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Hello and welcome to let me bore you to sleep. I don't know if you can hear that, crunching in the background is both dogs. Vinnie and his boyfriend are both chewing on some bones.
So I hope it's not too noisy. I'm babysitting or dog sitting for a few hours. Hurrah! So I thought I'll make a recording because I haven't done one for a couple of days.
So welcome and please only listen when you can safely close your eyes. And what is it? My name is Jason Newland and my website is jasonnewland.com and that is noisy. The thing is the other dog's about 75 times bigger than Vinnie and he doesn't know how to be quiet when he's chewing because you know he literally could chew a dinosaur bone and it would just look like a normal bone in his mouth because he's so big.
In fact I reckon, I don't reckon that bone will even last him for the duration of this recording. Vinnie, that'll last him for hours his one because it's just a tiny little, it's not even a bone, it's one of those rawhide things I think. So hey it's Saturday the 25th of February I think.
2023 I think. And uh I hope you're all well. Oh dear.
Right shall I do? Oh I haven't got my pen on me. Where's my pen? Where's my pen? Oh I do have a pen. Let me do me gratitude journal.
So 25th of, 25th of February 2023. One, two, three. Gratitude journal.
The first one is I'm grateful that my friend's dog will be collected in a few hours. He's not staying here permanently. And no.
What's the first thing? Well actually I went to the doctors yesterday. That noise is distracting me. I know we're not near the microphone, they're not near the microphone and I hope it's not too, if it is too noisy then just don't listen.
But doesn't normally, they don't make that much noise normally but it's in stereo isn't it I guess. Except one's much louder than the other. But there's two very happy dogs right now.
Anyway so what was I saying? Oh yeah I went to the doctors. I actually, because I had a bit of a health thing last week and I was referred to the doctors and I needed like an emergency appointment. This was last Thursday and I got my emergency appointment this Friday.
So it took me two or eight days to get the appointment. And I also had two other appointments. So I ended up with three doctors appointments on one, in one morning which I've never done before.
That was like unprecedented. As they used to like to say in 2020 on the news all the time. This is unprecedented.
Unprecedented times. So what was the other saying that the news, so you should like to say on the news and the politicians a few years back. I don't say it so much now but it was almost scripted like they had to say this sentence.
Oh yeah not fit for purpose. Not fit for purpose. Every politician was saying that.
Not fit for purpose. I mean do they have meetings on a Monday morning? So okay here are the words, here are the sentences you need to be saying for the for the next week. It's a new sentence.
Not fit for purpose. But why are we saying that? It doesn't matter why. We just need to say it.
All of you. And we sent out articles to all the newspapers and the television news networks. Everyone needs to say not fit for purpose.
But why? It doesn't matter why. Just do what you're told. Okay.
You're not fit for purpose. Oi. I heard that.
So yeah anyway. Went to the doctors. Didn't know what the appointments were for.
Well I did but I didn't know which one was which because there was three appointments. So it turned out I had one appointment with the mental health nurse. Just basically seeing how I am.
It was really a case of you all right? You okay? Okay bye. And that was kind of it really. She did take my blood pressure I think.
Did she take my blood pressure? And my pulse. And said that I needed blood tests just to do like a general thing. So which is fine.
Then the next appointment was for an ECG. So I had my heart checked. And then the next appointment was with a doctor to give me the results of the ECG.
And the number one thing of what I'm grateful for is my heart is fine. Heart is fine. Now I didn't delve into it like is it fine like healthy or is it just fine for a man of my age.
You know I didn't want to sort of get too many details. And I remember I think the doctor said to me years ago. Did he say you got the lungs of someone 15 years older than you? Which was that's not a good thing to hear is it? I think it was last year or the year before.
Yeah this is with the mental health team. And I had a yearly medical. I generally have a yearly medical because of the medication I'm on.
They want to make sure make sure that. Wow. See Vinnie's chewing is the other dog's trying to eat it.
Like he's like you have eaten haven't you before. Look at him you know he has because he's huge. He comes in and he inhales all of Vinnie's food.
And he inhales all of the water from Vinnie's bowl like instantly. Like that. He's he's just a giant and he doesn't have any sense of I don't know.
It's mine. Literally he he doesn't see walls or doors or people. If he wants to go somewhere he walks through people or through it will try and walk through the door.
He doesn't you know. It's strange. I've seen it.
He's knocked me over a few times. Well not knocked me over but once he was running and he went ran right into my knees. That wasn't a good day.
It hurted my knees really. I was limping for for a little while. Anyway so I went to the doctors and I had to get up really early.
I had to leave. I had to get the 7.30 bus in the morning which meant I had to get up you know six o'clock to sort of be prepared you know have my breakfast and get ready. Now I set my alarm went to bed about 11.
But I woke up at three o'clock and I was pretty much awake and I thought oh I want to go back to bed. Then I thought what if I miss the alarm? What if I you know if I sleep through it? Because to miss three appointments would just be not good. Especially as it's kind of important.
So I decided just to stay up. So I sat down in my chair in the living room put the phone next to me still to have the alarm set so it goes off. And I fell asleep.
And I woke up at four. Luckily the boxing was on. There was live boxing which is very unusual to have live boxing on a Thursday morning live from America.
