Tim: Morning.
Giles: That was the countdown. I should have thought that really.
Tim: You should have done. How are you?
Giles: be better. That's probably not quite true but there is a certain spring in my step this morning
Tim: Excellent.
Giles: full of the joys of autumn. It's very warm out there still. Don't know what I'm doing wearing a cardigan. Maybe that's something to do with what the pod's all about. Well retired people
Tim: Possibly. Possibly.
Giles: wear cardigans. Don't know. Maybe this one will. No, maybe we're typing.
Tim: You've always liked cardigan.
Giles: There's a bit of a sweeping, I've been a slipper fan for many many many a moon
Tim: When did you start wearing slippers in your 30s?
Giles: It would have been because the significant better half has always worn slippers. I
Tim: Always.
Giles: Yeah, not going to the shops and stuff. That would be ridiculous.
Tim: Not like they do now, going out in their slippers to the shops.
Giles: Yeah, yeah, yeah. What have you got on your slip? don't, don't, don't, don't. You're better than that. You're better than that.
Tim: Is that a nor... Okay, so your better half has always worn slippers. I was about to say, is that a northern thing? But I'm not allowed to say that. But when did you...
Giles: Yes, well you can, it'll set a certain tone and people will get the idea fairly quickly.
Tim: When did you get into the Slipper scene?
Giles: Slipper scene. Is it a scene? I'm not sure it's a scene. I know. We moved in together in 1989 into our first house.
Tim: right?
Giles: And I'm sure she came with slippers then.
Tim: She moved in with slippers.
Giles: She moved in with slippers. I was going to do a bit of a shout out to the Muchla Wenlock crew of which,
Tim: much when locked.
Giles: We went there for a quick coffee, go for a walk because it's a market town dating back, it used to be a trading post on the Shrewsbury to London coach trip, which apparently the 1500s used to take 18 hours. I was noticed on the sign
Tim: Doesn't take as much, not much quicker today, is it?
Giles: What struck me most was as we were sat there having our coffee in the square, lovely little square, It was across the way in the square. was an ecclesiastical outfitters. Yes, quite.
Tim: What?
Giles: Yes. An ecclesiastical outfitters. Now I've not seen one of those before. It's a place if,
Tim: That's home.
Giles: if you want to go and get your new vestments and a coral rough, that's the place to go. Pound Sterling. I see what you mean.
Tim: Any denomination? they do all, is it Chris? very good.
Giles: I don't think it did. I don't think it could be that discriminatory because there's vestments needed in all sorts, isn't there? Of that kind of. Christian denomination. Yes. Yes.
Tim: Christian denomination or any vestments. Right,
Giles: derivations
Tim: right.
Giles: thereof. But yes, there you
Tim: And
Giles: go.
Tim: did you not have a nose in to find out?
Giles: Well, they were closed because it wasn't a Sunday. No, I didn't, I didn't. But I just thought that's great. That's great. And it's right on that. How long have they been there? Probably since the 1500s. Well, there
Tim: probably since 1500s because people were 1500s.
Giles: is an abbey there. There is an abbey there that's fallen down a bit, but it's a lovely part of world. It's a lovely part of the world. And certainly if you're an ecclesiastical of that bent and you need something fitting.
Tim: Shout out to Much Wenlock, Much, what's it called?
Giles: It's much more than I can't remember what they were called Croft design or something like that. So big up to Croft design, ecclesiastical outfitters. It's too early to say that word.
Tim: Obviously we're available for sponsorship for any ecclesiastical outfitters.
Giles: Well, they may appear as sponsors in future programmes because we're not, Octopus have not replied to my request.
Tim: So it sounds just like you've been doing some pottering in the last few days.
Giles: Interesting. So hang on a second then. Definition of pottering. You ready?
Tim: Right. is, well hang on, I think that's really important to have a definition of pottering because the listener who is not in the U of the K, not in this country,
Giles: yes. Yes.
Tim: it's particular British phrase associated with.
Giles: It is, it's totally.
Tim: It's a British phrase, a British English phrase associated with those with time on their hands to potter.
Giles: It is. It is. It comes from an old English word. Yes.
Tim: So does it, what is the definition of pottering then, Charles?
Giles: So the definition according to the I was going to say the OED, but it's probably not. It's probably Google.
Tim: Collins, the concise.
Giles: Moving around, excuse me, moving around without hurrying in a relaxed, pleasant and aimless way.
Tim: Does it involve procrastination?
Giles: I mean, there is a there is a sort of a line below that. So there's a bit to define there. There's a bit to absorb that but the line below engaging in light informal and low priority tasks
Tim: Okay.
Giles: or odd jobs without a strict deadline.
Tim: Mmm... I-
Giles: or major strategic focus, some examples of which are doing small garden related tasks or in a greenhouse.
Tim: It, hang on, where does tinkering fit in that then?
Giles: hang on, you've gone and couldn't we're going in another direction entirely here.
Tim: Because if you're in a greenhouse, are you not tinkering?
Giles: So my head tinkering immediately suggests some interference with some form of complex or machinery or something.
Tim: Machinery, okay.
Giles: You can tinker with an engine in an Austin Healey parked on your drive. Those listeners
Tim: that you can't potter.
Giles: who have that will know what I mean.
Tim: but you can't potter with an Austin Healey engine.
Giles: You can't put you if you've got some form of complex machinery like, in the the shed, I've got a workbench with the lathe and it's, you know, the flange pedals not gone the spoffeth correctly. So I've been tinkering with the flabber to make you get the idea.
Tim: Nobody in the UK is dealing with lathes. Are they? Still?
Giles: Are they not? Have you not seen the repair shop? Don't people like that fellow who always wears 17 glasses, doesn't he mess around with lathes to change screws on? He's tinkering, yeah.
Tim: He's tinkering. The repair shop, the repair shop, if you haven't, is a tinkering place.
Giles: is a tinkering place. That's not pot, you don't potter in the repair shop, do you?
Tim: you tinker about your fiddle around with mechanical. So pottering, okay, so pottering is an aimless.
Giles: I think podsy is more aimless, but aimless is pleasant, relaxed. As some things, wiping plant leaves, doing like
Tim: But what? This is.
Giles: household chores or tidying up. Wiping plant leaves. Now, that's fine.
Tim: Pottering isn't tidying up. For me.
Giles: With light household chores, I'm just going to put it in the back and get rid of some of that.
Tim: stuff.
Giles: rubbish that's hanging around detritus that most, well certainly we have, full of detritus. There's more detritus in this house than there is proper stuff.
Tim: Yes.
Giles: straightening pitches. Now there's a, I'm just gonna potter in the lounge and just straighten some pitches. You'd come out of the lounge and look at your straight pitches and think,
Tim: just put
Giles: you know what, that's a really good thing I've done there. Here you go. And the last one
Tim: That's a good job.
Giles: they come up with as an example is oiling a hinge.
Tim: you're close to tinkering there with a hinge.
Giles: not a complex mechanical thing though, is it? Particularly?
Tim: It is to me, a hinge is to me.
Giles: I think you do yourself a disservice there.
Tim: So you've been away to Church Straton.
Giles: Stretching.
Tim: Straton, sorry. Did you potter? Have you potted this week? What is your potter?
Giles: Did I potter? Yes, I know you. It was not our place, obviously. So all the stuff there was more of, don't knock that over. But why have you left those crumbs there? It was tidying rather than pottering.
Tim: Tony out.
Giles: I didn't have access to any oil, so the hinges remain un-oiled.
Tim: unoiled. You went for coffee with your friends and saw the ecclesiastical shop. Is that a potter?
Giles: Not really. So there's, there was a time when I used to have a part of the job was going to all of the offices that we had in there that I had responsibility for, of which there were many. And a very dear friend who I was with last night, the cinema watching the new Tom Cruise film Digger. Now there, now there's a pod.
Tim: it's got some... Yeah.
Giles: to talk about that nonsense. Anyway, he coined the phrase when I go out to these offices, all you're doing is just shambling around, you just shambled into these offices, shambled
Tim: I reckon.
Giles: around and then come out. So I think if you're going to go...
Tim: I recognise that, Charles, that was my experience of us working together when you shambled in.
Giles: You just shambler out here in a nice, a, in a very aimless, pleasant and engaging way. And people are really pleased to see you and some good stuff that happens.
