EP252: Tony talks #25 – important lessons from the building site and tackle shop

Natalie Cassidy 0:02:13 I mean, you've been talking about not having any maggots, but surely in this weather you've got enough maggots. To last you a lifetime.

Tony 0:02:28 Well, you've got loads in the bin, but they're not the ones I want.

Natalie Cassidy 0:02:32 Right.

Tony 0:02:32 I want the ones that are bred purely for fishing.

Natalie Cassidy 0:02:35 What's the difference?

Tony 0:02:36 Do you really want a maggot lesson?

Natalie Cassidy 0:02:38 Yes.

Tony 0:02:39 Different flies produce different larvae, different maggots.

Natalie Cassidy 0:02:43 Right.

Tony 0:02:43 Housefly breeds a large maggot. Another type of fly will breed a smaller one, but we call them pinkies. They're just a smaller one for small fish. Another fly will breed another larvae. We call 'em squats, and they're very tiny and very succulent. So little fish like 'em. So there's different flies breed different larvae, which are maggots. And so we, and we use certain ones at certain times a year for certain, in certain places, certain fish.

Natalie Cassidy 0:03:11 So you are running low at the moment?

Tony 0:03:12 Well, we're not running low, but there's been a lot of problems on the bait farms 'cause there are professional bait farms that are set up. just to breed maggots.

Natalie Cassidy 0:03:19 Yes.

Tony 0:03:20 For angling purposes.

Natalie Cassidy 0:03:23 Right.

Tony 0:03:23 And they do have problems in the heat where sometimes they might have a whole cycle go down where all their flies die 'cause it's too hot. Which for most people would be brilliant. All their flies are dead.

Natalie Cassidy 0:03:35 Brilliant.

Tony 0:03:36 Great. They're not buzzing around driving you mad. But for a bait farm, that is pretty much devastating.

Natalie Cassidy 0:03:42 Yeah, no, I get that.

Tony 0:03:43 Yeah. We've had that situation, not loads, but we've had it a little bit recently. I see. So, and, and stuff's not turning up in the fishing, in the tackle shop. So we're ordering a certain amount of stuff and it's, you're only getting a half or a quarter of it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:03:58 Oh.

Tony 0:03:59 So that's a bit difficult and we have to—

Natalie Cassidy 0:04:01 Risky business.

Tony 0:04:02 Yeah. And we have to sort of beg, borrow, and steal. And someone picks up our bait and he nicks someone else's and—

Natalie Cassidy 0:04:08 Really?

Tony 0:04:09 Yeah. Not give them as much and yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:04:19 Welcome to Life with Nat, everyone. I'm here with Tony tonight.

Tony 0:04:21 Good evening, everybody.

Natalie Cassidy 0:04:23 Oh dear, how funny.

Tony 0:04:25 Yeah, yeah, sounds ridiculous, doesn't it? It does sound— I'm talking about it, it sounds absolutely mad. I've got mates up in Staffordshire.

Natalie Cassidy 0:04:31 Yeah.

Tony 0:04:32 And when I was fishing, we fished a big competition together. They asked me to fish for their team about 5 or 6 years ago now.

Tony 0:04:39 And I was on their group thingy, chatty thing. And every Friday, they would all get their bait from different shops. Not all of them, but there'd be like, there might be 12 of us in the squad.

Tony 0:04:54 And we might use 4 or 5 different tackle shops, 'cause we're in slightly different areas. You know, some were more Coventry-based, some were Staffordshire-based. Yes, yeah. Some were more up north or whatever. And there was this thing where, You had to pick your bait up, these, this certain type of maggot called a squat, the little tiny things.

Tony 0:05:11 And you had to get a pound coin and put it in the bait box and take a picture of it and put it on the group so everyone could see how big the bait was. 'Cause the, so it sounds ridiculous. So it's this tiny little bait that we use.

Natalie Cassidy 0:05:24 Yes.

Tony 0:05:25 But the bigger it is, up to a certain size, the better.

Natalie Cassidy 0:05:28 Right.

Tony 0:05:29 'Cause it'll only— More succulent. It'll, yeah, exactly. And easier to use and whatever. So it'll only ever get to a certain size, but you want it at its premium size. Yes. Not its little tiny size. 'Cause the tiny ones, you can't put 'em on the hook and they're too small and whatever. So we'd have this thing where people would, the cry would go out, what are the squats like this week? And everyone would, they'd get their bait and put a pound coin in the thing and take a picture and everyone would go, oh, they're good. Or, oh, they're shit this week or whatever.

Natalie Cassidy 0:05:58 How funny.

Tony 0:05:59 Yeah. Yeah. Different world. Strange world.

Natalie Cassidy 0:06:02 I think everyone has their own quirks and—

Tony 0:06:05 Twilight world.

Natalie Cassidy 0:06:06 Yeah. Squat world, by the sounds of it. Squat world.

Tony 0:06:10 Yeah, funny, talking about maggots in, um, in bins.

Natalie Cassidy 0:06:13 Yes.

Tony 0:06:14 I've seen a big increase in people on, in what I do, they, they're having, uh, waste disposal units 'cause they're so fed up of the waste bin being overrun by Yeah, but you've always said no to a waste disposable to me. Yes.

Natalie Cassidy 0:06:30 You've always said they're not great.

Tony 0:06:32 They're horrible. Don't like 'em. They smell. Mm-hmm. Can't clean 'em. But people don't take any notice of me. And then what happens is you get one of my customers decided to put a whole, they had this rice in a spaghetti jar.

Natalie Cassidy 0:06:46 Right.

Tony 0:06:47 That was obviously old.

Natalie Cassidy 0:06:49 And they've put the whole thing.

Tony 0:06:50 They put the whole lot down the waste disposal. That's ridiculous. And the waste disposal hasn't chopped any of it up 'cause it's so small. Mm-hmm. And it just blocked all their drains.

Natalie Cassidy 0:06:57 Well, yeah, that's ridiculous.

Tony 0:06:59 And all their drains overflowed and came up through the sink and flooded their kitchen. So I got a phone call to say, our kitchen's flooded, there's something wrong with the plumbing. And then when I got underneath, there's like an undercroft thing where the, the pipes were and stuff, and got in there and unscrewed the—

Natalie Cassidy 0:07:16 Just a shit tonne of rice.

Tony 0:07:17 It, it was just, yeah, it was just, yeah, there's just tonnes and tonnes and tonnes and tonnes and tonnes of rice. It was like concrete.

Natalie Cassidy 0:07:24 Well, that's ridiculous. Why would you not put that in the bin? Because people think they can put anything down a waste pipe.

Tony 0:07:29 And that's the problem.

Natalie Cassidy 0:07:31 Hmm. That's an interesting one.

Tony 0:07:34 Yeah. I don't like 'em. I'd rather have, I'm sorry, I'd rather have maggots in me bin.

Natalie Cassidy 0:07:38 Would you really? Than a waste disposal.

Tony 0:07:39 Yeah. They're not, I don't like 'em at all.

Natalie Cassidy 0:07:41 Yeah. Fair enough. I've never had one. No. So I don't know.

Tony 0:07:44 I've had one, I had one years, when we had a flat years ago. Yes. It was, it was quite a cheap new build flat, but it had a waste disposal unit in it. Hmm. And I, it was, you thought it was brilliant. Chuck all the food down it, run, you know, it's brilliant. This is, and then everyone in the, in the flats did it and then all the drains clogged up outside. Yeah. problem. And then after a while, because they're sort of— the chamber's made of— it's not cast iron, but it's, it's sort of got a— it's not smooth, it's not like stainless steel.

Natalie Cassidy 0:08:13 Kind of a corrugated type?

Tony 0:08:15 Not corrugated, it's got a dimple ripple. It's a bit like— it's not cast iron, but it would be like, um, I suppose a rough metal that's sprayed with an enamel or whatever it is. And basically All the shit sticks to it and then it all goes a bit rotten and a bit nasty and a bit— and you can't clean it. You can't get your hand down because there's choppers there.

