(music) #1282 Q&A Friday - Let me bore you to sleep (31st January 2025)

Hello and welcome to jasonnewland.com. This is Q&A Q&A, Q&A, Q&A, Friday What's up Vin? What is it Vinnie? What? Look at the way he turns his head. Vinnie, what is it? What? What is it lassie? There's a donkey fell down the well. What flipper? Someone stuck in a cave? Vinnie? Oh Vinnie, look at you with your ears sticking up.

One ear sticking up, one ear flopping down. Like a deflated cactus. So, this is Let Me Bore You To Sleep.

My website is jasonnewland.com. My name is Jason Newland. Oh stiff neck. And my Facebook page or Facebook group is Jason Newland's Boring Group.

You should join. And then you get to ask me questions for Q&A Friday, which I do every Friday. So today's Q&A Friday, I have, I have four questions.

Although one is made up of a few questions, I think. So only listen when you can safely close your eyes or watch the video when you can safely close your eyes because it might be boring. Very boring.

And that's Vinnie in the background. If you didn't know already, you might hear him. You might not.

So the first question is Ing asks me, can you cook? No. If so, what dishes do you sometimes prefer to prepare? If so, what do I used to be able to speak? If so, what dishes do you sometimes prepare? I said I can't cook. Weren't you listening? Um, technically, technically, I can cook.

But do I? No. And I've got an air fryer, which means what just means I've got an air fryer, just another thing in the kitchen I don't use. I, another dust collector.

I don't, I'm not really a cook. Not really a cooker. I don't know.

Just it's just really hard to spend so much time looking online for really sexy shirts that I don't get much time to cook. By the way, if you want to laugh, and you're not watching the video, then perhaps visit a video, then you can see what I'm talking about. Mind you, you can just see the video.

You haven't got actually watched a video because you can see all what I'm wearing. I mean, personally, I think it looks really, really groovy. But not everyone else is going to agree with that.

But hey, I realized years ago, not only can I not please all the people all the time. I don't seem to be able to please anybody ever. So it's fine.

It's okay. Okay. I can cook.

I mean, I did go to catering college on one day a week when I was 16 on the YTS scheme, working in a chip shop. On a Wednesday, I think it was I used to go to a college for one day a week for a year. And I learned cooking and I learned catering and waiting as well.

You know, which sides to serve and all the different cutlery to put out and I just did not see the point in any of that stuff. It just seemed to be silly. But what does it matter which side you serve a meal? Really, just serve it.

I mean, if you got a person sitting on one side, you have a person sitting on the corner, so they're kind of sitting next to each other, you know, on a square table. Then, of course, you wouldn't serve in the middle of them talking. You'd serve, you know, probably to the side that makes sense.

Just gauge it on what's going on. I imagine. So the other person doesn't get to spit in the person's food before they eat it while they're talking.

Yeah, I wasn't very good at that. And I did do cooking at school as a lesson and like as a subject. Because I wanted really what it was.

When it got to the point where I could choose it was called home economics when I was a kid. And once I could choose my subjects, well, some of them in probably the fourth and fifth year, or the third, fourth, fifth, something like that. I chose as many subjects that weren't, I don't know, hard, I guess, academic, but hard, probably the better word.

So I had no choice about doing English or maths. But I guess I also had to do history and geography. And I do believe that was it.

I chose RE as a subject, religious education. I chose unless we had to do that. I'm pretty sure I chose it.

As far as the other ones drama. And I chose cooking or home economics. I'm sure I chose another one.

I can't remember what it was. Home economics and drama. No, I can't remember.

But I mean, it's over five years ago. I remember, I remember. Oh, man.

I remember I'll be in London that 92 91 maybe 91 thinking to myself, wow, I've been left school for five years. Five whole years. And now 38 years later.

Wow. So I mean, with cooking, it was more I mean, we did basic food like lasagna. And other things.

A fair amount of cakes, which I liked. I liked the cakes, because it was nice to eat afterwards. I mean, the food tasted nice is that smell nice.

But generally some people's food that smell nice mine. It was a bit of a bad situation, really. Because every I don't know what day it was, it might be a Thursday or Tuesday.

Whatever I brought home from cookery class would be our dinner, like the family dinner. And it's what's weird about it is my dad has never mentioned anything from my childhood. It's like he doesn't remember a single thing that ever happened.

But a little while ago, a couple of years, a few years ago, maybe, maybe five years ago. But he said he was making fun of me to his wife. And he was laughing about how I used to turn up.

I'd walk all the way from school with a dish. It'd be covered up. There'd be a big, like glass dish full of lasagna or whatever meal it was.

And I'd turn up and it'd be all over me. Half of the food would be on my top and down my trousers. And that's what he remembers.

That's the one thing he remembers of my childhood. All the other great things I did. What about what about when I was trying to think I'm not sure if I created many happy memories for him.

Maybe that was the only happy memory he has. I was quite insular. I was quite, quite a loner.

I think when I was a kid, I liked to be in my bedroom, reading, listening to music, writing poetry, writing songs, attempting to write a book that never really got very far. And then when I got older, practicing karate, working out on a punch bag, doing weights. So I didn't really like being with other people.

I wasn't really that interested. Now, even when I went around the gym around the corner, I'd go around the gym on my own. And it'd be all these kids, the tough kids, like all trying to lift heavy weights and stuff.

