EP241: Scraping the Barrel #47 – She’s done it again…

Natalie Cassidy 0:02:09 What a week. Welcome to Life with Nat, everybody. Happy Monday to you all. I'm with Mark today. You all right, darling?

Marc 0:02:18 Yeah, a bit, a bit warm.

Natalie Cassidy 0:02:20 Just a tad. But, 38 degrees today.

Marc 0:02:24 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:02:25 Hey ho.

Marc 0:02:26 You know that aircon that you spoke about like 2 years ago?

Natalie Cassidy 0:02:29 Yeah, I know. It's absolutely happening and it'll be put in.

Marc 0:02:31 It won't. You'll forget about it. No. freezing cold in the winter.

Natalie Cassidy 0:02:34 No, I'm gonna get it all done about October time.

Marc 0:02:37 Okay.

Natalie Cassidy 0:02:37 Anyway, we've got a fan with us today, haven't we?

Marc 0:02:39 We have, yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:02:42 Yeah. Thank you for joining. I'm working overtime at the moment, so thank you so much.

Marc 0:02:46 If we run out of material, then, um, we could just cut to the fan.

Natalie Cassidy 0:02:51 Absolutely. I mean, it could be more interesting than either of us.

Marc 0:02:55 Possibly.

Natalie Cassidy 0:02:56 Should we tell everybody about What we've done this week.

Marc 0:03:00 What do you mean, what we've done?

Natalie Cassidy 0:03:01 What's happened to us?

Marc 0:03:03 Oh, I mean, not a lot's happened really. Just, um, in the, in the hottest week of the year, we've just had to spend 2 days in, in a hospital.

Natalie Cassidy 0:03:12 Joni's broken her arm again, everybody. Same arm, smashed to pieces, general anaesthetic, same operation.

Marc 0:03:26 I mean, she actually knew the anaesthetist. Barbara knew her.

Natalie Cassidy 0:03:29 I went down to theatre. I said, hello, Barbara. I mean, who in their right mind knows the fucking people in the hospital?

Marc 0:03:38 They all know Joni, the anaesthetist. She even said, oh, I've done the bandage on the bear again like I did last time.

Natalie Cassidy 0:03:45 It's not funny.

Marc 0:03:47 It's not funny.

Natalie Cassidy 0:03:49 People are not gonna believe it. And it's always, it's funny, it's always before holidays.

Marc 0:03:54 I can't believe it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:03:56 I genuinely can't. I'm speechless.

Marc 0:03:58 It's, I, I have to say to you, oh, genuinely, all joking aside.

Natalie Cassidy 0:04:02 It's so traumatic.

Marc 0:04:04 It, it was quite traumatic. Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:04:06 On Tuesday.

Marc 0:04:07 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:04:07 I'd done a little bit of work in the morning. Quite funny work at home.

Marc 0:04:11 Yes.

Natalie Cassidy 0:04:11 You were at home. You've not, not stopped working for a month.

Marc 0:04:15 No.

Natalie Cassidy 0:04:15 Not had a day off. This week it's gonna be baking hot. Mm-hmm. You went outside, put the paddling pool up.

Marc 0:04:21 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:04:21 Cut all the grass.

Marc 0:04:22 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:04:23 Thinking we're gonna have a few days, like a little mini holiday at home.

Marc 0:04:25 It was gonna be, it was a mini holiday at home. Probably gonna be hotter this week. Yes. Than being on holiday this week. Oh, of course. Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:04:32 But we paddling pool up, barbecues, what we gonna do? Little drink in the garden.

Marc 0:04:38 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:04:39 And then the phone rang.

Marc 0:04:41 Mm-hmm.

Natalie Cassidy 0:04:42 So she slipped over everybody cuz everyone, oh my God, how's she done it? she slipped over in the hall before doing PE.

Marc 0:04:50 So, and the, you know what I think is really annoying about this is, well, I mean, there's, there's many things really annoying about this, but we've all, I mean, you even said to me I was being a bit over the top the other day.

Natalie Cassidy 0:05:02 Yes.

Marc 0:05:03 When Abi texted me and said, do you mind if she goes down this slide? To which I wrote back, absolutely no chance.

Natalie Cassidy 0:05:09 And Abi had messaged me, but I didn't see it. And I'd actually said, it's fine. Well, I mean, go down the slide.

Marc 0:05:14 But, you know, it's not like we've not thought about the fact that She's just had these plates surgically removed from her arm.

Natalie Cassidy 0:05:20 7, 8, 8 weeks ago, she's had the plates out, the metalwork out. Just so, you know, just so you understand, listening there or watching, she broke her arm and it was a clean break. That was a few years ago. She then broke it again and put all the metalwork in. And then 8 weeks ago, She went under general anaesthetic, had it all out, and has done it again.

Marc 0:05:49 And just also, people will obviously jump to the conclusion, and we've, as quite rightly, let's, which we did, thinking, obviously, there's an issue.

Natalie Cassidy 0:06:00 There's gotta be some sort of deficiency, vitamins, bones, but she's had full blood tests and everything is in range. It's absolutely perfect. So the consultant actually said, I do think it's just really bad luck. Well, the hospital was quite warm.

Marc 0:06:18 Yeah, it was a bit. Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:06:21 In the extreme red warning of a heatwave for the few days we were in there.

Marc 0:06:25 I do think that the whole country was a bit warm.

Natalie Cassidy 0:06:28 I just, I may, I know, I know I bang on about it. I bang on. But the staff working in that, They don't, they're not moaning, they're laughing, they're joking. Just wonderful, wonderful people. We were so well looked after again.

Marc 0:06:43 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:06:43 It's like a little trip now. It's like being in the hotel.

Marc 0:06:45 Yeah. It's like seeing people, you know, you see 'em get a bit older each year you visit.

Natalie Cassidy 0:06:49 Unbelievable. But there we go. There you go. Our news is out. It's not great. She's gonna have to wear her little blue thing when she goes swimming on holiday. Have to be really careful. Gotta get a fit to fly letter. When she has the plaster cast on in a couple of weeks' time, they've gotta split it because we're getting on the plane. It's just a ball ache.

Marc 0:07:11 Right. They've gotta split it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:07:12 They will have to split. They always split it. Yeah.

Marc 0:07:15 They didn't do that last time, did they?

Natalie Cassidy 0:07:17 Yeah. They have to split it and bandage it in case of swelling on the plane.

Marc 0:07:20 Oh, really? The pressure. I didn't know that. Yeah. I didn't.

Natalie Cassidy 0:07:23 You know, she's only got a half one on at the moment. Have you felt it?

Marc 0:07:26 No.

Natalie Cassidy 0:07:27 It's only covering here. This isn't covered. This isn't covered.

Marc 0:07:31 Oh, brilliant.

Natalie Cassidy 0:07:31 It's not.

Marc 0:07:32 Really?

Natalie Cassidy 0:07:33 Yes. Again, because it's an operation, swelling, clots, and all of that.

Marc 0:07:38 Right.

Natalie Cassidy 0:07:38 That's why you go back in 2 weeks.

Marc 0:07:39 Honestly, this is not funny, is it?

Natalie Cassidy 0:07:40 It's really not funny. Well, I felt I was gonna have a nervous breakdown actually on Tuesday. I'm being really honest with people here. I, I, I really fell to pieces. I was not, not in a good place.

Marc 0:07:52 No. I think that's fair enough, really.

Natalie Cassidy 0:07:56 Just her little body.

Marc 0:07:57 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:07:58 And the medication and the trauma of it all.

Marc 0:08:00 Yeah. It's not great.

Natalie Cassidy 0:08:01 But she sat downstairs, just so you know where she is. She's had her medicine. She's got her fan. She's watching the telly. And she's a bit fed up, but she gets on with it, really. She's so brave.

Marc 0:08:14 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:08:14 I've just ordered her some slime kits that will come tomorrow. Because she made some slime in the hospital with Lily from the play team. She was lovely. And she's never really made it from scratch. That was a big craze, if you remember, when Eliza was about 9 or 10. But, yeah. There we go.

Marc 0:08:32 Well, that's really cheerful, isn't it? Yeah. Really cheery. Lovely way to start. Have a lovely week.

Natalie Cassidy 0:08:36 We're off now. No, I'm joking. Anyway.

Marc 0:08:37 Really good. I've got a question for you about that. Go on. So, obviously, you know, lately, you've, you did your care documentary, and it's been on the telly, and you did ask for the bloods to be taken. And, and yeah, how did you fit in the environment? Because it's sort of 2 years down the line, but you've done your qualification now.

Natalie Cassidy 0:08:55 Yeah. To be honest with you, I—

Marc 0:08:57 Do you feel quite comfortable in, in hospital? I do.

Natalie Cassidy 0:08:58 Yeah. Do feel quite comfortable.

