The Ins & Outs - Sexy Bedrooms & Mr Big

Episode Date: February 13, 2024

Jojo & Polly are back from their hilarious ski trip in time for our Valentines Day special.Jojo gives her guide to making sure your bedroom is ready for romance, while Polly drops a Mr Big bombshell!Plus our Innies & Outies tell us there stories of dating disasters and falling in love!This episode is brought to you by Ancient & Brave, who create pure, potent and sustainable supplements to help you think, feel and look your best. Click the link below to check them out now!Sponsorshttps://ancientandbrave.earth/InstagramPodcast - @the_insandouts_Jojo - @houseninedesignPolly - @pollyanna_wilkinsonProducer Andy - @andy_rowe_WebsitesJojo - https://www.housenine.co.uk/Polly - https://www.pollyannawilkinson.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Green, the colour of true elation Pine on a summer's day See I've been waiting for you Waiting for you Hello lovers and welcome to this very sexy episode A Valentine's Day special of the ins and outs With myself, Jojo, and the very gorgeous Pollyanna Wilkinson On today's episode we are going to be giving you a roundup of mine and Polly's ski trip that we've just returned from.

We're going to be talking about our biggest icks, and we answer all of your Valentine's questions, including some dating stories, one involving a weasel. This week, our podcast is sponsored by the very lovely Ancient and Brave. Mine arrived last week, and I tell you what, it is, I get it now, I get hype. It is absolutely amazing that it tastes like nothing. But the matcha and collagen, I mix in with some warm oat milk and it slips down a treat. I tell you, it's delicious. And the matcha is really good because it's not one of those grassy matchas.

You know, some can taste like you're eating grass. It not it's not like that at all it's lovely it's a really great afternoon pick-me-up it's a ritual i get it there's different ways that you can take collagen and it's part of your morning day evening ritual and i am loving it so thank you very much go and check them outandbrave.earth Hello, love. Hello, my darling. How are you? I'm all right. I'm okay.

How are you really? Should we talk about this? How are you really, Polly? Well... Because Polly and I just got back from a weekend skiing in the French Alps. And I had a lovely time. Polly, let's talk about your experience of our ski trip.

Where do we start? The floor is yours. Let's just say that skiing has humbled me. I am deeply humbled. Okay. Yeah. I mean, I know, you know, people say it's good to go out of your comfort zone isn't it but I skied once I think I was 12 I can't quite remember can I just back up a second

here when we first went on this ski trip you're like I really want to go on a ski trip JJ this is part of your trying every all these new things I said great I blame very much very very much gave me the impression that you could ski and I could 12 yes but actually I think you actually said 16 not 12 when we were there when we just after we had some tears on a blue run trying to kick you down after lunch I think it was I don't think I was 16 I think I might have been 12. I can't remember. I just know I was a kid. At which point I was like, have you actually skied? No, but do you know what? When I went on school ski trips, one or two, I can't remember. And I remember very easily traversing down all sorts of slopes.

So I could ski and I did pre-COVID, I was meant to go skiing just before COVID hit. It got cancelled. And I went to the snow dome I was fine so I was like this is you know one green run and I'm anyone's it turns out that's not true well another little clangor is that um Brad it was up to Brad I mean Brad to be fair did a sterling job of organizing our ski trip he Absolute legend. My absolute hero. He's amazing. And we had a right good girl, Apres. But Brad, in the process of organising, organised a ski instructor for Polly. And now when you sort of think of the ski instructor that you might want in the French Alps, Polly didn't get that one. No, I was hoping for a sort of burly French man

that would carry me down a slope if I struggled. Yes. You know, something nice to look at is never a bad thing, is it? I didn't get that. No. What did you get, Polly? I got a very lovely lady

of later age. No, she wasn't, actually. I think she just had a very, very, very, very, very strong smoking habit. I think she was actually our age but a lady of indiscernible age she was fairly stern and um a little bit scary and was missing a few teeth well look yes so I think skiing has has humbled me and taught me um as much as I love you all and actually I had the best time what a lovely group of people probably wiser to go skiing with with fellow beginners rather than trying to um trying to keep up with well not that I could even remotely keep up with you I couldn't even

