(no music) Q&A Friday | LMBYTS #1358 | 23rd May 2025

Hello and welcome to jasonnewland.com and this is Q&A Friday Yeah, hi, hi. So my name is Jason Newland. Please only listen when you can safely close your eyes.

Right, it's 1.55pm in the afternoon on Friday the 23rd of May 2005. No, 2015. No, 2025.

Wow. So 1995, 05, 05.30 years ago. Now I'm just thinking, it's weird I've got these memories of stuff that happened 30 years ago and I'm just like, how can it really be 30 years ago? Right, so it's Q&A Friday.

It's alright outside. It's a bit, it's kind of glum and bright, a little bit of both today out there. It's not cold.

It's, yeah, there was a lot of activity in this building last night. A lot of door slamming, like, you know, till early hours. Not quite sure what that was about.

But I'm up here so I didn't, I wasn't getting involved. I think it just might have just been a lot of, a lot of traffic, perhaps. Maybe, maybe a little bit of traffic.

Oh, that's nice of the plane to come over while I'm doing this. How pleasant. So, well I've got a message here on my Facebook group.

Oh, my Facebook group, Jason Newland's Boring Group. You can find a link to that group by going to jasonnewland.com and it's literally right at the top. There's a banner at the top of the page, join Jason Newland's Boring Group.

And it takes you straight there. I wonder what it is on the Facebook page, on the, on the phone. Yeah, they're both together as well, side by side.

And that'll take you straight to the page and you can join. You can join. So I had a message from Claire.

Clara, Clara. I'm not sure if I'm pronouncing that right. Clara, Clara.

Woohoo, heard my name on your podcast. Thank you for the welcome. You're welcome.

Thank you for welcoming the welcome. I did do a recording yesterday. It was number 1,357.

That's weird. Got a fly. A fly.

I don't know if it's the same fly. It must be a different fly. It's weird because I just had Vinnie on my, not on my lap, but to the left of me as I was sitting down with my feet up.

And I was watching a boxing YouTube channel. And Vinnie was asleep and suddenly he just reached up and snapped at a fly. It was like one of those movies with those plants that move really quick.

Except Shape is a Jack Russell. He's been a bit weird today. No more weird than any other time.

A bit strange. So what I'm going to do. I've got six.

Nope, I haven't got. There's a bird outside that goes like that. I hope that wasn't too loud.

I thought it was one of the neighbors. So we used to have a neighbor who lived over the fence. They used to squawk like a pigeon, but early in the morning.

I'm talking like six in the morning, five, six in the morning, four in the morning. It'd be like doing that noise. He was a bit of a character, this one.

He doesn't live around here anymore. But I remember once he was my neighbor who lived the other side of the block where he lived. I knew him and he was a friend.

He said he got woken up at about five in the morning. Someone was outside his bedroom window. Bearing in mind he lived upstairs.

These were like studio apartments. He looked outside and it was the neighbor from downstairs on a ladder painting his window frame pink. No apparent reason, just decided it would be a good idea.

That didn't end well. I don't think it was the choice of color. First of all, these frames are not wooden.

They're like double glazing frames, so you can't really be painting them. I'm not sure the council liked that. Another thing he did, he had a tiny little bit of grass in front or out the back.

A tiny little bit of grass that was kind of his little area. I'm talking very small, very small little. If you think of the smallest garden, half of it, half that, it's really tiny little.

He would spend all day long mowing it. I mean, you could literally probably cut it with scissors, nail scissors in about half that time. He was, I don't know, he was just on pills and he'd be doing it all day.

Had another one lived over there. These are people who live over the fence. It's a different world over there.

This bloke, he doesn't live there anymore either. He used to have pallets delivered, wooden pallets, like from a lorry. He'd have a big pile delivered.

And he'd do this in the summer, I think. So basically he'd spend, he'd have this big massive pile of pallets, wooden pallets. He'd spend all day breaking them up with an axe, which was very noisy, as I'm sure you can imagine, all day long.

And then the evening, he'd have a bonfire. And that was his routine for the whole of the summer. So it was noise all day, smoke all night.

And bonfires, however lovely they may be, you know, I like a nice bonfire. But it's not great. I think bonfires are better in the winter.

Because in the summer, I don't know about you, but I kind of like to have my windows open. Probably need to have my windows open, like in the evening, in the summer. And it's not ideal to have smoke coming in.

But it's a different kind of smoke, isn't it? Bonfire smoke. I remember I was at a bonfire, and it's a place that I lived. This is the Buddhist community.

And there was this fire, and there was a big like meeting together, and everyone, I suppose like a party kind of thing. As much of a party as Buddhists can do. And I didn't even notice it until the next day.

Every item of clothing that I'd worn that evening stunk, like really bad. But I didn't notice the smell of smoke when I was out there. So I wasn't even, you know, I was avoiding the smoke.

I was just near the fire. But, you know, I wouldn't like stand there or sit there, and then smoke pumping into me. But, wow, smelly.

Yeah, had some strange, had a fantasist living over there as well, different bloke. Gossip. This is all gossip, isn't it? Yeah, he was unusual character.

I mean, he was in all the national papers. He was quite famous. Couldn't believe it.

But I got on alright with him, actually. He was just... One day I'll do, I could write a book. My name used to say that.

I could write a Guinness Book of Records of everything I've done, been through. And I'm thinking about how selfless. I could write a book just about the neighbours.

I'd have to be very careful, obviously, not to name any of them. But I don't think you'd even believe even 10% of what I've seen and heard and experienced since I've lived here. And not just here, but all the other places I've lived, all the different houses I've shared.

Wow. Seriously, it's, you'd think I was making it up. And I probably would be.

That's the problem. So I've got Mike. These are the people that have left me questions for today.

So the very beginning, I'm going to mention everyone's name. So you know that I have answered your question. Maybe not very well, but I've at least attempted.

So first of all is Mike. Then it's Ben. Cindy.

Hope. But I'll mention Hope, but she didn't actually ask the question, but it's part of the Cindy's question. And then Ali.

Oh, Hope. Yep, Hope has got a different she's got a question as well. And Sandy.

So Sandy, Hope, Ali, Cindy, Ben, and Mike. Yeah, so it's 123456 questions. And I hope that those who asked the questions, those of you have asked the questions, and when you hear the answers, I hope it's, it's everything you hoped it would be.

I just, I don't know what I'm going to say, because you know, I don't always tell the truth. So I'll, I'll, I'll try a little bit. Okay, so Sebastian has mentioned be in another cover, which he likes to do.

I want to meet you at the beach tonight was Sebastian wrote. Jason, maybe he even wants to go to a hotel room. Every, every hour.

Sebastian sends me another message. He loves going on his AI thing. And if he sees a picture that is, he just, if you can see a way to make fun of me, he does.

Right, here we go. Mike has asked, as I was falling asleep last night to the schools episode, schools. I was at the boring, the boring Monday's boring thing.

I think I was wondering how much you plan out what you're going to say. Do you develop an outline? Or do you just jump in and wing it? Does your mind ever go blank and you find yourself at a loss for words? Right, well, with the I'll talk just about the Let Me Bore You To Sleep recordings, because with the occasionally I will work out what I'm roughly going to say with the I do hypnosis recording.

Although 99% of all my hypnosis recordings, the being just me talking off the top of my head.