Natalie Cassidy 0:08:35 Yes, yes.

Tony 0:08:36 I'm not saying you wouldn't put it on anyway, but you, you can't physically get your arm in to clean it and it just smells constantly.

Natalie Cassidy 0:08:43 Oh, that's interesting.

Tony 0:08:44 Yeah. So—

Natalie Cassidy 0:08:45 Just chuck a load of bleach down it, no?

Tony 0:08:47 No, no, because it doesn't— the bleach will go straight down the hole and it won't coat—

Natalie Cassidy 0:08:51 Oh.

Tony 0:08:51 The upside of the waste disposal. If you could— the waste disposal's like a coconut.

Natalie Cassidy 0:08:57 Okay.

Tony 0:08:58 If you can imagine. So as you're using it, all this stuff is going around the top of it and you can't clean it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:09:02 I see.

Tony 0:09:03 Unless they've got this thing that you clean it with now. I don't know. But it was never, it never was.

Natalie Cassidy 0:09:08 Fair enough.

Tony 0:09:10 So I'm not a lover, me personally.

Natalie Cassidy 0:09:13 Fair do's.

Natalie Cassidy 0:09:14 How have you been finding the heat? Because again, I, I, it's really hard to not talk about it. People keep saying, oh, we, we, the heat wave's coming, or, Oh, we're in a heat— but we've been in a heatwave now for quite a while. Yes. As we know.

Natalie Cassidy 0:09:28 And I wondered how you have found it with manual labour, manual work, and the logistics of it. Mark said someone he knew said to an employee, I'd like to go home at 2 PM, and then I'll work the extra hours and come in early another day. Have you had any of that with any of your staff? I mean, yesterday it was about 35 degrees. Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:09:55 Do you ever think it's a bit too hot to work? I just wonder your views.

Tony 0:10:00 So first of all, I'm, I'm amazed how quickly I've become acclimatised to it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:10:04 Me too.

Tony 0:10:05 I'm shocked. But it's 28 now. I mean, 28 in old money's quite warm. I'm not even sweating.

Natalie Cassidy 0:10:12 I'm sweating my nuts off here.

Tony 0:10:14 I know, maybe that's a, Sweaty. Woman, you've always sweated though, haven't you? You've always been a sweaty Betty. Yeah, sweaty Betty. So I'm quite amazed at how I've acclimatised to it. But there's been a couple of afternoons when it's got up to sort of 38, when we've said to everyone, look, 3 o'clock, we'll all go home. It's just too much.

Natalie Cassidy 0:10:35 Yes.

Tony 0:10:36 But you can't do it too much because you don't earn any money. So I've had a couple, I think with us when it's hot, It's more about how you deal with the impact of the heat on you.

Natalie Cassidy 0:10:49 Right.

Tony 0:10:50 So for instance, I say to people, if you're working outside, get a cap on. I have bought, I've gone and bought factor 50 sun lotion and make sure people have got it on. Saying to people, make sure you've got lots of drinks. If you've not got lots of drinks, go and get some. And you know, it's all stuff you know, but it's about being, it's about being, Making sure that you're not overdoing it. So I've had a couple of days where I've gone home and felt like I've got heat or sunstroke and I feel sick. Couple of other lads have felt like that as well.

Natalie Cassidy 0:11:22 Right.

Tony 0:11:23 So you just have to try and be a little bit careful. It's a balance, it's really a balance. So the heat is very different to snow, wind, or rain. So snow, wind, and rain has a direct effect on what we do and what we can do and when we can do it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:11:38 Right.

Tony 0:11:38 Whereas the heat is about managing what it does to you as an individual.

Natalie Cassidy 0:11:42 So there isn't any kind of building things that change? Because for instance, surely if you are laying tarmac or, I don't know, you've got cement in a mixer and you are laying bricks, can you do that in 38 degrees then?

Tony 0:11:55 Well, I think as long as you can keep your muck pliable and, and whatever, normally it, there's certain, I mean there's certain trades like plastering is very difficult when it's really, really hot. Mm-hmm. Because it's going off as soon as they're putting it on. in certain instances, and that's really tough. But generally, it's about just trying to get through the day, you know? So for like, we can't lay bricks in under a certain temperature, you know, you mustn't pour concrete under a certain temperature, but you can get retarders and you can get additives now that where you can.

Natalie Cassidy 0:12:34 Right.

Tony 0:12:34 The cold is normally, The worst bit. An issue, certainly with laying bricks and stuff like that. But the heat, I mean, roofers, you do not wanna be using a blowtorch or a heat gun when you're doing felt roofing in 38 degrees.

Natalie Cassidy 0:12:50 No.

Tony 0:12:51 Not just the heat, but everything's so tinder dry, you've got more chance of fires. So for instance, my roofer, there's a couple of days he said to me, I'm not, I can't use the torch today, it's just too hot. We just, it's too dangerous. There are times and there are certain trades where you think we've gotta be careful with that. But generally in the heat it just slows you down. Yeah. You just trudge.

Natalie Cassidy 0:13:13 I think that's the same for everyone, isn't it? Yeah.

Tony 0:13:15 You just trudge and you just sort of, you know—

Natalie Cassidy 0:13:17 Get done what you can. Get done what you can.

Tony 0:13:19 And you know, you haven't been as productive as you should be, but you've still gone to work and done a day's work.

Natalie Cassidy 0:13:24 I just wondered, yeah, because I was thinking about, you know, our European neighbours.

Tony 0:13:28 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:13:29 And how they have siestas, they close up. And I thought, do you think if we continue the way we're going, that's something—

Tony 0:13:40 No is the answer.

Natalie Cassidy 0:13:42 You don't think so? No.

Tony 0:13:43 'Cause it's a cultural thing.

Natalie Cassidy 0:13:44 Yeah.

Tony 0:13:45 It's a cultural thing. Yeah. What do we do for lunch? Meal deal, bit of chicken, stuff some sushi in our gob or whatever when you are busy. But these places, they have a— Be lovely though, wouldn't it?

Natalie Cassidy 0:13:59 To sit down and have a lovely lunch.

Tony 0:14:00 Yeah. They have a 2-hour lunch and it's just, you know, make— Beautiful. Culturally, they're just, they're just built differently. So to introduce that to this country will take probably 200 years.

Natalie Cassidy 0:14:10 I know what would happen. Just everyone would be in a pub.

Tony 0:14:14 Yeah, exactly.

Natalie Cassidy 0:14:14 They'd be hammered. Wouldn't be able to go back to work.

Tony 0:14:17 Yeah. Be on the piss. You know, a lot of, a lot of countries, you know, sort of Spain and Italy and those sort of, you know, those sort of warmer countries, it's all about culture and family and talking and have a glass of wine, but they— And then they have an espresso. Yeah, exactly, exactly. Sort of stuff. And with us, it would just be, oh, we'll just go down the pub then.

Natalie Cassidy 0:14:40 It would.

Tony 0:14:41 Yes. What food they got at the pub? You got curry, chicken in a basket, toasted ham and cheese sandwich. That's fine. Let's just go down the pub. have 6 pints. Different culture, sorry. So I don't see it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:14:58 No.

Tony 0:14:58 Personally.

Natalie Cassidy 0:14:59 Fair enough.

Natalie Cassidy 0:17:13 Well, we've had some lovely messages from our listeners.

Tony 0:17:15 Yes, we have.

Natalie Cassidy 0:17:16 So let's have a few of these. Hello lovely, it's Sarah from Battersea. Hi Tony, I just got the message to say you two are doing a pod, so I thought— I haven't had sent a voice note for so long.

Natalie Cassidy 0:17:28 Life has just been really busy. We're going on a cruise in 2 days, uh, with the family. There's 9 of us going all together and we're going to different parts of Spain and Portugal, and they love a siesta over there. I envy them. When we do go out and we get off at the ports and we go shopping, there's a lot of shops that are just shut, just totally shut, and it's very eerie and quiet, so relaxing and calm.

