The Phonebox Podcast With Emma Conway - Anna Mathur: Party Like It's 1999!

Episode Date: July 24, 2023

Who wore clogs and helped raise a tamagotchi? All whilst rocking jeans that were a bit wet at the bottom? Anna Mathur that's who! The best selling author, top podcaster and psychotherapist joins The Phonebox Podcast to discuss what happened when the clock struck midnight at the end of 1999. Spoiler. NOTHING HAPPENED.Grab Anna's fab new book Raising A Happier Mother: How to Find Balance, Feel Good and See Your Children Flourish as a Result.  And don't forget to tune into her wonderful podcast The Therapy Edit here.For more of me follow @brummymummyof2 on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and TikTok and follow the all new @phoneboxpodcast account on InstagramIf you have any guest suggestions or topics you would like me to cover email [e-mail] and be sure to tag so I can see where you are listening!Editing by Soundtruism. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Switch today. Conditions apply. details at fizz.ca hey and welcome to another episode of the phone box podcast with me emma conway welcome hi the devil are you as i am recording this i am crawling i'm actually i'm recording some of my hands and knees crawling towards the start of the summer holiday as the end of summer term is always very frazzled if you have children you'll know what I mean we've had science fairs we've had theatre shows we've had kite making at Cubs we've had never-ending parents evening award ceremonies the lot it's all going on so I for one am quite excited for the six weeks but I am soaking in those last few moments before my brain and my arms and my house is full of two children so if you are taking this moment to have a little bit of time to yourself enjoy a bath with me that sounds weird that

sounds weird but enjoy a bath with me go on a walk with me tidy your pants draw with me do something with me and if you're still feeling a bit frazzled and you're a bit worried about the summer holiday don't worry my guest today she can help you she is a sunday times bestseller she is a psychotherapist she is an amazing podcaster and a matha she also has a book out right at the end of summer august raising aing a Happy Mother, How to Find Patience, Feel Good and See Your Children Flourish as a Result. Yes, please. I would like that. Thank you very much. So tune into Anna now. We have a great old chat. We talk about the Millennium Bug. Do you remember that? Do you remember we thought the world was just going to end? We thought the

world was going to end. Do you know what happened nothing nothing happened we just all carried on so enjoy our little chat and I will meet you back at the end hello Anna and welcome to the phone box podcast thank you so much I'm so excited you look so pretty people can't see but you look so great thank you she's got a ring light she's got a bit of highlight but I don't know if you remember one of the first kind of interactions we had you sent me pictures of you dressed up as Dex's midnight runners what did I do I can't remember that I think you had like dungarees on yes a neckerchief and you know what this is it this is why I couldn't remember Dex's midnight runners because I'm not entirely sure who they are if in all honesty I know I'm sorry about that but I do remember I

was dressed up in some kind of like dungarees neck scarf situation I reply you look like Dexys yes and then you send me a picture and now I need to google who they are again do you know what I was born in Bromsgrove so I wasn't far from there but I think I moved no it's not discover the legend Dex's were well before your time they were well in the 80s okay come on Eileen though you know come on Eileen come on yeah so what year were you when you were 14 it was 1999 I think that's a great year because you got your foot in the 90s you got got your foot in the noughties, and you split up the middle. And I remember the millennium

where we all thought our computers were going to just stop working. The year 2000. We thought that was it. And I remember we were allowed to stay up until the clock struck 12, because we were, you know, we were grown up then. Yeah.

And it was just, we were on tenterhooks. We did our confetti cannon. And then we were grown up then. Yeah. And it was just, we were on tenterhooks. We did our confetti cannon. And then we were just like. And what happened was absolutely nothing. Not one. Bit of an anticlimax. Nothing. Jules Holland was on the telly maybe.

Nothing happened. Nothing happened. It was rubbish. Can you imagine now though? Can you imagine if that was to happen now? If, you know, the clock struck 12 and the internet went down it wouldn't just be like oh so and so can't access their uh sims what i can't remember what we were playing back then frogger frogger not gonna be able to like sort my frogger heist like you know trump

my frog we'd be out of jobs we'd be out of jobs we would that would be the end of that i'd be writing books on paper i can't even write anymore Emma you also look like you forgot the word for paper yeah I tried writing the other day and it looked like my yeah well I was gonna say my seven-year-old no that was that was better my four-year-old my my hand doesn't really know how to write as well Christmas cards and stuff I'm like I don't send them anymore mudges like that yeah and what was your bedroom life I redecorated my bedroom often I didn't have loads of posters up I like boy zone I need to know your favorite member please immediately I had a big crush on Stephen Gately oh okay what a lovely man I know the floppy hair so you had a couple of posters of him up yeah he was my fave

but I just used to redecorate my room my parents gave me free reign so it'd have like I decided I was going to do gold walls everywhere and then I had a sunflower phase and then I did like can you remember borders I don't know if we do oh and a dado rail a border and a dado rail lovely when the borders there was one point in our household, there wasn't a room without border halfway down the wall. That sounds like it could be the title to a book. Yeah. Wasn't a room without borders. There wasn't a room without borders.

