Cony Caravotas

WEBVTT
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Hi, I'm Connie Caravotis and this is Neutral Zone.
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Hi Connie, morning.
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Welcome to Neutral Zone.
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Morning, friend.
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Lovely to see you.
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This is iconic.
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This is the best uh setting I've had for yet for a pretty epic something.
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It's gorgeous.
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I've never been down here.
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Yeah.
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And such a sunny day.
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The uh the peer gets a bit hairy in a couple of hours on a Saturday morning on a sunny day.
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And it's pride, so you're in for it today.
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Perfectly, didn't I?
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You really did.
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I do.
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No, beautiful.
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Should have bought you a little flag.
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Yeah.
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Oh, we should have uh should have come in full dress up and well, I'm I'm an almost 50-year-old woman.
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I have some sequence somewhere in my cupboard, definitely.
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We could have.
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It is.
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It's a it's a hang up I've had my whole life.
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My dad, lovely man, but um he he spelt my name Coney, and I've been Coney ever since.
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Um even in in primary school when I get awards at school, Coney, and I was there for eight years and another six years in high school, whatever it was, and it was Coney, Coney, Coney.
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My dad is uh well, is an immigrant Greek from Greece, went to South Africa, and I think my Greek name was a little bit too long for the then Afrikaans apartheid authorities, and he had to shorten it.
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My Greek name is Konstantina.
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Oh, gorgeous.
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And he had to shorten it, and he shortened it to Connie, and obviously English wasn't his first language, so he he said C-O-N-Y, so it's just I love that.
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There's a story behind it though.
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Yeah.
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So you're half Greek.
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I'm full Greek.
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Full Greek.
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But born in South Africa to Greek parents.
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My mum and my dad were uh immigrant Greeks.
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They arrived in the 70s, and I grew up there, went to university there, and moved to the UK straight after uni, really.
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So this year I would have been here longer than I have been was in South Africa.
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Ah.
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This is my 25th anniversary of being in the UK.
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And have you always been in Brighton?
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No, actually.
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Um, I arrived two days after 9-11.
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Ah.
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I know.
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I flew on the 13th of September.
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I was petrified, just leaving my family, my then boyfriend, my sisters.
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Um, and two days before that, there was just like a worldwide drama and you know, um atrocity.
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And I arrived on the 14th of September 2001 at Heathrow and went to Barnes.
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Oh, London.
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London.
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Nice bit of London as well.
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Yeah, beautiful part of London.
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Um, I stayed with a couple of family friends for a little bit, a couple of months.
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They were all boys.
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It was a little bit different to what I'd grown up with and experienced.
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And um didn't last very long.
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And then a mutual friend of mine um in South Africa said, Why don't you why don't you hook up with this girl Kelly and and see if you want to move in with her?
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And we went out for a few drinks, and that was it.
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We were just like, I'm I'm sorry, boys, I'm I'm moving out, I've found a new flatmate.
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And then I moved to um Tulls Hill.
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Um at the time I couldn't practice dentistry, so I was uh preparing for the the then statutory examination, the IQE.
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Okay, because she'd graduated elsewhere.
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I graduated in South Africa, and actually the um the year I graduated was the first year that we couldn't come into the UK without sitting exams.
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So the year before, anyone who graduated from my university in South Africa could just come in and work as a normal.
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What was that exam like?
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It was tough.
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Took me two years.
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Really?
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Yeah.
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Um I I worked as a dental nurse initially, which I hated every minute of it.
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I'm nice to my dental nurses because of that.
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Yeah, yeah.
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And then that was for like six months, I think, maybe a little bit longer.
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I sat the first exam.
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I failed the first exam, bearing in mind I disqualified, so everything was kind of fresh in my mind.
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Um, but I still failed it.
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I think it was just like the trauma of leaving.
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Yeah, there's a lot going on for you in that period.
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It's intense, isn't it?
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It's really intense.
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New home, London's big.
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Never really gone anywhere, you know.
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I had done a uh sabbatical, what, like an exchange programme the year before we went to Leeds University with my clinical partner and Bestie, who I'm still very good friends with.
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Yeah.
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Um, Bina, and and then I just knew I wanted to come to the UK after that stint.
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Um what you what what drew you to the UK?
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What did you like about it?
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Well, not the weather, but today the weather.
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I don't know.
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It's gorgeous.
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I grew up reading these books, um, these these romance novels that were set in the UK a lot.
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And it was, I don't know, it's not in Leeds, right?
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Not Leeds, no.
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Well, I loved Leeds.
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Yeah, oh no.
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Oh, it was so it's so it at the time it was so edgy, wasn't it?
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Like got my first nose piercing in Leeds.
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It was really painful.
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It's like, oh, what the hell have I done?
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How's it different to home?
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Oh, it's very different to home.
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Very different.
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The weather for one, the space.
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Did it feel like a like romantic?
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Slightly.
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No.
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Not really.
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Not not initially.
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Just in when I met my husband and who wasn't my husband, obviously, until much later, but I I met him quite quickly actually after coming.
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Met him in 2002 while I was waitressing.
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In London.
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In London, yeah, I was I was a waitress at Gourmet Pizza Company Canary Wolf.
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I just couldn't nurse anymore.
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Yeah, yeah.
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Um, apart from working as a temp nurse, so you'd wake up and someone would say, go there, go there, go there.
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It was quite hectic.
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I don't know how locum nurses do it, you know.
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New surgery every day, uh, new dentists.
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We all work so differently, don't we?
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You find dentists are quite sort of protective when they find out you're a dentist, even though I knew nothing.
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I was just newly qualified.
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Listen, mate, I'm not judging you.
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I absolutely know nothing.
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Give me the drill.
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Just give me the drill.
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Yeah.
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So I thought I'm gonna do something different, something I've never done before.
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I've been a waitress.
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And I was waitressing at Gourmet Pizza Company, my beautiful friend Claire, who has actually gone back to South Africa, she said, just come work with me.
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I knew nothing about waitressing.
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I was really clumsy as well.
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So I was the worst waitress never.
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But loved it.
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And then one day I see this like really good-looking guy walking across the glass front of gourmet pizza company, swearing dark glasses, and he just looked really hot.
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Like, almost like Brad Pitt, but don't tell him I said that.
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Oh shit, this is going live, isn't it?
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And I was like, oh, who's that guy?
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And he lands up coming into work.
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So we just became really good friends.
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In fact, we'd both just gone through a heartbreak.
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So there was no sort of intention.
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And we just became really good friends.
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Um, he'd throw corks at me and make fun of me.
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I'd sew his trousers.
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He'd sew his trousers.
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Yeah.
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The one day I embroidered his initial in the pocket of his trousers just for fun.
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And he's like, what the hell have you done?
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Oh.
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Yeah.
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That's the sweetest thing.
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He's a sweet guy.
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What does he do?
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Not a dentist.
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No, he's not a dentist.
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He's a house husband.
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Can I say that?
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Yeah.
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It's a house husband.
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Nice.
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Yeah, so we I mean, it wasn't all hearts and flowers.
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Just get fence.
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Yeah.
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No.
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And we broke up several times in the year that we the years that we lived in in London.
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And then in 2009, I got this absolutely amazing opportunity to to become a partner in a practice.
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It was just like handed to me on a silver platter, and I couldn't say no.
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Um, so and that was in Crawley, and I tried to commute from Clapham.
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It just wasn't possible.
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So trains every day.