Tim: to
Giles: But yeah, just sort of shambling around here and there. So I think if you're going round, back to the point around much Wenlock, I think if you're, unless you've got something specifically you want to see in a place, let's go to X and see Y. If you're, I just wonder what's in this place. That's a sort of a shambler. I'm just going to shambled down this straight and we're just going to have a
Tim: Not a Potter.
Giles: show. No, because I'm not, I'm not doing anything. I'm not. All these examples are particularly that rather complex task of straightening pitches. You're actually physically doing something, aren't you? I think it's, I would think if the future said your future post-work is going to be filtering.
Tim: straightening pictures.
Giles: That's going to be done in a day. The pottering
Tim: Yes, Max.
Giles: bit is going to, it's a day. If you think, if you...
Tim: Well depends how good you are at pottering, cause you...
Giles: how much you've got to potter with as well.
Tim: the breadth and scope of your puttering.
Giles: Nice. Now, if you were starting to do something, and I hope this is something that we will continue to explore on this pod, know, Tim tries. This week, Tim's trying, you know,
Tim: Something.
Giles: what's the thing when you cut hedges into interesting shapes?
Tim: Tim has tried something this week, we'll get back to that. Topery.
Giles: Thank you. This week, Tim tries topiary. It was an accident, but he tried it anyway.
Tim: This gardening's not pottering, is it? Gardening's gardening.
Giles: no, no, that's it. that's no, that's an absolutely proper task. That's a work. That's a task. No. So if the
Tim: That's a task that's not in the pottering world.
Giles: plan, if a plan would be post handing up the lanyard and logging off would be right, I'm going to landscape the bottom of the garden. I'm going to turn it into an arboretum. I'm going to put some flags, you know, and landscape it to not just
Tim: Yes.
Giles: keep the hedges tidy. That's definitely not pottery. If it's up and I just shed in the corner and I've got a few things in there that I need to tidy up and I'm just going to, you know, sand down that lathe. I keep saying lathe. That's pottering.
Tim: pot.
Giles: I've got a potting shed. I'm going to go pot in the potter shed. Now, if I wanted
Tim: But I think it
Giles: to take up pottery and I had a potter's wheel in the potting shed and I only went into fiddle, then it would be... pottering in the potting shed with the pottery.
Tim: Yes, it would. That would be, I would
Giles: I'm not sure what road down we're going there but.
Tim: be a potter rather than pottering.
Giles: You could also take up snooker and be a different type of potter. I think you will. Sorry.
Tim: Very good. could do, is watching a Harry Potter film pottering as well?
Giles: Nice. You know, I was always really into writing down lists of stuff, top tens of stuff. Harry does that a lot now, still. Top 10 this, top 10 that, top 10 the other. And that's kind of, yes,
Tim: Your top tens. Your top tens.
Giles: mine. Yeah. Yeah. So it's pottering through the archive. mean, yeah. There's
Tim: You've got a big archive to potter through there.
Giles: an archive to potter through. And the good thing is, here you go. Right. So if you've actually completed something like that. What I might do then is go back to that list and tinker with it.
Tim: because but
Giles: It's because it's a thing that's already there to, it's not that complex though, is it?
Tim: It's a, you're adjusting. A tinkering involves minor adjustments in my view. Possibly, possibly.
Giles: okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm not sure though. I'm not sure a life beyond work can be completely fulfilling if today
Tim: if you put.
Giles: I'm just going to aimlessly in a relaxed and pleasant way potter.
Tim: not full time. But I think
Giles: Wow.
Tim: it's got a part to play. do think it's got a part to play. It's got a part to play.
Giles: It has. It has. Is it part of the plan? Have you you have you puttered at all? This is the last few.
Tim: I I think the short answer is yes. There's
Giles: Right.
Tim: been some pottering. mean, yesterday I saw pottering. Well, I'll throw this out there. I'll be interested in your thoughts, Giles. Yesterday,
Giles: Yes.
Tim: as you're aware, we've had some minor work done we needed to go into Kingston yesterday to buy some objeda. There was a light list.
Giles: He's grounding this pod into a very particular audience, isn't it?
Tim: We went into Kingston to go and buy, we had two or three things that we needed to buy, but the specifics were very open. So Wednesday, we went in on a Wednesday morning to,
Giles: Yes.
Tim: Kingston and.
Giles: lots of old people around.
Tim: Well, there was some live pottering going on.
Giles: I mean, it's like old people. What's the good, right?
Tim: I think I would describe what I saw yesterday as people pottering. I may well have been part of that demographic pottering because there was, as always, when it's a really nice time to go shopping in Kingston on a Wednesday morning, it's not very busy. We got distracted by things, know, we ambled about.
Giles: Mm. Mm. Mm. All shambled, perhaps.
Tim: We all shambled about, we dilly-dallied about the shops with a vague plan of what we wanted to look at for buying house accoutrements. But there was definitely a demographic of potterers, which
Giles: Mm.
Tim: is probably the reason why the large department stores, I would estimate now 15 % of their floor space is given over to your cafe.
Giles: season.
Tim: It being Kingston upon Thames in Surrey,
Giles: Mm.
Tim: the Rose Bar, the
Giles: Mm.
Tim: Sushi Bar,
Giles: Mm-hmm.
Tim: the, you your John Lewis Cafe, your Feniks have got
Giles: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Tim: a couple of different places where you can get a cup of cappuccino, et cetera, which we're doing trade, which we're doing some trade, you know, but there was.
Giles: Good. That's excellent.
Tim: there was some live pottering going on. Obviously,
Giles: Right.
Tim: it was slightly distracting that there was quite so much Christmas stuff on show, but
Giles: Yeah, already, of course.
Tim: that's the world we live in. I did see, I saw something in thought of you. I know we'll very soon in the next month or so be getting into the advent calendar discussion and season.
Giles: Yes, already, already sorted.
Tim: The Goodyear, TK Maxx, the Goodyear, no, no, no, no, in the Christmas
Giles: TK Max Advent Calendar I see,
Tim: jumble sale that is TK Maxx or the jumble sale that is TK Maxx in the Christmas shelves, the Goodyear Advent Calendar, delivers,
Giles: as in major tyre manufacturers.
Tim: correct, which delivers a 24 piece socket set.
Giles: Let me write that down. Is it available
Tim: Get that on the list.
Giles: online? Are you asking for... Is this what... what... The Goodyear.
Tim: Everything's available online. I have no need for a 24 piece socket set.
Giles: I'm absolutely at a wits end as to why you think I might want one, need one, have one.
Tim: I thought you might find that amusing. one of your sons might be interested in that for their advent calendar.
Giles: One of them possibly, the other absolutely not. In terms of practicalities, as I think you know.
Tim: I'm aware but I think it might raise a smile.
Giles: Merry Christmas.
Tim: You
Giles: brilliant. The Beavertown Advent Cat. What? 24 people. Cool. Only 24? You mean there isn't one to open on the 25th?
Tim: I didn't look closely, I should have looked more closely. I didn't even, I've not even got a per
Giles: I would assume there's a piece per month per day.
Tim: day, which is a 24. And is
Giles: Peace.
Tim: the 25th the ratchet handle to put it
Giles: the actual ratcheting thing.
Tim: on?
Giles: this has got that that's it.
Tim: That's a thing.
Giles: But to have that would enable you to tinker rather than to potter. And to
Tim: Correct.
Giles: potter about with your 24p socket set.
Tim: Well, you've had to potter about to get to the point of having a 24. Now there's an example of distraction on the shot. Was I pottering there in TK Maxx?
Giles: No, I don't think you were. I think there was... You were... You were moving around without hurrying in a relaxed, pleasant and aimless way. Yes? okay.
Tim: It wasn't quite aimless, it wasn't quite aimless, but it was very relaxed.
Giles: Yes, yes, yes, yes.
Tim: That was, that was, that was some...
Giles: sure if it doesn't tick all of those three if we're generally agreeing that that definition of pottering is right if you one of those if you were in a relaxed and aimless way but it wasn't particularly pleasant would you be relaxed possibly it's not really pottering I can't I'm cool about this
Tim: I'm not sure I could ever.
