Strangers on a Bench - EPISODE 94: The Most Surreal Meeting

Episode Date: June 29, 2026

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 : 'Something Sweet' by Yoshika ColwellStream it here : https://ffm.to/somethingsweetsoabListen to all the end songs featured on the podcast (so far) on one handy playlist :https://ffm.to/soabendsongs————————————————————————————Instagram : @strangersonabench Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello, so it 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 10 or 15 minutes. Are you up for that? Do you want to give it a go? I'm not a good talker. That's perfect for a podcast. No, it's actually what I like,

because the whole point of this is hearing from people who aren't good talkers. As in for me, I like to talk about. As in for me, I like to talk to people who aren't normally heard from. That's kind of the point. So the fact that you say you're not a good talker is ideal to me. Music to my ears. First question is, do you have a favourite day of the week? Not really.

Maybe Wednesday. A bit. A bit Wednesday. A bit Wednesday. Can you say why? I've learned that you can buy cheaper flights. On a Wednesday? On a Wednesday?

Really? That's what they say. Do you believe it? I did get a good deal on a Wednesday. So I'll try it again. Can you remember the greatest Wednesday of your life? No. No.

Can you remember any major event in your life happening on any particular day? For my favourite things, no. But for your least favourite things, yes. A Sunday. Because? Because I was brought up in Dublin. And it was very Catholic and dark and everyone crossing themselves. I don't know, I just don't like Sundays.

And have Sundays redeemed themselves at all to you throughout your life? They're better now. They're better. Less crossing happens now. Yeah, yeah. Let's take a Wednesday then. For you, what represents a really good day lived on earth for you currently for a Wednesday? Just long walks on the heat and maybe seeing some friends, hopefully to get into a bit of something creative.

What does that look like for you? Like maybe taking out my paints and pencils and do a drawing. And then in the summer I like to go down into the garden and do a little bit of gardening on a Wednesday. Why are you painting and what are you drawing when you're painting and drawing? Probably something in the room, particular flower arrangement or a photograph of my grandkids. But nothing from your imagination? Sometimes, yeah, mess around. What happens when you are painting or drawing from your imagination?

What do you find comes out? Usually I crumple it up and put it in the bin. Really? Because? I don't think it's any good Because? It doesn't look great Is that your perception or others? Oh no, just mine

Is that related to it coming from your imagination? Is that like a self-belief issue? Yes, I'd say it is. When have you had the most self-belief in your life, would you say? Gosh, that's a difficult question. Some of the best ones are. I can't answer. answer it.

You can. Not really. You know, think about things, think back to a chapter in your life when you believe in yourself the most, can you? I can't. Is that because you can't quite remember how you felt at those times and you think you've never really had it? Both.

Yeah. And you've never really had it because... This is getting a bit too like a psychiatrist and a patient. You think so? I don't think they're just questions. I mean, I've never... I've never had therapy, so I don't know. You've never had therapy?

Oh, right. So I don't know what it's like. I'm just interested in people's lives. It's just to understand more about who you are and who I'm talking to. Okay, go on, next question. So is it too late to gain more soft belief, do you think, now? Oh, I don't think it's too late.

There we go. That's positive. I hope not. Never too late. Never too late. So what is it not too late for in your life? What are you really keen on? You're going to make me cry, you see.

That's okay. It's not. It's okay to cry. I'm sitting up here because I'm missing my grandchildren. I'm trying to figure out to get a Wednesday flight to go to Brisbane. And that's where they are. Are they all there? No, they're not all there. Right.

So some of them are there. Some of them are there. How many are there are in Brisbane? My daughter and her husband and two children. Okay. How many grandchildren do you have all told? I have five. Are the two that are in Brisbane the oldest?

No, they're the babies. They're the babies, okay. Yeah. What are you missing about them? Just every, they're growing up and seeing them all the time. They're wonderful little minds and bodies and all of that. It's amazing. They're so far away.

So tell me what's stopping you from booking this flight? Well, money. Yeah. I'm old. You're fresh? I am. No, you made it out of this hill. We're on top of a hill.

You can't be that bad. Well, going to Brisbane, it nearly kills me. Oh, okay. That's not ideal. The flight is like a nightmare jet lag. Jet lag. And just everything. It takes me.

about three weeks to recover. So it's not easy. So you don't have the money to go to Brisbane. That's where you're looking at the cheap flights? Yeah. Yeah. Can anybody help you? I don't like to ask anybody.

