Strangers on a Bench - EPISODE 12: Quiet Chainsaw Man

Episode Date: December 2, 2024

Tom Rosenthal approaches a stranger on a park bench and asks if he can sit down next to them and record their conversation.This is what happened! Produced by Tom RosenthalEdited by Rose De LarrabeitiMixed by Mike WoolleyTheme tune by Tom Rosenthal & Lucy Railton Incidental music by Maddie AshmanEnd song : 'Miles and Inches' by Billie Marten Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello, sorry to bother you. Can I ask you a slightly odd question? I'm making a podcast called Strangers on a Bench, where essentially I talk to people I don't know on benches for you up for that? Do you want to give it a go? This is the only time this will ever happen. Us two on a bench have just met. What's your favourite day of the week? Favourite day? Honestly, I'm stuck between Friday and Saturday because Saturday is just like a day to just completely unwind. And then Friday is kind of like, oh, you know, end of the week I guess. Yeah, end of the week, I guess. Yeah, I'd say Friday, definitely Friday.

If you could do a dream day of yours, where you could take me from the morning to the evening, what would it look like? A great day. Just a day where I don't know, like just a day where I don't have to do anything, honestly, because I, it sounds lazy, but I don't like being productive. I do. But like, it's just, I don't know like just a day where I don't have to do anything honestly because I I it sounds lazy but I don't like being productive I do but like it's just I don't know like the only time I'm productive is when my brain just likes you know just get up and do it or like very last minute so I guess a day where I could just do completely whatever to be honest staying in bed all day and just being on my phone a lot doing nothing

I'm confident in the words but yeah Just floating around Yeah, basically I totally get it What in your life at the moment is exciting you the most? Honestly, I'm really big with music like listening to music So I guess Listening to music?

Yeah Fantastic Because like I collect a lot of music CDs and badges as you can see. Oh you like badges? Yeah, these are my favourite bands. I lost one a few days ago on the bus and that's why you have this kind of space. So you've got badges on your bag, what do badges mean to you? I guess it's just a way to express myself.

I secretly hope people look at my bag and be like, she's pretty cool she listens to a lot of bands you know yeah I mean I definitely would think you're pretty cool. It means a lot to me because I really really like music so these these are quite special to me and obviously I collect a lot of music CDs and those are very special to me I have one vinyl but I don't have a vinyl player. We need to get you a vinyl player. It was a gift from my friends when I was 16. It was a taste of his vinyl, the Song to a Big Chair album. It's like the first ever physical copy of like music that I've ever received like ever. So obviously it's quite special to me. I guess you could say like favourite it more than my other collections. Tell me about CDs. You kind of collect CDs now. Yeah.

So can you tell me how that feels in an era when people aren't as concerned for them? It feels quite nice, you know, because I go to charity shops and I see just the shelves stacked with CDs and I'm just like, yes, thank you, thank you. Because I know everyone's literally on sport, I mean so am I, but everyone's using either iTunes or whatever. And so I guess I kind of feel special in a way, not superior but I feel kind of special, I'm like ah, you know. No, you should feel superior. Yeah, yeah. It's lovely to be interested in a physical object, is that what interests you? I mean is that what is it about a CD

that appeals to you? I feel very much is it about a CD that appeals to you? I feel very much like, how do I explain this, like very connected to them, you know? Yeah. Do you have a CD player? Yeah. Yeah. Of course.

What's the point in having CDs if you don't have a CD player? I don't know, but maybe you just wanted to keep the physical object or something. Yeah, but I wouldn't feel fulfilled if I didn't play it. Like I have to at least play it if I want to fully reach that level of euphoria, you know? I love that, I love that. Yeah.

Good boy! Go, go, go, go, go! Go, go, go! When was the last time that you felt you did what you thought was a courageous thing? Courageous thing? It could be in a really small way, it doesn't have to be a big way. Do you have anything you can remember about doing something you felt was brave? Good question because I am quite shy in public so I don't do a lot of courageous things. I'm very like... Well it's courageous to say yes to me. True. So you

feel like you're quite a shy person. Yeah. What's it like being a shy person? Peaceful. I mean it's it's it's not easy but it's peaceful when you're quite a shy person? Yeah. What's it like being a shy person? Peaceful. I mean, it's not easy, but it's peaceful when you're just left alone with you and your thoughts. It's comforting and it feels right just to be alone. And in a public setting, for me, I get really anxious when I'm faced with crowds. Or just simply walking past someone, I can literally just start feeling myself myself my breathing getting heavy. Really? Yeah. Just walking past someone? I think I'm all scared of my age range like because I don't know I find I find other teens kind of scary. Yeah. So do you ever wish you were not

shy? I mean do you and what what points in your life do you wish you were not shy? I mean, what points in your life do you wish you weren't shy? When it comes to going to social events, that's the main, main, main time where I feel like, okay, well, I could have done more that day. Why did I do it? I don't know. I guess I just wanted to be left alone that day.

