EP261: Scraping the Barrel #51 – the things they get up to in the bedroom…

Speaker F 0:02:07 Hello, hello, Nat and Mark. Uh, Queen Camilla here. I just had to message because I'm just listening about the arcades, and I've got to fill you in on, uh, how well we do every summer when we go to Somerset for a week. And we get pretty focused in the arcade on winning tokens, and this year was mind-blowing. I'd like to say I don't waste too much money in the arcade, but I do.

Speaker F 0:02:29 But I start saving from when I get home from one holiday. I start saving all my coins till the next one, and then just before we go, I split all the money into 3 for the kids and some pounds for us. So it's like girl math, it's free money. But with our tokens, we have kitted out our tent beyond your wildest dreams. We've got a kettle, a toaster.

Speaker F 0:02:55 We've got like mood lighting, you know, all the other crap that comes with arcade winnings. But this year we got a Hoover. A Hoover just for the tent. We've got so much stuff now, I didn't know what to get. So as we left this year, I picked out an electric barbecue grill for next year.

Speaker F 0:03:14 We tested it out the weekend inside, you know, don't wanna upset Mr. Burnham. And it was amazing. And I came home with my own mini grabber. Which I'm absolutely terrible at, but I am obsessed with them when I'm away as well. Always want to win the cuddly toy that I don't need.

Speaker F 0:03:29 I think the hours are fun.

Natalie Cassidy 0:03:30 That was lovely, Camilla, who I shall be seeing, uh, on the 3rd of October at the brunch.

Marc 0:03:37 And that was the Laugh If Not podcast for tonight. So thanks for that long, long voice note.

Natalie Cassidy 0:03:42 That is impressive.

Marc 0:03:45 That was a long voice note.

Natalie Cassidy 0:03:46 You are collecting some tickets to get all that.

Marc 0:03:48 Yeah, I mean, that's a significant investment there.

Natalie Cassidy 0:03:51 I think there's a lot of money saved throughout the year for that. Um, but brilliant. But at least she feels like she's getting something for it. Yeah. And also it is kind of a hobby because they're kitting out their tent. It's very good that, that feels like about 10 years ago we were at the arcades. In Rye. It just seems ages and ages ago. I was reminiscing about that earlier today at work. We were talking about it. It was lovely. What a lovely— I like— you cannot beat like a couple of days down there.

Speaker A 0:04:31 Rye, bit of Hastings. Brilliant.

Natalie Cassidy 0:04:33 I know. I bet there are places, other places though, we could do that trip obviously in the UK and still enjoy it with an arcade, bit of Brighton. That sort of thing.

Speaker A 0:04:43 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:04:44 But yeah, get stuck in our ways, don't we?

Speaker A 0:04:46 Oh, love it. Love Rye.

Natalie Cassidy 0:04:49 Talking of places to go, got a message here from Emily from Dorset.

Natalie Cassidy 0:04:52 She's right near Moors Valley. But when I read this, I really wanna go here, Emily. So thank you. Have you heard of this place? Hi Nat, just a quick message.

Natalie Cassidy 0:05:01 First time messaging, but have listened from day one. Just listened to your podcast with the nieces saying about places to go with the kids. We went to the North Pennines visiting family last week, and we went to a museum called the Beamish Museum. It was absolutely incredible. I think Joanie would especially love it, as did my boys.

Natalie Cassidy 0:05:23 Basically, it's a big living museum with lots of different towns set in the olden days, ranging from the 1820s to the 1950s, and you can get dropped off around. By trams or old-style buses. They're all dressed up in character. You can get your hair done in the 1950s hairdressers, go to the old sweet shop, fish and chips, go to the old-style theatre. There's a steam train also for Mark.

Natalie Cassidy 0:05:52 Honestly incredible. I know it's very far out for you, but you've got to go sometime. Also, it's a ticket where you pay and it lasts for a year. Anyway, absolutely love the pod, have listened from day one, and always look forward to a Monday and a Thursday while I do my cleaning jobs. I have to go to this place.

Marc 0:06:11 Have you never heard of it?

Natalie Cassidy 0:06:12 No. Have you?

Speaker H 0:06:14 Yes.

Natalie Cassidy 0:06:15 Have you?

Speaker H 0:06:16 Yes, I have.

Natalie Cassidy 0:06:17 I— that is so up my street. I'd really like to do that. Okay. Why is that funny?

Marc 0:06:26 That just— it just tickles me. It's funny. How do you not know about that?

Natalie Cassidy 0:06:29 Don't know. How do I know about that? Because you're on Facebook all the time.

Marc 0:06:33 No, I knew about it when I was a child.

Natalie Cassidy 0:06:37 Did you?

Marc 0:06:38 Beamish Open Air Museum, it's called.

Natalie Cassidy 0:06:40 I'd really— on the telly, Fred Dibnah's been there. Well, I want to go there. It's really good. Yeah, right, really good. Very good.

Marc 0:06:50 Good recommendation, that is. There's a lot of places like that though.

Natalie Cassidy 0:06:53 North Pennines, whereabouts is that?

Marc 0:06:55 It's in the north.

Natalie Cassidy 0:06:56 Whereabouts is that?

Marc 0:07:00 It's, it's past the Pennines.

Natalie Cassidy 0:07:03 Don't really know where they are.

Marc 0:07:04 In the north.

Natalie Cassidy 0:07:05 Manchester?

Marc 0:07:08 Past Manchester.

Natalie Cassidy 0:07:10 Northumberland?

Marc 0:07:12 No, you go past the Pennines to get to Northumberland, I think I'm right in saying.

Natalie Cassidy 0:07:16 Right.

Marc 0:07:17 I'm gonna get slated now, get that wrong.

Natalie Cassidy 0:07:20 I can't wait till you get that wrong.

Marc 0:07:21 All the lorry drivers will be in touch.

Natalie Cassidy 0:07:22 Yeah, all those lorry drivers that listen.

Marc 0:07:25 You'll be surprised.

Natalie Cassidy 0:07:26 Loads of them. Talking of drivers, train driver James said, so much I enjoyed on the pod today. The Joanie sandwich bit literally made me spit my tea out in my cab. I've just started Alley Cats and I'm loving it. Please let Nat know.

Marc 0:07:41 Do you know who didn't like Alley Cats?

Natalie Cassidy 0:07:43 Who?

Marc 0:07:43 Tim.

Natalie Cassidy 0:07:44 Really? What'd he say about it?

Marc 0:07:48 Because he's a sensible man, he couldn't handle the swearing.

Natalie Cassidy 0:07:51 Fair enough.

Marc 0:07:52 He's a gentleman.

Natalie Cassidy 0:07:53 Yeah, right. Well, James also said, I might have to sign up to Patreon just for the fruit and veg quiz. I might learn some stuff too.

Marc 0:08:02 Yeah, he texted me that and I said, don't, don't hold your breath.

Natalie Cassidy 0:08:04 No, this is his text that you forwarded to me, by the way.

Marc 0:08:06 Oh yes, that makes sense.

Natalie Cassidy 0:08:09 When are we gonna do the quiz?

Marc 0:08:11 I don't know. We were gonna do it, weren't we, in Montenegro, in the, in the little, um—

Natalie Cassidy 0:08:17 Found a lovely grocers, didn't we?

Marc 0:08:18 Well, it's like a, like a market. Would have been good. I mean, I don't— we were struggling just to buy produce there in English, so what they would have made of us walking about with a couple of microphones pointing at their goods, I'm not sure.

Natalie Cassidy 0:08:31 But no, I'm not sure either.

Marc 0:08:32 But it would have been the ideal location, wouldn't it? And would have been topical.

Natalie Cassidy 0:08:35 It was a lovely holiday, that.

Marc 0:08:38 It was, yeah. That feels like a long time ago.

Natalie Cassidy 0:08:43 And it wasn't at all.

Marc 0:08:45 It really wasn't. It was couple of weeks ago.

Natalie Cassidy 0:08:48 Thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Marc 0:08:49 It was brilliant. Yeah, it was really, really good.

Natalie Cassidy 0:08:51 You couldn't find a Maxibon, could you? No, because, um, Oreo have taken over the world, or Montenegro. All of the freezers, Oreo.

Marc 0:09:03 Although an Oreo biscuit ice cream, I must have had so many of those because we bought the multipacks and had them in the freezer.

Natalie Cassidy 0:09:09 Sorry, we?

Marc 0:09:10 I bought the multipacks and had them in the freezer. Sorry, actually you did. You bought one with Eliza?

Natalie Cassidy 0:09:16 Yeah, Eliza bought it. Yeah.

Marc 0:09:18 Okay, I was right then. We bought the multipacks, more than one of us.