Oh, yes. And it was even better when you did the one kind of wallpaper at the bottom and then you did paint or another kind of wallpaper at the top. Lovely, yeah. That was the height. That was chic. Did you ever have navy? A lot of people had navy with like gold suns and stuff.

That seemed to be quite classy. Or inflatables. Did you ever have inflatables? Oh, the inflatables. Yeah. Never lasted long in our house. We had cats. Oh.

Yeah. You know, because cats do that kind of like pouring, clawing thing. They call it like kneading bread, don't they? Yeah. The inflatable sofa in my bedroom was so small, I couldn't even have a chest of drawers. I had the boiler in there that kept me awake because it would like gurgle in the middle of the night.

The box room. I had a plasma ball. Can you remember those? My little boy's got one now, yeah. Has he? Oh, hang on. Am I thinking, is it like a... No, that's a lava lamp. No, on am i thinking is it like a no that's

a lava lamp no i'm thinking is it like a vandergrift generator yes yes you were before your time i had a plasma ball i had a lava lamp i think at one point i even had one of those uv things you know that makes your teeth look yeah yeah yeah green you turn the lights off and where were you where were you living where was it in Herefordshire, near Wales. Sounds like it was very chic. Well, you know, we tried, we tried. All I ever wanted was some of those popper trousers. Some of the what trousers? You know those popper trousers, Emma, that had poppers going up the sides?

Oh, a little bit like what strippers would wear now. Kappa. Yes. Kappa. You remember? I can't imagine you in Kappa. Well, I wasn't, Emma, because we couldn't afford the Kappa. You remember? I can't imagine you in kappa. Well, I wasn't, Emma, because we couldn't afford the kappa trousers. What did you have?

So I had some very, very large flares. Nice. That would soak up the rain. Lovely. Right at the bottom, a little bit frayed as well. Yeah, a bit frayed. Yeah, if it was raining, you were wet up to your knees. You just wanted them kappas.

I had rainbow everything. One point, rainbow, rainbow bag. I had a blow-up bag talk about a blow-up sofa what the heck did you yeah come on i don't understand so did you blow it up did it come blew up what happened how does it work no you blew it up you blew it up it was like padded it was like it was yeah you blew up your back me but i am a little bit older than you but it passed me by I'm a bit sad bring back the inflatables what kind of music were you into apart from um it was basically boyzone and spice girls and repeat that's it alternate what's your favorite track from each I'm gonna go father and son father and sons are classic oh yeah

gosh I can't I can't remember I'd have to look at the album list yeah so good was another one as well I didn't have many albums but they were the two that we just yeah over and over and over on a cassette or um it's like a record well I had a I had a um what was it a disc man at one point can you remember so but it was terrible because i used to listen on the bus and every time the bus went over a bump which in herefordshire was very regularly the music would do that kind of juddery you know sometimes it would get stuck you had a disc man sometimes yeah and then they get scratched you'd leave them down the side of

the car you know the cup of the pockets in the car yeah yeah then you try and listen and it would be a mess you try and transport them on the one finger so it didn't get scratched that's how you figured out that was and you used to record things from the radio can you remember you would do that on the radio and you'd be like you'd wait for your song and then you'd record and then you'd pull out the tape and the tape would just unspool and you'd be frantically trying to get your pencil you'd be annoyed because the dj would be talking over the at the start and the big don't do that so why do they do that did you ever used to phone up local radio stations because that's what i like to do probably a bit too much i can't remember but what i do remember phoning up is using our 10ps any 10p

that i could find going down the phone box with my friend katherine just calling up anyone and saying is your fridge running and they'd say yes and we'd say you better go and catch it then and that's that's how we um that's how we had our fun and did you cackle every time you did it oh we thought it's absolutely hilarious the best use of 10p could have bought 10 sweets could have got a 10 penny. Not now, you couldn't. You could have got a 10 penny mix or that. But you're like, no, I'm just going to phone at randoms.