And the only preparation would be maybe having a concept. So if it was a relaxation technique, for example, and let's say it involved a biscuit tin. I don't know why it would involve a biscuit tin.

So I'm saying I want to have a biscuit tin. And I'm going to crumble up all the biscuits and just shake the biscuits and then make some holes in the biscuits here at the bottom and just shake them and watch those biscuit drops just filter down. And as they fall to filter down and fall out the bottom of the biscuit tin, you know, you feel more relaxed and calmer.

Something like that. It's just sounds rubbish, doesn't it? It sounds a bit crummy. Oh, so with the Let Me Bore You To Sleep, the most I do regarding preparation for most of them will be just to think about a subject.

A lot of the times when it comes to let's say, Monday's boring objects. I don't know. Usually I don't know what I'm going to talk about until I start.

I wasn't going to talk about I don't think I was even going to talk about schools when I first started that recording. And with the trivia Tuesday, yeah, I do. That's much more planned as far as you know, look up the trivia bits.

And yes, there's a little bit more planning than that. And with the Q&A Fridays, of course, I have the questions in front of me. So in a sense, you plan what I'm going to talk about.

But outside of that, no, I don't know. So when I didn't, I didn't always skip through the questions before I started this. But I've got no idea what I'm going to say until I say it.

And with the schools episode, for example, I ended up talking about school. So I just went with it. I don't have any kind of outline or structure for what I'm going to talk about.

Pretty much ever other than when it's a if it's a trivia one. The structure is just reading out the trivia. The trivias were thinking about something to talk about, and then focused on that subject and finding the trivia bits of information, and maybe commenting on it.

So it's organised, but not really. Q&A Friday, it's just, I just answer just honestly-ish, if I can. But generally, no, I don't I don't have any idea what I'm going to talk about.

I mean, sometimes I don't it's not that I. My mind never really goes blank when it does, actually, it's not totally true. I mean, I know I am a hero to a lot of you out there. Altogether.

There's a hero. If you look inside your pants. Right.

And I like, I quite like the idea that it is. I thought. The way that the recordings come out, that it would seem like they were just pretty much ad libbed because they are.

It's just me just talking. I didn't. I didn't think they seemed very structured.

I mean, a Q&A Friday is kind of structured in a sense of I'm just answering questions. So there is a degree of structure. And if I focus on, let's say, a boring object, the only structure.

OK, there is a structure with that. In the sense of. I choose a subject.

So let's say if I choose mobile phones, for example, as a subject. I will have that little reminder in my head to bring the subject back to mobile phones. So when I'm starting to talk about dolphins and.

You know. Tree houses and stuff like that, then I realize I've got to bring it back to mobile phones, so I managed to bring it back. I don't generally have that little voice in my head when I do just a general recording.

And also even when I do, let's say, a sleep, normal sleep recording. If you want to call it hypnosis, a body scan, whatever. Even if I have an idea of something that I'm going to discuss.

So maybe I decided. I'm just going to focus on each part of the body and imagine the wind is just blowing through that part of the body. And then when I get to start the recording.

I might change my mind. And decide to say the word relax. Relax.

Five times or something like that with each time, you know, as you focus on each part of the body. Or, you know, so it's not. I kind of wish I was more structured, but I think if I was more structured, I'd be.

I probably I've got more chance of being successful possibly if I was structured. But at the same time, I wouldn't be able to produce as many recordings as I do. Because for me structure.

Reduces. I'm not going to say reduces creativity, but I quite for me it does a little bit. I like the idea of being able to not know what I'm going to say because it amuses me then.

And. I'm kind of interested in what I'm going to say next, because I never know what I'm going to what subject I'm going to end up talking about or what direction I'm going to. Traveling.

I really don't know. Now, occasionally. It's not so much that I find myself a loss for words.

But occasionally, and this is true. I'm telling you, this is Mike. Tell me this, Mike.

It's very true. And I did one recently. I do.

I do recording and. I'm just in a rotten mood. But I didn't realize until I started the recording.

And I have to stop. Occasionally I've done the whole recording and just trashed it. The other day I started.

I think I was trying to do a trivia Tuesday. And I. I like now. I tried.

I think four different attempts to try to do it. And it wasn't the right day. So.

Yeah, I just I abandoned it. Which is kind of weird because sometimes. I might not feel in the mood to do recorded.

But once I start the recording, I cheer up. And when I've completed the recording, I feel good. Like I've actually accomplished something.

Like I've. Contributed something to the world in my little way. But sometimes it's just a no go.

As far as a loss for words. I think if. If I'm in.

If I'm talking to a human, yeah. I'm not Mike. I'm not saying you're not human.

Don't ever go at me. And what I think if I was face to face with one person. This would be.

I mean. I think the reason why this is easy because there's no interruption. There's nothing interrupting my.

Stream of thought. If. If this is a conversation.

Then. I would have to stop talking. And it just be a different process because.

In order to get to some of the. I guess more weird things that come out my mouth. It takes a bit of traveling.

It takes a bit of. I need to like. Just let go just.

You know be free. Without. I was going to say without century in myself.

But you know what I do. I don't sense myself. But in the end I kind of do a little bit.

By generally don't. Generally. And occasionally I say something and I edit it out.

And I think no. It's like. No.

And you might be thinking. Yeah but you said something the other day. You didn't edit that out.

What kind of stuff do you edit out. It's like what. I know.

You go. Well. You haven't got to remember but.

You could. Maybe think that. Sometimes I leave stuff in it makes me laugh.

I know it might sound strange. But I've just some. I just sometimes find things funny.

And. Even when I listen back to it just makes me giggle. Because it's just so ridiculous.

I love I like absurd. I do. I like absurd.

And. But I like. I like everything.

I like anything that makes me laugh. I like. And.

A loss for words. No. There's a freedom.

This is freedom for me. This is the only time I feel free. Is when I can just talk.

And I can just be me. And I think I found my voice. Over the last eight years.

Which might sound weird. Because it's a long period of time. Is it seven.

How many years is it. Seven years. Not eight years is it.

Seven years. Seven years. Sorry.

Since I've been doing. Since 2018. Since I've been doing these.

Let Me Bore You To Sleep. Lumb. Lumbits.

Lumbits. Lumbits. Lumbites.

Yeah. Since I've been doing these. I think I've.

Discovered my voice. But at the same time. I realize I'm.

Not a bad person really. Just you know. Stuff I come out with.

I'm not. Out to. Cause.

Anyone. Problems. I don't really have any.

I don't really have much in the way of extreme views. I never really wanted to have extreme views. I grew up in a society.

In the seventies. You know I was born in 1970. So I went through the seventies.

Where there was a lot of extreme views. Around. To do with.

Well. Every single. Aspect of life really.

And as I got older. You know once I kind of reached. I mean it still went on through the eighties as well.

But as I started to get older. I realized that. These views that I had weren't my views.

And I started to do something about it. Started to educate myself a bit. And by educate myself.

I mean just. Just. Read and.

Listen. Read other people's opinions. I think that can be educating.

So if you've got. One side of the argument. And that's the only side of the argument you ever hear.

It's going to kind of make sense. Especially if you're a kid. And you've grown up with that.

But then if you see the other side of the argument. It can be like. It could be annoying.

