoke to that day. You just sometimes got to take that step back. I think, right, I've just got to give this person a bit of time. Someone said it yesterday at the lunch because we were all talking. It was Tamsin actually, and she said, I've started, you know when you just think of someone, you go, I must talk to that person, but you leave it. She said, I've started going, I act on it.

Immediately. It's excellent. I've just thought of you, just wanted to say hello, it'd be nice to catch up soon. She went, even if it's a text, she said, as soon as I think of someone now, I act on it. And I thought that's really good. It's just the little things that are mean so much. And sometimes when someone does things, just like something's done, a bit like that hug in a box.

Yes, yes, absolutely. So I'll go into it in more detail. Yeah. But a lovely company, they're called on Instagram, it's at Box of Hugs London, no spaces. And it's three sisters, what were their names Lyn? Anna, Sophie and Lucy. So they've set up a little business and it's bespoke boxes, hugs in a box and they put stuff in the boxes. Really lovely idea. They love the pod and they said, we'd love to send you Roro L's,

aren't you Lynnie, a little box each. And I said, that is so kind of you, do that. And I can give the business a shout out, but I've got the boxes, thank you girls. Linda can tell you what she thinks of her box, but I'm going to save it for Nats and Isis so we can do it on the pod and see what we've got and what you think of us all.

Cause I think you've done them all differently, which will be really interesting. But what did you get, Lynne? Lynne O'Hare, MPH, PhD Oh no, honestly girls, I wasn't at work on Thursday when this massive box arrived, so my colleague phoned me and I was like, I'm not expecting anything. Then he had told me who it was from. I opened the box. I loved your note. I love the fact that you put dear Lynne down in brackets, Auntie Lynne in, and they've done that with all of them. So clearly listen to the pod and it was just honestly brilliant concept, little something to brighten your day.

We love the podcast you do with Natalie and also your handy tips. We hope you love your box of hugs and all your goodies. I loved it and I had a little bottle of champagne, box of chocolates, some dried flowers, lovely eye mask which I'm really excited to use. I read it this morning, it heats up when you put it on your face. I love that. And some hand cream. It was lovely, really lovely. And just something so simple, it means a lot.

And I wasn't expecting it so I was a bit overwhelmed by it. So Yeah, really lovely. But I'll let you talk about that on the next one. That's brilliant. Lovely. Hit pause on whatever you're listening to and hit play on your next adventure. Stay two nights and get a $50 Best Western gift card. Life's the trip. Make the most of it at Best Western. Visit bestwestern.com for complete terms and conditions. At Desjardins, we speak business. We speak equipment modernization. We're fluent in data digitization

and expansion into foreign markets. And we can talk all day about streamlining manufacturing processes. Because at Desjardins business, we speak the same language you do. Business. So join the more than 400,000 Canadian entrepreneurs who already count on us and contact Desjardins today. We'd love to talk. Business. This episode is brought to you by Samsung Galaxy. Ever captured a great night video only for it to be ruined by that one noisy talker?

With audio erase on the new Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, you can reduce or remove unwanted noise and relive your favorite moments without the distractions. And that's not all. New Galaxy AI features like NowBrief will give you personalized insights based on your day schedule so that you're prepared no matter what. Buy the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra now at Samsung.com. Right, we've had some voice notes, people who are inspired by what women? So let's have a listen to these. Happy International Women's Day, Natalie and Auntie Lynnie. What a glorious day. The sun

is shining and we are celebrating us. You put a shout out to hear about women that inspired us in our lives. So I wanted to tell you about my gran, Thelma Turner, who we actually lost last October at the age of 97. But she was wonderful. So I just wanted to tell you about her. She was a proud Welsh woman. She was the eldest of the three Perry sisters. They were all really strong women, all really tough as nails with huge hearts and a really sharp sense of humor. She could talk the hind leg off a donkey, she could shop long after the rest of us had dropped. She loved listening to music in the evenings, she was ruthless at card games, she often got the giggles. She kept mint hamburgs and Werther's