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Yeah.
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I actually try to drive it through Stratham and Pearley and the A23.
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It was how.
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Um and my sister lived down here.
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She lived in a little village just outside of Brighton.
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And I just thought, well, I wasn't ready for village life yet.
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So I thought, well, Brighton's the the closest thing.
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So we came to see Brighton together, Jim and I, and just fell in love with it.
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It felt like I was on holiday.
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Coming out the station and just meandering down the little lanes and and then getting to this eventually.
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That's what I like this morning.
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I came out and it's just downhill and you can see the sea straight away and just walk into the sea.
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Uh it's there's just something about it.
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Fresh air.
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Yeah.
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And in fact, you know, we we've moved around Brighton a little bit.
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But when we eventually bought a flat, we bought on one of the perpendicular roads to the beach in Hove.
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And that was the best time of my day was coming home and seeing the sea right in front of me.
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It's just there's just something about it.
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It's something rounding, isn't there?
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Like the tide and everything.
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Yeah.
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Absolutely.
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So relaxing is that here.
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I don't come here as much as we used to.
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We've moved out now.
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We've kind of moved up towards the hill.
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But the boys come in.
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My boys come, they come, they're they're starting to venture on their own now on the buses and the beaches and it's an exciting time of your life, isn't it?
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It's exciting, it's worrying.
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Um, thank God for phones.
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I'm just constantly like, where are they?
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At least we have phones now.
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Yeah.
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I remember I'm not it makes me sound really old, going to town for the first time with my friend being given some 20 p.m.
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20 pen.
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For the phone box.
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Yeah.
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Call me.
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Yeah, call me.
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I mean, actually, it it has just gone so quickly, hasn't it?
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Because I remember when I first came here in 2001, I had to call my parents from phone boxes.
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I did have a phone, but it was so expensive to get in touch.
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Buy international calling cards and you know it was really tricky.
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And now I speak to them every day on fate and I see them every day on WhatsApp.
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Makes it a lot easier.
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FaceTime, whatever WhatsApp call, really.
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Used to commute to work every day from here to Crawley, drive 20 miles there, 20 miles back, and and the first thing I'd do is call my sister.
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That was my like first call of the day.
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She'd keep the company on the way to work.
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I miss that a little bit because that was our time together.
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Now I live and work here.
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You know, it's just is it just you and your sister?
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Are there three of you?
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I have three beautiful sisters.
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So there's four girls.
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Four girls.
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And then you've had boys.
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I have had boys, and they've all had boys except for one who's had two girls.
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They're all kind of spaced out, but they're they're all quite close, you know, they're so lovely.
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And you see a lot of your sisters?
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Um, not as much as I'd like.
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That's the toughest part of being here.
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I'd love to see them obviously every day, but make a little bit more effort.
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We try and go to South Africa once a year, but it's becoming increasingly difficult because the cost of going back there is just astronomical, and we want to go at Christmas time, or we're tied in with the school holidays.
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Um, but we try and make an effort at least.
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We're meeting in Greece the next 10 days.
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Nice.
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So you go back to the motherland.
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Whereabouts in Greece are your parents from?
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Uh, my dad's my both they're both from the Peloponnesio mainland.
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My mom's from Corinth, near the Corinth Canal.
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Lovely little town, city.
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Uh city, I think it's a city.
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Do you speak Greek?
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I do.
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I do speak Greek.
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Not like brilliantly, but I, you know, well I used to go to Greek school twice a week.
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That reminds me of the film My Big Frat Greek.
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So it's exactly like that.
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There's quite a big Greek community in South Africa.
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So we grew up in a little town, and every town has its own Greek community church, community hall.
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I think a lot of people have left, but people are coming back because it's not screening on the other side.
00:13:59.759 --> 00:14:08.960
Um, so my sisters live in just live in Johannesburg in a suburb of Johannesburg, and the kids go to a Greek private school.
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So the main language is Greek, Saheti.
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It's amazing.
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It's quite a strange phenomenon because they they're Greek, but they're also really South African.
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Yeah, that comes into my first question that you usually ask everybody is how much of your identity is tied to being a dentist?
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But then you've got the cub so many different cultures as part of you.
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Must absolutely quite a big part.
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Your identity from South Africa being Greek.
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Yeah.
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Absolutely.
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And we grew up really Greek.
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My parents were really strict.
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Four girls, you know, really reinde.
00:14:48.000 --> 00:14:52.799
I married a British man, and that was that was not like that was wild enough.
00:14:52.960 --> 00:14:54.799
That was wild enough, absolutely.
00:14:54.960 --> 00:14:56.240
And it really was, you know.
00:14:56.399 --> 00:15:02.240
I mean, they absolutely adore him, but it was tough at first, and I was petrified to tell them.
00:15:02.480 --> 00:15:02.960
Really?
00:15:03.200 --> 00:15:05.120
I really was, and I don't know why.
00:15:05.440 --> 00:15:10.399
Because I left them when they were still quite strict.
00:15:11.200 --> 00:15:14.799
And people change, parents change parents often.
00:15:15.519 --> 00:15:16.240
They do.
00:15:16.559 --> 00:15:24.639
And I think in my mind, I was still that little girl, and that's the person they also only knew.
00:15:25.200 --> 00:15:30.960
So I I felt like it was going to be a really tough thing to talk to them about, but it really wasn't.
00:15:32.159 --> 00:15:33.519
And he's still there.
00:15:34.639 --> 00:15:36.399
He was still in a very good condition.
00:15:37.840 --> 00:15:39.440
He's still there, absolutely.
00:15:39.519 --> 00:15:40.960
And we have two beautiful boys.
00:15:41.200 --> 00:15:42.240
How old are they now?
00:15:42.399 --> 00:15:43.679
Uh 13 and 11.
00:15:45.039 --> 00:15:46.879
Really interesting times.
00:15:49.200 --> 00:15:52.879
Would you encourage them to do dentistry?
00:15:53.519 --> 00:15:54.240
Of course.
00:15:54.960 --> 00:15:56.000
Probably not.
00:15:56.799 --> 00:15:59.360
Um only because of who they are.
00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:06.480
So I think both of them, it probably wouldn't suit them both to do dentistry.
00:16:07.919 --> 00:16:12.799
Maybe the little one, he's he's a lot more uh detail oriented.
00:16:13.519 --> 00:16:15.200
It's a beautiful career, right?
00:16:15.519 --> 00:16:16.720
I love being a dentist.
00:16:17.440 --> 00:16:20.399
Go back to identity.
00:16:20.720 --> 00:16:22.960
That is my identity, I think.
00:16:23.440 --> 00:16:29.519
I don't know what else I'm obviously I'm a mum, I'm a wife, I'm a homemaker.
00:16:30.080 --> 00:16:35.679
But really who am I if I'm not a dentist?
00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:37.679
It's a difficult question, isn't it?
00:16:37.759 --> 00:16:38.000
Yeah.
00:16:38.720 --> 00:16:42.799
It takes up so much of your mind space, I think.
00:16:43.039 --> 00:16:46.080
It's impossible for it not to be a part of your identity.
00:16:47.039 --> 00:16:48.799
And you don't want it to be everything either.
00:16:49.120 --> 00:16:50.639
You don't want it to be everything.
00:16:50.879 --> 00:17:01.360
But then I also think that I've I've met associates in my life where they just do the bare minimum, you know, get through it.
