May Days - Episode 6 - DABBLE

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Hi, welcome to Small Ways to Live Well from the Simple Things, where a monthly magazine about slowing down now and again, remembering what's really important and making the most of what you have and where you live.
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And this is episode six, which is our last of the series.
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And I'm here with both my co-hosts today.
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We've got our slow traveller Joe Tinsley and we've got our well-being editor Bex Frank, as it's our 60th episode.
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We've not really done many with all three of us, so we'll we'll hopefully get through it.
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What could possibly go wrong?
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This season is supported by Titanic Belfast, which is a fascinating visitor experience telling the story of that famous ship, the people who built her, and the passengers and crew that sailed on her.
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It's on the original site where Titanic was designed, built, and launched in Belfast in 1911.
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And you can find out more at Titanicbelfast.com.
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So we said it was our 60th episode.
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And Bex may have said 50th last week, but I think she's been enjoying herself so much that time has flown by.
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Oops.
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Yeah, I know.
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The theme is dabble, and we're gonna make this a summer of dabbling and uh try things in a sort of relaxed way.
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Try new things in a relaxed way.
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So where should we start?
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What do you think about a treasure hunt, girls?
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Oh, we love them.
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I love a treasure hunt.
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Yeah, me too.
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I think what I like is it it gets you sort of outdoors, gives you permission to be a bit nosy, doesn't it?
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And in the summer, the better weather and more daylight, there's loads of time to do it in.
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Yeah, I think the thing that I really like about treasure hunts is normally you're doing them outside, aren't you?
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And I don't know, well, you just notice more things, don't you?
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Whether you're the person kind of devising the hunt or whether you're following it, when you're looking for clues or writing clues, you're you're naturally going to pick up different things in your environment that you wouldn't normally notice.
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And I think as well, like they're they're not they're not just for kids, are they?
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Like you've got so many adult versions, like you know, geocaching, orienteering, or like you know, there's old-fashioned village treasure hunts that always end up back at the pub.
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Yes.
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I love those.
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There's so many different things.
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Maybe that's why race across the world's been so popular.
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Yeah.
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Having just watched the uh final very recently, no spoilers here, but um but no, you're right.
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It basically is a treasure hunt, isn't it?
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Everyone likes finding clues and following trails and um, you know.
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And then that final race at the end.
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Yes.
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Exactly, yeah.
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Have you ever heard of letterboxing?
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That was one of the original kind of treasure hunts around the UK.
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Well, it it that is so strange, Joe, because actually I don't think you'll have seen this yet, but I had never heard of it.
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And then there's a piece coming up on it in our July issue.
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So we're gonna but but I but you've done this, haven't you?
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I think.
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Yeah, it's like the low-tech forerunner of geocaching.
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So it started on Dartmoor and it was a bit of a Victorian obsession.
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So it originated in, I think, 1854 when a local guide left left a glass jar in one of the moor's most remote locations for hikers to exchange calling cards, like set to send letters to each other.
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Okay.
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And um over the next century it evolved into this outdoor treasure hunt that everyone really got into.
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And there's 3,000 of these hidden weatherproof boxes scattered across the moors, generally on the tops of the tours as well, on the granite peaks.
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I love the sound of this.
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I hadn't heard of this at all.
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So it's not just in Dartmoor now.
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It is all over, it's mainly on Dartmoor, I think.
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But I mean I think I think there's lots of other places you can do it.
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But there's some really interesting ones.
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So, like the grandfather of them all is the one that started it, is in Crammall Pool.
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And this is where the guy, James Perrot, I think, left a glass jar.
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And then people would, yeah, swap, swap letters.
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But there's there's loads around Bonehill Rocks, which is near Whiddickam in the moor.
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And there's all the nooks and crannies, you know, you can just go and find loads of them there.
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So when you find them, what do you do?
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Do you kind of have to make a note in the box or something?
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Or yeah, so originally people would put it was like a wilderness post system.
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So people would put a letter in there and someone else would take the letter and they'd they'd you know post it on.
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Yeah.
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Uh but nowadays I think there's like a there's a logbook, there's a stamp, there's an ink pad.
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You might put a little gift or trinket in there, you might take one.
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Each one will have different kind of rules, but it's kind of evolved.
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So some of them will be the original kind of you know, mess tins or or whatever, and then others will be Tupperwares.
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Sounds good.
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It's like it is like geocaching, isn't it?
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It is like, yeah, it's like a low, lo-fi geocaching.
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It sounds great.
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And you know what?
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You're just talking about Dartmoor got me thinking while you were chatting.
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I don't I just don't know Dartmoorly at all.
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You know, there's some places in the country that you've just never really been to.
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I mean you'd love it.
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It really reminds me of the North.
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That's why I like it.
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Yeah, and I'm I'm gonna have to put that on my list because I feel like it's a big, a big area that I just don't really know.
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Right.
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Yeah.
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There's an idea.
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But Joe, you you were telling me about this other one, and which I do remember, the hunt for the golden hair.
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Because didn't I get in the news?
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Yeah, so this is this is the masquerade treasure hunt.
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And there might be people, perhaps some of our older listeners, who are like remembering this one.
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So hey, steady on, watch who you're calling older hair, right?
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Because it happened just before I was born.
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Well, I can't remember it, so I think that makes me young.
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Oh big.
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Yeah, so this was spot by British artist called Kit Williams in 1979, and it became this high-profile ending to it because the person who found it cheated and it became a bit of a scandal.
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So he illustrated children's books and he published this one called Masquerade, and it was beautifully illustrated, and it contained hidden clues that pointed to the exact location of a buried 18 karat gold jeweled hair amulet.
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So this was actual treasure, right?
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Yeah.
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You know that's worth a lot of money.
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Yes, proper valuable treasure, yeah.
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So people knew that the clues were in this book.
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Yeah.
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But the thing is they were really, really difficult.
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So it it involved drawing straight lines from the eyes of characters through the longest digits to letters on the border pages.
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Wow.
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It was it was really involved.
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But millions of people got involved in this.
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And they um it pointed eventually to the monument of Catherine of Aragon in Amp Hill Park in Bedfordshire, where he'd buried this treasure.
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But there was this controversy towards the end because the person who dug it up was actually, I think it was this person, this business partner's girlfriend was Kit Williams' ex-girlfriend.
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Wow.
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They'd remembered the location, they'd remembered going digging there, and he just used a metal detector to find it.
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So, and it was only like days before other people who had worked it out had found it.
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And um, yeah, the the artist withdrew from public eye for decades.
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You can imagine that now would be massive on social media.
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The thing is though, with treasure, people don't necessarily share their findings as much, do they?
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Because they want to be the one to find it.
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So I'm not sure there'll be much collaboration.
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No, but maybe a bit more misleading on social media.
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But we love a treasure map though, don't we?
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Yeah, but you know, we did a piece, didn't we, on treasure hunts and the different types that you can do, and yes, and um there was a little box on that, and I was I was reading about the pirate treasure map, and I was really disappointed to hear that actually the whole kind of X marks the spot map that Treasure Island starred is actually a bit of a myth, really.
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Oh, really?
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Yeah.
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Oh, that's a bit sad, isn't it?
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You wanted to have an Exxon.
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Yeah, the old seafaring maps and charts would have resembled that, and obviously, pirates would have used that kind of map to look for the ships that were carrying the treasure.