It was a Golden Boy production and it's like oh it's a strange day of the week to have it. But it was on so I thought yeah I'll watch this. And that kept me occupied until about six o'clock when it's time to get ready.
So it's quite good but I was a little bit tired. By the time I got the bus and that turned up and there was not many people on the bus but 50% of those that were on the bus were coughing and spluttering which was yay great. And then I got to the doctor's surgery.
And I was early. I was about it was about five to eight in the morning. My appointment was 8 30.
So and there was this I mean I counted and there's about 17 people queuing up outside the closed doctor's surgery. And I'm thinking wow what on earth's going on here. The place isn't even open yet and there's 18 people and it was cold outside.
So I said I just spoke to one of the people waiting I said look what's going on and she explained that because that what it is is two different doctor's surgeries in the same building. They were with the other doctor's surgery and the way they work is you is first come first served. So whoever gets there first so literally people could be queuing from three in the morning onwards.
You know it's that kind of situation and it's like buying tickets for your favorite band you know people that sleep all night out or you know maybe the tickets are being released on a Monday morning and people are there from Friday evening queuing and sleeping and barbecuing or whatever. Now there was no cooking going on to be fair but I can see how things will become more like that. Someone will start to think but you know what I was I think they had they allow up to 26 people something like that and that's it.
They allow 20 the first 26 people that queue up is the only people that could get seen on that day. So I'm sure you can book appointments for like weeks and weeks ahead but to actually be seen on the day. So it will come a time I guess when people will be queuing early hours you know they won't be just getting out eight or half seven there'll be people there at six five and they can't sit in their car they have to be queuing.
See my surgery did a similar thing a few years back where they'd open the front doors but it wouldn't actually open the surgery.
So they open the front door so people could walk in or actually they might have had the thing outside but you took a ticket so you couldn't book an appointment for the day but you could walk in you could take a ticket and there was I don't know 25 cards which you could take one two you know so whoever got their ticket it didn't have to queue but they just turn up they'd queue at 8 30 when the doors opened or eight o'clock when the doors opened whatever time it was but they'd come early get
a ticket and then they'd go off they'd drive off or they'd sit in their car because you know it's cold or they'd go to the supermarket and get some breakfast or go shopping or maybe even go home again and then come back at eight and I used to get there even half an hour early and most of the tickets were gone people would come and do that and there'd be nobody waiting I'd literally be the only person waiting at the door yet I'd be number 24 on you know I was like how is this even
fair so my doctor said you now do a thing where you have to phone up at eight in the morning or go online and it is first come first served again but it's you don't have to go there to do it I don't know if it's 7 30 whatever time they decide to do it from so you have to either go online or phone up so whoever it is first come first served again so it's not based on need it's based on who's the quickest so yeah I mean all my appointments have been booked in
advance so I've you know I haven't needed well I did need to see them the same day but they didn't see me last week but I just my concern is other people really when I see that and I'm thinking all those people queuing in the cold which isn't good I mean at the moment it's been really cold the last couple of days not proper minus degrees and if someone's unwell anyway I don't know everybody's going to the doctors because of because of you know being unwell in a sense of like a cold or flu or
anything and technically they shouldn't be coming to a public place with flu anyway I don't know how else you could do it but all they're doing is spreading it to everyone else but it's a weird one I don't know what the solution is there a solution is there I don't know I mean I remember I had a lot it was a couple of years ago you remember what happened a couple of years ago worldwide and I had a doctor's appointment about my back what was the doctor gonna do on the phone about my back he
couldn't examine it he couldn't do anything it's like yeah I've got this pain in my back oh does it hurt yeah oh um how did you hurt it I don't know that's why I'm calling you it it's I don't know how it just started hurting oh have you considered getting some help what yeah that's what I'm doing now that's what oh oh well it's pity you didn't come sooner before you know everything was locked down I said well I would have done if it happened sooner you know can't really plan it he said yeah oh
it's cold isn't it today I said yeah it's cold what's that got to do with anything it's like I don't know just small chat chit chat you know because I don't know what else to say um dad it's not a podcast because that would be really boring to hear yeah I know so anyway um I went to the doctors yesterday and everything was really good and there wasn't many people in the doctor's surgery do you remember when doctor's surgeries were full this doctor's surgery and this was at 8 30 in the morning and I was
there I had an 8 30 appointment a 10 30 appointment and 11 o'clock appointment and throughout that whole period and I did go away and come back again but that whole time I was in that building there was no more than three other people maybe four people waiting to be seen I remember the days when doctor's surgeries would be full you'd be in there and it'd be full of people all waiting so it's I don't know it's I'm not sure how many doctors have even got in my surgery maybe there's not that many doctors now
there used to be three I think at one point yeah so the good thing is my heart is fine so the doctor checked the ECG he checked the ECG from the ambulance as well from last week and he said it's fine blood pressure however isn't fine and it is high but it's not dangerously high it's the only if so he checked it and basically I think it was it was higher in the ambulance than what it was yesterday and he said he told me what number it needed to be under basically 35 the top number
needs to be about 35 or under for it to be fine mine was 900 or something I don't know and he said um basically I need to check my blood pressure twice a day not straight after each other and because that would be pointless just to get an idea roughly what my average blood pressure is from day to day if it's above the 35 average if it's you know if it is high averagely not just during stress or and he did point out that quite often when people had their blood pressure taken by a doctor