00:17:02.639 --> 00:17:08.079
So take it as a job, rather than I don't know how you can do that either.
00:17:08.400 --> 00:17:20.480
Because there is so much out there in dentistry, so much potential, so much to learn, so much to, you know, change in the way you practice and develop yourself and offer.
00:17:20.559 --> 00:17:26.480
And like I don't know how you could get one of those that the more you put in, the more you get out of it.
00:17:26.640 --> 00:17:27.039
Yeah.
00:17:27.200 --> 00:17:36.400
Um, which again is why it ends up taking so much mind space, because you you w once you're down that rabbit hole, you you're doing more and more on the side, aren't you?
00:17:36.559 --> 00:17:41.359
And you are um it's hard to know when to say, okay, I'm that's enough.
00:17:41.519 --> 00:17:41.680
Enough.
00:17:41.839 --> 00:17:42.880
I'm good enough.
00:17:43.200 --> 00:17:44.160
But that's the thing.
00:17:44.319 --> 00:17:48.160
Things change and develop all the time that you can't you can't really stop.
00:17:49.119 --> 00:17:49.599
Can you?
00:17:49.759 --> 00:17:50.240
I don't know.
00:17:50.559 --> 00:17:52.240
And maybe that's the beauty of it.
00:17:52.400 --> 00:17:52.960
Yeah.
00:17:53.279 --> 00:17:57.599
That it changes and you evolve with it and it evolves with you as you get older.
00:17:57.759 --> 00:18:04.319
I I had this thought the other day because I I do think as dentists, we are a little bit egocentric about that.
00:18:04.559 --> 00:18:08.799
I think all careers you have to do CPD and develop and change.
00:18:09.039 --> 00:18:10.559
It's not just us.
00:18:11.279 --> 00:18:13.680
I think ours costs more than most.
00:18:14.400 --> 00:18:15.279
Agreed.
00:18:16.559 --> 00:18:19.440
Just add a zero on oh, they're dentists.
00:18:20.480 --> 00:18:22.480
Let's just make that a little bit more expensive.
00:18:22.640 --> 00:18:25.759
There's this PTFE tape that I was checking out.
00:18:26.000 --> 00:18:27.200
I know how sad.
00:18:29.119 --> 00:18:30.240
On a Friday evening.
00:18:30.480 --> 00:18:31.759
On a Friday evening.
00:18:32.319 --> 00:18:35.440
I think Marcus Splatz posted about it.
00:18:35.759 --> 00:18:37.279
Monster PTFE.
00:18:37.599 --> 00:18:40.000
And I was like googling, it was like 25 pounds.
00:18:40.400 --> 00:18:41.039
Not paying 20.
00:18:41.279 --> 00:18:42.079
Like a plumber's tape.
00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:45.119
No thanks.
00:18:45.839 --> 00:18:47.119
Was it coloured or something?
00:18:47.359 --> 00:18:48.559
It was the blue one, yeah.
00:18:49.440 --> 00:18:50.960
I mean it's cute too, right?
00:18:51.359 --> 00:18:51.599
Yeah.
00:18:51.839 --> 00:18:55.039
And you think, oh, myself.
00:18:55.759 --> 00:18:57.759
Just splurge on some blue page.
00:18:59.680 --> 00:19:01.200
It is never-ending.
00:19:01.440 --> 00:19:05.599
And they're the details, aren't they, that you can go further and further down.
00:19:06.079 --> 00:19:07.279
You travel, don't you?
00:19:07.519 --> 00:19:08.720
Work at different practices.
00:19:08.960 --> 00:19:09.680
I don't, I don't.
00:19:09.759 --> 00:19:10.400
I'm very lucky.
00:19:10.480 --> 00:19:15.440
I'm in the one place and I've just moved, so I walk 10 minutes.
00:19:15.759 --> 00:19:16.240
Brilliant.
00:19:16.400 --> 00:19:16.640
Yeah.
00:19:16.960 --> 00:19:17.519
Four days.
00:19:17.599 --> 00:19:19.519
I feel like I've I've cracked it.
00:19:19.920 --> 00:19:20.880
Cracked the coat.
00:19:21.039 --> 00:19:23.759
I I feel like I'm just starting again.
00:19:24.799 --> 00:19:25.519
Which is fine.
00:19:25.680 --> 00:19:26.799
It's exciting times.
00:19:26.960 --> 00:19:28.640
Um have you just moved?
00:19:28.960 --> 00:19:33.519
So I I owned my practice up until 2022.
00:19:34.480 --> 00:19:35.839
And I sold the practice.
00:19:36.079 --> 00:19:45.039
So I bought in 2009 with my amazing business partner, Emmanuel, and then sold it in 2022.
00:19:45.680 --> 00:19:47.279
I stayed on for three years.
00:19:47.759 --> 00:19:48.720
I had a tie-in.
00:19:49.440 --> 00:19:55.359
But to be honest, yeah, the tie-in- I was always, you know, I was never really thinking of going anywhere.
00:19:56.960 --> 00:20:05.599
You don't really want to sticks and go when you've had patience for that long.
00:20:06.240 --> 00:20:07.920
How long were you there in the end?
00:20:08.240 --> 00:20:09.359
Sixteen years in the end.
00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:11.039
Long time, isn't it?
00:20:11.440 --> 00:20:11.759
Yeah.
00:20:12.160 --> 00:20:19.359
And you see the little ones and now they're older and some of them were bringing their own kids to me, you know?
00:20:19.759 --> 00:20:21.440
And starting to cycle again.
00:20:21.599 --> 00:20:23.359
So it's just a really special place.
00:20:23.599 --> 00:20:26.160
But I I couldn't stay there in the end.
00:20:27.039 --> 00:20:34.640
So I felt the commute after 16 years, you know, it wasn't that bad.
00:20:34.799 --> 00:20:38.480
It's like 40 miles a day, but it was it started enough, isn't it?
00:20:38.640 --> 00:20:39.039
It's enough.
00:20:39.119 --> 00:20:46.480
And then coming home and not being able to find parking, living on a f in a flat on Lansdowne place in Hose.
00:20:46.880 --> 00:20:51.200
Um so it's starting to take its toll, I think.
00:20:52.000 --> 00:20:56.799
Um so yeah, decided to find practices down here.
00:20:57.519 --> 00:21:05.279
And now I work at three different practices, which I always said I didn't want to do, but that's the way it rolls at the moment.
00:21:06.160 --> 00:21:08.640
Do you enjoy the variety though in the week?
00:21:08.880 --> 00:21:10.079
It's so different, Fran.
00:21:10.400 --> 00:21:11.839
I I don't know about the variety.
00:21:11.920 --> 00:21:15.119
I I I find I I travel with boxes, okay?
00:21:15.200 --> 00:21:18.240
And everyone's like, why do you have so much stuff?
00:21:18.559 --> 00:21:23.279
Because I have a selection of matrices that I might need for different situations.
00:21:23.680 --> 00:21:24.799
It's like being a magician, isn't it?
00:21:27.119 --> 00:21:28.640
I've been thinking about a side hustle.
00:21:28.799 --> 00:21:34.640
I need to develop like a travel suitcase for dentists, specifically for dentists.
00:21:35.519 --> 00:21:37.599
Because my type of wear is just on cutting.
00:21:38.000 --> 00:21:39.200
Add a zero onto it.
00:21:42.160 --> 00:21:43.759
But you're a dentist.
00:21:44.079 --> 00:21:44.400
Yeah.