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But in terms of the, you know, there being an X Marx spot, we think they think that's more fictional, really.
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Well, I used to draw them when I was a kid.
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I liked treasure maps, and mine always had an Exxon.
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And it I just I remembered about that, you know, I used to hide things in our garden.
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We had this kind of, it was like a semi-detached house, but it had a really long garden that was a bit overgrown and an allotment behind it.
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And so there were lots of hiding places, and I would hide stuff and then give do a map for my family to kind of find the cleans.
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And uh yeah, you know, that was ours of fun in a summer holiday.
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Did you dye your map with tea to make it look old?
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And I used to do that.
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Did you?
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I'm not sure I went that far.
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Set fire to it round the edges.
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Yeah, that would that would be definitely the way I would go.
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But you know, we we feel good when we find treasure, and I I think Bex has probably got some good will-being kind of know-how here of why why that is.
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Well, it's all about solving puzzles and yeah, obviously, the achievement that we feel when we solve something and the chemicals, the reward chemicals that our brain releases when that happens.
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But interestingly, it's also about the fact that we have this very large cortex, the front part of our brain, it by in comparison to most mammals.
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And that's the area of the brain that's all about planning and and solving things.
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So we like this kind of challenge is is what our brains need and craze.
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Interesting, yeah.
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And it also is really good for our cognitive function, which you've probably heard about.
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Does this also figure with when you're doing puzzles like Sudoku or word challenges?
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Yeah, same thing.
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Absolutely, yeah.
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It's not about the prize, it's more about the solving that kicks the chemicals in it, yeah.
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Yes, it's both really, but the solving is what will keep the brain kind of um functioning to its at its best ability and keep that cognitive function so that you know, preventing the the decline and the memory loss and um keeping our brains sharp and our thinking sharp and alert.
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So that's why it's recommended, you know, to keep challenging the brain in different ways like that.
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We're doing a puzzle special in our August issue over the summer.
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Oh, nice.
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Yeah, we're gonna be having a bump of puzzles because we know people like puzzles and holidays are a good time.
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But I think are you gonna be talking to some people or someone in the team is going to be talking to some people who m set puzzles, which is like even more advanced, isn't it?
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You know, yeah, there's gonna be one of our uh wisdom interview features, which is four people who do create their uh different types of puzzles, and then I'm gonna be looking into the well-being and kind of brain like we were just talking about, the benefits of doing that.
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Do you like a puzzle?
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Yeah, I do, and you know what?
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The more stressed out I am, the more I turn to Sudoku World Channel.
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I find they block out everything you don't want to think about.
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Yeah, because you're concentrating.
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Yeah, and actually sometimes you just need to stop thinking, don't you?
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Um to let side of your subconscious work it out rather than you be fretting over it.
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And so I find they're great for that.
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How about you, Jo?
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Do you do any puzzles?
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I don't really know.
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If it's anything to do with numbers, I'm not that into it.
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But if if it's if it's pattern recognition, do you know what I mean?
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If it was like building patterns, I can I can do them.
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Because the thing is Sudoku, people think it's about numbers, and that's all about patterns, really.
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They just happen to be numbers in the in the patterns.
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Do you know what I mean?
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Yeah, yeah.
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At some point I'll probably get into it, but yeah, not right now.
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But Joe, you like to compile a puzzle of types, don't you?
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Tell us about your treasure hunt, treasure hunts.
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I like to set treasure hunts for people.
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I've done about three of these recently.
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So, you know, when you're in a place, this happens on social media quite a lot, when you're in a place and someone's like, Oh, I'm coming there down there tomorrow, it's really fun to leave them a treasure hunt to hide them some buried treasure.
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Yeah.
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So um, a friend of mine, the editor of um Outdoor Swimmerella, she left one for my daughter because we were arriving in Foy the day that she was leaving.
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So she set up this whole treasure hunt.
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It involved going into shops and like looking at different aspects out of windows and things like that.
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Yeah.
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And we eventually found this necklace, which was really, really special.
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But yeah, I did it for a friend and neighbour who was coming down to the place that I was going.
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And I also did it for Lisa when I stayed at your house, didn't I, recently?
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Yeah.
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I was gonna say, you're gonna mention I I this was so good because basically Joe was staying at our house and we were away.
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And it was also my birthday, wasn't it?
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So you left me a treasure hunt to do on my birthday morning, which was the most fun.
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It was great.
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I love that.
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So clever.
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I had a brilliant treasure hunt left for me once.
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I mean, the thing is, with it, if it's in your own home, you know the clues are gonna stay where they are, but if it's somewhere out in public, you don't, you never there's always that slight risk, isn't there, that someone's gonna find it or move it before you.
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Where was yours then?
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Mine, you're not gonna believe it.
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Mine was in Gozo off the the island off Malta.
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Wow.
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Found out my friend, my literally my oldest school friend and I had booked completely independently to go to the same small town in Gozo one week after the other.
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This was a good few years ago when our kids were quite small.
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And she loves this kind of thing, so she left me a treasure hunt.
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It's too tempting.
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Yeah, and so our whole family in in probably like 38-degree heat because it was so hot over there.
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Wow.
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Followed this into this really extensive treasure hut round this town that she'd spoken to.
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We had to go and talk to waiters and people in guest houses.
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They must have thought she was mad.
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Yeah, I had to go and ask for you know, somebody by name who would then have kept it in, you know, they had a little box that they kept in there underneath the counter in the shop or something.
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It was really fun.
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It was really fun.
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And at the end, we ended up in a toy shop and the kids all got a present from the toy shop.
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So it was really sweet.
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Nice.
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I think this got to be treasure, and Joe, very nicely, because it was Easter time, you had left me a little mini Easter egg with every clue I found.
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And there were 10 clues, so it was a good day, all of Easter eggs, and a nice bottle of wine at the end.
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Joe, do you want to come and stay in my house next time I'm aware?
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I like the sort of coming back to that.
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Yeah.
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But what I like, Joe, is that you you left me clues that you knew I would get because of I was knowing each other and stuff.
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So the the one that I liked there was an apex pond predator on a lovely round mug.
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And you and I have had long conversations about dragonfly larvae at the bottom of pond scoffing everything.
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So I knew what that was.
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And then, of course, a uh a grand cycle race around God's own country, which had to be the tour de Yorkshire.
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Jigsaw, yeah, yeah.
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So that it was great.
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It was really good fun.
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In fact, I'm gonna keep the clues and maybe do it from someone else, but they may not get all the answers, of course.
00:13:17.840 --> 00:13:23.200
But yeah, but there's something nice about looking at your own home through someone else's eyes as well, which I think is quite fun.
00:13:23.759 --> 00:13:34.559
But we should mention as well, you know, because sorry, I should say to listeners that we'll put lots of links to things we mentioned from the magazine on our show notes and also anything on our blog or things we've read.
00:13:34.720 --> 00:13:37.919
So you'll find all those on the app that comes with your podcast.
00:13:38.240 --> 00:13:41.919
But we did this piece on metal detectorists, didn't we, earlier this year?
00:13:42.159 --> 00:13:44.399
And there's a blog that we've done on that.
00:13:45.200 --> 00:13:56.720
Speaking of buried treasure, I know it how to hunt for buried treasure, and because they're really having a bit of a moment, and these two women, they really kind of have brought it to a whole new audience, I think, haven't they?
00:13:56.960 --> 00:14:05.440
Yeah, and they make these great videos and they've got this big social media following, and they're they're just not what you expect from metal detectorists at all.