or a nurse the blood pressure is generally higher because of you know the nerves and the stress of the situation so he said if it's if the average is a bit too high then I'll be put on medication for a while but there are other things I can do such as lose weight get healthier get fitter which I'm doing um my voice has gone croaky I'm actually aging as we speak I'm getting much older now so yeah so heart is fine it's my number one on my gratitude list see yesterday I actually felt okay I
felt some relief I felt fairly healthy yesterday well not healthy healthy but it's like okay so the heart is quite important isn't it it's you know it's one of the it's one of the more important parts of the body so that's good I'm pleased about that now I have to well I'm gonna I've got some blood a blood test being taken it's in a few weeks time next month and that's to check that there's no other underlying conditions that could be the cause of what happened and could be the cause of high blood pressure so
just checking that I'm all right you know that everything's kind of fine and then uh once I've had the well next week I need to book an appointment for the week after the blood test to get the results from the doctor to go in there and get the results and then I imagine oh yeah I have to I have to take the blood pressure readings in with me to the doctors on that last appointment the one after a week after the blood test I say the last appointment hopefully will be the last one for a
while and he said that it will then sort of look at them and decide between the blood results and the results of the blood pressure you know over the next three weeks or whatever four weeks it's gonna probably gonna be so probably about a month of blood pressure results he'll be able to get an idea where I am and what's uh what's necessary to do next if you know what I mean so just had a bit of an interruption where the pack of wild animals in my living room must have heard something and decided to
go start barking and running towards the front door for no apparent reason go away and and then when they come back I realized that the big dog just stole Vinnie's little bone because he finished his and he just took Vinnie's now Vinnie he can make it last half a day pretty much it takes him hours to get through it so I took it out of his mouth and I go back to Vinnie he's not very happy with me now behave yourself now okay good boy behave don't don't give me crap don't give me hassle god
he's standing on my foot I feel like a car is driven over my foot seriously he's that heavy I love to exaggerate that's it good boy now go away good boy now leave good good boy now get out of my sight get out yeah good boy the thing is he's under the desk now this is the other dog and he's I know he's going to bang his head on the desk because he doesn't feel anything he literally walked through and he knocked my chair out of the way that I'm sitting in and I weigh twice
as much as he does probably maybe not twice as much I don't know I don't know how much he weighs he's definitely stronger if he was my size what have you got there all right you two need to behave all right behave stop stealing this stuff I know we're on this estate and it's full of thieves but you don't got to join in with them anyway so I'm quite pleased about the heart thing so that's quite handy it's quite handy stupid crunchy not it's right behind me now you might as well just sit on my
lap and do it apart from the fact that it crushed my legs so I I think the second thing I'm quite grateful for when I've stopped drinking coke stopped drinking coke drinking coke and in the past when I stopped drinking coke sometimes I've had a headache but this time I've had nothing there's no being no side effects but I think that's because I don't drink much coke anymore I used to drink probably four cans sometimes six cans a day you know quite a while ago but now for quite for quite some time I haven't really
drunk more than maybe a couple of cans a day maybe one can a day so it's it really has reduced but now as I'm saying that I've got two cans of coke right in front of me on the on the table that I've already had so I've got a box of them I bought those two for some neighbors but I forgot to give it to them and I'm thinking it is Saturday isn't it I mean technically it is it's coke day isn't it really in a way I should be able to treat myself once a
week maybe have a couple of cans of coke on a Saturday don't you think I don't know I mean I used to when I was late teens one of my things I did this is one of my little routines that I did is every Friday night I would buy myself probably a couple of couple of cans of coke a couple of back packets of biscuits yeah biscuits like gingernuts and cookies something like that two different nice ones nice maybe jammy dodgers maybe no digestives or plain ones they're always nice ones sexy ones you know and
I'd watch the on channel four there used to be sitcoms American sitcoms so cheers this is when cheers was still going this is when you know cheers was still running so cheers and maybe the golden girls or Roseanne I'm trying to think what other ones were around at that time but there's always an hour from nine to ten of comedy and that would be my routine every Friday it's something I'd look forward to I'd have two packets of crisps of crisps I keep saying crisps two packets of biscuits and two cans of coke so they're
only cheap back then and a can of coke now is like a pound or maybe pound 50 if you go into some places but back then it's like I don't know 15 pence 20 pence something so you know the whole amount would be about a pound maybe one pound fifty for probably a pound two packets of biscuits I can't say biscuits today for some reason but obviously I can say biscuits morning has broken like the first morning blackbirds have spoken like the first bird I used to like singing hymns at school I did it wasn't
there wasn't any religious ossity for me about them I just liked them they were really catchy tunes they were enjoyable to listen to and enjoyable to sing honestly come all the faithful joyful and triumphant oh come all we come the Bethlehem and what's that oh but it was yeah I did it for years and years and years at school and I liked them oh that one I like that one as well so we used to change the words sometimes to naughty words or you know a rude sentence but that was just part of the growing
up process you know it set me up for adulthood yeah I don't think anything at school prepared me for being an adult I don't think it did anything no I don't think anything did no no the only thing that set me up for being an adult was being told what to do by the teachers and then leaving school and being told what to do by bosses and supervisors and stuff like that that's the only real similarity between the two there was no I think what would have been good at school or would have been useful