And there'd just be me struggling just to lift the bar on its own. And I didn't care. They didn't bother me.

And we had this understanding, an agreement, you could say. They didn't bother me. So in a gym, when we were in a gym together, they didn't bother me.

And I didn't fart. That's just one of those things. We agreed and everything worked out fine.

So I still have some stinkers, I tell you. And used to. So yeah, cooking.

I never really enjoyed it. But it meant I didn't have to do things. Because in the first and second year of high school, we were part of our lessons was doing stuff that I couldn't stand.

Woodwork, metalwork. And I also did, I think in the second or third year, I did technical drawing. I didn't have a clue about that.

I didn't know what I was doing. And the teacher was an absolute noble head. He was really not a nice, he was horrible, very angry man.

And scary. It was a little bit scary. You know, it's like, he was just like, why? You know, like, okay, I understand you're a little bit upset the first few lessons.

But I'm now wearing trousers. So what's the problem? I listened. And I'm now wearing clothes.

What in class? I don't know. He didn't like having eggs chucked at his car either. Who knew? You can't, you can't know this stuff ahead of time, can you? Yeah.

Who knew that having his, his tires let down would be a trigger. So yeah, I didn't like that metalwork. It was stinky.

It was stinky. It was very, very stinky, very burny, very new. And like, why am I doing this? Why would I ever need to do metalwork? What, what possible thing would I need to make with metal? That's what shops are for.

I couldn't see any, any use of it. At the time, I couldn't see any use of it. And with the welding, or yeah, you put a weld, a welder, a welding thing torch in my hand.

And all I see is what it could be used for. And nothing good. So I didn't, didn't really like that stuff.

Just yeah, I didn't. Didn't see the point. I didn't mind a bit of is it smouldering? You know, when you put the is it lead? Or so I don't know.

And you put it in and you'd melt. I suppose welding isn't it? Welding, you weld them together. But you use something as a kind of cement.

It was all right. But I didn't see the point. I mean, I don't know what did we what what could we have made in metal? I mean, in woodwork, we can make shelves.

What could you make in metalwork? The brackets? I'm not saying that you can't make anything in metal. I just can't think of anything. That I ever made in metal.

If I can't think of anything that I ever made in school full stop, where I went home, feeling proud and showing my family without them laughing. So, although when I was in junior school, I did do I liked balsa wood. And I mean in a weird way, I just I liked it.

Or I liked I liked I'd like balsa wood because to be able to transform something that's just like a bit of wood into something just with some sandpaper, maybe a little chisel little knife just and I think it might be called whistling or whittling or something. But I enjoyed that. And I made a little canoe.

Remember the first first thing I ever made was a canoe from balsa wood. And that was the thing I was best at making. And every week I take something new home, something I made at school in junior school every week for like two years.

The only lesson I really enjoyed like crafts. I like doing Yeah. I remember my dad sitting me down saying, you're getting good at the balsa wood.

I said, Thank you. He said, is there any chance you can make something different? I said, What do you mean? He said, we've got 100 canoes, 100 little canoes all over the place. We're tripping up.

We have to have to keep one of your brothers out just to make room for the canoes. I said, that's not why you kicked him out. I said, Okay.

Why didn't they say something before? Why leave it for two years and then moan? Because they couldn't they had to move house just to fit all the canoes in? Why? Who knows what parents? I don't get it. I mean, I've never been in a parent role. But I imagine there's other ways of dealing with it.

You just chuck them out, I suppose. I don't know. I don't know.

There was one time when I actually probably can't see it. After zoom, I've got a car on my wrist just there. And it was by an accident.

And yeah, you can't it's pretty much the scar still there, but it's very faint. Just there. And I was I was doing with the balsa make us making a canoe.

Just what I did. And I was a slipped and went into my wrist. And Oh, that wasn't good.

And I went home and my dad looked at my wrist and he said, you need to go to hospital. And then there was something happened to distract. Oh, yeah.

I didn't go to hospital in because Coronation Street came on. So they they wanted to watch that instead. It's all right, though.

I mean, there's a little scar. The thing is, the scar is the same size as it was when I was like nine. So imagine I was a lot smaller when I was nine.

So that was a big, quite a big scar. That might not be true. It might be the same size, but the same size in proportion.

If anything, it would stretch wouldn't it be bigger now than it was back then. I don't know how it works. What is the physics of that? I quite like doing all that stuff where you cross stitching is a cross stitching.

Yeah, I like that. Like cross stitching. And yeah, I did it for a while now.

I just found it was too relaxing. So I what did I do? I'm sure I did a picture of a picture of a mole. I think I did a cross stitching picture of a mole with lipstick.

At least that's what the teacher said it looked like. I mean, possibly wasn't what I was going for. But I didn't tell the teacher that.

See, it's hard. So all I had was a picture of Adamant on the cover of Looking Magazine. So that's all I had to go go on.

Now, I don't think Adamant looks like a mole with lipstick. That was rude of the teacher to say that. That's that's what I got from it.

It's hot in here. I'm sweating. It's all these lights.

That's what it is. Oh, you know what I did yesterday? I because I use CapCut for the video editing. And I played around with some of the edits and I can change the way my face looks.

And so you might be thinking, well, good. Please continue. No, I haven't.