Natalie Cassidy 0:09:26 Blimey, again, slated here.

Marc 0:09:30 Anyway, yeah, I ate lots of them because obviously I ate them every night. I would go and replace them. So I admittedly did buy more packs than everyone else.

Natalie Cassidy 0:09:37 But you can get those here, darling.

Marc 0:09:38 I know you can. However, I did find a good one, that sandwich thing. Anyway, do you know what?

Natalie Cassidy 0:09:43 No.

Marc 0:09:44 We've done all this on the Patreon episode.

Natalie Cassidy 0:09:45 Yes, we have. We have. I don't wanna bore everybody. It's a nice holiday special, so have a little listen to that. And a message here from lovely Daniel, who you work with, again forwarded on from you. My first ever Maxibon experience, €2.40 well spent. Turns out Magnum now do a copycat version. I was never totally sold with your explanation as I'm not a fan of choc ice. I just remember the cheap ones my mum used to buy with cheap ice cream and taste tasteless thin chocolate. The Maxibon was like 2 different ice creams in one. Thank you for educating me and broadening my ice cream horizons.

Marc 0:10:21 Least I can do, Daniel.

Natalie Cassidy 0:10:23 There you go.

Marc 0:10:24 After everything you've done for, for, of Joni.

Natalie Cassidy 0:10:26 There was a special edition Stranger Things in Portugal also. Right. Special edition.

Marc 0:10:34 Do you know what? You're talking about an ice cream.

Natalie Cassidy 0:10:38 I am.

Marc 0:10:38 That's what you'd— I got really confused then. I saw there was a poster outside the station the other day for Stranger Things, a theatre show.

Natalie Cassidy 0:10:45 Yes.

Speaker H 0:10:45 It looked so familiar.

Marc 0:10:49 The, the iconography and all of that Stranger Things and stuff. But we've never watched that, have we? No. Maybe it's because of the ice cream thing. I recognise it. What is Stranger Things?

Natalie Cassidy 0:11:01 It's everywhere, darling. What is it? Oh, it's just a huge show. Massive show. It's a— I don't know how many series there've been. I mean, it's massive, right? It's one we've missed, along with the Game of Thrones. Yes. Okay. And along with many, many, many series, really. We don't watch a lot of telly, do we?

Marc 0:11:21 Not lately.

Natalie Cassidy 0:11:23 Quite controversially, I've, um, removed the television from our bedroom. Which I think is quite a talking point.

Marc 0:11:33 Yeah. Or, or, well, literally, because what else can you do in there now the TV's gone?

Natalie Cassidy 0:11:43 We didn't watch a lot of television in the room.

Marc 0:11:46 No.

Natalie Cassidy 0:11:48 The television just looked shit because it was on a tall unit. It did. Yeah. I feel like we've redecorated now. Nice in there now. Looks nice.

Marc 0:11:57 Open the room out a bit.

Natalie Cassidy 0:11:58 Yeah.

Marc 0:11:58 Joanie's not happy. She was really angry.

Natalie Cassidy 0:12:01 Very, very angry. However, I think a bedroom should be for reading, sleeping, having sex in. I don't think—

Marc 0:12:12 hang on a minute.

Natalie Cassidy 0:12:13 I mean, what, what now?

Marc 0:12:17 I mean, it's quite unnecessary, isn't it, to go into that kind of thing?

Natalie Cassidy 0:12:20 No, I think if you've got a telly in your room, It's— you're not connecting properly. You're not connecting in the room. Literally. So, um, I'm very pleased with it. Very pleased that it's out of the room, and I think it gives the room a lot of feng shui.

Marc 0:12:38 Well, I'll be reporting back on the, uh—

Natalie Cassidy 0:12:40 No, you won't, because you're a stiff. You don't like talking about it. Okay. True.

Marc 0:12:50 You've got a really good infamy tonight.

Natalie Cassidy 0:12:51 No, I'm just saying we could be— You really have good infamy. We could be a bit more open with people. People like that sort of talk. Yeah, I'm alright, thanks. There we go.

Marc 0:12:57 There's a line.

Natalie Cassidy 0:13:00 Fair enough. I think it's nice for people to know that we're happy and have a healthy relationship.

Natalie Cassidy 0:13:09 Dunno what you're laughing at. Okay. I'll change the tone. In hospital, as I had to have a hysterectomy, and while I have been here, I've been I am in awe of the wonderful staff. I watched your documentary and loved it, and you thought you knew how hard they worked.

Natalie Cassidy 0:13:23 However, now experiencing firsthand what these incredible heroes do on a daily basis is amazing. They always have a smile on their faces. They deserve better credit and better pay. I just hope I have shown and told them enough how much I appreciate the care they've given me. Love from Trudy.

Natalie Cassidy 0:13:42 Well, Trudy, get well also. Please. And you're right, once you're in those places and something happens to you or a family member or a friend, you realise how amazing they really are. So it's lovely to hear, and I do hope you're on the mend.

Marc 0:13:55 I've got a message. You know your mate, um, our friend of the pod, Mia Adkins?

Natalie Cassidy 0:14:00 Mia?

Marc 0:14:03 Yes. A little while back, it's quite an old message, I'll be honest, but it's worth reading out. Yeah, good idea. She said, why don't you do a sticker collection for the podcast? Like a sticker book.

Natalie Cassidy 0:14:13 Oh yeah, Panini will snap that up. One page. Panini? Panini.

Marc 0:14:20 Oh, it wouldn't do one page.

Natalie Cassidy 0:14:22 Panini's the sticker book company. I thought that was something— I thought it was like a cheese and ham one. That, that is also Panini. That is— thank you.

Marc 0:14:32 I thought I'd gone absolutely mad.

Natalie Cassidy 0:14:34 No, but Panini are the company that make the World Cup books and different sticker books. Okay. I know quite a lot about stickers, as you know. I think—

Marc 0:14:44 do you not see panini underneath billboards?

Natalie Cassidy 0:14:45 Possibly. I don't know.

Marc 0:14:50 I love a panini.

Natalie Cassidy 0:14:50 But, um, Joanie got a cheese and ham toastie in Costa today. Yeah, she loved it, didn't she? I know, but she'd had a bacon sandwich at home, and then 2 hours later I said, it's not lunchtime, really.

Marc 0:15:03 No. Mia also then sent photos of her husband doing shopping with a bag.

Natalie Cassidy 0:15:10 Oh, okay. Fair enough. Yeah. If we did a sticker book—

Marc 0:15:15 Sorry. I'm sorry. She's so badly delivered. The bag was in the basket.

Natalie Cassidy 0:15:19 The bag was what? I can't believe what I've just witnessed my husband doing.

Marc 0:15:25 I'm like, why have you got your bag in your basket? Just use the bag.

Natalie Cassidy 0:15:29 Oh, I see.

Marc 0:15:31 And as I said, sensible man using his butt. Well, he's using the bag.

Natalie Cassidy 0:15:35 No, he's, he's got his bag within the basket and she's saying he should be using the bag as his basket. Yeah. He's not doing what you did.

Speaker I 0:15:43 Well, he is.

Natalie Cassidy 0:15:44 Yeah. You're agreeing with me.

Marc 0:15:45 He's shrouding it with a basket.

Natalie Cassidy 0:15:46 No, it's folded up in the bag is what she's saying.

Marc 0:15:51 Well, the photo's gone now.

Natalie Cassidy 0:15:53 I don't think it was. Yes, it will be. I'm telling you now. That's the last thing.

Natalie Cassidy 0:15:57 Mia, let us know. I'm not gonna read anything else out. She always sends me really brilliant videos. Whenever she talks, it's got a, like, a little filter on it with big eyes. I've seen it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:16:07 It's slightly scary to people. I quite like it. She's great fun. Okay. Well, that's the last thing I'm gonna read out.

Natalie Cassidy 0:16:14 If you want to follow me on Instagram at camera_mark. Plugging that a lot each episode lately. Oh, yeah. I mean, I get 2 followers at a time every time we do it. Might as well though.

Natalie Cassidy 0:16:22 2 followers is 2 followers. All for it. Mine's dropped down, my normal one. Is it? Yeah, 541K.

Natalie Cassidy 0:16:32 It doesn't see— it goes up to 542 and then it comes down again. So I get a lot of followers and a lot of unfollows each month, right? Sort of on a par. You're at that sort of state, it's like reciprocal. I don't know, not bothered.

Natalie Cassidy 0:16:46 Yeah, not really worried.

Speaker A 0:16:47 Perpetual motion.

