EP267: Tony talks #26 – The only constant in life is change

Tony 0:02:25 Hiya, just wanted to check in and say hope Tony's okay. As much as I've been loving all pods while recovering, which is still not going great 4 weeks on, I've noticed it's been a while since we've had a Tony Talks and I'm missing the sound of his soothing voice, which I think I need right now. Have a fab weekend. That was from Trudy. Well, Trudy, your dreams have come true today.

Tony 0:02:50 Here we are with a Tony Talks. You all right, Tone? Hello, Trudy. How are you?

Tony 0:02:56 Yeah, Trudy's not been well. Bless her soul. Get well. Yeah, get well soon, Trudy. Yeah, yeah, definitely.

Tony 0:03:01 It does feel like you've not been in here for about 10 years. I'm a bit nervous. No. I am. Yeah, yeah.

Tony 0:03:07 It feels such a long time. Feels like my first time all over again. Really? You've been good. Yeah, not so bad.

Tony 0:03:15 Yeah, yeah. Had a nice half decent summer. It's been all right. You, you've been all over the place and— All over the place, yeah. Busy, busy.

Tony 0:03:23 Good. But it's, I dunno about you, but coming in here this sort of time of night, it's, what is it, quarter past 8, whatever. Yeah. But it's that autumnal feel. It feels now, well, the room's not baking, so it feels like— No, that's good.

Tony 0:03:37 It feels quite comfortable in here, doesn't it? It does. And I've come to the conclusion, this might be a little bit, yeah, I dunno. I dunno if I should say it. I don't really like autumn.

Tony 0:03:48 You don't like autumn? No, I don't. Oh, it's a massive one. Sorry, I don't. Can we have some why?

Tony 0:03:57 I don't like the autumn smell. Autumn's got a smell. It has got a smell. I like it. I don't like it.

Tony 0:04:01 I like spring smell. I like the smell of spring. Don't like autumn? Don't like autumn, no. Smells a bit cat's pissy at times.

Tony 0:04:07 Can do. Can't explain it. It's that you're sort of straddling summer and winter, aren't you? So that's the uncertainty of, are we going to have a late summer or are we going to have an early winter?

Tony 0:04:22 Don't like it. Like to know where I am. Fair enough. Summer's summer, winter's winter. Spring I like because obviously you're coming out of those January that's got 3,000 days in it and all the rest of it.

Tony 0:04:33 So we're coming out of that, aren't we? And we're going looking forward. Yeah, 6 months of relatively nice weather and stuff. So Yeah, don't really like autumn.

Natalie Cassidy 0:04:43 I love the seasons.

Tony 0:04:45 I don't say, yeah, I'm not saying I don't like the seasons. I think we need the seasons. But I think even though I don't like, I don't like winter really because of what I do and stuff, but sometimes there is a bit of a finality about winter. There's a, it's nice and structured and it's nice and stable winter. normally. It's dark, go home, get in, you know, you're in. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? It's sort of, you know where you are. With autumn, I'm sort of in the middle of nowhere. I'm sort of flapping about a bit.

Natalie Cassidy 0:05:20 Well, I know what you mean to an extent when it comes to sort of clothing.

Tony 0:05:23 Oh God, don't get me on that one.

Natalie Cassidy 0:05:25 Because I, I went out this morning.

Tony 0:05:27 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:05:28 And I had my—

Tony 0:05:28 Balaclava. Balaclava. Mum's old fur on, fox fur, all done, all wrapped around. And then by 10 o'clock you had your bikini on. It is though, it's like that, isn't it? It is like that, isn't it?

Natalie Cassidy 0:05:46 Exactly that.

Tony 0:05:48 Yeah, yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:05:48 Exactly that.

Tony 0:05:49 Yeah, yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:05:50 It's definitely layering up.

Tony 0:05:52 Yeah.

Tony 0:05:52 And taking off as the day goes on. Well, I went to work, 'cause it was quite chilly this morning. It was chilly. It felt chilly. Yes.

Tony 0:05:58 So I had a t-shirt under my work t-shirt, my 21 t-shirt, my red one. Yeah. So I thought, feels a bit chilly. And then I put a fleece on to get in the van.

Tony 0:06:06 So for the first time in 6 months, I've actually got some clothes on and got to work. And it was the house working in, 'cause there's no one in there. It was a bit chilly. By 10 o'clock I was sweating, I was, it was rolling off me, soaking wet. Yeah.

Tony 0:06:21 You know? So yeah. It is all about the layers. Yeah. The clothing thing really does— Does you in a bit.

Tony 0:06:28 This time of year, definitely. But I do, I love the leaves. I like the colours. I like the smell. I like that depth.

Tony 0:06:34 damp sort of— Yeah. It reminds me of going back to school. And maybe because you ate it, you didn't like school. I didn't like school. You hated it.

Tony 0:06:41 That's probably what it is, yeah. You hated it. Yeah. Whereas I, I don't remember hating school. I quite enjoyed it.

Tony 0:06:47 And I've even walking the children, the girls to school, it reminds me of that when they were little. Yeah, I know what you mean. Yeah. So I do, I do think smells and all of that, it does play a big part into how you feel. Yeah, definitely.

Tony 0:07:03 Very good, very good. We digress. We've got loads of messages. Really? Loads.

Tony 0:07:10 This one I sent you, and, um, sometimes I just think with me and you, it's really nice to read out things that really matter. Yeah. Hi Nat, I messaged back in December about my son homeschooling. A lot's happened since then and I had to stop listening to the pod for a while. But I've come back and it's making life feel normal again.

Tony 0:07:31 So that's lovely, isn't it? Lovely. Yeah. We took our son out of school and it was a bumpy start, but 6 weeks in, we found our groove. The start of the February half term, my husband had a terrible accident and broke his neck and back.

Tony 0:07:46 Our life turned upside down. He's been away from home since February the 16th and is due to come home next week. He's unfortunately paralysed from the chest down, so life will be different. Not horrible though. We are all really positive.

Tony 0:08:00 I'm now homeschooling my younger child too, as it's been so positive, and having their dad home soon will help. We have had to close our business down and looking to move as our house isn't suitable. But with all that said, I'm so grateful to still have my husband and the boys' dad with us, as it very nearly wasn't the case. I couldn't listen to the pod as my life had changed so much, but slowly After the last few weeks, I've started to listen again and I feel so settled. Thank you so much for the pod.

Tony 0:08:29 Isn't that lovely? It is, yeah.

Tony 0:08:34 Wow. What a life change. Yeah, life is so, um, just anything. It's a knife edge, isn't it? Yeah, anything can happen at any time.

Tony 0:08:44 And hearing that and, and the decision to, you know, homeschool and having all that sort of stress, and then something out of the blue, just bang. obviously life-threatening, thought she was going to lose him. Yes. And having him back home, that change and what he's going to go through and the house and all that doesn't matter because he's there. Yeah.

Tony 0:09:05 And I just think that's so— that's unbelievable. It's just unbelievably positive, isn't it? Yeah. Which is, I suppose, it's difficult to look at these things sometimes and find positivity in it, but with that, that is— that's such a positive message out of such a Obviously such a terribly difficult time. Yeah.

Tony 0:09:23 So I wanted to say thank you so, so much. And I'm pleased you're back listening. And I hope it all goes well. And I hope he's home and the boys are doing really well. We can have a little update in a few months as to how they're getting on.

