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Hello and welcome to jasonnewland.com. My name is Jason Newland. Please only listen when you can safely close your eyes. And this is Let Me Bore You To Sleep.
And today, today, today is Q&A Friday. So yeah, it's that time again. Blimey, the weeks go by so blimming quickly.
From the looks of this, I got nine questions. Nine, nine. Wow.
So before I get started, what's the latest? What's the latest in my life? I stuck to what I said yesterday, and I didn't go out in the dark. I took Vinnie out. Just what I took him out, out for nearly an hour.
We stayed on the pavement. And it was just starting to turn dark when we got home. So I didn't need my light at any point during the walk.
Didn't need a light on, didn't need anything. So it's, that's what I'm going to do again today and tomorrow and every day going forward. He's already had two journeys outside today so far.
So that'll be his third and last trip as it were. And then later on, he'll go in the garden to do what he needs to do. So yeah, I feel better for it as well, because that was, that was getting to me a little bit.
Not being able to see what's around me. Not being able to see what dogs are around. I'm struggling even to see Vinnie.
You know, he's, he picks stuff up off the ground. I don't know what it is he's sort of eating. And even with a light or, you know, a torch, it's still, it's still kind of hard to see what's around.
And I don't want to flash, I don't want to point the torch directly at people. Because it seems a little bit rude, a little bit rude. But at the same time, I'm not having people walking straight at me if I don't know who they are.
It's just, you know, so on the pavement. That's his last WALK of the day. And we'll do that around four o'clock.
Maybe just after four. And we'll get back about five. So yeah, it's, I suppose, I wasn't planning to start some kind of routine around his experiences externally.
But I've got to, I've got to arrange things so that they suit both of us. So he needs to spend some time on the pavement. He loves to be on the grass during the day and sniffing the grass and everything.
But for his toenails and his fingernails, he needs, probably his toenails actually, but he, or is it fingernails? His toenails are always short. But yeah, his fingernails do need to be, you know, trimmed down with the pavement. So that, that helps with that.
And it's also, it's more of a walk instead of just pottering around sniffing stuff, sniffing the grass, sniffing wherever dogs have done wheeze and stuff. And then he's doing his stuff as well. So it's, yeah, it's, it's all right.
I just kind of, that's, that's why I decided yesterday and I've stuck to it and yeah, I do feel better for it. I've also got, I've got this little routine now because I've got my pajamas, well, I've got my, my, my sleeping thing, like a bed coat, not bed coat. I need to, I don't know what it's called, but it's like a, it's not long, long, goes down to about my knees.
It's quite thin. It's loose because I need to lose stuff because of my, my body structure. I don't, I don't like being all constricted.
It sounds like I might've said that before, probably about a hundred times. And then I don't wear any underwear, which means the only time I'll wear it is if I've just had a shower. So I have a shower before I go to bed.
I turn the extractor fan on the, the second I get into the bathroom. And at the moment, because I'm watching Big Brother, which finishes at 10, it's generally the latest I'll be going to bed during the week will be about 11. Generally, once we get to 10 o'clock, I'm kind of heading for, you know, take, I might take Vinnie for a wee wee in the garden if he hasn't already been out like the last hour or so.
And then I will turn the extractor fan on. I'll take my, but they're not pyjamas. I don't know what to call it.
What should I call it? My bed, bedrobe, like a bedrobe. But it's not like a wardrobe, not wardrobe. It's not what I'm talking about.
It's not like a dressing gown. It's, it's not thick. And I got a dressing gown a few weeks back, which got a hood on it as well.
Because I haven't had a dressing gown for years. So it's nice to be prepared for the winter. Because I'm thinking, you know what? On a Saturday night, there's not really any reason why I can't just have a shower, settle down, let's say if it's boxing or something, and just have my dressing gown on.
I have my, you know, my bed, bed clothes, bed gown or whatever you want to call it. And then just have my dressing gown on and just chill out for the evening. And then just take him downstairs into the garden to do a quick wee wee at 11 or whatever time he needs to go.
The boxing is normally finished by about half 11 12. So I might start to do that. It just, it feels quite nice to, it's quite relaxing to have a shower.
Because I've always been like a shower in the morning person. But this, and I can't have a bath, the bath's not big enough for my body. And I struggle to get in and out of it.
I just do this, because my back and my shoulders and just, I get stuck. Do you remember this is, I mean, some of you might not remember this, there was a toy. This was a long time ago, but I'm pretty sure that they were reintroduced like in more recent years.
And what it was, it was like this octopus. And you chucked it against the wall, and it just climbed down the wall. It stuck to the wall and just climbed down the wall.
I'm a little bit like that in a bath, except I'm just stuck in the bath. It's even worse, well not worse, but it's, I mean, if I let the, because what I try to do is thinking, one of the problems was trying to get out of the bath without spilling water everywhere. And I'm not, I don't mean like I'm trying to drink me, trying to drink water and a cup or anything, but I'm talking about the bath, I don't want it, because as soon as, no matter how low down the water is, as soon as I get up, the water's right at the rim.
It's a proper rim job issue. And the overflow starts to go, starts to go, oh no, not again. And so when I go to get out of the bath, because at the time, you know, I'm struggling to make sure that the water doesn't go onto the floor, which it always does.
So what I do, what I did do, because I haven't had, I don't go into the bath anymore, but when I was having baths, I would let the water out with the plug, take the plug out, wait until the water emptied before getting out. That way I wasn't going to sort of spread water all over the bathroom floor. The problem with that is it was like a suction, not, I'm not talking about the plug hole, but I mean, that might, but I'm talking about the whole things like it's, I don't know if you've ever done that.
If you're wondering what I'm talking about, if you get in the bath, and when you're finished, pull the plug out of the plug hole, and just lay there and just notice what happens to your body as all the water goes down the drain or down the plug hole, you start to literally, it is quite nice actually, it's a quite a nice stress relief. It's almost like the gravity changes and you become heavier.
And I understand that I'd probably be even more if you were really, really light and you were floating on the water.
Mind you, you'd have to have a lot of salt in there, wouldn't you? And does anyone have, I suppose bath salts, bath salts. I don't remember ever floating in the bath. You wouldn't be able to drink the water, would you afterwards if you put salt in it? That's grim, isn't it? I don't know, when I was a kid, I don't know how many people had baths before me, before it was my turn.
I'm pretty sure I was like the last one to get in the bath. And the idea of that, because you know, before everyone else, the next person got in, loads of bubbles were put in. I didn't realise the bubbles were just to cover up the dirt, the look, the brown water.
But no one seemed to notice. I remember blimey, I mean this is a long time ago, I remember I used to share a bath with my brother, like my older brother. So we used to be either side of the bath.
I think I'd always end up near the taps. I was just going to say, and I enjoyed pulling the plug out. But no, I'll tell you what I did like when I was go swimming.
Do you know those pressures, like the sound at the side of the swimming bath or the swimming pool, there's those pumps that blow water out, or suck water in, I don't know, one of them. Maybe they're overflow or whatever, but I'm sure they used to pump water out. I used to love pushing my bum against them.
I did. That was an awkward conversation though. Some things, yeah.
Don't, don't do that if it's the only swimming pool in your area. Because you need to have options, you know, you get banned from one, and if there's no other to replace it with, but I used to like that, I used to like that. Oh, I can't even remember the last time I went swimming.
It's such a long time ago. Probably decades. Definitely haven't.
Oh, wow. I was about to say I haven't swum in my 40s. I'm in my 50s now.