00:21:44.640 --> 00:21:45.279
Try this.
00:21:46.000 --> 00:21:47.279
It's all too common, isn't it?
00:21:47.440 --> 00:21:49.200
Everyone does it who's between the places.
00:21:49.279 --> 00:21:50.960
They've got so much stuff.
00:21:51.519 --> 00:21:51.839
Yeah.
00:21:52.400 --> 00:21:57.759
And I mean, there's certain things that I everyone's just like get get the principal to buy them.
00:21:58.319 --> 00:22:01.119
But as An ex principle.
00:22:01.279 --> 00:22:08.079
I think, you know, if you're going to want to use your stuff, it's fine for them to like replenish the matrices or whatever.
00:22:08.400 --> 00:22:08.720
Yeah.
00:22:09.039 --> 00:22:11.359
Sometimes you have to invest in your own self, you know.
00:22:11.440 --> 00:22:21.119
And these are things that I've built and invested and bought for myself over the years that cost a lot of money and I don't expect anyone to buy them for me.
00:22:21.359 --> 00:22:22.400
Yeah, yeah.
00:22:22.799 --> 00:22:23.680
I'm the same.
00:22:24.240 --> 00:22:25.839
I think there's a limit as well.
00:22:26.000 --> 00:22:34.559
Like you get to a certain point where what you're fancying to use in a case is actually for enjoyment rather than getting the job done.
00:22:34.640 --> 00:22:40.400
And is it fair to expect someone to pay hundreds for you to have a blue PTFE?
00:22:40.640 --> 00:22:40.799
Yeah.
00:22:40.960 --> 00:22:43.519
Or pink disco dam, yeah.
00:22:44.000 --> 00:22:44.960
Gold clamps.
00:22:45.359 --> 00:22:46.240
Gold clamps.
00:22:46.400 --> 00:22:47.119
I haven't got that.
00:22:47.279 --> 00:22:48.480
I do need new clamps.
00:22:48.559 --> 00:22:49.920
Mine are looking a little bit ropey.
00:22:50.240 --> 00:22:53.599
The only thing with the gold ones is they get because it's a soft metal.
00:22:53.680 --> 00:22:55.359
I don't they don't stay very rigid for very long.
00:22:55.680 --> 00:22:56.319
They get looser.
00:22:56.640 --> 00:22:58.400
So I wouldn't make that mistake again.
00:22:58.720 --> 00:22:59.039
Okay.
00:22:59.839 --> 00:23:01.119
But they're pretty.
00:23:02.240 --> 00:23:05.119
And oh, imagine that against the pink discard.
00:23:06.319 --> 00:23:07.680
Gold and pink together.
00:23:07.839 --> 00:23:08.880
Oh, the blue.
00:23:09.119 --> 00:23:09.599
Yeah.
00:23:09.920 --> 00:23:10.880
Ah dear.
00:23:11.200 --> 00:23:13.119
A funny mix of people, aren't we?
00:23:13.440 --> 00:23:13.920
We are.
00:23:15.119 --> 00:23:16.960
What do you love about our job?
00:23:17.599 --> 00:23:18.880
That exactly that.
00:23:19.119 --> 00:23:21.759
The mix of people that you meet on an everyday basis.
00:23:21.920 --> 00:23:29.039
I mean, apart from now meeting so many different colleagues in the different practices that I work at.
00:23:29.920 --> 00:23:39.680
The range of patients and Asmund always says to me, How the hell do you find out so much about your patients when their mouths are supposed to be open?
00:23:39.759 --> 00:23:40.079
You know?
00:23:40.640 --> 00:23:43.680
And don't you find that people just like tell you stuff?
00:23:43.920 --> 00:23:46.559
I think you lay them back and they, you know.
00:23:47.519 --> 00:23:48.480
Like like a shrink.
00:23:48.799 --> 00:23:49.359
Yeah.
00:23:49.599 --> 00:23:51.759
It's like, how are you?
00:23:51.839 --> 00:23:54.559
And it's such a deep question once you're laying down.
00:23:55.920 --> 00:23:59.920
Maybe they take this deep breath and go, someone's listening.
00:24:00.079 --> 00:24:01.359
And Yeah.
00:24:01.599 --> 00:24:03.599
I think it's a busy world now, isn't it?
00:24:03.680 --> 00:24:08.319
And if you stop and you're forced to stop and we've got half an hour with someone.
00:24:08.960 --> 00:24:10.400
I th that's why I like doing this.
00:24:10.559 --> 00:24:13.119
You just I think the art of conversation's gone a bit.
00:24:13.279 --> 00:24:17.440
Everyone's in their phones and you have half an hour with somebody.
00:24:17.519 --> 00:24:19.119
I think people do just open up.
00:24:19.519 --> 00:24:21.200
People are on their phones walking.
00:24:21.440 --> 00:24:22.079
I know.
00:24:22.880 --> 00:24:23.119
Not little.
00:24:24.079 --> 00:24:27.359
You look around in the carriage and every single person's head's down.
00:24:28.079 --> 00:24:32.720
When you drop the boys off at school in the morning, all the kids are just like, hmm.
00:24:32.960 --> 00:24:35.200
I just want to shout out the window, look up.
00:24:35.440 --> 00:24:36.400
Even my kids.
00:24:36.640 --> 00:24:37.920
Arthur, look up.
00:24:38.880 --> 00:24:40.319
This beautiful sunny day.
00:24:40.480 --> 00:24:40.880
Yeah.
00:24:41.359 --> 00:24:43.039
I think it'll go full circle.
00:24:43.119 --> 00:24:47.599
I think it'll start becoming trendy to switch off to and to not have a mobile.
00:24:48.559 --> 00:24:53.359
I think it goes through phases, but it's only so much we can scroll through, isn't there?
00:24:54.640 --> 00:24:56.799
What what do you hate about a job, Gunny?
00:24:58.079 --> 00:24:58.880
It's anything.
00:24:59.759 --> 00:25:02.000
What do I hate about dentistry?
00:25:06.640 --> 00:25:07.680
It is spinning.
00:25:07.920 --> 00:25:09.279
It's quite spinning, isn't it?
00:25:09.519 --> 00:25:13.680
Um I don't think I do hate anything about it.
00:25:14.000 --> 00:25:24.720
I think I'm the kind of person that sort of takes each challenge as it comes, and there have been some challenges.
00:25:25.039 --> 00:25:27.920
Maybe I should say, what do you find challenging about the job?
00:25:28.160 --> 00:25:28.720
What's that been?
00:25:28.960 --> 00:25:29.039
Yeah.
00:25:29.759 --> 00:25:32.400
Well, at the moment, I think it is just being at three different places.
00:25:32.559 --> 00:25:34.400
I do I am finding that challenging.
00:25:34.640 --> 00:25:36.640
I'm just trying to get into my new groove.
00:25:36.880 --> 00:25:38.400
It's quite new.
00:25:38.799 --> 00:25:40.720
Left my practice last October.
00:25:40.960 --> 00:25:43.200
Going to interviews was really daunting.
00:25:43.440 --> 00:25:43.920
Oh yeah.
00:25:44.160 --> 00:25:45.440
I had to re-interview again.
00:25:45.519 --> 00:25:46.720
I hadn't had an interview.
00:25:46.880 --> 00:25:49.599
I've I'd always been the one giving the interviews, you know.
00:25:49.839 --> 00:25:52.799
So that was that was challenging.