Tony 0:09:36 Yeah, that'd be really lovely, wouldn't it? Yeah, it would, yeah. Before we get into our stuff, there's just a couple of things I've gotta ask. Go on. This is an ongoing thing.

Tony 0:09:45 Yeah. that I, I spoke about a couple of weeks ago. What is, do you think, yeah, in your kitchen, yeah, the most useless something you've bought for the kitchen that sits in the cupboard?

Tony 0:10:03 Well, I— no, sorry, can, can we change it slightly? Is that possible? Yes, for you. So for me, the most useless thing in my kitchen. Yeah, of all the appliances, everything we've got is the dishwasher.

Tony 0:10:16 Oh, you hate it, don't you? Just fucking don't know how it works. What do you mean? I, I just look at it and I don't know where anything goes. Like, stuff ends up upside down.

Tony 0:10:30 I've broken 2 dishwashers because I just put stuff in it and then the thing tries to spin around and it stops and it blows the Dishwasher up.

Natalie Cassidy 0:10:38 But that is ridiculous for a man of your skill and craft.

Tony 0:10:41 But I don't know, I just literally— dishwashers are, they are a black art. They're, they're a, they're a complete anomaly to me. I don't understand them. I know you put plates in the bottom bit.

Natalie Cassidy 0:10:54 Yeah.

Tony 0:10:54 That's it. When it goes to loading it with glasses and putting things in here and little bits there and—

Natalie Cassidy 0:11:01 I, I break a few glasses.

Tony 0:11:03 I, I just cannot. I just look at it, right? And I just said to Sharon, look, can I just get a plastic bowl and do the washing up? Please just let me do the washing up. She won't, obviously she won't let, she won't have that 'cause we've got our new kitchen.

Natalie Cassidy 0:11:17 Right.

Tony 0:11:17 So she loads the dishwasher, but I just, I've just gone clueless with it. Absolutely clueless.

Natalie Cassidy 0:11:22 Isn't that funny?

Tony 0:11:23 Honestly. And I've watched her do it. I've watched her do it and I still won't know. I still don't know how to do it. I'd break it again.

Natalie Cassidy 0:11:32 Yeah, it's a funny one.

Tony 0:11:33 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:11:33 But you like washing up.

Tony 0:11:36 I do. I like washing away all the crap and the—

Natalie Cassidy 0:11:40 Yeah.

Tony 0:11:41 Stuff, you know, like, I sort of don't mind washing up. Look, we probably had various gizmos and bits and pieces before. We definitely had an ice cream maker that we never used. Yeah. There was probably some things that were stuck in a corner cupboard that we just never ever went near. Definitely. But I think most of the stuff now, 'cause everything's so expensive now, we really, well, not me, but Sharon really researches stuff.

Natalie Cassidy 0:12:04 Yes.

Tony 0:12:04 You know, she looks at reviews and makes sure that when she buys something, it's the right, as best as we can, it's the right thing.

Natalie Cassidy 0:12:10 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, fair enough.

Tony 0:12:13 But sorry, for me, yeah, the most pointless thing in the world in a kitchen for me is a dishwasher. I just can't use it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:12:19 Yeah. See, whereas I dunno what I'd do without my dishwasher.

Tony 0:12:23 But yours is different. 'Cause yours is a pull-out, it's one, it's a big drawer.

Natalie Cassidy 0:12:29 Yeah, I've got 2 drawers, yeah.

Tony 0:12:31 Exactly, so you put stuff in the drawers. Yeah. We've got racks and stuff and—

Natalie Cassidy 0:12:36 Yes.

Tony 0:12:37 And there's a rack at the top and I try and put something in it, it's too big so that it gets stuck.

Natalie Cassidy 0:12:41 For anyone listening to this who doesn't know your craft—

Tony 0:12:48 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:12:49 Would think you're like, Got 2 left hands. Well, yeah, just some sort of poet or something. Bohemian person.

Tony 0:12:56 Yeah. No, no, no. I'm very hands-on. What is interesting though, and it is when we got the new kitchen, AJ'd do a dishwasher where you pull out the, you know, very bottom thing and there's a handle on it and you touch the handle and it comes up. So the bottom thing comes actually sort of cantilevers up towards you to make it easier. To put the stuff in.

Natalie Cassidy 0:13:21 Oh, okay. Yeah.

Tony 0:13:23 So normally it's at 6 inches or whatever, 8 inches above the floor. Yes. But this one, you pull it out, pull the handle, and then the whole thing comes up 2 foot.

Natalie Cassidy 0:13:32 So you haven't got to do your backing.

Tony 0:13:33 So you haven't got to do your backing. And she never uses it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:13:36 Yeah.

Tony 0:13:37 So whenever she's loading it, she's bending down doing it. I say, use the handle. Oh no, it's all right, I'll do it like this.

Natalie Cassidy 0:13:43 Yeah, I get that. Yeah, I do get it.

Tony 0:13:47 Yeah, yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:13:49 I don't know if I would have— I'd use that because obviously I bend down to do mine.

Tony 0:13:52 Yeah, I know. Yeah. And it— I've done it once and nearly broke it, so I never touched it again. Seriously, I nearly— there was sort of— there was a big creak and a bit of a bang and a squeak, and I thought, I'm not touching that, I'll leave that alone.

Natalie Cassidy 0:14:07 Yes.

Tony 0:14:07 And that is not a wind-up. That is absolutely true. If you said to me, there's a load of plates and stuff and glasses and whatever, forks, cutlery, cutlery, few jugs, some, some bowls, and you went load the dishwasher. I'm 90% certain that an hour later that dishwasher would be broken. It would not work because stuff had all got stuck in it when the thing spins around and, and whatever. I don't know.

Natalie Cassidy 0:14:33 Yeah, just, just terrible failure with dishwashers.

Tony 0:14:36 Yeah, yeah, completely.

Natalie Cassidy 0:14:38 Listen, if that's the only thing you can't do, I think we're okay, if I'm honest.

Natalie Cassidy 0:16:59 And another thing before we move on.

Tony 0:17:01 And another thing.

Natalie Cassidy 0:17:02 There's another thing. Hi guys, hope you're well. This is really funny. I've gotta keep it anonymous.

Tony 0:17:10 Right, okay.

Natalie Cassidy 0:17:11 But she's already had—

Tony 0:17:13 Anon. She's already had a real rage about this. And I do believe that me and the girls spoke about it, right? Right. Me and RoRo and Els, I think we spoke about it, but she's messaged again, so it's really aggravating her, right? Okay. Hi guys, hope you're well. Just wondering your thoughts on people selling things you've bought for them on Vinted, please. I did briefly speak to Nat about this when I was incandescent with rage, and I'd still like to know what you think.

Natalie Cassidy 0:17:41 Will have to be anonymous as it's a family member.

Tony 0:17:43 Right.

Natalie Cassidy 0:17:44 So I wondered your thoughts.

Tony 0:17:46 Let's get a different take on it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:17:49 You've bought somebody a present.

Tony 0:17:50 Yep.

Natalie Cassidy 0:17:51 Sharon's gone to all the trouble in the world, right? She's thought about it because she's a great present buyer. Yeah, she's gone to John Lewis or whatever she's done and she's taken the time. And then she's on Vinted with Evie for some reason and she sees her family member, me, let's say I've put my shoes that she bought me, for instance, up on Vinted for sale about 2 weeks later. Okay, it's not good practice, that, is it?

Tony 0:18:20 Well, I think It depends what the scenario is. So if you've found out what that person wants. Yeah. So if, if you've just gone and bought a random pair of shoes.