I haven't swum in my 50s. I didn't swim in my 40s. Pretty certain I never swum in my 30s.
And which takes me to my 20s. And maybe I did. There was a swimming pool on the, it was the Romford Road.
Yeah, I went to that swimming baths. So why did I go there if I didn't go swimming? I must have gone swimming. There'd be no other reason to go there because yeah, I must have gone swimming there.
Oh, that's interesting. I don't remember. Maybe I went swimming with Von Drey.
It's possible. The thing is back then I could not stand being seen in public with my little body, my skinny little frame. That's how I perceived myself as just being, I was slim, but I couldn't, yeah, I just didn't like it.
I just wanted to be fat. And now I got my wish. And now I can't get, I can't get undressed for that reason.
Partly because my clothes stick. It's hard to get, you know. They don't, why am I saying that? My clothes, why would my clothes stick? That's a weird thing to say.
How did I get talking about swimming pools, baths, showers? Okay. So yeah, having a shower in the evening. I probably wouldn't do that if I was working.
I'd have a shower in the morning, but for now I find it quite a nice way to end the day. Just to, you know, have a nice clean and fresh. Yeah.
It doesn't take long. I mean, I don't know. I've never timed myself.
I know one thing is not to rush. Really not to rush anything. The one thing I've learned is don't rush anything.
Just simply because, I mean, you know, I'm not going to rush around in the bathroom. If I don't have time for a shower, I'm going to have to do without a shower. Or just have a quick sprinkle down or, you know, a quick wash.
I'm not getting in and out of the shower and rushing. No. At the same time, there's something about like, you know, early hours of the morning, trying to be quiet.
And the more I try and be quiet, especially if I'm rushing, the more noise I make. Or if I'm rushing around trying to get ready to catch the bus, that's when I'm going to forget stuff like the bus pass. I nearly went out the other day without any shoes.
I'm not even lying. I honestly, I got up. I put my socks on.
I think it's because it's a new routine because I'm not used to wearing socks. But I put my socks on. I'm not sure if I had my coat on, my hat.
I was all prepared. I'd done a lot of things I had to do before going. And then I'm walking outside and I'm walking downstairs, I've locked my door and I realise I've got my pink Crocs on.
I'm about to walk around in public with my pink Crocs. So I have to go back upstairs. Vinnie's laughing at me and I put my shoes on.
And I'm wondering, have I ever done that before? Have I ever actually gone out, worn my pink Crocs and not even known that I'd done that? I do wonder. I mean, no one's mentioned it. Actually, no, I did do it once, but I realised I'd done it.
And what was the situation? There was a particular situation. And I can't remember what it was. What was it? I went outside, I think it was to help a neighbour with something.
And I went out in my pink Crocs and I literally walked up the road around the corner and back wearing my pink Crocs. And I noticed I was wearing them. But I've never been walking around without knowing they were on.
I mean, in that situation, it was, I think it was quite a potentially serious situation, so it kind of didn't matter. Oh, yeah, it was a funeral, that's it. No one noticed.
I'm trying to think of something else that's happened. Not a huge deal, really. I've been watching Ozark.
So I started watching it again, because I watched it years and years and years and years ago when it first came out. And I liked it. But it just like had its first series or first season and I was like, oh, just come on, I want to just I don't know how far I got into it.
But now, I think I think Ozarks finished. I kind of hope it has just so that I can see. Ozark season five.
Okay, right. So right. Right.
So Netflix has maintained that the series concluded with its fourth season. So there's four seasons on Netflix. So I'm going to watch them all back.
I say back to back, not back to back, really, but probably watch a couple of episodes a day between now and Christmas. I think no 10 2030 4040 40 odd episodes, 44 episodes 43 episodes. So that's going to take me I don't seem like a lot really do it.
So for three episodes, I can definitely if I'd watch two a day, watch one a day, I'm still gonna have it done before Christmas. I don't know why it just it doesn't seem like a lot of episodes. However, each episode is about an hour long.
So it's kind of quite a long time, I suppose. I just don't know. It's in like four seasons should be should take a while.
Should be like watching it all day for like a month or something. But no, no. Anyway, I think I'm on I'm about to watch episode number five.
And I started watching it the day before yesterday, I think. See, yeah, I've watched all the yesterday might be yesterday. No, the day before yesterday.
So I'm probably on about two a day. And the weird thing about it is, even though I've already seen these initial episodes, I don't remember them. I remember like bits and bobs, but I don't remember.
I'm not I'm not getting not watching it and just like, oh, I know what happens next. Because I don't. So I'm not sure why that is, because I'm usually pretty good with if there's something I've seen before, as soon as I start watching it, I'll remember stuff which kind of ruins it for me.
Maybe I wasn't giving it my full attention when I watched it. Mm hmm. I don't know.
I mean, it's eight years ago, I think it's 2017 2018. So lots happened since then, isn't it? So I don't know, just really not sure. But yeah, I'm enjoying it.
It's I mean, I've got a friend who has been talking about it. I think he's watched it through a few times. He really loves it.
And I said to him, if you if you watched Fargo, and he said, No, what's that? I said, You haven't watched Fargo? He said, No, I just told you if I watched it, I wouldn't need you to tell me what it is. I said, Calm down. It's all right.
I'm just asking you. He said, Sorry, so we had a hug and I had a cupcake and he had a scone cup of tea. After that, everything was fine.
I just, you know, sometimes friendships get a bit tense, can't they? Especially when you're talking about television shows. And he said, What is this Fargo thing? I said, Well, I would argue and argue, I would say that the writers of Ozark were heavily influenced by Fargo, the TV show Fargo, which was based on an original movie from the 90s. And which was also great.
But the TV shows really, really good. So I think she's watching it. I think she's started to watch it.
And I'll ask when I see them next. Yeah, Fargo is a good TV show. Although I don't think I watched the last one, the last one was the one before last.
It had Chris Rock. And Chris Rock was playing a gangster. I think it might be Fargo, but maybe it's a different show.
But Chris Rock was playing a gangster. And okay, let's have a look. I'll tell you who the two gangsters were.
Fargo, Chris Rock. All right, season four. Okay, here.
I know that it's not really about like, it's not about things being like completely realistic. But the two, the two main people in the show, the two main gangsters, one was Chris Rock, and the other one was Jason Schwartzman. Neither of which, I mean, I don't think either of them are over five foot tall.
Not that that's a bad thing. I mean, it's a lovely height. But gangsters know that Sorry, Chris Rock, Jason Schwartzman.
See, I liked him in some of the shows that he's been in. It was in a show called Boring or Boredom or something. It's really good.
But and he was like a part time private detective. Bored like me, something like that. In fact, let's have a look.
I can search. I really liked it. But I will tell you that I'm not.
Wow, he's been around for a while. The Bored to Death. And he starred as Jonathan Amis.
I really liked that show. Ted Danson was in it as well, if I'm correct. Ted Danson, Ted.
Yes, he was. And Zach Galifianakis. And that was the first thing I'd ever seen him in, I think.
And that was 2009 to 2011. So, I've not really seen him in much other things since then. I know he's got loads of things, probably.
But in 2020, he was in Fargo. And I do want to watch it. I really do.
I mean, I do. I really, genuinely. The problem is, he is, it just isn't it doesn't fit.
And maybe maybe if I watched it, maybe I'd feel differently. But all the characters so far in Fargo, in previous episodes, previous seasons, including the last season, season five, was so good, so well acted and played the part. If you know what I mean, they really kind of fit what they were.