It can be difficult to hear. But then if you see another part of the argument. From a different perspective.

And then again from another perspective. And the more perspectives you get. The.

I think the more. Educated. I became.

Realizing that it is. Opinions and perspective. And experiences.

People you know. We've all got different experiences. And.

It's. Yeah. I'm not.

Not really into the. Extremist things. And it is.

I've got a neighbor. That's proper. Proper right wing.

Always shouting on about it. And. They.

It's like. It's almost like they've read this. They read the sun.

And that's where they get their. Their opinions from. That's where they get their information from.

And everything's kind of based around. It's like. No new knowledge is going to go in.

Because they've got that fixed. That fixed mentality. That model that's there.

I realize this has got nothing to do with the question is it. But. Yeah.

For me. Yeah I do. I'm trying to explain that sometimes I do have a loss for words.

But. Not really. Generally not in this.

Not for this podcast. I'm. I mean there are better days.

Some days I guess I'm probably a bit more. Upbeat than others. I try not to be.

I try not to. I try to keep it light if I can. But it's not always.

Always easy. You know. But.

But at the same time this isn't therapy. For me I'm not talking. To help myself therapeutically.

Although it might be helping me. Maybe you'd be helping other people. In some ways.

To hear someone talking and. You know. I don't really mention my.

Mental health. Travels. Journeys.

Whatever you want to call it. Over the last. Fifty years.

You know. Fifty odd years. I guess I don't really go into it.

Too much detail. But. I think.

Maybe. There's some people would look at this. Look at where I am now.

And I'm doing all right. All things considered. You know.

I'm still here. According to some of the messages I get. I'm helping people.

And I'm doing something positive. With my time. And.

My psychologist said this to me. Because I remember saying. This is years ago.

She said. Can you put your trouser back on please. She said.

Dinny what do you want? You want another treat? I've got to go. I'm not going to go. You can hear me.

I'm just going to go and get him a treat out of the packet. All right. All right.

Here we go. How did that get on the floor? Will you stop. Chucking my stuff on the floor.

Wow. No wait. So I've got these.

Good boy. Chewy chicken twists. With 100% natural chicken breast meat.

Promotes dental hygiene. And. A complimentary pet food.

Did you hear what he said? He said. I don't care what it says on the packet. Just give me it.

All right. All right. I'm trying to open it.

He's sitting on both his. He's basically sitting on his bum. With his hands in the air.

Like just. There you go. I'm not sure if he learnt to do that.

Or if he was taught it. Or I don't know if he just did it. Because he's always done it since I've had him.

But he was 10 months old when I got him. Right. So that's that.

Yeah. My psychologist. And this is probably eight.

Nine years ago. She said to me. Because I said well.

I don't feel. That I'm really. Helping.

Society. Not help. I'm not contributing.

That's it. I'm not contributing to society. Being at home and.

Not going to work or whatever. And she said yeah but. Society is not just your local area.

Society is not just your country. Society is the world isn't it? Society is everywhere. And.

I said what are you talking about? She said I don't know. I'm just trying to make you feel better. I said it's because it's Friday afternoon.

You're just waiting to go home. She said yeah. I just wish you'd stop talking.

I said well we can have a cup of tea if you want. She said no. I don't trust your tea.

I said I'm not going to put anything in it. She said that's a problem. An empty cup is no good.

Does not quench my thirst. I said I don't know. It was a silly conversation.

But I just said. Oh I didn't think about it really like that. She said well you've got people listening.

I mean if you forget the world. You've got people listening in this country. Just because no one's listening locally.

I said yeah. I've got a few I suppose. A few thousand around the country that listen.

She said there you go. So I guess in a way I am. I'm just trying to make you feel better.

And from then on I kind of thought maybe. I saw a little bit differently. I am contributing to society.

In my own little way. In my own weird way. So yeah.

And maybe. If someone's listening. If they're very young maybe.

Or don't have to be young. But they might be listening. They might have a bipolar or a personality disorder.

Some kind of mental health issue. And wondering like. What's going to become of them.

How are they going to get. How are they going to. You know what's it like to.

Is it even possible to be like that. And be in your 30s and 40s and 50s. Yeah.

It is possible. I'm proof of that. I was going to say living proof.

But I don't know if I have to say the word living. Considering I'm talking. I just heard this.

Weird sound outside. In a garden. And I didn't know what it was.

So I just had a little look. And there's a man. Looks like he's.

Washing the windows. Which. I'm kind of a little bit confused.

Because. These are downstairs windows. Now I know we have people.

Wash the communal windows. But I've never had anyone wash my actual windows. From outside.

Not in 10 years that I've lived there. So I've closed my windows. Just in case he's going to.

Wash them. I mean literally. I've got us.

I'm not even joking it. I've got cobwebs. That have been outside my window.

I can't reach them to wash them. Been out there for so long. If you get a magnifying glass.

You can actually see. One in a little rocking chair. Smoking a pipe.

Another one knitting. Because spiders that is. Because they're so old.

That work on some level. I'm sure she needs a bit of rewriting. Then.

When you were young. And your dad collected you all again. Did you have any pets.

Right so this is referring to. When I left the children's home at 7. Just before I was 7. The summer. Before I was 7. Why did I say summer so loudly.

And. 1977 it was. It was literally.

After we moved there. And Elvis passed away. That was.

It was that kind of period. I remember that day because. It rained.

So hard. And I mean this was 1977. This is when summers lasted.

For like. It's for seemingly for weeks. I mean.

Whether they did or not I don't know. But we definitely. 75 76 77.

We had some pretty long. Hot summers in the UK. And.

I remember walking. I don't know. I think we were walking back from the beach.

And it. Pelted down and I've not said the word. Pelted for a long time.

Pelted down with rain. Like. Really.

We were all soaked through. Now. Bearing in mind I was tiny.

And probably three drain. Three raindrops really would have been enough to. Half.

Wet me anyway. You know a good thing about it is. Whenever it rained that hard I just wet myself.

Because I didn't it didn't matter. I could do a wee wee in my pants. And.

No one would know. Made a mistake one day though. Because it started to rain really hard.

And the top of me started getting completely drenched. So I thought okay good I can go to the toilet. And it stopped raining.

Not a good look. Not a good look at all. And other than that.

I mean it's not the only bad thing about it. The job interview didn't go very well either. Do do do do do do do do do.

See I was. On the way to a job interview. And I'm pretending I was still a kid.

But actually I was on the way to a job interview. And it rained and I weed myself. And I went into the job interview.

And he saw that I'd weed myself. And he didn't give me the job. That's what that was about.

I don't know if I wanted the job either. But I might have done. I don't know how many jobs have gone forward I didn't get.

Twice. Right. Twice.

I've actually been offered two jobs at the same time. And had to choose. Happened twice.

Once was in 2004. I was offered a job in a call centre. Like Selly Car Insurance again.

Or. Working as a care assistant. Now at the time.

I wanted to be a care assistant. But the money would have been absolutely rubbish. Compared to.

Well it just wouldn't have been a good salary. But that's not what I wanted. I wanted to do something where I was helping people.

But I chose to call centre because. First of all I knew what I was doing. Because I'd already had a job doing that.

And. Was the second call centre I'd worked in. Second insurance job I'd worked in.

Third call centre. And also. I'd never done care work before.