Marc 0:09:00 I just thought it was interesting.

Natalie Cassidy 0:09:02 No. And I was looking at people's practice and yeah, it was interesting.

Marc 0:09:06 Oh, hang on. You were critiquing? What do you mean their practice? Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:09:10 Well, I just feel like now I've done the course.

Marc 0:09:13 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:09:14 I don't know. I'm more aware of things.

Marc 0:09:17 Yeah. Well, that makes sense, I suppose.

Natalie Cassidy 0:09:19 But no.

Marc 0:09:21 You could have done a bit of, like, overtime there. Not overtime, but, you know, casual employment. Yeah. I had a few people say that it got a bit boring. Oh, did they?

Natalie Cassidy 0:09:26 Few jokes.

Marc 0:09:27 Oh, I didn't hear what they said. Why don't you come and do this?

Natalie Cassidy 0:09:29 And not more in the middle of the night, you know?

Marc 0:09:31 All right.

Natalie Cassidy 0:09:33 But yeah. Hey ho. We've got loads and loads of nice things to do now. So.

Marc 0:09:39 Okay. Well, I, I have to say, I feel thoroughly— I felt a bit better yesterday. We had a barbecue and stuff. And after this last this last, I don't know, 10 minutes of conversation, I feel quite depressed. So thank you for that.

Natalie Cassidy 0:09:49 Sorry. But everyone does need to know what's happened.

Marc 0:09:52 That way. Absolutely.

Natalie Cassidy 0:09:53 Because it's ridiculous. I've written a nice newsletter, actually, all about it on Patreon. That's on today.

Marc 0:09:59 Oh, I wanted to mention Patreon.

Natalie Cassidy 0:10:01 Oh, so do I. I wanna mention it as well. Go on.

Marc 0:10:03 No, you were probably gonna say the same thing as I. Carry on.

Natalie Cassidy 0:10:06 I was just going to say I did a post about it anyway, so it's fine. But I did a little video, but But those people not on Instagram. Yes. Patreon is a paid thing. It's an app and you pay £6 a month with a little charge, which I've found out now. I, I'm not charging you £7.20, by the way. It's a charge for it. Um, and you need to do it on your desktop or your browser if you want to join. Otherwise it's 9 quid or something. So make sure you do that. Don't do it in the app. in the Patreon app. That's a bit strange. I don't know. It's, it's very complicated.

Marc 0:10:44 The thing is, you've not had to sign up for it. So—

Natalie Cassidy 0:10:46 Well, actually, I have to say, yeah, even signing up where Patreon have given us sort of, you know, the, the family thing to get, I, I couldn't do it.

Marc 0:10:55 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:10:55 Yeah. Really bad. I found it quite complicated. Okay. So anyway, it's www.patreon.com/lifewithnatpod. If you can't do it or you don't want to or you can't afford it, nothing changes. We're still doing Mondays, we're still doing Thursdays. It's just for people who can be bothered to do it and want a bit of bonus material.

Marc 0:11:19 Yeah. I have to say, the only thing I spotted was, was a few people that are saying, oh, oh, I knew it was gonna come to this. You said you'd never do this. Oh, I know. And I thought, that's fair enough, but this is an extra thing.

Natalie Cassidy 0:11:32 I did say though at the beginning. Yeah. I did say I wouldn't do it.

Marc 0:11:35 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:11:35 So I kinda get that. Oh, okay.

Marc 0:11:36 Fair enough. But what I mean is, is obviously nothing has changed because it's completely business as usual.

Natalie Cassidy 0:11:43 Yes. For the normal episodes. What would've been bad is I went down to one a week. Yes. And then the, the Thursday episode you have to pay for. That'd be terrible.

Marc 0:11:52 But no, you're not doing that. No. It's just a bonus.

Natalie Cassidy 0:11:55 It's a natural progression for us to continue to do this.

Marc 0:11:58 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:11:59 You know, it's a lot of time, it's a lot of effort for everybody, all the family. And, you know, we need to be paid basically.

Marc 0:12:06 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:12:06 So I, I think, I think people understand it.

Marc 0:12:08 Yeah. I think our fan understands it. I mean, they need a replacement. We need the aircon. There's only one way that the aircon's gonna happen.

Natalie Cassidy 0:12:16 Oh yeah. Anyway, hey ho, there you go. Come and join. Be quite fun. Lots of little bonuses on there. There's a little family chat going on at the moment and everyone's in there. Tony's posting pictures up of where he is and what he's decorating and stuff. He's doing really Excellent. So it's cool.

Marc 0:12:31 There's been some messages on Instagram, uh, @cameraman_mark, my Instagram. Yeah, I like that when that happens. There's like one person contacts me every week, maybe there's one little message from somebody.

Natalie Cassidy 0:12:43 Fair enough.

Marc 0:12:43 So I had a message last week asking about buying tickets for the live shows.

Natalie Cassidy 0:12:46 Yes.

Marc 0:12:47 And if you go on lifewithnat.club, there's links there to buy tickets for the live shows. There's also a link for the Patreon if it's easier than typing in the Patreon address thing.

Natalie Cassidy 0:12:56 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Marc 0:12:57 Or in this day and age, if you actually Google, you know, Life with Nat Patreon, I'm sure that probably comes up.

Natalie Cassidy 0:13:03 Or Life with Nat live shows, maybe.

Marc 0:13:05 Maybe, maybe not. But lifewithnat.club. Or you could go to the Fortune Theatres page. Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:13:12 Or the Tring one.

Marc 0:13:14 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:13:15 What's that called? Denby, I think. Well, this is Denby Theatre.

Marc 0:13:17 Just go to lifewithnat.club and you can buy tickets. This is why it's confusing. But tickets are, more importantly, tickets are available. Yeah. Patreon's available.

Natalie Cassidy 0:13:24 Yeah. Did you watch the Hertford show, the live one?

Marc 0:13:27 I've watched bits of it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:13:28 Any good? I haven't watched it.

Marc 0:13:30 Well, I was there when we did it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:13:32 No, I loved the show. I just wondered.

Marc 0:13:34 Yeah, I think it was nice. It was nice to watch it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:13:37 I'd love to hear from you if you have joined Patreon and you've watched the live Hertford show. Let us know. Send us a voice note. Did you enjoy watching the live show? Was it a bit weird being on the telly and not being there? Does it make you think, oh, I really wanna go to one of those now? I'd love to know. 07788 20 19 19.

Marc 0:13:54 Are you gonna put other live shows on there? Are there any other ones to go on there?

Natalie Cassidy 0:13:58 Yes. Loads. All— So you're just gonna pop them in? Even down to the first one me, RoRo, and Tony did in Islington.

Marc 0:14:05 Fair enough.

Natalie Cassidy 0:14:06 So, yeah, we're gonna put the Grief one up, but I'm not gonna put them up all at the same time.

Marc 0:14:11 Right.

Natalie Cassidy 0:14:12 I sort of might do 1 or 2 a month.

Marc 0:14:14 Okay.

Natalie Cassidy 0:14:14 That sort of thing. Yeah. And then that will lead us to have Clapham Christmas show.

Marc 0:14:19 Yes.

Natalie Cassidy 0:14:20 In December. Does that make sense? So I'm gonna draw it out a bit.

Marc 0:14:23 Oh, I see.

Natalie Cassidy 0:14:24 So, yeah. So, yeah. I do think, you know.

Marc 0:14:26 It's very good. And the other thing about the Patreon, and people are gonna get sick of us talking about this now, but you can listen without the adverts.

Natalie Cassidy 0:14:35 Yeah. No, it's important to say.

Marc 0:14:37 Which isn't bad. That's not bad.

Natalie Cassidy 0:14:39 No.

Marc 0:14:39 It's not. I mean, it's not— I know. Or you could just skip them. Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:14:44 Just saying.

Marc 0:14:46 Maybe. Yeah. Maybe.

Natalie Cassidy 0:14:47 Anyway. I've had about 4 or 5 people send me a video.

Marc 0:14:54 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:14:54 From Instagram. Yes. Which is a hack. So when I go out today, I'm gonna do it for you. We can make it.

Marc 0:15:00 Okay.

Natalie Cassidy 0:15:01 I'll pop it on Instagram for people to see it.

Marc 0:15:02 Right. Don't ever say that. You never do it. I do.

Natalie Cassidy 0:15:06 Yes, I do.

Marc 0:15:06 You know, if I had a pound for everything you're gonna put on—

Natalie Cassidy 0:15:10 I need to, I'll tell you what I do need to do.

Marc 0:15:12 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:15:13 I must put out Tony sent me the football boots that he never got, which you spoke about in the last episode.

Marc 0:15:19 Yeah, I remember.

Natalie Cassidy 0:15:20 And I, I need to, um, post those up. You've just reminded me. I will do that. Okay, good.