access the restaurants because they were too far away and too high so poor Brad had to give me the ride of a lifetime I had to sit on the back of his um snowboard like a toboggan wrap my legs around him which uh you know was as enjoyable as you could imagine it was and he had to um toboggan me down to lunch which he did I felt part humiliated and part very gleeful so so that was sort of day one so day one was was not the most fun there were a few tears and then day two you went at it again well day one there were only tears because we were trying to get down before the lifts closed and accidentally found ourselves at the top of a blue run and this gal hadn't really even for those non-skiers blue is like green is the easiest blue is the second

easiest red is terrifying and black don't even get me started. So blue, I wasn't ready for blue. But do you know what? Lisa, one of your dear friends that we went with and you, shepherded me down that mountain. Tears down my face. The problem is what we did. Post lunch, we got a bit stuck into the rosé,

having just a jolly old time in the sunshine. And we missed the last lift down. So we sort of were in this little, we were in this sort of little, I guess you could call it a bowl with two lifts that were closed. And there was Polly looking at us with this terrified look on her face, like, how the fuck am I going to get out of here? And Lisa and I, like, side-eyeing, like, ah, this is fine, this is all good, come on. So we sort of shimmied you sort of across to this blue run, which I can, obviously, I mean, like I always said,

so lucky I've been doing this since I was a dot, so I don't feel that fear, but I understand it now because I saw it in your eyes and i had a little cry yeah i made a stone so to cry it is actually one of my hobbies going potty to cry actually real tears so that was that was a winner for me um but there she went she pootled down she did you did so good i didn't fall on that one i think we knackered you because you're using bits of your body that you haven't really used before and then so we got you down in a bit of a state and then but lovely all fine had a lovely evening and then the next day you went up again with your ski instructor and I think you were just exhausted. Well look the next day the ski instructor heard

that I did a blue without falling over and went very very well, Polly, very well. While sucking on her Marlborough Red. Rather than maybe kicking me off on a gentle green just to check, you know, the knowledge had gone in, she went, right, let's go straight up two ski lifts to a fairly unsavoury blue. And I proceeded to fall over and over and over until I fell so badly that I've torn my meniscus. And then I had to ski down the mountain with a very sore knee. And what I haven't told you, Jojo, is I had to ski down a blue, then a green.

And at the bottom, I threw up because I was in so much pain. I got to the loo though. I wasn't on the slopes. I really felt quite terrible for you. And then Joel, our friend who we're with, whipped his knee brace off and stuck it on polly's leg and to be fair beyond that you were you're still pretty great fun i'm sure there's lots of weeping behind the scenes but i'm sorry poll no maybe no more ski holidays do i think i'm more cut out for the beach do you know what though you also you did this for your boys so i did the reason polly actually took this challenge on was because she wants to ski with her boys so i think that's pretty amazing that you did i think i might just send them on the school trips now and maybe i'll i'll go to the beach i think also the next time

we were skiing for anyone that knows that we were skiing in morzine chatel and avorias and of course all the sort of the action is up on the slopes and to get to the slopes you've obviously got to ski to get to them so i next time, perhaps just a ski resort that is sort of a bit more of an all-in ski out. I think it's a bit nuts, though, that even if you've injured yourself, they won't put you on a ski lift down. You've got to get your own way down, unless you've still unbroken your leg. No, they should have done.

I mean, there were lots of blood wagons running, like, hooning around the mountain. I saw lots of people strapped into those things, racing around. They do, like, it's really funny, actually. I don lots of people strapped into those things, racing around. It's really funny, actually. I don't know if you manifested that this was going to happen because that morning, Polly actually went and got insurance, didn't you? You actually got insurance that morning. Anyway, but apart from that, it was the most brilliant.