I'm very frugal and I save up and I get a ticket. Do you need like a special ticket or anything? Is it a normal ticket? I have to get assisted passage which is wonderful. Oh. And you don't have to pay for it. Oh, okay. How'd you get assisted?

Because I've just had my hips replaced. Oh, fantastic. And I can't deal with the miles of walking in airports and stuff like that, so I get help. You get driven around in the buggy? Yeah. Oh, how exciting. When I see those, I'm lucky you. I'm jealous.

No, it is. Can I come with you to Brisbane? You can be my car. I can be, yeah. No, that makes a huge difference having that. How long would you? you go for if you did go? Well, I did go for three months.

90 days you're allowed on your visa. I mean, if you went for three months, you end up missing the grandchildren that are back here? No, because I hardly see them. My eldest grandchild is 36 or 7. Okay, right. When they're little babies, it's different. You can read to them and cuddle them

and take them for walks into the park. So you're missing those moments. Yeah. What are your parents like with your little ones? But my parents, well, one's not alive, but one is. And my mother is the one that's alive. And she's good. I would say she's maybe the opposite of you in that she's much better as they get older.

And she's nearby. Yeah, she's nearby. She's lovely. So we're very lucky to have that. Yeah. And she sees plenty of the kids. Good. In fact, my second child is still homeschooled.

And every Monday, she goes and spends a day with grandma, we call it Grandma Day. And she just goes and lives a Grandma Day life, which is basically just doing puzzles and going for lunch. Oh, nice. And it's good. Yeah, those are the sort of things you remember forever. Exactly.

Yeah. Do you remember much about your grandparents? I liked my Irish grandmother. My English grandmother was terribly posh. cold and I hardly ever saw her. And I never met my grandfather, my English one. The Irish one was okay. Do you have any kind of models for good grandparenting from there?

Not really. No. No. You had to invent it. You had to make it up. Are you doing anything differently in grandparenting than you did as a parent? Yeah, you have much more time and you listen better. and don't rush around so much if you're a parent,

get your hat on. Everything's a rush, I think, which I don't think kids like too much. And probably parents don't like either, I guess. But it's just what happens. It's what happens. It's really sad, I think. And also the sad thing is it's not the parents or the child's fault. It's just the world we're in.

Yeah. No one wants to rush anything really, ideally. Nothing good can happen in a rush, really. No. Apart from maybe buying cheap tickets on Wednesday. Maybe that's it. There you have to rush. Fast passer's finger burst.

God, it's Wednesday. Are you very computer savvy? Did you love a computer? No, I'm not... Sometimes I just want to fling it at the wall. You should? Have you ever thrown anything at a world? wall. A ball? A ball, yeah, okay. When did you throw a ball at a wall? Oh, I was a kid. Is that

was a... Hitting a tennis ball with a racket against a wall. Do you remember the wall that you hit the ball against? I do. Oh, amazing. It had a garage beside it and my uncle had a very vintage type car in there, I think. You ever worry about hitting the vintage car with the No, I didn't because it was the other way. Have you ever broken anything precious to someone? Oh, I'm sure I have. I've probably... Or to you even, maybe.

Repressed it. Let it all out now. So you walk up a hill, you didn't think you'd be thinking about breaking things. Do objects mean anything to you generally? Very certain things. I don't like collecting too much. Let's imagine a high. hypothetical situation is happening in your house and there's a mini tornado occurring.

What would I grab? Correct. I have no idea. Controversial answers. You know what? I'm going to let the tornado take everything. Yeah, I haven't a clue. You know?

I keep me awake tonight thinking... What was the object? What should I take? Is the tornado really coming? Is it really coming? No, I can't think of anything. Let it all go. Let it all go.

I like that. How many children do you have? I have three. It took a minute to think about that. Why did you take a moment to think about that? Just because we'd been talking about numbers of grandchildren and all of that. I did have a little baby that died, so I suppose I've had four. What was that in the run?

Third. No. I mean, what was the experience like? Shocking. Yeah. Yeah. I'm guessing it's happened a while ago. I mean, this is quite a long time ago.

Like 40-something years ago. Do you think you got the care that you would have got today? Do you think you were looked after? No, definitely not. What did you not get, do you think? I didn't get serious attention. Yeah. Obviously, it has to change you fundamentally as a person.

Yeah, I think it does. Some way. Do you think you know what? what was lost in you from that time, fundamental change. Well, I lost a baby, it's just massive grief. Yeah. I mean, if you say you weren't looked tough to super well at the time, did you get a chance to... No, I didn't.