Marc 0:15:24 Um, you won't remember.

Natalie Cassidy 0:15:25 You get a load of Bourbons.

Marc 0:15:27 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:15:28 Bourbon biscuits.

Marc 0:15:29 Right.

Natalie Cassidy 0:15:29 You split them.

Marc 0:15:30 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:15:31 You lay them out.

Marc 0:15:32 Uh-huh.

Natalie Cassidy 0:15:32 You put ice cream, loads of ice cream, layer it up. You put the other halves on top.

Marc 0:15:40 Right.

Natalie Cassidy 0:15:40 You put it in the freezer and then you cut 'em. Meant to be like a Maxibon.

Marc 0:15:45 Sounds laughing like a Maxibon.

Natalie Cassidy 0:15:47 Gonna make it for you.

Marc 0:15:48 Okay.

Natalie Cassidy 0:15:50 People have been thinking of you. They've seen it, they've sent it on.

Marc 0:15:52 I must say, yeah, those Biscoff ice cream sandwiches, they are very good.

Natalie Cassidy 0:15:57 Like it?

Marc 0:15:58 Yes.

Natalie Cassidy 0:15:58 How many did you, did you eat last time? Why can't you just have one?

Marc 0:16:02 I can't.

Natalie Cassidy 0:16:03 It's really greedy.

Marc 0:16:05 Yeah, they're a lot of money as well. They're lovely. They reminded me there was a cookies and cream. I think it's Lidl or Aldi do them. Definitely one of those. And they were really nice because it's quite a moist biscuit cookie.

Natalie Cassidy 0:16:15 Yeah, horrible. With the ice cream inside.

Marc 0:16:17 It's so good. Disgusting. It reminded me of those. I need to go and see if they have those because Aldi and Lidl do their product ranges for like a month and then they don't do them anymore.

Natalie Cassidy 0:16:27 I don't know, darling.

Marc 0:16:27 It's like a Choco Bon, although I don't think Choco Bons are a thing at the moment. I don't think they're doing them. No. Which is a shame, really.

Natalie Cassidy 0:16:34 Yeah.

Marc 0:16:35 Maybe it's the same factory as Did the New Forest ice cream choco bar.

Natalie Cassidy 0:16:40 Just go to Marks's and see their new range of stuff. That's all I'm gonna say. It's outrageously good.

Marc 0:16:45 Is it?

Natalie Cassidy 0:16:46 Oh, stunning.

Marc 0:16:47 They don't do like a Maxibon type choc—

Natalie Cassidy 0:16:49 Yes, they do.

Marc 0:16:49 Do they?

Natalie Cassidy 0:16:50 Yes.

Marc 0:16:51 Why have we not spoken about it?

Natalie Cassidy 0:16:52 I'll get some. I'll get some today. I'm going there in a minute.

Marc 0:16:55 Okay.

Natalie Cassidy 0:16:56 They've also brought out a, just everything they bring out, they think it's, it's mine. I dunno how they do it. You know, I'm not a sweet lover.

Marc 0:17:06 Well, you say that.

Natalie Cassidy 0:17:09 I'm not a majorly sweet lover.

Marc 0:17:10 Okay. I bought you an iced coffee in the hospital the other day.

Natalie Cassidy 0:17:14 Oh yeah. With a bit of vanilla in it. That's cuz I was in the hospital. Sorry.

Marc 0:17:17 What is that? It was like drinking, like a, a, a, I dunno. I thought, how can you drink this? It's so sweet.

Natalie Cassidy 0:17:24 It's just where I was tired though. I would never have that. I'd never have vanilla in it usually.

Marc 0:17:28 Eliza said, yeah, that's what you have all the time.

Natalie Cassidy 0:17:30 Nope. I have an oat iced latte with nothing in it.

Marc 0:17:33 Vanilla? No.

Natalie Cassidy 0:17:35 Oh no, I had a shot of vanilla in it.

Marc 0:17:36 It was so sweet.

Natalie Cassidy 0:17:37 Anyway, what I was going to say is M&S have brought out, it's, it's 85% dark chocolate ice cream.

Marc 0:17:45 Okay. So that's a nice idea. Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:17:49 So good.

Marc 0:17:50 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:17:50 Anyway, I might get some of that later.

Marc 0:17:52 Right.

Natalie Cassidy 0:17:53 Anyway.

Marc 0:17:54 Very confusing, that. Mixed messages. You don't like ice cream, you don't like desserts.

Natalie Cassidy 0:17:59 Because it's— it needs to be a certain thing, and that is it.

Marc 0:18:03 Right, okay.

Natalie Cassidy 0:20:51 Do you know, um, Dawn, who was on the radio with the bloke our last pod, and there was a weird situation where he'd asked her to do something? Remember? Dawn's story about being on the radio. Don't remember?

Marc 0:21:16 No.

Natalie Cassidy 0:21:17 Oh, that's a worry. Sorry, Dawn. I'm in stitches listening to me this morning. So James Hemming was our parent at nursery.

Marc 0:21:25 I do remember, but it didn't make a lot of sense at the time.

Natalie Cassidy 0:21:29 Here in Kent, I was in the studio dressed up to play the part. Lol.

Marc 0:21:33 I remember now. Thank you, Dawn.

Natalie Cassidy 0:21:36 Yeah, there we go. Yeah.

Marc 0:21:37 It was a few weeks ago that that was recorded, and some stuff's happened since then.

Natalie Cassidy 0:21:40 A few bits have happened. Yeah, I'll let you off.

Speaker I 0:21:44 Yeah. Good evening, Nat. Just wanted to, um, let you know I feel your pain. I've had hay fever for all of my 50 years, and do you know what I love? What I really love is when well-meaning folk come up to you and say, have you tried Tried local honey? Have you tried this? Have you tried that? I feel like saying, nah, I like feeling like I want to pull my eyeballs out. Anywho.

Marc 0:22:17 Any road.

Speaker I 0:22:18 From a fellow sufferer, just wanted to say I feel your pain. And as well-meaning as people are, Jesus effing Christ, it's annoying, isn't it? Take care, darling. Love ya.

Natalie Cassidy 0:22:33 Cheers, Donna. People mean well, Donna, don't they? They mean well. I couldn't see yesterday, Donna. I had a, some sort of attack episode. I don't know what it was. I dunno what was knocking about in the air.

Marc 0:22:45 I think it was 2 bottles of wine.

Natalie Cassidy 0:22:46 No, that was, it all calmed down after that. And I didn't have 2 bottles of wine. I had 1 bottle of wine.

Marc 0:22:53 All right. Okay.

Natalie Cassidy 0:22:53 2 beers and a gin and tonic. Yeah.

Marc 0:22:55 I'd like some of my beers disappeared.

Natalie Cassidy 0:22:57 They're lovely, those. Yeah, quite nice.

Marc 0:22:59 Session IPA, for anyone interested.

Natalie Cassidy 0:23:01 Very good. Yeah.

Speaker J 0:23:02 Good morning, Natalie and Mark. In the last pod, um, episode of Scraping the Barrel, you mentioned that you really, really love voice notes, so I thought I'd send a voice note rather than type a message today. Um, I just wanted to say I'm really, really excited about Patreon.

Speaker J 0:23:20 Yeah, boy. Um, bring it on. I've not been a Patreon yet, so I'm gonna do what you said, go on Patreon, sign up, and then keep my eyes peeled ready for Monday. So yeah, really excited about that and all the extra bits and bobs that you mentioned. So yeah, I just thought I'd send this voice note purely because you said you love voice notes, and I'm excited about that.

Speaker J 0:23:41 And that's it. Have an amazing week. It's gonna be warm, sun's shining. Enjoy yourselves, everyone. Speak soon.

Speaker J 0:23:48 Bye! Bye!

Natalie Cassidy 0:23:49 Oh, thank you for that. That's lovely. Thank you.

Marc 0:23:52 I'd like to find out if she'd be as chirpy now in the heat.

Natalie Cassidy 0:23:57 Yeah.

Marc 0:23:58 I mean, it'd be quite funny, like the—

Natalie Cassidy 0:24:00 I know, but come on. The next voiceover would just be cricket sounds. Can we just talk about this for a minute?

Marc 0:24:06 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:24:07 It's— I know that we're obsessed with the weather, but you do just have to get on with it a little bit. The whole country's come to a standstill.

Marc 0:24:15 Right.

Natalie Cassidy 0:24:15 There is a little bit. You, you gotta get on with things sometimes. I mean, today is very, very extreme. 38 is gonna be later.

Marc 0:24:23 Right.

Natalie Cassidy 0:24:24 But that's all we're talking about, isn't it?

Marc 0:24:28 Um.

Natalie Cassidy 0:24:29 I'm a bit bored, I suppose. I'm just bored of talking about how hot it is.