Natalie Cassidy 0:16:52 Yes. Is that like one of those type— one of those, um, swinging— the balls, the swinging balls? Pendulum? No, but where you have quite a few balls swinging all together. Knock, knock. The swinging thing. with loads of balls together. Bonk, bonk. You know the one I mean? Yes. Is that a perpetual motion?

Marc 0:17:20 I believe perpetual motion is the notion that you can, you know, you sort of get some sort of input and then the output is the same. It's impossible.

Natalie Cassidy 0:17:29 Right. Yeah. I'll tell you what, you're full of great conversation today. Sorry, I'm not really. I don't know what to say. I'm not— I mean, generally speaking, it's pretty poor quality. what comes out of my mouth, but hence the name of the pod that we do. Going back to Mia and the sticker book. Yep. I'd like her to— have I got to do— then we've got to do a full-on photo shoot because there's only 5 of us.

Marc 0:17:56 Well, Ellie will have a load of selfies, she'll be able to whack on them, won't she? Same with Maria.

Natalie Cassidy 0:18:01 Yeah, but I feel like we need to do a sort of shoot with different— us doing different things, maybe. Yeah.

Marc 0:18:10 Do like a photo shoot. Be good.

Natalie Cassidy 0:18:12 I'm not sure it will catch on, the sticker book idea. No. But I do love the idea because I like stickers.

Marc 0:18:18 Oh, I thought— you never know.

Natalie Cassidy 0:18:21 How is the, uh— A calendar would work.

Marc 0:18:23 Yes, a calendar would work.

Natalie Cassidy 0:18:26 A calendar would be good. Yeah. A planner, like my calendars downstairs. Yeah. So you can write on them and stuff. Not a little measly one. But I think that could work.

Marc 0:18:37 Are you saying your calendar's a little measly one? Is that a dig again?

Natalie Cassidy 0:18:42 No, no, mine's really lovely. What I mean is, you know, you get really little ones, you can't write anything on them. What's the point?

Marc 0:18:47 Yes.

Natalie Cassidy 0:18:47 What's the point of it hanging up?

Marc 0:18:48 Well, I don't really know.

Natalie Cassidy 0:18:51 Well, it's irrelevant. You need to plan out the month for me. I like to have it. Not that I really write in our calendar much.

Marc 0:18:59 You don't? No.

Natalie Cassidy 0:19:01 'Cause I've got a diary.

Marc 0:19:01 Dear diary.

Natalie Cassidy 0:19:05 Mm-hmm.

Marc 0:19:07 That's what you do now when we go to bed. There's no telly. You can sit and write your diary.

Natalie Cassidy 0:19:10 It's interesting you say that because I was going to start doing some journaling. Right.

Marc 0:19:17 Is that the same thing? Diary?

Natalie Cassidy 0:19:19 Not really. It's more, it is about your day, but it's when you, journaling is to do with manifestation. And visualisation. And the moon. And being grateful, sort of, but being just what you've been grateful for, the nice things you've come across throughout the day. It's just to appreciate life a bit. Right. So I was gonna do a bit of that. And you should do it when you wake up as well. Okay. Visualise your day, what you want to happen. It's good. Okay. Yeah. Nice. Well, let me know how it goes. I will do. Yeah. Sounds good.

Natalie Cassidy 0:22:25 We had a message from Joe. Lovely Jo Berry. She said, oh my God, tell Mark to stop saying Alexa, causing havoc in people's living rooms. Alexa.

Marc 0:22:41 What, the fact I kept saying Alexa?

Natalie Cassidy 0:22:44 Yeah. That's all you did on the last pod. Alexa, Alexa, Alexa.

Marc 0:22:50 Yeah, don't do that because everyone's Alexa's gonna be, yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:22:53 I did know that.

Marc 0:22:55 All right.

Natalie Cassidy 0:22:56 Sorry everybody. Sorry, sorry, sorry. I keep telling ours to turn off.

Marc 0:23:01 I cannot stand that. Just get rid of it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:23:03 And when I turn it off, it just keeps coming back on.

Marc 0:23:06 Funny that. Putin's listening, listening for it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:23:08 Shut up.

Marc 0:23:09 He is.

Natalie Cassidy 0:23:09 Don't say that.

Marc 0:23:10 He is.

Natalie Cassidy 0:23:10 Don't be silly.

Marc 0:23:12 Text in if you're listening. Well, you know, he wouldn't be listening to this, would he?

Natalie Cassidy 0:23:19 Who, Putin?

Marc 0:23:20 Yeah, we never know.

Natalie Cassidy 0:23:24 I haven't really got a lot to say on that matter.

Marc 0:23:26 Okay.

Natalie Cassidy 0:23:27 I don't like being political, really.

Marc 0:23:28 Okay.

Natalie Cassidy 0:23:29 Although I will, I will say one thing. I was listening to LBC earlier, as I do.

Marc 0:23:33 Why?

Natalie Cassidy 0:23:34 Because I like that certain things I like. Okay. I don't listen to it all day.

Marc 0:23:38 Interesting. I'm worried about that. Are you getting a bit addicted to it again?

Natalie Cassidy 0:23:42 No, I, no, I like the morning.

Marc 0:23:44 Right.

Natalie Cassidy 0:23:45 Little bit in the morning. Yeah. And then I like 4 o'clock, Tom Swarbrick.

Marc 0:23:48 Yeah. Okay.

Natalie Cassidy 0:23:50 And now Andrew Marr's back on at 6 as well. So, yes, anyway, Andy Burnham did his first, um, big speech today, opening the Parliament and all that for the, the new season. Season? Not football, is it? But you know what I mean. Um, and he was quite— Opening Parliament. Yeah, it was quite good. I feel like he's talking the talk. Okay. Nothing to say about that?

Marc 0:24:20 I'm— I— do you know what? I was always— I was always taught, don't ever discuss anything political with people you don't know. And by definition, we're on a podcast.

Natalie Cassidy 0:24:32 I'm just saying—

Marc 0:24:35 I'm not gonna— I mean, I won't even talk to you about it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:24:37 I'm just— yes, we do.

Marc 0:24:39 No.

Natalie Cassidy 0:24:39 I am just saying— I thought he did well because he hasn't spoke to anybody. He's had a very, very long summer holiday.

Marc 0:24:46 What do you mean he's not spoke to anybody?

Natalie Cassidy 0:24:47 Well, he hasn't stood up in there yet since becoming Prime Minister.

Marc 0:24:52 Right.

Natalie Cassidy 0:24:52 He had an extremely long summer holiday. Um, Kemi Badenoch did give it back to him a little bit, but I thought he handled it quite well.

Marc 0:24:58 Did you see my mate, the Earl of Norfolk, wandering about?

Natalie Cassidy 0:25:02 No.

Marc 0:25:03 Nice guy.

Natalie Cassidy 0:25:04 What do you mean your mate?

Marc 0:25:05 Oh, when we used to do State Opening of Parliament. when I used to do it. Hmm. The Earl of Norfolk's involved in organising the State Opening of Parliament.

Natalie Cassidy 0:25:15 Oh, I see.

Marc 0:25:16 Okay. Yeah, you said liaise with him about where to stand, and it was all kind of— he was quite involved in the staging of things.

Natalie Cassidy 0:25:21 What qualifications do you need to be the Speaker? Mr. Speaker?

Marc 0:25:26 I don't know what qualifications you need. I don't think he's qualified as such, is he?

Natalie Cassidy 0:25:33 I'd love that job. You just have a go at everyone, tell them to shut up, calm down. It's quite a nice—

Marc 0:25:40 Did you see Black Rod?

Natalie Cassidy 0:25:41 What's Black Rod?

Marc 0:25:44 Black Rod goes and knocks on the door of the House of Commons and gets the door slammed in their face.

Natalie Cassidy 0:25:48 I know, what's all that about though, really?

Marc 0:25:51 It's a ceremony.

Natalie Cassidy 0:25:53 I don't know if it was that today.

Marc 0:25:55 I went in the robing room as well. That was interesting. That's where the monarch would go.

Natalie Cassidy 0:26:00 Oh, I'm getting there.

Marc 0:26:02 I don't think I've done it. I don't— the last time I did it was with, um, Queen Elizabeth. I don't think I've done it with King Charles.

Natalie Cassidy 0:26:08 But I don't know if that was today, can I just say that?

Marc 0:26:12 Well, if he's in Parliament now after the summer recess, the State Opening of Parliament surely would have happened.

Natalie Cassidy 0:26:17 I don't know.

Marc 0:26:19 Hang on a minute, this is very important. No, there's not been a State Opening of Parliament since May. Right. 13th of May.

Natalie Cassidy 0:26:29 My birthday.

Marc 0:26:30 So I raised my eyebrows and said 13th of May.

Natalie Cassidy 0:26:33 I know, but the listener who isn't watching can't see that.