Or you helped in any way, by anyone? No. No. No. That's really rough, isn't it? It was. How do you choose to, I mean, so difficult when it's a baby, but do you kind of, do you try and keep... their memory going in some way? I don't try.

It just happens sometimes. Yeah. But yeah, it's always there. Do you mark it anyway? I've become very slack. I used to organise a red rose going on her grave in Norfolk. In Norwich is where it happened. But I did go up with a friend,

a couple of years ago and made a little grave look sweet. It's a really brutal life, isn't it? Mm, it can be. Mm. I've talked to quite a few people who have had... Grief. Well, yeah, and similar with babies, you know, babies dying. Yeah.

You just realize that you... Everything's so fragile. Yeah. But I think if there's one, like the tiniest sliver of light, from something like that happening, is that energy you put into everything after. and the love is stronger as strong as you can make it because you know that. That's true.

It's an awful thing to be made aware of in that way. Yeah. I know when you have children you know that. Yeah. So your age of children? 10 and 12. Are they friends? Are they friends? They are.

But I mean obviously, you know, they fight. They fight. But they're friends. That's good. You know, fundamentally. That's very good. If I need them to go to bed, they are definitely friends then, you know, one of those.

And it's been lovely, but at the same time, kind of at a point now where maybe you can advise about this, but it kind of, you know, that interesting moment of their friends becoming the kind of go-to people in their lives. Yeah. It's an interesting transition. Obviously it's completely natural, but it's a real step away. And then also it's a reckoning for oneself as well,

because, okay, what's my life now? children are more over there and less needing of me and what do I do with that time children can give us real obvious pointers for our time you know it's yes they fill in the gaps really easily yes and then when they're taken away it's like what am I you know what did you do with your when that moment happened for you and your children started flying off do anything grow or maybe it shrunk well I know Because? Because it was complicated.

Yeah. Very complicated. I'd have to take days and weeks and years, yeah. But you can't say, like, you know, I mean, let's go for this one. How do you deal with them just leaving the family home eventually? Yeah, it's a big one. It's hard to see them go off. With the time gained from them not being there,

did anything come into your life? Did you seek to kind of fill it with anything? Not enough, probably. Not enough, okay. So you're slightly regretful of the time? Yeah, yeah, probably a bit, yeah. What would you have liked to fill it with? I mean, what would you have...

Maybe studied something and gone to art class. Could have done more drawings. Could have done a lot of things. But all these labels everyone's got now for being this artistic and whatever. There's millions of labels. Correct. And I think I've got them all. I think, oh, that's what that is.

I've got that. And any of these particular labels that you're most interested in in relation to you, that you feel like, you know, I actually... I can't add up, bad spelling, bad memory, taking in information. Yeah, I think I had quite a lot of problems. And I'm guessing this would have made school difficult? It was horrendous. Yeah, right. Yeah. So really, really bad.

Yeah. Yeah. What did that do to you? It made me leave school when I was 12. You were allowed to do that in Ireland back then. Wow. My parents didn't put up any fight about it or anything. That's a bit crazy.

I said, what on earth did you do then? Then my dad tried to get me into an arts school, which eventually did it at 13. Okay. And I did that. And then I got engaged when I was 16, married when I was 17. Whoa. Okay. So.

Wow. Okay. How long were you with the person that you got married to? Till I was 24. I can't know how many years is that. Late. There's your bad counter again. You weren't wrong.

I wasn't wrong. No, I wasn't wrong. Did you have any children with this person? Two. Two, okay. Yes, he was a doctor and then all he wanted to do is get to the Tavistock here in London. So he's quite a well-known Freudian psychoanalyst right now. Okay.

What was it like to get married to 17? Terrible. To a Freudian psychoanalyst. So how... So... How old was he when you got married? 22. Okay, so he was five years older.

No, he's 10 years older. No, how long? I was... You got married at 70. You got married at 70. So he was 26 when you got married. Okay, whatever, he's... About 10 years old.

Okay, so plenty older, basically. Yeah. That's a lot. Especially at that age. At that age, it's shocking. Yeah. And no one thought, said anything about this, it was just, it was fine. So completely unprotected.

God, it's so rough, isn't it? Cricy. Yeah. But you got out eventually, though. Yeah. So that was good. Was that hard to get out? It was hard to get out.

Yeah. Yeah. How did you do it? I just left. What do you remember that day? Getting the kids together, getting to stay somewhere. Honestly, we shouldn't be going into all this here on a bench up here. It's too much.