00:14:05.919 --> 00:14:15.120
It's really inspiring, actually, some of the things that they found and what you can classify as treasure and not, and there's a great blog post about how to hunt for buried treasure because anyone can do it, obviously.
00:14:15.200 --> 00:14:19.600
Yeah, you know, all you need is you know, you get a simple metal detector and uh you know some tips.
00:14:19.919 --> 00:14:28.000
What I like is it's not just about the finding of it, you then have to research it and find out what it is, and you know, there's a whole after project, isn't there, which is great.
00:14:28.080 --> 00:14:29.600
Yeah, yeah, no, I I love this.
00:14:29.759 --> 00:14:34.080
So um, I I don't know why we were going to talk about this, but it's another puzzle, of course.
00:14:34.240 --> 00:14:34.720
Mazes.
00:14:34.799 --> 00:14:36.080
We were gonna talk about mazes.
00:14:36.240 --> 00:14:37.200
Do you like a maze?
00:14:37.440 --> 00:14:39.600
Oh, well, you're telling me that you love a maze.
00:14:39.759 --> 00:14:40.080
I do.
00:14:40.240 --> 00:14:40.480
Yeah.
00:14:40.639 --> 00:14:43.360
Didn't you go to an open garden that had a great maze?
00:14:43.519 --> 00:14:44.000
Yeah, yeah.
00:14:44.320 --> 00:14:45.120
About a week ago.
00:14:45.200 --> 00:14:50.720
And I've been to it before, but this one, it's on a hill leading down the it's a beautiful garden.
00:14:50.799 --> 00:14:55.840
It's a private garden, it's not open very often, and it's on it on a slope that looks down towards the South Downs.
00:14:55.919 --> 00:14:59.279
And so you can actually stand above the maze and see it from above.
00:14:59.360 --> 00:15:02.240
So when you see it from above, you think, Oh, I know this route.
00:15:02.399 --> 00:15:05.279
Yeah, yeah, it looks so easy, doesn't it?
00:15:05.440 --> 00:15:10.399
Yeah, and then you go in it and you lose all sense of direction like within seconds.
00:15:10.639 --> 00:15:13.120
Yeah, yeah, no, and it's not even a very big maze.
00:15:13.200 --> 00:15:18.559
There's a there's a um a farm near us that does a maze maze every summer, and we've always gone there with the kids.
00:15:18.639 --> 00:15:27.279
And I can't I think every single time we've got hopelessly lost, and then someone needs the loo, and you have to put the hand of shame up and ask the guy to come and let you out.
00:15:27.440 --> 00:15:30.080
And it's like, but you like a maze though, don't you?
00:15:30.399 --> 00:15:31.120
I love a maze.
00:15:31.360 --> 00:15:32.639
We think we used to go to them when I was kids.
00:15:32.720 --> 00:15:35.759
I've got very fond memories of running around maze in in gardens.
00:15:35.840 --> 00:15:39.279
There would always be in some, like you said, some kind of fancy garden somewhere.
00:15:39.440 --> 00:15:43.919
But and the Opal open gardens kind of you know thing is great, isn't it?
00:15:44.000 --> 00:15:52.559
I love being able to go and have a nosy around and get some inspiration, but also just it's just such a seeing something from a completely different Definitely.
00:15:52.720 --> 00:15:59.600
And you know, because if you do it under like the National Garden Scheme, there's like you know, three and a half thousand of them, so you can always find one near you.
00:15:59.759 --> 00:16:01.519
And you know, I think they really vary.
00:16:01.679 --> 00:16:08.480
Some are like really grand, really big, and others are quite small, but they really know their plants, and so you can kind of pick one that suits you.
00:16:08.720 --> 00:16:13.039
And is that certain weekends of the year then, or is it just is it just run all the time?
00:16:13.360 --> 00:16:17.519
Well, no, it's some some villagers do it on a certain weekend, yeah.
00:16:17.840 --> 00:16:31.279
Or towns as well, but that then the National Garden Scheme Pete, you can get a little book or online which lists the ones in your area and the dates they're open because some do like twice a year, some do one in spring and one in summer, so it's really varied.
00:16:31.360 --> 00:16:36.320
But this one I went to, you know, I went there on Friday afternoon because they were just doing it on the on the like three till five.
00:16:36.399 --> 00:16:41.200
So I played Truump from Work and finished early, and it was such a nice way to start the weekend.
00:16:41.519 --> 00:16:45.759
Just like, you know, it really switches off from work and into the weekend.
00:16:45.840 --> 00:16:46.320
It was great.
00:16:46.480 --> 00:16:47.360
So I'm gonna do some more.
00:16:47.600 --> 00:16:50.159
Nice to do it on a before it gets busier at the weekend as well.
00:16:50.320 --> 00:16:54.720
But you know, we have our own little version of that on our road, the open gardens thing.
00:16:54.879 --> 00:16:55.279
Do you?
00:16:55.440 --> 00:16:58.320
Yeah, because all our gardens kind of run down from the house.
00:16:58.399 --> 00:17:04.240
We live on a on a terrace and all the gardens go down, and they all have a we all have a back gate onto a lane at the bottom.
00:17:04.559 --> 00:17:06.000
So it lends itself to that.
00:17:06.079 --> 00:17:14.400
And um, on a one afternoon in June, um on a Sunday, we all open our, or if you want to, you open your back gate and then people wander up and down each other's gardens.
00:17:14.559 --> 00:17:15.440
Oh, that's really nice.
00:17:15.599 --> 00:17:18.079
And you know, it's just they don't have to be like fancy.
00:17:18.400 --> 00:17:19.759
It's just you guys that do it.
00:17:19.920 --> 00:17:21.119
You don't invite people in.
00:17:21.279 --> 00:17:21.440
No.
00:17:21.680 --> 00:17:22.559
Yeah, yeah, nice.
00:17:22.720 --> 00:17:25.200
No, unless people have got guests, but no, it's just us.
00:17:25.279 --> 00:17:26.400
Yeah, and it was just nice.
00:17:26.480 --> 00:17:34.319
All the kids run up and down the gardens, people make a jug of pims, or sometimes, you know, some biscuits or and what a lovely idea.
00:17:34.559 --> 00:17:37.039
And then everyone kind of congregates in one of the gardens at the end.
00:17:37.119 --> 00:17:45.839
But it's not when I was at first I was kind of worried that my garden would need to be smarter or I'd need to have if someone was asking me about my plants, I'd need to be kind of brushed up on what they were.
00:17:46.960 --> 00:17:51.759
Actually, it's not about that, and it's just it's just a lovely thing to do, a nice social occasion.
00:17:52.079 --> 00:17:54.559
You see, I could see you doing that in your little hamlet, Joe.
00:17:54.720 --> 00:17:57.440
Yeah, if my garden was a bit nicer, I think I'd worry about that.
00:17:57.759 --> 00:18:00.799
It is the sociability thing as much as anything though, isn't it?
00:18:00.960 --> 00:18:02.160
Yeah, definitely.
00:18:02.640 --> 00:18:04.640
But there's loads of other things you can do, actually, isn't there?
00:18:04.720 --> 00:18:08.319
Because there's like all those artist trails and open studios that open as well.
00:18:09.119 --> 00:18:10.160
Yeah, I love those.
00:18:10.319 --> 00:18:11.519
There's loads, actually, isn't there?