Giles: it's a bit of a task I've got to do it's you know what we're doing I'm I'm filing matches or I'm shuffling hard drives. I'm only saying that because there's one there.
Tim: But I was getting very easily distracted when we were shopping, when we went to the shops. There were lots of...
Giles: That's understandable. It's torture. I don't think I could do it anymore. that just can't buy it online if it doesn't work send it back
Tim: Well, I think if when I would I 100 % agree with you, but now now we have more time on our hands It's an
Giles: Yeah.
Tim: infinitely more pleasant experience on a Wednesday morning than it is on a Saturday or a Sunday
Giles: That is true.
Tim: and I Obviously, I'm the same as you buy so much stuff online, but there is There is some stuff you need to lay hands on I think
Giles: Your object are.
Tim: your bits for the shelf in the kitchen, the bits for
Giles: yeah. Yeah.
Tim: lampshades. You can look at a
Giles: True.
Tim: lampshade online, you've, having been through this, we
Giles: Yeah, you can't be certain until you've stared it down, have you, caressed it.
Tim: were talking about this. One of the reasons we went on Wednesday, we had to return some stuff to John Lewis, which had been delivered, which was the wrong thing, yeah.
Giles: there you go. There you go. Yeah.
Tim: Now obviously we could have returned it online, but may as well go in there. But we have had to return a lot of stuff because we haven't, it was something to do. to get out. And
Giles: Be honest, you just wanted to trip out. You just wanted to trip out. Something to do. Something to do. Something to
Tim: you know, it was a lovely day and
Giles: Mm.
Tim: you can take the dog in all these places now, which is another thing that has developed.
Giles: Yeah I can see that and I'm still not sure why you'd want to but because it's easier than living in a home I suppose.
Tim: But I would say, definitely, but I would say that the majority of people out and about Wednesday morning in Kingston were
Giles: Mm.
Tim: definitely retired, definitely retired. There was probably roughly about 20 % Neats, 10 % Charity Chuggers. One busker stairway to heaven, stairway to heaven of course.
Giles: Excellent, brilliant, interesting. what still amazes me with that is, and I get it, know, pottering about having some purpose, being relaxed and amiable, in an amiable way, amiable and aimless, pleasant to just nip down the shops, change that lamp, get that thing, ooh. We'll nip into that shop on the corner
Tim: because why don't we just...
Giles: that sells Blue John or something and we'll get a couple of bits for the... Could have got that off a beach maybe. Anyway, so why do the retirees in this world see fit to go and do that very same thing on a Saturday afternoon?
Tim: drives me insane. It used to drive me insane. I don't wanna
Giles: Yeah.
Tim: be here on a Saturday. I genuinely couldn't think of anything
Giles: No.
Tim: worse than going to John Lewis on a Saturday and you've got all
Giles: Yeah there's our in our plan in our week. I'm looking forward to getting out Saturday morning. I've got to have a
Tim: Yeah,
Giles: coffee.
Tim: yeah, go and have a coffee. Comes back.
Giles: where everybody else is running around, you've got any number of school kids coming back from school, football, golf, cricket, games, you've got people getting out, dogs, they're good. What? It's extraordinary, extraordinary.
Tim: And then come back and complain that it's really busy. Couldn't get car parking space.
Giles: Really? a surprise.
Tim: So I would recommend, why don't you try, you
Giles: Pottering.
Tim: and your good lady, try pottering in the shops. Trafford Centre on a weekday morning.
Giles: I could, it's not gonna happen mate. It's, that's, that's a torture. No. To do, to do what? To get what? Yes.
Tim: To what end?
Giles: I think the pottering thing is actually a really important thing to be able to lose yourself for 30 minutes, half an hour. it's half an hour, same thing. Lose yourself in something that's not, it's just a nice thing to do. I'm just gonna go and do that for a bit. But it's as well as, or in addition to, or it's, if the future said you're gonna potter, I wouldn't potter, because I'd need to have something else to do, which I think
Tim: You need to
Giles: is the thing to explore in a bit more detail.
Tim: You can't you can't 100 % potter.
Giles: You can, but blimey, the pictures need straightening more than once every six months, you're living on a fault line, or you didn't hang them right in the first place. These albums need straightening every now and again. The challenge there, and I do potter a little bit with those, as you will see, we've now got three of Deep Purple's early works, Fireball and...
Tim: This is really good for an audio only format.
Giles: Fireball, yes, of course it is audio anyway. Behind me I do have some albums hanging up. Deep Purple Rock, Fireball and Machine Head in a plastic wallet, not obscure.
Tim: for the listener, obscure prog rock albums.
Giles: Deep Purple.
Tim: That is obscure to me.
Giles: You've heard of Deep Purple. We're not expecting you to know
Tim: Yes, I've heard something.
Giles: them.
Tim: How many, how many Deep Purple Vinyls do you own?
Giles: That's now five. One's a compilation, obscure compilation. One is.
Tim: You've just, so it is obscure.
Giles: No, the compilation's obscure. I didn't say the band was obscure.
Tim: No, but your record collection has got some.
Giles: Well, it has got some very generic stuff, but it's also got some odd stuff.
Tim: I think your record collection is something that you could sink a lot of time into.
Giles: plenty of time. Absolutely. I mean, they are strewn around the place and could do with some order. And that probably that's a combination of pottering to get them into some sort of order and then tinkering with that order.
Tim: And will you order them by, why haven't you done that already? Why haven't you done that in the last 50 years or 40 years or 30 years?
Giles: Well, have this, where the majority of the ones that I bought when I was younger is in a trunk down here and they are alphabetic, they're in alphabetical order.
Tim: Untouched, basically. Yeah, okay.
Giles: A lot of them are, yeah. They've got that musty library smell about them, which is great. Everything else that I've bought, there's a case down here, there's all my dad's stuff over there. There's another 50 or so strewn around here and seven, six, seven there behind me. They're in all sorts of disarray.
Tim: So, okay, so have you got time next week to tackle that task?
Giles: I've got time in about 10 minutes to be honest. I have got time. for the next, for the next version
Tim: for next week.
Giles: of this. Quite possibly. Yes. Just something to talk about. Well, I'll
Tim: just to give us just something to talk about Christ.
Giles: tell you what I'm interested in then. This has been the Potter to Potter or not to Potter. And I think there's possibly, if anybody is listening to this and there are any comments and we've had a couple.
Tim: for two comments.
Giles: Two comments. If anybody's got any comments and say, I'd actually quite be interested to hear about this particular type of potting, pottery,
Tim: POTSY!
Giles: pottering about. Not pottery. Yes, I'm really, I do like the ceramic period that the Moorcroft went through and I'm very much tree and ware or something.
Tim: Yes. And I'm into, I've written some Harry Potter fan fiction. In
Giles: that kind of potter. I see what you've done there.
Tim: the Potterverse or the Pottermore or whatever they're called.
Giles: If, so it's less about the potter, yeah, we were all potter, given the opportunity to. But what's going to fill up most of the time? What's going to be? Does it need to have, do you need to have something to fill the time? Because.
Tim: Well, think pottering is a skill. I don't think everybody's got that skill.
Giles: No, that's true. That's true. That's true.
Tim: I think it's something that can be developed. You shouldn't be embarrassed about pottering in this period of our lives.
Giles: No.
Tim: I think you need to embrace it to a certain extent and learn.
Giles: I
Tim: to lean into it because I think it's a valid
Giles: think agreed.
Tim: thing to do at not all day, every day, in my opinion, although you could have a go at it if you're an expert in pottering,
Giles: Well, I think we've...
Tim: I suppose you could have a go at it because you would achieve stuff. Do you need to achieve stuff?
Giles: Yes, but in the light of it being... the key thing I think about the definition to get back to that is it's in an aimless way. There's no real discernible outcome other than a little bit of... that picture's straight now. That is a relief. It's a little weird, that, surely. It's when does things like potter... probably... When do things like pottering or tinkering... lead you down the path of this is a DIY situation now.
Tim: This is a hobby. This is a DIY project situation.
Giles: Well, DIY and hobbies, that's obviously different, slightly different things.
Tim: That's right.
Giles: when could I, is it something, you want to go down the DIY route? That sounds fraught with danger, given I have a very dear friend who's always been wonderful when it comes to helping me out with that sort of stuff.
Tim: You could develop your DIY skills though. That would be something too.