And honestly, it's not like I completely isolate myself. I don't. I just like, being alone is very peaceful. Yeah, that makes total sense. Yeah. What, that was a good bird. Very loud. Well yeah, they wanted to ask the question. What is it like being a teenager now in the world?

Feels pretty good, but it sucks knowing that I'm not gonna be one forever, What is it like being a teenager now in the world? It feels pretty good, but it sucks knowing that I'm not going to be one forever because I turned 20 in two years and it's just like, what's the rush, you know? I was literally 14 two days ago and now I'm, you know, turning 20 in two years and it's scary when you think about it because time really does go by fast. It's true, you know? What's the fear of turning 20 for you? It seems to be that you're quite worried about it. It has to do with responsibilities.

Like, I don't really want to pay tax on that shit. You don't want to pay tax? No. I don't want to pay bills. I just want to live in my parents' house and just goof around and sleep in my bed all day and listen to music. Like, you get what I mean.

Like, it's. And I guess I'm also, I mean, obviously we can just die at any moment, but I guess growing old is like a big fear of mine. Not in appearance, but just the fact that, hey, my body's kind of shutting down little by little. I'm gonna, I'm gonna go soon, you know? That kind of thing.

And I'm not a religious person. I don't know what's gonna happen, nobody knows to be honest, but. I would like to think that I'd come back as like a cute little cat. Just a cute little cat playing in a field, you know, that kind of thing. That sentence really escalated very quickly,

it was, you were 18, suddenly, and like, my body's deteriorating, and now I'm coming back as a cat. I'm dead'm dead I'm dead I've got old I'm suddenly old or dead I'm back to cat though yeah cuz I kind of worked out yeah I like cats so I hope I come back as long and I think most people here if I had like a hundred people here and they can talk they're probably saying you know really don't worry about that. I guess I just rest about the unnecessary things that I should be

stressing about because really what I should be stressing about now is what I'm gonna wear for tomorrow not when I die you know. This is a very good point what else do you worry about in your life apart from getting on and dying? I worry about where I will be in like the next five years because living here is pretty darn expensive isn't it so I'm just like I can't get a job. Yeah it's really hard to get one like I'm just doing work experience right now hopefully after so I can get a job but no one wants to flippin' holler at me bro. Nobody, sorry I called you bro. No, no it's okay.

I'm sorry. You called me bro. I'm sorry. What do you mean no one wants to hire people? You mean is that a classic thing of like people say oh we're looking for experience or whatever? Yeah like they could be saying we're urgently hiring and then when you apply they're like nope sorry.

Never got that. Cause I volunteer at a charity shop currently. I guess that comes to experience. That's wonderful. What's that like? It's quite nice. I manage the CDs. Of course you do! Do you cheekily, when the CDs come in, do you kind of like go, oh let's keep the good ones to the side?

Because the thing is, we're allowed to like, if we see something we like and if it's priced, we can keep it upstairs, like near the staff area staff area then after our shift we can just buy it. So yeah, I Guess it's pretty sweet there I mean, yeah, I mean I do like I said before like I'm shy so I'm not saying you're wrong to say you are shy. I'm just saying that You're showing me kind of another side to yourself that I don't think is that shy. So you clearly have something in you that as well. Yeah I guess I'm just really afraid of like me messing up or something like me tripping over in front of people

or like something going wrong like I don't know like someone slaps me, someone beats me up I don't know like I'm scared of just the most rambunctious things that happen in public to me, that's what I'm scared of, you know, that's this one. Does that mean you've got a big imagination, you kind of imagine all the things that could go wrong? Yeah, I DJ my time, like I always come up with the scenarios, okay, so if I'm at this place at this time, what's going to happen, what could happen?

Like who will be there, that kind of thing. Can you paint the picture of your last daydream that you had? Like before I turned up on this bench and you were looking off into the city as we are now with all these buildings in front of us. I want to say the very very very last thing I was daydreaming about, but I will tell you the second last thing I was daydreaming about but I will tell you the second last thing I was daydreaming about. We'll take the penultimate. I was just daydreaming about like I don't know like what my friends are doing at college

right now. If I'm here what are they doing right now you know? I wonder what they're getting up to. But you can't tell me about the daydream, your last daydream you had. Off limits. Off limits? Okay I won't ask anymore. I won't ask anymore.