It's a really interesting life. Yeah. It's your life. It's a beautiful chaos, you know? Beautiful chaos. But yeah, eventually, I mean, I think my kids had like 18 addresses probably hauled around the place. Why?

Because we had nothing. I walked out, so he was. so full of rage and anger, he never looked after us or anything. How did you survive? Going from pillar to post, being a cleaner, being a chef, being a shop assistant, all sorts of things. I was a nanny for a long time. Yeah. And that was amazing. You've also got the kids

We're doing all these things No, later now Okay Yeah When you had the kids What were you able to do I did cleaning Yeah

I worked in pubs How old were the children At this time When I left Yeah They were five And It was seven and five

And you had to just Keep moving and moving Because I was living In squats and people's houses and... I see. I think we lived in three squads.

What are those squats like? Actually, they were fine. How can you describe what one was like? Well, there was a guy, a father in the kids' primary school who was sort of agent of property. And his daughter and my daughter were friends in school

and he knew he were having trouble and getting put out of somewhere. And he said, I've got this place, it's up for sale, blah, blah, you can go there, so I did that. And he had another one, that kind of thing. Do you look back on this time with any kind of fondness? I mean, you know, it sounds like it was incredibly special. No, I feel so bad for the kids. Why?

Not good. But also you were doing your best, right? It's doing my best, yeah. I'm guessing you were taking them away from a situation you thought was best for them to be out of. Yes, better than being in a toxic atmosphere. Consistently, which would have been really damaged. Yeah, yeah. I suppose you just choose your damage, really,

but in that respect, like, better to move around than to be in a consistently toxic atmosphere. I think so, yeah, definitely. Tricky. Yeah. And during this time, the ex-husband, did he ever mellow and help or, no, nothing? Not even his own children, though.

Well, my daughter doesn't speak to him, but my son does. But he never helped you to you. I mean, when I was saying like, never? No. That's mad, isn't it? Yeah. Just out of spite? Yes, I think his ego was so destroyed by being left.

But he never got over it. How did you eventually settle? Like, where did you? You know, I often moved these 17 and 18 times, I'm sure at some point you... Don't even ask me. It's too much of a saga. But you found you ended up somewhere? Yeah.

Here, the movie 17 or 18 times. I eventually got a house somehow and I've been there for 40 years. So that's just unbelievable luck. Can you tell me a bit about that luck? I had friends who It's too complicated But it's a lot of luck Yeah, amazing luck

Is any of that luck related to Your qualities I know that's a hard thing to try and Answer yourself There's luck but you have to You know you have to be a player You know there might be a reason why people help you out Because they care for you and because of who you were

And what you've gone through yourself And you never done that Is that what I mean? A lot of luck, really, meeting people at the right time or whatever. They must have cared about you to... They must have. Yeah. So you engendered that as well?

Yeah. So you were a part of it? Probably in some way. Yeah. Yeah. And so was that a kind of a game-changing moment in your life? Well, having a permanent house to live in was, yeah. of course

did you struggle at all with the kind of after moving so much you know was moving kind of in your soul that you found kind of you know bedding down anywhere kind of complicated I don't know about that

but you were just so relieved that you actually enjoy it you know when I look back I think what the heck was I doing I mean I do I think what you mean enjoying those times Yeah, God almighty, my poor children.

How did I do it? It doesn't sound that you could have done anything... I think if you asked them, they'd say, oh my God, it was a nightmare. Yeah, but would they think you could have done anything differently? I don't know. Do they blame you for that time? They blame me, but I think it's hurt them, definitely.

Do you ever talk about that with them? Not anymore. They're okay. When you say not anymore, you feel like you've just, you have talked about it enough? Yeah, I think they've gone past or you've gone past. I think we've all gone past it and you don't want to be bringing it off.

Of course, of course. But you feel like you've, we know it. We know it. We've covered the ground. Yeah. Bad things happen. But they get better.

They do. Yeah. Well, it sounds from the outside. I mean, obviously, I only know what you've told me, but it really sounds like you had to escape a really difficult situation. You did obviously the best you could for your children. An immensely difficult circumstances is having two small children and having to find home and with no, you know,

so you literally were going right, you didn't have any base money at this point. No. No, nothing. Right. So, you know, your children have gone on. They've had children themselves, you know? I think you've done pretty well.