Oh, the joy. And do you know what? I'd go mad if one of my kids did that. If I found out my kid was phoning strange adults. They don't even need 10p though. No. They don't even need 10p. You know, I phone.

My oldest son knows my code. I need to change it. But he could just do that. Can't call anyone. Yeah, they could. I'd be like, you phoning adult stranger, stranger danger. What kind of kid were you at school? Were you in the call gang?

Were you kind of? No. Oh, okay. No, no, no, no. I, what was I doing at 14? So I just started school, a librarian. Night. Did you get a badge?

Oh, yes. That was the most important thing. And we could use the photocopier. Yeah. Oh. That was, yeah. And I learned the Dewey Decimal system. I used to order the books, like put them in order.

And that was, yeah, that was the height of my coolness. But you know what? I wasn't cool. You write books now. I know. It's like a full circle I also was a librarian and it just meant were you but I think I did it just to get out of something else but I can't remember but I did have you know the metal badge I think I probably still got it up upstairs somewhere I should have I've got a blue peter badge as well but my friend gave it me that doesn't really count but um no no it doesn't count but um used to get me free into places that was quite exciting

but did you have like you're like your librarian badge got you free my blue peter badge could you imagine what's that where what what clubs at 14 did you get into with your librarian badge could you imagine yeah going like that to gate gatecrusher um i've got my librarian badge when i was 14 they were like in your come love yeah vip um did you have like mates and stuff or were you like solitary um i had lots of i had lots of nice friends um but there was always one there was one girl i was actually talking to my therapist about this the other day there was one girl that everyone wanted to be always she came late into our school and she was called ann and she had really curly hair in these kind of really kind of like bottle top glasses and we just thought she was the coolest person ever and we all

wanted to be her friend and she would like pick a friend to be her best friend so you wanted to be this chosen person you wanted to be this the one that would get to go and have a sleepover so we were all just fighting for her and I look back and I think I just feel a bit sad about that oh I bet Anne loved it I bet Anne was living the dream she's on a podcast and we're going I'm so popular I was never short of a friend. We were all just vying for her attention, you know. I think. I wonder what it was about.

I don't know. I don't think you thought it was so glam. No, she was just, we just thought she was so cool. Do you still, do you keep in touch with her on Facebook or anything? No. No. Anne, if you're listening, let us know how you're getting on, babe. How you getting on, Anne?

How you getting on? Who's your best friend this week because i want to be it but there was just so much of that going around at that time wasn't it it's just kind of the friendship issues that would just kind of take over how you felt i look back oh it's terrible 14 i don't know i wouldn't go back there the hormones the yeah 14's hard but i mean yeah friendship stuff still happens now though, doesn't it? I mean, you've got kids and you've got so-and-so's falling out with so-and-so, so-and-so's having a party.

It's just like an eternal truth of a teenager. You're always falling out with somebody. We've got a play date tonight and I've got to pick up certain kids. I don't want to sit with other kids. And it's just like, oh my gosh, it's like relentless. But then tomorrow they'll be mates again. Yeah, it's exhausting. I just let it go now. I don get so it was exhausting yeah it was and then

there was like who had the pogs who had their can remember pogs the plastic now where did we get pogs from were they in crisps who bought us those were they they might have been in walkers yeah and then the magic step shoes i never had a pair of them magic shoes no I never had a pair of them. Magic shoes? No, never had a pair of them. Did you have a pair? They were from Clark's. I did. They were from Clark's. They were a few quid extra,

which I think my parents probably absolutely resented. But you had a key with them. Yeah. And you could put the key in the bottom. There was a keyhole. And then you could just turn it and then a little crystal thing would appear. Obviously, like a week later,

you would just like trodden in dog poo yeah yeah you probably wouldn't want to go anywhere but it was and they still these things are still about it's the equivalent of a lelly kelly yeah lelly kelly can you um yeah lelly kelly's are the kind of version now but no i never had but i think the advert went magic shoes that's what i i can't, I can't remember that. I can't remember my husband's phone number, but I can remember the advert. Yes.

What about the dream phone? Did you ever have the dream phone? No, I didn't have a dream phone. Was that a game or did that have... What was it? It was a game where you had to call up. You were trying to work out... Gosh.

