Strangers on a Bench - EPISODE 95: Periscopes and Bagels

Episode Date: July 6, 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 : 'Leave a Trace' by YeemzStream it here : https://ffm.to/leaveatracesoabListen 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? So you ready? First question? It's an easy one.

Okay. What are you hoping this first question is going to be? Is that the first question? It is a question, but it's not the first question. What am I hoping it's going to be? To be honest, just something easy. Relaxed. And it is? Uh-huh. Is there a day of the week that you favour?

Oh, it's a good one. So I work in a bagel shop and the shift pattern completely changes every week. So I don't have the routine, which means that generally I actually don't have a favourite because every single one looks different pattern-wise every single week. The classic bagel shop pattern? Classic Breschle Chantam. That's what they call it, isn't it? Yeah, that's...

In the books, disorientating, you don't know who you are. Yeah, every day is kind of a Sunday. Like, this is a day off for me. Okay, well, let's play a small game. Okay. Let's imagine this Sunday, which could be a Wednesday, whatever, you know what I mean? A day three of bagels. There's not one bagels.

Not a single bagels. You've not even thinking about it. But basically, basically, take me from, like, waking up all the way through to going to bed. What, for you have? It was like a really great bagel-free day, so to speak. Well, I love being in nature, so I think I would wake up. In nature? Yeah, well, not in nature.

Well, okay, if we're talking dream, dream day, then I would... My dream day would be, I would be on a through hike with one of my best friends, and we would wake up in the tent, and then we would get out at the tent and have a terrible breakfast, and then we would walk all day, and then we would stop for lunch, and the lunch would probably, probably be like fish out of a tin, which probably doesn't sound like the dream to many people. And then we would set up our tent and go to sleep. After lunch? No, after walking for the rest of the afternoon.

Um, yes. Funny enough, I actually did have fish out of a tin for lunch. Did you? Yeah. What kind of fish did you have? Trout. Really? I've never had trout out of the tin. It sounds quite bold. It is really nice actually. Yeah. Did you just eat it? Yeah. I need nothing else? No. Wow, good source of protein.

It's just like gets it done. Yeah. It really does. Okay, let's go back. It's a through... I'm through hiking. What's that as opposed to hiking? So through hiking is when you've got a big bag

and it's got your tent and everything you need in it and you hike. I'm Scottish. So in Scotland you can legally wild camp anywhere. So that's kind of my favourite thing to do. What's the only non-essential thing in this bag of yours? Many non-essential things. Really?

Yeah, I'm not one of those ultra-lantic things. campers that likes to have you just shove it all in there they like saw a toothbrush in half so that they don't have too much weight and i'm not like that i'm like the biggest non-essential i was actually i was thinking about this as i walked up here you're thinking what as you're thinking about non-essential camping i was thinking about not essential i really was you really yeah not even essential ones because that would be maybe make sense like what i was actually thinking about is so because your hair gets disgusting when you when you through hike because you can't wash it but then i was thinking because the weather's so nice and i'm about to hike

hike Adrian's wall, all of it, can I wear this? And then I was thinking, is that an essential item? How much weight would it take up? Would it be worth doing? And then I was thinking, who am I kidding? I'm not one of those ultralight through hikers. It doesn't matter. I'm going to bring the head scarf thing with me. This head scarf thing which we're wearing now? Yeah, I think it will come. I think you just shove everything in there. Yeah. You know, it's your hike. It's my hike. There are no rules. Yeah, there are literally no rules. Are there any rules of a hike? Well, there's the Scottish Outdoors Access Code. That's exciting.

How much of that can you bring it off? Well, the nice thing about it, it's very simple. Close your gates. When you open a gate, make sure you close it again. Leave no trace. Nice. Don't bother any wildlife, like lambs and things. Yeah.

And I'd say leave no trace works as an umbrella for the whole thing, really, right? My whole thing, do you mean life? Or just a hike? I'd say that at the hike. I think it can be nice to leave a trace in life. Good point. What Tracy you hope to leave? I just want the people I love to remember me as someone who's nice.

Well, that's sweet. Yeah. It's good to get the big questions in early. Talk about closing gates. What's the most important gate you ever closed? Okay, you want me to answer that? The most important gate I've ever closed, I don't know, probably my front gate so that, like, my childhood dog didn't run away and get hit by a tractor.

That's a good one, but let's talk about met focal gates. Okay. Sorry, I'm a literal thinker. It's okay. The most important metaphorical gate I've ever closed. What the hell? I mean, you can take the time. The thing about the question that, like, to me is,

I think there's lots of gates I can think of that are closed, but I wouldn't say that I necessarily closed them. Oh, okay. So who closed them? Life. Life closed my gates. Life closed all my gates for me. Like, is that not what it feels like retrospectively?

Like, even when you make, like, a big decision. in the moment, like many, many years later or even six months later, you look back and I think it becomes harder to pinpoint the inner workings of the decision, and then it feels less like a decision and more like a thing like happened. Yeah. What was this last big decision? I had a, like, over the course of the last calendar year, a pretty big fallout with someone who'd be my best friend for about five years. And that was at the time, tough. But now that we're on the other end of it and the friendship's kind of over.

I know that I'm much better off. And I think that she probably somewhere is as well. And so that's a metaphorical gate that I think we both close. Very interesting. Friendship breakups. Yeah. You know? Not really thing that people talk about enough.

I think of it does happen. And curiously, I actually have about, I don't know, a year or so ago, my first friendship breakup. I think I've ever had in my life. That's quite... And I thought I was just immune. So a friendship break. I thought like, you know, no, like that would just never happen to me.

You know, there's always kind of situations you think, oh, I didn't do that particularly well or kind of I dropped the ball a little bit there. And then you just assume that you can loop back round to some kind of solid place. But it didn't happen. So I can, you know, I'm interested in this friendship breakup scenario. Yeah. Can you tell me a bit more about yours? Okay.

So in my sixth year of high school, I finally found my people. But my final year of school. Yeah. Took a while. Yeah, it took me a long time. It's not like I was lonely. Why did you take a settle? It just did.