On this video, you I mean, obviously, imagine what I looked like before. If this is the after the results of me, making myself look better. What the hell do I look like before? I can make my I can make all the wrinkles go away.

I can make my any bags under my eyes go. It can all kinds of things make my face whiter. Everyone knows I've got a pink face.

So what can I do? I'm so I'm so pink. Some people might think that I'm just topless. I'm not this is a pink top.

So I that's a joke there somewhere. I don't know where I can't find it. I can actually make my head smaller.

For some reason, I won't allow it to go bigger. Which I find a bit strange. But I can make my head smaller.

I can make my my my shit my cheeks if I say the word thinner. I can make my chin smaller. Why would I want it to be smaller? I don't have a big chin.

It's a small chin. I hardly have a chin. And my ears.

Oh, you know what? I can make my I think by making my cheeks thinner, it makes my ears raise up or something. It's very strange. In the end, I didn't do it.

I just decided no. What's the point? It's really hard to improve on perfection. But yeah, it's like what's the point is like this is what I look like.

I'm not here to win any awards for being super, super sexy. I mean, that's just a given. It's one of those things to downfall.

It's one of my downfalls is being too attractive. So so can I cook? Hmm. I don't like cooking.

I can't say I'm even a big fan of eating anymore. I'm not that just I think I've got to the age where it's like eating is like going to the toilet. It's just something that has to be done.

Unless it's chocolate. Unless it tastes yummy. That's the only food I like food that tastes nice.

I'm basically like a child. Although I would like to go back, I would like to increase my fitness like with the training I'm doing. And I need to definitely get my belly a bit smaller.

But I am doing stomach exercises every day now. But I would like to have a diet which is conducive to helping the development of a bit more muscle maybe and just just to get myself a bit toned. I want a t shirt body by the summer by May, at least by May.

So is it February, March, April, so three months, February, March and April, three months to get my body into it's basically my bikini body, you could say, get in my beach body. But I'll be having a t shirt on I will never have never never gone topless. Apart from when I have no apart from like in a swim, swimming baths.

And the last time I went into a swimming baths was probably I don't remember going swimming. Since the 90s, the middle 90s. That's the last time I went to swimming baths.

I think I don't recall going any time recently. And the sunbathing. And the last time I went sunbathing on a beach was in 1987.

So it gives you an idea of how often I get my top off. Now, what's weird about it is back then I was absolutely horrified at the idea of people seeing me topless because I was so skinny. Irony.

Hey, now, now look at me. It's weird. It's even though technically, I probably looked all right.

I remember the massage once because this is when my back started hurting. Like in the late 90s. And I didn't know it's gonna end.

I didn't realize it was like the starts of arthritis in my lower back. But yeah, so it's been going on for a long time. I do exercises every every day now for it.

Oh, so but it was a little bit of a shock. You know, like this is done like this. I'd also had an injury from trying to justify why I went to a massage parlor.

It wasn't a massage parlor. It was. It wasn't a mess, like a massage parlor.

It was. It was like a health club place in Stratford. And it was no it was it was.

I didn't realize it was a naturist health club. I didn't know that. I didn't.

I didn't. Generally, I didn't. I mean, you could say, well, why did I keep going back? So I didn't know.

There were times I was in there and I did know it's a naturist place. But you didn't have to be naked. So I'd have a dressing gown on and stuff.

And, and that was weird, because I go in there because you could use the sauna, you could use the jacuzzi, you could use and they did massages. And I was trying to help with my back. I had an injury.

Again, still trying to justify why I was there. I ain't got to justify it was it was just a normal massage. Pretty much.

No, it was it was it was a not it was a normal massage. And, but they weren't naturist, they're so annoying. Everyone else is walking around, even the bar staff walking around on their tod.

But the massage people, they were professional, and they were just fully clothed. I'm saying that's good. I'm saying it's good.

I was really pleased. And what happened is in 1995 was in 95 I think it was 95. I had this agency job, where one of the jobs was to feel Oh, yeah, so it was snowing.

It was snowing the snow on the ground. It was in London. It's up near a big hospital.

Like one of the biggest hospitals in London, there's lots of big hospitals in London. And my job for that day was to help fill this new big this bill big building, which was going to be student nurse accommodation. So we had to put in wardrobes, desks, and beds.

I think that was it. wardrobes, desks and beds. Now the beds weren't heavy, especially the mattresses.

The wardrobes weren't really heavy, but you did need two people because the size, they were quite flimsy. The desks were heavy. And I'm not sure if the deck desks were flat packed.

Or if they were already made. I can't remember. All I know is it was cold.

I hadn't eaten. Not eating probably is not really relevant to the story. It was like me telling you that I listened to Michael Jackson's new song on the way there while I was, you know, waiting for a train.

Not relevant to the story makes it a little bit more exciting. A little bit more. You know, it's like adding a car chase.

Like, I sat on a different bench while I wait for a bus. Because there's like three benches you can sit on, you know, plastic ones underneath the bus stop. I sat on a different one to the right instead of to the left.

So it adds variety to the story, it makes it a bit more interesting. And it just proves my flexibility as a storyteller. I don't know why that's funny.

Why I'm laughing. So, so I get to this job. And it's cold.

Probably about January time. I'm all ready to go. I'm fully fit.

This is back in the days when I was very, very physically strong and fit. I was a young man. I was young man.