You're trying to work out who could be your boyfriend or who was who fancied you and we used to play it together I used to go to my friend's house we used to have a right yeah old giggle like it was absolutely hilarious because at that point we didn't really have the guts to go and speak to all the boys anyway so this was kind of like it just felt like the best we could get and you'd call them up and they'd be this American boys coming being like I like you as a friend but oh no i don't fancy you oh no onto the next one and that was by a toy phone sounds terrible painful did you go to an all-girls school no no no you had boy did you chat with the boys or was that like uh they're the the uncool ones were the ones that we chatted to yeah

I sat next to a boy called Graham on the bus and one day he came in and he he um basically got his mum's razor and decided to separate his eyebrows because he he kind of had a predominant you know okay okay okay one so he just put the he just kind of dragged the predominant, you know. Okay. Okay. Okay. One. So he just put the, he just kind of dragged the razor right down the middle of his, yeah. And I remember thinking it was a look. Obviously it was a little wider than he was expecting to separate them. But I remember thinking that is like, yeah, he's misjudged that slightly, but what an idea.

Because at that point, you know, the body hair, you're starting to be aware of like my eyebrows were quite fluffy so I went home and I thought this is you know I'm gonna I'm gonna I've learned from Graham I'm gonna take what he's done rather badly and I'm gonna absolutely you know nail this so I thought I don't know why people pluck their eyebrows oh that's just so timely there's a much better way so I got my mum's razor and I I thought I'm just gonna take you know the bit off the bottom sat in the car and my mum turned to me she's like Anna what have you done to your eyebrow so it's I yeah it's not it's not how i i did you have to then fill it in or i don't think i have the skills or you know back then i had no choice but to just ride it out just be like this is it

now it's a look and i'm i'm going and did your eyebrows finally recover finally i mean you look great now finally until i got to that age where you just started plucking them into you know two two hair width in just like little like pamela anderson ones just fortunately they were very forgiving and um they grew back i have them tattooed on now i think everybody has done something with a razor that is stupid like shave the legs but it's actually just been the top layer of skin and you just it's just got like a big blue also i know my dad listens to this i just used to use his razors it's all coming out now what about sunning very unhygienic would you ever have a run-in with sunning i would

i'm telling you i'd use it now just a little top i need to do my roots so bad about but it would be orange and my hair would be like straw that's what happened to me and i just did it in one patch at the back your hair's very dark oh and i was dark and it had a very very gingery um gingery patch at the back i will be allowed to buy that because it's surely it's just hair mascara was a safer yeah because sun must just be pure. It's like just getting, I think it was just pure bleach.

I don't know what it is now. If it's even like toilet cleaner and just shoving it on your hair. And to be honest, that, that could have been more, I might've had more control over it. If it was a bit of a dark. Trying it off we go out.

No. Ever have a perm. Do you know what? In more recent years, I have contemplated it. Ooh. I don't know. I just thought maybe I might want really curly. No. Ever have a perm? Do you know what? In more recent years, I have contemplated it. I don't know. I just thought maybe I might want really curly.

No. But apparently it can be a bit more controlled. I remember my mum having a perm there and thinking it was a beautiful thing. She just thought that she was amazing. Oh, my lovely mum looked like Deirdre Barlow. Yeah. Did she have the glasses? She had the glasses.

I mean, she will also be listening to this and she's actually quite proud of it. Had the glasses. Whatever Deirdre was rocking, my mum was rocking. She was just going for it. Bless her, Deirdre. Was it free Deirdre? What was it?

Free Deirdre. It's all coming back. We stopped watching it when there was a fire. It was a fire at some point. It was very dramatic. I can't remember why. My parents cited No More Coronation. They were like, no more.

I don't know what time it is. Because that's what used to be Rovers Return. When we were really young, we'd know that it was bedtime because the theme tune came on. And then when we were a little bit older, we'd watch the first half. Yeah, of course you would. Oh, not the second half. And then when we were a little bit older, we'd watch the second half.

And then as soon as the closing theme tune came on, bedtime. And then one year, your mum and dad were like, no. There's been a fire. Game over. Did you then graduate to EastEnders or that too much no we never did we never did eastenders we never did neighbors home and away any of that it was coronation street that was that was where we were at coronation street in the bill oh yeah yeah um once at my school tosh from the bill visited you remember him with a moustache what a treat i walked in the playground

there's tosh i'm unsure what he was doing there but at an all-girls school tosh is in the playground like rabid around the around the coffee doors um so your first crush was like stephen gately was it what about your first irl crush wow there was this boy also called stephen oh i was in love with him i was in love with him. I was in love with him, Emma, and he cared not for me. Not for me one jot. It was hard. I was in love with him. He had a Scottish accent, still does.