Marc 0:26:36 Um, State Opening of Parliament 2026. But how's he been in Parliament then? Are you sure he was in Parliament?

Natalie Cassidy 0:26:42 Yes.

Marc 0:26:44 State Opening of Parliament 2026. They were on the benches, heckling away. Uh, September.

Natalie Cassidy 0:26:52 Back today, back today from their school holiday.

Marc 0:26:56 No, there's not been a State Opening of Parliament yet. I don't understand that. That's weird.

Natalie Cassidy 0:26:59 Oh, there we go.

Marc 0:27:00 Sorry.

Natalie Cassidy 0:27:01 So, yeah, OG listener Lottie.

Marc 0:27:05 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:27:05 Hi Natalie, my 9-year-old is also obsessed with 2p machines and this is my Freya in Clacton. Also loves Shave Ape Knee.

Marc 0:27:14 Yep, I used to have a Shave Ape Knee.

Natalie Cassidy 0:27:16 Now I remember that being spoken about. Yeah, I've never played it. Yeah, my nan and gramps always got the board out for me and my cousin cousins back in the '90s.

Marc 0:27:24 Bit of talcum powder on it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:27:26 I used to absolutely love re-talking the board to make it slippy. There you go. Occasionally I see it being used at the local village fete. If you land between the 2 lines, you get a shot of spirit of your choice. Madness. Definitely wasn't doing that when I was 7. Speak soon, Lottie.

Marc 0:27:41 It's a good old game, that. Yeah, well, my, um, granddad had a board and it's just a bit of wood really with a bit at the end that stops the coin coming off.

Natalie Cassidy 0:27:48 Yeah.

Marc 0:27:49 And there's little grooves.

Natalie Cassidy 0:27:49 And didn't you have a little shovel?

Marc 0:27:51 No, I used to use, used to use the part of your thumb, right? You know, that thick bit there. You should just give it a little knock and it used to like shove that, shove the ha'penny.

Natalie Cassidy 0:28:01 I'd like to play that.

Marc 0:28:02 I wonder where my granddad's shove ha'penny— my mum will have that, surely.

Natalie Cassidy 0:28:06 Ask her. I'd like to have a game.

Marc 0:28:08 Yeah, no, I don't know where that went, but we used to play that. Yeah, it was one of, one of the few games actually. We used to have that and a little plastic box. I remember the box like it was yesterday. It's like a little box with like loads of little curved edges on and a screw top lid. It was full of counters.

Natalie Cassidy 0:28:23 Yeah.

Marc 0:28:24 So you could sort of, you know, Tiddlywinks. Tiddlywinks. But yeah, Tiddlywinks. Exactly.

Natalie Cassidy 0:28:28 Love Tiddlywinks. Yeah. So that used to be, that used to be another thing. Very good. I taught you rummy on holiday, didn't I?

Marc 0:28:35 You did, actually. Yeah, that was good. You enjoyed that? I haven't played that since.

Natalie Cassidy 0:28:38 No.

Marc 0:28:39 That's another thing we could do in the bedroom. Game of rummy.

Natalie Cassidy 0:28:41 Game of cards.

Marc 0:28:42 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:28:42 Yeah, I'm up for that. Okay, strip poker. Okay, can't play poker.

Marc 0:28:49 No.

Natalie Cassidy 0:28:50 I'd like to be able to play it.

Marc 0:28:51 Yeah, I'd like to be able to strip, but—

Natalie Cassidy 0:28:55 Hi Nat, I've listened from the beginning, but it's my first time sending you a message.

Natalie Cassidy 0:28:59 Love the pod so much, and listening to you and your family really reminds me of how lucky I am to have mine too. We are spread quite far from each other, and my sister, who is my best friend, lives in South Africa. And although we talk every single day, I miss her like mad. I absolutely loved your documentary, and I wanted you to know that it inspired me to make the choice to go back into care and work again. My husband and I have 3 children, and our youngest has just turned 4 and is heading into school in September.

Natalie Cassidy 0:29:28 I've been working from home as a baker— brilliant— but knew I would need and want to increase my working hours when all 3 kids are in school. but I couldn't decide what to do for sure. I kept floating the idea of heading back into care as I loved it so much, and after watching your documentary, it made me realise how much I miss it too. So I'll be starting back there working nights in the next few weeks. Thanks so much for all your fantastic episodes.

Natalie Cassidy 0:29:52 Sending you all lots of love. Jen from Essex. And Jen, I love to hear it. It's so— I've had a few, a good few of those now where they've watched that series And it's inspired people to either go into care or go back to it.

Marc 0:30:05 Should do like a follow-up of that series or like another series.

Natalie Cassidy 0:30:09 Well, fingers crossed.

Marc 0:30:10 Be good, wouldn't it? Yeah, I do. A lot of people have watched that. More people have said to me that they really enjoyed that documentary that you did over many other things you've done. A lot of people have mentioned it to me.

Natalie Cassidy 0:30:23 Yeah.

Marc 0:30:23 Which, which I think is great.

Natalie Cassidy 0:30:25 Yeah, it's really good.

Marc 0:30:26 So obviously got seen by quite a few people.

Natalie Cassidy 0:30:30 No, it's really good. I'm pleased it's inspired people to do something.

Natalie Cassidy 0:30:35 You've sent me another message here. They should really be on your phone. You should be reading them out, but hey-ho. Hi, Mark. You won't believe how utterly happy my son was receiving this Feast of Steam video via eBay.

Natalie Cassidy 0:30:47 He is one of the biggest steam engine enthusiasts and also a fan of VHS too. Don't suppose you know of any local model railway exhibitions this autumn by any chance? Sheredy's school used to host one in Hodderston, but that seems to have stopped. They often sell VHS and DVDs, and he loves a mooch. We're in Ware.

Natalie Cassidy 0:31:06 Thank you. I also love being part of the Patreon. I think it's such a friendly community and it brightens my days. Really kind gift from my husband, as he knows how much I love the show. Please tell Natalie she's doing a wonderful job, as well as you and all of the family.

Natalie Cassidy 0:31:24 And she also said, is there any chance of a live cooking episode nearer to Christmas, as Nat is such a great cook and a lover for all things festive? Thank you and have a lovely day. So what I would say is I'm going to be in a panto with not a lot of time on my hands, but I promise I'm going to definitely do some September and October Maybe vids or little episodes all about food at Christmas. And I promise you that I certainly will. Hoping to get some chefs on, some people who have written books, trying to get Sam Nixon on.

Natalie Cassidy 0:32:02 He's great. He's just got a book called Autumn out with all his cooking in it. And I'll probably have the wonderful Elliot Grover, our dear friend, on to talk about food as well, 'cause he's marvellous. So watch this space. So do you know of any local model railway exhibitions at all?

Natalie Cassidy 0:32:19 Yes. This autumn?

Marc 0:32:21 No, well, I don't know of any ones specifically.

Natalie Cassidy 0:32:23 Ah.

Marc 0:32:24 However, in that sort of local area in Hertfordshire, you've got Broxbourne Model Railway Club. That's open a lot, so you can head down there and go and have a look. There's a model railway in a hut.

Natalie Cassidy 0:32:34 Yes, but it's not an exhibition. Yeah, I know what you're saying. I'm just highlighting it in case it's not known about.

Marc 0:32:39 We lived opposite it. I didn't know it was there.

Natalie Cassidy 0:32:40 Yep.

Marc 0:32:41 There's also another one, well, the same club, but they've got like the garden railway bit just around the corner. Well, it's like a 2-second walk away. They have quite regular exhibitions, so if you go on their website, I'm sure they might have something coming up.

Natalie Cassidy 0:32:54 And that is what, Broxbourne Railway Club?

Marc 0:32:56 Broxbourne Model Railway Club. But yeah, they've got the, they've got the indoor hut which has got the model railway. It's open at weekends, you can sort of just walk in there. Me and Joni went in there the other week, and then in the other end there's like a garden railway bit which we've been to, but they do just do some open days and what have you. And also, as you're in the area, I'm sure you know about it, but you've got East Herts Miniature Railway. Oh, at Van Hagues Garden Centre. Obviously that's like a nice little 7¼-inch gauge miniature railway that's well worth going to.

Natalie Cassidy 0:33:24 Very good. And I'm so sorry I haven't got your name here. That was Mark's fault, not mine. Hi Natalie and Mark, buongiorno from my little Euro trip, currently poolside in Italy. Thank you for reading my last message out regarding the Cornetto Go ice cream. I have discovered another. Has Mark got his chops around this one before? A Cuccellone. Oh, what?

Marc 0:33:54 Okay.