Young people don't really know who they are, right? Correct. So anyway, I find some people. I'm like, wow, you're all so cool. And then over the years with time and breakups and all these things, like some of them began to slightly fall away and that was okay. But my number one, like she stayed and we were like watching videos online through COVID and we were maybe going to live together and a lot of the friendship was actually long

distance but we're best best best best friends yeah she was my person she really was my person anyway basically I'm a writer as well as someone that works in a bagel shop and bagel writer bagel writer that's what they call me it's my Instagram bio um and there's just kind of an unfortunate tension between us because I'm like I'm active I do it a law I have had so you Right in. Sorry, right, okay. I've had some success in some aspects of the venture and she wanted to be able to do the thing which is sit down and write, but something inside her couldn't for some reason and I that was actually I think a source of tension from the very beginning of our friendship but I didn't really notice it and I think a lot of resentment built up and actually

I have a very long email from her also explaining this. So you know it to be So this is from her, this is not my, my, but basically, she then became nasty. Like it got to the point where I couldn't do or say anything. I was always pressing onto buttons of hers by accident. And I remember really clearly we're on a bus and she started saying, listen, you make me feel really insecure. And I said to her, darling, like, please explain the things I am doing that are leading to this. And I will take the required action. Like, because I don't want to make you feel this way.

And she was never, ever able to name something. Like, I think she had a thing in her own heart that I was being held responsible for. And it became so unpleasant that we couldn't really remain friends, sadly. And right now, we exchanged a few kind of long emails. And I just haven't responded to her most recent one, because I think some therapy is required, to be honest. And I'm not a big therapy person. I'm a medium therapy person.

But I think she probably needs to speak to someone who can try and help her. I see. And maybe we'll find each other one day. You know, maybe she'll do a bit of work. Still time. But just stop being. It wasn't healthy for either of us, I don't think. This is such a silly question to ask what is this came into my head.

I was wondering whether in these email exchanges, whether there's any part of you deliberately try to write the email not quite as well as you would normally write it. No. As a kind of way of not rubbing in even more. But the thing is, like, I'm not a better writer than the only difference between her and me

is that I sit down and do the thing and she kind of can't bring herself to. So that would never be consideration for me, like at all. But I have to be honest, her email to me her first email was too long I was like you need to cut it down you need to run it by someone first like again you're using me to try and figure out something

inside your own heart and I can't do that for you what is this I mean what have we learnt for this what's the takeaway I really think it's okay I think it's okay for things to end yeah I think friendships need to end I think relationships need to end And I think we go through cycles in the world. It's not always a tragedy. Sometimes everything will be better on the other side.

I really like that. And I think it's true. Yeah. And what I will say, though, is this wasn't my first friendship breakup. I had a completely devastating. Oh, well, so you're world-versed. Well, this is how many of we had. I'd like to say it's my second.

I'm not a serial. Every single one. But no. My best friend from my best friend from, when I was about 11, 12 years old, he basically went away to university and never ever spoke to me again. No closure, no context. Ghosted. Worst thing that's ever happened.

To this day, I lie in bed. He lives in London now. I wonder, am I going to see him on the tube? Any ever romantic undertones there or just, no. Well, my mum says if it walks like a duck and it quarts like a duck, it's a duck. She thinks that he was in love with me and then wasn't interested. But a few of my friends are like, that can't be true. So I have no idea what the truth.

I don't know. But the reason I'm saying that is my first friendship breakup, I can't comprehend to this day. Okay. But now I've got a second. I'm like, the first one's under my belt. A bit more perspective. How do these compare to relationship breakups then?

Oh my God. Well, I don't know. I think relationship breakups are a different kind of thing, right? Are they different? Well, yeah, I think they are. What way? Because, are they different? Maybe they're not.

Yeah, to be honest, I think it's just you have to firm it. Yeah. And then once you've firmed it for long enough, it's like you're firming it slightly less. That's my feeling about all endings of all relationships. You think firm it? Firm it. So like you have to grate your teeth and go. Oh, I see.

Yeah, I'm a big no contact person. Firm it. Firm it. Firm it. You're a big no contact person. What do you mean? I think that if you break up with someone, you don't. You shouldn't be in touch.

Well, do you agree with me? I suppose it depends on your situation. Yeah, true. I actually think that so recently, a while ago, began the process of kind of separation from my partner. But I, and that couldn't, because we had kids, we have kids, it couldn't be like totally fermit. What's the opposite of fermit?

Stay, chill it. Chill it. Say it, touch it. Keep going as friends. Hang on, thread it. Yeah. Co-parent successfully. Just keeping it going.

Yeah. I totally get the thinking about the firming it, the clean chop. You're jumping to the point where you hope you're going to be eventually anyway. You don't even know you very well just jump there. Yeah. But my thinking is actually like a lot of these people, there's a reason why you're with them in the first place. Like you may actually get on really well and, there could be a chance of creating something, a 2.0 scenario,

which is beneficial for everybody. And I think in affirming it, then you lose opportunity to do that. And actually in a way, I've, I personally have, the whole process that I've been through, has been, we've been through, has been like, obviously very complicated and challenging, but it's been worth it for the position we've got to.

So that's the, that's the flip side, but I totally see, I totally see, I totally see the thinking behind the firm it. But the thing is it's a beautiful flip side, right? And I think because obviously there are kids involved, like it's really lovely that you guys being able to. That is a different, it makes it a bit quite a different story. Yeah, right, because you just can't really, yeah.

In fairness, I've tried, I've tried the don't firm it. And I'm three years into my biggest ever breakup. And for the first year and a half, we were in touch. And I just think that until we stopped being in touch a year and a half later, I personally was not broken up. Like I was not recovering or moving on or like I was just. And in fairness, that was partly just because the proper boundaries weren't in place. That's a long time to be not quite broken up year and a half.

Yeah. And the thing is, it's not like we were sleeping together or anything, but we were just like, I was definitely still in love with him for that whole time. I think he was still in love with me for that whole time. And then it actually got to the point where we were so still in love with each other that I thought we were going to get back together. Like, he sent me an email from, like, Prague in the middle of the night. Another email. And my life is scourged by emails. Listen, anyone listening, if you're considering sending an email, just don't do it. Anyway.

No emails. But he sent me an email in the middle of a night from Prague. And he was like, no one in the world has hair like here. He was like, I go around the whole world. And I think about you and I'm thinking about you all the time. So then I called him and I was like, listen, we're going to be in the same country again in about six months. Should we think about the fact that we're still in love with each other? Maybe in those six months.

And he was like, no, why would you think that you're being manipulative? And that's when I thought, okay, I think we need to cut it off now. So that's like contextually. So he totally had forgotten about the Prague email. Well, this was like three weeks after the Prague email. Maybe that's just what happens when you're in Prague. Yeah. So romantic there. Also what's wrong with all the people's hair in Prague? Yeah, literally. Don't. Real dis for everyone in Prague. Don't test them. It's... Well, we're here because he mentioned your hair. Uh-huh.

Do you want to talk about it? Uh, ginger. So you are, officially, I think the first ginger person I might have fell on a bench. Are you serious? Yeah, I'm pretty sure. Seriously? Yeah, I'm pretty sure, you know. There might have been one guy who was an environmentalist.