It was amazing to go away with you, Polly. We had such a giggle. And the highlight for me was sharing a bath under the stars with you, darling. Oh, we haven't shared that, actually. not a naked bath before everyone gets too excited it was no swimming costume bath involving wine yeah but it was a it was a wood fired not a hot tub i'd call it a bath because the shape of a bath wasn't it glorious actually what we did is we actually sat in it not not sort of soaking in the stars. We sat there talking about how we can design our gardens to incorporate one of these hot tub things. Because it was so, like a wellness area. Imagine having a full on ice dip tank, one of these fired up sauna baths and then actually a sauna as well.

Can you imagine? The downside is though, is it did take four hours to get hot. So, you know, you have to be very organised with your hot tub. And that about 12 people got in it

so it sort of started to turn a very strange shade of brown. It's a lovely human suit. A human suit. That's it. So we're back safe and sound and Polly's off one knee

for about, what, three months? Three months. So that Peloton treadmill was a great investment. So just, how else are you otherwise otherwise my love i'm it's it's good to be back it's good to see the kids but i'm off again today actually i'm i'm on a i'm flying off on a jet plane because i'm going to botswana this

afternoon um for my mate i know i'm so excited i'm going with my superstar uh head head of design lizzie um my right arm. And she's coming with me. And we're going off to explore this incredible lodge in Botswana. So it all feels very surreal. I've never been. I've never been on a safari. Do you think you'll get to go on a safari?

Will you get to go and... The lovely clients did say, when you're there, if you get everything done, please do go. Go on the boat. Go and do what they call game drive. Oh, what a treat. Honestly, like such a treat. I don't know. I think it's something like 38 degrees out there at the moment.

So I'm not sure my skin is going to know. I might scare off the elephants with this sort of pale shade of grey that I am. How do you feel about working far away? Do you like it? Do you like business travel? I'm always very torn. I'm very lucky because I love, I always say, I love my team. And therefore, if I got to travel with any one of them, I'd enjoy it because I enjoy their company.

Yeah. And therefore, that's quite good fun. And the clients I work with are ace. But it is hard to be away from the kids. I'd say that's the only thing I struggle with when I travel is that I miss, I do miss the kids, even if it's for a few days. Rocky's at that age where she's four in June. And I even just when we went skiing we went away for four nights and i got back and i genuinely she's changed i cannot comprehend how their hair looks longer and they're saying all these different words and i think it's just this really special special age i mean i i always think i would go again i'd want another

baby i'd love another baby. I really would. Yeah, and actually even Brad got the, he got the twinge the other day as well. Genuinely, I think if I had a few years on my side, I'd probably go again because I'm completely mad and I haven't got enough going on in my life. But I think this is completely normal and from what I understand from parents

who are coming out of this sort of toddler phase, you do start to miss them already. You start to think about, oh my God, I just, I don't want them to grow up and it's a really funny i had this little pact with with ziggy where i say to her you're not allowed you're you're not allowed to what's our pact you're not allowed to grow up and she's like i'm not growing up mommy i'm not and then she's like but look how long my legs are getting and i don't yeah i don't want them to grow up but i do i can't wait to meet them when they're teenagers and i can't wait for them to come home with their boyfriends for my boys to be teenagers I think I'm gonna be a good teenage boy mum you are I find I find um I find business travel really

tough actually because if we do travel it's usually quite far away it's usually the US which I love but equally there's something about being an ocean away from my babies, a big ocean, that makes me feel very wobbly. And I hate, hate, hate flying without them because I don't love flying at the best of time. I get in my head and I get scared, but then I have sort of worst case scenarios in my head. So I don't like being an ocean away from them. No, it's a long way. This is going to be the longest trip I'll have been away from them. This will be nearly a week, which is quite, I know. What about long way this is going to be the longest trip i'll have been away from them this will be nearly a week which is quite i know what about you what's going on