Jason Schwartzman and Chris Rock. Just, yeah, I just, apparently, he's got, he reminds me a little bit of Woody Allen, that kind of softly spoken voice, sort of almost a little bit unsure of himself. Gentle.
Doesn't really come across as being a gangster. I'm just saying. So, he's part of the Coppola family.
So Francis Court, so he's all the different people that he's related to. Wow. So Robert Schwartzman is his brother.
John Schwartzman, half brother. Carmine Coppola, grandfather. August Coppola, uncle.
Francis Ford Coppola, who I do believe did the Godfather, is his uncle. Anton Coppola, great uncle. Nicholas Cage is his cousin.
Sophia Coppola is cousin. Didn't she do the Godfather 3? I don't know why I remember that. You've got Roman Coppola, his cousin, and Romy Mars, his cousin.
Romy Mars. Romy is the oldest daughter born to Sophia Coppola. Wonder what movie she's done, because she's a director, isn't she? I'm pretty, pretty sure.
Oh, mate, yes, she is. Filmography. New York's Lick the Star.
New York Stories. Okay, right, so no, she didn't. Ah, I see what she did.
She did Priscilla. That's probably why I heard her name recently. She, The Beguiled.
That was a pretty good film, I do believe. Priscilla, so she directed it, wrote it, and produced it. That was 2023.
I never watched that, but then I never watched Elvis either, like the whole movie. I think sometimes these movies about famous people, sometimes, I know what I'm thinking about. Coppola, his daughter, didn't she star? She actually was in the movie.
She was in the movie, Godfather 3. She, she was. She won an Academy Award. What for? What did she win an Academy Award for? I'm sure she was in that.
She was. She was the daughter of Michael Corleone, or Corleone, in the sequel, The Godfather Part 3, because she, didn't she date, what's his name? And I think there were some problems. People said, oh, nepotism, nepotism, like, so? Why do, I don't understand why people have such an issue of nepotism.
I mean, my only issue with it is how to spell the thing, but you'd, I've, nepotism is something that everyone would generally at some point probably partake in. It might not be a family member, but if you, you know, loads of times I've got friends jobs, or friends have like helped me to get a job, or at least put a good word in, or guided me to a place.
It's just what people do, it's just helping someone out, isn't it? And if you're in a, an acting family, or in a show business family, with one of the most famous directors of all time being your father, then you probably, I mean, in all, in all fairness, right? And what did someone say to this? I saw on YouTube, there was a clip of Michael Jackson and Priscilla, not Priscilla, Marie, Elvis's daughter, Marie Presley, or whatever her name was.
So, Michael Jackson married Elvis Presley's daughter, not Priscilla, what was her name? Anyway, they were both together being interviewed, and Michael Jackson was singing to her, you know, I'd like to do a duet with you. Something like that. And Marie said, she started talking to the person who was interviewing them, and said like, I just wanted to be known that I didn't marry Michael Jackson to get myself a recording contract.
I don't need, I don't need help getting a recording contract. Because the host said, do you sing? So I used to, I don't anymore. And it's weird, isn't it? When you think about it, the daughter of Elvis Presley could pretty much have anything she wanted.
She could have been anything she wanted, and she'd have had so many people helping her out, if she asked. She wanted to be a model, she wanted to be an actress, if she wanted to be a singer, everything was there for her to do. She wanted a recording contract, the recording contract is there straight away.
And I guess that's nepotism, even if it isn't directly from her father, because her father's not been around. But it's just natural, isn't it? If you meet your hero, you, I don't know, I just think nepotism is okay. Apart from if it affects me.
If it affects me, then I don't like it. No. I have seen a bit of nepotism in the past.
When I worked in the, then he's making his nice noise, he's contributing. When I worked in the bakery, like the big bakery, when I was about 20. The main manager of the bakery, the bakery itself, like where they made the bread, made the bread, made the bake, made the bread.
He was, I think it was Mimit. Mimit, I think it was. And it made me laugh because I thought they sound like a Muppet, Mimit, sound like one of the Muppets.
And then his brother was Moffat, Moffat, who was the kind of like second in charge. And then their sister worked downstairs, not downstairs, but worked in a different department. I'm not really sure what she did.
I think she worked in admin, HR or something like that. And so there was a degree of nepotism going on there, but they were happy. That might not be an excuse, but, you know, they were, I actually got on really, really well with their sister.
And they both liked me. And also it was one of those situations where such a high proportion of the people working in the bakery spoke very little English. They were quite happy to have someone to talk to, which just makes sense.
But at the same time, nepotism was being used by the people working there because they didn't need to advertise for jobs. If they had vacancies, they'd just say to their workers, you got any friends that want a job? So another person come along who perhaps didn't speak great English, but the communication was great between those. But it wasn't great between the different groups.
So it was kind of dangerous a little bit. But then again, it was so noisy. It was quite hard to verbally communicate anyway.
I remember once I was on the bus, because we used to have this bus that would come and collect us. When we did, yeah, on the, yeah, we did that, was it like a little mini bus, and it'd take me to work and take me home. And I was doing all the hours.
And I fell asleep. And I had a dream that I was just being shouted at by people that were just shouting grunts at me, and just like weird sounds. And then I woke up and I realized I wasn't dreaming.
And it was so noisy. Honestly, shouting at each other, like just conversating, but shouting. It's like, I realized, I think some people, it's not a hearing issue, it's a visual issue.
People that shout, they need to get their eyes tested. Because once they get glasses, they realize, once they get their eyes tested, they realize that the person they're talking to is not a mile away. So they don't need to shout.
So maybe that, yeah, so loud. Oh, there's one situation. I think I was still working in the, still working in the canteen of the bakery.
And I'm getting a bus home in the evening. And I'm tired, I've fallen asleep on the bus, didn't even realize it. And the bus came to a stop, to a bus stop.
And it was a couple of stops away from where I lived. So it was quite handy. And all these people were just staring up at me.
And I'm thinking, what's your problem? I realized I was dribbling. So my left of my head was just against the wall, and it was just dribble. Just all over the window.
Honestly, that was not good. It was not my finest moment. It wasn't my most embarrassing moment, but it wasn't my finest moment.
Anyway, I should get on with the questions. You shouldn't annoy me though, some of the people that would make fun of me. So people from India, they're like, Hey, you all right, mate? Like that, like, what are you doing? All right, mate? Yeah.
I'm making fun of my accent. Like, rude. So rude.
I actually had someone come to the comedy club with me that worked there. But I don't even remember where he worked. It's weird, isn't it? On my very last day, well, I went up there to collect my wages.
And the sister that I was talking to you about, she was coming out as I was going in. So we used to spend time talking and like break times and we got on really well. I can kind of be myself with her.
And she actually told me that if she wasn't seeing someone, she'd want to be with me. So she said, I thought, okay. That was the end of that story.
Carol asks, these are the people who've asked me questions. We got Carol, Hope, Mike, Mark, Maria and Christine. They're the questions for today.
So I posted on the third. Any questions for this week's Q&A Friday, 7th of November 2025. Oh, nevermind.
Maybe next week, Carol, if you can, I mean, it doesn't have to be anything. Anything exciting or anything, just anything you want, really, you can ask. And Hope asks me, what's the news from around the council, etc.