Natalie Cassidy 0:17:54 There are a few little shops open, but yeah, they love, they love doing siestas, and I just, I think that's great. I think we should definitely have them over here. We all work so hard and we need it. We need a siesta. In terms of the heat, I am struggling in these heat waves.

Natalie Cassidy 0:18:11 Um, I was sent into medically induced menopause at age 39 due to breast cancer. And I have hot flushes every hour or so. So with the heat wave on top of those, it is a nightmare. I'm having like 7 cold showers a day. The fans are on constantly.

Natalie Cassidy 0:18:30 The bills will be through the roof, but it's all worth it just to stay cool. I live in southwest London, so obviously built-up area, not much breeze going around here. And yeah, I hope you're both well. I hope everyone in the family is well. And yeah, I just wanted to reach out and send a message.

Natalie Cassidy 0:18:49 I had my scan a couple of days ago, so I'll be waiting on those results. The last one I had was on your birthday, Nat. So I hope it's good news. I hope and pray that it is good news and I can stay on this treatment that I'm on for stage 4 cancer, and the cancer has not grown in the last 3 months.

Speaker J 0:19:06 So love to you both, as always.

Natalie Cassidy 0:19:08 Loving the pod. And yeah, you're all my lifesavers. Love you. Lovely to hear from Sarah there.

Tony 0:19:15 Yeah, beautiful.

Natalie Cassidy 0:19:16 She's our fave. Um, so pleased to hear that you're, uh, doing well.

Tony 0:19:20 What a great girl. What a fighter.

Natalie Cassidy 0:19:21 She's just great, isn't she? Although I tell you what, Sarah, 7 cold showers a day, there's a hosepipe ban. Don't wanna be knocking that about. Don't know if we're allowed 7 showers at the moment.

Tony 0:19:33 Well, not under the hose, you're not. All right, indoors.

Natalie Cassidy 0:19:38 I've got a real problem with the hosepipe ban. Sorry, I have. I'm not happy about it.

Tony 0:19:48 Well, who would be?

Natalie Cassidy 0:19:50 It's ridiculous. 3 times, you know, our bills have gone up. How much do we pay for water? How much has it gone up?

Tony 0:20:00 Yeah, but that doesn't mean anything because they're fucking clueless. They're about—

Natalie Cassidy 0:20:05 No one's built a reservoir since 1992.

Tony 0:20:08 They're £20 billion in debt and they've got a monopoly. How can you have a monopoly on something that's life essential and be billions of pounds in? Does that tell you the mismanagement and total cluelessness of the people involved?

Natalie Cassidy 0:20:21 It's ridiculous.

Tony 0:20:23 And you're absolutely right. The fact— the reason we have droughts is 'cause there's not enough water storage when we have rain.

Natalie Cassidy 0:20:29 No.

Tony 0:20:29 That's it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:20:30 I heard today, I might be wrong. I heard today. I think you're probably—

Tony 0:20:33 no, I think you are.

Natalie Cassidy 0:20:34 1992. There's a guy on LBC chatting.

Tony 0:20:37 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:20:38 There hasn't been one built. I mean, come on guys, the infrastructure is ridiculous.

Tony 0:20:43 Yeah, it's just crap. But they're not gonna build any reservoirs now 'cause they, at the moment, they can't pay their electric bill 'cause they're 20 gazillion pounds in debt. I mean, imagine, so I said to you, look, there's this thing we all need really, really badly. We're all gonna die if we don't have it. Yeah. We're gonna die if we don't have it. I'm giving you the sole ownership and distribution rights to it. And you come back to me 5 years later and go, Tone, I go, what? You go, I'm £20 billion in debt. I'd put you in fucking prison. It's not like they're not even competing with anyone.

Natalie Cassidy 0:21:25 No.

Tony 0:21:25 There's no competition for water. They own it. It's theirs. All of it. It's fucking mad.

Natalie Cassidy 0:21:33 Why are they in debt then?

Tony 0:21:36 Because they're fucking incompetent. Totally. I only have one share of that anyway.

Natalie Cassidy 0:21:48 Yeah, I can miss a day sometimes.

Tony 0:21:49 Oh, I know you do. Yeah. You old soap dodger.

Natalie Cassidy 0:21:52 Not in this heat. You need a shower every day in this heat.

Tony 0:21:56 Yeah, but I always shower of a night, me.

Natalie Cassidy 0:21:57 I like a shower of a night. Isn't that funny?

Tony 0:22:00 Yeah. Sharon's very much in sort of early mornings. She likes a shower first thing. But I, when I come home from work, all shit in me hair.

Natalie Cassidy 0:22:06 Oh, of course.

Tony 0:22:07 Dust and crap and mud.

Natalie Cassidy 0:22:09 But then in this, when it has been really hot, I've been known to get up and have a quick shower in the morning as well.

Tony 0:22:12 Well, that, that's, I think there's a lot to be said for it. Yeah. But I know what's coming, so I don't bother.

Natalie Cassidy 0:22:17 No, I know, I get that. Yeah. 'Cause you're out all day, you're sweating all day.

Tony 0:22:21 Yeah. Yeah. It's all hot and sweaty and horrible.

Natalie Cassidy 0:22:22 But I think, do we, do we need to start being a bit more responsible with the water that we are using? That's another question.

Speaker I 0:22:30 Hello, Nat. It's Claire from Swanley. I'm just walking over the park doing an early morning walk 'cause it's gonna be really hot today apparently.

Speaker I 0:22:38 I just wanted to Make a comment and respond to what you and Mark were talking about, about the data centres and the water. There is some talk— I think it's come out of the World Health Organisation— that if we carry on doing what we're doing and misusing our water, we are not going to have enough water sort of in the next 10, 15 years. And we get our water from like the weather and the rain and all of that, and the hotter summers we have without any rain. We're not replenishing our water, but yet we're choosing to use things like ChatGPT or the Gemini and all the AI stuff. We're making that choice, so we're just as responsible.

Speaker I 0:23:27 This is my opinion. You might agree, you might not agree, but I just think, you know, when I see a trend going around social media about, you know, changing your photograph and all these cartoon things that come out that are generated by AI. And I just think, look at all the water being used for something that you just want to look good on social media. It's just like a trend. I don't do stuff like that because I just think of the water.

Speaker I 0:23:55 I'm a little bit sad and a little bit of a nerd, but where I can, I won't use AI. If I'm searching for something on the internet, I'll put in negative AI so you don't get a lot of the AI stuff up. But we have to make conscious decisions about what we're doing because we are contributing to that. Because we can't expect the data centres to be running and then not have the water and then go, well, I can't water my garden, which I totally agree with you. We should be able to water our garden.

Speaker I 0:24:21 But then we've got to be more responsible about how we use our resources. And that's a collective thought. And if one person makes that decision— to be more mindful, and then it's followed by others. We don't have to follow the trend of AI. We don't, we don't have to do it.

Speaker I 0:24:36 I know it's there, but we can make conscious decisions about how we use stuff and how we live our lives. Anyway, that's my little rant. I hope you're okay. Speak to you soon. Bye.

Natalie Cassidy 0:24:44 I think it's a very good point.

Tony 0:24:46 I think it's a very, very intelligent point. Well made.

Natalie Cassidy 0:24:49 Yeah.

Tony 0:24:50 The fact of the matter is it's a total pointless argument because If companies are allowed to develop this technology and give it to people, people will use it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:25:00 Yeah.

Tony 0:25:01 I understand completely where she's come from. And then as an individual, you can make the choice. Yes. Say, I'm not gonna use ChatGPT for everything I need. I don't use it. I don't use it. I never, I don't, I just don't. I just don't wanna use it. I don't know why, I just don't. And people going to me, oh, you know, I was asking, ChatGPT about my kitchen and it done me a kitchen design. Yes. And all this, which is all wonderful and great and whatever else. But the fact of the matter is, is that the big businesses that are driving this and pushing this are, I mean, we're getting into different discussions.