Natalie Cassidy 0:18:31 Yeah.

Tony 0:18:32 So my, our answer to that always is put the receipt in the box. Yes. If you don't like the present, you can take it back and change it for another one. Yeah.

Tony 0:18:41 Or a gift voucher or get the money back. Yeah. So if we buy a ran— not a random present, but gym, like I think we've bought you some gym stuff before and Sharon said, I don't know if Nat's gonna like it. So she's put the receipt in the bag. To say, look, it's— which is basically saying, look, if it's not for you, we don't mind if you want to go and change it for something else, whatever.

Tony 0:19:01 So, so I think that's the first thing, is that if, if, if it's an— if someone said, I would like that, or, you know, I would— would you get me that? And you've bought it for them and they've then put it on Vinted, I think you've got a reason to be a bit fed up.

Natalie Cassidy 0:19:16 So you do think if Oh, that's interesting because I think it's really bad even if you've not picked something. A birthday present, even if it's a surprise, it's your birthday present. And I do think you, you should be grateful for that present.

Tony 0:19:36 I think you should be grateful for it, but then if you don't want it, sell it 2 weeks later. Sorry.

Natalie Cassidy 0:19:39 It's like the Moonpig gate all over again.

Tony 0:19:43 I know, but I, I think it depends who you're dealing with. So if you're, if you're dealing with people with really, you know, sort of, they're, I don't know, they've got very high sort of sensibilities.

Tony 0:19:58 They're very, you know, they've, they're not— what am I trying to say? If you're dealing with someone that gets the hump very easily about various things. Yeah. So they might get the hump if they say to you, do you want to come over for lunch next Sunday? And you go, well, we can't because we've got previous engagement.

Tony 0:20:14 And then they don't talk to you for 6 weeks because of it. Well, no, that's ridiculous. No, but I'm saying, I'm talking about, I'm talking about the person. So the person that you've bought for or who has bought for you. Yeah.

Tony 0:20:25 If they're reasonable and normal and they'll just go, oh, it is what it is, you know, you don't like it and you've put it on Vinted, oh, so what, you know, blah, blah, blah. But other people, that would be a reason to stop talking to someone for life.

Natalie Cassidy 0:20:36 Yes.

Tony 0:20:37 So that's the thing I'm talking about, isn't it? No, I know. Depends on the person.

Natalie Cassidy 0:20:40 I know it does, but I still think putting up, if I'm right, I may be right, this could be a, do you know what, this could be another person This could have been a completely different person, but the last person that spoke about Vinted, she'd bought her nephew a present or something and it was a toy.

Tony 0:20:58 Yeah, I think that's—

Natalie Cassidy 0:21:00 So yeah, you know, it was a toy and then the next minute it was being sold and she thought it wasn't clothes or something that didn't fit. I think it was actual objects. And I—

Tony 0:21:11 Yeah, no, I do understand that. I definitely understand that, but Again, I dunno, maybe I'm, I just see things in black and white. Like with your kids, we will ask you. Yes. Look, it's Liza's birthday, what do we get her? It's Joni's birthday, what do we get her? So rather than buying a load of crap that's either gonna end up in landfill or on Vinted, we tend to try and, you know, we tend to try and make sure that we are buying something that is wanted. Yes.

Natalie Cassidy 0:21:40 And I think the more, I think about that. I agree with you. Lots of people now, we all do it.

Tony 0:21:46 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:21:46 What would you like? Is it gonna be nice? Yeah. You know, but then it, I think it is nice. For instance, for Sharon's birthday, I was away and it was a bit risky, but I just saw a couple of things that were very personable, but handmade. You're never gonna buy 'em anywhere else. I think that's—

Tony 0:22:04 I think that's, I think that's slightly different.

Natalie Cassidy 0:22:05 But you know, I haven't asked her. I thought of her.

Tony 0:22:08 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:22:08 And I think sometimes a present should be that.

Tony 0:22:11 Yeah, yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:22:12 That you think of someone, you think, oh, that's so whoever. And that'll be lovely.

Tony 0:22:16 So the whole present giving thing is a, I mean, it's a complete maze, isn't it? That's what it boils down to.

Natalie Cassidy 0:22:21 And it can, what I find is just writing out lists of things you want. Like, it's very different actually. You say, Sharon will say, what do the girls want? But it'll be, It'll still be around. I still don't know exactly.

Tony 0:22:38 No, so it might be that, or it might be this. She needs, she likes this, or, and then I won't know exactly what it is.

Natalie Cassidy 0:22:44 When you're sending people, which, which does happen, 'cause everybody's busy, you wanna know what it is.

Tony 0:22:48 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:22:49 You're sending people the exact thing that they want or whatever.

Tony 0:22:52 I just feel like it doesn't make it as special as it should be.

Natalie Cassidy 0:22:57 Presents should be a thought for that person.

Tony 0:23:01 Yeah. I do it all the time.

Natalie Cassidy 0:23:02 I've just done it with Amelia's birthday. And Elisa, send me some bits. I've done it. Send me what, I dunno what everyone else is buying. Send me what she— so you do do that, you know, you can't help but do that. Maria, everyone.

Tony 0:23:13 Yeah, but I think, well, you're coming from this sort of rose-tinted, you know, lovely happy place where you sort of spot something in the shop and, you know, you send it off and everyone loves it. And it doesn't work like that.

Natalie Cassidy 0:23:24 No.

Tony 0:23:24 It just doesn't. You know, people now, because life is tough and everything's so expensive, sorry, I think it's incumbent upon you as a present buyer to do some research and make sure that what you are gonna give that person, they in some way, shape, or form want it, need it, like it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:23:44 Yeah.

Tony 0:23:44 Whatever. Let's say it was your, it's your birthday next week. Yeah. And I went out and bought you an orange cardigan.

Natalie Cassidy 0:23:48 Lovely.

Tony 0:23:49 No, let's just say, right?

Natalie Cassidy 0:23:51 Yeah.

Tony 0:23:51 Orange cardigan.

Natalie Cassidy 0:23:52 Yeah.

Tony 0:23:52 Cost me 200 quid.

Natalie Cassidy 0:23:53 Yeah.

Tony 0:23:54 Cashmere orange cardigan. You, you, you get it and you hate it. What are you gonna do with it? You're gonna chuck it, you're gonna leave it in the bottom of the wardrobe, you're gonna give it to the charity shop, or you go, hang on a minute, I can earn 150 quid here.

Natalie Cassidy 0:24:07 Yeah.

Tony 0:24:11 I think the present giver, I'm afraid, I think needs to take a bit of responsibility, 'cause you can't just buy someone a load of old shit and then if they don't like it—

Natalie Cassidy 0:24:19 But it might not be a load of old shit.

Tony 0:24:21 No, I'm not saying it is. I'm not. All right. You can't potentially buy someone a load of old shit. No, not a load of old shit, that's wrong. Sorry. All right, let's— you— if you potentially buy someone something that they don't want, need, like, whatever, then you've got to be prepared for—

Natalie Cassidy 0:24:42 I know, but shouldn't you be appreciative? That's what I'm saying.

Tony 0:24:45 Why?

Natalie Cassidy 0:24:46 Because I think it's really rude. I think it's rude.

Tony 0:24:51 If someone bought me something that was clearly I'd Never gonna wear it, don't want it, don't need it. And I opened it and I just go, what? I'd say, what the fuck is that? What's that all about?