There was like a tinge of ginge. But like it wasn't like full, you know? It wasn't fiery orange. It wasn't like the whole thingy. What do you call that? Is there a ginger spectrum? Um. There's got to be, right?

Yeah, there is. There is. I've never said it out loud before. But I suppose. Is it a morally dubious question to ask you about being ginger? No. So what has it meant to you in your life? People were a bit mean about it at school.

Does that make sense to you at all? Because I think that, to me, that seems absolutely madness. Rubbish, yeah. Because it is, like, objectively the most striking and interesting hair colour. It just seems bizarre that someone would try and mock that. But you have to remember that like 14 year old boys hate everything in the world that is striking and interesting. So that's, I think the good news. Maybe not just 14 year old boys sadly.

Yeah. Maybe carries on. You're right. Maybe it can just say, luckily I've surrounded myself with a different crowd. But I think the nice thing about being bullied about being ginger was that the adults of my life were so nice to me about it. Yeah. That I did have a centering force of knowing that even though these people were being mean to me, it would be a mean pro. And it was because I got an email from private.

10 years later about it. Love it. It just made everything. There aren't many senses the nice thing about being bullied was. How bad was it really? Was it just like real good? Did he get a two,

does he get actually quite intense? The thing is it wasn't just the ginger thing. Like at school, I was a bit, I've always had a strong sense of who I am. And so then I wasn't able to do the thing that I think a lot of people do to like assimilate and be not noticed. noticed and then people would be just so horrible. The thing, the worst thing that happened to me

with the bullying at school was that, and this is so low level, but the boys would like pretend to fancy me as a joke. Like the ginger thing kind of came into that. Like that was horrible and that really changes your sense of self and your perspective on like your own capacity to be loved when it's a joke in your formative years. But it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, I do think it's been good for me. In that I've got thick skin. Yeah, that's one benefit. Yeah, it's a big one.

And you've still got ginger hair. And I've still got ginger hair. And now it is really a pro in my life. Yeah. It's cool that I'm ginger. So what has it meant? Like what, I mean, like, apart from the bullying and stuff, like what has been ginger meant?

I mean, very little, to be honest. It does mean that sometimes if I'm in a crowd and I want to avoid someone, I put my hood up. Yeah. That's probably the only time. it has a tangible effect on my life. Hmm. You mentioned at school, you said,

you said you kind of knew who you were quite early doors. How early are we talking? Like, what sense of, what sense of self, you know, was it? I don't really know. Like, I just, if you said, what's the luckiest thing you've ever had? It's the fact that, like, since I was conscious, I kind of have known who I am.

It's like in any moment, I understand exactly, who I want to be and how I want to act and that's not really something that I am self-checking. Sure. You had a sense of your own identity. Yeah. Fairly early tours. Yeah.

But can you think of any reasons why that might be? You're the only thing that your parents... My mum. Oh, there we go. Probably my mum. My darling mom. How does she do it? She just never squashed anything. It's a good lesson for parenting. Yeah.

Don't squash anything. Don't squash anything. All of me and my two brothers, we're all quite unsquashed. Unsquashed. Can you think of something that you did which may have been squashed by another but wasn't squashed by her? Yeah. Hit me. A million things. Okay. Again, at school, you know who else hates people that are like have a little bit of a sense of self and identity? It's teachers. So like this is the time when it mattered. When people would be mean, but I don't know, like, they'd like a war. So if you did a lot of music work, you would get awarded colours. And I did loads of music at school. Like, I was in the music department for like 22 hours a week.

Like I was doing, yeah, like I was doing so much extracurricular, all that. And, um... What kind did you get for that? It was blue. But so all these people got their colours announced an assembly one day, and I didn't get mine. And that was just a, in the end it was a mistake. I'm going to spoil the story. They made a mistake.

But I sent an email to the head of our school. Another email. Yeah. I'm haunted, right? And I was like, mate, I think I should have gotten these colours. And he brought me in for a meeting. I was how old would I? I was maybe 14.

He got out the student rule book and he read to me. This is like something from a film. He read to me, he said, in order to be granted colours, the committee has to deem a student exceptional. And he closed the book and he looked at me and he said, we as a committee do not deem you exceptional enough colours I was like you are a mean mean man that's so good it is like a film it's like a perfect start of a montage where that's the start of the film

and suddenly cuts to you like you know like playing at Wembley with your song called you know not exceptional unexceptional so yeah that kind of thing happened a lot and the thing is that happens in my adult life all the time because I work a little bit in theatre and so men are always saying like your shit. I had a man, one of my academic mentors who means a lot to me actually, sat me down the other day and said, you don't think critically about anyone's art, especially not your own. But the thing is now I'm an adult, I'm like, that's a crazy thing to

say. Moving on. So they keep on coming these. These men are scared. Tough men with books. Yeah, tough men with books. That's cricky. What are they, so this is, but this didn't put you off anything necessarily. I mean, obviously in the moment, it's horrible. And then they're in my head when I'm doing things, right? Like, when I'm writing, sometimes I think I'm not thinking critically, but I am thinking critically. So it's just a nice little test for myself. Yeah. Where I have to just reevaluate, make sure that I feel like I'm on my right track. I mean, you're the world famous bagel writer. Nothing can hold you back. Yeah, nothing, not even a long, long email from my ex-best friend.

Talk about bagels. Oh, bagels. There we go. How long have you in bagels been a thing? Actually, only about two months. So it's fresh. Oh, I like it. Fresh bagels. And the bagels, they're the best in London.

Oh, I love it. Now, what would I be surprised about a bagel shop? A bagel shop? You know, if I had to live in your shoes for, I don't know, day, what would be like, oh my God, I can't believe that. Or it could be maybe it's a pleasant surprise. Yeah, I'm thinking. Oh, lovely.

I don't know, have you worked in hospitality before? No. Well, then I'm sure what would surprise you? But I mean, I think bagels specifically. I feel like, I don't want to be, this is maybe a weird thing to say, but I feel like people who get bagels, do you think the higher percentage of them are tricky customers? Yeah. Is that fair?

It's a bit of bagelage there, but I think, I'm not, but I'm not. No, that's not true. I think because of the location of our bagel shop, there is a certain clientele. And I think that clientele actually on the whole are very nice and very nice. Yeah. Listen, I moved to London. Yeah, from Scotland. From Scotland? We haven't talked about that yet. Yeah. In October I moved.

Oh, you see, haven't been here long. Amazing. Yeah. We could go. Anyway, so I moved to London. I've worked two jobs. I did some seasonal ushering. on a kids show which I loved. Seasonal.

Seasonal usherings. Okay, right. Yeah, you know what an usher is? Yeah, I do, but a seasonal. It was just for Christmas. Got it, okay. It was a kid's show. I loved it.