Giles: That just sounds painful. I mean, disappointing, costly. Why didn't you let me do that? You should have had
Tim: Hmm.
Giles: XYZ do it.
Tim: It's not straight.
Giles: Yes! That hinge is still making a noise. You clearly put the wrong oil on it. Right, okay, brilliant. I don't mind furniture assembly. That's fine when there are really clear instructions. I'm all over that. All over that.
Tim: I like for, yeah, no, I'm a big fan of hunkering down with an Ikea self-assembly stuff. I like that.
Giles: or other self assembly providers are available. And we don't need to do that, do we? We don't need to.
Tim: No, we're not on a public service broadcasting network as far as I'm aware.
Giles: Well, think, I think, I think, think pottering, I mean, potterings in, it's a given, we're going to potter. I do now. I'm just thinking
Tim: We do now, but I did.
Giles: earlier, there's some hinges at the back I need to have a look at. At I think it was a hinge.
Tim: I can't get the hinges out of my head now. I think it's a skill that you've got to develop because with the best will in the world.
Giles: Oiling a hinge? It's not a skill, pottering.
Tim: Oiling a hinge slash, slash pottering slash pottering, brackets general needs to be developed because you've.
Giles: Well, I think there is an interesting point, sorry to interrupt my adding, there's an entry point with pottering. But there has to be a moment of self-reflection to say, am I now in faffing? Am I in fannying? And have I actually, this pottering has actually got stopped now and I've got to go doing something of worth because effectively I'm
Tim: Stop faffing about and potter.
Giles: avoiding doing something else.
Tim: spent a lifetime avoiding doing something else.
Giles: But you're all the better for it, mate. You're all the better for it.
Tim: Thanks. Thanks.
Giles: Yeah, there's nothing wrong with avoiding doing stuff at all. It's just when the expectation is that somebody else will do it. And we're right back in the room. Yeah.
Tim: And we are back in the room. Is pottering a way of avoiding boredom? Do you ever feel bored?
Giles: Sometimes I feel like I've actually not really done a lot today. I've kind of a bit wasted the day and I don't want to feel like a waste today.
Tim: we're digging into purpose now.
Giles: Are we?
Tim: That's another episode.
Giles: And so it should be. I mean, to be honest, have you seen the time?
Tim: Mmm.
Giles: I'm assuming you're going to edit this down, we're not going to go for an hour of this. I mean it's been hard enough,
Tim: price. Of course I'm going to wait to tip down the amount of
Giles: it's been hard enough hanging on for dear life so far.
Tim: Yeah, somehow there's gotta be 40 minutes in here.
Giles: Will you be able to...
Tim: I think I can find 40 minutes.
Giles: I'm sure you'll able to potter around with it. No, sorry. Tinker with it. Tinker with it.
Tim: No, tinker. It's not, editing this is definitely not pottering, it's tinkering. 100%.
Giles: Some would argue it's open heart surgery, mate.
Tim: well, you're gonna...
Giles: I'm going to get at it with a scythe. Not that you do
Tim: 100 %
Giles: open art surgery with a scythe, that would be ridiculous of course, but it does need some serious work.
Tim: That would be some, it needs some blunt trauma, definitely. Definitely.
Giles: You're gonna hit it with a hammer, right?
Tim: Definitely. But it's been nice to get some feedback from the first episode, I thought, from the listener, from both listeners,
Giles: Yes, I mean there was a... from both sides, from the listener.
Tim: so Golf has reared its ugly head.
Giles: Yeah, well, he would, wouldn't he? We know who's made that comment.
Tim: I know golf is... we're gonna have an episode on golf because I think we've got a...
Giles: We are, we might even have to think about inviting a guest onto that. Well, we'll see because it could descend into absolute. Yeah.
Tim: Golf It's the elephant in the room. I've never played,
Giles: It is. No.
Tim: but let's not get into golf, but that's definitely on the agenda for a future app.
Giles: It is.
Tim: What other comments did we get? You got,
Giles: Ronnie Corbett like.
Tim: Ronnie Corbett was strong. Yeah. God rest in peace.
Giles: Ronnie Corbett like waffle. Regular slot, essential album listening. That sort of recommendation, what would you like to, you know, is a...
Tim: Yeah. Quotes, here's my quote, I actually
Giles: I don't want it. Yeah.
Tim: rather enjoyed that. You two have a good style and level of banter.
Giles: That sounds like something really really surprised and reluctant to say so. Do you know what? I'm
Tim: Okay, so that was the positive.
Giles: surprised I actually enjoyed that. I didn't expect to I think it's really interesting stuff and really good and it's great and we're very grateful for any comments. think what I don't... yeah, constructive.
Tim: Any comments, any suggestions? Constructive suggestions.
Giles: I think we need to find a regular part of the show. I don't want this
Tim: It's a show, is it?
Giles: to become a grumpy old man moaning about the world.
Tim: I don't think we've been, or maybe we have. Maybe we have been grumpy. We've been
Giles: No no no, I didn't say that we did, I just said...
Tim: grumpy about OAPs going shopping on a Saturday.
Giles: Well, I think there's an interesting thing because we're talking about retirement and we will
Tim: just and well there you go.
Giles: be, I will be a pensioner officially in a few years, you several years away from that, but you'll still get to that. But I don't see us in that category. I don't see us in an OAP category. I just see us with
Tim: Yet.
Giles: a, yet, I think with a very fortunate, in a very fortunate position
Tim: Very.
Giles: of being able to talk about not doing a proper job. which is effectively what we're talking about and being
Tim: basically.
Giles: able to. What does that mean? Should we be doing... The answer could be we actually should still be doing a proper job. I don't know yet. I don't know yet. I hope it's not. yeah, true, true, true, true, true.
Tim: But it might be a proper job, well, that's around purpose. It's what we do now. mean, you talk about proper job. mean, maybe the job that has been your career for the last, as you said in the last episode, 40 years, which is insane. It's doing less of that.
Giles: Well it's just disappointing isn't it really?
Tim: This phase of life
Giles: Yeah. Yeah.
Tim: could be active. This active element of this phase of life is just another 20 years.
Giles: Yes, and you have completely. Yeah, really.
Tim: Well people, Winston
Giles: Yeah, they do, don't they? Yeah.
Tim: Churchill won the second world war in his mid to late 60s crying out loud. Yeah.
Giles: in his underpants. sorry yeah. Yeah all on his Jack Jones thanks to a couple of decent weather forecasts and America. if you believe what you read.
Tim: And I'm reading a really interesting book about John Maynard Keynes at the moment and his economic theories also made
Giles: Bye.
Tim: winning the Second World War possible.
Giles: Did he invent the new term?
Tim: I haven't
Giles: Different Keynes. It's a different Keynes, that, innit?
Tim: read the whole book yet, but I don't think that's what he's mostly known for.
Giles: is he? You see this is
Tim: the roundabout.
Giles: is this is another interesting thing because I used to read voraciously when I was younger a lot of it was factual stuff information atlases lists of records films and the stuff yeah yeah yeah
Tim: That's another topic. That's, hold that thought's another ret.
Giles: I'm saying absolutely I was going to say the very same you're a voracious consumer of the written word whereas I'm not anymore so there's a book of the month There's a record of the week. There's a writer of the year. There's an artist of the day. There's a film of the week.
Tim: I'm a reader, but I'm a reader at a very specific time, which is in bed.
Giles: And well, that's for another pod.
Tim: Well, one of the things I've been thinking on that reading topic, one of the things is why not read in the day? Why not read for an hour? There's no good reason not to.
Giles: Yeah, surely, surely in amongst the the object you have in the house, the moment you can find space for a reading corner.
Tim: we have a reading corner. But I don't,
Giles: There you go.
Tim: and it's not to say I've never read during the day, but it's not something that's part of the
Giles: Hoover.
Tim: pan-uvra.
Giles: Pantheon.
Tim: punch in.
Giles: That's wrong.
Tim: Okay, Giles, so should we, probably.
Giles: been very good, probably. Now if we've still got two listeners at the end of this, we're laughing.
Tim: We are laughing. Thanks Giles. I'm going to stop the recording now. Right, I'm going to stop it now.
Giles: God, that's been an absolute miracle if you can get anything out of that. Well done, mate, excellent. All the best.