Natalie Cassidy 0:24:59 Mark, Mark, could you return that leper print G-string for Tony for Christmas? So his favourite, he's gonna put it on Vinted. No, no, I, I like this conversation.

Tony 0:25:09 No, I'm not saying we don't know the specifics of it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:25:12 I know this is the problem with all these things we get.

Tony 0:25:14 We get loads, hundreds of questions.

Natalie Cassidy 0:25:16 Yeah.

Tony 0:25:17 And we don't know the specifics of both sides. And all I'm saying is, is that For me, if someone sent me, so I wouldn't, probably wouldn't sell it on Vinted 'cause I couldn't be bothered. I'd probably just, I'd keep it for a year and put it in the skip. Yeah.

Tony 0:25:31 'Cause I couldn't be, I wouldn't be arsed to go and list it and— Yes. You know, 'cause I don't do that sort of stuff. So it would, and it's hap— some, you know, people have bought me stuff before and bits and pieces and it's, and you've never, just like when I was younger and you've never worn it, you've never used it. And then you put it in the loft and then every 6 years we have a clear out, big skip, it all goes in that. with the ball games.

Natalie Cassidy 0:25:53 Unbelievable. It really is unbelievable. I'm moving on. I'm moving on. Lisa Richmond.

Tony 0:26:02 Yes.

Natalie Cassidy 0:26:02 One of our lovely, uh, members of the family over at Patreon. She sent a picture. My latest fishing trip.

Tony 0:26:10 Ooh. Oh yes, I saw this.

Natalie Cassidy 0:26:13 Yeah. I was carp fishing, but I caught an eel instead. After being inspired by Tony Talks About Fishing, I've started going and I'm completely hooked. Excuse the pun. Any advice, any advice on best baits to use for carp going into winter, or other winter tips for fishing in general? Thank you both. Lisa from Sheffield. You've got Lisa fishing, how about that? That's brilliant.

Tony 0:26:36 Well done, Lisa. That's fantastic. I love it. I love it. We've got, you know what, it's brilliant. We have got, I match fish, we've got some amazing female anglers, and they'd bash me up off the next peg, you know, they're brilliant.

Natalie Cassidy 0:26:49 Yeah, yeah.

Tony 0:26:50 Honestly, some of them, Kaylee Dowd, she's up north. Sam Sims, she's from wherever she's from, down near Bournemouth. I think she's down that way, I don't know.

Tony 0:26:58 But she's, you know, they compete with the blokes and whatever. Yeah, yeah. And I love it. I love to see it. So, so to answer the question, big, big subject.

Tony 0:27:05 So well done on catching an eel, 'cause there's not a lot of 'em about. So that's, even though she didn't mean to catch it, it's a memorable catch, 'cause eels are quite rare now. So going into the winter fishing for carp, right? So number one is, I don't know what your setup is and stuff, if you're just going, during the day and not camping out at night. I wouldn't think you're camping out at night, but if you just go during the day, number one, winter fishing, you've got to be comfortable.

Tony 0:27:30 So you've got proper warm clothes, good warm boots, toe warmers. I'll get— even with warm boots, I get cold toes, so I'll buy the little toe warmers that you take out the packet.

Natalie Cassidy 0:27:38 Yeah, it's like tea bags.

Tony 0:27:39 Yeah, put them in. So you get— you can now get, um, uh, you can get coats and stuff that are heated. Good umbrella, so if you do have some inclement weather, you can get under it. A chair that makes sense and is nice, take a flask. So just be comfortable generally. Mm-hmm. That's really important with winter fishing. And if you're fishing for carp in the winter, a lot of the time carp, once the temperature drops, they will shoal up very tightly, and they virtually go into hibernation. They're sort of dormant. So you can still catch over the winter, but you've got to find the fish.

Natalie Cassidy 0:28:10 Mm-hmm.

Tony 0:28:11 So that's number one.

Tony 0:28:12 And number two, I think, Again, some of my friends are more carpy anglers than I am, but you don't want protein-rich bait in the winter. So things like boilies and stuff that's got lots and lots of protein in it, which are brilliant during the summer months because they fill the fish, like the fish are starving and their water temperature's up and they're noshing away and they're eating and, you know, so protein-rich stuff like boilies and that type of bait is probably a no-no. So I'd probably look at things like bread. Good old-fashioned bread is very good. Sweetcorn is very good as a winter bait.

Tony 0:28:47 And then they do these other things, like these little fluorescent and coloured pop-ups, which are little semi-buoyant baits that hang off the bottom. Probably that sort of thing. So, but the main thing I think is to try and find the fish, because if you find the fish, you'll catch them. But you won't— in the summer, they will come to you because it's warmer, they're more active. They— Then because they're more active, they feed more.

Tony 0:29:08 But in the winter, you know, I've seen, I've seen in matches, I've seen someone have 200 pound of carp there.

Natalie Cassidy 0:29:15 Yeah.

Tony 0:29:15 And the guy next to him blank in the winter where those fish will not move. They just sit there and they're there. And if you find them, if you find them, then you'll catch a few of them.

Natalie Cassidy 0:29:24 Right.

Tony 0:29:25 It's a big subject, but generally that's my tips for winter carp fishing.

Natalie Cassidy 0:29:29 Very good. And I love that. I really loved that she was inspired by you.

Tony 0:29:33 Well, that's, I mean, I haven't inspired many people in me life, so that's quite a, that's quite a big one. That's brilliant, isn't it? I'll tell you what was funny.

Natalie Cassidy 0:29:42 Your picture you put on.

Tony 0:29:42 Oh, did you like it?

Natalie Cassidy 0:29:44 I did like it. I thought— so Tony posted a picture on the family chat on Patreon yesterday.

Tony 0:29:51 I found a yellow beret on a job. We're clearing the job at the moment. We're doing a lot of sort of clearing demolition, and in the back of an old wardrobe was a yellow beret.

Natalie Cassidy 0:30:00 I went a bit lower low.

Tony 0:30:01 Yes.

Natalie Cassidy 0:30:01 There's been a few Oobetties.

Tony 0:30:03 Oobetty, yeah. Bit of Frank Spencer.

Natalie Cassidy 0:30:05 But the main one was from the, uh, Dawn the Prawn. Yes, because Dawn's prawns all wore pink berets to a show, if you remember. So now someone has actually put you— they photoshopped you in with a pink beret. Yeah, and I will pop it up for anyone who's watching the pod.

Tony 0:30:23 Go for it, definitely. Because I think she messaged me and said, we, we, we have pink ones. And I said, oh yes, I should have got a pink one to match my eyes. My blood shot high. Very good.

Natalie Cassidy 0:30:35 Very, very good.

Natalie Cassidy 0:32:53 Okay. Onto a little bit of the stuff that matters.

Tony 0:32:56 Okay. Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:32:57 Building.

Tony 0:32:57 Far away.

Natalie Cassidy 0:32:58 Advice on, advice on your stuff. Yeah. Hi Nat and Tony. First time messaging in. Thank you for messaging. I've been listening from the beginning and I absolutely love the podcast. It's my go-to listen. My partner and I are looking to move house soon and I have found a bungalow we like. I'm having to downsize due to ill health and I want to make sure we're making the right decision. What are the things we need to be looking out for? Thank you, Bex.

Tony 0:33:26 Oh, blimey. It is again quite a wide— Monstrous. Where'd you start with that? Well, I mean, there's the obvious, obviously it's not just a building thing, is it? So the obvious one is making sure you like the area you're moving to.

Natalie Cassidy 0:33:41 Yes.