I was. I'm not saying I was strong, but I was had my full strength, whatever my strength was at that time. And they said, Oh, you need to move all this stuff into there.

And I said, Okay. And I think it was job or knock. Is it a job or knock? Job or knock? So basically, you get paid for the whole day, however long it takes.

So if you can get it all done by lunchtime, you can go home still get paid for the whole day. I made that little bit up, I think. I think I did that for a little bit of juice.

Because sometimes this I think so much story, some of my stories, not all of them. But the occasional story I tell, after I've told it, I do sometimes think to myself, was it interesting enough? Did it have enough curls and twists and turns and, you know, I'm not always sure. So I do make the effort to add a few little bits sometimes.

I mean, sometimes I will listen back to the recording and I think, Oh, if only I could re record it, too late now it's uploaded and people can hear it. And the three people that listen to me can listen. And if only I could tell that story again, I'd have added the part where I had a jaffa cake during break time.

But that's too late then. I would have just added some zest to the story, you know. So I anyway, I got there and it's very cold.

I was a little bit late. Now, well, it's only a day's work. So I don't think they were that bothered, or they thought that they were.

They did shout at me. I cried. But other than that, it was fine.

So I bent over to pick up and the first thing I picked up, I heard a rip in my back, like, and a pain. But it was like middle more upper back kind of like, wow, that's never happened to me before. It's never happened to me since actually, I don't think not on my back.

I couldn't go home. Because I needed that money desperately. That 20 pound probably 18 pound 2468 pretty 20 pound for that day's work.

And I'd already spent probably four pound getting their travel money. So I just like, okay, just gonna stick it. And I had to, I felt put some snow on, on the on the back, I laid on the on the ground.

And that seemed to help a little bit. But it's weird. It's like almost like a zip being done done.

And I just had to, I didn't have to, I could have left. But I stayed. And I did the job.

But I don't think I did my back any good. Continuing. So I had problems with my middle of my back for years.

It still plays up a little bit. It's a bit of an injury. But I thought, and my lower back was starting to play up.

But that was sort of separate. That's more of a it's what it turned into now. It's like a just a gradual thing.

So I went to have a massage. It's almost like I'm trying to justify isn't it? But it's true. That's that's the reason.

I don't know why I was even mentioning that for. Why did I mention it? Oh, yeah, can I cook? Yeah, I can kind of can. Although I did have a job as a cook.

I've had quite a few catering jobs when I was younger. A lot happened when I was younger. In fact, most of my life happened when I was younger.

So I worked in a chip shop that was catering. Then I did the catering course at college one day a week. That was catering.

The chip shop lasted for two years. The job. I mean, is I had a job in catering.

We say catering food in like a kitchen environment. Yeah, that's this. Yeah.

So I worked in a bakery when I was a little kid. And I was a kitchen porter. And then I was a kitchen porter numerous times at different places over the years.

I also had a job as a cook in a residential home, serving elderly people that were living there. And that lasted for two weeks. And it turned out I wasn't wanted by anybody.

It's really weird. I tell you this is what is weird. That whole situation.

There is this it was strange. Because I thought, well, I know my way around cooking. And they've got someone I'll just be basically an assistant cook for the person that's already doing it.

But it turned out she wasn't really into me. Didn't seem to really like me very much. She's a lot older.

I would say probably. It's hard to tell probably in the 50s. And I was 1817 I was 17 years old.

Why would you give a job like that to a 17 year old but I was 17 years old. So I did that job lasted for two weeks. It the people in the home, the residential home kept moaning about the porridge.

It was honestly it was like a Goldilocks scene porridge is too thick, it's too runny, it's too hot, it's too cold, too salty, too much cinnamon, too much garlic. Why is it got minced meat in it? Why is there stinging nettles in my porridge? It's like, there shouldn't be sand in it. Like just on it moaning and moaning moaning.

I mean, someone even moaned about the radishes. I can't imagine porridge and radishes. That's a weird mixture.

I thought if I mashed them up, they wouldn't notice. But yeah, it didn't go well. And then the woman that was there, I think the first day I'm doing this, the lady that was pretty much my boss.

She took an instant dislike to me. Well, but then a motorbike pulls up and in comes this absolute I'm not gonna say the word, someone that I didn't care for. And the reason I didn't care for this person.

Unless I was 19 or 18. I lose track. But the reason I didn't like this person is because he used to date my stepmom.

During the time that I was living with her at my nan's, my step nan's flat. I was living in a sitting room. Yeah, I was living, sleeping on the camper bed in the living room from about April to the following March.

April, May was that kind of time. And so my dad and my stepmom had split up. And he started dating my stepmom.

Because they used to work together or something. Now I wasn't, it wasn't that wasn't really the reason why I had an issue with him. A little bit, but I was in a nightclub, probably.

Yeah, when I was 17. And he came up to me and said something very, very offensive. He wasn't dating her anymore.

She'd moved away at this point. I was getting married to someone else. So he said something very, very rude to me.

And I didn't do anything. I should have done something, but I didn't do anything. Except hold a grudge.

And then I see him, he walks in. And he introduces me to and he says, Oh, because he remembered me. Jason.

And he gives this woman a cuddle. He says, She's like my mom, this one. They said to us, he's like, like, like my mom.

And he used to come in every day to see her. And bearing in mind what he said about my mom. I'm not sure if I said anything or not.