Has there been any more work done on Uncle Sausage's place? Anyone moving in yet? How has Auntie Landlord been? Do you still speak to her or was it just because of Uncle Sausage's? How soon is too soon to bring up Christmas? When is bonfire night? And can you explain it to those of us not in the UK? I know some of it. It's like, like it's celebrating Guy Fawkes and a lot of what he did, but not a lot.
Phew, I'm questioned out.
So am I. Blimey. And then another one. PS, feel free to only answer a couple of these.
Well, Hope, thanks for that. I'll try and answer all of them. I kind of have.
I think I've talked about this stuff, but I know that I talk. I know not everyone listens. You may not listen to the whole.
Or remember the whole recording because you may go sleep, sleep, you know, so and sleep, sleep. What am I, five? Can I go sleep, sleep? OK, so I'll address them one by one. So the local news from the council.
Hasn't. I haven't had any contact from the council. They did come around and fix or do something to our front doors.
Which was a. Make them more better. That's all I can really say. It took about an hour and a half to two hours each door.
Can't say I really know what they did, but they made them more secure. And more safe. So, hey.
It's they're tighter. I know that much. Has there been any work done on Uncle Sausage's place? Yes.
Anyone moving in yet? Yes. So those two questions. I think the person's been there for about four weeks now, three or four weeks.
Maybe longer. Blimey, time goes, doesn't it? They really turned that flat around very quickly. The old council did.
It was only a few days after he left us. They were in there. Now, wait a minute.
Yeah, they were in there and they were chucking his stuff out the window into a skip. Which I wasn't hugely impressed with, if I'm honest with you. And then they came in, you know, the.
I think it's a different group of people came in to get the place ready. So I suppose the electrician comes in to check all the electrics. Now, what made it easier to have it fixed up is that both the kitchen and the bathroom were brand new.
The kitchen is a few months old. The bathroom was being done when Uncle Sausage's was actually in the hospital. He never even got to see it finished.
So that's two rooms where the council didn't really have to do anything with. Just tidy up. But that's it.
Like, I guess, a deep clean for the kitchen, but it was hardly used. The living room. Yeah, that needed to be sorted out.
And the bedroom. And it was done within quite a short time. And it was let out.
I mean, he. What's it now? October. I would say that the flat was let out before the end of September.
I might be wrong. I think it was. And the downstairs flat.
I know you didn't ask about that one, Vinnie. He keeps banging the metal with his toys. With the downstairs flat, but Luke's old flat.
Now, someone moved in there. The year before last, in probably April time, I'd say. So there was a long gap between him leaving and someone new moving in.
And they're only there just over a year and they moved out. And they moved someone in really quick again. Someone new really quick.
So they're not messing around with their turnarounds. Before it used to take sometimes a couple of months, sometimes longer. Now, no.
It's real, like, I mean, it's good, good for the people waiting to get a flat, of course it is. And in a way, I do prefer it when the place is full. Depending on who's here, of course, but it generally is nice to have a full building.
I don't know why, really. Well, there's a lady downstairs that's been there before I moved in. She's still there.
Luke was there before I moved in. And of course, he's gone now. Uncle Sausages was here before I moved in.
But he's now gone. The lady downstairs, the original lady downstairs moved in before I moved in. But she also left in the same manner as well, unfortunately, back in 2020, beginning of the year.
And we had another person moving downstairs and then they left. And the new tenant has been there for, I think it'll be two years, pretty much in December. Two years next month.
And she's brilliant. I get on very well with her. So that's cool.
There's another man who lives opposite, well, he lives next to where Uncle Sausages was. And I get on well with him as well. He's been here for a long time.
I haven't met the person who moved into Luke's flat. So I met the previous tenant who moved in after Luke. Then once they left, a new person moved in.
I've never seen them. And they've been there for a month or two now, I'd say. Yeah, probably at least two months.
And I've met the one that moved into Uncle Sausages' flat. I've met her a couple of times. But yeah, she's not just doing her own thing.
So I don't really sort of speak to her. And don't see her just, yeah, so it's quite good. It's pretty quiet, which is nice.
Auntie Landlord, haven't seen her, haven't heard from her. I think it was one of those situations where we were brought together due to circumstances. I mean, she's lovely.
And I'm lovely, of course. So we got on really well. And her husband was lovely.
And we just did what we could to help Uncle Sausages. And once the journey was completed, after the ceremony, we went and had a fried breakfast in a pub. It was a harvester or something.
And that was me, Auntie Landlord, Auntie Landlord's husband, and Auntie Landlord's father, who was about 97. We had our breakfast. And that was it.
I gave her a hug before she got into the car. Or no, she gave me a lift back, but I can't give her a lift. Gave her a hug and just, and that was it.
I haven't spoken to her since. No, no, that's not true. I have spoken to her since about, have I spoken to her since? Yeah, I think I did.
It was just about costs. They put costs up and she needed to see if I had some paperwork, but I no longer had access to the flat because they took the keys. So, but it was minimal, minimal communication.
And that was it, really. So I guess that's just natural, isn't it? It's a bit like, I suppose, if, if Uncle Sausages had been in hospital for six weeks and then he got out and he was fine, he probably wouldn't have kept contact with the people that he was in hospital with. You know, it's just, it's, they're there in that moment and they're kind of an important part of your life for that period of time, and then they're gone.
So maybe that's, yeah, I mean, you know, so she's got her own life to live and it's cool. I think we helped each other out a little bit during the period. And how soon is too soon to bring up Christmas? Well, Christmas adverts already on television.
And I don't watch much television outside of two programs that have adverts, I mean. So I watch Fraser in the Morning for maybe an hour or so on a weekday. So there's adverts there.
So there's Christmas adverts. That's on channel four. And I'm currently watching Big Brother on ITV1, no, ITV2 and there's adverts on there as well.
So there's lots of, lots of Christmas adverts. And yeah, I just, it, I think, I mean, the weather's been very mild. Apart from the darkness, which is definitely a sign that it's, we're getting towards Christmas.
It's been very mild temperature wise, and I'm not complaining. But once it starts to get, oh, you know, a bit of, oh, then we'll know it's all getting closer to the old X-mas season. And because now I've got my new routine of walking him all the way through the estate on the pavement for his last walk of the day.
I get to see, well, I don't look at him, but I get to pass, you know, quite a few hundred houses, I suppose. And I don't think I've seen any Christmas decorations yet. I might have done, I don't think so.
So it'll be interesting, you know, I mean, I quite like, I quite like the build up to Christmas. I'm not even sure why. I like to have Christmas on my own.
Well, you know, with Vinnie, or with Andre back in, you know, in the past. And watching TV programs and, you know, get kind of get into the spirit, kind of, as far as Christmas goes. But I'm not, I don't do the whole kind of getting together.
I have, but I don't, it's not really me, hasn't really been me for a long time. And I do like getting presents, but, and Christmas cards, you know, as I got older, I'd get less and less of that stuff. I mean, it'd be lovely to sort of wake up and just have loads of presents to open, not in a greedy way, partially in a greedy way, very much in a greedy, really greedy way.
No, but it'd just be kind of like turning back the clock to being a child again. Because those presents I got when I was a kid, they weren't always, I mean, there might be one expensive present. Like, you know, when I got a bike, when I got a bike for Christmas, that was, you know, undeniably the main present.
But I still had a big bag of presents. And yeah, there's books, there was chocolates, and there was all bits and bobs, and it's nice. Socks, never really loved getting socks for Christmas.
Thanks, Nan. I didn't, I didn't just, I don't know. It's just, it's almost like, and I know it's not the case, but what do you get something for someone, what do you get, what present do you get for someone that you really don't care if they like it or not? Socks.