Originals in her handbag. She was very particular about how a pot of tea was made and a day out wasn't a day out without a coffee and a cake stop. She loved a Bristol cream sherry, she loved to dance, she lost a hearing aid 20 times a day and when she found it she rarely remembered to switch it on but yet she'd tell you off for mumbling. She called you every other name in the family before she got to yours even though she knew exactly who you were and with a bit of encouragement she was up for anything and a favourite memory of mine was getting her on the merry-go-round at Cardiff Bay on a 92nd birthday after she told me it used to be her favorite ride but now she was too old and the operator was lovely he waited to give her extra time to get on and he helped her up and she was just filled with this childlike

happiness and gave a big birthday wave when she was wished a happy birthday over the speaker. I'm so lucky to have grown up surrounded by strong women so here's to us all as they say may we know them may we know them, may we raise them, and may we be them. And I'll follow up with a little video of my gran on the merry-go-round. Have a wonderful weekend. Bye.

That's from Naomi. Oh, I love that Naomi. Isn't that gorgeous? Really lovely. Really gorgeous. I thought we should shout out a couple of people that we have no longer here. I thought we should shout out Jan because

it was Jan's anniversary, wasn't it, last week? It was. Amy sent me some cracking videos of us when we used to spend many a weekend together. Obviously, she adopted Elia. Our elves bells. Jan was a wonderful, wonderful woman that we knew and loved and she's no longer with us but I thought she was a very inspirational, strong woman. Indeed. And made a connection with your mum, didn't she?

Very much so. Was another inspirational woman. Very, very. Certainly was to me. Yeah. Yeah. And Debbie, I'd like to shout out who is a dear, dear friend of mine, who again lost a good few years ago now, but she really was so inspirational to me and helped me through

a lot of tough times. So I think it's nice to remember women who aren't here anymore as well. And I would love to give a shout out to my mom. Your mom, I was just about to say that. Because again, an inspirational woman, didn't have it for too long, but when you, now that I'm older myself and you think back, incredible what they did. She came over to a country, couldn't speak the language, embraced the British culture, she loved it. Raised four children single-handedly with the support of my father, but he was

out to work. No real family network here, a few family members, but most of them went back in the late 70s. Worked hard, run the home, gave us so much love, so much love. That's what I do remember. We didn't have materialistic things, but we were loved, battled with leukemia for a year and sadly lost her life when her life should have just got so much easier. Again, inspirational person because imagine us going to live somewhere, another country, you can't speak the language, you're on your own. No. You've got, and then you're home. No, no. I'm all right. Yeah. It's wild.

I've never really thought about that. I know. When you think about it, it's incredible. When you think of my mum and Nanny Liz nursing her mother for most of her adult life. Natalie, your mum having a daughter in her forties while she had an elderly lady. She had a baby and an elderly woman to care for. Yeah. while she had an elderly lady. She had a baby and an elderly woman to care for. Yeah, she was doing both spectrums, an elderly parent and a young, young daughter, while still having two sons at home.

Of course. Incredible. No, incredible women. This is from Carla. She said, Nat, I've just seen your message on Instagram about women. My Nana walked to the hospital in the 1960s in labour because they didn't have a car. About a 10 minute walk but made of different stuff back then. She's still alive, God love her. She's had Alzheimer's for five to six years. My other Nana had her first baby and

twins and another baby. No electricity, no washing machines, flat farmers wide. I often think of her and what an incredible woman. She had three more babies after that. Happy International Women's Day to you and Lynnie and you two, a fabulous woman also. How amazing. So isn't that lovely? Beautiful. But your mum, your mum had you Natalie,

she had a caesarian. Yeah. And 24 hours later, she's on her hands and knees in the kitchen scrubbing the kitchen floor. They were made of old tough stuff, weren't they? Yeah, it was different days. Old tough stuff. Here's another voice note. Hi Nat and Lynnie. Happy International Women's Day. I would just say that any woman that's getting on in this life is an inspiration. I work as a nurse in the HS so I find that I've had many inspiring managers I've worked with. I

hope I'm an inspiration to some people. I run three times a week trying to look after myself so yeah I think just anyone that's keeping their shit together in this mad world that we live in is an inspiration. Love the pods. Thanks very much. Bye. And she's spot on this mad world we live in because it is at different times, isn't it? It's crazy. Just life in general. It's a whirlwind. It is a whirlwind.