I might have done. But yeah, I wasn't wasn't his. And she spent hours going on about him.

How lovely he was, how wonderful he was. And I was wondering, maybe there's a bit more there. Maybe she didn't see him as a son.

I don't know. I hope they're happy. In an Adele way.

I wish you well. I wish you well with your new husband. Yes, I just want you to be happy.

Yeah, right. Okay. Okay.

And right. So what dishes do I sometimes prepare? Nothing really, just whatever I have to. It's really weird.

I've been eating more breakfast cereal the last few months. So not just breakfast cereal, but you know, predominantly, I haven't been eating much food. Just to help like cut down a bit.

I mean, a standard thing for me would be mashed potatoes, veg, and something to go with it. That would be it kind of really, or sandwich. A baguette.

Yeah. So that wasn't very well answered, was it? Sorry about that. Dimitri asks me, I remember you mentioned in your in your videos that you live for some time in Ireland, visiting France, and liked Bulgaria.

If you don't mind me asking, have you ever lived in any other countries besides the UK and Ireland? How many countries have you visited? And which countries would you like to visit? If you had the opportunity? That's already three questions. Sorry. Is it? I felt like about nine questions.

Is it only three? Right. Have I visited any other countries? Let's go through the countries I've visited Belgium. When I was a kid.

I think I visited Belgium three times. I like Belgium. Never been a fan of hills.

So Belgium's good if you don't like hills. Hills. Belgium's good.

No hills. I mean, it's good for a skateboard. Or abseiling.

Is it abseiling? I don't know. But yes, it's nice. I like I like Belgium.

And other foreign countries. I went to France in 1989. Travelled through France with a new friend of mine.

We spent about five days, maybe a little bit longer, travelling through, hitching, walking, getting trains from kind of one side of France to through the Alps, kind of in the summer, and ended up in Paris. And it was good. I quite liked it.

That was 1989, the summer. Oh, before that, I went to Spain for the afternoon. And that was 89.

That was probably about May time, maybe June. So you went to Spain. So I've been to Spain, France, Spain, Belgium.

And then in, I think that was it really, until I went. Yeah, Bulgaria. I went to Bulgaria.

I like Bulgaria. And then, oh, Amsterdam. So I went to Amsterdam after Bulgaria.

So Bulgaria, then Amsterdam, so the Netherlands in whatever year that was, early 2000s. And then, I forgot about that. So Amsterdam, Bulgaria was before Amsterdam.

And then I went to Isle of Man. I mean, technically, it's not another country, but is there's an ocean between us, you know, so it's another island. And then, I think that was it.

And then I went to, then I've been to Thailand twice. So yeah, so what was that? Belgium and Ireland. I lived in Ireland in between in 94, about September time.

I moved there for about five or six weeks. So I, maybe it was longer, I don't know, I lose track to be honest with you. I think I was back before Christmas.

Maybe I wasn't. So I, yeah, so what is it? Can I say so anymore? I've said it enough times. Belgium, France, Belgium, Spain, France, Amsterdam, Ireland, Amsterdam, Ireland, Bulgaria, Amsterdam, Thailand.

I think that's it. Just only seven countries. France, Spain, Belgium, Spain, France, Bulgaria, Amsterdam, or Netherlands.

And technically, could not be in Thailand, but technically, I always went also went to Dubai. But that was the airport, Dubai Airport. So I have been to Dubai.

I just didn't leave the airport. I've also been to Sweden, but I didn't leave the airport. So there you go.

So I've been to Sweden, I've been to Dubai. It's such a shame, you can't just, I mean, I guess if I'd, if I was a bit more organised, I would have done a trip to Sweden, had a few days in Sweden, done a trip to Dubai. Perhaps.

How could I afford to have time in Dubai, but you know, if I could afford it, have a few days in Dubai. So I'm still going to class those as countries I've been in, because I have actually been on the ground in those countries. I just haven't gone for a wander.

The airport in Sweden was tiny, really. And everyone was blonde. I just thought, wow, not in the world, but just all the staff were blonde, like, blimey.

But then all the staff in Thailand were Thai. So I guess, you know, that's the way it is, isn't it? And all the staff in, yeah, all the staff in France were French. All the staff in Spain were Spanish.

Yeah, all the staff in Amsterdam were Amsterdamish. All the staff in Belgium were Belgianish. So I guess that makes sense, doesn't it? And what's the other part of the question? What countries would I like to visit if I had the opportunity? America, Australia, Canada, New Zealand.

A lot of Europe, maybe most countries in Europe. Denmark, Norway, and yeah, I'd like to travel through Europe. That'd be cool.

I'd like to do a that goes around Europe. You know, so I guess I'm only going to see the outskirts of Europe, not all the inside countries. But that'd be cool.

See how many. In fact, I'd love I'd love to do a world cruise one day and be on a ship for a whole year. Something like that.

Obviously not going to happen anytime soon, unless I take my little boy with me. I'm not going anywhere without him. Half a year I would but not for a whole year.

No, I couldn't leave him. And I don't think you're allowed to take, are you allowed to take pets onto ships? I don't know what the rules are. I mean, cruise ships.

Besides, he'll just try and jump in the water probably. Because he's not, you know, it's not always aware of what's around. He's aware of what he's aware of around things, you know, balls, balls.