Natalie Cassidy 0:25:38 Different matters. Yeah.

Tony 0:25:40 If they were told, you're not doing this, we're not gonna give you a licence to build a 146-hectare data centre in Cambridgeshire or whatever they're gonna do. Yes. Or Sussex or wherever it's gonna be. We're not giving you a licence to do it. You're not having it. You're not doing it in our country. If they were told that, then it would stop and they would find, have to find some other way of getting people hooked on their services, on their data, on their meta, on their—

Natalie Cassidy 0:26:07 Yes, artificial intelligence, et cetera.

Tony 0:26:10 On whatever it is they're trying to do.

Natalie Cassidy 0:26:11 Well, it's really made me think though, 'cause I, I, it's, again, it's a habit. You start that ChatGPT and then you think, oh, I'm going on holiday soon. Instead of Googling, which is enough really. Yeah. It's enough.

Tony 0:26:28 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:26:29 Have a Google, go on Safari and find stuff. Now you can go, I'm going here, here, and here. Could you plan me out? Where are the good spots? Yeah. It's lazy is what it is.

Tony 0:26:40 It's not lazy. It's a resource. It's a resource that is free and readily available. It's unbelievable. At your fingertips.

Natalie Cassidy 0:26:48 It's not lazy.

Tony 0:26:48 Well, It's not.

Natalie Cassidy 0:26:49 It's just very—

Tony 0:26:51 look, let's not get back on the moon, pig. Let's not.

Natalie Cassidy 0:26:53 No.

Tony 0:26:54 But we are talking about easy internet-based resources.

Natalie Cassidy 0:26:58 Yes.

Tony 0:26:59 And people will choose those over difficult— got to do this, got to get a book, got to read it, and got to look at Google with— and they're gonna do it. Sorry, that's what people are gonna do, because everyone wants an easier life and everyone wants less aggravation.

Natalie Cassidy 0:27:16 And just quick. And just quick. 'Cause time, time. Exactly. It's about saving time. Exactly.

Tony 0:27:20 So I completely agree with the sentiment, but unfortunately, unless, like most things, unless you stop it at the top.

Natalie Cassidy 0:27:26 Yes, I agree.

Tony 0:27:27 Unless you stop it at the top and say, no, this is, no, sorry, this is wrong.

Natalie Cassidy 0:27:31 Yeah.

Tony 0:27:32 And I know about data centres. I know people that build, not people personally, but I know people involved in the data centre world.

Natalie Cassidy 0:27:39 Really?

Tony 0:27:40 And there's issues with legacy. There's issues, you know, there's data centres now that were built 15 years ago, and they are not worth anything. Mm-hmm. Because they can't hold the technology that's required. They have not got the infrastructure, they haven't got the water supply, they haven't got the power supply.

Natalie Cassidy 0:27:56 So could you, could you talk to me? I dunno how much you do know, so I'm not putting you on the spot, but the water thing, I, I don't— is it to cool these centres down?

Tony 0:28:06 As I understand it, I'm not an expert on the technology, but In layman's terms, yeah, when you do a search on chat, an AI search, it takes a litre of water.

Natalie Cassidy 0:28:19 Right.

Tony 0:28:20 A litre of water for that search. A litre or whatever it— don't quote me on that. No, I know. I heard a bottle. I heard a bottle of water.

Natalie Cassidy 0:28:27 All right.

Tony 0:28:28 500 millilitres. Half a litre. Yes. Right. Yeah. That matters. I know it does. But there is a finite amount of water for each search. There is a direct correlation. But why is that?

Natalie Cassidy 0:28:38 Why is that?

Tony 0:28:38 Because you have to cool the servers down. I mean, I can only— I, I, I, I don't know the technology.

Natalie Cassidy 0:28:46 No, no, fine.

Tony 0:28:46 But clearly the technology that exists is—

Natalie Cassidy 0:28:49 Hang on, I'm just going to go on ChatGPT and find out about the technology about it.

Tony 0:28:53 Yeah, but whatever. Look, years ago when I was— when I did data centres 30 years ago, yeah, you have to cool them down, right? So you've got We used to have to cool— if you've got an air conditioning unit in your bedroom, that is about 3 kilowatts for your bedroom at its total highest cooling capacity. So it probably needs about, it probably needs about 150, 200 watts a square metre, say, to provide your bedroom with adequate cooling.

Natalie Cassidy 0:29:31 Yes.

Tony 0:29:32 Yeah. So if you've got A 15 square metre bedroom, 200 watts a square metre is about 3 kilowatts of cooling, right? So back in the day when I was involved with data centres, we used to call the— we used to use about 2,000 watts a square metre of cooling to cool the server racks down. And that was generally done by large refrigerant-based air conditioning units that would pump freezing cold air like a big fridge.

Natalie Cassidy 0:29:58 Yes.

Tony 0:29:58 So you've got a compressor that compresses gas Creates very, very cold conditions in pipes, run air over it, and pump that into the space.

Natalie Cassidy 0:30:08 Right.

Tony 0:30:08 Otherwise everything overheats and stops working. My involvement in that stopped 30-odd years ago. Yeah. So I can imagine, can you imagine the strides and the, what have been made in 30 years?

Natalie Cassidy 0:30:19 Yes.

Tony 0:30:20 So I can only assume now, and I don't want people sort of writing or whatever, messaging and saying, you don't know what you're talking about. I'm surmising.

Natalie Cassidy 0:30:30 Yes.

Tony 0:30:30 But I can only assume that the, cooling load is so great, is so great that these racks have to physically be put in water or, or have to be in a liquid environment to cool them because just doing it by air isn't enough. I don't know. But what I know is, is that AI data centres are taking humongous amounts of water, massive amounts of water.

Natalie Cassidy 0:30:54 Oh. What a mad world we live in.

Tony 0:30:59 Yeah, it's a mad world.

Natalie Cassidy 0:31:02 Yeah. Water is the most important thing in our lives.

Tony 0:31:04 It is. Without it, you'll die.

Natalie Cassidy 0:31:07 That's crazy, isn't it?

Tony 0:31:10 Yeah. So stop it. But AI. Yeah, but stop it. But we can live without AI.

Natalie Cassidy 0:31:16 Yeah. Because we've done that.

Tony 0:31:17 We've lived for 20,000, 50,000, whatever. We don't need it. We don't need it. We don't need it. We don't need it. Don't need any of it. Don't need Facebook, don't need phones, don't need none of it. We all lived without it before, got on with it. People made millions, lost millions, were poor, were rich, were ill. All the same stuff that we do now, exactly the same stuff has happened for thousands of years.

Natalie Cassidy 0:31:45 Yeah.

Tony 0:31:45 And now we're doing this thing. It's—

Natalie Cassidy 0:31:50 I know, but I was talking about this and you, I know you're getting into sort of deep shit now. But I love not having my phone. If I go on holiday, I leave my phone. I'll look at it for maybe half an hour. Yeah. See emails or what have you. I could absolutely live without it, but I couldn't in what I do. So I'm stuck, aren't I? If I said, no, I'm gonna throw that away.

Tony 0:32:13 Oh no, you must. I can't get social campaigns or promote the pod or— No.

Natalie Cassidy 0:32:18 So it's very, very—

Tony 0:32:20 Messages from people. But that make it messages, WhatsApp.

Natalie Cassidy 0:32:23 Yeah. So that annoys me a little bit.

Tony 0:32:25 It does. Yeah. You're sort of bound to it. And also you can get—

Natalie Cassidy 0:32:27 Bound to it? No, sorry. I'm, I'm bind to it almost, aren't I?