Marc 0:24:32 Well, to be fair, have you been talking about how hot it is?

Natalie Cassidy 0:24:35 Yeah. Every time I pick up the phone to Ellie, I say, how hot is it?

Marc 0:24:38 Right. You haven't really said that to me. I mean, we've said it's a bit hot. I don't, I don't think we've gone overboard on it being a big problem. I mean, it's what a lot of people are talking about, obviously.

Natalie Cassidy 0:24:51 I just think we need to gear up as a country now, don't we? Because this is going to keep happening.

Marc 0:24:55 I've got to say, it's very sad, isn't it? It's, it's a worry.

Natalie Cassidy 0:24:59 But, well, it is what it is, but we need to start gearing up for it each year. Yeah, it can't come to a standstill. No one goes to work, go and pick your kids up at 1 o'clock when you're working.

Marc 0:25:07 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:25:08 You know?

Marc 0:25:08 No, but it's a very sudden climatic change, which would normally have happened over, like, hundreds of years, thousands of years.

Natalie Cassidy 0:25:16 Yeah.

Marc 0:25:16 And you're, you know, it's a bit unusual to have to suddenly deal with that. And, yeah, the country isn't built for it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:25:25 No. Hi, Nat and Mark. It's Grace. Thank you so much for putting my voice note into the podcast. It means a lot to me. Apologies, Mark. I was in a film called The Falling and a film called The Experiment. Do you remember Grace?

Marc 0:25:38 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:25:39 Liar.

Marc 0:25:40 Grace?

Natalie Cassidy 0:25:42 Yeah, I can tell you're lying.

Marc 0:25:45 No, I know Grace.

Natalie Cassidy 0:25:45 Yeah? What was her voice note about?

Marc 0:25:47 Uh, in what? I can't remember what. She's done so many, I can't remember which one.

Natalie Cassidy 0:25:51 No, she hasn't. That was her first one. Honestly, it's very poor.

Marc 0:25:54 Sorry, it was like 2 weeks ago. I've done Royal Ascot since then. I've been in hospital with Joni.

Natalie Cassidy 0:26:00 Oh, talking of Royal Ascot, Yes. Had a little message here.

Marc 0:26:05 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:26:06 From Gemma.

Marc 0:26:08 Right.

Natalie Cassidy 0:26:08 Just spotted a certain Mark in the field looking dapper, camera in hand. Gem, also working at Royal Ascot.

Marc 0:26:16 There you go.

Natalie Cassidy 0:26:17 How was that? All right?

Marc 0:26:19 Hot. Top hat tails, wooden, wooden jacket.

Natalie Cassidy 0:26:22 Could have been worse, couldn't it? Could have been this week.

Marc 0:26:24 If it's really hot, the King lets you take your jacket off at Ascot. Oh, bless him. He didn't do that last week. I was a bit upset about that.

Natalie Cassidy 0:26:30 Oh, what? He didn't? Did he get asked?

Marc 0:26:34 I don't know, but it comes down to that. Whereas previous years, the Queen, when the Queen was alive, she'd say, oh, you can take your jacket off. Maybe Charles is a bit stronger.

Natalie Cassidy 0:26:43 Well, again, it's that kind of motherly thing, isn't it?

Marc 0:26:47 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:26:48 I think. Natalie, I need you to channel your inner Esther Rantzen. We need a programme making about how absolutely shite customer service is these days. Mm-hmm. It's all fucking QR codes and live chats with robots and emails being ignored and crappy deliveries not arriving. I would voice message, but to be honest, I think it'd be all expletives. I've had problems with 4 companies over the last few weeks. Must be retrograde or something in Capricorn, probably.

Marc 0:27:24 Sorry. Was that English what you just said there?

Natalie Cassidy 0:27:26 It was, yeah.

Marc 0:27:27 Retrograde in Capricorn.

Natalie Cassidy 0:27:30 Or, or something to do with Capricorn. Retrograde, it— when—

Marc 0:27:33 Just explain for the other 3 people listening to this who know what you're talking about. Maybe for everybody else, explain it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:27:40 Retrograde. Yeah. Is a certain period of the month. Yeah. In terms of the moons.

Marc 0:27:44 Right.

Natalie Cassidy 0:27:44 What's going on up there? I'm not an expert. But when it's retrograde—

Marc 0:27:50 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:27:50 Electric things go wrong. There's lateness. There's— it's always very— things go wrong at that time.

Marc 0:27:58 Okay.

Natalie Cassidy 0:27:59 I'll have a little look at the Moon actually for this week, what we've just been through.

Marc 0:28:03 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:28:04 I wish we had a proper programme about this. I know they have a consumer programme sometimes on BBC in the morning, but we need to revisit that to life. Is that what it was called? Yeah, That's Life, but with me instead. Brilliant.

Marc 0:28:18 It's a good idea, that. I, I was thinking of Watchdog. Remember Watchdog?

Natalie Cassidy 0:28:22 Oh, I liked Watchdog. Was that Adam Robinson?

Marc 0:28:24 Uh, yeah. And that was all customer services. Where's she gone? Oh, I don't know.

Natalie Cassidy 0:28:30 She's not passed, is she?

Marc 0:28:33 Sorry. Have a little Google of that, maybe.

Natalie Cassidy 0:28:35 No, she's just having a rest, I'm sure.

Marc 0:28:38 I don't know. So her daughter does something as well, doesn't she? Does she? Google Anne Robertson. I haven't got my phone with me, so I can't do it for you. Anne Robertson's daughter definitely does something, and I'm sure she's sort of a presenter.

Natalie Cassidy 0:28:52 Really?

Marc 0:28:53 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:28:53 Oh, she's 81. She is fantastic.

Marc 0:29:01 Still alive?

Natalie Cassidy 0:29:02 Absolutely.

Marc 0:29:03 Good.

Natalie Cassidy 0:29:04 Not sure about the daughter.

Marc 0:29:05 Anne Robertson's daughter definitely was a presenter. Was she even on Watchdog?

Natalie Cassidy 0:29:10 Hang on a minute. Oh, broadcast journalist and television producer, Emma Wilson.

Marc 0:29:16 Right. Okay. She's definitely been on the telly. I've seen her on the telly.

Natalie Cassidy 0:29:19 Right.

Marc 0:29:21 I thought she did something with her mum. It could even have been like a consumer affairs.

Natalie Cassidy 0:29:25 Oh, I'm not sure.

Marc 0:29:26 But Watchdog was brilliant because they used to hold companies accountable. Someone would phone up and say, I've gone to this shop and I keep buying, you know, I bought this product and 10 other people would buy this product and 10 people, the 10 people would say it was useless.

Marc 0:29:37 Yeah. Yeah. The, the next week, the managing director of the company company would be standing there getting, you know, and then they'd say, yeah, we're going to give their money back and compensation. Yes, they were all sort of publicly held accountable. It was a really good show.

Marc 0:29:51 Whereas now, did you look to the fan then for a view? Yes. Do you genuinely want to listen to that more than me?

Natalie Cassidy 0:29:56 Yeah.

Marc 0:29:58 Okay.

Natalie Cassidy 0:30:00 No, the reflection caught my eye. I thought someone was walking past. That's why I looked around.

Marc 0:30:03 Reflection?

Natalie Cassidy 0:30:04 The reflection in there. It caught my eye. Oh, carry on. Anyway, yeah, it was good. They hold them accountable.

Marc 0:30:13 Excellent. Good show for you, that would be. And good use of television. That'd be good on the telly, something like that. Well, really good. And it's popular. Martin Lewis, that's another consumer, another consumer programme. People like that.

Natalie Cassidy 0:30:25 People love it, don't they?

Speaker K 0:30:26 Yeah. Hey, Nat, just wanted to leave you a quick voice note because you and Michael said you love a voice note. Hi, this is Lisa from Hull. I just wanted to say hi, thoroughly enjoying the pod, love listening to you, an exceptional programme, and well done on your results. Lots of love. Ah, kiss kiss, bye.

Natalie Cassidy 0:30:45 Cheers, Lisa.

Marc 0:30:48 Yeah, voice notes.

Natalie Cassidy 0:30:49 Lovely, um, lovely. I like that accent.

Marc 0:30:52 One of my favourite episodes of Only Fools and Horses, To Hull and Back.

Natalie Cassidy 0:30:56 Hmm, great.

Marc 0:30:59 Oh, getting full of conversation today.

Speaker L 0:31:01 Hello, Natalie, it's Sean again from Paddington. Um, just back on the name thing, because I've been listening to your pods there, and it was really interesting today to hear, um, the ladies, they were calling you Natalie.

Natalie Cassidy 0:31:14 And I know that, um, Mark and you had the conversation about— said, isn't it funny how your listeners call you Nat like, you know, they don't know you? But if you just let him know, it's the complete opposite for me. The reason I call you Nat is because I don't know you. Um, even though, like I've said before, you know, of course you're everybody's best friend, um, and I would feel that I was intruding on your personal life if I called you Natalie. So in my head, it's working the opposite way.