But I know that wasn't the case with my Nan, but just, there was a lot of that as well, getting stuff that was actually needed. So instead of giving, instead of giving it to me, instead of giving me stuff for school, they'd give it to me at Christmas, or like on my birthday, which was at the end of August, I'd get school stuff for my birthday. Like a geometry set, or some pencils, some pens, a whip.
Okay, that's a whip. That's weird. But yeah, just things like school shoes, just like, okay.
I mean, literally, so I think one year, my, my, my parents were just so busy. They just wrapped all my stuff that I already had. Not all of it, but just a lot more.
I mean, if they wrapped my school bag, I'd still have stuff in it. Wrapping my slippers, wrapping my dressing gown, like, I'm surprised I didn't wake up to a wrapped up bed. I was just lazy.
What I used to love to do when I was in my early 20s, I would wrap up presents. But what I would do is I would put a set, I'd put, I'd use a whole massive sheet of wrapping paper, you know, the ones on the rolls for a small item. And then just scrunch it up and use half a reel of sellotape to wrap it around.
It really annoyed people. I didn't realize how annoying it was really. For me, it was a joke.
But actually, I don't think anyone liked it. And Guy Fawkes. What is Bonfire Night? So Bonfire Night is gone now.
It was the 5th. Although there was fireworks on last Friday night, Saturday night, Sunday night, and Monday night. A bit of this and that.
I think Friday and Saturday night was the main ones. And there's a good chance to be some fireworks tonight. And tomorrow night, Saturday night.
And then that should be it. Hopefully, maybe Sunday as well, you know, but hopefully that's it then. Until New Year's Eve.
And the only reason I don't really want to hear it now is for Vinnie, because he doesn't like it. It upsets him. I like fireworks, but he doesn't.
There was a bloke called Guy Fawkes. He decided to blow up the Houses of Parliament. This is my understanding.
And he put under the Houses of Parliament, all these big barrels of gunpowder. But they failed to go off, or he was grasped up by someone else. It was foiled anyway.
I think it may be the gunpowder was wet. Or he bought it off a con man. It wasn't really gunpowder.
It was just sand or something. And he got severely punished for his misdemeanor. It's almost like the first terrorist.
Almost. I mean, that would have been such a huge act in this country, you know, to blow up the Houses of Parliament, which is our, if you're in America, that's our White House. Or if you're in France, that's our French House.
I don't know. Does France have a, I suppose you have, do you have politicians in France? Oh, dear. I do come out with some really, really, really, really silly things.
So yeah, that's what it was, really. The, it was a thwarted or stopped, prevented terrorist act. And, yeah, and I don't know why it's celebrated.
And part of the celebration is to build a bonfire and put a Guy Fawke on the bonfire and burn it. So it was almost pro-establishment, as opposed to anti-establishment. But he was, to my understanding, Guy Fawkes was, maybe, I don't know, maybe he was trying to start some kind of revolution that France had had, America had had.
Lots of different countries had had revolutions, hadn't they? So maybe he was trying to start something like that. I don't know. I don't know the history.
I'd have read about it at school and learned a bit about it, but we used to have a thing called Penny the, Penny for the Guy. So we'd make these little straw or old clothes filled with paper and make a little, like a scarecrow kind of thing. And we'd sit on the floor with this guy, we'd call it a guy, and it was just basically a straw or paper man.
And we'd say Penny for the Guy. And a penny was never a lot of money, not even in my lifetime. Can you imagine asking for a penny? So I think I've answered your questions.
A hauptsaur. So thank you, Hope. Mike asks, if you could travel to five places in the world, where would you go? Hmm, five places.
Should we choose five places I've not been? Not that I'm like a world traveler, but five places that I've not been. I'd like to travel to, I'd like to travel to America. I'd like to travel to Canada.
I'd like to travel to Australia. And I'd like to travel to New Zealand. Hmm, kind of, what's that place I'd like to go to? I think it's, there's kind of like a, I'm going to say Europe.
I realize there's a bit of a cop out because there's so many different countries in Europe. But I'm kind of quite interested in visiting some of those countries. So there's a particular place I'd like to go to, it's on a TV show.
Hmm, Lillehammer. So Lillehammer is in Norway. It just looks really nice.
And I've got a thing about the accent. I do, I like the English accent, but the, you know, Norwegian talking English. And I think part of that is because there's a couple of TV shows that I've watched that had some of those actors in.
And they were just good. I mean, there was one called, what was it called? Ragnarok. So that was, that was one called Ragnarok.
And then the other one was called Norseman. And which is very, very funny. If you haven't seen Norseman, it's very funny.
And I'm not shocked, I'm very surprised that more people aren't aware of Norseman. It's, I would, I would say it's probably not like anything. If you've not seen it, that is, it's not like anything you've ever seen before.
With the humour, it's gritty at times as well. And because about Vikings, it's, you know, it's not, it wasn't a pleasant time, was it? But it's just so, there's the dialogue that is really good. So yeah, I would in fact, I might rewatch that at some point, because it, me and Luke downstairs, we like different things.
If he ever kind of said, oh, recommended a TV show for me, guaranteed I probably wasn't going to like it. And the same with him. If I recommended something, he didn't like it.
Apart from one time, and that was Norseman. And I did the same as what I always did, you know, like say, well, look at this. I put it on just for him to watch, just, just watch a little bit.
And he'd look at me, he's like, oh. And then that'd be like on a Friday night. And sometimes I wouldn't see him for the weekend, and I'd see him on the Monday.
And I'd say, where you been? You been partying? He said, no. I said, what do you mean? He said, no, I've been watching TV. He spent the entire weekend watching Norseman.
And he couldn't stop laughing, because he loved it. But he didn't want me to know. Because normally, we'd all go like that.
Just, I don't know, it's about being suggested stuff, but he didn't. Season four cancelled. Why? It's a very funny show.
I just remember just looking at it. I think some of the characters in that are also in some other things. I've seen, I think maybe Ragnarok.
Ragnarok was about, again, it's like the Viking kind of world, isn't it? But more about Thor, you know, Thor, Thor. And his truncheon hammer thing. I liked it, but kind of, I think it, personally, I felt it lost its way a little bit near the end.
But I definitely liked the first season. Anyway, back to what was I talking about? Five places. Yes.
So America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand. So that's four. So do we say Finland? Finland.
Norway, sorry, whoops, Norway. But I still quite like the idea of maybe going to Dubai, visiting Scotland. It's going to sound weird.
I like, I mean, there's parts of Europe, like Russia, I'd like to go to China, Japan, Japan. I probably, I would probably choose Japan out of those. Japan interests me.
So perhaps I would swap. I'd have six. So I have America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and Norway, or Europe.
That way I can cover the whole, the landmass of Europe. But let's say Norway. I think that's, there's something about watching that TV show, and just, it's some, I'm kind of a little bit interested in being somewhere like that.
Yeah, just, yeah, it interests me. Mike also asks, you like watching boxing. Any other hobbies you have had? Well, I've had quite a few over the years.
And reading was a big, big hobby of mine for decades and decades. Something I love doing. I did karate when I was a kid.
I did Wing Chun Kung Fu in 2004. So I did that for a while. Boxing I did in 2008, 2009.
And I did Taekwondo in 2011. But I had to give that up, because of my back. But other things, other hobbies, I think, when it comes to me, I don't, I don't so much have hobbies, I have interests that are all consuming.