Natalie Cassidy 0:33:54 See picture. Cuccellone, it's spelt. I thought I would hate the soggy biscuit, but it was actually banging. Currently staying on a vineyard in northern Italy. Fabulous rustic restaurant, and the wine is around £13 a bottle and £2 a glass. Absolute madness. Also, the van is parked within the grapevines. Idyllic. Love to you and yours. Lottie again. I beg you, Lottie's on here again because she sends me loads of messages. So there we go. So a, a cucciolone looks like this.

Marc 0:34:28 Oh yeah, right.

Natalie Cassidy 0:34:33 I don't think you've had one.

Marc 0:34:34 No, I haven't. That's right up my street though.

Natalie Cassidy 0:34:38 Yeah. Would you like to explain it? Sorry, what were you going to?

Marc 0:34:42 So it's sort of like a biscuit with ice cream in between the biscuit. So yeah, you're absolutely bang on there. That's exactly the sort of thing I'd enjoy. It looks great.

Marc 0:34:53 Really good. I was a bit disappointed at that one I had away. I found that, you know, I keep looking over there because the wrappers— yes, yeah, it's been saved for posterity. But it was really good. And then me and Joni went back to that shop to do a little shop.

Marc 0:35:07 And while we were queuing up, I said, oh, Joni, go and get me one of those ice cream sandwiches again. She ran off. She's like, I can't find it. And I was also— so you hold the place in the queue and I ran around and, uh, no, they didn't have it in the freezer. They had 3 freezers and they'd gone.

Marc 0:35:22 Elusive. So I only had one.

Natalie Cassidy 0:35:23 She's also asking me what the writing says. I can read it, but I can't tell you what it says. Auntie Linnie will tell you what it says. I'll post this in our group and I'll get back to you.

Marc 0:35:37 Oh yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:35:38 La risposta alla terza domanda la devi scrivere nello spazio vuoto sotto alla terza domanda. It's something about relaxing. And something about writing, and that's all I know. I'm so sorry, Lottie.

Marc 0:35:59 Why don't you, why don't you say, Alexa, what does this mean? Oh no, don't. And then read it out.

Natalie Cassidy 0:36:04 I'm gonna switch off if we keep doing that. You can't keep doing that, honestly.

Marc 0:36:09 But they could translate it for you then, couldn't they?

Natalie Cassidy 0:36:11 I got this from Michelle on Sunday. Hi Nat, my husband Ross and I are currently in Switzerland at a place which inspired Tolkien's Rivendell. Ross has never had a Maxibon before, and I've been quite upset not being able to get him one in the UK. Lo and behold, this quiet quaint town in the mountains had them in their little shop. I can't send a picture unless you accept this message, silly Instagram, which I have done, by the way. I'm hoping to get a picture soon. I love the pod. Ross will listen when his 2 faves, Mark and Tony, are on. All the best. Love, Michelle and Ross from Scotland.

Marc 0:36:48 Oh, it's nice of Ross, isn't it? Very, very nice. That's great.

Natalie Cassidy 0:36:51 Very good, isn't it?

Marc 0:36:53 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:36:53 Doesn't like the women. How lovely.

Speaker K 0:36:56 No. Hi, Carla here in Ireland, just listening to you and Lenny, and oh my goodness, I nearly cried. I'm usually ringing to give out about Mark, but in fairness, in this instance, if you freeze the tomato, especially smaller ones, if you freeze the tomatoes whole, when you go to defrost them to use them, the skins just fall off. There's absolutely no need. And also the, the skins on them, um, protect The flashes, they're freezing.

Speaker K 0:37:22 So the poor chap, in this instance, for once, Mark, I'm being nice. The poor chap spent the whole time doing that, and it was unfortunately completely unnecessary. But sure, look, I mean, we all live and we learn, I suppose. Thanks, really enjoying everything as always. Take care, bye-bye.

Marc 0:37:38 2 hours I spent doing that.

Natalie Cassidy 0:37:40 And then Linda said you could boil them and just use a mooli. Which I've got downstairs. So that's another way. But I think we should do what Carla said. I think we should freeze them whole.

Marc 0:37:54 And what did she say about me? Sorry, at the beginning.

Natalie Cassidy 0:37:57 Oh, she has a go. She's Carla.

Marc 0:37:58 Is that the one who was always having a go?

Natalie Cassidy 0:37:59 She has a pop.

Marc 0:38:00 Right.

Natalie Cassidy 0:38:01 But this time she's on your side.

Marc 0:38:03 Oh, great. Yeah. She just told me that I absolutely wasted a couple of hours on a Sunday.

Natalie Cassidy 0:38:07 There we go.

Marc 0:38:09 Peeling. And also, can I just say—

Natalie Cassidy 0:38:12 It was Thursday night actually, when lovely Jamie Balfour was here.

Marc 0:38:15 Okay. Can I just say that Linda was absolutely right? I had done the ironing.

Natalie Cassidy 0:38:19 6 shirts.

Marc 0:38:21 Okay. Yeah. More than the 0 shirts that you ironed.

Natalie Cassidy 0:38:24 The, the rest of the ironing's still on the ironing board.

Marc 0:38:27 I rest my case.

Natalie Cassidy 0:38:29 Just so you know.

Marc 0:38:29 I rest my case.

Natalie Cassidy 0:38:30 I haven't done it yet. Don't need it. Don't you worry about that. I've been washing clothes all day.

Marc 0:38:35 Right. Okay.

Natalie Cassidy 0:38:37 Worry about that. What was I doing on holiday? Emptying all the bins.

Marc 0:38:39 Every day. What was I doing on holiday?

Natalie Cassidy 0:38:42 Doing a load of washing.

Marc 0:38:44 Yeah, every day you came down and there were towels laid out like, like it was being serviced. There were towels on the—

Natalie Cassidy 0:38:51 Every day of our life I do 2 loads of washing. Are you having a laugh?

Marc 0:38:54 Well, you don't, so I did a load. I don't—

Natalie Cassidy 0:38:57 Darling.

Marc 0:38:57 How many times? Please.

Natalie Cassidy 0:38:59 Every now and again you have it. No, you do. Every now and again. No, no, every now and again.

Marc 0:39:04 Whenever I'm at home I do it, which isn't very often. So that's every now and again? Every now and again. Okay, right. I'll think, think about it. You wouldn't do it at the weekends? Hey?

Natalie Cassidy 0:39:15 Wouldn't do it at the weekends?

Marc 0:39:16 That's exactly when I was doing it last.

Natalie Cassidy 0:39:19 Sure, because you were off for the day.

Marc 0:39:22 I'm holding my ground on this. I do the washing.

Natalie Cassidy 0:39:25 I would say you, you do do the washing.

Marc 0:39:29 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:39:30 But you can't say you do the washing in the house. You can't do that.

Marc 0:39:33 I think there's been on many occasions where you've been busy, weeks where I've done the vast majority, and I'm not being funny. I also tend to sort of do it and sort of get it then put away.

Natalie Cassidy 0:39:44 Tell you something else. Sorry.

Marc 0:39:46 Go on, tell me something else.

Natalie Cassidy 0:39:49 No, no, we're going deep here. You don't fucking put it away.

Marc 0:39:53 I do.

Natalie Cassidy 0:39:53 You put yours away.

Marc 0:39:54 Well, I only do my coat.

Natalie Cassidy 0:39:56 You do not put any other washing away.

Marc 0:39:59 Do. I do, I do Joni's, but she then comes with me and tells me where everything goes.

Natalie Cassidy 0:40:04 And you put the towels away.

Marc 0:40:05 I'll put the towels away.

Natalie Cassidy 0:40:06 Just not me and Liza's.

Marc 0:40:07 Um, no, that's fair enough, but I do do the ironing.

Natalie Cassidy 0:40:09 There's also a few times when you do the washing and it's funny, it's all your things.

Marc 0:40:16 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:40:17 You've got all your bits out, washed drawers. That happens quite a lot, doesn't it?

Marc 0:40:21 But I've got a lot of washing.

Natalie Cassidy 0:40:23 You do, actually. You are the biggest culprit.

Marc 0:40:27 No. But Eliza uses her washing basket as the automatic filing machine.

Natalie Cassidy 0:40:34 Yes.

Marc 0:40:35 If she's got anything she can't be bothered to put in a cupboard, she just puts it in the laundry basket.

Natalie Cassidy 0:40:39 She does.

Marc 0:40:40 Doesn't matter if she's tried it on, out of the— she puts it in the laundry basket.

Natalie Cassidy 0:40:44 Agreed. But that has stopped now. It has. Right.

Marc 0:40:47 Okay. Right. Okay.