for would be financial advice how to handle money how to prepare for paying rent for I mean not even necessarily going into mortgages and investing I mean that would be I guess a more advanced level of financial understanding or preparation for adulthood but the basic things you know like renting putting down the deposit you know having a job preparing for job interviews things like that would have been very helpful and none of that happened at least not when I was at school I mean I did bunk off a little bit but the last year or
so but generally I don't remember any preparation for leaving school other than bye whew he's gone you know that was it I don't remember anything and I remember it was 1986 April time or maybe March I was coming up I just got my glasses and I was still going to the doctor's with my mum you know I was still a kid still a little kid I'm pretty sure because I had I was getting headaches I didn't know why I was getting headaches but the doctor said he thought it might be eye strain I went to
the den not dentist the opticians well I went to the dentist but they told me it's you know it's the wrong sign but again that's where I realized I needed glasses so I went to the opticians which was next door to the dentist which is good and I was put on well I actually was told I needed to wear glasses all the time and I had a lazy eye which was the first I heard of it because I've seen people with lazy eyes and at school generally they would it would be pointed out to them
way too often but no one ever mentioned that I had a lazy eye no one ever said anything like that to me I'm pretty sure they would have done at some point but and but yeah they I had a lazy eye I was told by the optician and I needed to wear a patch which wasn't ideal so the idea was to wear a patch over my good eye to train my other eye to start working properly and looking at stuff it's almost like it wasn't it was just lazy it wasn't like a physical thing it
was just like it couldn't be bothered to look so my right eye would look at stuff my left eye just couldn't be bothered why do I need to the right eye is doing it don't need both of us and it was weird it's like okay so you know I had problems with my hearing when I was a kid but I didn't know I had issues with my eyesight as well it's weird and so I had to do the exercises where I had my patch on and I'd have to practice with a pen looking at the
or pencil looking at the top of the pencil and moving from left to right left to right with the patch over the good eye sometimes I forget which eye was the good one and not because it was the same to me and this is probably maybe February March time so it's right near the end of leaving school really because I left school in April like completely and just went back to do my exams in the summer and I was still 15 because I was the youngest you know in the year pretty much there might have
been someone younger but I was you know when I went into the last year of school in September 95 85 a lot of the kids in my year were already 16 now I turned 15 at the end of August some of them would turn 16 at the beginning of September so literally there was days there there was the amount of kids that were nearly pretty much a year older than I was and you could tell because some of them were adults and I was what are you doing is he stolen your bone again you've got
no sense of sharing have you he now knows I'm talking about him because he stopped doing it why why can't you share with Vinnie you know this is his home this is his home you're a guest you're welcome to come here and you both love each other why are you stealing his stuff you need to share just because you're bigger doesn't mean you can just do what you want no he's leaving it now he's not touching it he knows he's being told off I'm not telling you off I'm just saying you need to be nice
to each other he looks up to you like a big brother you know he absolutely loves you mate you know that Vinnie loves you so much I don't think there's anyone he loves more than the dog the other dog I like to think that he loves me but I don't know he's now licking his ear oh how lovely weird I have to watch him though because the big dog is he's got a reputation for being a bit aggressive towards other dogs he's been lovely with him so far but you won't get an opportunity because I'm
always watching them I'll be on it within a second a millisecond of a second I would be intervening because I can't have anything happen to my little boy no no no no what was it oh yeah my eyes so probably March time maybe it was February but I'm saying March I reckon 1986 1986 so I remember I think I went with my step-mom to the doctor to the to the doctors and then to the opticians I've never been to the opticians before and I used to go and have my ears tested for quite a while
because I had hearing problems I was partially deaf in one of my ears when I was a little kid and which meant I was way behind educationally and in fact I was I kind of didn't really start school until I was seven although I'd been to school I hadn't really learned anything I suppose I'd learned basic stuff you know maybe some social interaction I don't know and I'd learned to read but I kind of did that in my own time anyway I very much was reading because I loved reading I wasn't a high level of
reading it was you know I had one book a Jack Inori book which I forgot now I probably bought it on Amazon or eBay and I used to reread it over and over again but because because I was when I was young I moved around so much I never settled in one place really you know I apparently according to my oldest brother we moved from the age of two I moved to Scotland first apparently that's what I've been told and then moved around different places and then I ended up in Newcastle and then I ended
up in Southend and then at age seven I moved to my where my dad lives lived I'd lived with him and his new wife it wasn't until I think I was I don't know I started having earaches well not started I probably had them before but I don't remember but I was going to the nurse very often at school with earaches and they couldn't really figure out what it was well I knew it was an earache but they didn't you know it's not his knee and took me to the doctors and the doctor sent me
to a hearing specialist or ear was it ear ears nose throat I don't know if they had those specialists back then but an ear specialist anyway to see what's going on and I think that I might have had my ears drained and stuff like that and guitars there was a guitar down there and stuff like how the hell did you fit a guitar down my nose I know it's big but guitars are bigger and so I it's like I used to shake my hand thinking I can make a little tune I just shake my head