00:18:11.599 --> 00:18:17.920
Like um, you can always get these sneak peek experiences at theatres and museums and factories and historic houses and things like that.
00:18:18.079 --> 00:18:18.799
Oh, they're great.
00:18:18.960 --> 00:18:23.119
Because museums, like what you see is only a fraction of what they've got on display.
00:18:23.279 --> 00:18:23.680
Yeah.
00:18:23.920 --> 00:18:28.880
So a lot of it is in drawers or old sketches, and like a lot of it's really interesting stuff.
00:18:29.039 --> 00:18:33.839
And especially if you're doing it at night, like you imagine looking around, I don't know, like a natural history museum at night.
00:18:34.079 --> 00:18:36.880
It's got that real sort of feeling of discovery.
00:18:37.039 --> 00:18:37.599
Yeah, yeah.
00:18:37.839 --> 00:18:41.279
Have you been to the Natural History Museum, Jo, and done the behind the scenes?
00:18:41.440 --> 00:18:48.640
Because I've done it, and you get to actually handle some of the drawings and stuff, like you know, Audubon and things from the Beagle, and you well, not actually handle them.
00:18:48.720 --> 00:18:52.000
Somebody in special gloves does that, but you get to get really close to them.
00:18:52.240 --> 00:18:53.440
It's quite amazing.
00:18:53.599 --> 00:18:58.319
And they are literally opening drawers and pulling things out of boxes, and you know, it's very cool.
00:18:58.559 --> 00:18:59.119
That's amazing.
00:18:59.279 --> 00:19:06.319
Yeah, a friend of mine has um he's offered to show me the UK Hydrographic office or part of it, because they've got this amazing old Shackleton maps.
00:19:06.480 --> 00:19:06.799
Wow.
00:19:07.039 --> 00:19:10.799
And like considering I'm I made an indie magazine and named after Ernest Shackleton.
00:19:10.960 --> 00:19:11.200
Yes.
00:19:11.519 --> 00:19:12.480
I I feel like I need to go.
00:19:12.720 --> 00:19:26.480
I'm gonna give a little plug here, Joe, because it I I want to explain, because Joe launched and edited a magazine called Ernest, and it was so full of fascinating stories and curious findings, and we're actually still selling the back issues of that on our online shop, Pixanique.com.
00:19:26.799 --> 00:19:28.799
I think you're probably the only stocker selling it.
00:19:29.039 --> 00:19:29.359
Yeah.
00:19:29.599 --> 00:19:30.880
Honestly, I loved it.
00:19:30.960 --> 00:19:47.119
Because I, you know, I used to work at the Royal Geographical Society because I edited their magazine, and uh it was such a treasure trove of artifacts, and back then, you know, they hadn't the it wasn't so digitized, and and literally there were things not quite lying around, but definitely dotted around the place.
00:19:47.279 --> 00:19:56.640
So, like, you know, Livingston's compass when they were searching for the source of the Nile and the cap he wore when he famously met Stanley, and apparently they didn't say, you know, Dr.
00:19:56.720 --> 00:19:58.960
Livingston, I presume, and that was a bit of a myth.
00:19:59.200 --> 00:20:00.319
Oh, another myth.
00:20:00.559 --> 00:20:02.000
But you know, they did actually meet.
00:20:02.160 --> 00:20:02.480
I know.
00:20:02.559 --> 00:20:10.480
Apparently they've got some oxygen sets from the the early attempts to summit Everest and you know, loads of photographs and portraits and things.
00:20:10.640 --> 00:20:13.759
But the one I really liked, you'll like this being magazine people like me.
00:20:13.920 --> 00:20:17.119
There was a copy of the South Polar Times, right?
00:20:17.279 --> 00:20:26.000
Which it was an in-house magazine that was typed and hand illustrated, yeah, and produced in Antarctica on Scott's Expedition, and Shackleton was the editor of it.
00:20:26.079 --> 00:20:29.680
And the idea was just to relieve the boredom while they were waiting out the winter.
00:20:29.839 --> 00:20:32.640
But how amazing is that that something like that survived.
00:20:32.799 --> 00:20:33.200
I love it.
00:20:33.359 --> 00:20:33.680
I know.
00:20:33.839 --> 00:20:35.519
Yeah, there are so many things you can do.
00:20:35.759 --> 00:20:35.920
Right.
00:20:36.160 --> 00:20:38.400
I like the backstage theatre tours.
00:20:38.559 --> 00:20:38.799
Oh.
00:20:39.200 --> 00:20:48.160
I just think that because I I used to love kind of dancing, performing, acting when I was a child, and and I think it still comes back to me that excitement of coming out on stage.
00:20:48.240 --> 00:20:48.400
Yes.
00:20:48.640 --> 00:20:55.920
And I like the thought of looking in the dressing rooms and looking at the, you know, behind the scenes, the costumes and the props and thinking about who might have been there.
00:20:56.079 --> 00:21:01.200
And there's just that old kind of glamour about it, isn't there, in one of the kind of incredible old theatres.
00:21:01.440 --> 00:21:05.599
Yeah, you're literally in in their footsteps, aren't you, when you go into the stage.
00:21:05.839 --> 00:21:06.240
Yeah.
00:21:06.400 --> 00:21:10.400
But I'd also quite like to do a kind of train, oh, underground one.
00:21:10.480 --> 00:21:14.559
I know you can go to these sort of abandoned train stations and walk through the tunnels.
00:21:14.640 --> 00:21:18.079
And you there's quite a lot of them are used for film locations as well, you know.
00:21:18.559 --> 00:21:29.759
At London Transport Museum, they do these hidden London tours, and I I quite fancy that it makes me a little bit scared going the thought being deep underground, but and in a kind of way that I'm quite excited to do it.
00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:32.799
Yeah, they've got one at the um postal museum, haven't they?
00:21:32.880 --> 00:21:34.640
Which I haven't done, but I'd really, really like to do.
00:21:34.799 --> 00:21:35.440
Oh yes.
00:21:35.680 --> 00:21:42.880
Which is like the the uh mail rail, which is a hundred-year-old driverless narrow gauge underground railway that wants to transport mail beneath London.
00:21:43.119 --> 00:21:44.079
So you can still ride that.
00:21:44.319 --> 00:21:45.279
You can still ride that, yeah.
00:21:45.599 --> 00:21:46.720
Yeah, I'd love to do that.
00:21:46.880 --> 00:21:47.599
Let's do it.
00:21:47.759 --> 00:21:48.000
Yeah.
00:21:48.240 --> 00:21:49.039
We should do that.
00:21:49.119 --> 00:21:52.960
You know, we should make our next planning meeting around doing that.
00:21:53.279 --> 00:21:53.759
We should.
00:21:53.920 --> 00:21:54.880
Yes, that would be good.
00:21:55.039 --> 00:21:55.200
Yeah.
00:21:55.519 --> 00:21:56.240
I think it'd be fun.
00:21:56.400 --> 00:21:59.680
You know, it's a good opportunity for you to meet me to mention our sporter this season.
00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:03.519
Because Titanic Belfast is very much a behind-the-scenes visitor attraction.
00:22:03.599 --> 00:22:13.359
And they've got loads of artifacts and interactive exhibits that can explore, you know, the build, the launch, the maiden voyage, and of course the sinking and the legacy of the ship.