All these kids, they were so delighted. They were so happy. And then the contract ended, I immediately started working in the bagel shop. And do you know what? Don't cancel me. I think London customers are much ruder than Scottish customers.

That's my experience. Don't worry, you're not cancelled. Yeah. It's fine. Yeah. What's the rudest thing anyone said to you in the bagel shop? Oh, great question.

I got a complaint on my second day on trip advisors or whatever it is. They did like a too short review because apparently I had to ask them several times as they wanted their bagel toasted. Do you want it toasted? Do you want it toasted? Do you really want it toasted? Are you sure? You sure? Like why would you want it toasted?

It's just the till's confusing and maybe I asked them maximum four times when they were ordering if they wanted their bagel toasted. But listen, imagine someone, some poor like trembling person on a till being paid minimum wage. asks you you need four times if you want your bagel toasted and you go home public complaint on whatever it is like and and and yeah not happy and this got back to you yeah it was posted on the work group chat oh wow i'm not that bad at my job i wouldn't have been rude about it did you say that was your second day no but in the review they said a clearly very inexperienced employee so they identify. So they knew you. They knew that it was new and they decided to complain anyway. Brutal. Yeah. So yeah, being in a bagel shop, I mean, what's it, what's it meant to you? What's it done to you?

The spirit, the soul. Well, I love it because almost everyone that works there is a woman. That's cool. The boss is woman. Nice. And also, I have a lovely supervisor, not a woman, who I just think is a remarkable person who trained me so well and is just so nice. Like, I go to work and I feel like I'm in really good hands with my supervisor, which I've never felt before. And it's just such relief, because I know if I make any mistakes, it's okay. Yeah. Oh, that's so nice. Yeah, it's really, like, remarkably good. What, secretly, the trickiest bit of, you know, vaguely. Let's imagine I'm, I rock up to said shop. Mm-hmm. And I don't know you. Okay. Strangers. At a tilt. Yeah. Stranger than Till, it's the new podcast. And I rock up, first of all, am I,

am I disorientated by the choice? There's a lot of choice. There's a lot of choice. There's a lot and it's... So I've got to be decisive. How do you greet people, what's from fun? Hi, how are you? Oh, that's what you do? Yeah, that's what I do. I say, yeah, I'm great, thanks.

I'm after a bagel. And then you go... I go, amazing. Have you been here before? And I go, no. I've never been... And then I go, do you want a little tour of the item? I'll go, yeah?

And then... Then what happens then? Right, so then I point out... Then I point out all the... So, we've got shmears to the left. Who? Shme... It's like...

proper New York style bagels. I've never had it. And so, have you ever been to New York? No, I haven't. So you've never been to New York bagel shop? No. So when you go, they've got like these tins that are piled with smear. Schmeer's like whipped cream cheese.

Okay, right. It's just all day every day. All day. Thank you. There you go. You've learned something. I have. That's the surprising thing about the bagel shop is that smear exists.

S-C-H-M-E-A-R. I might be wrong, but I think it's Yiddish. Yeah. It sounds like a Yidish sounding word. Anyway, so smear. So if you want something sweet, we have Nutella smear, blueberry smear,

cinnamon and raisins smear. The blueberry is the best. You can try anything you want. Blueberry smear? It's so yummy. It's so yummy. What's that blueberry creamy cheese vibe? Yeah, but it's whipped.

First of all, it's like lighter than cream cheese. Texturally slightly closer to ice cream, but it's not cold, obviously. Right. It's chilled. Okay. All right. So is that at the tour?

Well, yeah. So you say there's some smear over there. So I've got shmears. You can have smearing a bagel. You can also add any ingredients you want and then there's like a little ingredients list that I point to. Do you ever decide for anybody

just by looking at them? Does anyone ever rock up? Can you just pick it for me? I wish they'd do that more to be honest. Here's the mistake everyone makes. Oh, here we go. In life? What's in the bagel shop?

In the bagel shop. If you go to a bagel shop and you know they're making their bagels fresh, don't get it toasted. Don't get it toasted. Don't get it toast. And that's why you kept asking that guy if you want to be toasted.

Are you sure? Are you sure? Are you sure? I love it. They actually did ask. That was just the minimum amount of times you asked people because the biggest potato

you ever make in a bagel shop. Literally, they're so yummy that you don't need them. If you're freezing, if you want something warm, maybe toast it. But, no, don't toast it. So that's a pretty,

that's a very good tour, by the way. Oh, thank you. Given the fact we're not actually there. You can see it all. It's like we're there. I feel like I'm there now. I hope this the person's behind me is not getting annoyed at this point.

Excuse me, I'm on the tour. I'm going on the tour. So I've had the tour, right? And I have indeed chosen what I'm going to have, obviously not totally. That would be mad. Yeah. And I happen to, you know, by hook or by cook, pick what is the kind of most annoying order for you to sort out? What would that actually, what would that one be?

Well, if you're making lots of modifications, that's just a bit tricky on the till. Vegan or listen, I respect vegans. I think more people should be vegan. But not in the bagel shop. But the vegan cream cheese is a nightmare to spread. It's so, so, it's like face cream. So that's the one. That's the one that would get you going.

That's the one that knocks you over the edge. Everett's a tough day. Yeah. Are you sure you're vegan? No, because I respect, I respect, vegan, I sure. I honestly. She asked me if I was vegan four times. I just respect vegans too much to actually.

Like, I just think they're doing, they're doing good work out there for the world. Even though the spreading is complex. Yeah, listen. And it gets you down. Yeah, it does get me down. I hate doing it. And also maybe it's a dairy intolerant and I don't want, like I know that's difficult for people. Are you dairy intolerant and tolerant?

No, I'm very tolerant of dairy intolerance. That's good to hear. Yeah. I was worried for a minute. How do you feel about, so I'm a, as this is going to come, it's no surprise to you. What do you think I'm going to say? I have no, I'm what? You look like you're like, I'm brave.

Yeah, yeah. I feel like a sentence break it. I remember maybe it's the way I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, actually, that's really interesting because I hate tension, like, like, like, like, when I don't know when a sentence is going to end or like a story, I can't relax telling the ending. Oh, oh, sorry. Well, I know that now, so I'm not going to, I'm also delaying it. So, yeah, more tension. It's like, you like it, you hate it. What is it? Which one is it? There's tension.

So, I am a person, as you can, will guess, who likes to talk to people. Yeah, in shops, right? Oh, I imagine, right. And I always ask you how they are. Straight off the bat. That's great. I love when people do that. I think it's just important to acknowledge that you're dealing with a human. Yeah.