They've done all right considering what they have. to go through definitely yeah and then you had I guessing you've found someone else to have a baby with at some point yeah was that was that an easy find no how did you find this this person oh just through friends yeah but then look at all these young I'm so amazed by people's strength now and I see how that that They run and... When you see five young men... They all look so strong.

It's amazing. But you know, it's beautiful. They're often on a mission. They are. They've all got the same haircut as well, which is funny. And shoes. And socks. They've all got white socks.

You found... This actually here, this is a druid mound. You know that? Yes. This place. Yeah. And this is where my youngest one had her naming ceremony. Okay.

Right. Right here? Just right there. It was the spring solstice, and we came up here at like half four in the morning. But a beautiful place to have an Amy's ceremony? Yeah. What happened during the ceremony?

Oh, he did little Buddhist-type things. I can't remember the detail. Tell me about finding the person. How do you find the first and eventually then? The next love? And was it better than the first? No, it's worse. Oh, no.

Not worse. As bad. As bad. Different. Okay, differently bad. Yeah. How, how? Psychotic jealousy.

So jealous of my kids eventually. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, God. So you haven't really picked them? No. Hopeless. Oh no.

What? Why do you think you'd be so bad at picking that? I don't know. Probably being brought up in this weird Freudian Christian commune in Dublin in the 40s. I think it was insane. It's so rough, isn't it, where you just land, you didn't have any choice. You just landed there. Yeah.

You know, you've done really well to get from there to here, you know? It's done really well. Yeah. You know, and no one knows that. You know, when you see you walking around, you don't know how well you've done. You see someone walking around north of London. You don't know how far they've come.

No, you don't know. No, you don't know. Where were you brought up? I was brought up in West London. In West London? Yeah. So I haven't gone very far at all. And always lived in London.

Always lived in London, yeah. I was with my mum, she was a single parent, so. Where was your dad? My dad was in Suffolk. Oh. So I was out of wedlock, I was a child of an affair, and he stayed with his wife and came to visit every few months or so. He was there for you. Did you love him? Yeah, very much. Yeah. But it was a, you know, he wasn't there for me growing up.

We had some quality time together, but he wasn't a consistent force. Right. Makes a big difference. If you don't have a father there present, you know, you're forced into certain roles earlier than you might otherwise be. Yeah, yeah. you know, if you grow up with me and my mum, you're elevated position in that household. So very quite quickly, you know, in terms of, you know, sharing things and bouncing things off each other and kind of decisions and helping her.

It becomes a very different dynamic. Yes, it does. It's less of a, you know, you don't get as much child room. Yeah. And you're forced into kind of adult stuff quicker. Too quickly. But there was never anything but, you know, love. So I can't, I can't complain too much at all.

Have you ever had a good romance? No. Never? No. Not too late, you know. Oh, it is. Well, you, hang on. Earlier you said it's never too late for anything.

It's on the tape. We'll rewind it back. It's what you said. Did I say that? Yeah. Oh dear. Maybe, maybe, who knows? But I'm not looking.

I can tell you that. I don't trust myself anymore. To be fair, this. I can see. Why? But you know, but maybe there's no, it isn't too late. You never know. You never know. So what's left still to do in your life that you would really like to do? Get to Brisbane. That's my next thing I have to do.

That's what's in my mind at the minute. Yeah. And it sounds ridiculous, but at this stage it's quite a big thing. Of course it is. Yeah. Can I suggest something? Mm-hmm. Can I buy you a ticket to go to Brisbane? What? What are you saying?

I'd say I'd like to buy you a ticket to go to Brisbane. You're joking? Not at all. You know, I've done okay musically in my life. Musically? Yes. So that's how I've made by money. But I'm very lucky I make an excess of money. What kind of music? It's just boring. It's just me singing. It's just not that exciting.

exciting. But I'm very lucky that quite a lot of people listen, but that has meant that I continue to make money consistently when I really, I just don't deserve it at that amount. So, really? Yeah. I really mean it. I would really love to. Because it clearly means a lot to you. And you've been so generous in sharing some of your life with me. My God, I can't believe what you're saying. I can't really say, I can take that. You can totally take it. I insist, because it's money that I have. it obviously means a lot to you and why wouldn't I? So let's do it. It's a funny life, isn't it?

What's your name? My name is Tom. Tom what? It's Tom what? It's Tom Rosenthal, it's my name. Tom Rosen. Rosenthal. How funny. I hated school so much, but there was one girl who was called Rose Rosenthal.

Right. Not in Dublin. All right. Did you like Rose? I did like her. But I can't believe what you're saying. Believe it. You see it?