in the studio we are have oh we've got some of the such exciting projects about to be built because it's it's you know this but i think sometimes with landscape design it takes even longer it can be the gardens we designed two years ago are being built now because we've been waiting for planning and all sorts we've got the most delicious delicious garden in the cotswolds and then a couple in surrey and then one in the new forest there oh god i can't wait to see them built it's so exciting when that design starts to come a reality and then so we've got that going on in the background but then also we've got some very yummy ones on the drawing board which I can't say much about yet but oh my goodness it's it's a really exciting year full of some scrumptious

ones and they're not all country some are in in town because I love doing a London garden oh can I do you know what I'm going to give a can I just put this out there now for anyone that doesn't know our studio is in London we are in Notting Hill the lovely Notting Hill because I used to live there and I couldn't bring myself to leave so I thought let's plant a studio there and I am desperate to get some London projects so if anyone is out there who would like their house doing in London can you just give us a call don't assume that we just do you know lovely big country piles here for there and everywhere we do london guys i love london we don't get them as often but i absolutely love

the london ones they're they're actually much more challenging because they're usually small spaces tricky access oh bring it come on yeah all that so yeah it's a really fun time and my brilliant team are being wonderful so other than the knee and the ear infection and I've still not kicked whatever that damn bug was like it's still hanging around everything's great but look dude this is our valentine's edition oh I know my love which means we've got some valentine's themed questions oh okay this is what you've been planning with Andy because I don't because I've been sort of off air that I don't know what's going on. And you're springing stuff on me, aren't you? I've been beavering away like a little cupid.

Okay, go on. And I've got some yummy questions. Let's start with... You asked on the ground, you asked some Valentine's Day, was it funny questions? I did. So I asked for Valentine's Day questions, which we have. I also asked for Valentine's Day themed stories, but we'll save them to the end because there's some absolute classics. So first up, we're going to start with just a quick and dirty one from Kay. What's your biggest ick? I beg your pardon? What is your biggest ick?

Oh my, you didn't say that. You said something else. What's your biggest ick? You just said, what's your biggest ick? I want to know that too. I said, what's your biggest ick? You said it fast enough and you said, and I was like, I don't even want to go there. Oh my God, that would have been a brilliant answer. I apologise, listeners. Hold on a second.

What's my biggest ick? What is your biggest ick you've got one so my my ick a big ick so I've got a high level ick

and a deep ick the high level ick shit shoes I can't stand ugly shit shoes bad shoes okay so what's a bad shoe I've got a problem with

I've got a problem with people that wear probably anything ergonomic ergonomic exactly like something like an echo shoe just a bit practical anything too practical

those practical nancies apart from a blundstone not like a blundstone though there's nothing more attractive than a man in a blundstone oh yum but like ugly shoes and then my biggest ick

is men sorry so did you say that what was your biggest what okay biggest ick my biggest ick is men that get very over emotional about sports results okay you know it's fine to be disappointed but ones that cry or actually um are in a genuine sulk because men playing with a ball did not achieve what they wanted i

absolutely not like you can be disappointed, but if it's starting to kind of impact how you behave that day. I think unless England are playing in the rugby and then I appreciate everything you're saying. No, no. Oh no, I'll tell you what, it's people that just go on and on and on about themselves.

Forget to ask questions. Don't ask questions, or don't listen, they ask the questions because they really want to answer it for themselves that one just just like to smell their own farts love the smell of their own don't we all okay so that's your biggest covered yeah and then um next one i enjoy this this is this is more of a kind of uh this is an any question i guess we could say i love this how do you make a bedroom subtly sexy with decor without looking like a brothel and that's from Lucy yes Lucy Lucy wants a sexy bedroom yeah it depends what your

definition of sexy is isn't it because to me I'd say it's the lighting lighting is absolutely essential in a bedroom because you want to see what we're up to definitely not always sometimes you don't i think you say that i don't think i think you need to if you like if you like if you like what you're touching you need to be embracing it and seeing it but you don't want to see it in like you know lit up like a christmas tree you just want to well maybe you do i don't know so i think lighting is very important you can get some dimmable bulbs perhaps um set them bit set nude um you know when you just want to like a clap clap and then the blinds go down the lights go low bit of barry white comes on barry white barry white comes on and it's like subtle sexy so perhaps not sort of big metal rings attached to your wall for... No, or a red light hanging from the ceiling.