00:22:13.519 --> 00:22:21.359
I mean, you know, I haven't been yet, but talking about it a lot this season, I really want to, because I reckon you can get a real sense of it on the actual site when she was built.
00:22:21.440 --> 00:22:31.200
I'm gonna tell you about the some of the stories because I don't think I've told you about this, but one of the most famous stories, of course, is the romance of Jack and Rose in the film Titanic.
00:22:31.359 --> 00:22:33.200
But spoiler alert, they aren't real.
00:22:33.440 --> 00:22:34.480
Yeah, I didn't think so.
00:22:34.799 --> 00:22:36.960
There are lots of spoilers in this episode.
00:22:37.519 --> 00:22:44.799
But there were some real love stories aboard Titanic, including 14 honeymooning couples, which is obviously a little bit sad, isn't it?
00:22:45.039 --> 00:22:48.400
But one story did make it into the screenplay a little bit.
00:22:48.559 --> 00:22:56.640
So this woman, Kate Florence Phillips, she was 19 and she was on Titanic with the owner of the shop she worked for, Henry Morley.
00:22:57.039 --> 00:23:01.680
He was 20 years older than her, with a wife and child, no judge.
00:23:01.839 --> 00:23:03.759
Oh, and they weren't on the boat.
00:23:04.079 --> 00:23:08.400
No, and they were eloping to America to start a new life together, right?
00:23:08.559 --> 00:23:09.119
Oh wow.
00:23:09.279 --> 00:23:17.039
So he gave her this sapphire diamond necklace called Love of the Sea, which of course there's a necklace famously in the in the film, isn't it?
00:23:17.200 --> 00:23:17.519
Yeah.
00:23:17.680 --> 00:23:20.079
And he didn't survive, but Kate did.
00:23:20.160 --> 00:23:20.319
Yeah.
00:23:20.640 --> 00:23:21.519
And the necklace.
00:23:21.759 --> 00:23:24.160
She gave birth to their daughter Ellen a few months later.
00:23:24.319 --> 00:23:25.039
So there you go.
00:23:25.359 --> 00:23:27.359
That's where yeah, where it must come from.
00:23:27.519 --> 00:23:29.920
I know, i it's an interesting story, isn't it?
00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:40.720
But there there's loads of these human stories on Titanic, and obviously you can read some of them at TitanicBelfast.com, or follow them on Instagram at Titanic Belfast, or get yourself over there and have a look at it.
00:23:40.880 --> 00:23:43.759
The one at one tour I went on that we really enjoyed.
00:23:44.079 --> 00:23:47.599
David's my partner's dad is a big Man United fan, as am I.
00:23:47.759 --> 00:23:49.440
We went for a tour around Old Trafford.
00:23:49.599 --> 00:23:50.720
Oh, did you go to the ground?
00:23:50.880 --> 00:23:52.000
Yeah, it was great.
00:23:52.240 --> 00:23:54.000
My son and husband have done that.
00:23:54.240 --> 00:23:58.799
It's so good because you get to sit in the dressing room, which is surprisingly small.
00:23:58.960 --> 00:24:04.960
It it feels like it was designed by Big Brother to be a really tense space, you know, before they go out on the field.
00:24:05.119 --> 00:24:05.440
Yeah.
00:24:05.680 --> 00:24:10.000
Then you get to step out through the tunnel like the players, and it's what you were saying, Bex.
00:24:10.160 --> 00:24:12.240
It's that theatre of dreams experience, isn't it?
00:24:12.319 --> 00:24:16.240
You know, you kind of get to like pretend you're that person briefly.
00:24:16.559 --> 00:24:17.359
Yeah, exactly.
00:24:17.440 --> 00:24:21.279
In that moment, you're that person, and the crowds are all shouting for you.
00:24:21.599 --> 00:24:22.160
Definitely.
00:24:22.559 --> 00:24:27.440
But yeah, I I mean, we were going to talk about dabbling, is about giving things a go, Jo.
00:24:27.839 --> 00:24:32.000
And I know you've just been writing this piece about blank canvas people, haven't you?
00:24:32.160 --> 00:24:33.200
Which is quite interesting.
00:24:33.359 --> 00:24:33.519
Yeah.
00:24:33.839 --> 00:24:37.039
About not being afraid of starting something afresh.
00:24:37.279 --> 00:24:39.200
Tell us a bit about who you've been talking to.
00:24:39.440 --> 00:24:40.720
This was a really interesting feature.
00:24:40.799 --> 00:24:41.599
I really enjoyed this.
00:24:41.680 --> 00:24:45.039
So this is um, I think it's for our wisdom, regular wisdom feature.
00:24:45.359 --> 00:24:54.960
So this is the idea of like whether it's an empty page, a chunk of bare stone, a clean bolt of fabric, staring at a blank canvas invites those feelings of sort of pressure and limitless possibility.
00:24:55.279 --> 00:25:00.079
So we spoke to four different creative women who shared their approach to this universal experience.
00:25:00.240 --> 00:25:04.400
So there was a stone sculptor, a textile designer, an interior designer, and a children's poet.
00:25:04.559 --> 00:25:08.559
And what I really found interesting is that everyone approached it a really different way.
00:25:08.720 --> 00:25:21.759
So there was Alice Cunningham, who's a sculptor living in Somerset, and she says when she approaches a raw piece of stone, it feels really scary and humbling because she's got this enormous piece of marble that feels intimidating because it's exquisite and she doesn't want to waste it.
00:25:22.000 --> 00:25:29.119
And so she starts by making loads of models working in clay until she just literally feels this urgency where she has to start working on the rock.
00:25:29.279 --> 00:25:32.400
So it's like it kind of builds up in her, and then she has to get it.
00:25:32.640 --> 00:25:33.359
Oh, interesting.
00:25:33.680 --> 00:25:35.680
That must be so intimidating, you know.
00:25:35.920 --> 00:25:37.839
Yeah, because it's really expensive, isn't it?
00:25:38.160 --> 00:25:39.680
Having it a big piece of rock.
00:25:39.920 --> 00:25:40.640
Yeah, exactly.
00:25:41.839 --> 00:25:43.359
You don't want to mess it up, do you?
00:25:43.920 --> 00:25:44.079
Yeah.
00:25:44.400 --> 00:25:57.039
But then there was a textile designer, Sarah Campbell, who a lot of people might know, but she doesn't see it as scary, she sees it as this wonderful opportunity because she says, by the time I'm facing that piece of paper with my brush ready, I'm pretty sure I'm going to make some kind of mark.
00:25:57.200 --> 00:25:59.519
I might not know where it's going, but I'm excited.
00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:04.880
And she says, you know, if it's if it's if she struggles with it, she kind of creeps up on herself.
00:26:04.960 --> 00:26:11.359
So she might make a sketch on a corner of an envelope, or she might set herself some constraints, or or like she welcomes the constraints.
00:26:11.440 --> 00:26:20.240
So it might be that there's a certain repeat size or a colour palette or a designated fabric that you can only use in a certain way, and that helps kind of minimize it.
00:26:20.480 --> 00:26:21.039
Yes.
00:26:21.279 --> 00:26:24.319
I imagine having some parameters helps a bit, doesn't it?
00:26:24.400 --> 00:26:25.279
You know, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:26:25.359 --> 00:26:27.759
I I I try to definitely find that when I'm writing something.
00:26:28.000 --> 00:26:28.079
Yeah.