So I didn't know whether or not I'd be. Right for that kind of job. Didn't know if I'd be able to do it.

And the second time. Was back in. There might have been other times.

But this another one I remember. Was. In.

2012. Around December. Yeah.

Or end of November. I went for two jobs once. One was in a car insurance company.

The third car insurance company. That I ended up working in. So.

You won't be surprised to know that I took that one. But the other job I got offered. Was.

Interviewing people on the phone. Which actually was much more. To my skill set.

Because. I wasn't selling anything. I got to be nice all day.

I'd have been good at it. I just would have been good at it. Would have been.

Pretty much a very easy job. But also. Rewarding.

Because I'm giving people jobs and stuff. So it is. Like.

Like an out call centre. Working on behalf of. Big companies.

But it wasn't. Didn't seem like a stable position. And.

So I just. Went with the insurance job. I'm sure there's a horse joke there somewhere.

Stable position. Really. So yeah.

How did I keep talking about that? You asked me if I had any pets. Blimey. Yeah.

So. When we went there. Do you want that last one? Do you want them? How about eating your dinner? This is the last one.

You've got no more treats. And you're not having any more treats. Till next Thursday.

So this is it. This is your last treat. For a whole week.

Okay. Up to you. I. Went.

We had ants. In the house. And that's not really technically a pet is it? No.

No. No pets. I'll let him have his packet.

He's probably going to want to rip it to bits. Let's just take out the thing. Which keeps the bag fresh.

Because I don't think we want him eating that. He'll rip the bag to bits now. Trying to get to.

What's not in there. Not initially. I mean we weren't in that house for very long.

Because it was a little bit derelict. It was. I think it was condemned.

So we had to move out. My dad joked something about. You know.

It was fine till I moved in. Which is a bit rude. Too much farting.

Ha ha ha. And so. When we moved into the next house.

Which is only. Probably. Five months.

Maybe after moving there. To that town. Maybe less.

Maybe six months. Maybe less. We moved into this new build house.

And. We did have a cat. Called.

Oh. What was the cat called? Tigger. Yeah we had a cat called Tigger.

And. Which was the first time I'd ever. Got up.

Never stroked a pussy before. Never had a dog. Never.

Never. Never really been around any kind of. Pets.

In my life. So. I was a little bit.

I wasn't quite sure how to. How to. I don't know.

Didn't really know what to do with it. But yeah. So we had a cat.

Unfortunately it didn't. The cat didn't last long. Got.

Yeah. It got. I got run over to be fair.

That's what happened. Got home from school and. That was upsetting.

But. Other than that. Then nothing.

And then I won. A goldfish. At the.

The yearly fair. Which was I think in. August or September.

That's it for you. Can you make a bit more noise please. Don't start knocking stuff off.

He wants me to give him more. I can't give him more. Because I don't have more to give him.

I really don't. No. So yeah.

I won a goldfish called Popeye. I called him Popeye. Because he had one eye that was.

Much bigger than the other eye. So. Popeye was my first.

Ever pet. Really. My first.

Like mine. And then. He.

It turned out he had. An eye disease. So I felt a little bit guilty calling him Popeye.

But I didn't. I didn't think it was fair to change his name otherwise. It's like.

It's all he knew. He didn't know any other name. I don't think he realised the reason for the name.

So. There was no point telling him. And it didn't seem any point.

Changing it. Because that would just. That would be confusing for him.

So I had these little drops. Took him to the vet. I'm not sure if we did.

I thought we might have taken him to the vet. Blindly. Or maybe.

Could you take a goldfish to the vet? I don't know. We got these little drops. Which.

Put into his water. And it seemed to help a bit. I used to be fascinated.

With. Popeye. It's just the whole kind of.

The pooing. I found weird. The laying of cable.

Just the whole. Just. Having it attached.

For that long. I wonder if whales do that? Hmm. You couldn't fit a whale in a little.

Goldfish. Thing could you? My dad had a. Did we have a goldfish pond? Or was it my granddad that put a goldfish pond in? I think we might have got a goldfish pond. But it might have been my granddad.

I can't remember now. That's weird. I'd have to ask my dad.

There was definitely a goldfish pond. In that garden. Of that house.

Just a little goldfish pond. And it was. He used to put.

A tennis ball in there. In the winter. So that it always left an air.

An air hole. Hmm. I met my brother.

My little brother had a goldfish. Called Tonkatoi. Or a Tony.

Or something like that. And. He was showing off.

This was probably about. 10 years ago. You know.

He's. He'd be nearly 50 soon. He was going on about.

How his goldfish. Lived for. Like.

7 years. Whatever. He had it for 7 years.

And my dad started laughing. This is a dinner table. I asked my dad.

He said. Why are you laughing? He said. Oh.

He just kept replacing it. Every time I died. He just didn't notice.

Like. Really? I said. Why can you do that with a cat? But I guess it's.

You know. He didn't. Didn't want to.

My dad don't like. Animals. It's really weird.

Because one of them. Said to me. Because they won't come here.

They won't enter my house. My dad. Won't set foot into this place.

This flat. And. I was told like.

Oh. It's because I had Andre. The ferret.

Now I've got a dog. He doesn't like animals. Someone said.

He's allergic to animals. I said. Well.

That's obviously a lie. And I said. Well.

It's not true. Because. He spent.

35 years. Or whatever. 40 years.

Going into people's houses. You know. Part of his job.

So. You know. And then one day.

He said. Well. I'm not allergic to animals.

I just don't like them. Okay. Good.

At least we've got some truth then. But out of. The four people.

He visits. They've all got animals. They've all got dogs.

Including me. But he doesn't come here. Weird isn't it? Meets me in a. In a restaurant.

Or a coffee place. Won't. Won't set foot into this place.

I don't know. There's a lot to discuss. That's not really the question.

Vinnie. Come on mate. I know I gave it to you.

I'll tell you what's weird. The other day. I gave him.

A packet. And there's one bit left in. There's one of those chews left.

And he just looked at the packet. The packet wasn't closed. It was open.

He wouldn't take it out. He just couldn't be bothered. But as soon as he'd eaten.

That bit. He destroyed the packet. Into many pieces.

Which is what he's doing right now. Other animals we had. Wow.

This is noisy. Other animals. When.

I don't know how old I was. Probably 13. My dad got a dog.

For my birthday. For my step mum. She wanted a dog.

But. Couldn't just get a normal dog. Just a normal standard dog.

Normal dog size. No. Came home with St Bernard.

One of the world's biggest dogs. And. Cute as anything.

As a puppy. I mean all puppies are cute. There's no.

You can't. There's no non-cute puppy. There's like a non-cute.

Pussy cat. You know what I mean. They're just always.

They're always cute. Aren't they? When they're little. And then they.

Is that as noisy as for you. As it is for me. That's really winding me up.

Still funny though. I don't know why. He's so silly.

And. So I. Yeah. We had this dog.

Called Misty. St Bernard. And you literally.

If you just. You could watch it. Grow in front of you.

It. I mean I'm not even joking. It grew.

And grew. And grew. I remember one day.

Well not one day. I remember saying to my dad. Has it finished growing yet? He said you asked that yesterday.

And the day before that. You'll know when it's finished growing. I said how? Because you won't be able to see the sun anymore.

And he was right. Huge. Bigger than me.