Oh. What about sheets? Lighting is key, but... Do you have any strong feeling on, like, sexy sheets? I mean, I love... Silk pillowcases are sexy. Rubbing your head on a silk pillowcase, but I'm not sure what I think about silk bedsheets,

like the full galore. Go slithering around on that one. But I just think... I think sexy is oh i tell you what okay another one declutter if you've got like yesterday's clothes hanging off the end of the bed and you've got stuff all over the floor and you've got this clutter your bedroom should be by the way guys clutter free because this is a place that you're sleeping you're not meant to see loads of like it's not meant to stimulate you your bedroom is meant to be

a non-stimulatory space you don't need lots of pictures little pictures everywhere and bits and bobs and stuff and bags and i don't think i've ever walked into a tiny room and gone fuck me that's sexy it's but i beg to differ tidy i bet you would and you do you do you've walked into my bedroom before and gone god this is lovely lovely i wouldn't say i wouldn't call it sexy but would you think you know yesterday's pants hanging around on the floor is sexy no someone out there would my friend someone out there definitely would but i would say lighting declutter make your bed fresh bed sheets always any like colors sexy colors no i would say go with all sort of neutrals. Should you go like dark and moody?

No. I think this is quite extreme though, isn't it? We're going quite extreme here. Sure, subtle sexy. Subtle sex. Subtle sex. You know. I'd go subtle. So neat and tidy. Sexy lighting. Lighting and fresh bed sheets. Maybe a silk pillow.

Maybe a silk pillow, yeah. Maybe just a pot of lube on the side table well just for encouragement a pot of lube like a hand lotion but not no I don't mean

instead I'm not implying that you use that as an alternative I mean some people have hand lotion by their bed for their hands I was just literally saying

like straight up lube if that's what you like oil would we put that in a drawer essential oils or do you want that on display well i think what i'm trying to say is if you're trying to encourage the sexiness it could just be like your partner walks in and goes oh it's that kind of night fresh made bed lights are low lube on the bedside table it's a bit like having collagen by your kettle have the lube by the bed yeah but you if that's a different that's slightly unsexy isn't it i'm talking you're luring them in you're trying to get them in the mood gotcha okay i think we've gone really deep into that thank you andy thank you andy yes thank you

andy idea yes don't put the candles too close to me because we don't know if it's flowerables so just health and safety sorted there pop it maybe put them away but lighting yes lighting not just the lighting the electrical lighting but candles can i just ask you about candles for a second of course yeah like do you visual aesthetics of a candle do you have a preference in the like a style of candle absolutely the candle what the candle comes in the candle carrier uh the the vessel that the candle is poured into is extremely important yes i go for the vessel before i pick up the smell so that's extremely important so i love anything that looks quite organic like sort of stone or like a love brown glass love it or like a dark green glass or black do you like the diptych candles those are sexy they are but yeah

i do like them but i probably turn them i don't like labels i'm a bit of i'm not a label person i don't like labels and things so that's um yeah but obviously smell's important but the vessel is as important okay well there you go lucy i hope that helps go get your on, girl. As the queen of outies, does Polly appreciate roses? Love, Ben. Who's Ben? Hi, Ben. Hi, Ben.

Is this a... This is a potential suitor. Potentially. Do I feel a bunch of roses coming on, Ben? I like roses in the garden. I'm not a massive fan of them as... I presume he's talking about as like a bouquet, if we're Valentine's Day.

Love roses in the garden. But in terms of if I'm to be given flowers, obviously I obviously be very grateful to be given anything but i like seasonal flowers i like what's what's growing in the country at the time so valentine's day is a tricky one but actually i would be much happier with some spring bulbs at this time of year than i would anything that's been grown in a hot house i really and that goes throughout the year. I much prefer a looser, wilder feel of preferably things grown in this country to roses. If you were to take a bunch of roses, what colour would they be? Do you like a red? I mean, I suppose because the obvious thing on Valentine's Day is to buy a big old bunch of red rose. Do you know what? I find roses quite triggering because when I was at boarding school, Valentine's Day, there was a system.