Tony 0:32:31 I think also it just, it just grabs you. It just does. It's just quick dopamine and all that, which we all know about and stuff like that. But I think we're going down a, we're going down a very dangerous route with AI.

Natalie Cassidy 0:32:43 Yeah.

Tony 0:32:43 They, they're, they're already talking about in 10 years there won't be any need for money. Because AI will do everything that you need to pay for. And there's all this stuff going on.

Natalie Cassidy 0:32:54 Yeah, it's gonna be—

Tony 0:32:55 Elon Musk has said it, in 15 years you won't need money. And what does that mean? The whole entire financial system of the world crashes and burns. Well, I don't know what that means. It's huge. It's a, it's a huge thing.

Natalie Cassidy 0:33:10 Oh, I know. Yeah.

Tony 0:33:11 And I think—

Natalie Cassidy 0:33:12 did you watch the Elon Musk documentary?

Tony 0:33:14 Uh, I might have watched a bit of it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:33:16 Scary stuff. Mm-hmm. Scary.

Tony 0:33:21 Not as scary as him with no t-shirt on. That was scary. Um, but sorry, Elon, if you're listening.

Natalie Cassidy 0:33:33 Off fucking nowhere to be. It's wiped off the face of the planet. You can't get live from that anywhere anymore. Instagram goes.

Tony 0:33:43 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:33:43 Everything is gone.

Tony 0:33:44 He just points one of his lasers He just, just goes at the pod room. Yeah. And we're all, and that's it. All that, everything's blown to bits. All of our machinery's gone.

Natalie Cassidy 0:33:52 Gone. I saw a post today and again, it's ridiculous because I saw it on Instagram. So you're talking about these things. I always think that you're like reading these really wonderful quotes all about not being on social media, but you're reading them on social media. Exactly. It's fucking mad. All of it's mad. But Steve Jobs told the world not to give kids iPads.

Tony 0:34:14 That's right.

Natalie Cassidy 0:34:14 And most people treated it like a casual suggestion rather than a warning. And I always say this, I always say this, people in Silicon Valley, they, all their children went to school and they didn't touch technology until they were 12 because the people that created it knew the dangers. Yeah. That, so if, if those people that created it didn't allow their children to have a screen, why should I give my child a screen?

Tony 0:34:50 Because it's an easy option. 'Cause it's provide— you've been provided with something that's an easy option.

Natalie Cassidy 0:34:56 I don't think at the, the beginning it's an easy option. No. I think it's a new exciting thing. It's a new exciting thing.

Tony 0:35:02 Exactly. But it, well, all these things, It's like the Terminator film.

Natalie Cassidy 0:35:09 I've seen it.

Tony 0:35:10 Oh, fuck. Oh, leave off.

Natalie Cassidy 0:35:13 Haven't.

Tony 0:35:14 You've not seen any of the Terminator films? No. Oh, just getting up and leaving now. This is fucking ridiculous. You've not seen Star Wars? No. Okay, I'm just sorry. You've just completely thrown me. And well, there's no point. Let's cut that conversation.

Natalie Cassidy 0:35:31 No, go on, 'cause other people will have obviously, 90% would've watched it probably.

Tony 0:35:36 What we're talking about has a link. The Terminator film is basically about a world that embraces AI, embraces technology, embraces robots, and embraces a defence system called Skynet that is designed to defend America and def— and defend. And Skynet becomes intelligent and then causes a nuclear war. to wipe out humans so that Skynet and the robots and the technology— Can take over.

Tony 0:36:08 And the cyborgs can be the ruling species, right? Everyone thought really far, brilliant films, but bit far-fetched. You've now got, we're in a situation where you've got, people are saying that they're gonna build something like 10 billion cyborg robots in the next 20 years to look after people and to do this and to do chores and to build houses And to do, so everything's gonna be done by cyborgs or whatever it is. And we're all gonna be like sitting on a beach and whatever else. And so the point I'm making is, is that you, we, I watched a film when I was 10 or 12 or whatever it was, the original one.

Tony 0:36:49 And it was so, you thought it was a brilliant film, but it's obviously science fiction. Mm-hmm. But now within the next 10 or 15 years, it's gonna be, it will be science fact.

Natalie Cassidy 0:36:59 Yes.

Tony 0:36:59 And they are already talking about— if you, again, with all these things, if you dive a little bit deeper and look into it, they are talking about these AI systems becoming self-learning.

Natalie Cassidy 0:37:09 Yes.

Tony 0:37:10 They are talking about them becoming more intelligent than humans. Not yet, but the rate at which this stuff multiplies, technology multiplies, the capability to compute multiplies, all this stuff, you will be looking at a From what they're— what I'm reading, you're gonna be looking at a major, massive social structural shift and change within the next 15 years.

Natalie Cassidy 0:37:36 Can't wait for it. Bomb happy.

Tony 0:37:41 Well, as long as I can go fishing, I couldn't give a fuck.

Natalie Cassidy 0:37:43 All the robots will be doing the maggots. They'll be breeding them.

Tony 0:37:47 Yeah, well, they'll be— You'll be going in the shop and gettin' size 4. They'll get decent stuff.

Natalie Cassidy 0:37:50 I reckon so.

Tony 0:37:52 If the, if the cyborgs are breeding me maggots, I'll get decent ones.

Natalie Cassidy 0:37:55 I reckon they'll be really suckin' on that pound coin.

Tony 0:37:57 Yeah, I won't get some of the old shit that I get now.

Natalie Cassidy 0:37:59 I reckon they'll be special stuff.

Tony 0:38:02 So I'm right up for it. I won't have anywhere to live.

Natalie Cassidy 0:38:03 Why?

Tony 0:38:05 'Cause the cyborgs will have taken it all.

Natalie Cassidy 0:38:07 Oh, fair enough, yeah. What do you think the cyborgs could do for me? You'd have one in your house, wouldn't you? Cleaning and that, washing.

Tony 0:38:19 You— in 15 years' time, they might be installing air conditioning, so we won't be sitting here sweating our bollocks off again.

Natalie Cassidy 0:38:25 Good point.

Tony 0:38:29 Yeah, there you go.

Natalie Cassidy 0:40:22 Listen every Thursday. Just search for Boots Off. Do you remember last pod we were talking about pets and telling, telling your Children, you know, breaking it to them. We had a cracking message here from Sue from Warrington, right? Hi Nat and Tony, just listening to your podcast. You were talking about what parents tell their children when their pets die. A relative of mine told their children that their dog had gone to live with Queen Elizabeth at Balmoral Castle in Scotland.

Tony 0:40:59 That's bold.

Natalie Cassidy 0:41:01 As he would get lots of fresh air and the Queen would take him on really long walks. Love all the pods from Sue. It's a great one, isn't it? Dog's gone to live with the Queen.

Tony 0:41:10 Yeah, can't argue that one.

Natalie Cassidy 0:41:12 No, you can't get better than that.

Speaker K 0:41:13 Hi, Nat, it's Emma from Ledworth. I'm, I'm absolutely crying, there's tears running down my face because I've just listened to your Patreon special.

Speaker L 0:41:27 With Tony about the poo. About the poo!

Speaker K 0:41:33 I'm sorry, I am absolutely dying here. My eyes are watering, the mascara's gone in my eyes. That's the funniest story I've heard in ages. I just imagine this poo flowing towards his mouth.

Speaker K 0:41:48 Honestly, I'm crying. I have to say, tell Tony from me, that's absolute banger of a story. I have to say, the worst place I have to do shit— poo, sorry— is at work, because we've got one toilet in a salon of about 25 staff, plus the hundreds of clients that we have through the door. There's one toilet, and I kid you not, I cannot poo at work. I will hold it in all day to go home with a stomachache.

Speaker K 0:42:18 Honestly, many times I've been driving home listening to your pod needing a poo. I have to share that one with you.

Speaker M 0:42:23 So that's my worst place. This is my everyday life at work.