Yeah. And that was it. And he was almost as tall as me, if not shorter. Scottish. He'd just moved down from Scotland, I think. Yeah. Yeah. And it just moved down from Scotland, I think. Yeah. Yeah. And it just sort of knocked a bit.

Did you tell him how you felt? I don't think I ever did. Oh, that's good. No. I don't think I ever did. And then one day I was with a group of friends and him and he goes, they were running off to a friend's house. Yeah.

And then he turned to me and said, you can't run with this, you're a girl. And all those years of infatuation totally disappeared in the space of a moment. He gave you the ick. That was it. That was the original ick. When ick was invented, it was that. And you just thought, ugh.

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you get rewarded just for having a mobile plan. You know, for texting and stuff. And if you're not getting rewards like extra data and dollars off with your mobile plan, you're not with Fizz. Switch today. Conditions apply. Details at fizz.ca. That was that. And then later on down the line. So that was that.

That was over. Thank goodness my love is a little bit more, you know, full hearty these days. Yeah. Because if my husband gave me the ick, which, you know, happens. I think we give each other the ick on a daily basis. That'd be done game over see you later mate I'm out of here I can run like a girl um and then I met this boy and he I was 14 at this exact point I was 14 and I met him at youth club and he invited me on a date he was my first kiss and we went to the cinema I was 14 and I met him at youth club and he invited me on a date he was my first kiss and we went to the cinema I was so excited that he wouldn't and I was really nervous

um that I totally had no idea what he looked like I've got terrible memory for faces right what do you mean you didn't remember then what he looked like no so he he got my number off someone. How did he call me? Did I have a phone back then? Did he phone your home phone? Maybe. Maybe. Maybe we texted. I'm trying to remember what age. I think, I can't remember when phones came in. It's all a bit of a blur. It's hard to believe we ever live without them now.

So I met him at the cinema. I looked at this queue, massive queue of people. Back in the days when people queued out the door to him at the cinema. I looked at this queue, massive queue of people, back in the days when people queue out the door to go to the cinema. And I did not, for the life of me, know which of these people, men, he was. So what did you do? Well, fortunately, he recognised me. So I went to the cinema with a 50-year-old man named Gary. It might have been less awkward. so we sat next to each other sharing popcorn and then a couple of dates later I had my first kiss

oh lovely was it nice no I absolutely I thought it was disgusting I thought why does anybody choose to do this and I felt like I'd, you know, ticked it off. Yeah. And that felt like a great achievement. I didn't have to do that for the first time again, but I never wanted to do it again.

No, you felt it. A lot of people on the podcast have been like, it was just something to get out of the way. It was like, I've done it. Let's all get on with our lives now. Yeah.

I didn't know what to do with my tongue where oh did you go back and then obviously we'd no we didn't stop then we were we we went out for a little bit snogged continuously for a little bit yeah yeah and then um I met someone else so I dumped him and went out with someone else oh nice for a couple of years in the old days dumping just was so much it's so natural wasn't it it's just like yeah bye yeah peace out i'm gonna i'm gonna actually gonna go out with your best friend now so and they did know each other yeah sorry if that's awkward but that's my plan yeah couldn't do that now i think it's because without social media you could just move on from things you wouldn't be like like watching so and so tagging in with somebody else somewhere else you'd just be like right i'm off that was that yeah i'm gonna go snogging around

the corner in a nightclub instead i don't think he's still mad at me seems i mean i say he seems happily married i i don't follow him on instagram i just found out once that he's married with kids so i think he's probably might have taken a bit of therapy, but he's all right now. The way you said that. I don't follow him on Instagram. I don't. I literally don't. I can barely remember his surname. I don't think they sound like it.