a bit but no it didn't work so I ended up you know having hearing tests and yeah I was hearing deficient in one of my ears and ended up having an operation and which was supposed to kind of cure that and I remember any after the operation not for years well for the first couple of years anytime I'd ask somebody to repeat something yeah flap your ears that's good anytime if my dad was there and it's let's say we was as a family and we were just talking and I said what was that and my
dad would say that's it back to the hospital back to the doctors we're getting your ears tested like it's like what it's a bit over the top I I'm allowed to not hear things now what's weird is I don't hear what people say to me sometimes now I was thinking oh maybe it's the same thing it's come back and you know I need to there's something with my ears going on and I had my ears tested and my ears were perfect again I don't know if perfect for my age or I don't say perfect but
they were fine you know they were optimal and then I'm thinking why do I not hear what people say to me then sometimes because I do have to ask people to repeat what they say and maybe I'm saying maybe because I think it might be true is if someone talks too quickly well I know it's true if someone talks too quickly I can't grasp what they're saying to me maybe not straight away it might take me it's almost like that's a bit of a slurpy word it's like it's almost like I'm trying to interpret another
language so it takes me a little while to internally interpret what's being said to me but they're speaking English perfect English just a bit too quickly and it takes me a while to interpret that speed and I don't know if internally I'm slowing it down or I'm just trying to catch up so maybe they finished a sentence and I'm still only on the second word so let's say so um oh it's a lovely day today and I'm still on a it's a lovely day today oh yeah so it's I don't know what it is maybe
I was born with a slow brain maybe that's what it is I don't feel really that I'm like a complete dum-dum you know and I noticed I wouldn't call someone else that but I'm talking about myself I don't feel necessarily and there's a lot of knowledge that I don't have because I didn't participate in school pretty much for one second I didn't I didn't participate I did not I refused to have anything to do with anything that happened at school pretty much unless it was during play time then I would participate if I was in
the mood but you know I'd go along but I wouldn't really do any you know I wouldn't do anything is I'm pretty sure I picked up certain stuff along the way because you know I do know basic maths and I do know English kind of I'm not I'm not an English I'm not an expert in anything but I don't definitely not uh I don't I don't know I didn't get any I didn't get any exams I didn't pass any exams in anything at school I failed everything and so including English I didn't even get a
pass in English I might have said in the past I did but I didn't I got I got D which is um no is it U?
D U D unclassified or unmarked or um no grade you know and I knew my English was okay because I think I've always been okay like verbally able to verbalize verbally in a verbal way but not necessarily with humans no I do find talking to Vinnie much easier than talking to people and talking to Andre when he was there it's it's just it's so funny the big dog just lied down and Vinnie just lied down he's just copying him completely copying him they are very happy right now together Vinnie's right behind him and he's mimicking
him he just wants to be a mini he is a mini me not me is a mini him but he is happy doing it so you know I'm happy for him he's a cutie they're both cuties this is one's a giant cutie and one's a miniature cutie it is just it's ridiculous how the size difference is proposperous you know it's silly prosperous and yeah so I was really good at English and I really I don't know I did a I did an IQ test online and I came like okay I'll finish this I sounded like
that was the end that wasn't the end of the sentence I did an IQ on test and I came no I did an IQ test online and I came probably was it above average intelligence so you know just about like average but just marginally above according to this IQ test I took now it's quite difficult to do an IQ test without any with very very limited mathematical knowledge you know I don't really I know my way around basic fractions you know like a half a quarter a third a fifth six I understand those you know
two fifths I can kind of work that out but other than that start adding fractions together yeah I can add two quarters together it's 35 you know and it's easy I can add two halves together 17 the thing is it's it's some of the other more harder fractions and it's not that I can't do it I just can't I don't I think it's I think that lazy eye was responsible is responsible for the maths part of my brain it just didn't care my right eye probably was in we're not interested because I don't I can
see how maths is interesting for some people and I do understand how important it is as well I mean it's if it wasn't for maths and all that we wouldn't well look what would we have there'd be no technology there'd be you know everything kind of seems to come from mathematics it's it's like a universal language isn't it but maybe because you know years ago I saw this I was working in a call center this is back in 2002 2003 and I got speaking to this I think it was a lady or man it was
a he she he we I don't know I can't remember back then people were called he or she and it was she said that she was a professor of mathematics that was her job so you have to take the job details for the car insurance quote her job was a professor of mathematics and she was working in a university like Cambridge or Oxford like really really top university I know all universities are high high level probably aren't they perhaps not the one I went to but in most of the others and the one I went
to they just give away in the giveaway qualifications no they don't I worked hard for mine no I didn't did I I don't I can't remember it's such a long time ago over 12 years ago wow over 12 years ago I got my degree over 12 years anyway this lady on the phone is this mathematic professor she said that her worst subject at school was maths worse subject absolutely hated it didn't like it at all yeah we know what hated it means okay she thought that she couldn't do it and then I don't know how
long after leaving school she took a maths class like an evening class at college or something and she discovered that it was she just wasn't hadn't been taught in a way that interested her and it turned out that she really loved maths like loved it like it became a passion because she she was taught by someone that maybe she resonated with and that did the trick because you know in the old days I mean I think I can say the old days now because I'm so old and ancient uh there was pretty much only one