So yeah, I think the whole world, I'd love to visit Russia, I'd love to visit China. That might not be a popular thing to say, but I would I think just these there's so many beautiful countries. And when I was in London, I worked with so many people from other countries.

So many, I'm talking hundreds and hundreds and hundreds, if not thousands of people, in all the different jobs I had from all over the world. And Poland, I never met a Polish person I didn't get on with. And I've met lots, not for quite a while, but apart from Uber drivers.

But I've never, I've never met a Russian person I didn't like, or Chinese person I didn't get on with. It's just, it's the English people. No, I just, if you live in London, if you're a young person, which I was once living and working in London, back in the 90s, the whole world was there.

Maybe it still is. But the whole world were coming over, coming over, coming over to my country. And I'd be working in agencies with people from blimey, just like all parts of Europe.

And Africa was a big, big place. I know still is a big place, isn't it? There's a lot of people from Africa and people from like India and Pakistan. And those people, people I was working with from Muslim countries.

So that was my first real experience of being around people of that, of that religion. And it's an education. It is, it's just people are different and behave the different behaviour.

And there was a Christian that worked at my place, the place I worked, and he was getting picked on. But he was so lovely. It was very, he'd be sitting reading the Bible, he didn't try and get people to read the Bible.

He didn't try and indoctrinate anyone, wasn't trying to get people to go to church, nothing like that. But if anyone asked him, he would tell them what he believed in Jesus. And they would, some people would really make fun of him and mock him.

And I didn't like that. So I kind of took him under my wing a little bit. Just you know, I said, Look, and don't worry, I'll sit with you during break time, whatever you can just, you know, I'll keep an eye on you just promise you one thing.

He said, Well, so put the Bible away, please, mate. You're embarrassing everyone. I didn't I didn't say that.

I said, Look, just do what you want to do. But don't don't take people's rubbish. Don't take their crap from, you know, because he's very subservient, very mellow.

And I had to sort of stop a couple of people from getting one person was even getting physical, trying to get physical with him, because he was backing down and he wouldn't do anything. And that was making this person even more angry, like, No, step back, honey. Ain't happening.

Not picking on someone because they believe in they have a religious belief. And they're being peaceful. I just it's ridiculous.

So yeah. It's quite weird, because it turned out that he stopped talking to me. Apparently I was embarrassing.

So what other questions are there? So I'd like to, I do like to go to visit lots of countries just for fun. Not really education. I mean, I'm going to be educated along the way.

But there's only so much you can really learn from spending a short time anywhere. Because, you know, you go to, let's say someone went to, they came to England, came to London, and they're in London for a week. Now, depending on what happens in that week, will determine how they view England for the rest of their life if they never return.

You know, if they're from another country, they come here for a week, stay in a hotel. If they stay in London, their view of the country is going to be very different from if they stay in Luton, or if they stay in Ipswich, or if they stay in Norwich, or Liverpool, or Manchester, or if they if they stayed in Scotland, in Edinburgh, or Glasgow, or in Wales, you know, their whole outlook on this island that I live on is going to be different.

So I'm going to get an idea what it's like, what other countries are like, but not really am I, I'm going to get an idea based on my short stay in those countries.

I mean, I stayed in Ireland for what, five weeks, six weeks, but I was in a little town. I can't say I know what it's like to live in Ireland, not really. Because I lived in just one place for a short period of time.

I traveled to Dublin, because that's where that's where I traveled from. I got the ferry. And the ferry was to Dublin or the ferry was to took there was a bus and the ferry took me to Dublin.

So I don't know how close to the ferry is to Dublin itself. I think if I went back to Ireland, I would just stay in Dublin. But then I've got a friend, I've got I've got friends, I think in Cork.

So, you know, be the place to visit. Oh, I'm going to go back to Ireland and visit there. Hopefully one day do a bit of a pilgrimage.

And yeah, I'd like to, so I'd like to do a cruise. And I kind of like I, yeah, I enjoy the idea of having the option, the option of getting off the ship or staying on the ship. The only problem I've got, well, not the only problem I've got, but one of the problems is I will be making videos and podcasts when I'm there on the ship if I if I managed to get it done.

And I'm guessing it's pretty noisy. I need to find a cabin that was very, very quiet. And I don't know if such a thing exists.

I know the microphone is pretty good and it doesn't pick up much of the outside. And I'm pretty sure if this whole building was just shaking the whole time, which I'm guessing, well, being on a few ships, and you know, you're on a ship. The you know, at no point have I've ever been on a ship and thought, I wonder where I am.

It's just so smooth. It's like I'm just sitting at home. Oh, no, you know, you're on a ship because of the sound, the vibrations.

I'm not complaining about the vibrations. But just saying this is a shippy feel. What's my favorite word? Shippy feel.

That's my new favorite word. Shippy feel. What's my favorite word? Yes.

Okay. My favorite word. Favorite word.

Groovy. I think groovy is my favorite word. Groovy.

That's pet. Hillary asked that one. So I should say I'm Hillary.

Sorry, Hillary. What's my favorite that's? It's not a strange question. What is this? I don't think anyone's ever asked me what my favorite word is before.

You know, things like favorite colors, what's your favorite food? What do you like to do? Favorite word? Wow, there's so many words. And I think I'm forgetting more every day. Nipple.

No, I don't know. I don't really don't know. My favorite word.

I don't know. I've just I think groovy may be my favorite word. Groovy.