00:26:28.559 --> 00:26:40.799
Then there was um the poet, uh Nadine Aisha Jassat, and she was saying she just lets her mind be completely free because there's so much in life that feels constrained, whereas poetry is this place that's solely of the imagination.
00:26:40.960 --> 00:26:43.599
And so she says there's something magical in that first draft.
00:26:43.680 --> 00:26:48.720
Like you're literally discovering the poet for yourself, you're following the joy of the story unfolding.
00:26:48.880 --> 00:26:50.720
But she still sets constraints too.
00:26:51.119 --> 00:26:53.920
Making your mind free is hard though, isn't it?
00:26:54.079 --> 00:26:56.799
It just I was gonna say that's the challenge in itself.
00:26:57.119 --> 00:27:00.000
How do you guys feel when you look at a blank page or something?
00:27:00.240 --> 00:27:05.839
I think if I was writing a poem, I'd feel much more intimidated than if I was writing a piece of creative writing.
00:27:05.920 --> 00:27:08.799
But I guess you'd expect that because that's you know sort of what we do.
00:27:09.119 --> 00:27:13.039
Yeah, I don't think any of us are scared of a blank page and filling it with words, otherwise.
00:27:13.519 --> 00:27:14.079
I still am.
00:27:14.240 --> 00:27:23.920
I think we're not scared of it, but I feel more intimidated like starting a new book, like st or starting a new feature than a drawing or a poem because I don't have to do well at that.
00:27:24.000 --> 00:27:24.240
Do you know?
00:27:24.400 --> 00:27:26.880
I mean, you can just play if you were just doing a drawing.
00:27:27.519 --> 00:27:28.240
I understand that.
00:27:28.400 --> 00:27:33.200
Whereas you feel that kind of pressure of time, or you know, you've got to do it well.
00:27:33.359 --> 00:27:35.359
So I guess it's just yeah, letting go of that.
00:27:35.599 --> 00:27:38.240
And often getting started is the hardest thing, isn't it?
00:27:38.480 --> 00:27:38.720
Yeah.
00:27:38.880 --> 00:27:40.559
But drawing's much more scary.
00:27:40.640 --> 00:27:47.119
I, you know, thinking I'm gonna sit down and draw something rather than I'm gonna start writing something for me, but of course that's the point.
00:27:47.200 --> 00:27:48.640
It's different for everyone, isn't it?
00:27:48.880 --> 00:27:50.720
Oh yeah, for me too, completely.
00:27:50.880 --> 00:27:58.079
I mean, if I was on my own, like you said, no, I thought no one was gonna look at it, I wouldn't mind so much, but I wouldn't just probably wouldn't be as likely to do it.
00:27:58.480 --> 00:28:06.559
Once I was um I was in a group, we were doing some kind of activity and we were played some music and asked to just paint, colour, whatever.
00:28:06.640 --> 00:28:12.799
We had some pens, whatever we felt the music, you know, whatever we felt inspired to by the music.
00:28:13.039 --> 00:28:15.599
And I was just, I just froze, I bet.
00:28:15.759 --> 00:28:17.920
I would I was freezing you just say it.
00:28:19.119 --> 00:28:21.599
I was really trying hard not to look at what other people were doing.
00:28:21.680 --> 00:28:27.920
And then I was looking, they all seemed to be like really busy, you know, kind of making these incredible, huge kind of pictures.
00:28:28.240 --> 00:28:32.960
And then I thought, right, I'm just gonna close my eyes and just kind of and just sort of try and feel it and do it.
00:28:33.039 --> 00:28:34.000
And I did do something.
00:28:34.240 --> 00:28:37.920
Well, poetry, you know, being asked to write a poem, I think would bring me out in a cold sweat.
00:28:38.079 --> 00:28:45.119
But the other thing, and I know you two won't think this, but like creating a recipe from scratch, you know, very interweed.
00:28:45.279 --> 00:28:52.240
We've talked about this before, but I just the thought of you know having to write a recipe down or just think of a recipe from scratch, can't do it.
00:28:52.480 --> 00:28:53.680
I can't even follow a recipe.
00:28:53.920 --> 00:28:56.400
Or what makes something with your ingredients that are in your fridge.
00:28:56.559 --> 00:28:58.880
Yeah, that's I find that really hard, you know.
00:28:59.119 --> 00:29:00.400
Well, I think that's interesting, isn't it?
00:29:00.559 --> 00:29:06.880
Everyone has their own blank canvas fears, but there's lots of good tips in there about how to kind of approach that.
00:29:07.119 --> 00:29:13.759
I think one of the things that's interesting is that everyone assumes that you can look at the blank canvas of your home of a room and know what to do with it.
00:29:13.839 --> 00:29:17.200
Whereas that's actually a job that people get paid to do with interior design.
00:29:17.359 --> 00:29:17.599
Yeah.
00:29:17.839 --> 00:29:18.799
I often think that.
00:29:19.119 --> 00:29:19.359
Yeah.
00:29:19.519 --> 00:29:30.400
And it's actually it's really hard to know where to start because I I've done it previously in other homes, but in my house, which is really, really old, like I can't fit IKEA stuff in here, I can't fit mid-century modern stuff in here.
00:29:30.480 --> 00:29:36.880
Like, I don't know, it's the sort of place that needs this kind of posh threadbare inherited furniture and antique ones that I can't afford.
00:29:37.200 --> 00:29:39.119
Or have the time to go searching for.
00:29:39.440 --> 00:29:40.480
Yeah, exactly.
00:29:40.640 --> 00:29:42.480
So yeah, so I don't know what to do with it.
00:29:42.720 --> 00:29:42.960
I know.
00:29:43.039 --> 00:29:51.279
I wish I could I'd love to have an interior designer come and help me do colour, colour matching and just think about a cut- I'd love to have a colour palette for my house.
00:29:51.680 --> 00:29:55.599
What about that tiny home though, in our in our uh which issue is it?
00:29:55.680 --> 00:29:56.880
It's our June issue.
00:29:56.960 --> 00:29:59.920
Yeah, so she she, I mean, it's tiny, isn't it?
00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:03.680
It's um I can't remember the dimensions, but it's basically a size of a trailer.
00:30:04.000 --> 00:30:06.559
It's 5.5 by 2.5 metres.
00:30:06.799 --> 00:30:07.279
There you go.
00:30:07.359 --> 00:30:08.880
You've researched this joke.
00:30:09.039 --> 00:30:11.920
Yeah, gosh, that is really small, isn't it?
00:30:12.160 --> 00:30:17.279
She built it as well, not only designed it, you know, but and actually, and it's really clever, isn't it?
00:30:17.440 --> 00:30:28.559
All the little storage areas and she squeeze, you know, she's got a compost loo in there and a little bathroom and a mezzanine bed, but it and it just looked, I mean, definitely only for one person, I think.
00:30:28.799 --> 00:30:40.720
I definitely couldn't move my family in there, but I do I think most people would look at it and have a moment of thinking, oh, yeah, my fantasy just to be in there somewhere where you know, just to be so easy so much easier, wouldn't it?
00:30:40.799 --> 00:30:50.880
And I mean, then you know, all the time you spend kind of just looking for things or you know, tidying up, or I don't know, everything's just it has a place and and it's really beautifully done.
00:30:51.200 --> 00:30:56.400
The only time I've had that, I mean, it wasn't that tiny, but I I lived in a quite a small attic flat when I was in Brighton.