Tony 0:33:42 So bungalows, they are a particular, sort of type of lifestyle, if that makes sense. I love it. Being all on the ground floor.

Natalie Cassidy 0:33:51 I'd be really happy in a bungalow. Yeah. I'd love a bungalow.

Tony 0:33:53 Yeah, I agree. I agree. So with buying any property, look, people do surveys and I'll be honest with you, most of the time they're not worth the paper they're written on. People pay a lot of money for surveys. Yeah.

Tony 0:34:04 And there's so many caveats and exclusions in there that even if there's a problem, you're never gonna prove that the surveyor was negligent. Really? Oh, absolutely. Wow. Absolutely.

Tony 0:34:17 We've just started a large property local to us, a complete refurb. Mm-hmm. And I saw the survey report, um, that was 110 pages long and I read it and it was basically 110 pages of saying, this is a house and we can't really access any of it, therefore we can't tell you if anything's wrong with it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:34:36 Right.

Tony 0:34:37 You know, so helpful. Not very helpful. So for me, if you find a property that you like, on the basis it's going to be in your local area, hopefully. I, I, I get lots of calls from people that say, um, we're looking at buying a property, would you mind coming around and having a look with us?

Natalie Cassidy 0:34:55 Yes.

Tony 0:34:56 Because what I do, I'm not a surveyor that's talking about, I don't know, you know, um, whether the roof tiles are red or brown or whether the chimney needs a bit of pointing. I'm going to go in and say, look, That's dated, that's dated. Boiler looks like it's 15 years old. Electrics look a bit knackered.

Natalie Cassidy 0:35:13 Yeah.

Tony 0:35:14 So people are going in thinking we're gonna downsize, we need to release equity and some money, we need to— and before you know it, you're going to the new place and you're in for 30, 40 grand doing a bathroom, a kitchen, a rewire, plumbing, this, that, whatever. So I think that's really important that you understand the, the, the, what you're buying.

Natalie Cassidy 0:35:33 What you're going into.

Tony 0:35:34 Not where it is and what it is and whether it's falling down, but what you're going into. The superficial stuff, if you like, that you wouldn't necessarily recognise. You know, people would go in and go, well, it's a boiler, there's a boiler on the wall. Well, I would look at it and go, that's probably 15 years old. Sorry, it's probably— It's probably the end of its useful life. That's gonna cost you 3 and a half grand or whatever it is, you know?

Natalie Cassidy 0:35:53 Yeah.

Tony 0:35:54 And so the other thing with bungalows is, like generally in the south, so most bungalows, you don't get many that were, Victorian bungalows. No. Edwardian bungalows.

Natalie Cassidy 0:36:04 So what are they, '60s?

Tony 0:36:07 Some of them are just after the war.

Natalie Cassidy 0:36:08 All right.

Tony 0:36:09 '50s.

Natalie Cassidy 0:36:10 Okay.

Tony 0:36:10 '60s. So there's an asbestos issue with some of them.

Natalie Cassidy 0:36:14 Yeah.

Tony 0:36:14 So you do, I'd have an asbestos report done just to be on the safe side because I've seen stuff in roofs, eaves and stuff like that made out of asbestos. It's not an issue. Asbestos isn't a problem as long as you don't touch it. Yes. If you start getting up there and drilling Christmas lights into it and stuff like that, then it can be an issue.

Tony 0:36:30 So I think asbestos is something to look out for, bungalows, because they were were built in an era when a lot of it was used. Yeah, fair enough. And then silly things like the windows, and it sounds silly, but the windows, you want the windows to be able to open and lock in a slightly open position.

Natalie Cassidy 0:36:44 Yes.

Tony 0:36:45 For security.

Natalie Cassidy 0:36:47 Yeah, you can't have 'em wide open, can you?

Tony 0:36:48 Exactly, you can't have 'em wide open. Oh, what, like in the bedroom?

Natalie Cassidy 0:36:51 Of course.

Tony 0:36:51 Yes, or even in the living room, 'cause someone just opens and jumps in. So again, I would, you'd want to make sure, or if they didn't have that facility, then you knew someone that could put that in. So you can, in the summer you can open the window, but you can only open it 4 inches and lock it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:37:07 Also, what's the difference between then a first floor having the window wide open?

Tony 0:37:12 The same thing. Well, someone needs a ladder.

Natalie Cassidy 0:37:13 Sorry, not the ground floor. Excuse me.

Tony 0:37:18 Same thing. If you're in a ground floor flat, it's exactly the same.

Natalie Cassidy 0:37:22 Right. Okay.

Tony 0:37:24 So for instance, a lot of, a lot of houses that were converted into flats, say, say Victorian, they had sash windows and stuff like that. Do you get sash locks? So you can open the sash, but you can only open it 4 inches. Right.

Tony 0:37:37 You know, so unless you put like a 2-year-old kid through the window, you can't get burgled, but you've still got the air. Right. Same at the top. So you have these little sash locks that you drill into the sashes so that when you pull the sashes down, they can only come down 4 inches. That's, you know, lots of houses that are Victorian have got that facility.

Tony 0:37:55 So on the ground floor you can open the windows, but you can't open them fully.

Natalie Cassidy 0:37:59 Understood.

Tony 0:38:00 Yeah. Yeah. And it's the same principle, but But that's in Victorian and period properties. I'm talking most of these are going to be post-war, '50s, '60s. Yes. So again, it's silly things, but it's just things to bear in mind. That's all.

Natalie Cassidy 0:38:12 So yeah, if you haven't got locks on the windows, that's more expense or—

Tony 0:38:16 Yeah, that's right.

Natalie Cassidy 0:38:17 Looking at those things that can cost a lot of money that you might not think about.

Tony 0:38:21 You can walk into a place and it looks like, to the untrained eye, you'd go, oh, it looks fine. But then I might go and go, well, you know, you're gonna have to spend money on this and this and this and this and this and da da da da da da.

Natalie Cassidy 0:38:33 Yeah.

Tony 0:38:33 And all of a sudden you're, you're not, you've gone from thinking you're gonna move in and that's gonna be it for the rest of your life.

Natalie Cassidy 0:38:39 There might be 20 grand to be spent.

Tony 0:38:40 There could be 20 grand to be spent.

Natalie Cassidy 0:38:41 Yeah. What I would say from a girly point of view.

Tony 0:38:44 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:38:44 Is just make sure if you really like it, you know, having a feel about a place when you walk into it is so important that you feel like you wanna be there.

Tony 0:38:53 That's not girly. That's not girly. That is any, that's, that's anyone who buys anything. When we bought our house, a long time ago. You know, we walked up the drive and I thought, this is lovely. And then within 10 seconds of walking in it, we knew we wanted to buy it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:39:07 I, I, I knew within 5 seconds of walking into the last one.

Tony 0:39:11 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:39:12 And that was a shithole. Me, Elliot come with me and it was hilarious. There was, there was a fireplace with baked beans and fluff. And I think I've spoken about it again. I mean, you, you couldn't see through But I could, I just went, this is brilliant.

Tony 0:39:28 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:39:28 And here I did the same.

Tony 0:39:29 Same. Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:39:30 Yeah. Here I did the same. So yeah, I think if you've got that feeling, I'm not saying buy it if it's got low, you know, you've gotta be realistic if everything ticks the boxes, but you really gotta like it.

Tony 0:39:40 'Cause, so the point I'm making, sorry, just going back to it. The point I'm making is don't rely on the survey.

Natalie Cassidy 0:39:44 No.