Speaker K 0:42:26 I can't poo at work. I just can't do it. I don't know if it's I'm scared someone's gonna go in and go, oh my God, that stinks, but I just can't relax. To be honest, I'm not very good pooing anywhere else other than my own toilet. So, but anyway, thanks for, um, really making me laugh out loud. Absolute brilliant.

Natalie Cassidy 0:42:43 Lots of love. Oh, brilliant, Emma. Yeah, it went down well. If, if honestly, if you've got a spare 6 quid, just sign up to, to listen to the Tony Shits episode. And then you can just cancel it again.

Tony 0:42:58 I'll be honest, I went home after the last time we did this and Sharon said to me, what did you talk about? And I went— Oh no. I said, shit, I talked about— she went, no, don't be like— I said, no, that's what we talked about. And she looked at me like I was mad. And then I said, I told them the fishing story and the duck story and this story. And she did laugh. And I actually, I don't like listening or looking or watching myself, but I, I did watch a bit of it, and even I, I laughed at some of it because it was quite good.

Natalie Cassidy 0:43:31 It is good.

Tony 0:43:32 So yeah, and we've, we've actually had a few of those messages. Yes. And on Patreon, we've had quite a lot of people saying they're absolutely crying with laughter.

Natalie Cassidy 0:43:43 They've said that that episode, they're happy to pay for a year just for that.

Tony 0:43:46 Just for that episode.

Natalie Cassidy 0:43:47 So there you go.

Tony 0:43:48 So for £6, If you're down in the dumps and you fancy a bit of a laugh and you're not eating your dinner, give it a go.

Natalie Cassidy 0:43:54 Give it a whirl.

Tony 0:43:56 Give it a whirl.

Natalie Cassidy 0:43:57 We've got a message from Lottie. Hey Natalie, Tony talks working in the heat. We should live like the Spanish, work shorter days and have time for family.

Natalie Cassidy 0:44:07 Never gonna happen, but that's the ideal. My perfect balance would be 8:00 AM to 2:30 PM each day. That would give a lovely family balance and make us present as mums, maybe even time around the dinner table altogether again. Obviously, this hugely depends on the job— office, window cleaner, co-op shop, or radio DJ— but once general office hours change, this could help other sectors change too. Also, aircon needs to be a must if and where possible.

Natalie Cassidy 0:44:36 I'm sweating my coconuts off at the moment. Love to you and yours. Speak soon, Lottie.

Natalie Cassidy 0:44:43 I like that, sweating my coconuts off.

Tony 0:44:45 Yes, that's a good term, isn't it? It's a good turn of phrase. Not one I've heard.

Natalie Cassidy 0:44:49 I like it better than sweating my tits off. Yes. It's just a little bit classier.

Tony 0:44:52 It is, it is. And coconuts, it's sort of, it, you know, you're, you're thinking about maybe the, the sea breeze.

Natalie Cassidy 0:45:00 I know, but also—

Tony 0:45:01 Swaying in the—

Natalie Cassidy 0:45:02 Sort of tropical.

Tony 0:45:03 Tropical. Yeah, yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:45:04 And also just visually, I know what she's talking about when she says my coconuts.

Tony 0:45:09 Yeah, but, but not, it's not literal. It's just nice. Yeah. Classier. Yeah, classier. Classy lady.

Speaker N 0:45:15 Hi, Nat, it's Kim from up in Northumberland. Um, I've just seen that you're having a chat with Tony tonight, and even though I am only on episode 112, I thought I'd just send a quick note in. Um, busy doing my cleaning job and I am absolutely sweating, and it's not even as hot up here as it will be down there in the south. And I think all houses should be built with aircon systems.

Speaker N 0:45:41 In them so that we can use them for hot and definitely for cold. Um, absolutely loved this DIY pod that you did with Tony, um, episode 119. I think yous are just absolutely great together. Your banter's mint, and love how you're teaching different people how to do things and trying to help as many people as you can. Yous are just awesome.

Speaker N 0:46:02 Second episode on grief I just listened to, I thought that was really, really good. Got us to Let out a little cry, which, you know, definitely all need from time to time. And I'm also looking forward to sowing some seeds, but whether that will have to be in a different month of the year given what's going on with the temperature at the moment, who knows. Maybe I'll get some further pods down the line, but I'm currently on 122, so got a long time to go. But at 30 hours a week of listening to you, it won't take us too long.

Speaker N 0:46:32 Anyway, keep doing what you're doing. Love the pod. Sorry, it's over a minute. Bye.

Natalie Cassidy 0:46:35 Isn't that lovely that she's listening right from the beginning? We're over 250 now.

Tony 0:46:39 I know.

Natalie Cassidy 0:46:40 But just lovely that she's cracking on with it. 30 hours a week she's listening to.

Tony 0:46:45 One of the most, I think one of the most loveliest dialects and turn of phrases I've heard in a long time. Your banter is mint. Love it. Absolutely love it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:46:57 Really nice actually.

Tony 0:47:00 Yeah, really nice. She's got a long way to go though, hasn't she?

Natalie Cassidy 0:47:04 She's halfway through already. I dunno when she started. I'd like to know when she started.

Tony 0:47:08 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:47:09 Because I reckon if she's smashing out 30 hours a week, I don't think it'll be long. I reckon— That's a job. Yeah. It's a whole, that's a proper job.

Tony 0:47:18 It's basically a job listening to the podcast.

Natalie Cassidy 0:47:21 Oh, she's cleaning. Yeah. She's cleaning all day. Yeah. So she's on the move.

Tony 0:47:24 She's gonna get sick of it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:47:25 Do you reckon?

Tony 0:47:26 Oh God. You can't, you can't listen constantly to the same thing, can you?

Natalie Cassidy 0:47:31 I do.

Tony 0:47:31 Do you really?

Natalie Cassidy 0:47:32 Mm-hmm. I only listen to Chatterpicks.

Tony 0:47:36 Right, okay.

Natalie Cassidy 0:47:37 Which again is very— not niche, but you've got to sort of like those boys to be able to sort of listen to their shit all day. But if I'm in bed and I can't sleep, that goes on. If I'm cooking and I don't want the radio on or whatever, I'll put them on. And that's the only pod I listen to now.

Tony 0:47:57 Right.

Natalie Cassidy 0:47:58 The others have, yeah, the others have fallen by the wayside, but I just like that quirkiness. There you go. But thank you so, so much for listening, and it's lovely, lovely that you're listening. Thank you. We need to do a little building one, another little advice one, Tone.

Tony 0:48:11 Well, you know, I'm sort of quite up for it anytime, really. I know you are.

Natalie Cassidy 0:48:15 I know you are.

Tony 0:48:16 But I think the problem is, is that the last one we did, yeah, which I can't remember when it was, but I think we got like 60 messages or something. There was loads and loads and loads and loads. Maybe we just go back then over those. They probably— I think you've gotta start again. But yeah, the problem is, is that we just— there's no way we can reply or answer all of them. I'd be—

Natalie Cassidy 0:48:42 Yeah, but everyone knows that. Everybody does know that.

Tony 0:48:45 I know, but I feel bad if someone's taken the time to message in or do a voice note.

Natalie Cassidy 0:48:48 I know, but you can't. They— and people understand.

Tony 0:48:50 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:48:51 It's a, you, you, it's a, The messages I get every day. Everyone knows that I'm doing it.

Tony 0:48:57 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:48:58 And people get it. People know that you can't do it all, all the time. But yeah, 07788 20 19 19. Don't ever forget when me and Tony are on, you can always ask Tony a question about your decoration, your building, garden issues, patios, you know, anything to do with DIY or building at all. Yeah. Remember that you can always drop us a bit of a question for his advice. And it doesn't matter what pod we're on, we'll always do that. Yeah. Yeah. So please remember.

Tony 0:49:25 Yeah.