So a couple of those would be hypnosis, which was a big, big, big thing for a long, long time for me. And then, but also in 2000, I absolutely fell in love with website designing. And I spent pretty much a year and a half, or at least a year, year and a half, year, or just over a year doing just that.
All day, every day, 16 hours a day. You know, I was absolutely obsessed with learning to code just a basic HTML or HTM I think it was called HTM back then, then got turned to HTML. And yeah, I just learned a lot.
I loved it. And this was really early days for the internet. Those still dial up.
And it still took like five minutes to open an image on the screen sometimes. It was ridiculous. I could, yeah, I just enjoyed it.
I was really into it. Other hobbies, other than watching boxing, things that I'm interested in. Hmm, I must have been interested in something at some point.
I guess doing this, I mean, this has been very, like making podcasts, making videos and stuff since 2006. It's been very time consuming. It's, yeah, it's taken a lot of my energy and focus.
Even when I was doing a degree, even when I was counselling. So this is kind of, I don't class this as a hobby. But it's also not a job.
So it's kind of, it's more just my life, what I do now. So yeah, this, I guess, I suppose if you want to call it a hobby. But I think, the word hobby would kind of, for me personally, would be, it'd be, it'd make me feel dismissive towards what I do with this.
If you know what I mean, kind of, because this is literally my life. So I would probably say my hobby is watching, I like to watch TV shows, like I like to watch movies. I like to listen or on YouTube, I like to watch lectures and you know, educational stuff.
I like to listen to music, I like to listen to audiobooks. That's, I suppose, kind of my hobbies. But in a sense, it's also stuff I need to be doing, helps me to relax, helps me calm down.
And also, you know, educationally, listening to TED Talks or to, you know, interviews at last two hours with some like specialist marketer or, you know, it's all useful knowledge that I can take on board. So, but as far as like, I don't go dancing. And it sounds weird.
I don't go dancing, but some people do don't have to go dancing. I don't, I don't collect anything anymore. I used to collect books.
I don't collect, I don't collect anything. I don't collect stamps. I don't, I don't go train spotting or plane spotting or collect butterflies, you know, just, I don't do any of those things.
I'm just trying to think, what would a hobby be? The thing is even, okay, when I was doing Taekwondo, then that would have been my hobby. Because unlike when I was at school, when I was at school, karate was my life. That was everything.
Nothing else mattered. But I was a teenager, and I was able to kind of give my complete energy to it. When I did Wing Chun Kung Fu, when I was 23, 33, not 23, 33, I, it was kind of a hobby, you know, I was, I was working part time.
I was doing it to keep fit also, you know, to, because it was fun, doing it three times a week for about a year, I think, something like that. And yeah, it was just a bit of fitness, and it was fun. When I did the boxing, again, it was for fun, fitness.
And yeah, I was doing that while I was at university. And same thing, I kind of, I was counselling, that was my job, and 2011, 2011, yeah, and I started, yeah, I did Taekwondo, and I had to stop in 2014, I think it was. Someone's in the garden, making some very weird noises.
I think he is, I was wondering, I think he's not here, he's not making any noises, I think he's not making any sounds or anything or responding. But I realised he was looking over there, and one of his ears was pricked up. What's that? What can I hear? So I guess I don't really have a hobby, unless this is a hobby.
It, yeah. And yeah, because I don't, yeah, it's weird, maybe I should get myself a hobby. I don't know.
Maybe everything's just come, come together, and this is it now. So this, yeah, because I don't, like my dad has projects. He's going to do this, and he plans, he's going to do this, and he's going to do that.
And I don't, I've got one project, and it's the same, year in, year out, is to make recordings. But I do have other things that I try and, you know, so, for example, I've got my podcast, which is on Podbean. I'm in the process of updating all the podcasts on there, because I'm a little way behind.
And so there's always, there's always stuff to do, with my, yeah, there's always things to do to up, update the podcasts, to update the websites, and all that stuff. So that's never ending. And yeah, I need to get myself a hobby.
I don't think tap dancing is going to happen now, with my back. Parachuting? No. Ice skating? Probably not.
I don't know, what could I do as a hobby? The thing is, I gotta be careful, because if I find something that I love doing, I'll just want to do that all the time. And I'll just stop doing this, potentially. But nothing else in the last 20 years has been more important than this, to me.
Not quite sure why, but that's how it's been. So I was quite lucky, really, in some ways. So thank you, Mike.
So we've got Marge, Marga, sorry. After listening to Monday's Sleepy Boring Objects, do you regret not getting married or being in a relationship? Sounds like you've had quite a few relationships in the past. Would, would, would love to know you have a companion other than Vinnie.
Yeah, Vinnie. Can't believe my life partner is a Jack Russell. The love of my life.
There's been two loves of my life, Andre and Vinnie. Andre the ferret, and Vinnie the Jack Russell. Do I regret? I never, ever got close to getting married.
That was never even, yeah, not even close to that. Never been engaged. Never asked, yeah, never been engaged, never.
No one ever asked me to marry them. And no one ever said yes to me asking them to marry them. But I never did that properly.
I just say in a spur of the moment sometimes, like, will you marry me? Like, oh, Jason, stop it. I'm not a toilet. You know, it just, it's whatever, which is it just sometimes maybe the wrong time.
And I don't know what, I'm doing a who. I don't know. I just it's not that sometimes I do think how it would be to have had kids to have like had a normal ish life.
But then I wasn't born into a normal life. So it's quite hard to kind of know how to do that. I just didn't know how to do it.
Couldn't. I mean, from the age of seven to 15, it's pretty much quite normal. But those first few years, first seven years, six years, it wasn't.
And I just, yeah, I didn't know. I was no good with women, no good. I didn't know what to say to them didn't know what I was always trying to be something I wasn't trying to second guess, I guess what, what someone would want from me.
And it's an impossible situation because there's no way of knowing is there. So yeah, I just I do there's a few things I regret when it comes to female relationships. I think one is not taking a chance.
So there's been a few occasions where all I needed to do was just be willing and just go along with it. And that's in situations where females were letting me know they liked me. This is, you know, a long time ago, but quite often, on quite a few occasions, I backed down and kind of moved away, because I wasn't sure how to deal with that.
It just felt foreign to me. I had one sort of waitress at a comedy club, three times, she let me know she liked me. Three times, and all three times I just, I couldn't handle someone liking me.
I just didn't know what to do with it. And then she was blatant with it as well. Yeah, she's definitely someone that I regret not exploring because, you know, she liked me.
I liked her anyway. So there's a potential that could have been something. I don't know, could have been nothing but it could have been something, could have been something beautiful, man.
So yeah, there's a few, I've made quite a few mistakes. So I've got to be careful. Regrets.
Yeah, I have. But I can't do anything about it now. I mean, there's a couple of, I do think there's a couple of people I think about from the past, only a couple.
And I do think, oh, it could have been, it could have been, but it wasn't. And the reason it wasn't because of me, my behaviour, my lack of interest or enthusiasm. So yeah.
Yeah, so I don't know. I suppose at this time in my life, I mean, I could have grandchildren now. I mean, if I feel old now, how old would I feel then? You imagine if I got kids in their 30s, which I could easily have.
It's like, and then they've got kids. It's, yeah, very strange. Just the concept of it, I mean.
But you know what? I nearly was a parent once. I won't go into the story, but I nearly, you know, nearly kind of, nearly happened. And I can't say that I was, I'm not sure if I'd be a good parent.