Tony 0:39:45 To say, honestly, you read 'em and it, it, they're not, a lot of 'em are not worth the paper they're written on. They'll cost you 6, 7, 8, £1,000 for a survey, and you probably want more of a realistic view from a local tradesman builder to give you the, you know, the sort of detailed nuts and bolts of what you need. I think you're gonna need to do that, 'cause they won't say that.

Natalie Cassidy 0:40:09 No, no, no.

Tony 0:40:11 They'll go, electrics untested, boiler untested, this untested. You know, is there asbestos? We don't know. You know, is the roof okay? Well, from what we can see, they'll describe it, Yes. It's a 1950s roof with, you know, concrete fawn-coloured pan tiles and a da da da. Exactly. And they'll do this big description. Yeah. But they won't tell you if it's pissing water or if it looks like there's something wrong with it. So, you know, I think that's my, that's all I would say is that be, just be double careful.

Natalie Cassidy 0:40:42 And to all the surveyors that are listening in, enjoy yourselves.

Tony 0:40:48 Well, I used to be one, not one of those surveyors, but, and it's not their fault. It's not, it's not the surveyor's fault. That's just what every surveyor does it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:40:57 Well, yeah, 'cause they haven't got the means to.

Tony 0:40:59 No, there's no, they won't lift carpets. They can't do that. But that's what I'm saying to you. The point is, is that they work, that a lot of the time there is just not really much of a commitment there in terms of, they'll tell you the age of the house and the general condition and, you know, if there's a big crack in it, they'll, they'll tell you, or if they think there's a real problem with something.

Natalie Cassidy 0:41:18 Well, I had a survey on this. Yeah. Exactly the same. And no one checked that the water from my kitchen tap isn't drinkable. No. I didn't know that.

Tony 0:41:30 Potable. Potable is the word. Technical word. Yeah. Sorry. Let's get it right. Potable.

Natalie Cassidy 0:41:34 Um, but there you go. Yeah. I don't know. I don't know if I would've bought it if they would've said actually, I know, but you've survived all this time.

Tony 0:41:42 It's been fine. Ain't the end of the world, is it?

Natalie Cassidy 0:41:43 But again, I know what you're saying. Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:41:45 I have a question for Tony. Our house has the original kitchen from when it was built over 30 years ago, which is obviously very dated. It also has an old and cold leaking conservatory leading off of it, so both need sorting. We are kind of in a Kirsty and Phil Love It or List It situation. Do we remove the conservatory and replace it with an extension for a big open-plan living space, or sack it off and just move.

Natalie Cassidy 0:42:12 To get a house of a similar size but with the same space and modern kitchen, we're looking at houses that are worth £200K more. Is it cheaper to do the renovation or move? Not sure I can be arsed with either option, to be honest. LOL. Joe from Reading.

Tony 0:42:29 Ooh, so you've gotta make some basic assumptions in order to answer the question.

Natalie Cassidy 0:42:34 Yeah.

Tony 0:42:34 If they don't like the area, then straight away they move. If they need schools for the kids or whatever, and then if you can move, then you've got to move. Don't like the area. But assuming they like the area that they're in and they're looking at, do they do this or do they move 2 minutes away into a bigger house in a, whatever. If they're looking at 200 grand plus for a house like that, that doesn't, that's not gonna include moving costs, stamp duty. Yes. Et cetera, et cetera. So you're probably looking at the thick end of 250 grand.

Natalie Cassidy 0:43:03 Yep.

Tony 0:43:04 Yeah. To do what they want to do in that house is not gonna cost 250 grand. Yeah. So from what I've seen, if you was to put a small extension on, like a nice extension on the back with a pitched roof, some Velux windows and some bifolds in it, probably 50 grand. And then you might spend another 30 grand doing the kitchen and whatever else. And maybe a little bit more depending on what your spec is.

Natalie Cassidy 0:43:23 Yeah.

Tony 0:43:24 So if it's 200 grand plus to move, I would say for half of that, they could create their dream kitchen extension. You know, again, that's all on the basis that it's, it's pretty standard stuff and they're not gonna have a, you know, bespoke kitchen or Gaggenau appliances which cost £50 million or whatever. But if, you know, generally to, to extend and, and renovate that bit will be cheaper than—

Natalie Cassidy 0:43:55 About half. About half.

Tony 0:43:57 But If they said, well, we're gonna renovate the whole house, so we're gonna redecorate everything, a new flooring and carpets, and we're gonna have a new bathroom and we're gonna have new windows and we're gonna do this and we're gonna da da da, then they could be getting up towards that amount of money.

Natalie Cassidy 0:44:13 So why not move?

Tony 0:44:14 So then, then you think, well, actually, are we better off just leaving this to somebody else and we just bite the bullet and try and move into the—

Natalie Cassidy 0:44:21 Something that's done.

Tony 0:44:23 Something that's done. Yeah. Also, if you haven't got an appetite for refurbishment.

Tony 0:44:28 And I cannot stress this highly enough. If you've not got an appetite, if you don't want dust, if you don't want 9 months of upheaval, that is a massive issue. You have, and also you've gotta find the right builder. Yeah. If you find, if you get the wrong one, you're in for like a year of hell basically.

Tony 0:44:45 Yeah. You get a good one, a decent one that looks after you, then it'll be manageable. You know? So there's lots of factors. But generally speaking, to extend and refurbish that would be considerably cheaper than the other house.

Tony 0:44:59 But the other house is probably bigger, it might have an extra bedroom. And so there's lots of factors.

Natalie Cassidy 0:45:03 There's loads and loads of factors. There is.

Tony 0:45:06 And, and that's why there's a whole programme, the Love It or List It thing is exactly what that is.

Natalie Cassidy 0:45:10 Yeah.

Tony 0:45:10 Exactly. It's exactly what they do.

Natalie Cassidy 0:45:12 I watched a bit of Grand Designs last night. I can't watch it. Well, every time I watch it now, I just think of you. Cool. 'Cause you hate it. But this was really— I'll tell you what, me and Mark sat there, we went, you know, when he's standing there, Kevin, he's on the balcony and he's going, this is the most incredible. And I went, it looks shit, actually. Sorry. And they were building it. That's terrible. I'm gonna go to hell. Well, I don't, because I was gonna laugh and it's not funny.

Tony 0:45:40 Go on.

Natalie Cassidy 0:45:41 But they'd bought this house.

Tony 0:45:42 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:45:44 And it was all about the view, all about the view. And then sort of, you know, when they go 12 months later, she's standing there and someone's just, there's a roof now in the way.

Tony 0:45:52 Oh.

Natalie Cassidy 0:45:52 And she's going, well, it doesn't matter about the view, but they're in Cornwall. The view is everything.

Tony 0:45:58 Oh, of course it is. Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:45:58 So now they've got sort of a little bit of the sea rather than all of the sea that you would've seen.

Tony 0:46:04 That's just unlucky though, isn't it? Really unlucky.

Natalie Cassidy 0:46:06 Really unlucky. But, It was just quite—

Tony 0:46:10 oh, it does me a ding around, isn't it?

Natalie Cassidy 0:46:11 It was funny. It was quite funny. But yeah, it is. I understand now because I think of you all the time. Your voice is in my head.

Tony 0:46:18 Sorry.

Natalie Cassidy 0:46:19 No, it's not a bad thing, but, uh, it just wasn't amazing. Because you do it all day as well.

Tony 0:46:25 Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, I mean, people that are interested in— you know, some people are interested in maybe doing a renovation.