Speaker M 0:49:26 Hi, Nat. This is Julie from Wiltshire. I just saw your message about talking about the weather and stuff with Tony tonight. One of my sons lives in Mallorca, and I go there quite a lot. I've been there a lot this year, and the heat is unbearable some days, constantly 38 degrees in recent weeks.

Speaker M 0:49:48 You just can't live there without air conditioning. Even when you go into the town, you're going from one shop to another just to breathe on a really hot day. You just can't do it, you know. But having said that, early evening, and they do stuff like go to the locals, they go to be to the beach at half past 8 in the morning or earlier, it's half past 7. They have a completely different thought about the weather.

Speaker M 0:50:14 They do stuff in the morning, they do stuff in the early evening and evening. And, um, you know, that, that's something I think we have to learn, really. Um, because— and, and the whole siesta thing, I used to think— because my daughter-in-law, she still likes a siesta when she comes to the UK, and I find it quite funny that she wants to sleep. But when you're out there in the heat, it's essential. It's absolutely essential to have a little nap in the afternoon because the heat just gets to you so much.

Speaker M 0:50:51 You, you need it to get through the day, and that's everyone of every age, really. I'm in my 60s, so I definitely needed it. Anyway, love the pod. Keep going. I absolutely love listening to you girls.

Speaker M 0:51:04 Speak soon. Bye.

Natalie Cassidy 0:51:05 Oh, thank you so much, Tamsin. What a lovely lady.

Tony 0:51:09 Lovely. But she's— it's a— again, it's a— we go back to, it's a cultural thing, isn't it? So it's a very famous song back in the whenever it was Only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun.

Natalie Cassidy 0:51:19 Yes.

Tony 0:51:20 Which is true. The locals look at you like you're mad. Yes. If you're doing anything other than sitting in a cafe, in bed, or lying under a sun lounger between 12 and 3. 12 and 2. Or 11 and 2, or whatever it is. You're a complete nutcase.

Natalie Cassidy 0:51:36 Yeah.

Tony 0:51:38 It's just culturally different. And also as well, they, they get the heat longer, all year round.

Natalie Cassidy 0:51:45 Yes, but I feel like we are now getting—

Tony 0:51:48 We're not, we're not. We've had one summer for the first time since 1976 where it's been extreme temperatures.

Natalie Cassidy 0:51:54 Yeah, that's true.

Tony 0:51:55 Sorry.

Natalie Cassidy 0:51:55 No, it's true.

Tony 0:51:57 And if you look at— also, there was a thing on the other day I saw. In '76, it was, um, the temperatures were about the same as now, and it was just like sunshine You know, they put those stop the sun things on.

Natalie Cassidy 0:52:11 Yes.

Tony 0:52:11 Now it's all red. Extreme heat. You're all gonna die. You're all gonna die. It's over 15 degrees. You, you're all dead. That's the, that's the message they're sending. With the red. With the red. Yes, it's true. It's red, bright red. You're burning in hell. You know, it's that, literally.

Natalie Cassidy 0:52:32 It is true.

Tony 0:52:33 Um, and the fact of the matter is In the last, from '76 to now, we've had a few long dry summers, few days when it's been 30 and not very often. The last few years has been, we've had a bit more of it. We might just as likely have a wet summer next year and it'd be rubbish. You know, we don't know what's gonna happen with the cycles of weather and all the rest of it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:52:58 Yeah.

Tony 0:52:58 So there is definitely a place for a slight change in the way we do things in the summer. But because we are used to 4 seasons.

Natalie Cassidy 0:53:08 Yes.

Tony 0:53:08 And we are used to not having wall-to-wall sunshine for 9 months of the year, which some of these countries have culturally, it's not gonna happen.

Natalie Cassidy 0:53:17 No, it's true.

Tony 0:53:18 You know, you're not gonna be in the middle of January and it's freezing cold and you go, you're in the office, go, I've gotta go and have a kip now. See you later.

Natalie Cassidy 0:53:24 I do.

Tony 0:53:24 I know you do. Yeah. But you ain't got a proper job. Never had a proper job in your life, have you? You know, I could be working in, in a, in a house with no windows. Yeah. And at midday I'll go with them, right, I'm just gonna go and lay on the floor and have a sleep for 2 hours amongst all the cement and the sawdust. It's not gonna happen.

Natalie Cassidy 0:53:45 No, no, it's not gonna happen.

Tony 0:53:48 So whilst I understand certain issues and I understand people the way they feel about stuff at the moment. We'll talk, we'll talk about it again in February, you know, in February when we're in, you know, when it's freezing cold and, you know, we've all got soaking wet feet and white shoes.

Natalie Cassidy 0:54:06 Fair enough.

Speaker O 0:54:08 Hi, Nat. Uh, it's probably a bit late for this pod now, but, um, we've just been at Johnson Zoo feeding capybaras. So anyway, yeah, just about your pod tonight with Tony talking about the heat and that, that we're having. I think I don't know how we'd build our houses differently because obviously we have cold winters as well as very hot summers.

Speaker O 0:54:28 But I think with the fact that they have like government grants for solar panels, I think they should be having that in with aircon units as well because I think that's something that we're gonna keep needing in the future. And we're lucky we got ours like 3 years ago, 2 units. But we're gonna get 2 for the kids' rooms next year. My daughter ended up in hospital 'cause of the heat this year. She was really, really sick.

Speaker O 0:54:54 Oh no. So yeah, and she's going to continue to be vulnerable. So I think that's definitely something that we need to look into.

Natalie Cassidy 0:55:03 And I also think we have a minimum temperature of what we're allowed to work in and what the kids are allowed in school in. So why don't we have a maximum temperature? I think that's something they definitely need to look into. So yeah, I don't know, there's lots to think about in there.

Speaker O 0:55:17 But anyway, I love your Tony and Nat chats and, uh, your relationship together. So yeah, uh, love you lots, and this is Jess from Huntington. See ya.

Natalie Cassidy 0:55:28 Oh, thanks, Jess. Sorry to hear that your daughter was poorly. There's nothing worse, is there? But yeah, I think you're right. I don't know about government now putting aircon units.

Tony 0:55:37 They won't because it's not energy saving. They're only worried about saving energy and CO2 and whatever, and air conditioning just spends more of that and, and uses more of it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:55:45 Don't mind the data centres though, do they?

Tony 0:55:47 No, they don't. No. That's fine. That's fine. You can, you can, yeah, that's, that's fine. 'Cause there's someone's getting loads of money somewhere for it. So that's fine.

Natalie Cassidy 0:55:54 Yeah. Fuck that.

Tony 0:55:55 We can drain all the rivers for the data centres and stuff, but you can't have a towel rail in your bathroom or whatever. So the thing about building houses differently and, you know, can the technology change? The problem is we have to build houses for 4 seasons.

Natalie Cassidy 0:56:10 Yes.

Tony 0:56:11 It's the same thing I was just talking about. Exactly what Jess said.

Natalie Cassidy 0:56:12 Yeah.

Tony 0:56:13 And the, if you look at the way they build houses in, not, in Greece, in Spain, a lot of Italy, they are all solid brick-built concrete, whatever it is. They are solid. Tiles, shutters. But they've got zero insulation in them.

Natalie Cassidy 0:56:28 Nope.

Tony 0:56:28 Right. So what happens is they're very, they're cooler in the summer.

Natalie Cassidy 0:56:32 Yes.

Tony 0:56:33 So their thermal mass absorbs the heat, lets it out of the night. Yeah. They, they cool naturally. And so that helps. Not in extreme conditions. You still gotta have air conditioning. I'm not saying that. But their forms of construction are built because of their warm, hot, dry climate.

Natalie Cassidy 0:56:52 Yes.

Tony 0:56:52 If we built those same properties here.

Natalie Cassidy 0:56:56 Yes.

Tony 0:56:56 You'd have terrible mould and condensation problems because they don't have the humidity, they don't have the wetness, the dampness, they don't have the cold. You know, we can have a, a winter that's mild, sort of cold, mild, and wet from October to March, April.