00:25:53.200 --> 00:26:00.240
And the conditions that I was under at my old practice was really challenging.
00:26:00.480 --> 00:26:03.279
So it had all kind of come to a head.
00:26:03.440 --> 00:26:08.799
And I remember going for an interview to this beautiful practice, just outside of Worthing.
00:26:10.160 --> 00:26:13.359
And we're having a chat like this, and I just started crying.
00:26:13.759 --> 00:26:17.839
Oh just like didn't get the job, by the way.
00:26:19.279 --> 00:26:21.680
I thought he thought I was a basket case.
00:26:21.920 --> 00:26:22.880
He must have.
00:26:23.680 --> 00:26:28.160
But I think everything had just overwhelmed me, you know.
00:26:28.240 --> 00:26:28.480
Yeah.
00:26:28.720 --> 00:26:29.839
Got better after that.
00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:30.319
Yeah.
00:26:30.480 --> 00:26:32.559
I just thought, pull yourself together, man.
00:26:32.799 --> 00:26:34.880
That's my boys would say, Lock in, Mum.
00:26:35.039 --> 00:26:35.680
Lock in.
00:26:35.920 --> 00:26:36.640
Lock in.
00:26:37.039 --> 00:26:39.759
It's when you realize that you're not down with the kids anymore, isn't it?
00:26:39.839 --> 00:26:41.119
I'd never say lock in.
00:26:41.359 --> 00:26:42.319
No way, I can't.
00:26:42.480 --> 00:26:44.720
So I posted something on Instagram last night.
00:26:44.880 --> 00:26:47.039
I did like my first cap cut edit.
00:26:47.279 --> 00:26:47.759
Ooh.
00:26:48.079 --> 00:26:52.480
And I showed my 13-year-old, and he's like, Mum, did you post that?
00:26:52.640 --> 00:26:54.480
I'm like, Yes, why?
00:26:55.359 --> 00:26:57.279
You're just like those Facebook mums.
00:26:58.160 --> 00:26:59.119
Oh my god.
00:26:59.680 --> 00:27:00.480
You're not.
00:27:00.720 --> 00:27:02.079
He said it was cringe.
00:27:02.319 --> 00:27:04.319
The boys need to help you and do them for you then.
00:27:04.880 --> 00:27:05.440
That's what I said.
00:27:05.519 --> 00:27:06.480
Just do it then.
00:27:07.200 --> 00:27:08.160
Make it cool.
00:27:08.319 --> 00:27:09.519
Whatever that means anymore.
00:27:09.759 --> 00:27:11.119
What does that mean?
00:27:12.559 --> 00:27:17.039
Sure way to get them to stop saying something is to start saying it.
00:27:17.599 --> 00:27:19.839
So that whole six-seven thing.
00:27:19.920 --> 00:27:20.160
Yeah.
00:27:20.319 --> 00:27:21.759
That drove me insane.
00:27:21.920 --> 00:27:23.279
And I just started saying it.
00:27:23.519 --> 00:27:24.400
I still don't get it.
00:27:24.559 --> 00:27:25.599
I don't get it either.
00:27:25.839 --> 00:27:31.359
Every time I was doing charting saying the charting lower right, six seven, I'd just laugh.
00:27:31.519 --> 00:27:32.960
So I still don't know what it means.
00:27:33.119 --> 00:27:34.240
I still laugh.
00:27:34.880 --> 00:27:38.000
And my nurse will go, my nurse rain at one of the practices.
00:27:38.160 --> 00:27:38.960
She'll always go.
00:27:40.880 --> 00:27:42.400
Oh babe, we're so old.
00:27:42.480 --> 00:27:44.160
I don't think we can do that anymore.
00:27:44.319 --> 00:27:46.559
She also has two boys the same age as mine.
00:27:46.799 --> 00:27:47.119
Oh.
00:27:48.240 --> 00:27:48.559
Um.
00:27:49.279 --> 00:27:53.599
What made you what made you sell and have the change?
00:27:53.839 --> 00:27:56.160
Oh gosh, there's so many things.
00:27:56.480 --> 00:27:57.200
COVID.
00:27:58.640 --> 00:28:00.720
A lot of people have said things about COVID.
00:28:00.960 --> 00:28:02.160
COVID was tough, man.
00:28:02.240 --> 00:28:04.400
I I was a hub in COVID.
00:28:04.559 --> 00:28:05.680
I was an emergency hub.
00:28:05.839 --> 00:28:06.480
Yeah.
00:28:07.359 --> 00:28:19.119
So while everyone was in lockdown, I was developing SOPS and changing my practice around to facilitate working this hub.
00:28:19.200 --> 00:28:24.799
I you know we we coordinated over a hundred dentists to come and work there, nurses from different places.
00:28:25.440 --> 00:28:27.759
I think I fit tested over a hundred people.
00:28:28.079 --> 00:28:30.079
It was it was a big mega thing.
00:28:30.400 --> 00:28:37.680
It was good in a way because we obviously got the funding for it, so that kept the practice viable.
00:28:37.839 --> 00:28:38.160
Yeah.
00:28:38.319 --> 00:28:41.759
Um I had a really small NHS contract, it was tiny.
00:28:42.240 --> 00:28:44.400
So everything was mostly private.
00:28:45.200 --> 00:28:52.720
And and that was scary for us because we were a small private practice in the middle of Crawley.
00:28:53.680 --> 00:28:57.519
And we went making mega bucks, it's like sh shit, shut down.
00:28:58.799 --> 00:29:01.279
So I had to kind of just go for it.
00:29:02.000 --> 00:29:02.960
It's exciting.
00:29:04.160 --> 00:29:04.720
New chapter.
00:29:04.960 --> 00:29:05.839
A new chapter.
00:29:06.319 --> 00:29:18.799
Um, and I think after COVID, having to balance the practice finances and trying not to like lose my staff, it just really took its toll, you know.
00:29:19.039 --> 00:29:19.359
I guess.
00:29:19.440 --> 00:29:24.400
And I also chose that sort of decade of my life to do everything.
00:29:24.559 --> 00:29:29.119
So I had children, I did a master's, bought a practice, I got married.
00:29:29.279 --> 00:29:37.119
I was like, I I I think I I had a little bit of a burnout, and I think I just wanted to focus on what did you do your mentor?
00:29:37.440 --> 00:29:42.160
I did it, um, I did a master's in advanced general dental practice at Birmingham.
00:29:42.319 --> 00:29:43.359
Oh, cool.
00:29:44.000 --> 00:29:50.640
I kind of had this early on in my career, I was reading Dental Update and I I just loved Trevor Burke.
00:29:50.799 --> 00:29:55.839
I absolutely loved Trevor Burke and everything he wrote, and I'd seen him speak a bit.
00:29:56.000 --> 00:29:56.480
Yeah.
00:29:56.799 --> 00:30:03.200
Um so when I found out he was he was running the masters, I thought that's the one I'm gonna do.
00:30:03.519 --> 00:30:04.480
So I did it, yeah.
00:30:05.279 --> 00:30:10.079
Like do you would you say you've seen like a mine was four days?
00:30:10.880 --> 00:30:12.960
The longest running master student.
00:30:13.039 --> 00:30:16.960
I think I got like an email saying, Connie, you've really got to finish up now.
00:30:17.119 --> 00:30:19.519
Oh, okay, I'm doing it, I'm doing it.
00:30:20.079 --> 00:30:22.240
Got a distinction though, so I was really proud of that.