I don't follow him every day. Always a little check up. First thing when I wake up. Oh, yeah, he's still married. Yeah, yeah, he's still looking happy. Damn him. I'm still friends on facebook in fact my first ever boyfriend came to my wedding what is that weird i didn't have a boyfriend until i

was 18 but he came to my wedding he's very nice he's a very nice mom yeah um but yeah it's it is it is a funny old a funny old time isn't it and are you worried about your kids getting to secondary school and going through all this kind of heartache and yeah i mean you can see it you can just yeah you can see it already the little fallings out and the you know so and so didn't want to play with me so and so is not my best friend today and yeah yeah we get it it's with what when they get to secondary school and they get whatsapp oh gosh i'm gonna try and hold off yeah as long as possible with all of that yeah we lasted with without the last term of year six she was allowed whatsapp i mean i know you're supposed to be a bit older and she doesn't have any social media at the moment she's in secondary

school but when they get whatsapp that becomes a whole yeah having to check it and check i do check it regularly but some I god love them some of the conversations are ever so boring I check it but it's too boring and they're just like that hi hi and then a gift of a cat yeah it's kind of cute but I'm like really like my kind of chat I love a cat gift just going through yeah okay what was your biggest biggest fashion faux pas to be honest i think the flares that that soaked up puddles were pretty bad were they low rise they were they were as low as possible yeah as low as possible and i probably had like a chain around them at one point i was a bit confused you know i lived in the middle of farmerland loads of my friends families were farmers like we we weren't at the cutting edge

of fashion there was a tammy girl yeah eat tammy girl yeah yeah and that was about and there were markets and that was about all we could we could do you didn't really get a lot of new clothes then we couldn't afford new clothes so often so it it was my grandpa, actually, that every now and again would take me to Birmingham and we'd go shopping and I'd come back with a whole outfit. Oh, nice. Where would you go? Like CNA or somewhere?

Probably like Tammy, you know, Tammy girl was like the height. Yeah. That was the height. Was Miss Selfridge around then? Maybe. I can't even remember. But Tammy girl, I think that was like, oh, I could get a Tammy girl t-shirt. You know, there's still, in France, even remember but Tammy girl I think that was like oh yeah I could get a Tammy girl t-shirt you know they're still in France it's still Tammy girl really yeah I went

to a shopping mall by Disneyland Paris I mean could you imagine me did you get yourself a whole outfit actually today I'm dressed like full Tammy girl I think I just went in with my girl I think I took a photo like a selfie went oh but yeah Tammy girl and C&A was another one and in Birmingham we had a shop called Go Bananas which sold some like you know your tartan trousers or whatever you wanted in there um very flammable yeah don't go near an open flame that was a great or Oasis market did you ever go in there yeah that big market yes Oasis Market was the place to be, yeah. Get some good bits from there every now and again. But Tammy Girls just reminded me of the Tamagotchi

that was the love of my life. Oh, yeah. Oh, was it? Yeah, it was like a little thing that you could look after. It was like a life. How long did it live? Not very long. Not very long, no.

I'd get a little bit bored of it every now and again. And if it was unhappy and it was too unhappy, I'd just reset it. It's too needy. If I affected get a little bit bored of it every now and again and and if it was unhappy and it was too unhappy i'd just reset it you know if i need it a little bit too much i'd just reset it and start again you've got time for that when you're a teenager yeah come on guys okay what was your the most favorite fashion item you ever owned and you're like i would still rock it today oh oh would i though is it like those chokers, the chokers, the black, the black, the thin plastic choker. You could always see it, whatever you had on,

because it was just, it just rode up your neck. Oh, always. Little bit of metal. Did you ever have like a little, mine had like a little bit of metal on. You had the fancy one. I also had one that was like real beaded. I'd say probably it's a bit misappropriation it was a bit like a what an in like a navajo indian kind of necklace i used to

enjoy that cropped upon uh something the other day and i was like oh my god that necklace was terrible yeah big choker yeah hair braids i think you look nice in all of that you know yeah i'm gonna rock up with it that's that's i'm gonna show up tonight for now i'm gonna gonna do a nice little like little rainbow hair braid shaved eyebrow choker yep shave off just half of one of my eyebrows what else what else just like rainbow things did you have any nice like did you have like some doc martens or some like good trendy shoes no what were you rocking on your feet then i can't remember just probably boring training just any old bog standard trainers your mama get yeah oh there was a point where i did have clogs

actual clogs what like amsterdam yeah my parents went to amsterdam on a little romantic trip and i had some clogs yeah and you wore them I don't think that was a fashion thing I did well they're not decorative no are you sure they might have meant to have been decorative hang them on a wall you're like no man no I wore those wooden clogs yeah they weren't very um flexible podiatry uh podiatrist approved i don't doubt but you're like do you know what this is what i'm wearing i'm not sure that was a that was a fashion i i i can't confirm it was a fashion but i'm sure you looked great were they just brown or were they colored they were like would know, kind of pale.