Giles: That was the countdown. I should have thought that really.
Tim: You should have done. How are you?
Giles: be better. That's probably not quite true but there is a certain spring in my step this morning
Tim: Excellent.
Giles: full of the joys of autumn. It's very warm out there still. Don't know what I'm doing wearing a cardigan. Maybe that's something to do with what the pod's all about. Well retired people
Tim: Possibly. Possibly.
Giles: wear cardigans. Don't know. Maybe this one will. No, maybe we're typing.
Tim: You've always liked cardigan.
Giles: There's a bit of a sweeping, I've been a slipper fan for many many many a moon
Tim: When did you start wearing slippers in your 30s?
Giles: It would have been because the significant better half has always worn slippers. I
Tim: Always.
Giles: Yeah, not going to the shops and stuff. That would be ridiculous.
Tim: Not like they do now, going out in their slippers to the shops.
Giles: Yeah, yeah, yeah. What have you got on your slip? don't, don't, don't, don't. You're better than that. You're better than that.
Tim: Is that a nor... Okay, so your better half has always worn slippers. I was about to say, is that a northern thing? But I'm not allowed to say that. But when did you...
Giles: Yes, well you can, it'll set a certain tone and people will get the idea fairly quickly.
Tim: When did you get into the Slipper scene?
Giles: Slipper scene. Is it a scene? I'm not sure it's a scene. I know. We moved in together in 1989 into our first house.
Tim: right?
Giles: And I'm sure she came with slippers then.
Tim: She moved in with slippers.
Giles: She moved in with slippers. I was going to do a bit of a shout out to the Muchla Wenlock crew of which,
Tim: much when locked.
Giles: We went there for a quick coffee, go for a walk because it's a market town dating back, it used to be a trading post on the Shrewsbury to London coach trip, which apparently the 1500s used to take 18 hours. I was noticed on the sign
Tim: Doesn't take as much, not much quicker today, is it?
Giles: What struck me most was as we were sat there having our coffee in the square, lovely little square, It was across the way in the square. was an ecclesiastical outfitters. Yes, quite.
Tim: What?
Giles: Yes. An ecclesiastical outfitters. Now I've not seen one of those before. It's a place if,
Tim: That's home.
Giles: if you want to go and get your new vestments and a coral rough, that's the place to go. Pound Sterling. I see what you mean.
Tim: Any denomination? they do all, is it Chris? very good.
Giles: I don't think it did. I don't think it could be that discriminatory because there's vestments needed in all sorts, isn't there? Of that kind of. Christian denomination. Yes. Yes.
Tim: Christian denomination or any vestments. Right,
Giles: derivations
Tim: right.
Giles: thereof. But yes, there you
Tim: And
Giles: go.
Tim: did you not have a nose in to find out?
Giles: Well, they were closed because it wasn't a Sunday. No, I didn't, I didn't. But I just thought that's great. That's great. And it's right on that. How long have they been there? Probably since the 1500s. Well, there
Tim: probably since 1500s because people were 1500s.
Giles: is an abbey there. There is an abbey there that's fallen down a bit, but it's a lovely part of world. It's a lovely part of the world. And certainly if you're an ecclesiastical of that bent and you need something fitting.
Tim: Shout out to Much Wenlock, Much, what's it called?
Giles: It's much more than I can't remember what they were called Croft design or something like that. So big up to Croft design, ecclesiastical outfitters. It's too early to say that word.
Tim: Obviously we're available for sponsorship for any ecclesiastical outfitters.
Giles: Well, they may appear as sponsors in future programmes because we're not, Octopus have not replied to my request.
Tim: So it sounds just like you've been doing some pottering in the last few days.
Giles: Interesting. So hang on a second then. Definition of pottering. You ready?
Tim: Right. is, well hang on, I think that's really important to have a definition of pottering because the listener who is not in the U of the K, not in this country,
Giles: yes. Yes.
Tim: it's particular British phrase associated with.
Giles: It is, it's totally.
Tim: It's a British phrase, a British English phrase associated with those with time on their hands to potter.
Giles: It is. It is. It comes from an old English word. Yes.
Tim: So does it, what is the definition of pottering then, Charles?
Giles: So the definition according to the I was going to say the OED, but it's probably not. It's probably Google.
Tim: Collins, the concise.
Giles: Moving around, excuse me, moving around without hurrying in a relaxed, pleasant and aimless way.
Tim: Does it involve procrastination?
Giles: I mean, there is a there is a sort of a line below that. So there's a bit to define there. There's a bit to absorb that but the line below engaging in light informal and low priority tasks
Tim: Okay.
Giles: or odd jobs without a strict deadline.
Tim: Mmm... I-
Giles: or major strategic focus, some examples of which are doing small garden related tasks or in a greenhouse.
Tim: It, hang on, where does tinkering fit in that then?
Giles: hang on, you've gone and couldn't we're going in another direction entirely here.
Tim: Because if you're in a greenhouse, are you not tinkering?
Giles: So my head tinkering immediately suggests some interference with some form of complex or machinery or something.
Tim: Machinery, okay.
Giles: You can tinker with an engine in an Austin Healey parked on your drive. Those listeners
Tim: that you can't potter.
Giles: who have that will know what I mean.
Tim: but you can't potter with an Austin Healey engine.
Giles: You can't put you if you've got some form of complex machinery like, in the the shed, I've got a workbench with the lathe and it's, you know, the flange pedals not gone the spoffeth correctly. So I've been tinkering with the flabber to make you get the idea.
Tim: Nobody in the UK is dealing with lathes. Are they? Still?
Giles: Are they not? Have you not seen the repair shop? Don't people like that fellow who always wears 17 glasses, doesn't he mess around with lathes to change screws on? He's tinkering, yeah.
Tim: He's tinkering. The repair shop, the repair shop, if you haven't, is a tinkering place.
Giles: is a tinkering place. That's not pot, you don't potter in the repair shop, do you?
Tim: you tinker about your fiddle around with mechanical. So pottering, okay, so pottering is an aimless.
Giles: I think podsy is more aimless, but aimless is pleasant, relaxed. As some things, wiping plant leaves, doing like
Tim: But what? This is.
Giles: household chores or tidying up. Wiping plant leaves. Now, that's fine.
Tim: Pottering isn't tidying up. For me.
Giles: With light household chores, I'm just going to put it in the back and get rid of some of that.
Tim: stuff.
Giles: rubbish that's hanging around detritus that most, well certainly we have, full of detritus. There's more detritus in this house than there is proper stuff.
Tim: Yes.
Giles: straightening pitches. Now there's a, I'm just gonna potter in the lounge and just straighten some pitches. You'd come out of the lounge and look at your straight pitches and think,
Tim: just put
Giles: you know what, that's a really good thing I've done there. Here you go. And the last one
Tim: That's a good job.
Giles: they come up with as an example is oiling a hinge.
Tim: you're close to tinkering there with a hinge.
Giles: not a complex mechanical thing though, is it? Particularly?
Tim: It is to me, a hinge is to me.
Giles: I think you do yourself a disservice there.
Tim: So you've been away to Church Straton.
Giles: Stretching.
Tim: Straton, sorry. Did you potter? Have you potted this week? What is your potter?
Giles: Did I potter? Yes, I know you. It was not our place, obviously. So all the stuff there was more of, don't knock that over. But why have you left those crumbs there? It was tidying rather than pottering.
Tim: Tony out.
Giles: I didn't have access to any oil, so the hinges remain un-oiled.
Tim: unoiled. You went for coffee with your friends and saw the ecclesiastical shop. Is that a potter?
Giles: Not really. So there's, there was a time when I used to have a part of the job was going to all of the offices that we had in there that I had responsibility for, of which there were many. And a very dear friend who I was with last night, the cinema watching the new Tom Cruise film Digger. Now there, now there's a pod.
Tim: it's got some... Yeah.
Giles: to talk about that nonsense. Anyway, he coined the phrase when I go out to these offices, all you're doing is just shambling around, you just shambled into these offices, shambled
Tim: I reckon.
Giles: around and then come out. So I think if you're going to go...
Tim: I recognise that, Charles, that was my experience of us working together when you shambled in.
Giles: You just shambler out here in a nice, a, in a very aimless, pleasant and engaging way. And people are really pleased to see you and some good stuff that happens.