00:30:22.480 --> 00:30:23.920
Ah, so you should be.
00:30:24.160 --> 00:30:26.480
Would you say he was a bit of a mentor then?
00:30:26.880 --> 00:30:29.359
Um, I think at the time, absolutely.
00:30:29.759 --> 00:30:31.440
Do you have any others?
00:30:31.920 --> 00:30:32.799
I do now, yeah.
00:30:32.880 --> 00:30:37.920
I have lovely Sam Jethwa, who I did the uh veneers and occlusion course with.
00:30:38.000 --> 00:30:39.039
He's amazing.
00:30:39.359 --> 00:30:46.319
I think every period of your life you have someone that appears and helps you out.
00:30:46.480 --> 00:30:56.640
And you know, my first job I had um amazing principal, Nigel, who I worked with in South Moulton Street.
00:30:57.200 --> 00:31:03.200
And he was really amazing and showed me how to do things and encouraged me to do things.
00:31:03.680 --> 00:31:09.759
Um, and then I kind of went into ownership and my business partner, Emmanuel.
00:31:09.920 --> 00:31:12.079
I mean, I've learned so much from him.
00:31:12.640 --> 00:31:16.880
I remember Nigel saying he's a dentist, he owns he owns so few practices.
00:31:16.960 --> 00:31:17.920
I'm working for him now.
00:31:18.079 --> 00:31:26.880
Uh Nigel saying to me, you know, early on, when I said to me, you know, I'm I'm gonna buy this practice, and he was like, Yeah, partnerships aren't all that it's cut out to be.
00:31:27.119 --> 00:31:30.160
But I've only had the most amazing positive experience with him.
00:31:30.400 --> 00:31:31.359
Oh, how lovely.
00:31:31.519 --> 00:31:32.160
Yeah.
00:31:32.319 --> 00:31:51.759
Um, he kind of gave me this amazing opportunity that I couldn't say no to, which was like, I'm gonna buy the practice, you don't need to put any money in, you just run the place, you be the principal, run it, I'll help you out along the way.
00:31:52.000 --> 00:31:55.839
And then, you know, if we ever sell, it's 50-50.
00:31:56.000 --> 00:31:58.000
Which is I can hope we're doing that right.
00:31:58.640 --> 00:32:00.079
Does he have any more?
00:32:01.839 --> 00:32:02.720
Some London ones.
00:32:02.880 --> 00:32:03.519
Some London ones.
00:32:03.680 --> 00:32:04.319
Well, he's amazing.
00:32:04.400 --> 00:32:04.559
Yeah.
00:32:04.720 --> 00:32:05.599
What a nice guy as well.
00:32:05.839 --> 00:32:07.279
Yeah, it's a bit old, doesn't it?
00:32:07.519 --> 00:32:08.079
Absolutely.
00:32:08.240 --> 00:32:14.480
And and I learned a lot from him and um worked my butt off.
00:32:16.000 --> 00:32:26.559
That sort of first year transitioning from an associate, like a 30, 30-year-old associate to a 31, 32-year-old principal.
00:32:26.640 --> 00:32:27.599
That was tough, you know.
00:32:27.839 --> 00:32:29.200
Yeah, that's young to do that.
00:32:29.359 --> 00:32:32.720
I was young and I was still really partying and enjoying my life in London.
00:32:33.440 --> 00:32:33.759
Good for you.
00:32:34.000 --> 00:32:35.519
I had to kind of like soy to.
00:32:37.519 --> 00:32:44.240
But yeah, I grew the practice and I took it to uh what where I wanted it to go and be.
00:32:44.880 --> 00:32:48.160
And then ready for a new adventure.
00:32:48.480 --> 00:32:48.799
Yeah.
00:32:49.119 --> 00:32:50.480
Would you ever own?
00:32:51.440 --> 00:32:54.400
It doesn't um appeal to me right now.
00:32:54.720 --> 00:33:05.039
I quite like leaving and I just imagine the stuff um pressures and the extra stress and the admin, and I it is.
00:33:05.279 --> 00:33:07.920
The thing is, I'm I'm really organized.
00:33:08.160 --> 00:33:13.519
Um badly so well, not badly so, but I just am almost too organized.
00:33:13.599 --> 00:33:16.480
So I know I could probably handle it quite well.
00:33:16.640 --> 00:33:16.799
Yeah.
00:33:16.960 --> 00:33:21.039
I it just doesn't it's another thing on the top of it all, I think.
00:33:21.279 --> 00:33:22.720
It's the clinical bit I love.
00:33:22.960 --> 00:33:23.119
Yeah.
00:33:23.279 --> 00:33:25.759
That's that's what I wanted to come back to, you know.
00:33:25.920 --> 00:33:26.079
Yeah.
00:33:26.319 --> 00:33:27.119
The clinical bit.
00:33:27.200 --> 00:33:28.319
I love talking to patients.
00:33:28.400 --> 00:33:32.559
I love making changes to their lives, you know.
00:33:32.720 --> 00:33:37.680
And and it got into the point where there was so much admin.
00:33:37.759 --> 00:33:42.640
And I had a fantastic practice manager, but again, in the beginning I couldn't afford a practice manager.
00:33:42.880 --> 00:33:44.640
So I was doing all of it.
00:33:44.880 --> 00:33:53.519
I was doing the CGC files and the, you know, well, at the time it was clinical governance files and and then they are dated every year.
00:33:53.839 --> 00:33:55.680
It's relentless, isn't it?
00:33:56.079 --> 00:33:58.720
Mentoring, did was doing foundation training.
00:33:59.200 --> 00:34:03.759
I always think with the all the stuff that every single practice has to have.
00:34:04.319 --> 00:34:10.239
Can't the CQC put it on like a tick box?
00:34:10.559 --> 00:34:11.519
Yeah, like a system.
00:34:11.920 --> 00:34:19.599
You have a you have an account with them and you go in and update yours, and that's but they provide the policies and you put them into place.
00:34:19.760 --> 00:34:20.639
It's just No.
00:34:21.039 --> 00:34:23.199
Everyone's got their own slightly different version.
00:34:23.519 --> 00:34:26.000
Yeah, and there's some companies out there that can help, you know.
00:34:26.719 --> 00:34:29.599
But it does go a little bit tick boxy, doesn't it?
00:34:29.760 --> 00:34:36.800
I mean at the end of the day, you can have the policy, but it's actually what's happening on the ground is the most important thing.
00:34:37.280 --> 00:34:39.039
How are people being treated, you know?
00:34:39.679 --> 00:34:41.280
How are staff being treated?
00:34:41.599 --> 00:34:42.480
Safety, how do you think?
00:34:42.639 --> 00:34:44.880
Safety, cleanliness.
00:34:45.760 --> 00:34:47.119
That's what counts.
00:34:47.360 --> 00:34:48.000
Yeah.
00:34:48.559 --> 00:34:53.920
Um not not whether you have a contract for your associate, you know.
00:34:54.400 --> 00:34:58.000
Um that's all just tick boxing.
00:34:58.880 --> 00:35:02.719
We had um a menopa a menopause policy the other day.
00:35:03.679 --> 00:35:06.400
I mean we should edit that bit out.
00:35:06.800 --> 00:35:07.920
I don't know.
00:35:08.079 --> 00:35:19.519
Seriously, maybe that's a good idea because I'm in it, getting into it, and you know, the the the the things that go through your mind.