And I was like 13. 14 or whatever. 13.

Bigger than me. When it's fully grown. Weighed more than me.

Probably weighed about. 12. 14 stone.

I weighed about eight and a half stone. When I took it for a walk. It would just drag me along.

I had no control over it. Or over her rather. No control over her.

She was a beautiful dog. She got too big for the house. And we had quite a big house.

But it wasn't big in a sense of. You know it had a few rooms. But it wasn't big.

As Philly. There's no point looking for stuff that isn't there. It's not there anymore.

It's not there anymore. My dearest. The thing is.

My dad built a kennel outside. And she lived outside. Because she just literally.

She'd get in and she'd knock everything over. She struggled to get through the door. I mean she was huge.

Really big. And. She wasn't.

She didn't have what she needed. And this is at a time. Probably.

So maybe it was when I was 14. This was at a time when everything was starting to go a little bit wrong. And.

You know. Both my brothers ended up moving out. My step mum went to start going back to work.

So she was hardly ever there. My dad was always out working. I'd be babysitting my little brother after school.

During the summer holidays. And. Misty was just left on her own too much.

It wasn't really anyone's fault. It's just. That wasn't planned.

Just how it ended up being. You know it went from being a big full family house. To a. I don't know.

Something quite strange. For the last year or so. And Misty.

She just. I mean she'd jump on me. Every time I. Was anywhere near her.

She would jump on me and pin me down. And dribble. All over my school uniform.

And. You know. That was a time when I didn't really want to go to school.

With a stain on my trousers. Going home from school. Going home from lunch.

What have you been doing? Nothing. Why is that big stain on your crotch? Don't worry about it. What about that one on your jumper? Oh that's Misty.

Misty just dribbling on me. Why didn't you say Misty did it on your crotch as well? I don't know. I just didn't think quick enough.

But she was. She was just like. Beautiful dog.

Massive though. Massive. It probably cost more to feed her than it did me.

On a week. Because I was feeding her tripe. Which was not cheap.

But she was too big. Way too big. And.

It got to the point where. I used to try and go. I used to go in the front door.

Because I couldn't go around the back. Because she'd jump on me. I was.

Not scared. But a little bit. Kind of.

Yeah. It was a shame. Couldn't take her for walks.

I couldn't handle her. She was too strong. So she didn't get any walks.

Any proper walks anymore. And. So yeah.

That was. That wasn't good. She did found.

My dad found her a better home. A proper home. But.

I mean she had a big garden to run around in. But. You know for me.

It was a big garden. I could run. But for her.

She could just like. A couple of jumps. And she'd be either side of the.

Of the fence. So it wasn't really. That big for her.

It was more like. Yeah. Just a tiny little mat really.

The grass was for her. She wasn't that big. She was half the size of the house.

She was quite big. And she was white and brown. Pretty of course.

But huge. Absolutely huge. Ever since then.

I've not. I don't know. Just.

Not scared of big dogs. I just. Just.

I could never have a big dog. I can only really have. A little dog.

If I was going to have a dog. I always thought that in my mind. I've lived with dogs.

On a few occasions. Other than that. I lived.

In London with a dog. One. Two.

Three different dogs. In London. And.

They were all kind of medium sized dogs. They weren't big. They weren't little.

They were just kind of medium. Kind of size. And I just thought well.

Nothing bigger than that. Because. They're hard to manage.

If they're being naughty. Because you know. Dogs are strong.

Vinnie's really strong. But I can. I can beat him in an arm wrestle.

You know. Just about. So I did think.

If I was. Because I thought about getting a dog. When I first moved in here.

In 2015. And I did look. I got permission from the council.

And I started to look. At a shelter. And it was this.

Pomeranian. Little Pomeranian. And I thought.

Oh he's so cute. But he didn't like me. And because he didn't like me.

I thought. Nah. You know.

I had this little fantasy that. If I ever went to a shelter. It would be the dog that came up to me.

That I would take home. Didn't. Didn't work like that.

They all. None of them liked me. So.

Yeah. I don't know. I just.

I suppose I had a little. Fantasy of what it would really be like. Compared to what it really was like.

And then when I did end up getting my own. If you want to call it a pet. Andre.

A little ferret. He hated me when I first got him. But I fell in love with him.

As soon as I saw him. I just fell in love with him. See his little tiny little face.

Little body. But his tiny. Patches on his eyes.

And just. I fell in love with him. And every time I picked him up.

He hissed. And he bit me. He absolutely.

Didn't like me at all. Until a couple of weeks. Before he sort of.

Accepted that I existed. He wasn't able to get rid of me. And then we were kind of inseparable.

Well he couldn't get away from me. Really I suppose. That's the best way to explain it.

And. So yeah. We had pets.

But only really them two. So really. When I first moved there.

Other than the ants. There was nothing. Then we had the cat.

And she wasn't there for long. Unfortunately. And then when we moved.

I had my little goldfish. And then when we moved. I didn't have a goldfish anymore.

Then we had the. Misty the. Huge.

Huge dog. In about. When I was about 14.

Maybe 15. 14. 15.

I lose track of the times really. But it was a point when. Neither of my brothers were living there.

So I was at the. On the top floor. On my own.

Which was weird. I mean I didn't like living with them. But I missed them when they weren't there.

It's weird isn't it. It's just. Like my.

The brother just above me. The two years older. He used to wind me up all the time.

But I missed him when he left. When he moved out. I was like oh.

Because I'd spent my whole life with him. Literally. From the day I was born.

To. 15. Or 14.

15. Whatever. I'd been with him every single day of my life.

Moving around the country. Living in different places. So.

Suddenly he wasn't there. It was very strange. Even though we didn't necessarily get on that well.

And then my other brother. The oldest one. He moved out.

And. That was. That was strange.

It was like just being at the top of that old house. On my own. Very weird.

So. What I did is. I got myself.

A budgie to replace him. I thought I'd replace him with a budgie. And.

I did. I got myself a budgie. In a cage.

Had it in my bedroom to start with. But it was a little bit too clattery. A bit annoying.

I thought. I put it in the other bedroom. In my brother's.

Bedroom in the front of the house. And. Unfortunately.

There was no heat. And. It froze.

There was. Yeah. It was terrible really.

But it was. This must have been during the winter. And there was no.

Yeah. The heating would be off. I think my dad's always had a bit of a problem with heating.

I remember when I was living with. I moved out. I lived with my.

Step mum and her mum. In the flat. Her.

My step nan's flat. So my little brother and my step mum were in one bed. My step nan was in the other bed.

In the other room. And then I was on the living room floor. On a little camper bed.

I didn't like that. So I went. And moved back.

I asked my dad if I could move back into the house. Because. It was horrible.

And he said yeah. It was freezing cold. There was no heat.

I said are you going to put the heating on? He said no. No heat. I had to move out again.

I was 15 years old by the way. I wasn't even legally. They had a right.

They had a duty of care. But hey. In back in them days.

It wasn't really enforced. But it was freezing cold. So I went back to the flat where it was warm.

But I didn't want to be there. Because. Just.

I missed my own room. You know. My own stuff.

My own space. And I know I'd only been there for a little while. Because the house had to get sold.

But. Would the house have to get sold. If I was living there.

I don't know. It probably would have put it off. Probably wouldn't have had to sell it until I was 16.