But we're very lucky to be here. Absolutely. So we need to remember that, I guess. Hiya Nat. It's Maria Cullen from Newcastle on International Women's Day. First off, a big happy International Women's Day to you. What you have achieved in the past year, certainly the past month with everything kind of coming to a conclusion with Sonya Reddy's tenders, the Masked Singer, the Bake Off, honestly you're just smashing out the park. So a big happy International Women's Day to you.

I wanted to leave a voice note today about my friend Hayley. She lives a couple of streets away from me, and between us, we are just trying to make the world a little bit of a brighter place with our scones and flowers. It's really a small little contribution to make. The world is a scary place at the minute, but you know, every day she inspires me to be braver, to be a bit bolder, to share that story a little bit more, push things a little bit more out of my comfort zone. And yeah, keep doing what you're doing.

It's so class. I love the pod. All the best. Oh, thank you so much. That's lovely. Lovely messages. I do feel also the supportiveness of women is so lovely and gets stronger. Look, Patsy bought me this jumper. I noticed it when I came in. Sisterhood is a superpower. And she did it in my life with Nat Colors. Oh. It's lovely, isn't it? Really, really is.

I'll do a little picture of me and you before we go and I'll put this up. It's by a lovely company again. Shout out. I love supporting small businesses. I think it's so lovely to be in a position to be able to, I don't know, just help small businesses. They might get an extra 10 followers, 100 followers, couple of orders. I just think I'm in such a strong position to help people, and why shouldn't you?

You're in a privileged position to do that. But this company is called Soul Sisters, see Soul Sisters, I think I'll get it up, I'm going to post it, but I've got a lovely jumper which says sisterhood is a superpower and I think we all need to remember that and support each other. And before we come off this subject, I do need to give three women in my life a shout out, Maria, Elia and Annalisa who's just given us another grandson, little Frankie Charles. Adorable he is. Again, three powerful women, running homes, having babies and successful

careers. So keep going girls, you're doing a cracking job. Very, very proud of you all. Yeah, we really are, even if we don't tell you very often, but. I feel like I tell them quite a lot. They're bored stiff. Because you pray. Love you. You pray.

Love you. Proud of you. Proud of you. You are. You do. Can't help it. You are. But it's lovely, Natalie.

Can I, I'm going to tell a really quick, funny story. Go on. Marie will kill me, but wonderful man at work called Kiri, he's the head of the storyline department, massive storyline at EastEnders. So when it was a leaving day, we all sat around and Maria had had a few wines. She said, the thing is, she said, some of the storylines are absolutely shocking. Yeah, sounds like Maria. She said they're absolutely terrible.

She said, and I thought this could have happened, that could have happened. And I've turned around and went, he's the head of the story department. And she was like, oops, oh well. And then he sent me a message after Nats and Isis last week and he put, I absolutely love these girls. He said, I'm still getting over the storylines of shit. He's the head of the... I said, but if you need someone up there, she'd be cracking, she'd be good at that.

Oh no, at least, well she's someone up there, she'd be cracking, she'd be good at that. Oh, no, at least. Well, she's... But there you go. I just, it really made me laugh and I don't think you'd heard the story, but they are so full of humor, full of energy, personality, sense, ideas. And again, it's just very rare that you've got all of the women surrounding you that just make life great. Yeah, and we are fortunate as a family, there's a lot of us. Oh my goodness. Sharon, Evie. Sharon, Evie May, how inspirational is she for the family? She's an absolute credit to the family.

I don't know how that's happened. She's just incredible. She's been to Cambridge, she's got a first, she's studying law. She's stunning. Yeah, she's got it all going on. Lovely girl. Yeah, no. We're very lucky.

We're very, very lucky. Talking of your EastEnders leaving, do, what about, did you see Tamika's video to me? That was so funny. She's brilliant, ain't she? So she's with the girls. She's sending me voice note video things saying, I'm so sorry I missed you, mummy. She's calling me mummy, Auntie Linnie. She's doing all sorts. Your daughters are here, I can't believe I didn't see you, I'm gutted, I missed you, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. We danced, we

kissed and we hugged. Again, I'm not being rude. She probably thought it was Maria. Sorry Maria. It was so funny. I did laugh out loud. It's funny though. Now she's a tonic. Now that you talk about a woman, and a strong woman, I'm blessed to call her my friend. Because if you want to pick me up or you want to have a chat, you want to have a good chat, she loves to chat on the phone. You know you're going to be on the phone a while.