And I wouldn't want to just be average, I'd want to be really good. I want to be the best parent. And I know that's high, it's a high bar to kind of put on myself.
But I don't know, really. So yeah, it's a bit of a difficult question to answer. And when I have been in relationships, but just not for a long time, and not, I mean, I've never been in a long term relationship with a human.
That sounds bad. It sounds really wrong, doesn't it? You know, outside of Andre and Vinnie, and friendships, I mean, but like, in a romantic relationship, I've not even hit a year, not even been with someone for a whole year yet. And maybe it's not going to happen now.
I mean, the chances of me, and I'm not saying this feeling sorry for myself. No, the chances of me, realistically, meeting anyone is zero, because I don't go anywhere. Yeah, I don't know.
I don't know what kind of boyfriend I'd make now. I'm so, I'm guessing quite set in my ways, you know, I watch what I want to watch on telly. But things are different now, because you can watch, you can watch what someone else is watching, and know that you can still watch what you want to watch later on, on catch up.
So you don't, it's no longer an issue with missing TV shows. Like in the past, I know the world doesn't revolve around television. Mine used to kind of, not so much now.
Having freedom, it's quite nice to have freedom. I do also see the benefit, there's health benefits to being in a relationship with someone. Having someone looking up, looking out for you, not about having someone looking after me, but having someone looking out for me.
So I'm being on my side in my corner. And again, I don't mean when I'm wrong, because that's just silly. We've got back me regardless of what I say or do.
No, it doesn't work like that. You know, if you're going to start coming out with a lot of rubbish and being horrible to people, I'm not going to back you, which is fine. I don't mean like that, just like someone who's, I'm a priority to them.
And they're a priority to me, like both ways. I mean, I'm not just looking for, I don't want it, not looking for one sidedness, just looking, I'm not looking for anything, but yeah, someone that I would prioritize. And I've got this, I've had this theory and this idea, which is, I think it's kind of, I don't know, I'm not sure if anyone really ever agrees with it, but if there's one person in our lives, that we should be able to be nice to, at all times, kind to, always, it's our partner, our husband, wife, long term boyfriend, girlfriend, whatever you want to give the titles.
You know, just because, the thing is, you know, some people say, well, you can't control what you do or say anyway, and we'll have bad days, and you know what? Not once was I rude to my nan. Not once did I say something I shouldn't say to her. And I'm bipolar, I mean, I've seen her, I've, you know what I mean, she's not around anymore, but I cared enough about her to make sure that I never said anything rude to her, never said anything that I shouldn't say, never said anything that I needed to apologize for.
I think he just started barking, I'm trying to calm him down. He's heard something, probably just someone come into their flat and he's like, yeah, bark, bark, bark. See, yeah, I think, that would be, that'd be an important thing.
I know there's the physical side and stuff, but it's, just being kind to the person. You know, I kind of got like, if I can't keep Vinnie safe, what good am I as a person? What good am I really? And that's a bit harsh on myself, but, you know, I keep him safe. That's my job, is to keep this little boy safe and to keep, make sure he's safe and healthy and well.
And I was the same with, well, I tried to be the same with Andre, and I would be the same with my Nan. I would make sure I would do anything to keep her safe, whatever it took, if need be, you know, that was my mindset. So I think having that, and liking someone, loving someone's fine.
Liking someone, that's the thing. Like, I'm sure my dad loves me. He's my son.
He's my dad. He doesn't like me. You know, personality wise, I don't know, he can hardly stand me.
I know that. He won't admit to it, but I know it. I just annoy him.
We're just very, very different people. We have just, we clash, we don't gel together at all. Yeah, my little brother absolutely get on really well.
I get on really well with my little brother. It's a weird one. Hey.
So I don't want to be with someone that, um, I love, like, I know it's a different kind of relationship, but I think you've got to like the person, enjoy spending time with them. That's why I've got Vinnie. I really don't know.
Really, I'm not sure. I mean, I'm not with anyone, and maybe I never will be. Um, I don't know.
We'll see. Time will tell. I remember that I had a friend, she said, she went into Tesco.
She was single, and she saw this man, and they locked eyes, and they knew instantly that there was something there between them. And they were together for quite a while. And she said, I just knew straight away.
Straight away. I was like, wow, like, okay, I think I felt that towards someone else, but I don't think it's never been reciprocated. Um, so yeah, that's my answer, Mark.
I don't know what else to tell you. Maria asks, have you ever locked yourself out? Yes. If so, do you have any funny stories to tell? I don't know about funny stories, but I have locked myself out.
Okay, how many times have I locked myself out? I'm just trying to think. Oh, wow. I'm just thinking, I mean, I've locked myself out here, but there's other times.
When I lived in the student accommodation, I, yeah, I was at university. In the last year, or maybe not, maybe 2010. Okay, anyway, I was going up to London, and I was doing a day in London, working in a comedy club, during in the office.
But I was also staying there in the evening. So I'd be there, I'd head off about nine, get there at about 1030, worked about six, and then I'd go downstairs, watch the comedy night, and leave about 10, get home about 12, half 11, or whatever. Now, this was weird, because I ended up taking the wrong keys home.
So not only, I had the next day off. So not only did I have to wake up my landlord to get in, and I had a key to my bedroom as well. So he had to find that, a spare key for that.
So I had to wake him up. I also had to go back to London the next day, to take the keys to the office back, so they could get in. Plus, I had to collect my own keys.
So what I'd done is, I just put the keys instead of putting, because the keys were left on a hanger by the bar. And I didn't, I put the wrong ones on there. So that, that ruined my day off.
And I couldn't, that was annoying. What other ones? I locked myself out here once. More than once actually, because when I first moved in, we had these old council doors, which if they're closed behind you, you couldn't get in, unless you had your key, that is.
Like these doors, if they close behind you, they're still unlocked. You have to actually have to lock them from outside. They're much more secure.
Now, I locked myself out, because someone called me downstairs. And I realised, it's just more of some of that rubbish stuff that used to go on in the office. I didn't bring my keys, because it was, I was literally just going downstairs.
I was called downstairs for something, I don't know what it was. And what can I do? So I ended up calling the council. Yeah, the first time it happened, I called the council on my friend's phone.
The council came out. A few hours later, but they did come out. They unlocked the door.
And I was told by the council, it was going to cost me £100, something like that. But they never charged me. I don't think they did.
But I watched, I watched the, how the locksmith was trying to get in. So I learned a few little tricks for myself. It wasn't so I could break into anyone else's place, but I learned some tricks for myself.
And the next time it happened, I couldn't get in. So I had to get a locksmith. I tried the tricks, that wouldn't work.
So I got a locksmith. And so on that, on both those times, I think he put a new lock on. The third time it happened, I thought, no, this time, I didn't learn, did I? I thought this time, I'm going to shimmy it, jimmy it with, because what they do with a locksmith, they try and put a card, you know, you see in movies where they put the credit card through and do whatever.
Well, that's what the, the, the locksmith basically folded a bit of card up, like credit card size card. And I had an old card in my wallet, because I had my coat on at this point. So I used that to put through.
And it didn't work. So I tell you what did work though. Leaning on it.
I just leaned on the door and it opened. The door was so flimsy. It didn't lock.
I could lock it from the inside. From the outside. Anyone could just push it open.
Really bad. But luckily, I got it fixed. I got it fixed.
But then we got new doors about 2019, I think. Yeah, what was it? No, it wouldn't have been that long ago, would it? Very hard to remember. But I know Uncle sausages.