Natalie Cassidy 0:57:14 Yes. Yes, true.

Tony 0:57:16 And so we've got to build houses that deal with all of the issues that we've got as an island in the middle of an ocean.

Natalie Cassidy 0:57:23 Yes.

Tony 0:57:24 So unfortunately, even though modern construction now is very, very heavily insulation-based and loads of insulation and stop heat loss and try and stop heat gain. And you know, you've got glass and shading and all that sort of stuff to try and stop heat coming in. Meaning at the end of the day, you have to build a home that's for all 4 seasons. And that's where I get it. We suffer.

Natalie Cassidy 0:57:45 No, I understand it. I haven't phoned the aircon man again.

Tony 0:57:49 I know. Leave it now till next year. We'll get— you'll get away with it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:57:53 No, I'll do it October. So it's gotta be a bit cheaper, isn't it?

Tony 0:57:57 No, what you've got to do is you've gotta do it in January.

Natalie Cassidy 0:58:00 Yeah.

Tony 0:58:00 Because they can get the stuff then. At the moment they can't get stuff.

Natalie Cassidy 0:58:03 I'll do it in January.

Tony 0:58:04 There's so many people I mean, I've got through this.

Natalie Cassidy 0:58:07 Yeah. May as well just crack on and see.

Tony 0:58:09 Just crack on and wait. Yeah. When I had mine done, I was fortunate. Yes. That when they, they installed the, they installed the pipes first for you.

Natalie Cassidy 0:58:17 Can I ask you one thing before you continue? Yeah, go on. Sorry. You sent me the name of the aircon person. Is that his real name?

Tony 0:58:24 No.

Natalie Cassidy 0:58:25 Fine.

Tony 0:58:26 Sorry, his name's Tommy.

Natalie Cassidy 0:58:28 Yeah.

Tony 0:58:28 And his company is Frostbite.

Natalie Cassidy 0:58:30 But when you sent me Tommy— He's in my phone, Tommy Frostbite. But when you sent me Tommy Frostbite—

Tony 0:58:34 You thought it was a Disney character. No, I just thought, can you imagine if that was your name?

Natalie Cassidy 0:58:37 That was actually his name and that's what he's gone into. Mr. Frostbite. And that's the business he's in.

Tony 0:58:43 That's the business he's in.

Natalie Cassidy 0:58:44 But it would've been brilliant, wouldn't it? It would've been great.

Tony 0:58:46 Yeah. And sorry, and this is the thing, I know, I've known people. So Tommy, I've known for 5 years. I don't know surname.

Natalie Cassidy 0:58:53 Oh, all the time.

Tony 0:58:54 Vic, who is partner.

Natalie Cassidy 0:58:56 Yeah.

Tony 0:58:57 Don't know surname.

Natalie Cassidy 0:58:57 No.

Tony 0:58:58 Right. I, there's blokes I've been fishing with for years.

Natalie Cassidy 0:59:02 We don't even know their name probably.

Tony 0:59:03 Don't even know their surname. I think it's a bloke thing. You say, oh, it's John the Gas or Bill the Plumber.

Natalie Cassidy 0:59:11 Yeah, it's like Chinese Alan or— Yeah. It's like Smithy, innit? Yeah. When they're talking about whoever down the pub.

Tony 0:59:16 Exactly, yes. Steve, Steve the Bin. Don't know his name, don't know surname.

Natalie Cassidy 0:59:21 His name's Steve the Bin.

Tony 0:59:23 So what happens is, is that let's imagine they committed a crime. This is what I always think of.

Natalie Cassidy 0:59:28 Right.

Tony 0:59:29 Imagine someone like that committed a crime. Yeah. And the police, Kind of. Had them in and they, they wanted to know all these known associates. And then they'd get me in and they'd go, right, Steve the Bin's been arrested. I go, oh, for God's sake, what's he done? It doesn't matter about that. You're a known associate, so I wanna know what you know about him. Oh, oh, all right, yeah, I know him from the pub. Yeah, so his surname is such and such. Oh no, I don't know surname. They go, are you having a laugh?

Natalie Cassidy 0:59:58 It's true. They would.

Tony 0:59:59 You've known this bloke for 7 years, you've been drinking with him for the lot on a Friday night for the last 7 years, and you don't know his surname, and you say no.

Natalie Cassidy 1:00:09 Yeah, but you know what, you're absolutely right. And I'm thinking now, I don't think I know Brian's surname.

Tony 1:00:16 No?

Natalie Cassidy 1:00:17 Don't think I do.

Tony 1:00:20 I've got, I've got a mate of mine, his mum listens to the podcast I call him Squid 'cause he calls everyone Squid. Richard.

Natalie Cassidy 1:00:30 Yeah.

Tony 1:00:31 And I only found out his surname. I've known him about 10 years. I only found his surname out, his surname about 2 years ago. And for, for 8 years just called him Squid. Didn't even know his name was Richard. I swear.

Natalie Cassidy 1:00:45 I had some lovely squid in Covent Garden the other day. Lovely. It was like being on holiday. It was that hot day. Sat down there, little bit of squid. Yeah. Nice.

Tony 1:00:54 Yeah. You don't—

Natalie Cassidy 1:00:54 Has to be right though, doesn't it?

Tony 1:00:55 Squid. At what time was this? Queen Covent Garden? What sort of time?

Natalie Cassidy 1:00:59 About 1 o'clock.

Tony 1:01:00 Was it really? Yeah. Oh, lovely. Yeah. Nice.

Natalie Cassidy 1:01:04 Took Joni to the Transport Museum.

Tony 1:01:05 Ah.

Natalie Cassidy 1:01:06 Earlier. And James. Yeah. And we took the kids to the Transport Museum. Excellent. But we just thought we'd stop off and have a little Hugo spritz and a bit of squid.

Tony 1:01:13 Whereabouts?

Natalie Cassidy 1:01:15 That, the place outside where all the, where all the entertainers are.

Tony 1:01:19 Yeah. Yeah. The Palazzo. Is it V?

Natalie Cassidy 1:01:22 V something. Can't remember. Italian. Nice. Yes. Nice. So we just sat there for an hour.

Tony 1:01:28 Nice.

Natalie Cassidy 1:01:28 Got the train home.

Tony 1:01:29 I do like a bit of squid, I must say. But it has to be right though.

Natalie Cassidy 1:01:32 This one. I know.

Tony 1:01:33 Years ago, sorry, just one other story. Yeah. Years ago I went on holiday with some mates and we went to Ibiza and then one night we decided that we was gonna cook our own dinner, which was a massive mistake. Of course. But we were in these apartments and there was a supermarket downstairs, so we went down, we bought the best what we could find. So we bought some frankfurters, which were sausages, some streaky bacon, which was not really what we wanted. We managed to find beans and obviously eggs, and then we bought onion rings.

Natalie Cassidy 1:01:58 Yes.

Tony 1:01:59 Right. So we cooked it all up and we ended up having squid with an English—

Natalie Cassidy 1:02:04 Brilliant.

Tony 1:02:04 Breakfast because the onion rings were squid. Were they calamari? They were calamari, but we didn't know 'cause it was all in Spanish.

Natalie Cassidy 1:02:11 But was it nice?

Tony 1:02:12 No, it's fucking horrible.

Natalie Cassidy 1:02:14 And on that note, I hope you have a fantastic rest of the week, everybody. 07788 20 19 19. Please follow us on Instagram, Life in a Nap Pod, and if you go there, you'll see the Komi that's got all the dates for the theatre in it, and, uh, the Patreon too, in case you fancy some bonuses. Tone, a pleasure as always.

Tony 1:02:35 Loved it.

Natalie Cassidy 1:02:36 Just absolutely fantastic. Love you all. Thanks for listening. Thank you for listening, and I'll see you soon.

Tony 1:02:40 See you soon. Bye.

Natalie Cassidy 1:02:41 Take care.