Groovy. Yeah, groovy. Or maybe Vinnie on that their names are not words.

So they really their names although they are words but pizza. Groovy, maybe groovy. I think groovy might be my favorite word.

Groovy. You've caught me off guard. That doesn't happen very often.

Apart from when it does. Blimey. Okay, Hillary, I'm going to go with groovy.

Groovy. Because that is a word that I do use. Maybe not so much on podcasts.

But in real life, I do use the word groovy. Cara. I've been using this since the 80s.

You know, it's not like I'm not copying anyone. It's a word that was used a lot. More in the 60s really, to be fair.

Cara asks me, have you ever been under anesthesia? Just woke up from one minor procedure myself. Best sleep of my life. I have.

I hope you're feeling well. Cara. I have been under general anesthesia.

We call it general anesthetic. Because you got local anesthetic, which just numbs the area. And then general.

So that's what in this country call it general. You're going under general. Going under the general.

No going under general. Why would I want to be under a general? No general anesthetic. Why didn't you say that then? Okay.

But yeah, general been under general twice. Once when I was about eight. I had my adenoids out, because I was partially deaf in one ear.

And they were trying to like cure it. And there was like a blockage or whatever. Eyes, ears, nose, throat, all that stuff.

So it was a blockage. And I was having earaches. And then they tested my ears.

I don't even know which year it was, to be honest with you. Such a long time ago. It's over four years ago.

And I don't much remember anything that happened when I was eight. But I don't remember much about, I remember the build up to the operation. I don't remember much afterwards.

The reason being, if I told you about my, what do they call it? Not Marmite. Bovril. If I told you my Bovril story.

Well, so I was there. I was in this like a really basementy place. I think there's one other kid in a children's ward.

It was grotty. They knocked the hospital down. I'm not sure they even waited to get rid of all the patients.

It was really horrible. Anyway, I was in there. It was still nice to have a break from the family though.

You know, when you've got three brothers, it's always nice to get away. So okay, it's an operation. It's going to take six months to recover.

I'll take it. I was like, just get me out of this house. But no, nothing too bad.

So I was in there for probably a couple of days, three days maybe. Had my adenoids out. But the night, not the night before the adenoids, but the night before the night before the adenoids, or it might be the night after the adenoids.

Yeah, it might be in the night after. Because I'm pretty sure I couldn't have anything to eat. So I wouldn't have probably had been allowed to have anything to drink.

But anyway, at some point during my stay there, I was the one of the, I don't know if it was a nurse, or a lady came around with, I mean, it might actually might have just been from the canteen. I don't know. She came around with a trolley full of drinks, options, you know, so like, do you want a cup of tea, cup of coffee, bovril, juice, water.

The problem is, at that time in my life, and not only at that time, you know, generally in life, I struggle, I've always had a difficulty with choosing. I don't know if it's because I, it's a fear of missing out. Like if I choose one thing, what about the other thing? If I had that, but I want that now, but I can't have that because it's gone.

And I'm stuck with this, but I want that one. But if I had that one, I don't want this one. It's, you know, that's why I like Spanish tappers, because a bit of everything, that suits me.

That's how I like things, bit of everything, like a buffet. Well, they didn't offer that as a service, a buffet of drinks. I mean, why they couldn't just leave the trolley and let me just help myself and see which one I like best.

Samples, that's what I wanted. And she said, no, there are other people to see. You're not the only person in this hospital, which I thought was a bit rude to say that to a seven year old or eight year old, whatever I was.

And I couldn't decide. I have a cup of tea. No, I don't want a cup of tea.

I'll have a drink of Coke. I don't have Coke. Coke probably wasn't available.

But I'll have orange juice. No, I don't want orange juice. And there's a little voice in my head saying, try the Bovril.

Never had Bovril before. I hate Marmite, never liked Marmite. I said, what's Bovril like? She said, well, if you like Marmite, you'll love Bovril.

So I've got one side of my brain saying, well, I can't stand Marmite. So I'm going to absolutely detest Bovril. And the other voice in my head saying, try Marmite, you might like it.

And then the other part of my voice is saying, if they turned up with liquid peanut butter, with hot water, would you drink that? Maybe. But you hate, we hate peanut butter. So why would you have it in a drink? I don't know, it might be nice.

Anyway, that voice won. So I said, I'll have Bovril. I changed my mind right at the last minute.

She was just on the way out the door. She turned around, never seen someone so angry. She pushed the trolley.

It's quite weird to push a trolley angrily when everything's a bit balanced. Because you don't want to be sort of knocking things over. So she was like, stamping her feet.

It was funny. Not for her. And I said, I'll have Bovril then, please.

She said, really? You sure? I said, yeah, Bovril. She said, are you definitely going to have Bovril? Because I've already gone to make you a cup of tea, cup of coffee, juice. I opened some juice up, you didn't want that.

I opened some lemonade up, a fresh bottle, you didn't want any of that. It's like, are you sure you're going to take the Bovril? I said, yeah, yeah. At that point, I did think I don't want it, especially when she started like, pouring the water in, hot water in and I could smell it.

But I was a bit scared to sort of say, actually, I've changed my mind. Can I have some hot chocolate? Anyway, I had the Bovril. Right, Vinnie? He's looking up at me, with admiration, of course.

I said, okay, I'll have the Bovril. She left it with me. She walked, she left so quick and ran.