And you could buy a rose for someone and have it sent either anonymously or you could put your name on it for two pounds or you could buy a carnation for one and it was such that carnation was a smack in the face it wasn't it was still very sweet at the time but you know the the carnation was the lesser of the two and also i i genuinely hate most carnations not me too um so for me roses and carnations are very loaded with like teen angst and who's going to get a rose and who isn't so I think it's also around Valentine's Day you just have roses shoved in your face from all angles don't you you've got people on the streets just sticking a single rose in your face and and they're just everywhere aren't they whereas you can feel very artificial i would also

say any chaps out there listening don't assume to go down the red rose route because actually you might i think actually go a bit more thoughtful what does your partner actually really like because i'm exactly like you i'd much rather a bunch of wild mixed up tulips and other bits and bobs rather than a big old bunch of roses. Yeah, absolutely. But if I was going to go for a rose... And roses are also so expensive. They rock it. It's outrageous how much roses are at Valentine's Day. The colours I like are those kind of blushy, apricotty, almost beige. I like those not conventional, not white, not red,

those sort of off colours. Yeah, me too. Much more neutral. Those are stunning. But I think I'd like more of a sort of parrot tulip, I think. Like a lovely sort of... There is nothing I love more in this world than a parrot tulip, Jojo. Yeah, I just actually, I can say this because I just sent my mum the biggest bunch of these beautiful pink torn tulips. They are absolutely the most stunning thing. Big old bunch of them. You've got a load of parrot tulips coming up in your garden my friend because i ordered them blooming everywhere gosh can we just quickly

talk about the bowls they are literally popping their little heads up left right and center i am so excited i feel like i'm going to get back actually after my trip and they're just going to i'm going to start to see real life in the garden the daffodils it's happening reminded me of a tip that i need to share if you have tulips in, you need to be starting to water those pots. Just do it once a week. But the tulips will be stubby. They need water four to six weeks before they flower, which we're getting there now, aren't we? So make sure if they're in pots, don't worry about the ground.

And if you say, oh, it's rained. Rain is not enough to go through to the bottom of a pot. Once a week, just water a pot so at the moment even with rain it doesn't necessarily mean that the center of your pot is drenched in water i mean whack a finger in there but it's very unlikely that rain has got all the way down to the depth that you planted that tulip it needs to be at bulb level you know don't just sprinkle on the top so just just keep on top of that so if you've put them under cover for example go water them. Okay, brilliant.

Thanks, Paul. Okay, I've got another one for you, actually, my love. Let's hear it. Here, let me just see. It's all this sheet here, right. Oh, this is a goodie. What is it? Is Polly dating, asking for a friend?

Ah! Is that? Does Polly have her very own Mr. Big? I actually do have my own very Mr. Big because he's very tall. Oh my goodness. Are we allowed to know more about him? You are allowed to know he's very tall and incredibly lovely. Oh. And that's all I shall say for now. Okay. There you go, guys. Polly has a Mr. Big. We're going to call him that now going forward. Mr. Oh. And that's all I shall say for now. Okay. There you go, guys. Polly has a Mr. Big. We're going to call him that now, going forward. Mr. Big.

I love it. How exciting. Yes, well. Is he an innie or an outie? He's an outie. Bet he is. Okay, JJ. So moving slightly more to a more relevant topic of interiors,

but still keeping it Valentine's, I've got a question from Nix. Hey, Nix. The pop of red theory. Is this a fleeting trend and does it apply to gardens as well? That's kind of an inny and outy question, but this pop of red, I wasn't aware of until very recently and now it's everywhere. So the theory is, is that a pop of red in any room will make the room look better. In my opinion, so for instance, so you could take an example as a cupboard. So imagine you've got a very neutral kitchen and then the cupboard has been painted a really dark red and it adds this kind of pow factor. It's like wow factor of course it's going to do that but I wouldn't say it's the case if you suddenly

stuck a red cushion on a sofa because I think if anything that's just going to look quite out of place so I think the only way it works this this red color theory is if you really consider how you're using that red and if it's done thoughtfully. Is this a long-term fact? Because obviously red in fashion has had a real moment and I've kept away from it

because red makes me look absolutely horrendous. I love red, actually. You look sensational in red. Your wedding dress was red. Well, wedding dress, so I love wearing red, but I don't like red in interiors.