way to learn in school well two ways really but it was reading a book and doing you know basically following what it said in the book and it might be a textbook so you have to do the you know the questions and stuff that kind of thing and then listening to the teacher talking about the subject and maybe writing stuff on the blackboard see I was at school pre-whiteboard don't have blackboards anymore blackboard and chalk that's what I had when I was at school I don't even know if they have whiteboards with markers anymore I
don't know now occasionally not with maths but occasionally with maybe geography or history or maybe even English they'd bring a television in and they'd show us something so it might be like a documentary about the rainforest or um I think with the English class we watched Romeo and Juliet which was interesting because it was the original Romeo and Juliet which had nudity in it that was a good day and so yeah I remember it was like the bell went and the teacher said you can go and half the boys in the class just like still
sat there for a bit yeah I'll get up in a minute yeah so it was it was good I didn't mind that stuff because ultimately I loved watching television so I think that I learned a lot of my knowledge from television but unfortunately for me a lot of the television I watched was not factual educational it was more sitcoms and movies and it depending on the time of my life so there was a period when all I did was watch martial art films and there was a time when all I watched was whatever was on
like literally just watch whatever was on and that I'd be happy with that and there was times when I you know I did have specific shows that I loved there was a period when I got my own television where I'd start watching shows that were on late at night like MASH and Cheers and when I say late at night I mean after maybe eight o'clock or whatever time I had to go to bed so I was watching stuff at nine ten eleven and I was like wow it was like discovering a new world I felt
like Christopher Columbo honestly it was it was amazing like oh you know discovering MASH now I've watched MASH now and I like what did I see in that program I've seen on TV they show it during the day now here but at the time I loved it I really really loved it and I'm trying to think what other TV programs I used to watch late at night I started watching the boxing because I used to be on and yeah so I'd watch Cheers and whatever other programs would be on that you know American sitcoms stuff
that I wasn't allowed to watch before and it was brilliant the freedom and it was only an old small portable black and white television but the freedom to be able to watch television and not have anyone or just a freedom to be in control of what I watched because when I was a kid the only time I could watch what I want is when there's no one else around as soon as someone else came in the room they would take control of the telly because everybody was older than me apart from my little brother and
even he'd take control of the telly because he could do what he wanted so I used to you know between probably four and half maybe half past four in the evening if I didn't have a paper around at the time between that time and dinner I could watch television on my own and undisturbed it was nice I liked it a lot so you know I could watch all the tv shows that I liked Grange Hill that used to be on and then I used to I used to watch again American shows they used to have
it on BBC2 I think it might have been Channel 4 but I think it was BBC2 and there was a show called Alice that was based in a diner in America and Alice was the star and it was was it Laverne or there was a lady that was really loud she was like the funny lady she was another waitress and Al who was the bald boss he was in charge him being bald is not really relevant but just I'm just remembering the people in fact I think I need to look online to just find this
tv show I might have done this before but bearing in mind that I've been doing this for about 55 years this podcast there's a chance I'll repeat myself Alice tv show I've not seen it since I was a kid Alice American tv show it was on I was based on Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore which was a book I guess Linda Levine Linda Levine maybe that's where I got the name from Laverne yeah it wasn't was it it was on from my August the 31st 1976 to March the 19th 1985 I was based on the
film 1974 film Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore it stars Linda Levine or Linda Levin in the title role a widow who moves with her young son to start life over again and finds a job working at a roadside diner in Phoenix Arizona most of the it wasn't Al it was Mel most of the episodes revolve around events at Mel's diner where Alice is employed wow okay is it wasn't Al it was Mel blimey cast Linda as Mel Sharples Vic Vic Tabak oh blimey he passed away in 1990 he was funny he was so he was
always shouting and getting angry and stuff and what was he most famous for his most famous role was as Mel Sharples Alice in the film Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore and in the tv show he was the only actor in the original film to reprise his role for the rest of the series oh he was nominated for prime time Emmy award in 78 and won two consecutive golden globe awards in 80 and 81 oh oh Linda Levin who was Alice and she's now 85 blimey she's known he says here she's known for playing a title
character in the Alice so that's her most famous role and wow I just and Polly Florence all right so that must be um Phillip is tell me Alfred let's have an issue Phillip McKean is Tommy Hyatt I don't know who that is but Polly Holiday was Florence so she was funny she was in the season one to four but then I'm just thinking Diane Ladd as Isabelle Belle Dupree from season four to five and then from five to nine Celia Watson as Jolene Honeycutt that might be the one that I remember because I'm pretty sure
it's like more early 80s that I watched it but it's not much no not a lot of information about her on here she joined the cast of soon as she said her role in Alice hindered her film career she initially rejected the role but admitted that the money became so phenomenal that phenomenal phenomenal hermonimal that she had to do it oh doesn't say anything about her really how old she is or anything and where she was born or anything like that so the first one was Florence that was Polly Holiday she's 85 as well wow
the thing is when I was watching it I thought it was an old show you're like happy days happy days was or little house on the prairie or the Waltons you know they're like old shows weren't they although happy days did end in 84 so it was still going in 84 but it was like 1974 to 84 but he said the Waltons the Waltons I'm pretty sure the Waltons what when did that finish first episode 74 the Waltons used to be on on Sundays like late 80s and maybe even early 90s and used to be