Tim: to
Giles: But yeah, just sort of shambling around here and there. So I think if you're going round, back to the point around much Wenlock, I think if you're, unless you've got something specifically you want to see in a place, let's go to X and see Y. If you're, I just wonder what's in this place. That's a sort of a shambler. I'm just going to shambled down this straight and we're just going to have a
Tim: Not a Potter.
Giles: show. No, because I'm not, I'm not doing anything. I'm not. All these examples are particularly that rather complex task of straightening pitches. You're actually physically doing something, aren't you? I think it's, I would think if the future said your future post-work is going to be filtering.
Tim: straightening pictures.
Giles: That's going to be done in a day. The pottering
Tim: Yes, Max.
Giles: bit is going to, it's a day. If you think, if you...
Tim: Well depends how good you are at pottering, cause you...
Giles: how much you've got to potter with as well.
Tim: the breadth and scope of your puttering.
Giles: Nice. Now, if you were starting to do something, and I hope this is something that we will continue to explore on this pod, know, Tim tries. This week, Tim's trying, you know,
Tim: Something.
Giles: what's the thing when you cut hedges into interesting shapes?
Tim: Tim has tried something this week, we'll get back to that. Topery.
Giles: Thank you. This week, Tim tries topiary. It was an accident, but he tried it anyway.
Tim: This gardening's not pottering, is it? Gardening's gardening.
Giles: no, no, that's it. that's no, that's an absolutely proper task. That's a work. That's a task. No. So if the
Tim: That's a task that's not in the pottering world.
Giles: plan, if a plan would be post handing up the lanyard and logging off would be right, I'm going to landscape the bottom of the garden. I'm going to turn it into an arboretum. I'm going to put some flags, you know, and landscape it to not just
Tim: Yes.
Giles: keep the hedges tidy. That's definitely not pottery. If it's up and I just shed in the corner and I've got a few things in there that I need to tidy up and I'm just going to, you know, sand down that lathe. I keep saying lathe. That's pottering.
Tim: pot.
Giles: I've got a potting shed. I'm going to go pot in the potter shed. Now, if I wanted
Tim: But I think it
Giles: to take up pottery and I had a potter's wheel in the potting shed and I only went into fiddle, then it would be... pottering in the potting shed with the pottery.
Tim: Yes, it would. That would be, I would
Giles: I'm not sure what road down we're going there but.
Tim: be a potter rather than pottering.
Giles: You could also take up snooker and be a different type of potter. I think you will. Sorry.
Tim: Very good. could do, is watching a Harry Potter film pottering as well?
Giles: Nice. You know, I was always really into writing down lists of stuff, top tens of stuff. Harry does that a lot now, still. Top 10 this, top 10 that, top 10 the other. And that's kind of, yes,
Tim: Your top tens. Your top tens.
Giles: mine. Yeah. Yeah. So it's pottering through the archive. mean, yeah. There's
Tim: You've got a big archive to potter through there.
Giles: an archive to potter through. And the good thing is, here you go. Right. So if you've actually completed something like that. What I might do then is go back to that list and tinker with it.
Tim: because but
Giles: It's because it's a thing that's already there to, it's not that complex though, is it?
Tim: It's a, you're adjusting. A tinkering involves minor adjustments in my view. Possibly, possibly.
Giles: okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm not sure though. I'm not sure a life beyond work can be completely fulfilling if today
Tim: if you put.
Giles: I'm just going to aimlessly in a relaxed and pleasant way potter.
Tim: not full time. But I think
Giles: Wow.
Tim: it's got a part to play. do think it's got a part to play. It's got a part to play.
Giles: It has. It has. Is it part of the plan? Have you you have you puttered at all? This is the last few.
Tim: I I think the short answer is yes. There's
Giles: Right.
Tim: been some pottering. mean, yesterday I saw pottering. Well, I'll throw this out there. I'll be interested in your thoughts, Giles. Yesterday,
Giles: Yes.
Tim: as you're aware, we've had some minor work done we needed to go into Kingston yesterday to buy some objeda. There was a light list.
Giles: He's grounding this pod into a very particular audience, isn't it?
Tim: We went into Kingston to go and buy, we had two or three things that we needed to buy, but the specifics were very open. So Wednesday, we went in on a Wednesday morning to,
Giles: Yes.
Tim: Kingston and.
Giles: lots of old people around.
Tim: Well, there was some live pottering going on.
Giles: I mean, it's like old people. What's the good, right?
Tim: I think I would describe what I saw yesterday as people pottering. I may well have been part of that demographic pottering because there was, as always, when it's a really nice time to go shopping in Kingston on a Wednesday morning, it's not very busy. We got distracted by things, know, we ambled about.
Giles: Mm. Mm. Mm. All shambled, perhaps.
Tim: We all shambled about, we dilly-dallied about the shops with a vague plan of what we wanted to look at for buying house accoutrements. But there was definitely a demographic of potterers, which
Giles: Mm.
Tim: is probably the reason why the large department stores, I would estimate now 15 % of their floor space is given over to your cafe.
Giles: season.
Tim: It being Kingston upon Thames in Surrey,
Giles: Mm.
Tim: the Rose Bar, the
Giles: Mm.
Tim: Sushi Bar,
Giles: Mm-hmm.
Tim: the, you your John Lewis Cafe, your Feniks have got
Giles: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Tim: a couple of different places where you can get a cup of cappuccino, et cetera, which we're doing trade, which we're doing some trade, you know, but there was.
Giles: Good. That's excellent.
Tim: there was some live pottering going on. Obviously,
Giles: Right.
Tim: it was slightly distracting that there was quite so much Christmas stuff on show, but
Giles: Yeah, already, of course.
Tim: that's the world we live in. I did see, I saw something in thought of you. I know we'll very soon in the next month or so be getting into the advent calendar discussion and season.
Giles: Yes, already, already sorted.
Tim: The Goodyear, TK Maxx, the Goodyear, no, no, no, no, in the Christmas
Giles: TK Max Advent Calendar I see,
Tim: jumble sale that is TK Maxx or the jumble sale that is TK Maxx in the Christmas shelves, the Goodyear Advent Calendar, delivers,
Giles: as in major tyre manufacturers.
Tim: correct, which delivers a 24 piece socket set.
Giles: Let me write that down. Is it available
Tim: Get that on the list.
Giles: online? Are you asking for... Is this what... what... The Goodyear.
Tim: Everything's available online. I have no need for a 24 piece socket set.
Giles: I'm absolutely at a wits end as to why you think I might want one, need one, have one.
Tim: I thought you might find that amusing. one of your sons might be interested in that for their advent calendar.
Giles: One of them possibly, the other absolutely not. In terms of practicalities, as I think you know.
Tim: I'm aware but I think it might raise a smile.
Giles: Merry Christmas.
Tim: You
Giles: brilliant. The Beavertown Advent Cat. What? 24 people. Cool. Only 24? You mean there isn't one to open on the 25th?
Tim: I didn't look closely, I should have looked more closely. I didn't even, I've not even got a per
Giles: I would assume there's a piece per month per day.
Tim: day, which is a 24. And is
Giles: Peace.
Tim: the 25th the ratchet handle to put it
Giles: the actual ratcheting thing.
Tim: on?
Giles: this has got that that's it.
Tim: That's a thing.
Giles: But to have that would enable you to tinker rather than to potter. And to
Tim: Correct.
Giles: potter about with your 24p socket set.
Tim: Well, you've had to potter about to get to the point of having a 24. Now there's an example of distraction on the shot. Was I pottering there in TK Maxx?
Giles: No, I don't think you were. I think there was... You were... You were moving around without hurrying in a relaxed, pleasant and aimless way. Yes? okay.
Tim: It wasn't quite aimless, it wasn't quite aimless, but it was very relaxed.
Giles: Yes, yes, yes, yes.
Tim: That was, that was, that was some...
Giles: sure if it doesn't tick all of those three if we're generally agreeing that that definition of pottering is right if you one of those if you were in a relaxed and aimless way but it wasn't particularly pleasant would you be relaxed possibly it's not really pottering I can't I'm cool about this
Tim: I'm not sure I could ever.
Giles: it's a bit of a task I've got to do it's you know what we're doing I'm I'm filing matches or I'm shuffling hard drives. I'm only saying that because there's one there.