The proper, the original. Like they've just been cut from a piece of timber. I love it if your parents... Crocs. Your parents... Crocs have got nothing on wooden clocks. Your parents are like, I'm going to get this, it'll look lovely in a bedroom.

It'll look really, really nice. Like, there you go then. On my gold sunflower walls. And you went, oh, great new shoes. And they were like what just comping around the place clomping down the muddy path that's really really funny okay what is your favorite um your greatest teenage success oh well one of my first jobs so there was a pub in our village that was about the extent of it i'm surprised it had a pub even and i used to do a lot of work there so i do i'd i'd wash up at the beginning and then i'd make

the puddings in the kitchen i'd always eat the chips that came back left over but one of the jobs i really liked doing was uh was building plugs what do you mean so i would get delivered from this local plastics company, all these plastic plug components. So your sink plugs, you know, that have the bit in that grabs all the rubbish. Yeah. So it doesn't block your sink. I was thinking of electrical plugs.

No. Okay. Plug. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I used to sit in the garden and I used to put all those plug components together.

And that was how. Someone, well, they just felt like you know it was a job and then they'd come and they'd take these bags of plugs but then they do this test Emma yeah they just try and like wiggle some what some of them to see if they came undone and if they came on if like a couple of them came undone you had to go through the whole bag and tighten them up but that was the job you know and I was like I was living the life I could sit in the garden in the sunshine in my hair mascara and you inflatable bag on my blow-up sofa putting together plugs yeah I like that's your biggest team

I like to think I might have had some other successes at that point in my life that's what springs I'm just trying to remember what they were but that really is what springs to mind you know what it's not it's not my mascara's running it can take me much to better that though in life oh do you know what you started off and then you like babysitting a little babysitting business i babysat for a family once opposite i'd babysit for all of these different families in the in in my village and um so one night i was babysitting my boyfriend was going to come and join me oh yeah right you know just so that we chill out and he probably kissed like washing machines on the sofa

and one night so he was going to come and meet me there and the family knew this was going on they were they were cool with it but he walked into the wrong house because i babysat at so many houses yeah you've got you've got the house wrong walked into this one house. Because I babysat at so many houses. You've got the house wrong. Walked into this one house, sat on their sofa, waited for me. Thought I was upstairs. Yeah. And it wasn't me. Like the parents came down and was like, hello.

What are you doing here? Out of my house. I was up next door, yeah. Oh, I love it. A teenage joy is the best, aren't they? Okay okay what was your biggest teenage flop your biggest regret probably spending so much time and energy on friendships that were just bad and people that were just kind so those friends that were like your best mate and then your bully yeah frenemy i had a few of those throughout throughout even at university there was normally one friend that I was kind of like drawn to these people yeah

because they'd be really nice to me and then I'd feel like oh amazing they're pleased with me and then they'd be horrible to me and I think I'll have to work really hard to make them like me again yeah so there would be this kind of really terrible dynamic where I'd be like heartbroken and then really trying hard to win them round again and then just on a high because I was their best friend again and this honestly this this dynamic happened throughout childhood and into university and then actually beyond it was only a few years ago I was like this is just exhausting yeah it's love bombing isn't it that's what it is it's like a love bomb I've had some friends that would do the love bombing but then all of a sudden would like yeah take it away and then you'd be like and you'd be like oh they're trying to get it again and then they give you a little

bit more and then they take it away it's and you know I've my friendships kind of dynamics definitely followed me into adulthood and it's sometimes I feel like I'm 14 again it's strange I see it coming now though. And I'm, I have a lot more, I think because my confidence in self-esteem has grown. When I know someone is a bit mean as a friend, I probably am less likely to invest in that relationship anymore.

Yeah. In the same way. I have boundaries a bit better now. Probably. Yeah. So I just, I think there are a couple of friendships. If I could go back,

the regrets, you know, it's hard. Because when you're young, you just don't, you don't know, do you? You're just trying to do, you're just trying to be nice. And yeah, that I would say, come on, keep away from her. Yeah, keep away from her. You can do better. She's not nice. She's not kind.

She's not kind. Are you glad you were a teenager in 1999? Or do you wish you're a teenager now oh gosh i mean i don't even have to think about that answer i would not want to be a teenager no at all why with social media yeah with the extra pressures with all of the reality tv you know all the teenagers that say they want to be an influencer when they grow yeah ah that's terrifying i just what do i want to do get some save up some pocket money and you know buy a new tamagotchi yeah or clogs like

i mean crocs would be a better alternative now yeah do you know what i've got a pair of i've got a purple pair of crocs have you i don't have any i haven't Get some of the comfy. I haven't broken yet. That's what people say. They say you start wearing them in the house and you think, I'm only going to wear them in the house. School run me. I'm like, boop, boop, boop, boop. First of all, they were garden shoes.