Speaker L 0:31:40 So yes, and that is because I'm not, um, a loved one, as it were. So yeah, that's weird, isn't it, how people's brains work? So that was me. Okay, take care. Bye-bye.

Natalie Cassidy 0:31:50 Love Sian. She messages all the time. Loves a voice note.

Marc 0:31:53 That was a very long time ago we were talking about that.

Natalie Cassidy 0:31:55 Well, but But it's true though, isn't it?

Marc 0:31:58 Yes, it is.

Natalie Cassidy 0:31:59 Nat is actually— people that call me Natalie, yeah, probably know me more.

Marc 0:32:05 Who calls you Natalie?

Natalie Cassidy 0:32:06 You.

Marc 0:32:06 Yep.

Natalie Cassidy 0:32:07 Elia and Maria, quite a, quite a bit.

Marc 0:32:11 They do actually, yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:32:12 Um, Tony.

Marc 0:32:13 They do actually.

Natalie Cassidy 0:32:14 Tony.

Marc 0:32:14 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:32:15 It's interesting. Linda. Family, really.

Marc 0:32:19 Isn't that funny? Sometimes it's Nat, but I don't think I've ever called you Nat in my life.

Natalie Cassidy 0:32:25 Don't think so.

Marc 0:32:26 I genuinely mean that as well. I don't think I have. No. There you go.

Natalie Cassidy 0:32:31 It's a good point, Sian. Very good point made.

Speaker L 0:32:33 Hello, Nat. Sian again. Just the last one. Um, I'm sure you've probably, um, heard from Claire to say that she's come to see you in London in November. And, um, yes, I'll be coming too, along with Dawn the Prawn and Sophie. And yeah, I'm afraid we've got all the front row seats pretty much, so We will be seeing you there.

Natalie Cassidy 0:32:55 Brilliant.

Speaker L 0:32:56 Um, and my sister Kim, who doesn't listen to the pods, but she's the one I dragged with me to your first few, um, events I went to and was disappointed because I hadn't got a ticket. She's like, I'd have come to that one. So I was like, okay. So luckily there was still one seat left. So yeah, she's coming along too, um, and she can commiserate with Maria because yeah, she's, she's the one who's 40 this year too. Take care, see you soon, bye-bye.

Natalie Cassidy 0:33:23 Cheers, Sharni. Can't wait to see you all. Love the fact that the old hardcore fans are gonna be in the front row. Love it, love it, love it.

Marc 0:33:31 Is Maria 40 this year?

Natalie Cassidy 0:33:33 Would you believe it? No. Doing a little birthday special soon for her.

Marc 0:33:36 Are you?

Natalie Cassidy 0:33:37 Like they did for me. Okay. Get her some bits and that. Oh, she's gonna hear it. She's gonna listen to this. No, she won't. It'll ruin it. No, she won't. She might not. There you go.

Marc 0:33:45 She won't want anything special though. She won't want a fuss made or anything.

Natalie Cassidy 0:33:48 No. No, bless her, she deserves a fuss made. She deserves it.

Speaker M 0:33:53 Hi, nice to see you. It's Jenny from Sunderland, and just listened to your Scripting the Viral podcast with Mark and him fiddling under the desk. Oh, what a naughty boy. Oh, he's like a little schoolboy. Oh, I always say hands on the desk when I am at school, um, as I'm a teacher.

Speaker M 0:34:12 Oh, you never know what they might be fiddling with under that table. But yeah, oh, I was listening to your Patreon chat And I'm wondering, do I have to sign up to my listening channel, which is Spotify, to the app, or is it a completely different website? Because if I can get more of you in my ears, I definitely want that because you just— you guys make me smile. Oh, and every day, oh, just having you guys whilst I'm on my dog walk just keeps me happy, keeps me chuckling. Um, and I think, yep, 2 a week, I love it.

Speaker M 0:34:50 But if I can go a little bit more, amazing.

Natalie Cassidy 0:34:53 Thank you so, so much for that. That's lovely. Well, you'll be listening to this on the dog walk and I would have explained it all to you, so thank you very, very much. We had a little picture here. Someone has taken a picture. Hi Nat, hope you are well. Just catching up on the pod here in sunny Fuerteventura. Just looked up and spotted a whole van dedicated to MaxiBonds. Made me think of Mark. I will enjoy one for him. Keep doing what you're doing. Best podcast out there. Chloe from Andover. Thank you, Chloe. Look, spotted. Nice. Maxibon van.

Marc 0:35:26 There you go.

Natalie Cassidy 0:35:27 Isn't it lovely? I, I know we've said it before, but I love the fact that people are away and they think of you when they see the old Maxibons.

Marc 0:35:33 It's so weird.

Natalie Cassidy 0:35:34 It's good, isn't it?

Marc 0:35:35 It is funny.

Natalie Cassidy 0:35:36 The same as I have a lot of people saying when they're in the shower now and they wash their feet, they just think of me. I had a little message about it actually, um, earlier on.

Marc 0:35:47 Right.

Natalie Cassidy 0:35:47 And they said, I hope in this heat you're washing your feet in the shower. That was from Jodie.

Marc 0:35:52 It's an interesting thing to think about.

Natalie Cassidy 0:35:54 And actually, Jodie, you're right, I do. Because your feet get dirty, you're in and out, you've got flip-flops on, and you're absolutely right. I actually this morning, and I'm not lying, got into the shower in my dress and only washed my feet. Because they were dirty.

Marc 0:36:11 That was like, um, in the pilgrimage days, that was like offering someone a cup of tea.

Natalie Cassidy 0:36:17 Washing their feet for them. Really?

Marc 0:36:19 Yeah, if you're on a long walk, you'd be like, you know, you'd be offered a, do you want to wash your feet? Oh, that's a little bonus. Talking of that, what— this was an interesting thing.

Natalie Cassidy 0:36:31 Go on.

Marc 0:36:32 I was walking into Ascot and we have to park quite a long way away.

Natalie Cassidy 0:36:37 Yeah.

Marc 0:36:38 And on the walk in, we walked down what used to be the old racecourse, the old mile straight. Funnily enough, it's about a mile long. Funny enough. And while you're walking along it, I was thinking, oh, my feet hurt, because really, by the second day, I had a blister, really bad blister on my heel.

Natalie Cassidy 0:36:54 You really did. It was huge as well.

Marc 0:36:55 Actually, I thought— How is that now? It's disappeared.

Natalie Cassidy 0:36:58 That's good.

Marc 0:36:58 All the fluid leaked.

Natalie Cassidy 0:37:00 Oh, please, darling. People are having their breakfast. That's really horrible.

Marc 0:37:03 No, it did. I was out in my Crocs. I took the bin out last week.

Natalie Cassidy 0:37:08 Yeah. All right. Don't say anymore.

Marc 0:37:09 But I, I thought like my foot got onto water. No, please.

Natalie Cassidy 0:37:13 It's as bad as the old snot sucking conversation.

Marc 0:37:16 Anyway. Yeah. So we're walking in and I'm thinking, oh, my feet kill. So that feet were on the, on the brain. That and the fact I was wearing, you know, 3 layers, a waistcoat, you know, it's warm.

Natalie Cassidy 0:37:28 Yeah.

Marc 0:37:29 And the guy in front of me, just a member of the public, was walking and happened to be walking past Ascot.

Natalie Cassidy 0:37:36 Yeah.

Marc 0:37:37 So he has transited like part of a car park, which I think is like public space or something, I don't know.

Natalie Cassidy 0:37:45 Right.

Marc 0:37:46 He's walking through that, then he got onto the curb and he's crossed the road and he's got up onto like the hard standing next to it and he had to walk over like, um, ramps, little ramps and things. He didn't have any shoes on or socks. Mm-hmm. He was completely barefooted walking his dog.

Natalie Cassidy 0:38:02 A lot of people barefoot walk.

Marc 0:38:03 His feet were black. Mm-hmm. Like completely filthy.

Natalie Cassidy 0:38:07 Loads of people do it. Grounding, isn't it? People run marathons. Not on the— sorry, darling, people run—

Marc 0:38:14 But it's not grounding on the tarmac. People— What if there's a bit of glass on the floor?

Natalie Cassidy 0:38:16 People run the marathon.

Marc 0:38:18 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:38:18 With no shoes on.

Marc 0:38:19 Right. But, but why go out for your casual dog walk Got traversing all of that.

Natalie Cassidy 0:38:24 Because people like to be foot to ground.

Marc 0:38:30 But there's no conductivity through tarmac.

Natalie Cassidy 0:38:32 It's not just tarmac though.