That's fine. But you like to daydream? Yeah, honestly zoning out is something I do very often. Are you good at it? I can... You can do it for England, so to speak. That would be a good chair, that would be a good Olympics, wouldn't it? Yeah, honestly, it just feels comfortable. It's like sleeping but you're awake.

Can you unfocus your eyes? As in, what do you mean by that? As in like, if I can look at the tree in front of us and just like, let it go all blurry. Yeah, that's what I mean. Because some people can, it's like, I can do that. Yeah, I think I can do that. Yeah, it's what I'm doing right now.

It's really comfortable. Not sure how I'm doing it but I'm doing it. So that's how you start your daydreams, you just you you begin by kind of just going blurry and then you let thoughts just flood in. Basically yeah. And how long can you go for? What is a good length daydream? Hmm, it depends where I am. If I'm in class, I can't do it for long, obviously. If I'm in someone like this, I mean, anything could happen. Someone could come by me and just flip in and grab me.

So I've got to be, I've got to like, I've got to like come back down to have him like. So in the back of your head you're thinking, oh, don't switch off entirely here. Because there might be just some kind of danger lurking. Yeah. What if a man with like a very quiet chainsaw just like... A quiet chainsaw man comes along. I'm not sure you can get a silent chainsaw. You can in my imagination.

Yeah. Everything is possible in that imagination, isn't it? How are the questions so far? Are they okay? Yeah, yeah, pretty good, pretty good. This kid. He's very therapeutic, laying it all out. What are you going to do next? Well, the day, stay here for a few minutes. Life, probably, hopefully I can get into university. But I mean, I'm unsure,

because there's like a lot of options you can do after college, like there's so much stuff. Why do you want to go to university? I guess it's just heavily influenced by my teachers before, being like, you know, go uni, get a good job, get a degree, which is, I mean, obviously, yeah, I want a degree, but goddamn, it's just like, they shove it down our throats a lot and it pushes off it.

They don't realize it. I think they should at least talk to us about it, like, a few times, and then just leave it at that because we already know the option is there and we can take it if we want to but then shoving it down our throats constantly it's kind of like okay well it's like I need to go now because like it must be very important if you have to keep on talking about it you know. And I never really hear them talk about apprenticeships or whatever else there is to offer. That's interesting. Yeah. You know

what really from my personal opinion universities is not for everybody and there are so many different ways of approaching the world. It's so expensive now as well. You don't want to be put on the back foot. It means you're kind of slightly trapped. You have a big loan, therefore you have a debt to pay. And when you have a debt to pay, you feel like, oh God, I've got to start paying it. And so you do something that you don't particularly

find exciting or interesting, whatever, because you're like, well, I've got to pay the debt. And then that kind of, that locks you in as well. I mean, already, the world locks us in to various different things anyway, so it's like, it's really important to make sure that move is right for you. Yeah, because my sister, my older sister, she's still paying her debt back.

Yeah. Years later, I'm just like, God damn, how much do you owe them? No, that's it. How much have they told you? That's it. So, question for you. if you could ask yourself one question and then answer it what would it be? I've just thought of everything and nothing

because the thing is if I was to clone myself my clone is in front of me I ask the question and then they answer I feel like I know what the answer might be because that's me you know. Yeah. I think it would make more sense if like, if it was like my past self and my present me or present me and future self because then in a way I could give advice or receive advice and that would help me in the long run but I don't know what question that would be. So maybe let's say what's the question for future you? Imagine you're going to come back here on this bench in 10 years, what is your question for future you in 10 years? Where do you live? Because I'm big on the countryside, if I'm not in the countryside

by the next 10 years then I am worried for myself because I grew up in a city but I'm not in a crutch by the next 10 years, then I am worried for myself, because I grew up in a city, but I'm not a city person. I'm more of a countryside person, or like a, you know. And I'm sure they would welcome you with open arms. Yeah, I hope my neighbors are nice, like my future neighbors. I hope they aren't too brassy or whatever, and like they are in the movies. I just hope my future neighbors are good.

Yeah. Please be good future neighbors. Is it odd, not thought that your future neighbors are out there now, just floating around and they don't know that they're gonna be your future neighbor? Yeah, they could be literally anybody, bad or good, they could be anybody and I would not know about it until the time comes, which is crazy.

How everyone is connected, but like not. OK, let me rephrase that. Everyone's connected, but when... I'm sorry. Like everyone is connected in a way. But we meet when the time is right, unintentionally, if that makes sense. Yeah. It's strange when you think about it. I made a bed here, knowing enough Alone as the wind is, miles and inches

Roots are twisted all below and above Music Birds chirping Music ends