Natalie Cassidy 0:46:32 Yeah.

Tony 0:46:32 So, you know, he's a solicitor and She works in a school, whatever it might be. And they're not in the, they're not in the business, they're not in it. They've never done it before. So you'll, you know, I know loads of my customers, they, first thing they do when they're gonna do something, go to the Ideal Home Exhibition.

Natalie Cassidy 0:46:46 Yes.

Tony 0:46:46 And I get fed all this crap about what you can have and what you can't have. And, and they come back with all these ideas and then I'll go, do you know how much that's gonna cost?

Natalie Cassidy 0:46:52 Yeah.

Tony 0:46:53 Oh, we've seen this home automation lighting system. I said, do you know it's gonna cost you 25 grand? I said, we'll have dimmer switches. Because yeah, they get, you know, they get sucked in and rolled.

Natalie Cassidy 0:47:05 Well, those exhibitions, I mean, that's a pod in itself. Yeah. There's mother and baby.

Tony 0:47:10 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:47:11 The food ones.

Tony 0:47:11 Yeah, yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:47:12 I went to one, didn't I?

Tony 0:47:13 Yeah. Spent £8,000 million on wine.

Natalie Cassidy 0:47:16 Yeah. I mean, it wasn't that much, but yeah. Yeah, I did.

Tony 0:47:20 Yep. Lovely guy. But yeah. It's nice. Nice wine.

Natalie Cassidy 0:47:23 Lovely. Hook, line and sinker.

Tony 0:47:25 Yeah, yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:47:26 Joanie really likes Four in a Bed. Seen that?

Tony 0:47:28 Well, I've seen it advertised, but I don't think I've actually watched it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:47:32 It's the most ridiculous but brilliant.

Tony 0:47:35 What is it?

Natalie Cassidy 0:47:37 You'd hate it, I think. Did you ever watch Come Dine with Me?

Tony 0:47:40 Yes.

Natalie Cassidy 0:47:41 It's like Come Dine with Me.

Tony 0:47:44 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:47:45 But you're watching, you watch it and you think this, this can't be real. And it's couples, there's 4 couples, and they all own B&Bs.

Tony 0:47:58 Yes.

Natalie Cassidy 0:47:58 So they're absolute characters, these people.

Tony 0:48:00 Oh, I have seen it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:48:01 Have you seen it?

Tony 0:48:02 And they each go to each other's B&B, and then they try and find— And they each go and find— And they try and find, they put their finger up in the corner of the top of the wardrobe, and they get an earbud and find some dust, and they go, that's terrible, they're getting a 1 for this.

Natalie Cassidy 0:48:19 And then they sit around the table.

Tony 0:48:20 I know, and how much they're gonna pay and stuff, yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:48:23 The, the bloke the other day, 'cause Janey really likes it.

Tony 0:48:26 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:48:26 He was getting really irate and he said, I'm sorry, why have you given me a 3? And they said it was just absolutely filthy.

Tony 0:48:34 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:48:35 He said, I'm not having that. I'm not having that. And then they get all the money out.

Tony 0:48:38 Yeah. And it's if you've paid, I'll give you 12 quid instead of this 60 quid a night or whatever. Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:48:42 It, it's so bad. It's brilliant. It's one of those, it's actually, I know, I have seen it.

Tony 0:48:47 I have seen it. It's really good. I didn't know it was called Four in a Bed.

Natalie Cassidy 0:48:49 It's really good.

Tony 0:48:50 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:48:51 Terrible, but brilliant.

Tony 0:48:51 Yeah. One of those.

Natalie Cassidy 0:48:53 Have you been watching anything lately that's terrible but brilliant?

Tony 0:48:56 Terrible but brilliant? Not really. I don't, I don't do the series thing anymore.

Natalie Cassidy 0:49:00 No, I know you don't. I know. I just thought, is there anything?

Tony 0:49:02 No, I'm really boring when it comes to stuff like that.

Natalie Cassidy 0:49:06 I don't think you are, 'cause you sort of educate yourself with television, don't you? A little bit.

Tony 0:49:10 You like watching? Yeah, a bit of history and stuff and a bit of other stuff. But no, I've been forced to watch The Voice. Hmm. Um, because Shaman likes it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:49:24 I was up, um, there you go, a little bit of inside info for you all.

Tony 0:49:27 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:49:28 I popped up to Manchester on Monday.

Tony 0:49:30 As you do.

Natalie Cassidy 0:49:31 As you do. Did a little job.

Tony 0:49:33 Okay.

Natalie Cassidy 0:49:33 Really boring, can't talk about it, blah, blah, blah, really boring. Anyway, I was up there for the day and it's where they film The Voice.

Tony 0:49:39 Okay.

Natalie Cassidy 0:49:40 So anyway, we're wandering around, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop. Oh, I don't know, can I say this?

Tony 0:49:49 Oh, so you met the winner of The Voice?

Natalie Cassidy 0:49:52 No, Cheryl Cole was in the lift.

Tony 0:49:55 Oh, well, she's replacing Tom Jones, isn't she? Is she? Yeah. Do we know that?

Natalie Cassidy 0:50:00 I'm gonna say I saw Cheryl Cole in a lift in Manchester.

Tony 0:50:02 Did she say hello?

Natalie Cassidy 0:50:03 She said, hello, Natalie. She always says hello to me.

Tony 0:50:06 Oh, that's nice.

Natalie Cassidy 0:50:07 Gave her a big cuddle.

Tony 0:50:09 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:50:09 She's about as big as my phone.

Tony 0:50:11 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:50:11 That's how big she is.

Tony 0:50:12 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:50:13 Tiny little thing. She's like a Kylie. Yeah, they've got a certain size.

Tony 0:50:17 Little bundle of joy.

Natalie Cassidy 0:50:18 Tiny little people. They're not normal size. Yeah, Kylie, a lot of Girls Aloud, Geri Halliwell, they're all very, very tiny. And I don't mean thin, I mean their proportions are small. I could pick them up on my hand. Yeah, but it was lovely to see her. Always nice, never changed. I like her. That's nice. I like her a lot. So yeah, sorry. That's what I was going to say. I saw her. But as you've been roped into watching it, yeah, poor old Tom. What do you reckon? Well, I find it really outrageous, actually.

Tony 0:50:51 What it is, he's had a good run, um, and I'm afraid in all of that, you know, that industry, nothing's forever. No. Um, and it isn't.

Natalie Cassidy 0:51:03 I know, but I just think, you know what, I'm fed up with the For me, we need a refresh.

Tony 0:51:09 We need just— But that's the industry.

Natalie Cassidy 0:51:10 Well, just leave him. Yeah, he's a legend.

Tony 0:51:13 What I would say is that after watching it, knowing that he's leaving, I can see now, I can see why he's leaving.

Natalie Cassidy 0:51:21 Oh wow. Do you think— because I've seen a couple— do you think he's just getting a little bit It's just getting— A bit old.

Tony 0:51:35 A little bit old.

Natalie Cassidy 0:51:36 A little bit old.

Tony 0:51:37 And I'm afraid, you know, they're trying to attract an audience and Tom banging on about Elvis and whatever and all that sort of stuff, it's not really the demographic, is it?

Natalie Cassidy 0:51:48 I know, but again, learn about it then, youngsters. Learn about good times.

Tony 0:51:52 Yeah, but they don't wanna be lectured on, not lectured, but they don't wanna be taught on a Saturday night when they're watching a programme, do they?