But yeah, I suppose what I'm asking is like, how do you feel about someone like me? And have you had any particular conversations which are stuck with you with people like that? Totally. First of all, I think is lovely. I always am really sad if I try and like have a little moment with a customer and they are like, even as simple as I'm like, hey, how are you? And they go, give me the salt beef.

Do you think you're talking to? Does that happen? All the time, every single day. But when I was doing my ushering, I was on the buggy park, which meant that we had to park all the buggies and then give all the buggies back. It was chaos. I loved it.

It was actually one of my favorite jobs I've ever had. And one guy... It parked money. Honestly, it was so fun. And one guy once gave me his buggy. And they always, the men, they love to, when we're taking the buggies, tell us they're heavy. They're not heavy.

And also, we carry the buggies every day, you know? but I take the buggy, careful it's heavy. And I'm like, I've got my prepared response. I'm like, I'm okay, I do this all day. But I'm friendly about it. I'm not rude. And then he goes, and this could be taken as patronising, but to this day I think about it when I'm commuting to work

and I can't be bothered. He looked to me and he went, it's all going to be worth it one day. And I was like, wow, it's all going to be worth it one day. So as you were carrying his charles buggy? Yeah, I was like, I was taking it off him. He was going into the theatre. But there was just an earnestness to it.

Like it was like a genuine like it's got this is I know that you've got this shit job right now But like it's gonna work out that's so cool it was really cool and it could have swung the other way I could have been like off Like who like that's the way you say that's so crucial yeah you're right it could that could just been an awful thing to say or really good thing to say depending Mm-hmm just energetically just perfectly that's such yeah that really rings so I I worked in a hospital when I was 18 for a year so I suppose that's hospital Is that hospitality? Yeah, I was thinking, I mean, it's like, it's not that far away.

It's like patient facing some of it. As they obviously do that a lot. You see person, person, person, person. And I only remember one. Mm-hmm. And the one I remember is, you know, had a little small interaction with her, and she just looked at me,

and she's like, you're going to do a lot of things out of here, that you're going to do something. And at the time, it was really just like, really just hit me. I was like, oh, yeah, that's a really nice thing. to say. Obviously, it's just literally one line.

But you feel it, right? And you remember it. It sticks. It sticks. Yeah. So here's to those people that, yeah. But a lot of it's also just like, just really solid acknowledgement, I suppose. Really solid acknowledgement. It's really nice and important. Especially, you know, I absolutely hate having experienced buggies. I absolutely hate them. They're the worst. I really, I appreciate it from afar how annoying that job must have been. Although nowadays they do like drive like kind of Formula One cars pretty much. Yeah, they're amazing, they can do all kinds of maneuvers. Yeah, they're cool. So that that elic is. And the folding is unbelievable. Yeah, incredible folding. The mechanisms, they, every time I see a buggy, I,

every single, if a buggy went past, I could tell you immediately how foldable it. Your buggy die superb. I could tell you how long it would take us to fold it. How easy it is to store. Okay, when the next one comes fast, this is gonna be your test. I'm not gonna, now I'm gonna, how can we summon a buggy? I've talked to huge game.

Yeah, that is, there's, well, we're waiting until it comes past. Yeah, when it's visible, I'm gonna. And then we'll be, and then it'll be better. So interactions in the bagel shop, they tend to say, I want the sole beef. Like people are sometimes really friendly. I actually felt terrible yesterday

because I was sitting at the front in the sun and just like doing some writing on my break. I was out of the break, I was like, this character, I must be out the front in the sun, guys. You sort of the bankers for me out, I was out of the front of the sun. I was out the front, my headphones on, I was doing some writing, and women walked past, and I, to this moment, I don't know who she was, but she must have been irregular.

And she was like, oh my God, hi, like, pleased to see me. And I, and I didn't recognize, I didn't figure out who she was. And I, like, was, I should have just, like, affirmed it and be like, oh, my God, hi, like, good to see you, but I just didn't. And I know that she thinks now that when she comes in, that it's all an act. But it's not true that it's all an act.

Like, I'm always so pleased to see everyone. I actually love working customer service. You can make this back. Maybe find, like, can you find out her name or anything? I don't think I can. Give her some more smear on a, whatever, the top? Yeah. Just top it up.

But the thing is I wouldn't know her when she came in. This is the thing. Like, I don't know who it was at what passed. You just got caught up in not knowing her. Yeah, I don't know. The angles were all wrong. Like, I can't recall. The angles were all wrong.

Just say that, like, so, look, sorry, I don't recognize, but the ankles were all wrong. Like, what am I to do? I'm not like gonna crane my neck. Yeah, like I haven't got, what do they call the telescope? Is it a telescope that you can push? Oh, yeah. No, I've got a telescope.

Periscope, yeah. Yeah, I'll be like, I'm sorry, I didn't have my periscope on me. Do you have a periscope? No, but I should get one. What can you do with the periscope? Look at things through it. But it seems a bit like, to me it feels a bit dodged, because it feels like you can look at stuff

without it looking like, looking at it. Is that making any sense? Yeah, like it's it's, Like, it was really good for perverts, wouldn't it? Yeah. But. So maybe that's not. I just trust that my heart is pure.

Yeah. That should be the tagline for the hot selling periscope. Trust that your heart is pure. Get a periscope. Yeah. That's dumb. There's probably market in that now. You could market to the preppers.

The world is ending. Get a periscope. I guess I'm not, God. This is good. Right. Between us, we're starting to really sell this pro scope. We need to send some emails. Because you're going straight.

the world is ending life. Love that. I was going to ask you about, no, actually it's bad question. Is it a bad question what you'd do if the world was ending? No, it's not talking about it. No, I actually think it's a great question. Okay, let's do it then. Wait, I can tell you why I would do this the world was ending. I'd try and get home. I'd want to get home to my mom and my brothers. But after that, I, I once had a situation ship,

and I asked him that question, and he gave me an amazing answer, which I've tried to live by ever since. He was like, I don't think I'd change anything. He was like, I think I'm living my life exactly in the way that I would live it if the world was ending. That's sweet, isn't it? And since then, I've taken the required psychological action to frame my life in that way. I figured out a better question now, actually. This is good.

You're a professional. Professional. I get there eventually. If not for the first bagel, I'll get the second bagel. Do you know what I mean? Totally. So the right question is, like, if the world was ending, what, like, small, innocuous, act as maybe there's something that is part of your daily routine, would you like really

savour for a final time? Probably what I'm doing like right now, which is go on a walk to the bench I sit on and sit on the bench. Do you want to sit on this one? I actually, my preferred bench is two benches up because it's in there's like a triad of oak trees that two benches up is in, but it was taken today. Do you ever say just get off my bench? No, I wouldn't do that.