00:30:56.480 --> 00:31:00.400
And it was, you know, I was single, I was living on my own, and I had like everything had a place.
00:31:00.480 --> 00:31:04.799
I had four plates, I had four wine glasses, a small set of cutlery, yeah, just enough stuff.
00:31:04.960 --> 00:31:06.400
Oh, it was so peaceful.
00:31:06.640 --> 00:31:07.759
It was so peaceful.
00:31:08.000 --> 00:31:08.400
I love it.
00:31:08.480 --> 00:31:12.480
And yeah, a friend and um neighbour of mine is that I'm in a book club with, she's got a house like that.
00:31:12.559 --> 00:31:16.640
She's got like an outbuilding in one of our neighbours' houses, and it's been done up with scaffolding.
00:31:16.720 --> 00:31:26.880
So it's got like spiral staircases and scaffold floors, and she's just she's you know, finishing a PhD in there, and she's filled it with books and fairy lights and colourful artwork, and she calls it the studio Ghibli House.
00:31:27.519 --> 00:31:28.240
I love that.
00:31:28.319 --> 00:31:29.759
That sounds amazing.
00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:30.480
Yeah.
00:31:30.799 --> 00:31:39.119
That's where we have our book club, and we just go there and it just feels so so great because it's packed, it's not minimal, but everything has a place, which is just really nice.
00:31:39.200 --> 00:31:46.799
And I think that's why we all like camper vans and caravans, and you know, because they give you that little taste of it, don't they, even if you don't live there permanently.
00:31:46.960 --> 00:31:52.319
And yeah, we we all think we could do it, but I I know I'd end up putting loads of clutter in there.
00:31:52.480 --> 00:31:55.039
I I just would I think it's just built in.
00:31:55.119 --> 00:31:58.240
But you can only do it when you arrive with a small bath, can't you?
00:31:58.559 --> 00:31:59.279
Yeah, exactly.
00:31:59.519 --> 00:32:05.680
But the great thing about her house as well, because I was thinking the you know, with a camper van or a uh canal boat or something, you're on the move all the time.
00:32:05.759 --> 00:32:08.000
So you're in a small space, but your scenery is changing.
00:32:08.079 --> 00:32:09.920
But she can move her house around as well.
00:32:10.160 --> 00:32:10.400
Yeah.
00:32:10.559 --> 00:32:15.359
So um, you know, might see it on the motorway one day because she actually tries it on a trailer.
00:32:15.519 --> 00:32:24.720
No, you're right, because if it's tiny, maybe that doesn't matter if you move where it is, because then you're changing you've got the variety in your location, haven't you, as opposed to different rooms?
00:32:24.880 --> 00:32:25.440
Interesting.
00:32:25.680 --> 00:32:29.440
Anyway, I think it's time for our read aloud original short story.
00:32:29.519 --> 00:32:34.000
And as a reminder to listeners, we commission one for every issue of The Simple Things.
00:32:34.079 --> 00:32:39.680
So this is one about someone who's been brave and dabbling in something she hasn't done for ages.
00:32:58.720 --> 00:33:10.799
The smell of chlorine as I pushed through the turnstile took me straight back to school swimming lessons, standing on the side of the pool, staring down into the water and shivering with fear and cold as I waited for my turn to jump.
00:33:11.440 --> 00:33:13.359
I nearly turned round and walked out.
00:33:13.599 --> 00:33:16.400
I had to force myself to carry on into the changing room.
00:33:16.880 --> 00:33:19.200
But to my relief, there were cubicles.
00:33:19.359 --> 00:33:21.119
I didn't have to undress in public.
00:33:21.440 --> 00:33:25.359
It took some tugging and wriggling to squeeze myself into my old swimming costume.
00:33:25.759 --> 00:33:29.759
I looked down at the shiny scar that snaked its way across my leg.
00:33:30.000 --> 00:33:31.680
The skin puckered around it.
00:33:32.079 --> 00:33:33.920
I hope no one asked me how I'd got it.
00:33:34.480 --> 00:33:36.640
Half the swimming pool had been roped off.
00:33:36.880 --> 00:33:41.359
Over on the far side, swimmers were ploughing through the lanes at a determined pace.
00:33:41.599 --> 00:33:56.079
The near side was full of women, older women with folds of soft dimpled flesh, young women whose skin blossomed with tattoos, skin colours ranging from the richest of browns to the pastiest of whites, patterned the turquoise water.
00:33:56.880 --> 00:34:04.240
Women bouncing gently up and down were chatting happily in a variety of languages, and not one of them so much as glanced at my scar.
00:34:05.039 --> 00:34:09.840
Leaving my flip-flops next to a row of other shoes, I made my way cautiously to the steps.
00:34:10.079 --> 00:34:13.280
The tiles were a little slippery and my stomach muscles contracted.
00:34:13.679 --> 00:34:16.000
The accident had made me nervous about falling.
00:34:16.400 --> 00:34:20.079
I lowered myself slowly into the water, gasping at the temperature.
00:34:20.480 --> 00:34:24.320
You'll warm up once you get moving, a woman nearby smiled encouragingly.
00:34:24.880 --> 00:34:29.679
It's a long time since I went swimming, I explained, sounding more apologetic than I meant to.
00:34:30.239 --> 00:34:30.960
I can't swim.
00:34:31.360 --> 00:34:32.159
Never learnt how.
00:34:32.400 --> 00:34:37.599
She laughed and tucked a stray curl back into the frilly pink shower hat she was wearing as a swimming cap.
00:34:37.760 --> 00:34:40.400
I have to stay in the shallow end, of course, but I love it.
00:34:40.559 --> 00:34:41.679
I never miss a class.
00:34:42.320 --> 00:34:43.039
Are you ready?
00:34:43.280 --> 00:34:48.639
A slim young woman in a navy tracksuit called out as she switched on a boombox at the edge of the pool.
00:34:48.800 --> 00:34:53.679
Suddenly the austere hall reverberated to a syncopated Latin beat.
00:34:53.840 --> 00:34:59.519
The teacher began to step from side to side, pumping her arms, and the women in the shallow end followed suit.
00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:06.000
I missed the Zumba classes I'd gone to before the accident, but I didn't see how they could be replicated in a swimming pool.
00:35:06.960 --> 00:35:11.679
Moving awkwardly through the water, I found myself a space next to the cordon.
00:35:11.920 --> 00:35:18.880
A man with mirrored goggles and a look of grim concentration raced past me on the other side, splashing water into my face.
00:35:19.519 --> 00:35:22.079
I turned spluttering to face the instructor.
00:35:22.559 --> 00:35:27.519
Pushing out against the weight of the water wasn't easy, but suddenly I was buoyant.
00:35:27.679 --> 00:35:33.360
I could lunge and dip and leap and kick, and no one could see if I was out of time or making the wrong move.
00:35:33.599 --> 00:35:39.599
No one could see my legs, with only the water frothing and foaming as I splashed about like a little kid.
00:35:39.760 --> 00:35:42.480
I found myself laughing with the pure joy of it.
00:35:42.960 --> 00:35:53.039
I sent an arc of crystal drops cascading over the cordon, and they landed in the open mouth of the racer, who had paused to gaze admiringly up at the sacheting instructor.
00:35:53.280 --> 00:35:57.840
His mouth snapped shut, but to my surprise he smiled at me before swimming off.