Natalie Cassidy 0:51:59 So. But they should know about people like Elvis.

Tony 0:52:01 I'm sort of in, I've got a foot in both camps really. I'm on the fence on it. Because I just think he's had an unbelievable career. He's obviously a very wealthy man. He wants to keep working.

Natalie Cassidy 0:52:11 But how wonderful that he wants to keep doing it. Yeah, he is.

Tony 0:52:14 But, but you know what he'll do? He'll just, he'll start a YouTube channel or something and someone, he'll, he'll have, he'll have the capability financially and whatever.

Natalie Cassidy 0:52:22 And do you think we could get him in here?

Tony 0:52:23 Oh, he wouldn't come in here. Why? I don't think he would. No. Do you not? No, no, no. I don't think he likes you. He told me when I saw him, he said he don't like you. Oh really? Yeah. He said, I don't really like that Natalie. He said, So I don't, I don't think he'd come.

Natalie Cassidy 0:52:34 Fair enough.

Tony 0:52:35 I don't, you know, I had a chat with him when I saw him and he, yeah, he can't stand you.

Natalie Cassidy 0:52:38 Oh, fair enough. But no, for me it's all the stories all the time.

Tony 0:52:47 I know, I know where you're coming from. I know exactly what you mean. But I think there comes a time where everyone, you know, they've, they've had it, they've, they've, they've had it good, they've had their run and it's time for somebody else.

Natalie Cassidy 0:53:01 Yeah, okay, fair enough.

Tony 0:53:03 It's fair enough. You know, it's, you know, it's the— just to end on, if you don't mind.

Speaker E 0:53:08 I don't mind.

Tony 0:53:09 Are we ending?

Speaker E 0:53:10 Yeah, we're gonna end.

Tony 0:53:11 We're probably gonna end.

Speaker E 0:53:12 Yeah.

Tony 0:53:13 So I've come to the conclusion, and the way I look at things now, is the only constant in life is change.

Natalie Cassidy 0:53:26 Yeah.

Tony 0:53:26 And I'll leave that one with you. And that's the way you've got to look at life.

Natalie Cassidy 0:53:30 It's true.

Tony 0:53:31 The only constant is change.

Natalie Cassidy 0:53:36 I like that.

Tony 0:53:38 I came out with that just out of the blue the other day. I probably read it somewhere. Should we just have a look? I would say I've plagiarised it from someone. I don't think I've probably come up with that. I mean, if you've come up with that— I did come up with that.

Natalie Cassidy 0:53:53 I'm just gonna look it up, Tone.

Tony 0:53:55 It's probably some management stuff I did 25 years ago when I did me degree or whatever.

Natalie Cassidy 0:54:00 Oh no, it's from a Greek philosopher.

Tony 0:54:04 Oh right, okay. What's his name? Heraclitus. I don't know him.

Natalie Cassidy 0:54:10 But it's a— I love that.

Tony 0:54:15 It's very relevant, isn't it?

Natalie Cassidy 0:54:16 I like it a lot. The only constant is change. Yeah. Well, there you go, everybody. I hope you've enjoyed this. I've really missed, missed our chat.

Tony 0:54:28 Have you really?

Natalie Cassidy 0:54:29 Yeah, no, genuinely. It's been—

Tony 0:54:31 Well, don't leave it fucking 8 weeks to the next one then. That's the answer, innit?

Natalie Cassidy 0:54:33 Well, it wasn't our fault, was it? I went on holiday.

Tony 0:54:35 No, no, it wasn't your fault.

Natalie Cassidy 0:54:36 Last week we were ill.

Tony 0:54:37 We were ill. Both of us. Rotten, innit? That thing we had.

Natalie Cassidy 0:54:41 Well, she's had it now, Eliza.

Tony 0:54:42 It's a shocker.

Natalie Cassidy 0:54:43 It was really horrible. She had the tummy.

Tony 0:54:45 She had the stomach thing. No, thank God she didn't.

Natalie Cassidy 0:54:48 I didn't have the tummy.

Tony 0:54:49 Yeah. Mum was all aching. Yeah. Sharon had the aches and pains or whatever. James had the aches and pains.

Natalie Cassidy 0:54:54 And you had the tummy?

Tony 0:54:56 I did. Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:54:58 Oh dear. The tom tits.

Tony 0:54:59 Yeah. Yeah. Oh, sorry. Pants update as well.

Natalie Cassidy 0:55:03 Oh yes, please.

Tony 0:55:04 I know we haven't really sort of— this died a death really. Well, no, we've got lots of people who wanna Um, so I bought a pair of Step One.

Natalie Cassidy 0:55:12 Yeah.

Tony 0:55:13 Massively dis— I've got them on tonight. Really disappointing.

Natalie Cassidy 0:55:16 Oh no.

Tony 0:55:17 Yeah, because they're made for skinny blokes.

Natalie Cassidy 0:55:21 But we had a couple of people say that their other halves were a little bit on the—

Tony 0:55:26 They've got these— the band at the top.

Natalie Cassidy 0:55:28 Yeah.

Tony 0:55:29 It's sort of quite thick and elasticated and tight, and they just don't— if you've got a bit of a belly and a pair of hips. And obviously I've got a baboon ass as well, which doesn't help. Yeah, they're just— they're not— I wouldn't say they're any more or less comfortable than anything I've ever worn. I'll tell you what, £20 a go, I'm not— I'm not going to have another bash on them. I've got one pair which I have worn tonight, funny enough. Fair enough. And, uh, yeah, I think you just— the idea is great, but the waistband needs to be more flexible softer. Okay. And more accommodating to a man of a certain stature.

Natalie Cassidy 0:56:08 You're really selling yourself.

Tony 0:56:09 I know, doing my best.

Natalie Cassidy 0:56:12 Any more pant recommendations?

Tony 0:56:15 Well, there's loads like it. They're all the same biofit and this, you know, they're all bamboo made or whatever.

Natalie Cassidy 0:56:21 But if it was soft around the top, is— are they scared that they're gonna come down?

Tony 0:56:27 But they shouldn't do, should they?

Natalie Cassidy 0:56:29 No, not really.

Tony 0:56:29 You know, it's really— I'll show you later. Yes. But look, yes, it's really—

Natalie Cassidy 0:56:35 By the way, everybody, that's not— please don't— like, he's going to show me his waistband is what he's saying.

Tony 0:56:42 Yes, yes, waistband. Yeah, that's it. No, no, don't get any strange, weird ideas or anything like that. No, no, it's the waistband.

Natalie Cassidy 0:56:49 Yeah.

Tony 0:56:50 So, so I'm still searching. Well, and I'm going into Autumn stroke winter now. I'm still commando, so I'm, I'm struggling big time.

Natalie Cassidy 0:56:58 07788 20 19 19. Let us know your thoughts on the pod. Let us know any pant recommendations. Let us know any programmes that you really like that are really terrible but really good, because they're my favourites. Come Dine With Me. Yeah, Four in a Bed, anything around that sort of thing.

Tony 0:57:20 That genre.

Natalie Cassidy 0:57:21 Yeah, really camp, iffy stuff. It's been lovely to see you.

Tony 0:57:26 Been lovely to see you.

Natalie Cassidy 0:57:27 And thank you, everybody, for listening. As ever, follow, subscribe, tell your friends, and drop me a message about today's pod. Have a fantastic rest of the week, and I'll talk to you soon. See ya.

Tony 0:57:38 See ya.

Natalie Cassidy 0:57:39 See ya.