00:35:20.239 --> 00:35:22.400
Anxiety, the that kind of stuff.
00:35:22.559 --> 00:35:24.400
Maybe maybe maybe you do need it.
00:35:24.800 --> 00:35:26.480
There's policies for everything now.
00:35:26.719 --> 00:35:28.639
What were you like as a little girl?
00:35:28.880 --> 00:35:30.719
Did you always think you were gonna do dentistry?
00:35:31.039 --> 00:35:31.760
Oh no.
00:35:32.000 --> 00:35:32.320
No.
00:35:32.480 --> 00:35:33.679
I was pretty hyperactive.
00:35:33.760 --> 00:35:38.320
There was a there's this rhyme that my cousin developed in Greek.
00:35:38.480 --> 00:35:45.840
Does it doesn't translate well, but basically it's like Connie eats sugar, she jumps, she jumps, and then she cries.
00:35:46.159 --> 00:35:48.000
Because I was so hyperactive.
00:35:48.559 --> 00:35:49.519
The sugar's great.
00:35:49.679 --> 00:35:50.559
The sugar rush.
00:35:50.800 --> 00:35:52.079
And I always just hurt myself.
00:35:52.239 --> 00:35:54.079
I used to hurt myself constantly.
00:35:55.039 --> 00:35:56.239
Broken ankles.
00:35:56.400 --> 00:35:56.639
Oh.
00:35:57.119 --> 00:35:58.880
Just like tripping and falling.
00:35:59.119 --> 00:36:01.760
What do you think you'd do if you if you weren't a dentist?
00:36:02.000 --> 00:36:07.920
Um, there was there was this period of my teenage life that I wanted to be a journalist.
00:36:08.159 --> 00:36:14.400
And my very strict Greek father said, journalism is a hobby, not a career.
00:36:15.039 --> 00:36:22.800
And there were a lot of sort of Greek girls doing dentistry at the time who said to me, dentistry is a really nice profession for a woman.
00:36:23.039 --> 00:36:30.159
You know, you can set your hours and come home and still cook and do everything.
00:36:30.480 --> 00:36:31.199
Yeah, right.
00:36:31.360 --> 00:36:32.239
No, Dad.
00:36:32.480 --> 00:36:42.000
Um working 12-hour days and coming home and barely making it through the night before like writing another policy or doing another.
00:36:42.960 --> 00:36:44.400
And with little ones.
00:36:44.559 --> 00:36:45.519
It's a lot, isn't it?
00:36:45.679 --> 00:36:47.440
Like you say, it's a lot in that decade.
00:36:47.760 --> 00:36:50.320
Yeah, that decade was was pretty rough, I think.
00:36:50.480 --> 00:36:52.239
Um my husband was amazing.
00:36:52.400 --> 00:37:00.320
And that's why we decided to say, you know, well, he's gonna be at home to to look after the boys and wanted someone at home, you know.
00:37:00.639 --> 00:37:01.679
That suited you guys.
00:37:01.920 --> 00:37:02.320
Yeah.
00:37:02.559 --> 00:37:02.960
Yeah.
00:37:04.400 --> 00:37:10.079
I haven't washed clothes in like 13 years.
00:37:11.440 --> 00:37:14.000
He's ruined a lot of stuff, I'm not gonna lie.
00:37:14.800 --> 00:37:16.960
He has needed some education.
00:37:17.440 --> 00:37:18.320
That's amazing.
00:37:18.719 --> 00:37:19.280
It shouldn't be.
00:37:19.440 --> 00:37:21.280
I'm really we shouldn't say that, should we?
00:37:21.440 --> 00:37:21.599
No.
00:37:21.840 --> 00:37:24.400
But um I'm very It's very nice.
00:37:24.480 --> 00:37:25.039
Yeah.
00:37:25.440 --> 00:37:26.480
Can't do everything, Fran.
00:37:26.880 --> 00:37:27.280
You can't.
00:37:27.360 --> 00:37:28.800
You just can't, you know.
00:37:29.039 --> 00:37:30.480
I mean, I love cooking.
00:37:30.639 --> 00:37:32.400
I just that's my thing.
00:37:32.719 --> 00:37:38.880
But even during the week, sort of well, while you know, I just stopped doing that.
00:37:38.960 --> 00:37:40.400
I was like, I'm so tired.
00:37:40.480 --> 00:37:43.039
Um please just do it.
00:37:43.440 --> 00:37:46.719
And again, that was also a learning curve for him.
00:37:46.960 --> 00:37:51.599
It was a lot of brown food at first, and it's developed really well.
00:37:51.760 --> 00:37:53.519
His fresh chicken is amazing.
00:37:53.760 --> 00:37:54.960
Oh, nice.
00:37:55.760 --> 00:37:58.079
What sort of things do you like doing outside of work?
00:37:58.320 --> 00:37:58.880
Cooking.
00:37:59.119 --> 00:38:03.039
I love cooking, I love entertaining, I love having my friends around.
00:38:03.599 --> 00:38:04.960
I absolutely love it.
00:38:05.199 --> 00:38:07.599
Just finding time to spend time with my boys.
00:38:07.760 --> 00:38:09.119
Yeah, all three of them.
00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:11.280
Play the piano a little bit.
00:38:12.239 --> 00:38:26.079
Do you went back to piano lessons recently actually to try and encourage my son Arthur started piano about a few years ago and and just to try and encourage him to practice and something for us to do together.
00:38:27.199 --> 00:38:29.280
Uh it didn't stick with him.
00:38:29.519 --> 00:38:30.639
But I carried on.
00:38:30.800 --> 00:38:31.119
Ah.
00:38:32.079 --> 00:38:36.000
Got up to grade five when I was a kid, and then I just kind of stopped.
00:38:36.559 --> 00:38:37.280
Yeah, same.
00:38:37.440 --> 00:38:38.960
I I did the same actually.
00:38:39.199 --> 00:38:42.079
And then you'd be you're a teenager and then you're doing A levels and stuff.
00:38:42.320 --> 00:38:43.199
Yeah, you can't do everything.
00:38:43.360 --> 00:38:43.920
You can't do everything.
00:38:44.239 --> 00:38:44.880
Do you play, Ben?
00:38:45.199 --> 00:38:46.239
I do, I miss it.
00:38:46.480 --> 00:38:46.960
Yeah, good.
00:38:47.679 --> 00:38:49.280
I need to get a piano or a keyboard.
00:38:49.519 --> 00:38:50.719
It's hard in London flats.
00:38:51.039 --> 00:38:51.360
It is.
00:38:51.440 --> 00:38:52.880
We we just have a keyboard.
00:38:53.039 --> 00:38:55.840
Um, I'd like my my piano from South Africa.
00:38:56.000 --> 00:38:58.639
That's my piano, and my sister's got it.
00:39:00.239 --> 00:39:03.920
It's by the time it gets here, it'll just be destroyed, right?
00:39:04.719 --> 00:39:05.519
I'd let her have it.
00:39:05.679 --> 00:39:06.800
Let her have it.
00:39:07.280 --> 00:39:08.159
It's hers.
00:39:08.400 --> 00:39:11.199
It's yours, and still got mine back home.
00:39:11.440 --> 00:39:12.800
I always say sell it.
00:39:12.880 --> 00:39:15.679
It's just but it's a nice piece of furniture as well.
00:39:16.159 --> 00:39:16.639
No, don't.