Yeah, completely. I think you deserve it. What an extraordinary meeting. I know. I feel that too. My daughter Bonnie in Brisbane, her dad was a musician, Australian folk singer.

Psychotically jealous. Part of your line-up of great choices. But the grandchildren are great. They're amazing. And that's the main thing. They are amazing. Honestly, this feels like the most surreal meeting ever. So now I've spoken to, I mean, I've approached hundreds and hundreds of people.

And so you do get an idea of someone that's got a lot in them. I could kind of see... But you couldn't see me. No, I could see enough because I was talking to those people over there. I was coming over in this direction when they stopped me so I got a chance as they were talking to me they stopped you? Yeah, the two people...

Do you sitting on the bench? Yeah, they stopped me because they recognised me and so I then was looking over in this direction so I could actually take in... I could look at you for quite a while and I just thought there's a lot in that person you can just tell.

Oh, you know? Oh, amazing. Yeah, and I was right. Extraordinary. in the Druid. Just by the naming ceremony, the naming ceremony loop. Is this your favourite, do you come to this bench in particular for a re-like? I usually try to get that one.

Oh, okay. But someone broke it. Oh, it looks new, yeah. But I try and come up here most nights. At night? No, well, evenings. Yeah, okay. That's interesting.

Why do you come up in evening? Because I like the light of sunset. and the sky is beautiful and there's a sort of, I don't know, peace here, I like. And Rosa, the little girl that I was nanny to since she was three months old and now she's just finishing uni in Edinburgh and I'm going to go to her.

And we adore each other. Oh, that's lovely. What does it mean to you to be so close to someone who's younger, you know? It's wonderful. I guess it's wonderful for her as well. Yeah. Do you feel like you need things to look after a bit? Is that in you? I do like that.

Yeah. I send my kids over to you. You can. No, I do like looking after people, definitely. Do you think people have looked after you enough? Do you think you've looked after? Yeah. Do you think you look after people because you've, it's like looking after yourself,

the next best thing? As in, you know, maybe I haven't thought about it like that, but maybe that's one way to look at it. Can you think of anyone that's meaningfully looked after you well in your life? Um, yeah, one person. Can I ask who that was and how that was? Just someone I met actually, the first day

we arrived in London from Dublin, them. Somehow it was a mad thing. We drove up in a van to a guy who was an antique dealer near Milton Keynes and we just had a love, but we just really liked each other a lot and with no strings, nothing just a really nice guy and he used to come down and stay and come for walks on the heath so that's lovely and it wasn't romantic it's just a lovely well I'm really glad you got one at least I know it's good it's good Before you go, I've got two things I like to do. One is, I'll give you a small choice.

Either I get people to describe what we can see in front of us. There's that option, or if you wanted to, I sometimes get people to close their eyes and describe a scene in their imagination from their past. Which one would you rather do? Okay, I'll think, I'll do that one. Okay. So I'll close my eyes, but you don't. don't have to close yours, totally up to you.

You're thinking back to any moment in your life. There's something that really comes back to you sharply when you let your mind wonder. Hmm. Well, I'm out in the west coast of Ireland, in Connemara, on a golden sand beach with turquoise sea, and I'm with my mother and my daughter, and the niece and its total paradise.

And then suddenly we heard the strangest sound and we could see all these horses coming, just with no riders on them, nothing. Dozens of horses and they just walked past us on the beach. And that was that, and we all were like, with jaw dropped, we didn't know what we'd seen, or how it happened. or where it went.

That was it. It was a paradise beach. It really was amazing. Dog, I think it was called Dog's Bay. And the tide had come in so high it had covered a field even, and it was crystal clear and there were big rocks in the field

so you could go and swim to the rock and then jump in and the grass was all. underneath. It was extraordinary. Amazing. Yeah. Okay. You ready for this last question? There's one more.

Yeah. You can other answer this in a kind of now way or general way. However you want to answer, it's fine. What are you going to do next? I'm going to go home and think about this great bulb of fennel that I bought yesterday and how am I going to cook it? Am I going to roast it or boil it or what? Because that's going to be my supper.

I haven't decided which yet. Maybe by the time I get home, I have worked in. It will all have become clear. It's not very profound thoughts, but... Who needs them? You've done lots of them already on this bench. It's good that it ends with some fennel, I think, however you cook it. Well, thank you so much for sharing some of your life and, well, your time.

It's extraordinary. Quite extraordinary. And let's get you to Brisbane. It's going to happen. Oh, good. again