But this is nice here because it feels like you're at the beginning of this tree tunnel. But yeah, I come here, when I have a day off, I come here and I sit on a bench for a period of time, almost every day. What's the benefit of seeing on benches, you say, for you? What's the point? Why do you do it? It makes me, it's the, it's not the only thing that cams my body down, but it's the only thing that always comes my body down. Got it. It always, always completely relaxes me.

They say fail safe? Yeah, it is a fit. Like, when I first moved here, I was thrumming with the terror of moving to a new place just because my body wasn't used to the environment. Good word. And it's a great word, isn't it? Should be a writer. Well, I'm trying. And then I would come here and I would sit down and it's just the big trees.

I just, I feel like a human being again and not like a scared. That was your sound effects as well. Yeah. Let's talk about moving from your homeland. It's very recent. Yeah, super recent. And you've just declared there that your body was doing some stuff. Frumming, even.

Frumming, in fact. I'm guessing you took the train now. Yeah, I did. You know, when trains leave the station, it's like, it just starts very slowly moving out. Mm-hmm. Do you remember what you were thinking about? I was crying.

And that's interesting, and I was at the time interested by the fact that I was crying, because that was my third time moving out of my home to go and live somewhere else. Okay. And it's the first time I cried. Can you put a finger on that?

Well, the first time was when I was going to uni, and I think when you're about, How old was I? 18, 19? I think there's like a kind of drive to get away. Yeah. So that was a bit easier. And then the second time I was moving to an island in the out of Herbredies called South Eust.

And I left at like 6 a.m. and I had to drive five hours to get a ferry. So I think I was more aware that I was just going, like I had to get in the car and drive. And both times I was going for like educational purposes. And then this time, it's the big move away, right? Because I'm not a student anymore. I'm like moving out to move out basically that's what it was I think probably like I'm not coming home for the summer how intense are these tears it was the kind of crying that's like quite sweet as it's happening rather than like really wrenching yeah I

wasn't out control noticeable if I was sat next to you yeah yeah you and so you just steeled yourself firmed it you did firm it I filmed it it was nice you can cry and at the same time. Yeah. I think every time you're experiencing emotion and living and not completely giving yourself in 100% to the despair, you're probably firming it. You know what I mean? Yeah. We're all firming all the time. Yeah. And so as the trains go towards London, what are you holding in you? Like, what is the core of the thrum saying to you? Is it saying like, this could go wrong? No. Is it excitement? No, I just knew it was the right thing. Yeah. About six, Four months previously I'd come and stayed with one of my friends for a night

because I got a ticket to a show that I wanted to see. And I got off the train and I was walking to see him. And it was like one of the hottest days of the whole year. And I hate the heat while I was walking. And I was like, yeah, I definitely have to move here. I just know I have to. Interesting. So, as I said, like, I have a really strong sense of, like,

what the right thing is in the moment, not in a long-term way, but in a kind of short-term way. And I feel really strongly that this is the right thing. So do you put a thing on, I said that, I said that, just, really recently, finger on. I find a new way of phrasing that sentence. What is better than a finger? To put a nose on? Elbow maybe?

Yeah, but like a forehead. What about like a forehead? I think that's quite nice. Yeah, hear it forward, the nose? Can you put a nose on it? Yeah, that's cute. That's charming. Is that, yeah, because we're kind of getting a nose into it.

Or even a heel? Yeah, heel. Yeah, I think a heels maybe. Yeah, nice. Can you put a heel on? Can you put a heel on exactly like, you know, why you, you know, why you, you is the right idea. I think it's a gut feeling, to be honest. And I think one of the things that facilitates that gut feeling is actually most of my communities in London. Most of my

closest friends are here. What is a community? One of my best friends. A community, oh God, I don't know. There's like lots of different kinds, right? But a group of people who you can rely on probably is the best way to define it. And there's a group of people here that I can rely on. So it didn't feel like there was any risk that I was going to be falling through any kind of net. of safety, like there's plenty of people I can call. And I do. So now you live with humans? Yeah, I live with my, I live with a very good friend of mine, actually.

How is it to live with this person? So fine, actually so good. Right now it's a bit of a shame because we're both so busy. We barely see each other. But we're really good friends and it's really nice. Do you have any particular rituals which you do together, which make both your lives better? We were watching heated rivalry on a Sunday.

You know heated rivalry? I haven't seen it, but this is the one with the hot gays... The gay hockey show, yeah. Doing the hockey. And that, I have to be honest, it's great. I highly recommend. Highly recommend. And I think people are giving it way too much stick, because it's got sex in it.

It's the 21st century, everyone. Come on, guys. Come on board. So yeah, but our rituals is we like each other and we hang out when we're in the flat. Anything that... Any bug bears? No, I have a bug bear with myself, which is that I'm... This is bad.

But tell me, come on, come on. I'm not a natural shopper. I'm really bad at going to the shops. And I mean like to the food shop. I'm not a natural shop. Right. So my flatmate, she finds it easy to buy things when she needs something, she buys it. When she doesn't need something, she buys it, right?

I don't buy things. I, I, it, do you go to the shop or do you just, is it that you just don't go? I avoid going to the shop for as long as physically possible. I can need things for like months and I don't get them. But what that is manifesting in is like an embarrassing divide. divide but like I need to emphasize the difference because she will go to the shop and come home with four fairy liquid bottles and like that's hard because then how do I do my fair share of the fairy liquid bottles do you know what I mean five you get five get I have to get five next time right

but so that's the only thing is I feel like I am not contributing to the so you're just being prelly outclass in the shopping department I'm being completely outclass I feel like maybe that means it's like you just I can get it like you're like what's the point yeah in In fairness to me, like I do think I make up for it in other ways. I bake lots of things that she gets to eat, right? That's cool. What'd you bake? Banana bread mostly.

That's sweet. Apple cake. I like fruit. In cakes. I love fruit cakes. Can you let us do a, because you did such a good tour of the shop. Can you do me a tour of your room? Uh-huh. To be honest, my, again, because I'm not a natural, like,

of things. Like, there's not that much in my room. There's nothing in it. There is things in right? Have you got a fear of buying things? I do have a bit of a fear of buying things. It makes me feel horrendously guilty when I buy anything. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. This sounds like something to get checked out. Yeah, but like does it? I think we should all feel a bit more guilt about buying things. Oh, here we go. No? Should we not? Here we go. I like it. I do like it. But like, are you feeling guilty about buying this essential item? I feel the least guilty about buying essential items. I feel the least guilty. I feel a bit of guilt and like I also it's like that Hannah Hannah Aaron is that how you say your name like

she says if conscience or morality is the act of sitting down and like asking yourself the question like am I doing the things that I need to do in order to feel like a moral person or be a moral person or be good and if you have that conversation with yourself and you can answer yes then that's like a version of like that's quite moral maybe and that I see that that might be completely wrong someone told me that a party to be And you sit and you're that, mate, look. That way. Is it a pram?