She's a force of nature. Isn't she? She's always like that. Yeah. Is she? Always. Continually spinning plates. Yeah.

Two children, full-time job, writing things, thinking of the next thing. Gorgeous husband, loves her house, loves her cleaning like you. Oh yeah, you're 40 if she went right. Come here, I've heard about you and your cleaning. I need to know how I do this. I need to know how I work, keep the house clean. She's a lovely soul, isn't she? Honestly, she's a special soul. As Lacey loved my chat with her, Kelly Bright really liked her. Lovely lady. Again, fantastic

women. Just great women. Full of joy, full of... Positivity. Positivity. Gratefulness. Yeah, yeah. Kindness.

Yes. I don't like women who want to sit and talk about other people all day or put women down or anyone down gossiping. Yeah. Did you see what she did? Yeah. Did you see that? I haven't got time.

But I think life has changed with regards to that now. I think like you've just said earlier, women are- I think we pick each other up. We're having each other's back, we're supporting each other, we're paying each other compliments. Yeah. I've got a girl at work, she's brilliant, bless her. She's forever paying me compliments. Yeah, it's good.

I think she means them. Bianca. But she does. She goes, God, look at the legs on Linda. She looks amazing. But I don't know. Hey, Bianca. But again, Bianca. Do you want to pay rise? Oh, bless her heart. No, but again, lost her mom a year ago. Strong woman raising two children, working.

I know. You know, it's good. No, bloody proud of ourselves is what we should be. Yeah, because it's not an easy job being a woman. It's not easy. It's not easy. Regardless at what age? At Eliza's age? Joanie's age. Joanie's age, yeah. Any age? It's mad, isn't it? Or are we undermining

men here by saying this? We're not undermining men. We're just looking at women today. We'll do a little men day. Before we go though, I have got a lovely message from a lovely man. Oh, this is Keem here. I am still catching up with your podcast. I've been listening since probably about November. So I'm slowly getting there. I'm at Christmas at the moment, which I'm loving because I love Christmas, even though it's sunny outside today. I know I shouldn't be saying that. I just saw your message about International Women's Day and had to give a shout out to my lovely mother, Sam, who is my hero. She was a single parent with three of us, low income background and trained to be a nurse while we were children. And then I am now

a nurse as well. So it's in the family. And also my nan, who was like our father figure almost was our superhero savior. I actually lost her two years ago, I really miss her. And then all my aunties as well. So my auntie Nikki and Lisa, my auntie Lisa is a massive EastEnders fan and she absolutely adores you. As I do, I think you're amazing. But yeah, so just shout out to all the lovely women

of the world who are making well-rounded young men and everything else they do, just absolutely incredible. So yeah, that's my message. Thank you, Keen. Love that. Love that. Gorgeous message.

Yeah, and he's mentioned every woman in his life. Hopefully, because otherwise he'll be in trouble. Right, that's it. That's it. It's all we've time for. I've got to get Auntie Linnie out in the sunshine. Oh, I've got to go and pick up Ruby. Well, you can still get outside. It's been lovely. Really lovely. Really nice. Let us know your thoughts, guys. It's always appreciated.

0778 20 19 19. You can leave us a message on Facebook, on Life with Nat podcast. You can leave me a message on Instagram also. Take care, have a fantastic weekend, and I'll speak to you on Monday. Thank you, Lynne. Oh, you're very welcome, and bye everyone. Speak soon, hopefully. Very soon. You take care.

And you. Bye. Bye. Hi, this is Chris McCorsland. And this is Diane Buswell. And we've got a new podcast, haven't we, Di? We do. What's it called? Winning...

Isn't... Everything. Every week, me and Diane, we're gonna be having a little catch-up on the back here strictly, aren't we, Di? We are. I've missed you, Chris. I've missed you too. We're gonna talk some nonsense, so why not tune in?

Available everywhere you get your podcasts.