Marc 0:38:34 I get it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:38:35 I know, but you can't— he's not gonna put his shoes on to go over the tarmac, right? So if he's out and he's in the park, he's doing the grass, and then he has to do a bit of pavement, whatever, it's meant to be extremely, extremely good for you.

Marc 0:38:46 Or earthing your body.

Natalie Cassidy 0:38:48 Yes.

Marc 0:38:49 Right.

Natalie Cassidy 0:38:49 I was gonna get us an earthing sheet for the bed.

Marc 0:38:52 Yeah. You could do that. And at the same time, we could get a pair of binoculars so we can stare at the moon. Between us, we'd be alright, wouldn't we? We'd, we'd turn into the— I mean, we could go the whole hog, couldn't we? And start having wind chimes everywhere.

Natalie Cassidy 0:39:05 And— Why are you being out of order to people?

Marc 0:39:07 I'm not.

Natalie Cassidy 0:39:07 It's very stereotypical. Don't bring people up.

Marc 0:39:09 Painting a picture. I'm painting a picture. Very stereotypical. Stereotypical situations are all over the place. Get some sage.

Natalie Cassidy 0:39:16 I had some sage, didn't I? I used to burn some sage.

Marc 0:39:18 Burn some incense sticks.

Natalie Cassidy 0:39:20 I used to do that when I was younger in my bedroom. Cover up the smoke, smell of cigarettes.

Marc 0:39:25 Yeah. Alright. Do it for some of that now, to be fair.

Natalie Cassidy 0:39:30 What's that, darling?

Marc 0:39:32 Just some masking. Incense burning.

Natalie Cassidy 0:39:34 Why?

Marc 0:39:35 That's because it's nice, isn't it? It's better than—

Natalie Cassidy 0:39:36 Masking what? Don't try and get out of that.

Marc 0:39:39 Feet that haven't been washed in a shower.

Natalie Cassidy 0:39:40 Well, my feet have been washed.

Marc 0:39:42 No.

Natalie Cassidy 0:39:42 I've, I've shaved my armpits.

Marc 0:39:45 Brilliant.

Natalie Cassidy 0:39:45 This morning.

Marc 0:39:45 Okay. Um, how often do you do that?

Natalie Cassidy 0:39:50 Uh, depends really. In the summer, maybe every 4 or 5 days.

Marc 0:39:56 It's quite a lot of upkeep, isn't it?

Natalie Cassidy 0:39:59 Women.

Marc 0:40:00 Yeah, yeah. Don't mention it much, do you? But you know, stuff like that. Again, I can feel I'm a very Very slightly treacherous ground here, so we'll—

Natalie Cassidy 0:40:14 Should we move on?

Marc 0:40:14 We'll move on. Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:42:46 I have to say something, actually, talking about us, our relationship. I do feel— oh, it's a hard one, this. There is one good thing that comes out of huge emergencies. and traumatic experiences.

Marc 0:43:03 Is there really? I'm looking forward to hearing this.

Natalie Cassidy 0:43:05 The fact we're such a good team.

Marc 0:43:08 Right.

Natalie Cassidy 0:43:11 And that I feel we support each other. We just get on with it. Those couple of days in hospital, I, you are like, right, you go home now. You do what you need to do. I mean, we were very fortunate that we both weren't working.

Marc 0:43:25 Very, very incredible.

Natalie Cassidy 0:43:26 Incredibly lucky.

Marc 0:43:27 Well, it's the same as when she did it the first time. I know.

Natalie Cassidy 0:43:30 But what I'm saying is, I'm sure there, you could let me know, listeners. Let me know. I'm sure people do have partners maybe that aren't, you know, that, that teamwork doesn't work as much.

Marc 0:43:41 Oh, I, I don't know. I'm sure when, when you're in situations like that, I mean, that's quite an extreme thing. It is. But we're not talking about having an argument about who's putting the bin out.

Natalie Cassidy 0:43:50 I know, but it's quite a thing. I would, I bet there are people.

Marc 0:43:53 It's very difficult.

Natalie Cassidy 0:43:54 I've had emergency situations where their partner has not helped the situation? I bet there are. No. 07788 201919. Maybe I'm completely wrong.

Marc 0:44:07 I'd like to think our, our listeners are all kind of in nice relationships where they're supportive. I know. Sure, that's the case.

Natalie Cassidy 0:44:13 Yeah. I hope so. But there are a lot of people that aren't in those.

Marc 0:44:17 Maybe. But also, it's, it's, I've gotta say, I mean, it's very strange because we were talking to Elia, Yeah. About 3 days before this happened. It's true. About how traumatic it was the first time around.

Natalie Cassidy 0:44:32 Don't.

Marc 0:44:32 And you'd only think afterwards, I can't believe we had that conversation. I know. But it made me realise having that conversation with Elia, it really, really affected me. That it really affected me. And I, and I've said that since, you know, it's 2 years ago.

Natalie Cassidy 0:44:51 Yeah.

Marc 0:44:52 And in the moment, you just get, like you're saying, you just get on with it. Mm-hmm. Which is why I'm saying this really, because you've just reminded me.

Natalie Cassidy 0:44:57 Well, it's fight or flight, isn't it? You just crack on.

Marc 0:44:59 But even on, even when we got the phone call.

Natalie Cassidy 0:45:02 Yeah.

Marc 0:45:03 And I was in, I, I mean, I remember, like, just thinking, this cannot be happening. Like, when, when I got, when you got off the phone, because I heard one side of the story. I know. And just thought, no, this can't be the case. Cannot have happened.

Marc 0:45:14 But weirdly, going into the school, I sort of, I sort of knew what I was expecting, which didn't make it easy, but it's not pleasant seeing your child, you know, screaming in pain. No. And it being very upsetting and the shock of it all. And, you know, but I did also, I was very aware that, you know, you were, you were gonna— well, you— I knew what it would be like from your perspective. I could empathise with that, and it just needed sorting out.

Marc 0:45:41 But you just gotta take control, you just gotta get on with it, haven't you?

Natalie Cassidy 0:45:43 Yeah.

Marc 0:45:43 And I think both of us— that's not, by the way, that's not me at all suggesting that Oh, you know, I dealt with it really well. But no, I think, I think both of us dealt with it very well. I'm saying both of us kinda got on with it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:45:54 Sure.

Marc 0:45:55 It's not, it's not, it's just, it's not very pleasant, is it? No. No one wants to do that.

Natalie Cassidy 0:45:58 I think once I got over the initial shock of it all, then I was okay. Yeah.

Marc 0:46:01 And then, you know, it's something at least, and it's like we said the other day, it's happened now.

Natalie Cassidy 0:46:04 I know. There's nothing you can do.

Marc 0:46:05 It could be, it could be a million times worse. It could be absolutely something that's repairable. Yeah. It's, it's something to talk about. Well, there's always someone else worse off.

Natalie Cassidy 0:46:15 And you have to just remember that.

Marc 0:46:16 Always.

Natalie Cassidy 0:46:16 Gail from Buckinghamshire. Hi, Natalie. We are currently in Spain. I saw these in the Carrefour, thought of Mark. Love the pod. Can't wait to see you in Tring in November. Lovely, Gail. Thank you. Another one thinking of you on a holiday. Quite a lot of women who think about you on their holidays. How's that make you feel?

Marc 0:46:36 Well, they're thinking about ice creams. I'm pretty— I mean, I don't even know what that was about. All of us, all of us are really interested. What was she thinking about? What do you think? I don't know, because being, being not necessarily a visual medium.

Natalie Cassidy 0:46:48 Yes. It's a large picture of a freezer with lots and lots of Maxibons in there.

Marc 0:46:55 There we go.

Natalie Cassidy 0:46:55 I can't believe we don't get paid for this Maxibon thing.

Marc 0:47:00 Well, they don't really exist in this country. Completely out of order.

Natalie Cassidy 0:47:03 Yeah. Had to join the Patreon gang. Otherwise, I'm gonna have FOMO. Jane from Beds. Well done, Jane. Thought of you as I was making dinner tonight. Bag of grated cheese, hands straight in.

Marc 0:47:15 Oh, you can't do that.

Natalie Cassidy 0:47:17 But as it's only me using it, I'm figuring that's okay. Check with Mark for me.

Marc 0:47:21 Well, is it okay? I'll tell you what you should do. Find someone you know works in a lab and just send off a sample about a week later and just see what's in there. See what's started growing. Oh, you don't do it. You can't do that. You must use a utensil.

Natalie Cassidy 0:47:36 Not even on your own?

Marc 0:47:37 No, because you've got stuff, bacteria all over your hands that's gonna go into a bag of cheese.

Natalie Cassidy 0:47:43 Fair enough.

Marc 0:47:44 And it's gonna fester and grow.

Natalie Cassidy 0:47:46 Don't say that.