on a Sunday morning they basically showed every episode from you know each Sunday they showed not they show every episode every Sunday because there wasn't enough hours to do that but it was really weird to watch the Waltons because it's such an old because based in like the 1800s or something isn't it so it's based it's very old oldie based thing but the last episode was 1981 so yeah the other one I don't know why I just class it as a very similar program is little house on the prairie but I guess there was a
huge amount little house on the prairie there's a huge amount of connection between the two isn't it really they're both around the same time the time I would say the time the era of when it was supposed to be set and I guess maybe not pioneering days but the the beginning of America you know when people were setting home up home and all that stuff so probably 1800s 1700s or something and like 300 years ago whatever but then the Waltons seem to be the similar kind of time maybe the Waltons was a little bit later
wasn't that set more first world war kind of time I don't know but I like both I like little house on the prairie and I like Michael Landon because everything he did he was so lovely he there's this bloke what is his name he basically he's online he does YouTube videos uh Starey Man YouTube Starey Man okay I did it wrong Starey Starey no it's still not what's the story man oh no um um stare at man a bit this man's there's a bloke that you just look at forget his name now stare at man
healing that should bring it up yeah Bracko Bracko his name is and people just look at him he stands in public and he just stands there and people just look at him and he's got you know really friendly very friendly face and I think Michael Landon had that he had the kind of face that just looked friendly he looked kind and I know that I think Highway to Heaven was his idea was his script his everything with help I'm sure but he you know it's his idea I know it's it's kind of standard isn't it
so you can't imagine anyone else being in a role but I can't apart from cheese or salad I can't imagine anyone but Michael Landon being the you know Highway to Heaven man or I mean he is Little House on a Prayer isn't he so but then you could say that about Rambo or you could say that about Rocky the Rocky movies someone else I mean the films might have been just as successful if Stallone hadn't been the main person it's hard to kind of imagine it because you know he's so iconic but maybe if someone
else had taken the role with the direct with the directorship and you know all that it might have been just as successful I don't I really don't know it's it's hard to tell because do you ever see movies and like it's so successful and then you see that a list of the actors that turned down the role playing the main character like huge huge stars that every movie they've ever been in has been a box office smash I'm exaggerating but you know give you an idea sort of like Tom Hanks or you know those that
kind of level of Tom Cruise anyone else called Tom Tom Hardy but you know people that are always in really really good movies have been you know been huge hits so if they they turned down a part maybe the main role in a movie that then went on to huge success with somebody else now if they'd been in that movie it would have got more promotion and would have got more attention because they're such a big star so in turn would that movie have been even more successful based on the fact that it was such
a good script and such an amazing director and supporting actors and all that stuff I don't know I really don't care either I don't even why am I even talking about this so yeah I'm grateful for those things I mentioned my heart is fine and I stopped drinking coke although I kind of think I fancy a can of coke now I've also kind of got getting back in touch with with me trying to get back more in touch with me I'll explain what I mean about that another time but I'm not sure if I can
explain it I'll try to get back in yeah what is it that I want where is it I'm going yeah without being selfish you know I don't want to just like what is it that I want to do how do I want to spend the next 10 years or 30 years 50 years 150 years because you don't know the way technology is growing there's every chance that between the AI AI AI artificial intelligence and things like STEM research just those two things together could increase the longevity of life by hundreds of years potentially so who
knows I mean I I know some people are oh I don't like that it's scary I'm up for that because I'd love to be alive for next 100,000 years might seem weird to want to be alive but I'd like to be around so I could learn as much as I could read every book and say you know what I'm going to read all of Harry Potter films or read all of the books then watch all of the films knowing that it's going to take me weeks to do that but also knowing that it doesn't matter
because that's just a blipping time compared to now time that I'm around or if I decide I'm going to learn how to do bricklaying I'm going to spend the next two years learning to bricklay and then the next two years I'm going to learn how to build a car and just choose something I'm going to learn to do I'm going to learn how I'm going to learn everything about quantum physics or quantum mechanics or I'm going to learn to be a surgeon or try you know learn to do that stuff maybe not be able to
do it but learn the you know the technical stuff maybe not learn the practical stuff but learn all about it learn all about the body learn all about behavior become a professor in psychology maybe even get a girlfriend I reckon if I'm around for another hundred thousand years I should have found myself a girlfriend by then yeah so it's I'd love that that's the one thing about being a vampire that I quite I'd like to have I'm not really bothered about the special powers and all that stuff but I would like to have that endless
and I know some people are like oh no well no because there's so much to do the world is so much to see so much to do and I think it'd be brilliant to just be able to just say yeah I'm going to now devote because really all you need to do is be interested we all need things to be interested in and that can transform our lives I think I'm not saying it's all we need but there's it's I did just say that's all we need it's not all we need but all we need
is that's not all we need but all we need is and there's so many things isn't there and it'd be much easier to be interested in something and devote everything to it for a few years of your life knowing that it doesn't matter because there's no time limit you know to be able to learn every single martial art every single maybe video game learn every language I don't see the point in that but yeah if you if it's something you're interested in learn every language we've got to remember every language I mean there will be