Tim: But I was getting very easily distracted when we were shopping, when we went to the shops. There were lots of...
Giles: That's understandable. It's torture. I don't think I could do it anymore. that just can't buy it online if it doesn't work send it back
Tim: Well, I think if when I would I 100 % agree with you, but now now we have more time on our hands It's an
Giles: Yeah.
Tim: infinitely more pleasant experience on a Wednesday morning than it is on a Saturday or a Sunday
Giles: That is true.
Tim: and I Obviously, I'm the same as you buy so much stuff online, but there is There is some stuff you need to lay hands on I think
Giles: Your object are.
Tim: your bits for the shelf in the kitchen, the bits for
Giles: yeah. Yeah.
Tim: lampshades. You can look at a
Giles: True.
Tim: lampshade online, you've, having been through this, we
Giles: Yeah, you can't be certain until you've stared it down, have you, caressed it.
Tim: were talking about this. One of the reasons we went on Wednesday, we had to return some stuff to John Lewis, which had been delivered, which was the wrong thing, yeah.
Giles: there you go. There you go. Yeah.
Tim: Now obviously we could have returned it online, but may as well go in there. But we have had to return a lot of stuff because we haven't, it was something to do. to get out. And
Giles: Be honest, you just wanted to trip out. You just wanted to trip out. Something to do. Something to do. Something to
Tim: you know, it was a lovely day and
Giles: Mm.
Tim: you can take the dog in all these places now, which is another thing that has developed.
Giles: Yeah I can see that and I'm still not sure why you'd want to but because it's easier than living in a home I suppose.
Tim: But I would say, definitely, but I would say that the majority of people out and about Wednesday morning in Kingston were
Giles: Mm.
Tim: definitely retired, definitely retired. There was probably roughly about 20 % Neats, 10 % Charity Chuggers. One busker stairway to heaven, stairway to heaven of course.
Giles: Excellent, brilliant, interesting. what still amazes me with that is, and I get it, know, pottering about having some purpose, being relaxed and amiable, in an amiable way, amiable and aimless, pleasant to just nip down the shops, change that lamp, get that thing, ooh. We'll nip into that shop on the corner
Tim: because why don't we just...
Giles: that sells Blue John or something and we'll get a couple of bits for the... Could have got that off a beach maybe. Anyway, so why do the retirees in this world see fit to go and do that very same thing on a Saturday afternoon?
Tim: drives me insane. It used to drive me insane. I don't wanna
Giles: Yeah.
Tim: be here on a Saturday. I genuinely couldn't think of anything
Giles: No.
Tim: worse than going to John Lewis on a Saturday and you've got all
Giles: Yeah there's our in our plan in our week. I'm looking forward to getting out Saturday morning. I've got to have a
Tim: Yeah,
Giles: coffee.
Tim: yeah, go and have a coffee. Comes back.
Giles: where everybody else is running around, you've got any number of school kids coming back from school, football, golf, cricket, games, you've got people getting out, dogs, they're good. What? It's extraordinary, extraordinary.
Tim: And then come back and complain that it's really busy. Couldn't get car parking space.
Giles: Really? a surprise.
Tim: So I would recommend, why don't you try, you
Giles: Pottering.
Tim: and your good lady, try pottering in the shops. Trafford Centre on a weekday morning.
Giles: I could, it's not gonna happen mate. It's, that's, that's a torture. No. To do, to do what? To get what? Yes.
Tim: To what end?
Giles: I think the pottering thing is actually a really important thing to be able to lose yourself for 30 minutes, half an hour. it's half an hour, same thing. Lose yourself in something that's not, it's just a nice thing to do. I'm just gonna go and do that for a bit. But it's as well as, or in addition to, or it's, if the future said you're gonna potter, I wouldn't potter, because I'd need to have something else to do, which I think
Tim: You need to
Giles: is the thing to explore in a bit more detail.
Tim: You can't you can't 100 % potter.
Giles: You can, but blimey, the pictures need straightening more than once every six months, you're living on a fault line, or you didn't hang them right in the first place. These albums need straightening every now and again. The challenge there, and I do potter a little bit with those, as you will see, we've now got three of Deep Purple's early works, Fireball and...
Tim: This is really good for an audio only format.
Giles: Fireball, yes, of course it is audio anyway. Behind me I do have some albums hanging up. Deep Purple Rock, Fireball and Machine Head in a plastic wallet, not obscure.
Tim: for the listener, obscure prog rock albums.
Giles: Deep Purple.
Tim: That is obscure to me.
Giles: You've heard of Deep Purple. We're not expecting you to know
Tim: Yes, I've heard something.
Giles: them.
Tim: How many, how many Deep Purple Vinyls do you own?
Giles: That's now five. One's a compilation, obscure compilation. One is.
Tim: You've just, so it is obscure.
Giles: No, the compilation's obscure. I didn't say the band was obscure.
Tim: No, but your record collection has got some.
Giles: Well, it has got some very generic stuff, but it's also got some odd stuff.
Tim: I think your record collection is something that you could sink a lot of time into.
Giles: plenty of time. Absolutely. I mean, they are strewn around the place and could do with some order. And that probably that's a combination of pottering to get them into some sort of order and then tinkering with that order.
Tim: And will you order them by, why haven't you done that already? Why haven't you done that in the last 50 years or 40 years or 30 years?
Giles: Well, have this, where the majority of the ones that I bought when I was younger is in a trunk down here and they are alphabetic, they're in alphabetical order.
Tim: Untouched, basically. Yeah, okay.
Giles: A lot of them are, yeah. They've got that musty library smell about them, which is great. Everything else that I've bought, there's a case down here, there's all my dad's stuff over there. There's another 50 or so strewn around here and seven, six, seven there behind me. They're in all sorts of disarray.
Tim: So, okay, so have you got time next week to tackle that task?
Giles: I've got time in about 10 minutes to be honest. I have got time. for the next, for the next version
Tim: for next week.
Giles: of this. Quite possibly. Yes. Just something to talk about. Well, I'll
Tim: just to give us just something to talk about Christ.
Giles: tell you what I'm interested in then. This has been the Potter to Potter or not to Potter. And I think there's possibly, if anybody is listening to this and there are any comments and we've had a couple.
Tim: for two comments.
Giles: Two comments. If anybody's got any comments and say, I'd actually quite be interested to hear about this particular type of potting, pottery,
Tim: POTSY!
Giles: pottering about. Not pottery. Yes, I'm really, I do like the ceramic period that the Moorcroft went through and I'm very much tree and ware or something.
Tim: Yes. And I'm into, I've written some Harry Potter fan fiction. In
Giles: that kind of potter. I see what you've done there.
Tim: the Potterverse or the Pottermore or whatever they're called.
Giles: If, so it's less about the potter, yeah, we were all potter, given the opportunity to. But what's going to fill up most of the time? What's going to be? Does it need to have, do you need to have something to fill the time? Because.
Tim: Well, think pottering is a skill. I don't think everybody's got that skill.
Giles: No, that's true. That's true. That's true.
Tim: I think it's something that can be developed. You shouldn't be embarrassed about pottering in this period of our lives.
Giles: No.
Tim: I think you need to embrace it to a certain extent and learn.
Giles: I
Tim: to lean into it because I think it's a valid
Giles: think agreed.
Tim: thing to do at not all day, every day, in my opinion, although you could have a go at it if you're an expert in pottering,
Giles: Well, I think we've...
Tim: I suppose you could have a go at it because you would achieve stuff. Do you need to achieve stuff?
Giles: Yes, but in the light of it being... the key thing I think about the definition to get back to that is it's in an aimless way. There's no real discernible outcome other than a little bit of... that picture's straight now. That is a relief. It's a little weird, that, surely. It's when does things like potter... probably... When do things like pottering or tinkering... lead you down the path of this is a DIY situation now.
Tim: This is a hobby. This is a DIY project situation.
Giles: Well, DIY and hobbies, that's obviously different, slightly different things.
Tim: That's right.
Giles: when could I, is it something, you want to go down the DIY route? That sounds fraught with danger, given I have a very dear friend who's always been wonderful when it comes to helping me out with that sort of stuff.
Tim: You could develop your DIY skills though. That would be something too.