Marc 0:47:46 Microorganisms are gonna grow in your bag of cheese, and then you're eating it again.

Natalie Cassidy 0:47:50 Smell my cheese.

Marc 0:47:52 Don't ever do that again. That is absolutely the most bizarre thing.

Natalie Cassidy 0:47:57 Alan Partridge, isn't it?

Marc 0:47:59 No.

Natalie Cassidy 0:48:01 Yeah. Is it? Yes, it is.

Marc 0:48:04 Google it. No. I mean, just— it's quicker for you to Google it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:48:11 All right, okay, it is.

Speaker Q 0:48:14 Got some cheese?

Speaker D 0:48:15 No, thank you.

Speaker Q 0:48:16 It's quite nice. Smells— do you want to smell it?

Speaker D 0:48:21 No, thank you.

Speaker Q 0:48:21 Smell the cheese.

Speaker D 0:48:22 No, I don't want to smell it.

Speaker Q 0:48:23 Smell my cheese.

Speaker D 0:48:24 Alan, please.

Speaker Q 0:48:25 Smell my cheese, you mother!

Speaker R 0:48:26 I think that's quite enough.

Marc 0:48:29 I didn't know that.

Natalie Cassidy 0:48:35 There you go. And I like that. Smell my cheese, mother. Very good.

Marc 0:48:39 I'd forgotten that scene.

Natalie Cassidy 0:48:40 Yeah, fantastic.

Marc 0:48:41 I stand corrected.

Natalie Cassidy 0:48:42 Really? As usual. That's all right. Let's have a listen to this.

Speaker C 0:48:45 Oh, Nats, I've been trying to get out of the habit of sending you messages like you're my friend.

Natalie Cassidy 0:48:49 Oh no, never do that.

Speaker C 0:48:51 I'm looking forward to hearing you on the Shagged, Married, Annoyed podcast, my 2 favourite podcasts. together.

Speaker S 0:48:57 And, um, yeah, you and Rosie are so similar. That's so funny. I just wanted to say, you were talking about how they market face products for kids. What about vapes? I mean, I know you vape, but you're an adult. It drives me wild. I don't know if it's the same in the UK, but in South Africa, they are— they look like toys. They have them at like sweet kiosks.

Speaker T 0:49:21 and things, um, next to all the other things that children would buy. They are marketing vapes for kids.

Speaker S 0:49:28 It really— I, I have a huge problem with it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:49:31 I think you're absolutely right, Angel. They're bright, they're fruity, they're like sweets, aren't they?

Marc 0:49:38 You've got to stop vaping.

Natalie Cassidy 0:49:40 I know.

Marc 0:49:41 You do need to do that. You can do that as well. You're more than capable of doing that.

Natalie Cassidy 0:49:46 I don't know if I am.

Marc 0:49:48 Yes, you are.

Natalie Cassidy 0:49:49 Honestly.

Marc 0:49:50 You've only gotta do 3 days.

Natalie Cassidy 0:49:51 I don't think I can do it. I'd have to go away. I've told you this. I'm being serious. I would have to go away. Do you know when you can do it? When?

Marc 0:49:58 When we go on holiday. Do what I did. No way. Even easier. Perfect. Do you know what? I'd recommend that to anybody who wants to give up smoking.

Natalie Cassidy 0:50:05 I think it's amazing that you've given up.

Marc 0:50:07 No, but seriously, the stopping on holiday, it was hot. It wasn't pleasant doing it. I didn't enjoy doing it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:50:14 I really enjoyed it.

Marc 0:50:15 It affected my breathing.

Natalie Cassidy 0:50:16 It's like holiday here and I love sitting in the garden.

Marc 0:50:18 It was horrible. And then you get on an aeroplane, you get in a— so you get in a cab to the airport, you go to an airport, you can't really vape. You then get on a plane, you potentially are forced into a day's worth of travelling, half a day's worth of travelling. Just don't vape. Don't do it when you get home. Try, just try.

Natalie Cassidy 0:50:37 But I think you have to want to try though. It's like anything, isn't it?

Marc 0:50:40 I was just panicked about doing it and just didn't like it. And it really panicked me. And every day that went by, there were days which were really tricky.

Natalie Cassidy 0:50:47 Oh, they were awful. You were awful.

Marc 0:50:48 It was, it was really difficult.

Natalie Cassidy 0:50:50 You did brilliant though.

Marc 0:50:50 But I just stopped.

Natalie Cassidy 0:50:52 It's great.

Marc 0:50:53 But I did have to keep trying. I would like to do it one day. Never say never as well. It's all very well me sitting here that I'm saying, oh, don't do it. No, she might do it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:51:00 Yeah, no, I know.

Marc 0:51:00 It's, you know, I'm not preaching. No. Well, I am, I am preaching.

Natalie Cassidy 0:51:03 You are a bit preachy.

Marc 0:51:04 But I'm doing it in a, in a hopefully in a supportive way. No, I know. 'Cause I, I think it's possible. And if I could do it, I genuinely think—

Natalie Cassidy 0:51:11 I mean, yeah, if you can do it, anyone should be able to do it. Which is what most people are saying.

Marc 0:51:14 have said when they've—

Natalie Cassidy 0:51:15 It's mad.

Marc 0:51:16 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:51:17 Because it, you were, it was mad.

Marc 0:51:18 Yeah. Using it all the time. But it's, it feels so much better. It's just so, even, I'll tell you the weirdest one of all.

Natalie Cassidy 0:51:25 Yeah. Go on.

Marc 0:51:26 It's like going away somewhere where we've stayed somewhere for a night or we've gone, just not having to have the paraphernalia with me.

Natalie Cassidy 0:51:35 Yes. But again, yours was exceptional circumstances.

Marc 0:51:40 What do you mean?

Natalie Cassidy 0:51:41 Well, it was a huge extension lead. There'd be 4 different batteries. It was so old. Oh yeah, but ours were quite antiquated.

Marc 0:51:46 It was so old. Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:51:48 What you used, it was ridiculous. Yeah, that's true.

Marc 0:51:50 That's true, actually.

Natalie Cassidy 0:51:50 And on the lights on the ceiling, it would be like fucking Casualty. There'd be sort of flashing blue lights on the ceiling because of the charging thing. I mean, it wasn't normal.

Marc 0:52:00 No, that's true.

Natalie Cassidy 0:52:02 So.

Marc 0:52:02 It's true, but it was definitely—

Natalie Cassidy 0:52:04 Oh, it's amazing. Brilliant.

Marc 0:52:06 Definitely worth doing. I don't, I'm actually now at the stage where I don't miss it. That's the, that's the really interesting thing, because I have to say, my friend Sophie I was working with, yes, uh, just about 3 days in, and that was a tricky one. 3 days in, I was starting to feel it. We just got back from holiday.

Natalie Cassidy 0:52:22 Yeah.

Marc 0:52:23 We were working next to each other, both on cameras.

Natalie Cassidy 0:52:24 Yeah.

Marc 0:52:25 And we were talking, and I said, oh, I've done, you know, this is what I've done, you know, so I'm in a bit of a— I said I'm a bit grumpy, actually a bit grumpy, is what I said to her. And, um, and she said, oh, my mum stopped smoking like 30, 40 years ago. And I said, oh, that's brilliant. She said, yeah, she still misses it. I just thought, yeah, of all the things to say to someone who's 3 days in, absolutely desperate for nicotine, that possibly wasn't the best one. It was brilliant. But I did think, you know, that's always stayed with me that she said that. And I still remember that.

Natalie Cassidy 0:52:56 I remember Dad.

Marc 0:52:57 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:52:59 When he chucked his fags in the bin when they told him he was gonna have a—

Marc 0:53:01 You should do that story. That's a good story.

Natalie Cassidy 0:53:03 Yeah. Triple— he was gonna have a triple heart bypass. He went to the thing. They said, you've gotta have a full heart operation. All your arteries are blocked. Yeah. He walked out the hospital, got his 20 Embassy, and chucked them in the bin. And he'd have 40 cigarettes before about 10 o'clock in the morning, because he worked in the shop from about 4 o'clock in the morning, 5 o'clock in the morning. And he just chucked them in the bin, never smoked again. But he would always say—

Marc 0:53:25 Brilliant, that.

Natalie Cassidy 0:53:25 He would always say, oh, he liked the smell. Oh, yeah. He enjoyed it. He missed it.

Marc 0:53:30 Yeah. But also, Um, that's the difference as well, because vaping doesn't really— well, it does give off a smell, but it's not the same sort of thing, is it?

Natalie Cassidy 0:53:38 No.

Marc 0:53:39 So that makes it a little bit easier, but it's not good for you.

Natalie Cassidy 0:53:42 No, it's not good for you. It's awful.