Natalie Cassidy 0:40:47 No, it has stopped. Alright. Because I really know I had to sit her down and say, this is Not fun.

Marc 0:40:51 Right.

Natalie Cassidy 0:40:52 So she's got much better.

Marc 0:40:54 You need to have the same conversation now about the loading of the dishwasher.

Natalie Cassidy 0:40:58 What about it?

Marc 0:41:01 Well, she thinks that, that there's some sort of contraption that like pipes everything from the sink into the dishwasher automatically. Oh, the side. And files it all in.

Natalie Cassidy 0:41:11 I know. Yeah, yeah, it's true.

Marc 0:41:13 It's not like an automatic sort of like there's some sort of wallet and grommet machinery that sort of picks it all up and loads it and moves it around the kitchen for us.

Natalie Cassidy 0:41:21 We had a message actually talking of Wallace and Gromit and inventions. Someone sent me a steam engine model railway and they'd tied a hosepipe to it and it was watering the garden as it went round.

Marc 0:41:33 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:41:34 Sorry, just made me think of Wallace and Gromit. It was that sort of thing.

Marc 0:41:38 Okay. I see what you mean. Yeah. Like sort of Heath Robinson sort of.

Natalie Cassidy 0:41:43 Who's that?

Marc 0:41:45 You've never heard of the phrase Heath Robinson?

Natalie Cassidy 0:41:46 No.

Marc 0:41:47 Heath Robinson would be like, um, this podcast, it's anything, it's sort of thrown together.

Natalie Cassidy 0:41:53 What? Why is that? Where does it come from? I think it comes from— now, where does it derive from? I'm gonna look it up.

Marc 0:42:00 I'm gonna look it up.

Natalie Cassidy 0:42:01 Before you look it up, why don't you have a go?

Marc 0:42:04 I think it comes from Swiss Family Robinson, where the family lash up stuff and like they build a treehouse and all live in the treehouse. So it's all sort of lashed up. I think that's where it comes from.

Natalie Cassidy 0:42:15 Swiss Family Robinson?

Marc 0:42:16 It's a book.

Natalie Cassidy 0:42:16 Oh, I'm sorry, no idea.

Marc 0:42:20 Right, now let's find out.

Natalie Cassidy 0:42:21 Riveting this today.

Marc 0:42:23 Where does Heath Robinson come from?

Natalie Cassidy 0:42:27 I mean, you can't even type it.

Marc 0:42:28 I thought it'd be better to speak, being that we're doing a podcast, rather than type it. But obviously— ah, you ready for this?

Natalie Cassidy 0:42:37 Go on.

Marc 0:42:39 The saying Heath Robinson comes from William Heath Robinson, a famous English cartoonist and illustrator who drew absurdly complex, over-engineered machines to perform simple everyday tasks. So it's not entirely—

Natalie Cassidy 0:42:52 No, you're completely wrong.

Marc 0:42:55 No, but everybody uses the phrase Heath Robinson for something that's a bit—

Natalie Cassidy 0:42:59 I've never heard of it in my life. I don't think everybody does. Probably characters at the railway do it.

Marc 0:43:06 Please, camera_mark on Instagram account, send me a message if you've heard about it, please.

Natalie Cassidy 0:43:10 Or 07788 20 19 19.

Marc 0:43:13 Mark of the Sea, I must point out.

Natalie Cassidy 0:43:16 Mm-hmm.

Marc 0:43:19 All of my Instagram messages, by the way, my message requests have been deleted. It's really annoying that. So yeah, the, the lady that messaged about the local railway thing, I've not replied to you because I've not got your message anymore. Which is a real shame.

Natalie Cassidy 0:43:31 Oh, bless your heart. Never mind, eh?

Natalie Cassidy 0:46:21 Joanie's back to school tomorrow.

Marc 0:46:26 How do you feel about that?

Natalie Cassidy 0:46:27 Had a lovely day with her today. We went shopping, got her a few autumnal outfits. Mhmm. Because she really didn't have any clothes for the weather change.

Marc 0:46:39 It's definitely turned, hasn't it? Last night there was— sorry, not last night, tonight I was putting the bins out.

Natalie Cassidy 0:46:44 Yeah, but it's lovely. It's got lovely little—

Marc 0:46:48 No, it's really horrible. Putting the bins out and there was a— oh, I think someone was having like a bonfire.

Natalie Cassidy 0:46:54 Oh, that's a bit early.

Marc 0:46:56 And it's a joke. Yeah, it was a bit of a joke. And, uh, yeah, I just thought, oh, here we go, not November the 5th, mate. But I, I was collecting chillies as well. And, and that feeling of— it sounds really weird. I associate bringing in the harvest of chillies with the beginning of September. What?

Natalie Cassidy 0:47:19 That's really tickled me.

Marc 0:47:22 What's that?

Natalie Cassidy 0:47:25 You're talking like you're Jeremy Clarkson.

Marc 0:47:27 No, that's a little—

Natalie Cassidy 0:47:29 Like a farmer. When I do the harvest for the chillies.

Marc 0:47:33 No, I didn't say that. I said bringing in the harvest of chillies. Have you seen how many chillies we've got?

Natalie Cassidy 0:47:38 No, we have got a lot.

Marc 0:47:39 Blimey, we need a machine to get them in. No, I did that. And also—

Natalie Cassidy 0:47:43 Maybe you can do a Heath Robinson. Is that right?

Marc 0:47:48 No.

Natalie Cassidy 0:47:48 Does that work?

Marc 0:47:49 Not really. But something I was going to say to you, I also got you a nice big bowl of tomatoes brought in.

Natalie Cassidy 0:47:54 Yes.

Marc 0:47:55 Now, yes, granted, now we're sort of getting to the dregs of the tomatoes.

Natalie Cassidy 0:47:59 I wouldn't call those dregs down there.

Marc 0:48:00 No, they're nice, they're nice. You've been a bit, a little bit lazy, I feel, because you firstly wanted to collect them in.

Natalie Cassidy 0:48:06 Sorry, why am I lazy?

Marc 0:48:08 Because all of the really difficult to get to tomatoes, like round the back bit.

Natalie Cassidy 0:48:13 I always go round there.

Marc 0:48:14 Well, there's about 5. Basically that whole bowl was collected from round the back.

Natalie Cassidy 0:48:19 I went round the back. I didn't get a lot. I couldn't, 'cause I did a lot at the front. I had no room.

Marc 0:48:26 Right.

Natalie Cassidy 0:48:27 And I thought, I can't do any more than the bowl I did.

Marc 0:48:29 All right. No, you're fat. But anyway, I, I mean, what a bowl of tomatoes. I think this year we've had about 6 of those.

Natalie Cassidy 0:48:35 We've had more than that.

Marc 0:48:37 Have we?

Natalie Cassidy 0:48:38 Yeah.

Marc 0:48:38 A lot of tomatoes.

Natalie Cassidy 0:48:39 Yeah, we've got to chill out on the cherry ones next year.

Marc 0:48:42 No, no, no, no, no, I love it. I mean, we just need to— we need to— once we nail how to freeze them, which sounds like—

Natalie Cassidy 0:48:47 I think we can just put them in a bag and freeze them.

Marc 0:48:49 Well, let's try it. Which—

Natalie Cassidy 0:48:50 let— we've got, we've got enough to try it.

Marc 0:48:52 Well, in about 3 days' time, there'll be another one of those buckets.

Natalie Cassidy 0:48:55 Well, that's good. But I do wanna also make a nice sauce to freeze.

Marc 0:48:59 Nice.

Natalie Cassidy 0:49:01 Fresh. And I'll freeze that as well.

Marc 0:49:02 Yep.

Natalie Cassidy 0:49:03 So.

Marc 0:49:04 No, I'm up for that.

Natalie Cassidy 0:49:05 They're very good.

Marc 0:49:06 And if I do a curry, which would be really— I wouldn't use that. They're too sweet.

Natalie Cassidy 0:49:10 They're too sweet.

Marc 0:49:11 That thing you did the other day, they were lovely, but it's just, you just need to— It's so sweet. You need to kind of try and get rid of the sweetness.

Natalie Cassidy 0:49:17 Well, you just need to balance it out with salt really. But you don't like too much salt.

Marc 0:49:22 I do not. Awful. Eliza needs to get out of the habit of that as well. She adds gallons of salt on anything she makes before she even tastes it. That is— that's weird. That's strange. Why would you do it? Why would you add a condiment before tasting? Yeah, that's—

Natalie Cassidy 0:49:39 I agree with you.

Marc 0:49:40 I find that a bit odd.

Natalie Cassidy 0:49:41 I'll tell you what I do find odd though, talking of salt. When you go to a restaurant and the salt and pepper isn't on the table.