But then I say I don't like red in interiors. It's like any shade, let's not be biased here about shades because there's red and there's red. You've obviously got on your colour wheel, you've got that very vibrant primary red, but then you can go add browns to it and it becomes a really lovely muddy red. And those I adore and I use them a lot in my interiors.

So I would say they do something to add a certain warmth if your room feeling is very feeling very cold and flat then a lovely subdued red is going to help and do wonders to make it feel warm and sumptuous and a bit sexy so if you wanted to add that pop of red if you wanted to try it practice this theory what item would you add because you're saying no to a cushion i can see how that wouldn't work what does it need to be what kind of level of heft well if you think about it when you walk into a room and you see okay say you walked into a room and then there was on the wall a bright red painting it's the first thing you're going to see when you walk

into that room so you're walking that the instant your eye goes to that red thing, exactly as it would in the garden if you suddenly planted a red rosebush over the corner, your eye is going to go straight to it. So you have to really love that piece for it to work. I wouldn't tend to do that one thing. I think I would slightly scatter the red. I'm more of a like, you know, have a bit of it in various, like maybe three places as opposed to one place. But I, and like I say, I like it.

It just depends on the shades that you're using. I just tone it down a bit. Okay. She asks if it applies to gardens as well. Yes and no is the answer. I like a pop of red from something like a Persicaria at the very end of the summer when those hotter colours are out. I'm not a massive fan of

loads of red i find it quite um aggressive and a lot of clients do too so we rarely we rarely use it because obviously we're not going to put colors in that they hate but a little pop of red at the end of summer and then obviously autumn obviously and same for you you have those blazing what are those blazing trees the cornice do you mean the yes the bright red stems so that's stunning pop of red in winter hello yes those red stems stunning so not loads i don't like it to be overpowering and it can bring a really nice scheme but i i don't like it and if you've got a really calming scheme and then you whack in some red it can be it can look really bizarre well that's it for the question portion because i'm absolutely desperate to tell you some of these valentine stories that

we've got from the listeners because they are so what i propose is i'm going to read you the story they're all very brief and you tell me if it's in or if it's out i'm going to start with a really strong one because this one made me raw after a few this is from sophie thank you sophie for making my day after a few dates with a guy i was invited back to his house to meet his pet is that a euphemism we're not sure and well the dating was going quite well so i thought that could be interesting yes yes yes i had assumed his pet was a dog or maybe a cat. But when we got to his house, he broke the news that his pet was actually a weasel, which lived in his bedroom. Oh, God. At which point, I started to think I was really missing the point of his analogy.

And maybe he'd been talking about something different. You can see where she's going with this, as in like, do you want to see my weasel? It's in the bedroom. Oh, yeah. never heard of it called a weasel before oh anyway i must have looked confused and so he asked me to wait disappeared inside and came back with a taxidermy weasel in his hand it was just too much i wasn't sure whether to laugh or run so i definitely ran i mean that's just he's either he's a really funny guy like so that I'm hoping that that's just like banter that's pretty funny I don't think it was that had to be bounced like this just he brought it downstairs mate it was in his bedroom he brought it downstairs to

present said weasel yeah it's not sexy can you imagine being in the bedroom with a taxidermied weasel watching you no maybe no it's not the one that one that's definitely taxidermied weasel watching you. No, maybe, no, it's not the one, that one. That's definitely an out. A stuffed weasel is out. Taxidermy weasels, out. Okay, we've got a few. I'm going to speed round here because some of them are good, some of them are bad. I had a boyfriend who gave my mother flowers on Valentine's Day but got me nothing.