Marc 0:53:44 No one's ever going to turn around— I mean, yeah, okay, people stop smoking cigarettes for it, but—

Natalie Cassidy 0:53:49 Well, yeah, that's the other thing. You shouldn't start. I mean, it's mad if you've not smoked and you're vaping.

Marc 0:53:53 Yeah, it's crazy. Well, you see, I see it on the school run. I know, see these kids walking around with them.

Natalie Cassidy 0:53:57 I know.

Marc 0:53:57 Which is what bookends exactly the point of that, isn't it?

Natalie Cassidy 0:54:02 Absolutely. Absolutely.

Marc 0:54:05 Oh, what a somber— not sombre.

Natalie Cassidy 0:54:07 I don't think it's sombre.

Marc 0:54:08 That was actually quite a meaningful little conversation for a minute. You were talking about chocolate ice creams. You're still continuing the feet washing. Feet washing. Yeah. The heat.

Natalie Cassidy 0:54:22 I mean, it's getting very warm in here now, let's be honest.

Marc 0:54:25 I am fine. It's cooler today.

Natalie Cassidy 0:54:28 Why didn't you let me sit in my bikini anyway?

Marc 0:54:30 Because I'm a bit protective over that.

Natalie Cassidy 0:54:33 Are you now?

Marc 0:54:34 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:54:35 Fair enough.

Marc 0:54:37 Right.

Natalie Cassidy 0:54:39 It's very warm. I've had to put my cover up on.

Marc 0:54:41 I mean, I'm not gonna sit here in my pants, am I?

Natalie Cassidy 0:54:43 You did the other day. It's exactly what you did.

Marc 0:54:46 I didn't.

Natalie Cassidy 0:54:46 Yes, you did. You had a t-shirt on. You looked like Winnie the Pooh with your pants on.

Marc 0:54:49 Did I?

Natalie Cassidy 0:54:50 Yes. I mean, you can't see it, can you?

Marc 0:54:54 No, it's like that newsreader thing, isn't it? Not any newsreader in particular I'm talking about here, but there's a— there's a— there's— what? What? It's a good job this isn't live. What's the film? Is it Anchorman? And he wears— yes. Is it Anchorman?

Natalie Cassidy 0:55:08 Yes.

Marc 0:55:09 I might— I could be making that up. There's something where he's wearing like the top half, he's got nothing on. Yeah, yeah, just for ease. No, no dodgy reasons, I should emphasise. And I'm not referring to any newsreader that might—

Natalie Cassidy 0:55:19 Do you think I'll be able to Wear this when I go shopping in a minute. Does it look okay?

Marc 0:55:27 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:55:28 This is quite cool actually.

Marc 0:55:29 Well, again, I can only see the top half of you really.

Natalie Cassidy 0:55:31 I'll show you after. It's a— for everyone knowing, yeah, I've put my leopard print bikini on. A bit of a cats later going on today. And, uh, I've put my cover-up on, but it's— I don't— I think it's acceptable in this weather to go out like this. I don't think anyone will bat an eyelid actually. It's fine. Yeah, a shirt type thing, isn't it?

Marc 0:55:50 Yeah, I don't really know what to say to you. No, you can't really see the bottom half of you. All right, I've said okie dokie, probably okay. I mean, in the UK, if you drive— I mean, this is another generalisation thing, but yeah, if you drive a van and the moment that you're coming out of the spring and the sun's out, top out, top off straight away, the t-shirt's off, t-shirt's off. So if that's acceptable So I'm sure you can walk around with your—

Natalie Cassidy 0:56:15 I'm quite looking forward to going out into the shops to seeing what people are wearing.

Marc 0:56:19 Okay.

Natalie Cassidy 0:56:21 I'm looking forward to it.

Marc 0:56:22 Alright. Well, I was, I, I mean, I don't wanna spoil it for you, but I went to a shop yesterday.

Natalie Cassidy 0:56:27 Yes.

Marc 0:56:27 A large supermarket.

Natalie Cassidy 0:56:28 Yeah.

Marc 0:56:28 People were just wearing clothes.

Natalie Cassidy 0:56:30 Were they?

Marc 0:56:30 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:56:31 No difference. Not really. No bikini tops or—

Marc 0:56:34 No.

Natalie Cassidy 0:56:35 Well, my friend Rachel come around yesterday in her bikini top.

Marc 0:56:38 Yes.

Natalie Cassidy 0:56:38 Which is Unheard of. That's how hot it is. Yeah.

Marc 0:56:44 So yeah. Um, all right, well, you enjoy your shopping trip.

Natalie Cassidy 0:56:47 I'll be looking forward to it. Yeah. And, uh, well, thank you. It's been lovely. I hope everybody enjoyed that little episode. Uh, sorry it's a bit of a downer, but I can't lie to you all. You know that I'm honest. Have a lovely week, whatever you do. What are you up to next week, darling? Oh, bloody hell.

Marc 0:57:06 At Wimbledon.

Natalie Cassidy 0:57:07 Starting Wimbledon. Oh, I'm pleased that's on the telly. Lovely. Something to look forward to.

Marc 0:57:12 Lovely. Look out for me, can't you?

Natalie Cassidy 0:57:14 Absolutely.

Marc 0:57:15 Where's Wally?

Natalie Cassidy 0:57:16 Where's Marky? Begins again. Can't believe we've— we're another year around the sun doing Where's Marky on the telly.

Marc 0:57:22 I know.

Natalie Cassidy 0:57:22 It's gone so quick.

Marc 0:57:24 It was. And also, interestingly, last year a lot of people spotted me. A lot of people did. A bit more than normal. It's quite good fun though.

Natalie Cassidy 0:57:32 Good fun. If you fancy playing, drop us a little screen grab, screen grab and a voice note if you want to get involved with Where's Marky. That'd be lovely.

Marc 0:57:40 I can give a clue. I'm trying to think where I— there are days where you definitely can't see me.

Natalie Cassidy 0:57:46 Well, that's all right.

Marc 0:57:47 There's one day a week, at least, where you can't see me.

Natalie Cassidy 0:57:50 I think it's all right.

Marc 0:57:51 But, you know, you don't want to waste people's time.

Natalie Cassidy 0:57:53 I don't think people are going to be glued to their telly playing it all day long.

Marc 0:57:56 Fair enough. You think they might be watching the tennis?

Natalie Cassidy 0:57:58 They could be just watching the tennis.

Marc 0:57:59 Maybe people do do that. Maybe people do watch Wimbledon for the tennis.

Natalie Cassidy 0:58:03 And they might spot you.

Marc 0:58:04 But the odd person that doesn't watch Wimbledon for the tennis might be looking for me. Fair enough.

Natalie Cassidy 0:58:08 Fair enough.

Marc 0:58:08 But if you do spot me, you know, send a message in either on the WhatsApp number, which I still don't know.

Natalie Cassidy 0:58:13 Also, 07788 201919, why did you give me a funny look earlier when the postman came and I offered him a lolly?

Marc 0:58:21 Okay, think of it from his perspective, right? Go on. I'm a postman. Yeah. I'm putting myself in his shoes.

Natalie Cassidy 0:58:26 Go on.

Marc 0:58:27 So I'm walking around, get to a house, I put the post in the letterbox, I turn around on a white— I'm on, on a mission. Excuse me, excuse me. Now thinking about, oh, what she— what's this person gonna want? She's got something to give back to me. It's got the wrong address on it. She's got something. Turn around, woman standing there, leopard print bikini. Do you want an ice lolly? I'm just gonna think, what is wrong? What is going on?

Natalie Cassidy 0:58:53 I was trying—

Marc 0:58:54 I'm in a rush here. I'm trying— I've got, I've got a lot. It's hot and I wanna get these letters delivered.

Natalie Cassidy 0:58:58 I thought it'd be a nice thing, nice gesture, working in this heat.

Marc 0:59:01 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:59:02 That's why I ran out there.

Marc 0:59:03 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:59:04 Said, do you want a lolly, mate?

Marc 0:59:05 It's a bit strange, the whole thing, isn't it, really?

Natalie Cassidy 0:59:09 But I was trying to cool him down. Sweating he was.

Marc 0:59:13 Right.

Natalie Cassidy 0:59:14 And I wanted him to know that I was thinking of him, thanking him. For his hard work in this weather.

Marc 0:59:18 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:59:20 I thought it was quite a nice thing to do.

Marc 0:59:21 Just found it a bit strange.

Natalie Cassidy 0:59:23 Anyway, he didn't have one, did he? So fuck him. There you go.

Marc 0:59:26 No.

Natalie Cassidy 0:59:27 You shan't ask— ask him again.

Marc 0:59:28 No, okay.

Natalie Cassidy 0:59:29 Right, let's go. Woo! Love you.

Marc 0:59:34 Love you too.

Natalie Cassidy 0:59:35 See you later. Thanks everyone, bye!