There's a lot of them. There's so many. This is your moment. Is that they've stopped there just to just prepare you? But see that one there, I can tell you. That's two parts and it's quite annoying to fold. Well, it's actually not that annoying to fold, but it's quite annoying to store because the two parts take up a lot of space.

So it's the bassinet that comes off. Oh, Bassinet. Yeah, the bassinet comes off. And then that folds, and it doesn't even fold that much. It folds, yeah. So in front of us, Or to the right of us, it's like boggy's just kind of waiting about 30 meters away from us. I think those are small babies. I think they're all two-parters. I think if I saw them coming at the buggy park, I'd be a bit like,

this is going to take up a lot of our space. No twins though, no like double buggies, which is a relief. Here they go, they're turning around. It's a procession. They're going so suddenly. This is almost so perfect for this game. Is that they want you to see each one really clearly? Yeah, I think they're all the same. I think they're all the same. I think they're all battened. They're walking in formation as well. It's like the flying like the Mighty Ducks. Like you wouldn't, you wouldn't, like you would, I don't know how you get past them. It's like a, it's like a Roman legion or something. Here they come.

The noise really loudly as well because it's like so annoying when I'm like waking up and it's like oblivion. They're all two-part buggies. They're having it, they're having really fun conversation about their kids waking up at different points. I feel like that was, you know, a great moment of destiny we just witnessed. me this witness. Yeah. It's like if I could have ordered anything, if I could have just phoned up, you know, someone who could just arrange anything, it's what I was, look, can you just arrange? Five buggies. Like five buggies in formation to come to kind of slowly past us.

Like really, like really, really slowly. That would be amazing. Thanks so much. And then, uh, yeah. And that's happened. And then it happened. It's that cosmic ordering. That was cosmic, for sure. Cosmic buggy ordering. Uh, where were we before we started cosmic ordering buggies? I got so too waiters excited about that. Oh, you're asking me for a room tour. Yeah, yeah. We know there's nothing in there. Because you hate buying things.

Okay, there is things. So, like, you walk in, and the first thing you see is the side of my cupboard. And on the cupboard, there's a poster from a show that I made with my theatre company. Nice. And then there's a cursed mirror on the wardrobe. It's like huge. Because it's cracked? No, it's just like I can see it from my bed and, like, everywhere in the room.

So wherever I am, I can just like kind of... Too much mirror? Pout into the mirror. Is that what you fade at us home doing? Yeah. No, but like it does happen. When there's a mirror and you look at yourself.

Sure. What do you see when you look in the mirror? Me. Okay, great. So then there's a window. Let's keep going. Right, window. And then some fairy lights around the window that I got on Facebook Marketplace.

And then a side table, which is grey. and then there's like books lining the floor and my steamer that I had to get yeah because I don't have any shelves. Okay. You're not allowed to shelf? Well, there's no room. Too much buying.

There's no room. I couldn't morally buy a shelf. It would just be, wouldn't be right. Well, if I got one, I'd probably get one second hand. Like, you can easy get a second hand shelf. And the floor is a shelf. The floor is a shelf. It's the shelf on the floor.

And then there's my steamer, which I need because I need to be able to steam my clothes. And then there's a bed. Well, you can, it sounds like you can, you know, you've got a bit of, you know, bedroom. improvements. Yeah, there's room for that in my life. And I'm just, I like to slowly collect items. Oh, I had a new item, which I think is charming, which is my friend said the other day, and he wrote a

really nice thank you on a post-it note. And I've taped that up next to my light switch. So every time I turn my light on or off, there's a, there's like a nice note from my friend. Yeah, it's really charming. Okay, you've taped out. That's sweet. Anything else on the walls? There is a postcard that my, that my flatmate gave me when I graduated. And there is another postcard that I got. from a wine bar. Okay. Get some more stuff up there. Yeah, I do.

I need to kind of take some action. Everyone that comes goes, what the hell is your bedroom? And I'm like, fair enough, guys. Do you think there's something, let's not get too inspected about the lack of bedroom items? Items. Is there some kind of psychology behind kind of moving somewhere new

and not making it like incredibly homely for a, reason? Potentially and actually like I brought a lot of stuff actually that I could have put up from like my old places I've lived and actually made a decision not to. There you go. So it's probably a bit of a thing where I don't want to have loads of stuff from my old life, plastering my new life. Although actually I should have a window sill and there's a really nice picture of me and my mom when I was a kid and there's a picture of me and one of my brothers and there's two conquerors to keep out the spiders and there is a card which is from my mom that has a life.

from iPhone Kiss by Robert Burns that says, but to see her it was to love her, love, but her in love forever. And then there's a little tile that my ex painted of a double bridge that I keep in my room visual at all times, because I'm chill, like that. Right. That was a very long sentence. Yeah, that was a list. You could say it was a list of things on my...

You spared through that, but there's quite a long time pack there. Conquers, spiders? Yeah, it's an old wife's tale. Okay. It's great. Do you think it works? Well, I've not seen a spider in my room. It works.

And also it's a psychological thing as well. I hate spiders, so I'm like, this might keep the way. My second child also hates spiders, so I'm like, I might tell her that. And he never seen one? I've not seen one. We had one in, like, our cupboard one day, and that was fine. Not enough concrete in there, obviously. Yeah, clearly need to up our game.

The next day is just put up concordering. Burns line from your mother. Yeah. And then a tile from your ex-boyfriend with two bridges. It's a double bridge. A double bridge. It's called a kissing bridge. Was this emblematic of your relationship?

Not really. We went, we used to go to that place a lot and. Oh, there was a said bridge. Yeah. It said bridge was actually a real bridge and you went to that bridge. Uh-huh. And we saw the bridge and we wrote a collection of poetry together and one of the, one of the poems was about the bridge.

I just like it because it's nice. That's poetry just there. Yeah, like as I'm speaking, I'm like, maybe I shouldn't have that. To be honest, it's taking me a long time to slowly stop putting things from that relationship, like around my life. And this is the last thing. And I wonder what it would mean to not have it in my room. Maybe this is the day.

Maybe I should. Maybe this is the takeaway. Honestly, maybe this is the takeaway. Maybe it needs to go. So are you looking for romance now? What is what is, as in the romantic? What does that mean to you or not? Well, to be honest.

You still got these bridges. Yeah. They're still there. Yeah, no. I think to be honest, I had a really nice insight about this recently. Whereas I was seeing this guy for about five months. It was fine. We liked each other.