Or maybe 18. I don't know. Which would have been better.

Because the house would have been worth a lot more. Because it went up from being. I think it was 66 grand.

When they sold it. In 1986. Or 1987.

In 1988. It went up to. £250,000.

Can you believe that? That's not even a lie. I remember I went into my dad's. Because he had a new house by then.

Like he'd got himself another house. So I guess they split the money. She took her money.

He took his. And put a deposit on a new house. So I went into his house.

Just to see him. And there was this thing. He pointed to it.

It was on this little chipboard. Wooden board thing. Where he'd post.

Pin stuff on. And there was a picture of our house. With a £250,000.

Price tag. And you could see a dent in the wall. Where he'd been headbutting it.

It was so angry. Because a year. Just over a year.

Year and a half. And it went up by that much. A year later.

It dropped down by about. To about £125,000. Or two years later.

So it was a big drop. But you know. It's now worth about.

£700,000 to £800,000. I went online just to search. Maybe a little bit more.

It's just like. Wow. If I'd have moved in there.

I might have been doing everyone a favour. Like everyone. If I'd stayed there.

And the council. I have to. Especially if I was on a YTS scheme.

Which I was. No. You have to look after him until he's 18.

And. Do your care or whatever. Which meant.

The house price would have gone up. My dad could have sold that. £125,000 each.

He would have been better off. He would have been better off. He probably would be.

Buying his house outright. The one he got. I mean that would have been.

Amazing. If. If.

If. So yeah. So yeah we had pets.

The budgie was a weird one. Because. I tried to give him mouth to mouth resuscitation.

And that didn't seem to work. So I thought. I'm not proud of this.

I did do this. I didn't. I mean I just thought to myself.

Because I didn't know if he was. Still alive or not. And.

And because he was not looking at me, I didn't know if he was going to give me the cold shoulder, literally, but if he was just annoyed because I'd left him on his own, I don't know. I was a kid, I just didn't really know what to do. So I thought, because I was up three stories high, and I thought, well, if I just put it out, it's going to fly away, isn't it?

And okay, so I know budgies that generally don't necessarily, might not have a great life out in the wild, but it's got a better life than what it has there, you know? And so I kind of, he didn't fly, that's what I'm going to say, he didn't fly.

So that was the end of that. Never give mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to a budgie. It's a hard one to judge, you know, but I did do that, it's genuinely true, I'm not proud of it, it's just something I did.

And the heart compressions, it's very hard to really know how hard to push. If they squeak, you might be pushing too hard. So also, have you ever had one driving test, lesson, car or motorbike? Yeah, I've had more than one, I've had, 1991, I had a couple of driving lessons, 2004, I had a few driving lessons, 91, I just couldn't be bothered, just didn't see the point.

And my spatial awareness is not necessarily perfect, which showed both times I tried to learn to drive. I was too close or too far, I could never really figure out where the car should be. That might have come with time, but yeah, I didn't enjoy it.

The second time in 2004, my driving instructor was too enthusiastic. He was only a young bloke, I mean I was young as well myself, I was only 23, or 24, whatever, but I just, 23 probably, 33, not 23, I was 33, he was in his early 20s I'd say. But he was super excited, super enthusiastic, motivational, and I just wanted him to calm down.

Oh, you can do it, you can do it, like, come on. I didn't want him to be negative, I just didn't want him to be like over the top. You know, he was like, emotionally doing cartwheels all the time, it was just a little bit, a little bit too much.

So I just, whenever he came round I just hid, didn't answer the door. I ended up paying for quite a lot of lessons I didn't turn up for. Anyway, in the end I stopped.

I went into the DVLA, or I don't know, wherever the place is that I always take my lessons, and I went to the receptionist and said, I'd like to cancel my lessons please. And she said, well, who are you driving with? And I said the name of the person who's your instructor. She said, I'll just go and get him.

I said, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. And she said, too enthusiastic? I said, yeah, too enthusiastic. She said, we hear that a lot.

I said, okay, and we cancelled and that was it. And I moved so he couldn't find out where I was. What was my longest relationship? This is from Ben again.

So I, he talked about romantic relationships, I guess. The longest one, I'm going through them. I had one, 91, which was the, that finished in the summer.

I'd won 93, sort of December 93, all the way to September-ish 94. So what's that, October now? So what's that, nine months. So nine months, that's quite a long one.

And there was one in 2000, then 1996. It started probably May, maybe June. 1996 until probably around April 1997.

So what's that, July, August, September, October, November, December, January, February, March, April. So yeah, that was about 10 months. So that was probably the longest relationship I was ever in.

Like romantic relationship. I'm being very vague with the word romantic. Very, very generous with that word.

But yeah, I'm trying to think. No, that's it. That was, that was the longest one, 10 months.

Had a few, I was just listening to some of the gardeners then. You know, sometimes there's a voice and I just don't recognise it, and it sounds clear. It's like, is it outside my garden? So yeah, that's my longest relationship.

I'm trying to think if I've ever had any other relationships. I've had a few little ones, a few little short relationships, kind of. And yeah, I mean, 95.

I think one, two, one, I had two, yeah, two relationships, 95. One in 96, one in 97. And during college, I didn't really have, I had a friendship with a female.

But it wasn't a relationship, it was a friendship. And then it turned into something a bit more at the end of the course, at the end of the university degree. But for the three years, we were just really good friends.

And then that kind of didn't really come to anything. We were just friends, very close friends. And no, no, not really.

The last 10 years, pretty much, it's been a dry well. But yeah, that's the longest one, about 10 months. Can you imagine saying 10 years? Wow.

10 months, longest one. Cindy, would you tell us about the TV license tax? Do you pay it on every TV in the household? Or is it one fee per household, regardless of the number of TVs? Mike's answered this, so he hasn't asked me, it's a good question. I've never understood the whole UK TV license thing.

How do they know if you have a TV or not? Do they have the right to just enter your house and look at all your technology devices? And Hope has written, I had a friend who had to prove she didn't have a TV in order to avoid the tax. She was so angry, she had to let the TV tax people into such a flat. I'm Canadian, as she was when she moved to England.

Okay, I feel there's a lot of questions there. So yeah, it's one. Okay, so in this flat that I live, it wouldn't matter if I had 100 TVs.

As far as I'm aware, it's just one TV license per household. They do do a discount for blind people. And so, I always found that just incredibly rude, to be fair.

I just, I don't know. I don't know if there's a discount for people that are pensioners. But I pay, what do I pay? Let's have a look.

Do I pay every single month? TV license pay, I think it's 15 pound a month. TV, TV, it's at the beginning of the month. So let's have a look.

1st of May, 15 pound. So I pay 15 pound a month for my TV license. I only have one television.

But the way they figure, it's one of those really, really, is to me such a dumb thing. A dumb idea. It made sense originally, you know, when they first started doing it, I guess.

But there was two channels, BBC One, BBC Two. Both of them, neither of them had adverts. Although they had sponsorship and stuff like that, but they didn't have adverts.

So it was a public service. Then ITV came along, which was financed by advertising. Channel 4 came along, financed by advertising.

Channel 5 came along, financed by advertising. And then over the years, everything except BBC channels are financed by advertising, all of them. Yet we all still have to pay for BBC, even if people don't use BBC.