Marc 0:49:50 I was just thinking that because I know exactly what you're talking about. And I don't mind it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:49:54 There's loads of places I've been.

Marc 0:49:56 There's one place in particular, but when we were there, you, you pointed it out.

Natalie Cassidy 0:49:59 I just—

Marc 0:50:01 You were talking about it for a while after the tasting.

Natalie Cassidy 0:50:03 There should be salt and pepper on the table. I think it's quite a bold statement to think you don't need to season anything.

Marc 0:50:11 Well, because I wanna—

Natalie Cassidy 0:50:12 I have a lot of black pepper, for instance.

Marc 0:50:14 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:50:14 I enjoy that. I'm very upset that white pepper's gone. It's not really around anymore when you go out, but—

Marc 0:50:21 Is it not?

Natalie Cassidy 0:50:22 Not really. They've probably got white pepper in that little pub you like down the road.

Marc 0:50:27 Probably, yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:50:28 Probably possible.

Marc 0:50:29 I'm looking forward to going there. Be doing that once. I'll tell you what, when you go to do your pantomime, yeah, I can go to that pub and get myself a little dinner with the girls. We can go to the Millimacarthur.

Natalie Cassidy 0:50:40 You can.

Marc 0:50:41 There'll be loads of stuff we can do.

Natalie Cassidy 0:50:43 Yep. You know, Jodie's with me for some of it.

Marc 0:50:46 For some of it, but not, not, not— well, yeah, for some of it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:50:49 Yeah.

Marc 0:50:49 That'd be nice.

Natalie Cassidy 0:50:52 It will be. Are you gonna come and see me as well? Hang out in my room? I'm hoping that you'll come and hang out in my dressing room sometimes so I can see you.

Marc 0:51:00 Why would I hang out in your dressing room?

Natalie Cassidy 0:51:01 So I get to see you.

Marc 0:51:04 Okay, I'll see you in the evening, do you know?

Natalie Cassidy 0:51:07 Come and watch the show.

Marc 0:51:08 You said there's no tickets.

Natalie Cassidy 0:51:11 I'll tell you what, it's selling out, selling like hotcakes. Christmas Eve and all that, gone.

Marc 0:51:17 I can go. Can I go into the lighting person or something?

Natalie Cassidy 0:51:19 I'm sure, yeah, I'm sure we can work it out.

Marc 0:51:22 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:51:23 That would be lovely.

Marc 0:51:24 Are you looking forward to it?

Natalie Cassidy 0:51:26 Yeah, yeah.

Marc 0:51:30 You don't sound very convinced.

Natalie Cassidy 0:51:31 No, I, I, I'm going to embrace it.

Marc 0:51:34 Okay.

Natalie Cassidy 0:51:35 I'm, I'm—

Marc 0:51:36 You're gonna really enjoy it, surely?

Natalie Cassidy 0:51:37 Yeah, I'm Worried a little bit about getting stuff done.

Marc 0:51:40 What do you mean?

Natalie Cassidy 0:51:42 I'm quite excited though. I did speak to the lady today in Clinton Cards.

Marc 0:51:46 Right.

Natalie Cassidy 0:51:47 Lovely lady.

Marc 0:51:48 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:51:48 I said, when's the Christmas gear in? She said, it's already started a little. I said, that's a smattering. I said, but when's it all out? She said, probably next week. And I am one, I never buy it too early. Mm-hmm. But in this instance, Christmas shopping is starting within the next couple of weeks. Everything needs to be wrapped, done, everything.

Marc 0:52:10 By the time this goes out, it's less than 8 weeks and you'll be putting the decorations up if you put them up at the right time.

Natalie Cassidy 0:52:15 Well, I won't be putting them— they're going up earlier because I start work on the 21st of November.

Marc 0:52:21 That's 6 weeks away.

Natalie Cassidy 0:52:22 So in 5 weeks they'll be going up. No, it's not 6 weeks away, darling. It's the 1st of September. So I'm gonna be putting them up the, the week of the 15th of November.

Marc 0:52:37 15th of November.

Natalie Cassidy 0:52:38 Roughly, yeah.

Marc 0:52:39 10 weeks away.

Natalie Cassidy 0:52:39 Yeah.

Marc 0:52:40 Bad maths.

Natalie Cassidy 0:52:41 Terrible. But yes, the tree will be going up before I start work.

Marc 0:52:47 That's mad, isn't it? 10 weeks away.

Natalie Cassidy 0:52:49 10 weeks is quite a long time when I think about the 6-week summer holidays that we've just had. That's nearly double what I've just had. So it's quite a long time actually. It's all right.

Marc 0:52:59 What do you mean, what you just had?

Natalie Cassidy 0:53:00 The 6-week holidays with the kids.

Marc 0:53:02 It's gone too quick. That's—

Natalie Cassidy 0:53:05 I feel like it's been perfect. No, genuinely, I feel very fortunate, so grateful. We've had some lovely breaks. I feel like they're ready now, definitely ready to go back. Joni especially needs a routine again, and I think it's— but yeah, I feel like it's Perfect, which is a lovely feeling to have. She's got a new bag, new school bag.

Marc 0:53:31 Joanie?

Natalie Cassidy 0:53:31 One on the shoulder. She didn't want a rucksack.

Marc 0:53:34 Oh, you are joking me.

Natalie Cassidy 0:53:37 Shoulder bag. So she's got a little shoulder bag.

Marc 0:53:41 Well, I'm not carrying that to— I'm not wearing that when we go to school every morning when she said, I carry the bag after walking in for rucksack. I'm not carrying a shoulder bag.

Natalie Cassidy 0:53:49 Well, to be quite honest with you, the smiggle purple unicorn one wasn't exactly your style.

Marc 0:53:55 I didn't mind that. But that's a real shame. That's just changed the dynamic of taking her to school.

Natalie Cassidy 0:54:03 She wanted a grown-up one like Eliza.

Marc 0:54:05 Oh, what's happened to her over the last 2 weeks?

Natalie Cassidy 0:54:09 That's what happens.

Marc 0:54:10 Really? Yes. I mean, she's just gone like—

Natalie Cassidy 0:54:13 That's what happens.

Marc 0:54:14 Sassy and—

Natalie Cassidy 0:54:16 Year 6. Oh, and that's it. This time next year, summer, she's going to secondary school and that's it. Gone. Bye.

Marc 0:54:24 Madness.

Natalie Cassidy 0:54:26 Anyway, it's been a lovely summer. They've been very good, very well behaved. I don't feel— I don't think, honestly, if you really think about it, have we had a kind of big drama screaming match with either of them?

Marc 0:54:43 I was thinking with you, but—

Natalie Cassidy 0:54:45 Oh, that's a given. The, uh, every night about half 10.

Marc 0:54:49 I don't know. No, we haven't.

Natalie Cassidy 0:54:51 We haven't at all.

Marc 0:54:53 No.

Natalie Cassidy 0:54:54 So yeah, they've been a joy.

Marc 0:54:55 They've been all right, actually. Yeah, yeah, they have been all right.

Natalie Cassidy 0:55:02 They have.

Marc 0:55:03 Maria said something interesting to me the other day.

Natalie Cassidy 0:55:05 Yeah.

Marc 0:55:06 And she said about doing the live show that's coming up Yes. And, uh, she said, oh, we've not done one for ages.

Natalie Cassidy 0:55:12 And it's true.

Marc 0:55:14 I can't wait to do that. Be nice.

Natalie Cassidy 0:55:16 It will be lovely to get back on stage again.

Marc 0:55:18 Where is it?

Natalie Cassidy 0:55:19 Bishop Stortford. And how's the first one?

Marc 0:55:20 How are the tickets for it?

Natalie Cassidy 0:55:21 They're doing all right. They're not doing too badly at all.

Marc 0:55:24 Where can you get the tickets from?

Natalie Cassidy 0:55:25 Well, you can go on to my Instagram and look at Komi.

Marc 0:55:28 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:55:29 And they're all on there.

Marc 0:55:30 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:55:31 But again, if you go to South Mill Arts, Bishop Stortford, you'll find the tickets on there. The Fortune Theatre in Covent Garden. Again, you go on there, find the theatre, what's on, you'll find us.

Marc 0:55:42 Am I doing— which one am I doing?

Natalie Cassidy 0:55:44 I'm hoping most of them, darling.

Marc 0:55:46 Oh, it'd be nice, that.

Natalie Cassidy 0:55:48 It will be good. And then we're in Tring, right?

Marc 0:55:51 We're at the Denbigh Theatre.

Natalie Cassidy 0:55:53 So again, you haven't really— just find the theatres online, type in what's on, and there we go.