Oh, that's a bit, maybe like some mouth. That's definitely an out, pal. That's an absolute out. What was he thinking? What on earth was he thinking? What was he thinking? I mean, obviously a massive suck as well, like major suckage going on there.

But think about it, mate. Come on. Okay, right, next. Okay, I went on a first lunch date with a guy who told the waitress I was his mum and then he got two lines of coke out. Oh, God. Well, that's got to be out.

I had an awful first date with a very quick exit and a Matrix-swerved-style snog attempt, which failed. He texted later to say, by the way, nice tits. In. She got a snog and she's got nice tits.

No, I think she dodged the snog pal i think she did a full on matrix like oh mate like out then out out nothing in it for her apart from great tits okay how about this one my best ever date was sea swimming with a complete stranger after a two-hour walk heaven in a nice day that's gorgeous yeah oh here go. Small bassoonist is going to trump us all. Husband proposed in Tiffany's, New York. That. In. Guy invited me on a date, took me to Pizza Express

and paid for his share with Tesco vouchers. Oh, ow, no. That goes into that tight, icky, yuck. That's the ick, isn't it? It's the ick. My first. Although, yeah, we have to be very careful here actually because i'm very much i'm very much a half and half kind of girl so if i'm on a date i will put my hand in my pocket and i

don't think that men should have to pay for dinners and drinks and it shouldn't be assumed that they do so if he's saying he's taking you out for dinner then he pays as if you said i'm going to take you out to dinner tonight then you pay oh yeah i'm all for a 50 50 split or me paying or them paying very important it's the vouchers isn't it there's a level of frugality that you should probably just wait wait a little bit like you know what i've got i've got single male friends and they said they get so stitched up on like bumble dates you know where they go on dates and it's always the man that assumes that you know that should be the one paying for the drinks and the dinner. And I think that's wrong, in my opinion. Wrong.

It's an expensive old game, dating, isn't it? It is for men, yeah. I think it can be for women too. First date was a kiss under the stars in Cannes. Oh, God, these are great. Oh, it's definitely in, isn't it? This one fills me with complete joy. This is from the Spirited Allotment here.

My third date was a Tinder guy. He came and helped me plant potatoes spirited allotment here my third date was a tinder guy he came and helped me plant potatoes on my allotment no one ever helped me and it made me stop and let my barriers down and he is now my husband oh that's very cute do you know what i think that's lovely i think any kind of collaborative gardening oh it'll be finish me off oh god watch out please she's going because she's gonna be crying in a minute that That one's an in, isn't it? That's definitely an in. That's an in. I broke up with a boy. He sang Linkin Park in the end

then asked for the key to his heart back. But in the end it doesn't really matter. Oh, that's quite a deep feeling man that wants the key to his heart back, isn't it? Are we going to say that's an in? I think it's a lucky escape i'll be honest that's an out so i think the prize for the best story has to be the weasel the weasel stuffed weasel for the win

well done happy valentine's day paul happy valentine's day in these narratives if you're not getting any love off anyone else i hope you're giving yourself plenty of it in any which way any manner that you like yes we love you we love you we love you oh happy valentine's day you beautiful girl a lovey pal there's another episode of bins and outs wrapped valentine's special please don't forget to like subscribe share with everyone share with your loved ones this week valentine's day what's the better valentine's gift than sharing this podcast with them i can't't think of anything. I can. A stuffed weasel. Give them a stuffed weasel and share the podcast. What does a weasel sound like? What do you imagine? Do you think it's a snuffler? No, I think it's like a...

Wee! Sound of a weasel. Are you ready? Yeah. Weasel sound. Here we go. sound of a weasel are you ready yeah weasel sound here we go on that note guys please please keep listening to the podcast this week please let's not scare you off by our weasel noises we will be back next week goodbye pal i love you i love you more than weasels bye- I love you more than weasels. Bye-bye. Love you more. Bye.