Giles: That just sounds painful. I mean, disappointing, costly. Why didn't you let me do that? You should have had
Tim: Hmm.
Giles: XYZ do it.
Tim: It's not straight.
Giles: Yes! That hinge is still making a noise. You clearly put the wrong oil on it. Right, okay, brilliant. I don't mind furniture assembly. That's fine when there are really clear instructions. I'm all over that. All over that.
Tim: I like for, yeah, no, I'm a big fan of hunkering down with an Ikea self-assembly stuff. I like that.
Giles: or other self assembly providers are available. And we don't need to do that, do we? We don't need to.
Tim: No, we're not on a public service broadcasting network as far as I'm aware.
Giles: Well, think, I think, I think, think pottering, I mean, potterings in, it's a given, we're going to potter. I do now. I'm just thinking
Tim: We do now, but I did.
Giles: earlier, there's some hinges at the back I need to have a look at. At I think it was a hinge.
Tim: I can't get the hinges out of my head now. I think it's a skill that you've got to develop because with the best will in the world.
Giles: Oiling a hinge? It's not a skill, pottering.
Tim: Oiling a hinge slash, slash pottering slash pottering, brackets general needs to be developed because you've.
Giles: Well, I think there is an interesting point, sorry to interrupt my adding, there's an entry point with pottering. But there has to be a moment of self-reflection to say, am I now in faffing? Am I in fannying? And have I actually, this pottering has actually got stopped now and I've got to go doing something of worth because effectively I'm
Tim: Stop faffing about and potter.
Giles: avoiding doing something else.
Tim: spent a lifetime avoiding doing something else.
Giles: But you're all the better for it, mate. You're all the better for it.
Tim: Thanks. Thanks.
Giles: Yeah, there's nothing wrong with avoiding doing stuff at all. It's just when the expectation is that somebody else will do it. And we're right back in the room. Yeah.
Tim: And we are back in the room. Is pottering a way of avoiding boredom? Do you ever feel bored?
Giles: Sometimes I feel like I've actually not really done a lot today. I've kind of a bit wasted the day and I don't want to feel like a waste today.
Tim: we're digging into purpose now.
Giles: Are we?
Tim: That's another episode.
Giles: And so it should be. I mean, to be honest, have you seen the time?
Tim: Mmm.
Giles: I'm assuming you're going to edit this down, we're not going to go for an hour of this. I mean it's been hard enough,
Tim: price. Of course I'm going to wait to tip down the amount of
Giles: it's been hard enough hanging on for dear life so far.
Tim: Yeah, somehow there's gotta be 40 minutes in here.
Giles: Will you be able to...
Tim: I think I can find 40 minutes.
Giles: I'm sure you'll able to potter around with it. No, sorry. Tinker with it. Tinker with it.
Tim: No, tinker. It's not, editing this is definitely not pottering, it's tinkering. 100%.
Giles: Some would argue it's open heart surgery, mate.
Tim: well, you're gonna...
Giles: I'm going to get at it with a scythe. Not that you do
Tim: 100 %
Giles: open art surgery with a scythe, that would be ridiculous of course, but it does need some serious work.
Tim: That would be some, it needs some blunt trauma, definitely. Definitely.
Giles: You're gonna hit it with a hammer, right?
Tim: Definitely. But it's been nice to get some feedback from the first episode, I thought, from the listener, from both listeners,
Giles: Yes, I mean there was a... from both sides, from the listener.
Tim: so Golf has reared its ugly head.
Giles: Yeah, well, he would, wouldn't he? We know who's made that comment.
Tim: I know golf is... we're gonna have an episode on golf because I think we've got a...
Giles: We are, we might even have to think about inviting a guest onto that. Well, we'll see because it could descend into absolute. Yeah.
Tim: Golf It's the elephant in the room. I've never played,
Giles: It is. No.
Tim: but let's not get into golf, but that's definitely on the agenda for a future app.
Giles: It is.
Tim: What other comments did we get? You got,
Giles: Ronnie Corbett like.
Tim: Ronnie Corbett was strong. Yeah. God rest in peace.
Giles: Ronnie Corbett like waffle. Regular slot, essential album listening. That sort of recommendation, what would you like to, you know, is a...
Tim: Yeah. Quotes, here's my quote, I actually
Giles: I don't want it. Yeah.
Tim: rather enjoyed that. You two have a good style and level of banter.
Giles: That sounds like something really really surprised and reluctant to say so. Do you know what? I'm
Tim: Okay, so that was the positive.
Giles: surprised I actually enjoyed that. I didn't expect to I think it's really interesting stuff and really good and it's great and we're very grateful for any comments. think what I don't... yeah, constructive.
Tim: Any comments, any suggestions? Constructive suggestions.
Giles: I think we need to find a regular part of the show. I don't want this
Tim: It's a show, is it?
Giles: to become a grumpy old man moaning about the world.
Tim: I don't think we've been, or maybe we have. Maybe we have been grumpy. We've been
Giles: No no no, I didn't say that we did, I just said...
Tim: grumpy about OAPs going shopping on a Saturday.
Giles: Well, I think there's an interesting thing because we're talking about retirement and we will
Tim: just and well there you go.
Giles: be, I will be a pensioner officially in a few years, you several years away from that, but you'll still get to that. But I don't see us in that category. I don't see us in an OAP category. I just see us with
Tim: Yet.
Giles: a, yet, I think with a very fortunate, in a very fortunate position
Tim: Very.
Giles: of being able to talk about not doing a proper job. which is effectively what we're talking about and being
Tim: basically.
Giles: able to. What does that mean? Should we be doing... The answer could be we actually should still be doing a proper job. I don't know yet. I don't know yet. I hope it's not. yeah, true, true, true, true, true.
Tim: But it might be a proper job, well, that's around purpose. It's what we do now. mean, you talk about proper job. mean, maybe the job that has been your career for the last, as you said in the last episode, 40 years, which is insane. It's doing less of that.
Giles: Well it's just disappointing isn't it really?
Tim: This phase of life
Giles: Yeah. Yeah.
Tim: could be active. This active element of this phase of life is just another 20 years.
Giles: Yes, and you have completely. Yeah, really.
Tim: Well people, Winston
Giles: Yeah, they do, don't they? Yeah.
Tim: Churchill won the second world war in his mid to late 60s crying out loud. Yeah.
Giles: in his underpants. sorry yeah. Yeah all on his Jack Jones thanks to a couple of decent weather forecasts and America. if you believe what you read.
Tim: And I'm reading a really interesting book about John Maynard Keynes at the moment and his economic theories also made
Giles: Bye.
Tim: winning the Second World War possible.
Giles: Did he invent the new term?
Tim: I haven't
Giles: Different Keynes. It's a different Keynes, that, innit?
Tim: read the whole book yet, but I don't think that's what he's mostly known for.
Giles: is he? You see this is
Tim: the roundabout.
Giles: is this is another interesting thing because I used to read voraciously when I was younger a lot of it was factual stuff information atlases lists of records films and the stuff yeah yeah yeah
Tim: That's another topic. That's, hold that thought's another ret.
Giles: I'm saying absolutely I was going to say the very same you're a voracious consumer of the written word whereas I'm not anymore so there's a book of the month There's a record of the week. There's a writer of the year. There's an artist of the day. There's a film of the week.
Tim: I'm a reader, but I'm a reader at a very specific time, which is in bed.
Giles: And well, that's for another pod.
Tim: Well, one of the things I've been thinking on that reading topic, one of the things is why not read in the day? Why not read for an hour? There's no good reason not to.
Giles: Yeah, surely, surely in amongst the the object you have in the house, the moment you can find space for a reading corner.
Tim: we have a reading corner. But I don't,
Giles: There you go.
Tim: and it's not to say I've never read during the day, but it's not something that's part of the
Giles: Hoover.
Tim: pan-uvra.
Giles: Pantheon.
Tim: punch in.
Giles: That's wrong.
Tim: Okay, Giles, so should we, probably.
Giles: been very good, probably. Now if we've still got two listeners at the end of this, we're laughing.
Tim: We are laughing. Thanks Giles. I'm going to stop the recording now. Right, I'm going to stop it now.
Giles: God, that's been an absolute miracle if you can get anything out of that. Well done, mate, excellent. All the best.