That's weird, isn't it? A little bit stuffy today. She left with, she left with the trolley. And all I can say is, it was the worst drink I ever had.

And I'm pretty sure after that point, it was nil by mouth. No water, nothing. So I think it was the night of the operation.

So I was having the operation in the morning, I was allowed to have more drink before the operation, which was 12 hours later or something, probably. Or maybe five hours, six hours. I can't remember.

I'm making this up. I don't know the exact details. What's up, Vinnie? He wants to cuddle.

What's up, Vin? You want cuddles? He wants to cuddle. You want cuddles? Come on, then. Come on.

He cuddles. He let me cuddle him earlier, but I don't think he wants me now. Oh, good boy.

See, I'm pretty sure. Cuddles. Proper cuddles.

He does. He wants me to actually cuddle him. Cuddle him.

He did it earlier. I'm sitting here and he climbed up and I cuddled him and he was happy. He just settled into it.

The problem is he doesn't like being picked up. So he has to go through that period of, I don't know if it's a trust thing. He's really wanting my attention.

What is it, Vinnie? But then whenever I put my hand near him, he runs away. Well, not right now, but... I mean, I could grab him, but I don't want to. I want him to want me.

He wants selfies. He definitely wants my attention. Oh, dear.

Yawny, yawny. So I've been under anaesthetic that time. I don't remember what it felt like coming out of that.

The second time when I was about 12, I had my appendix out. And I don't... See, I remember that. I remember the lead up to having the operation, being taken in.

I remember all of it, including the counting down. Count down from 100, 9 to 9, 9 to 8. That determination, I'm going to get down to one. I'm going to stay awake through this.

Like, why would I want to stay awake? Anyway, I didn't. And then I woke up and it was very... Yeah. After that, after waking up and coming back, I was groggy.

But when I came back, I was... I think I was on morphine for the pain. And I would say probably the happiest time of my life was being in that children's ward when I was 12. So I was in the children's ward.

There was only like one, I think one kid younger than me. Everyone else was probably about my age or a bit older. I think the children's ward went up to 15 or 16.

And I just had so much fun. I was laughing. I realised later on that maybe it was the morphine, but I was having the time of my life.

Absolutely loved it. I mean, you know, it was a bit painful. Just had my appendix out.

But other than that, I was fine. And I just loved it. I didn't want to go home.

I was happy to stay there. And the worst part was visiting time. Because, you know, having to act like, oh, oh, you all right, Jason? You know, as soon as they were gone, I could start laughing again.

No, I did. I did laugh. I mean, I was just laughing.

When they came around, I was laughing and just like, just, it's hurting, but I'm just laughing. Everything was funny. It was a really good time.

It was definitely probably one of the highlights of my childhood. So yeah, I loved, I mean, I don't, it's not the being under anesthetic part, but the afterwards, I don't know why, but I just, maybe it was the appendix, which is holding me back. And once they were out, I could just be myself.

There's no logic in that sentence whatsoever. So yeah, it's, yeah, two, twice. So only two times I've been under.

I think it is. There is a chance I might have gone under anesthetic to have a tooth removed when I was a kid, but I don't remember. But they used to be a standard thing with dentists when I was a kid, where they put a gas thing on you and, but you'd only be out for a short time.

I don't remember though. I don't think so. I think only twice in a hospital setting.

And yeah, that was it. Who'd have thought that I'd actually get to answer all the questions? And I think I was quite thorough. Thorough.

Yes, thorough. Have you any idea how long it takes from recording this to processing it? Editing it? Editing it? Editing it? It hours and hours and hours. Oh well.

So I hope, I'm going to go. So I hope you enjoyed my t-shirt. It's not a t-shirt.

It's my Hawaiian shirt. Oh, it feels quite nice actually. It's quite silky.

I don't know, maybe it is silk. Perhaps it is. So I'm going to get more of these.

Hawaiian shirts. Yeah, Hawaiian shirts. That's what I've been missing from my life.

Pink, bright pink Hawaiian shirts. That's the new JJ this year. I get a few little bits and bobs.

Make myself look a bit, I mean it's hard to believe, but even more groovy. Groovy. Oh yeah.

And I didn't just say groovy for the sake of, because I said it was my favourite word. I do like to say the word groovy. Although I do feel a little bit self-conscious now.

It's not about the shirt. You know, I was, I had to edit a couple of days ago, a video, and I turned back to Vinnie and saying, oh please stop. And you can see the back of my head, and honestly, it's, the bald patch on the back of my head is ridiculous.

Like really ridiculous. It's not even funny anymore. Huge.

Honestly, it's like, my hair was one continent, and now it's all kind of breaking away into different continents, to new different ones, you know, in different countries and stuff. And this is not fair. It's not fair.

Yeah. It's hard, it's probably harder for someone like me to go from perfection to, oh dear. So I'm going to go.

Thank you for listening. Remember to be kind to yourself. Because you do deserve to be happy.

Lots of love. Bye. Bye.

He knows straight away when I say, do you notice that? I say goodbye, he just dropped what he was doing. What? See ya. What Vin? What? But you haven't eaten your dinner, you just want, you want a treat, don't you? Is that what you want, a treat? It is, isn't it? It's all you want.

His tummy, the whole time, is all he ever thinks about. Okay, come and get a treat then.