And, you know, I see YouTube videos where people say, oh, come on, you don't have to let them in. Or if you do let them in, they have to prove that you watch BBC. And it's not, it's not quite as simple as that.

They can be a little bit intimidating. You know, these people come around, they do it for a living. They know what buttons to push.

They know how to get people to open up and how to incriminate themselves or whatever. And it seems weird that some people go to prison for not paying a TV license, or refusing to pay the TV license. They actually go to prison.

How can that in any world be justifiable? Me with no strong views, it just seems ridiculous. It's just all absurd, absurd, but not in a funny way. And so yeah, we do have to have a TV license, unless you can prove that you do not have a television.

And that also now includes streaming. So if you stream TV, even if it isn't the BBC. So if you stream ITV app, which has got adverts on, you're using a TV.

So you watch TV, any kind of terrestrial television, even if it's streaming and you're viewing it through the internet, you have to pay a TV license for it, according to them. I'm sure there's ways around it. I know people that don't pay the license.

And they just don't answer the door. I never used to pay the TV license till I moved here. But I pretty much always lived in a multiple occupancy house.

So the landlord paid the TV license for the building. So I never had to pay a TV license. Until I moved here and I thought, I'll just pay it.

Because I've seen what happens when people don't pay it and they get hounded. And how do they, what's that look? How do they know if you have a TV or not? So this is Mike. Well, they have these, well, they basically just look at who's paid for a TV license.

So if they've got everyone in a row, except number 43, 72, and 65, haven't paid a TV license, then they know where to go. And they're just going to assume that everybody has a TV. Because most everybody does have a TV.

Some people don't. But most people do. And even those people who don't.

I remember having this conversation with a dog walker. And they said, oh, yeah, they said something about TV. And I said, wait a minute, you told me you don't watch TV.

Because I remembered what they'd said previously. When people contradict themselves, I tend to remember what they said previously. And she said, oh, no, I stream.

I said, it's still watching telly. Just because you don't own a television. So she told me she didn't own a television, which I assumed she didn't watch TV.

Although there's been times when I've owned a TV and I do still watch TV online on my laptop. Or at least watch programs, you know, streaming. So they will check.

They can check and they will knock and they will harass. And they also they've got these vans that apparently can tell. But I don't know if they can or not.

And I don't know if it's just. It might just be like a little sausage roll maker inside their little bed they sleep in. I don't know if it's actually anything's working.

But yeah, they definitely got the law on their side for some reason. Do they have the right to just enter your house and look at your technology devices? According to them, they do. But I think it can get to the point where they can call the police in order to gain access.

And which is just ridiculous is really. Really. Can you imagine? Wasting the police time because you want to see if someone owns a television.

That's yeah, phenomenally bad, bad. And they do check if they do get into your house, they do look around and try and check all the technology devices. So if you've got a laptop, they'll assume if you've got broadband, you've got internet.

If you've got a phone with internet, then you can watch television. If you've got access, if you're able to watch television, then they think you should be paying the TV license. That's their mentality.

Everybody with a smartphone can gain access to streaming television. In the UK anyway, I don't know what it's like in America or in Australia or Canada or anywhere else. But in the UK, any phone, you know, a decent phone, which has internet access, which would be every phone in the world can stream TV.

So it's very difficult to really get out of it. And yeah, I'm not not big fan of the whole thing. But you know what, sometimes what is an old saying, pick your battles.

And I can't be bothered with this. You know, I know people that have stood up for themselves and ended up with a big fine. Court costs and you know, just like it's not worth it.

For the sake of 15 pound a month. No. So yeah, they're kind of got us by the curly worldies, as it were.

I mean, I just I don't know. For personally, I think the BBC, it would make sense for the BBC to either just start having adverts or have it as an app, you know, where people can just subscribe, subscribe to all different channels on the BBC for a monthly price, which would be the cost of a TV license. The problem with that is they would probably, I imagine, lose 90% of their customers.

90% of the revenue would probably be gone. Because people wouldn't wouldn't want to pay. You know, if they didn't, if they didn't have to pay it, they wouldn't.

They'd probably find another way to watch it. So how do you feel about bugs? Says Ali. Are you a killer of spiders? I know, I know.

Technically, an arachnid, I think. Or do you catch them and bring them outside? No, I don't kill bugs. I'm not bothered about bugs, really.

Flies annoy me because I keep trying to land on my food. And I said to him, like, why do you keep landing on my breakfast? And the fly said, I'm trying to get the taste of that dog poo out of my mouth. It's like, rude.

I was like, why? They annoy me. Flies annoy me. Not enough to sort of get too angry.

Just annoy you a bit. Spiders I don't care about. I wouldn't even put it outside.

Just leave it, let it do what it wants. Don't care. And I think Horace just popped up onto the window sill and he's gone.

Talking about creepy crawlies and bugs. Horace the pigeon. Yeah, I think spiders, I'm not bothered.

I don't care about them. I think the only bug, if you want to call it a bug, would be like a wasp or a... a bee, a hornet, that kind of thing. I would definitely try to, well, I would always try and guide them out of the window.

I would put the effort in to get them out of the window. Because this isn't the right place for those animals to be. They, you know, they need to be outside.

None of them want to be inside, really. I don't think. So I'd try and get them out and without doing any harm, you know.

In the past, if it was a spider, I'd probably try and get it outside. But I don't care anymore. Just doesn't bother, spiders don't bother me at all.

I don't bother them, they don't bother me. But luckily, I'm in a country where we haven't got to worry about stuff like that. And yeah, so for me, it just, I think flies are the only ones that annoy me.

And when I hear a wasp, it's like, oh. Because I know wasps don't bother me if I don't bother them. But trying to get them out of the window can be a little bit bothersome to them.

And I don't want to push them, you know, too far. Hope asks me, do you like any sports other than boxing? If so, what? No. Sandy asks, oh, uh, no, genuinely, not really.

I don't mind a bit of mixed martial arts, you know, UFC and stuff. That can be amazing. I'm the skill.

I never really appreciated the skill until more recently. And it's phenomenally skillful. I just don't find it's, when they're on the floor, that's when the real skill is.

But I don't find it exciting to watch. It's interesting to watch, but it's not exciting in the same way as punching is for me. But I can see, like, if someone could do something that I can't do, which is most people, to be fair.

So I'm impressed to see the highest level. And with the UFC, that's what you see. Just like with the professional boxers, you're seeing the boxers at the highest level.

And I can't even talk about other, other sports that I might like other than boxing without talking about boxing. It's terrible. I used to, I used to like tennis and snooker when I was a kid, but that's, and darts even, because we grew up watching that stuff.

You know, snooker was huge in this country in the early 80s. Darts was huge. Honestly, it's a big, really, really popular sports.

Eric Bristow and tennis, you know, McEnroe, Conor, Bjorn Borg, or whatever his name was. And all these, and then Agassi in the early 90s or late 80s, early 90s. And, you know, tennis was huge in this country during the old McEnroe era.

Partly because of McEnroe, to be fair. He just, he really, a bit like Alex Higgins with snooker. He, he made it into Hurricane Higgins, they called him, but he was, he was a maverick.

And so, yeah, I don't know. So I quite, I used to watch football as well, because my oldest brother loved football. And I wanted to be like him a bit.