Marc 0:55:58 So Denbigh Theatre.

Natalie Cassidy 0:56:00 Denbigh. Where's that?

Marc 0:56:02 In Tring.

Natalie Cassidy 0:56:03 Fortune Theatre in Covent Garden.

Marc 0:56:05 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:56:06 And then you have the South Mill Arts, which is Bishop Stortford.

Marc 0:56:10 Brilliant.

Natalie Cassidy 0:56:10 There we go.

Marc 0:56:11 Oh, that's good. So that's— they're coming up, live shows.

Natalie Cassidy 0:56:14 Yeah, brunch is nearly sold.

Marc 0:56:17 Yes.

Natalie Cassidy 0:56:18 So if anyone genuinely— now, if anybody wants a ticket for the brunch, they could be sold out by the time I say this, but please, again, Hertford House, What's On, And see if there's anything left.

Marc 0:56:30 So just talk me through the brunch thing.

Natalie Cassidy 0:56:32 Talk you through it?

Marc 0:56:34 Yeah. What, what do you do brunch? So that's breakfast and lunch?

Natalie Cassidy 0:56:38 Correct.

Marc 0:56:39 Right.

Natalie Cassidy 0:56:42 So. It's 12 till 4.

Marc 0:56:43 That's lunch, isn't it?

Natalie Cassidy 0:56:45 Well, you'd say brunch. It's a thing, isn't it? Brunch.

Marc 0:56:47 Yeah, but it's not. It's lunch.

Natalie Cassidy 0:56:49 You don't do lunch. It's brunch.

Marc 0:56:52 It's not because brunch is Definitely. No, I know what you mean, but we're doing, we're doing 12, 12 till 4, right?

Natalie Cassidy 0:57:00 You can have brunches at any time now. I disagree. Have a little look online.

Marc 0:57:03 That's a lunch.

Natalie Cassidy 0:57:03 Have a little look online.

Marc 0:57:04 Let's be honest, it's a lunch, but have a little look. All right, you're doing a lunch.

Natalie Cassidy 0:57:08 Brunch.

Marc 0:57:10 Okay, I can't wait. Do you know what?

Natalie Cassidy 0:57:13 Everyone arrives.

Marc 0:57:14 I've got to say, by the way, tonight, that amazing Dover sole brunch you did for us was Delicious for cauliflower cheese.

Natalie Cassidy 0:57:24 That was dinner.

Marc 0:57:28 Brunch. I'm calling it brunch.

Natalie Cassidy 0:57:30 You can't do it in the evening. You can have brunch whenever you want.

Marc 0:57:34 Just quoting you.

Natalie Cassidy 0:57:35 Can I also just say, for anyone listening to that?

Marc 0:57:38 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:57:38 I did not make cauliflower cheese to go with the Dover sole tonight.

Marc 0:57:41 I did think it was a bit random. No.

Natalie Cassidy 0:57:43 I just had some leftover from yesterday, and you love it. So I reheated it for you.

Marc 0:57:47 I'm like the bin.

Natalie Cassidy 0:57:48 No, you love cauliflower cheese. I do love cauliflower cheese. And what did you say?

Marc 0:57:52 It's the best one you've done.

Natalie Cassidy 0:57:53 There you go.

Marc 0:57:54 By far. Marks& Spencer Cornish Cruncher.

Natalie Cassidy 0:57:58 There you go.

Marc 0:57:58 Absolutely the best cauliflower cheese. Sorry, you were saying about your lunch?

Natalie Cassidy 0:58:05 12 till 4.

Marc 0:58:06 Yep.

Natalie Cassidy 0:58:06 Everyone comes in.

Marc 0:58:08 Yep.

Natalie Cassidy 0:58:08 Cocktails are free. Drinks are free for 90 minutes. Wow. Freebie.

Marc 0:58:16 Right.

Natalie Cassidy 0:58:17 We all have a little chat.

Marc 0:58:18 So could I rock up and have like 4 bottles of champagne?

Natalie Cassidy 0:58:20 You can't come 'cause you have a penis. Girls only.

Marc 0:58:24 That's a little bit sexist. You can't do that.

Natalie Cassidy 0:58:27 Girls only. In fact, I'm saying—

Marc 0:58:28 You could get in trouble for that.

Natalie Cassidy 0:58:30 Do you know something? I'm saying girls only. You haven't published that. I don't think I have, but everybody who— it's a girly thing. Hang on a minute. Yeah.

Marc 0:58:39 How do you know it's girls only?

Natalie Cassidy 0:58:40 I don't, but I don't.

Marc 0:58:45 Genuinely? Yeah. I will crack up.

Natalie Cassidy 0:58:48 I think it'll be—

Marc 0:58:49 If the 3 of you rock up and it's like a load of—

Natalie Cassidy 0:58:51 I think it'll be girls and gays.

Marc 0:58:52 Uh, right, okay.

Natalie Cassidy 0:58:54 I might be wrong.

Marc 0:58:55 Again, I'm not sure you can stereotype this, but okay.

Natalie Cassidy 0:58:59 Have a little look at brunches and see who goes.

Marc 0:59:03 It's a lunch.

Natalie Cassidy 0:59:04 However, It's gonna be fun.

Marc 0:59:08 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:59:09 We're gonna have a little chat.

Marc 0:59:11 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:59:11 Got a little stage, and then everyone has a big brunch in the middle. Lots of things to pick at, loads of food, and then a little interaction with everyone, have a little walk round. It's quite personable because there's only 60 people in the room. And then I've got fantastic DJ coming, and we have a boogie for an hour. If people want to stay afterwards and carry on the night, it's open.

Marc 0:59:37 Continue. It's 4 o'clock, so you've got a bit of a wait.

Natalie Cassidy 0:59:39 Beg your pardon?

Marc 0:59:41 You're not carrying on the night, have you? If you— when it finishes at 4.

Natalie Cassidy 0:59:45 But people can stay there is what I'm saying. They can continue their evening.

Marc 0:59:48 Well, they could maybe have another brunch, couldn't they, around about 6, 7 o'clock?

Natalie Cassidy 0:59:53 Unbelievable.

Marc 0:59:55 Brunch. That's bad. I'm gonna really have a word with Maria about that. Wrong marketing's gone wrong for her. That surprises me. Somebody bang on this sort of detail. Firstly, we've discovered there's no advertising saying it's gotta be women only.

Natalie Cassidy 1:00:09 No, that's just me.

Marc 1:00:11 You've only realised that now. That's just me. You've got a— Disconceived idea. I have, I have. And now, I mean—

Natalie Cassidy 1:00:16 It doesn't matter if blokes are there.

Marc 1:00:18 Well, thank you. I, I might come then.

Natalie Cassidy 1:00:20 No.

Marc 1:00:21 Why?

Natalie Cassidy 1:00:23 Because it's a brunch.

Marc 1:00:24 Hang on. You're really going back. This is all, you know, this is recorded.

Natalie Cassidy 1:00:29 Yes.

Marc 1:00:29 You can listen back to this. You just said, yeah, blokes have videos.

Natalie Cassidy 1:00:32 I think you'll find, yeah, that most people there, yeah, will not be your sort of thing. Do you know what I mean?

Marc 1:00:40 I don't know what you mean by that.

Natalie Cassidy 1:00:42 Just don't think— What are you suggesting? I just don't think a brunch is your sort of thing.

Marc 1:00:46 No, but a lunch, however, I'm well up for. And I can do a lunch.

Natalie Cassidy 1:00:49 I think we could do a dinner of some kind. We were talking about that though, doing a supper club round at Linda's.

Marc 1:00:55 Right, well, at Linda's house?

Natalie Cassidy 1:00:58 Yeah.

Marc 1:00:58 Sorry, sorry, she's suggesting at Linda's house? Yes. I mean, how many people are you expecting? 12. Blimey, O'Reilly.

Natalie Cassidy 1:01:14 12. But that would be Quite a, a very expensive to go to.

Marc 1:01:22 Right.

Natalie Cassidy 1:01:24 But it would be worth it because I'd be cooking with my brother and all the family. So you'd be having sort of a 5-course meal throughout the night.

Marc 1:01:33 I don't even get invited round there.

Natalie Cassidy 1:01:35 I haven't been round for ages. Brilliant. I think that's the only way we're gonna get there.

Marc 1:01:38 Well, I'm not paying to come to a—

Natalie Cassidy 1:01:41 We were talking about that the other day. day saying that we've got to go around for dinner. We will do that soon. We will.

Marc 1:01:48 Oh, we could go around for brunch.

Natalie Cassidy 1:01:49 Right, on that note, I'm off now. Driving me mad. See you, everybody.

Marc 1:01:54 See you later.