00:39:16.880 --> 00:39:17.920
I mean, they're going for nothing.
00:39:18.000 --> 00:39:20.000
Some people are giving in for free.
00:39:20.880 --> 00:39:21.119
Yeah.
00:39:21.440 --> 00:39:23.039
Sam's got a beautiful piano.
00:39:23.280 --> 00:39:23.760
Has he?
00:39:23.920 --> 00:39:25.119
Yeah, really beautiful.
00:39:25.360 --> 00:39:26.000
Does he play?
00:39:26.159 --> 00:39:26.800
I think he plays.
00:39:26.880 --> 00:39:27.920
I think his wife has a player.
00:39:28.159 --> 00:39:30.159
I think as as I said that, I think it might be his wife.
00:39:30.480 --> 00:39:30.719
Yes.
00:39:31.599 --> 00:39:32.960
Yeah, that was a good course.
00:39:33.039 --> 00:39:35.280
We had a lot of fun on the Hamburg trip.
00:39:35.360 --> 00:39:37.679
I try always I always forget where we went.
00:39:37.840 --> 00:39:39.039
I keep on wanting to say Munich.
00:39:39.119 --> 00:39:39.679
I don't know what.
00:39:39.920 --> 00:39:41.599
But Hamburg, it was amazing, it was.
00:39:42.079 --> 00:39:42.800
It was really nice.
00:39:42.960 --> 00:39:43.440
Yeah, lovely.
00:39:43.840 --> 00:39:46.239
Like an extra, I don't know if they do it anymore.
00:39:46.559 --> 00:39:48.400
I don't think he has he's not done it for a cup.
00:39:48.480 --> 00:39:50.000
I think as was the last one he did.
00:39:50.320 --> 00:39:53.519
And it was sunny like this, and just nice weekend.
00:39:53.760 --> 00:39:54.480
Nice city.
00:39:54.800 --> 00:39:55.199
Yeah.
00:39:55.360 --> 00:39:57.039
And that man was so interesting.
00:39:57.119 --> 00:40:00.320
I loved how geeky he was about materials.
00:40:00.559 --> 00:40:01.440
The VOCO guy.
00:40:01.519 --> 00:40:01.679
Yeah.
00:40:01.760 --> 00:40:01.920
Yeah.
00:40:02.159 --> 00:40:02.800
DMG.
00:40:02.960 --> 00:40:03.360
Oh, sorry.
00:40:03.519 --> 00:40:04.159
It was DMG.
00:40:04.320 --> 00:40:04.960
It was DMG.
00:40:05.119 --> 00:40:06.639
Oh gosh, I've said the wrong purple.
00:40:07.039 --> 00:40:08.400
Voko's good too, though.
00:40:10.159 --> 00:40:10.960
There are other brands.
00:40:11.119 --> 00:40:12.079
There are other brands.
00:40:12.320 --> 00:40:15.760
And yeah, he was just so enthusiastic about it all, wasn't he?
00:40:15.920 --> 00:40:16.960
It's like amazing.
00:40:17.199 --> 00:40:17.519
Yeah.
00:40:17.679 --> 00:40:19.519
And he's with us for the meals and everything.
00:40:19.760 --> 00:40:20.719
Yeah, it was cool.
00:40:20.960 --> 00:40:27.679
And it again, it's like, yeah, we went around the factory, but we were all sat chatting so much for a weekend away.
00:40:27.760 --> 00:40:29.039
It's just nice.
00:40:29.280 --> 00:40:30.239
It was lovely.
00:40:30.480 --> 00:40:32.800
Yeah, just nice to meet new people.
00:40:34.960 --> 00:40:36.960
How do you look after yourself, Connie?
00:40:37.760 --> 00:40:40.400
Um, I have started doing it a lot more.
00:40:40.559 --> 00:40:46.559
I went through a stage of just kind of not but riding the wave.
00:40:46.960 --> 00:40:47.360
Hmm.
00:40:48.000 --> 00:40:50.480
Say two Pilates, no reformers, love it.
00:40:50.800 --> 00:40:54.159
And just trying to age better.
00:40:56.400 --> 00:40:56.639
Bones.
00:40:57.119 --> 00:40:57.599
Well, yeah.
00:40:57.679 --> 00:40:58.000
Yeah.
00:40:58.159 --> 00:40:58.480
Yeah.
00:40:58.880 --> 00:41:02.159
It's not just trying to look younger, I'm just trying to strong for life.
00:41:02.480 --> 00:41:02.559
Yeah.
00:41:03.920 --> 00:41:05.119
Eating better.
00:41:05.360 --> 00:41:08.079
And just trying to really connect with my boys.
00:41:09.039 --> 00:41:10.079
Just goes so quickly.
00:41:10.239 --> 00:41:13.599
I know it's such a cliche, but I I just can't believe it.
00:41:14.480 --> 00:41:15.840
That time's just gone.
00:41:16.239 --> 00:41:19.360
Before you know it, you'll be doing university applications and things.
00:41:19.760 --> 00:41:20.400
I know.
00:41:21.440 --> 00:41:23.679
Telling them not to do journalism.
00:41:24.079 --> 00:41:26.320
Not allowed, but it's just a hobby.
00:41:26.960 --> 00:41:27.920
So bad.
00:41:28.320 --> 00:41:30.400
And then I always finish up.
00:41:30.639 --> 00:41:39.679
If you went back to graduation day or before you did it, what advice do you wish someone had told you, or what would you give to them at that point?
00:41:41.199 --> 00:41:43.360
Be careful his advice you take.
00:41:43.599 --> 00:41:44.960
Always think of a good one.
00:41:45.360 --> 00:41:50.320
That have you ever heard of that baz that Baz Lehrman wear sunscreen?
00:41:50.639 --> 00:41:51.519
It's amazing.
00:41:51.599 --> 00:41:52.960
Just just read it.
00:41:53.199 --> 00:41:57.360
It was it was um it was big in the 90s.
00:41:58.480 --> 00:42:11.199
And I remember writing it down word for word, you know, and it's basically just like live your life every day and have fun, dance and whatever.
00:42:11.360 --> 00:42:16.079
That's the essence of of the actual uh writing and the song.
00:42:16.239 --> 00:42:28.639
Um but the one thing he does say is you know, be just be careful whose advice you take, because advice is often just repackaged to make it look good.
00:42:29.280 --> 00:42:34.480
Um take care of yourself and things are not as bad as you imagine.
00:42:34.880 --> 00:42:35.199
Yeah.
00:42:35.440 --> 00:42:35.840
Really.
00:42:37.519 --> 00:42:43.519
There's a there's a lot of people I'm interviewing on this, and uh people do seem very happy in the job, which is nice.
00:42:44.400 --> 00:42:46.719
Takes a while to get there, something it does.
00:42:47.039 --> 00:42:50.079
And and it's also just ups and downs, you know.
00:42:50.960 --> 00:42:51.920
Little chapters.
00:42:52.159 --> 00:42:53.280
Little chapters.
00:42:53.679 --> 00:42:54.000
Yeah.
00:42:54.159 --> 00:42:55.360
Thank you so much, Connie.
00:42:55.519 --> 00:42:56.079
This has been lovely.
00:42:56.320 --> 00:42:56.880
Thanks for having me.
00:42:59.679 --> 00:43:00.880
My butt's getting numbed.
00:43:01.039 --> 00:43:01.840
Me too.
00:43:03.519 --> 00:43:04.480
Thank you.