So I used to watch football. And at that time, we lived near a town called Ipswich, which was head of the league. They won the FA Cup and the Europe, Europa Cup or whatever.

They were the top league. They were the top team in the country. And so it was hard not to kind of been to get blown away with that wave of excitement when our local team was the best team in the entire country.

And one of the best teams in the world, like Europe, you know, like football teams. So I'll tell you when that was, 1978 to Ipswich Town Football Club FC, Ipswich Town FC. So let's have a look.

The 1978 FA Cup final was association football match between Arsenal and Ipswich Town. 6th of May 1978 at Old Wembley Stadium. And so if I just go to Saturday, I'm just, I want to back this up with actual correct information rather than just me making it up.

Because I do remember them being really, really, really, really big. And it was their biggest time and it was during the Bobby Robson era as well. So Bobby Robson, who was a legend as a manager.

And so let's have a look. So Bobby Robson, during the Bobby Robson era. At their peak in the 1979-1980 season, they beat Manchester United.

And their major success came 1978 when Ipswich beat Arsenal at Wembley Stadium to win the only, their only FA Cup trophy. The triumph was followed all by almost winning the triple in 80-81. So they were really big, really big back then.

And Ipswich did win the UEFA Cup in 1981 as well. It's hard, I mean anyone that's been, I suppose there's probably thousands of people, but anyone that's had their local football team be like at the top, even if it is just for a year or a couple of years or whatever, it is something, it has an effect on the local area. It really does, like really.

I've only experienced it once and that was, you know, when I lived near Ipswich and when I was a kid. So between 78 and 82, Ipswich were big players. And to win the FA Cup is like, at the time, it was like the highest prize really.

And there's a lot more different cups now. That's when the FA Cup was a much bigger deal than it is even now. I'm saying that like I know something about football.

And also what was really big back then was sabutio, which is, I don't know if you've ever heard of it. It's basically, you put this green cloth onto a table. You can play it on the floor as well, but it needs to be a flat floor.

I mean, I don't know how many floors are bumpy and lopsided, but by flat I mean, because you basically got these things that are like little weebles, you know, weebles wobble, but they don't fall down, that you push them and then they hit the ball and the ball pushes and yeah. I don't know, it made sense to me when I said it, but it's a very popular game.

So no, I don't really, boxing's the only sport I follow.

And even things like martial arts, the taekwondo, the Olympics, judo. I think some of that stuff, judo, for example, is when you realise what's being done. I think, okay, I'm going to talk for myself.

With judo, because my dad was a judo man when he was at school. He got a brown belt in judo, and so that was his thing. And he kept it, you know, it was good balance and all that stuff.

But I didn't, watching it, I didn't see, I couldn't see any kind of excitement, any kind of point to watching it. I could see the point to doing it. But once you learn a little bit about what they're doing, you realise that it's phenomenal what they're doing, actually.

And when you put two really, really good people, it's like a chess game. You know, if you put one really good person against someone that's average, then that really good person is going to chuck that average person all around. And it's going to look spectacular.

It's going to, you know, it's going to look just amazing. But you put two really good people together, and no one's going to get chucked around, necessarily. They're going to try and chuck each other around.

And it's the same with the USC or with the jiu-jitsu. They'll try and get each other, choke each other out, but it's much easier for, you know, if I got into a jiu-jitsu, someone that's only been doing it a little while would get me into a choke in seconds. But two really good people, they can't.

It's not that easy. Not that it will be easy for them, but I'd say it's, which in a way, as an observer, as an audience, I think unless you're really into the sport, the skill doesn't necessarily impress. Because not based on speed, but with, you know, with races, the one who wins first, when it gets there first wins.

It's a much easier thing to watch, isn't it? A running race, a swimming race, a rowing race, a horse race, whatever, you know, when people are racing and it makes sense, like, okay, the winner wins. But when it comes to combat sports, it's just so much more. I mean, boxing used to be, I preferred the boxing in the Olympics, how it used to be, when they used to have a scoring system, when a beat, like it would actually, every time a glove touched the head guard or the body, it would trigger off a point.

So that was good, because then you could see how many points each boxer needed to win. If he was on one person's side, you'd say, oh, I've got to get more, I've got to get more. Now they don't do that anymore.

In fact, they don't even have headgear anymore, I don't think, you know, in the amateur. Do they have headgear in the Olympics? I don't know if they do anymore. They might do.

So I think with, because I'm a very, I'm a non-fan when I watch any other sport. So if I do watch something, I'm looking for excitement, in the same way as if someone is not really into boxing. They might watch the same fight as me and think, what a pile of rubbish, and I might think that was an amazing fight.

It might not be an exciting in the sense of lots of action, but the skill involved, you know, it might be phenomenal. The kind of skill you'd get with Mayweather, or the kind of skill you'd get with Tyson Fury, or with Usyk. There's different types of skill levels, or with Lomachenko.

Phenomenal skills. So it's not always exciting to watch, but you know, I think there's a reason why only one person ever beat Tyson Fury, and that Usyk. Because Usyk is phenomenal.

He is now pound for pound the top, out of everyone at the moment. But he's, there's something, he's like, wow, he's got, yeah. Anyway, I won't bore you about talking about boxing, but no, I'm not really interested in other sports.

Boxing is the only one I really like. And I'm trying to think of any others. No, not really.

Sandy asks, I would like to know if you have taught Vinnie any tricks. And also, thank you for being with me for the last six years. I love falling asleep to your stories.

Well, thank you, Sandy. Thank you for inviting me to be with you for the last six years. I'm happy to help.

Vinnie, he's taught me a few tricks. Vinnie will not do a single thing I ask him to do. You know, the whole time I've had him, which is two years and five months, six months, nearly two years and six months I've had him.

He won't come into the kitchen unless he wants to. And if I say to him, something's making a weird noise over there. What is that? If I say to him, do you want to come? Come in the kitchen.

He just stands at the door and stares at me. Right. I've now realised, and this is a new thing.

If I say to him, stay there, he runs into the kitchen. He won't do what I tell him. It does exactly the opposite.

So I realise he wouldn't do what I told him. I realise that. But he will do the opposite.

So if I don't want him to do something, I just tell him to do the thing I don't want him to do. And he does the thing that I do want him to do. No, I tell him to do the thing that I do want him to do, but I tell him not to do the thing.

Oh, I knew what I meant. You know what I mean. So if it's reverse psychology or whatever, but he will not.

If I say sit, he stands. If I say stand, he sits. He, you know, he won't do a single thing I tell him or ask him.

The only thing he's ever done consistently is when I'm out and the only command he ever listens to is when I shout to him, Vinnie, ignore me. And he does. It's the only thing he actually listens to.

So he won't do anything, no tricks, nothing. He's just completely, it is all about him. It does whatever he wants, whenever he wants, even in bed, right? If I accidentally touch him, so my hand moves over or my leg moves, he growls at me.

It's my bed. He growls at me. He's very, very, a little bit temperamental.

I think that's all the questions. I've got no idea how long I've been doing this for, but it's now ten to four. So I've been doing it over an hour.

It's warm in here. That's because I closed the windows, isn't it? Because of that man doing the washing, cleaning the windows or whatever. So thank you for listening and remember to be kind to yourself because you do deserve to be happy.

Lots of love. Bye.