And then he ended up being like a bit of a prick in the end. Oh no. He like invited his ex to visit him for three days. Like his ex that he was going to get married to eight months ago kind of thing. So like really quite. Okay. And he told you that how did he pay this to you? He called me after she.

arrived and he was like gag crying like after midnight what is a gag crying it kind of does what it says on the tin as in like like crying in a very visceral way the kind of the kind of crying you didn't do on the train yeah exactly but then what was his rationale behind inviting the ex-girlfriend to stay for the day I think I think at the end of the day beneath it all he thought they were going to get back together and he was going to break up to me after Christmas because it was like a week before Christmas and he said I didn't want to tell you about it because I thought it would ruin your Christmas. He also said on the phone while he was crying that the reason he was so upset was because it was clear that she'd come and she didn't want anything. But it was quite nice for me because I really wasn't

very bothered and I realized actually it had been quite a high stress situation that hadn't really made my life better. And then I was single properly in January and I was like you know what? I feel so good. It's taken me this long. to realize really this long that actually every single feeling that you could possibly feel in a romantic context you can equally feel by yourself walking to work well big line yeah tell me more i think that life is a spring this is an instagram quote i saw the other day life of the spring you just need to drink from it but i think that's so true i think we can all just choose to drink from the spring of life whenever we want and for a while in my head it was kind of conditional yeah

Yeah. But would you say, I really like that sentiment by, you know, playing devil's avocado for a minute. Go on. Like, you can obviously just enjoy the spring of... Life. Life. Any time you want. But then, like, the separate spring of, like, romantic life. Life slash whatever it is, love, is its own beast, no? That it's, like, something to be enjoyed separately as well.

Can you have both? Yeah, you can, of course, you can have both, but you also... You don't need. But you don't need, but. I think speaking only for myself and only in a felt way, I can genuinely say that the level of content and like euphoria and wonder that comes into my body these days easily matches times when I've been really popularly in love. Okay. I think sometimes we meet people that help to unlock those things.

In ourselves. Yeah. But they're there anyway. Yeah. For sure. I don't think romance is necessarily essential. I actually don't. There's a tagline.

Yep. I'm also going on a hinge date on Friday. So I literally ignore everything I say. What's your profile like? Great. This is the first time it's ever been good. Oh, really? Yeah.

Because. Do you know, I stopped caring. That's the way to do it. I literally stopped caring. That's the way to do it. And now I'm like, everything's so easy. I'm going to ask you, you don't have to do it, but can I see it? Yeah.

I'm very intrigued by like what people put. It's such a kind of like intense thing to have to compose. It's the fundamental, right? Can you see? I mean, I can't. That's for me playing the guitar, which is not false advertising, because I can technically play guitar. I can, is that your head? I don't think it's going to work, make. It looks like you've got a really small head.

Right. In that photo. Is that... I don't think... I don't think that it should look like that. Hang on. Hang on. I can't see that very well.

Can I take the fan? Yeah, please. You take it, you run away. That's what this has all been about. Oh yeah. Okay. Yeah, that's... Yeah, that's...

Yeah, it's great. Okay, then what do you say? And then I say, I go crazy for soup to get me through winter, which is true. Nice. And then dating me is like being a character in a novel who's solely gain sent him.

but can never escape the pages they were born into. Whoa, what a line. It just, it literally came to me. I was like, I have to do this. That's so stupid. And that's me and my brother on Burns Night. And then that's me with the Muppet's Christmas Carol playing in a pub. Very sweet.

So... There you go, that's a solid, I mean, that's all very solid. I'm charming all of them. Having said, got my phone out and seen the time, I need to go. Time to go. Unfortunately. Time to go. I've had a really nice time.

doing this, I just, I set out for my mum an hour ago. That's completely fine. You need to phone your mum. Yeah. There's one last question for you, by the way. Please, please ask it. Actually, can we have like two minutes more? Okay, of course, of course.

There's one thing I'd like to do before the last question. Understood respect. They're back. They've lost two members. They've lost two members. What happens to have eaten? I wonder what that says about the hierarchy. Five of people.

come three and they're back. Let's hear them go past. Babies, it's a different energy for the babies. It's because the podcast is ending. Maybe, yeah, they're sad. Yes, what I like to do is, don't say the name of the park we're in. I'm going to say it. But can you tell me what we can see in front of us?

Yeah. And how that makes you feel? Yeah. I, so it's got the classic London park thing, which I love about London Park. You don't get this in other parks, where you've got like a skyline of buildings that looks like the opening of a Muppet's Christmas Carol, all of the roofs of the houses, and then the park comes in and it's a long area of flat grass with a nice, healthy scattering of trees, and directly in front of us is like three trees in a frame of two other big trees. And then in the middle, there's two

small trees that are like twins and they have nice light green leaves, lighter than the grass. And one of them is kind of leaning towards the other. And then to their right, our left, there's another tree that is the same size as them, but doesn't have any leaves. Summer is coming. Very good. Thanks. light. Yeah, the light's amazing. Thank you, Sunshine. I'm glad you're here. I thought you'd probably meet her for a minute. But I noticed the light. Thank you, Sunshine, it's what you call everyone. That's a great pet name. I'm a big pet names person, so I should adopt that one. Do that at the Baker Shop? Yeah, I call them all honey.

Maybe you have a different one for each other week? Yeah, I like Charmer. Charmer? Charmer. Hey Charmer. Sweet. What if they're completely not charming? That's funny then. Well, they probably don't get pet name status then. Yeah. Right, sunshine. Biscuit? Sweet biscuit. That's a bit weird.

So they'll give new ones. Okay. Maybe like, I think, hear me out, I think daffodil is a nice one. Yeah, give it a go. I'll try it. You can spread something around. I'll test it out someday. Okay, we reach the end.

Yes, so final question for you. Uh-huh. What are you going to do next? Call my mom. This weird guy's sad. I'm sorry, I know I told you I'd call you an hour ago. I'm moving back to Scotland. I got distracted on a bench.

I got distracted. Yeah, I'm going to call my mom. I think you're going to do some writing this evening. I'm working at the bagel shop tomorrow. What's the rest of your day look like? What's the time? It's 3.40. Uh-huh.

I'm going to a restaurant tonight, lovely fish one. Yum. Some fish for lunch, fish for dinner. Yeah. But there's not a huge window between now and then. So I'll have a little scan and see if I can like summon the energy to maybe get trying to get another person before I leave the park. But, you know, I may just go home and start thinking about fish.

Great. Well, thank you so much. My pleasure. Thank you so much. Do you want to say anything to end anything? I think it's nice up conversations with people's on the benches. Profound. That can be your tagline.