AI in the future where you won't need to it literally like in the having the movies they'll have their headphones you'll have your headphones or little earbuds you'll speak in your language and they'll hear it in their language and the same you know it's it's it's probably already possible there probably already are apps that do that there are apps that do that but I don't know whether they do it in a in a way that's that easy I think you can get you can get translatable apps on your phone and it types it out for
the person to read but you could probably get ones where it speaks out to the person as well so if you're in Arabia and you want to speak in Arabic you speak Arabic and you it then speaks Arabian to the person or it types it out whatever you know so that's available already but with the AI it'll be I don't know maybe we'll all walk around with headphones and everything is automatically because you imagine being able to walk well just sit on a bus and be able to understand what everyone's saying it basically eavesdropping wouldn't
you because you know especially if you live in a multicultural area so you've maybe got potentially 10 15 different languages being spoken on the train on your in your carriage it's like you could listen in and like wow because especially if they're talking about each other if they say oh and they're saying something that's really interesting that'd be brilliant I'd love that there was this YouTube video where this man went to I think it was China but he knew how to speak um um tangerine so he knew how to speak the language so he went
over there and he'd order something you know like go to a coffee place and he'd find them talking about him so if he if he heard people talking about him because he was an American or uh I don't know he was European or something so he stood out and he was quite tall and everything I don't know but they they noticed that he wasn't perhaps necessarily maybe from China that's a look you hear that the plane all summer I have that plane come in it's like and just flies over the over the building eight years
of it eight long years so I can learn to fly wow so yeah um yeah and basically what he'd do is he'd wait till he heard people talking about him and then he'd talk to them in their language and the embarrassment on their faces is oh oh it's wonderful you know especially if it's like a bit rude or if it's even they might be saying something complimentary like oh he's a handsome man I wouldn't mind taking him out and having lovely a lovely friendly lunch sometime maybe get to know each other and see what kind
of books he likes to read something like that and he can say oh oh I like I do like books um I read a book when I was 10 and I'd quite like to get some pizza perhaps you can come with me and just everyone would be embarrassed but it'd be funny and yeah but that's is it really worth learning a language just for that I mean I wonder about you know dating someone from another from another language is the amount of miscommunication there's been between me and people from this country can you imagine the
miscommunication there would be that I might have with someone from another country because I have when I was in Thailand I said something that wasn't appropriate I don't know what it was but and it wasn't purposely at all and all I remember is that the lady behind the bar was saying something and I was saying so you're entering the bikini contest or something like that and she got she got angry with me and I'd like I don't know what I said wrong and I don't know what it was she was I think she was just
saying what it was oh yeah the the ribs were on special offer I don't say I'd like made up it's true I think she was telling me that the ribs were on special offer on the menu and you could have as many as you wanted and and I because I knew there was this bikini contest coming up in the next few weeks I wasn't going to be there anyway but I knew and I said oh she she I don't know why but I thought she was telling me that she was entering the bikini contest I
thought maybe I was just thinking about bikini contests for some reason and and that was on my mind so I just figured because I couldn't understand what she was saying that's what she was saying it really was a lot of the time I was out there it was like a lassie moment it really was like what is it what is it lassie someone's falling down the well what is it you know I didn't know what they were saying I was guessing and there was no malice at all yeah but hey it was weird very strange
and the same day there was these girls outside this massage parlor like grabbing hold of me I said no I got I mean I'm no thanks oh I said okay I'll maybe later just to get rid of her I know because it was literally around the corner from my hotel I had to pass this every day I didn't have to pass it could have gone through a quicker route but you and I came back that was exactly the same day and I came back from this place that I've been moaned at by the waitress or
the bar staff and this lady started having a go at me shouting at me hey you said you were coming back me I said what I was like I looked at my ring I don't remember getting married to her I mean what it's I just said I'd come back yeah later because I wanted to get rid of you because I'm busy I think this wasn't just just what I mean she was perfectly lovely I just I wasn't I didn't want a massage apart from the fact that I was unwell with a chest infection but anyway
I felt guilty so I went back and I didn't I was partly true I did go back but I didn't feel guilty no I didn't I really really didn't so I'm going to go but it was so cold this morning seriously I got out of bed went outside of him took him for a walk and it wasn't till I got to the park that I realized it was cold it suddenly hit me and it became the coldest weather that I've ever experienced in my life ever ever ever ever ever which is a bit weird normally
I don't even really notice it it was so cold so very very cold and I think I went out without my gloves which I haven't made that mistake since because I took him out I wore my gloves the next time but it was so cold like really really bitter bitter icy cold but it wasn't icy that's a weird thing no ice on the floor no nothing no frost it was just cold and then when I went out later it wasn't as cold it was actually there was a sun was out and it took the edge
right off it was wasn't warm it wasn't cold it was just normal temperatures for February really although we are at the end of the month again blindly you think so another 100,000 years which is good so times out by 12 so 100,000 years a million 1.
2 million end of months left yeah so it'll be the end of the month for another 1. 2 million times bearing in mind you know I'm around for another 100,000 years brilliant yay oh never feel guilty going to have a a mid-afternoon nap mid-afternoon nap won't feel guilty after that anymore will you just keep quiet even when you move you shake the building I'm gonna go now bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye
Paragraph spacing and recurring name or title errors have been tidied. Because this began as a voice transcription, an occasional word or piece of punctuation may still be incorrect.