He had the same thing he did. Oh, yeah, he had his new door. And he's a new door.
I had the same thing on my new door. I didn't lock myself out. I locked myself in on two occasions.
The first time a locksmith came round and had to break in. I couldn't get in, couldn't get out the door just it broke. So they fixed that.
The second time that happened is I couldn't believe it just wouldn't open like what the heck. And they fixed it again. And then they came out but they did.
I think they changed the lock on that time. So yeah, I had a few problems with the doors. The same thing happened with Uncle sausages, he couldn't get out the door.
So and I've talked about that in the past and it was a big hoo-ha-ka-fuffle. The council wouldn't talk to me because I wasn't his I wasn't him. And this was well over a year, maybe a year and a half, maybe even two years before, you know, he left us.
So I was trying to deal with him on the phone. He said, Can you put the phone, I phoned him up, the council and they said, Can you put the phone through the letterbox? So he's talking to them. They couldn't understand him, he couldn't hear them.
So in the end, they were shouting to him, can you put the phone back through the letterbox to give it back to Jason? Or whatever they call me. So he did that. And he kept asking me questions, I couldn't answer them.
What's his date of birth? I don't know his date of birth. What's his telephone number? And what can give you his telephone number, but he won't answer the phone because he doesn't hear it. They said, Well, we'd have to phone him.
So we have to phone him. So I said, Fair enough. They called him.
He didn't answer the phone. I said, Try it. They call you back.
I said, Try again. And I'll make sure that he's got the phone. He answered the phone this time.
And he just keeps saying, What? What? What? So he couldn't hear them. They couldn't understand him. And in the end, they hung up.
And I phoned them up again. And they said, Well, I said, Look, he can't get out of his flat. You know, he's basically in prison now, right now.
He's not he can't get out. He needs to get out to get shopping and get food and stuff. And they said, Oh, we'll send someone around.
And they did good on, you know, it's true. But it was too dark. So they had to come back the next day.
So I had to climb in through his kitchen window, I think, in order to get in. So on this occasion, it was a Thursday night. And the chip shop van was outside.
What do you hear? That's my stomach then. So the chip shop van was outside doing this little growling sound that it does. And Uncle sausages was getting really frustrated because that's what he wanted to get outside for.
To go and get his chips, his fish and chips. They got every single Thursday for years and years. So I said, Wait here.
I went downstairs, spoke to the chip van, tried to explain to him that he can't come down because he's trapped in his flat. And they, what they did is they said, Don't worry about payment, we can he can pay us next week. And they wrapped his fish and chips in multiple different packages, like small packages, and I put it through the letterbox for him.
And it was very funny. He loved that. So he still got to eat.
And then the third council came around the next day and fixed the door. So those new doors were not not great. Bit dodgy, not dodgy.
They just didn't, they weren't lined up properly. But I think the count, it's all been fixed now. I think they've done it all now.
And I'm guessing they had a lot of people phoning up and saying I can't open the door. To the point where they got a specialist company in to fix the problem. Other times I locked myself out.
I mean, it was that time I talked about when I was in Harrogate in the hotel. And I just had a what do you call it? Not home delivery, not meals on wheels. What do you call it? Room service.
So I just had room service. And then I put the tray outside, not not realizing that the door was going to slam shut behind me. Locked.
And all I was in was just in my underwear. And I had a t shirt on and my underwear and probably my socks. I mean, this is not this is not a made up story.
This is true. And I did not know what to do. In the end, I managed to get hold of someone.
I mean, I wasn't going to go. I was like, there's got to be somebody coming up to give room service or something. And there was an evening so there was no, there's no cleaners coming around or anything.
I was like, oh, come on. That's a really nice hotel as well. Probably the best one I've ever been in.
In my whole life was really nice. Huge dining room. The rooms were big.
It was very nice. But at the same time, it's also the very first hotel I've ever been in. So maybe my memory of it is exaggerated.
It's possible. I've not really been in a lot of nice hotels. I've been in kind of average, okay, you know, cheap hotels.
I've not really been in any expensive places. It's not really been my lifestyle. So apart from those few years I lived at the top of the Red, the 500,000 pounds a month.
Apart from that, just trying to think any other, I mean, I managed to get a hold of someone. Obviously, I was, I'm still there. Yeah.
I'm still there waiting outside the door in my underpants. I grabbed someone who's a lady and I said, God, please. She was laughing.
I mean, I guess it's funny situation. And she got someone to come with the keys and with the card or whatever to let me in. Yeah, it wasn't good.
Just trying to think any other times I've locked myself out. Because it might have been that I've just forgotten. I can't think of any time when I was a kid.
I've lost my front door keys a few times when I was younger. Not for a long time, but there was one. It was weird because I had a Cupidon key chain, which is big chunk of metal with the keys on the end.
And I was on the beach, filled with pebbles. How I didn't hear that fall to the ground. No idea.
I mean, chance of kept finding it afterwards as well. Because, you know, it's a big, big lot of stuff. But how I didn't I didn't hear it drop.
No, I can't think of remember any other time that I've. And there's one place I lived in which I could get inside without a key, because the back door had a panel that was loose. So you just climb through.
That's when I was slimmer. Just climb through the door. No, I can't think.
No. No, that's I think that's there might have been some times I just can't remember them. Christine asks, Have you had the pie, mash and liquor? And was it as nice as it looks? Oh, my tummy's proper rumbling.
Okay. Back in 2000. And I think it was probably 2008.
Maybe nine, maybe 11. I don't know. There was a period of time when there was a pie and mash shop opened in the town I live.
And I was in there every day for probably months. And yeah, I loved it. Like they I was like regular every day.
That was almost like my my meal for the day. And it's still they closed. But I probably I'd go in there now.
Not right now. But still. Yeah, used to be I really liked it.
And the liquor was kind of like green. And yeah, I don't think it's got alcohol in it. But the pie the mash.
Yeah, I loved it. I overdid it a little bit. Because I kept going in there, you know, just like eating the same thing every day, probably got a little bit too much.
I think some days I go in there twice. So yeah, this is something about having a cooked dinner, where I'm not cooking. So I can eat something that's food, you know, rather than like a takeaway or, you know, fast food, like an actual meal.
And I like them. I like my pie and mash. I didn't.
The liquor was all right. I didn't. I'm not sure if they did eels or any of that stuff.
And even if they had, I would not have partaken in that particular adventure. That particular culinary experience. No, thank you.
And no. But I definitely did have the pie and mash. And I think it was a couple of brothers who worked together.
And yeah, I don't know what happened to them. I used to like have a chat to them. And I think I was I'm pretty sure it was while whilst I was at university.
Pretty certain unless it was when I'd started doing counselling. It's that period anyway. Because that whole period ended.
So it started in 2007. And the whole counselling, training, performing, whatever you want to call it being a counsellor, that all ended in 2014. 2014.
Seven to 14. So what's that? Seven years. Yeah, well, so you maybe want to want a pie now pie and mash.
There's potential I could potentially have I've got pies in the freezer. I've got tins of baked beans. And I've got some potatoes in the cupboard.
It's a possibility. It really is. Actually.
So that I do believe. Ladies and gentlemen, I just want to say quickly thank you to Carol, Hope, Mike, Marg, Maria, and Christine. Thank you for your questions.
I will be doing another Q&A Friday and next week. If you have any questions for that. Thank you for listening.
And remember to be kind to yourself because you do deserve to be happy. Be gentle with yourself. You deserve to feel safe.
Lots of love. 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.