Garden shoes. And then they're in-house shoes. And then they're... Then they take the place of slippers. Then they take the place of shoes. Then I'm wearing them to summer parties. Exactly. This is what I hear.

It's the slippery slope. The thing is, with clogs, they probably do wonders for your leg muscles as well just holding those massive chunks of tree yeah so you were you're glad you were a teenager i am so yeah yeah the things that i would get be in turmoil about i were just kind of friendships really whereas now i think oh there's just so much fuel yeah i mean today when we're recording this it's the day that thread started i read that this morning i was like oh my god oh there's another yeah yeah and then you think oh am i gonna have to navigate this because i've been told i should go go on TikTok. I've posted a few videos on there.

I can't. I haven't got the time or headspace to navigate. Yeah, I joined Thread this morning and I was like, I don't even know what I'm doing. I don't understand. Yeah. There's just so much. I think our brains are just full of so much stuff already.

But I do think younger, like, children are more adaptable to it because they're just so used to it whether when you're a bit older you're like oh yeah no just take another 10p and go and ask them whether their fridge is running and that's the height of any kind of wire that was your social media go and play frogger on the atari and make plugs um it's a simple life you would have gone back and said you know keep away from those girls is there any other advice you would give to your past self oh you know what there's so many things i'd love to say but she wouldn't have listened no of course not she'd have told you to sod off oh i would have just oh told her that she didn't have

to please everyone yeah you know I was at that age I'd go around the shops with my friends and they'd say oh I like this and I'd pretend I like that or I pretend I like that music or I pretend I wanted this fad and actually I had no interest in it and I pretend I like certain boys and I and I I just wish that I had had a bit more confidence just to assert my own, just even my opinion. Or just say I don't like that or that's not my kind of thing or that's great for you, but it's not for me. But I just didn't. And I think that's just been age. And it's been, yeah, recognizing that if you carry on that way, you don't even know who you are.

Yeah, I pretended I liked The Cure. I didn't like The Cure. I had a Cure t know who you are yeah I pretended I liked the cure I didn't like the kind of cure t-shirt and everything I liked the slip knot at one point you know I liked all jazz for now I knew one song Friday I'm in love from the cure and I was like right gonna get a cure t-shirt I had flowery clock stock market and I was like yeah I don't care I mean I just love take that and bros. I was not. Oh, no, but you're embracing it all now. And that's what I love.

Oh, yeah. Oh, God, I'm living the best life. What a boy band. Do you remember Bad Boys Inc? You probably don't. Oh, it rings a bell. But no, it was more Backstreet Boys. I clicked on thread this morning.

Yeah. One of the members of Bad Boys Inc was following me already. Oh, get. How funny. How funny. yeah one of the members of bad boys inc was following me already okay how funny and i just funny i was like my head was up oh rachel stevens followed me and i used to fancy her like i had such a girl crush on her when she was in a song she had was it sweet dreams no what was she had a great song was that street dreams my la oh yes yeah what not in spotify it's not on there um it's been lovely to have you on the podcast thank you good luck with your new book and i will see you on thread oh i don't know

i bet by the end of the day somebody will go you gotta get on probably but i'll speak to you very soon oh thank you for having me thanks emma loved chatting to anna and i still giggle when i think of her wearing her clogs because i genuinely believe those clogs were bought for decorative purposes and it makes me laugh be sure to check out her podcast I will leave links to all her books and everything in the description and don't forget her book is out right at the end of summer and she is absolutely amazing her podcast they do like little episodes so it's just a real nice way to get a little bit of peace a little bit of peace of mind which is what we all want so thanks so much for listening we've still got another couple of episodes of season two and i'm already working on season three i would love you to leave me a

five star review or leave a little written review on spotify and don't forget i always leave a little poll on there so go and check that out tag me in where you can direct message me take part in the polls on the phone box podcast instagram account and i will see you for another show next week bye guys fandu casino daily jackpots guaranteed to hit by 11 p.m with your chance at the number one feeling winning which beats even the 27th best feeling saying i do who wants this last parachute? I do. Daily Jackpots, a chance to win with every spin and a guaranteed winner by 11 p.m. every day.

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