00:35:58.000 --> 00:36:12.880
We were bobbing and bouncing and bending as the music rose, and all at once, splash, I was leaping up out of the water, into the air, hands above head, clapping and calling with the other ladies of the shallow end, singing together, Viva Me Vida.
00:36:27.360 --> 00:36:31.119
I think that story's a good reminder to get back in the water, isn't it?
00:36:31.760 --> 00:36:32.639
Very appropriate.
00:36:32.800 --> 00:36:38.239
As tomorrow, if you're listening to this on the day we come out, is World Oceans Day, it's the 8th of June.
00:36:38.400 --> 00:36:44.639
And I reckon I'm gonna make that the first day this year that I take a summer dip in the sea.
00:36:44.880 --> 00:36:46.960
But I bet you two have already done that, haven't you?
00:36:47.039 --> 00:36:49.280
Because you're both much keener swimmers than I am.
00:36:49.679 --> 00:36:51.840
Yeah, I think I went at the end of March.
00:36:52.159 --> 00:36:57.440
March! At the end of March, um, which is pretty cold, but yeah, not a long one, just a dip.
00:36:57.519 --> 00:36:58.960
But yeah, it's a good great time.
00:36:59.199 --> 00:37:01.840
I I actually haven't had a dip in the sea yet.
00:37:02.000 --> 00:37:05.920
The only weekend I've been near the sea was a really wet, chilly one in May.
00:37:06.000 --> 00:37:09.679
So um maybe I'll make that my uh intention as well, Lisa.
00:37:09.840 --> 00:37:10.800
Sounds like sounds good.
00:37:11.039 --> 00:37:14.320
Yeah, I know that I I think I'm definitely a fair weather swimmer.
00:37:14.400 --> 00:37:19.039
I know it doesn't matter once you're in the water, but it's less enticing when the weather's not nice, isn't it?
00:37:19.199 --> 00:37:19.360
Yeah.
00:37:19.519 --> 00:37:21.360
I'm never going to be confident about swimming.
00:37:21.440 --> 00:37:25.920
I think the only time I stop feeling nervous is when I get distracted by sea creatures.
00:37:26.079 --> 00:37:28.000
You know, I might have mentioned it before.
00:37:28.079 --> 00:37:32.079
I once had a go at diving and I only calmed down when I saw an octopus.
00:37:32.480 --> 00:37:34.960
Because who doesn't love an octopus, right?
00:37:35.199 --> 00:37:37.039
That's amazing to see them as well.
00:37:37.360 --> 00:37:40.159
We were talking about what our favourite sea creatures were, weren't we?
00:37:40.239 --> 00:37:42.639
And I think we all unknowingly said octopus.
00:37:43.119 --> 00:37:43.360
Yeah.
00:37:43.679 --> 00:37:43.920
Yeah.
00:37:44.079 --> 00:37:46.320
They're just they're so incredibly clever, aren't they?
00:37:46.400 --> 00:37:49.440
They've got this remarkable level of problem-solving intelligence.
00:37:49.599 --> 00:37:51.760
And it also feels really rare to see one.
00:37:51.840 --> 00:37:54.480
So I like you always remember the times when you've seen one.
00:37:54.559 --> 00:38:02.079
So like I remember standing on a pier in Morbeya and looking down and just seeing this enormous one swim out into open water and everyone's pointing at it.
00:38:02.159 --> 00:38:03.920
Like absolutely mesmerizing.
00:38:04.079 --> 00:38:04.719
Wow.
00:38:05.039 --> 00:38:12.400
I read the book by Shelby Van Pelt, which is commonly known as the Octopus, but is actually called Remarkably Bright Creatures.
00:38:12.480 --> 00:38:16.239
And in fact, there's a new film out on Netflix, Sally Field.
00:38:16.320 --> 00:38:16.800
It's very good.
00:38:17.039 --> 00:38:17.440
I saw that.
00:38:17.519 --> 00:38:18.480
I haven't watched it.
00:38:18.719 --> 00:38:19.599
Yeah, it's great.
00:38:19.760 --> 00:38:27.199
She works in an aquarium, but the it's the octopus that steals the entire show from these even good actresses.
00:38:27.360 --> 00:38:32.079
It is just amazing because you get to see it really up close in the film.
00:38:32.400 --> 00:38:50.159
And you know, because in the book, obviously the octopus, you get to know its views because it it doesn't talk, but it kind of thinks, and so you get to know what it's thinking about, which is and you know, you do have to suspend disbelief a little bit, but um, but I ended up finding myself Googling, can you train an octopus the way you do?
00:38:50.639 --> 00:38:57.039
And I think you can really, because they they can mimic, they can solve puzzles, they can open jars, they're really clever.
00:38:57.440 --> 00:38:58.880
They're handy, handy to have around.
00:38:59.199 --> 00:39:00.400
Yeah, really interesting.
00:39:00.800 --> 00:39:02.800
I mean, uh they've inspired a lot of films, haven't they?
00:39:03.199 --> 00:39:04.800
You must have seen My Octopus Teacher.
00:39:05.039 --> 00:39:05.519
That's great.
00:39:05.679 --> 00:39:06.639
Oh, I haven't seen that.
00:39:07.039 --> 00:39:07.679
No, yeah.
00:39:07.920 --> 00:39:09.039
Is that a documentary?
00:39:09.360 --> 00:39:10.480
That's a documentary, yeah.
00:39:10.559 --> 00:39:21.760
And the guy who studies this octopus becomes had incredibly kind of close to this octopus, and it's all kind of his about his relationship with it, and it's quite it's quite intense, isn't it?
00:39:21.920 --> 00:39:22.639
Have you seen it, Joe?
00:39:22.960 --> 00:39:25.840
Yeah, it's a bit like Grizzly Man but with octopuses, isn't it?
00:39:26.079 --> 00:39:27.840
I haven't seen Grizzly Man, yeah.
00:39:28.079 --> 00:39:32.079
Yeah, you get it's quite close and sort of attached to this um octopus, yeah.
00:39:32.400 --> 00:39:40.960
But you do realise how what incredible creatures they are, and it is quite a magical film programme, so uh yeah, they are definitely up there.
00:39:41.599 --> 00:39:45.199
Magical creatures, you know, because we we commission one in every single issue.
00:39:45.280 --> 00:39:53.280
And I remember when we started this series, and it was years ago now, and you know, we did like the fox and the badger and thought, oh, you know, maybe we'll do a year's worth.
00:39:53.440 --> 00:40:02.639
And there are so many, and you know, in it because in the current issue it's gonna be it's ants, which you know might not be cute and cuddly, but they're certainly magical.
00:40:02.880 --> 00:40:03.599
They really are.
00:40:04.000 --> 00:40:04.639
It's quite funny.
00:40:04.880 --> 00:40:09.760
The issue is called Amble, and if there's a creature that doesn't amble, it's ants.
00:40:10.000 --> 00:40:11.840
Yeah, they're very purposeful, aren't they?
00:40:12.000 --> 00:40:27.039
Yeah, but we it coming up in August, we've got this magical creatures of the sea special, which is is going to be great because we commissioned these illustrations and we're featuring the seahorse, the Portuguese man of war, octopus, blue shark, the nudie branch.
00:40:27.119 --> 00:40:30.960
They're you know, incredible creatures that you can see in UK waters as well.
00:40:31.840 --> 00:40:33.599
I always find jellyfish really beautiful.
00:40:33.679 --> 00:40:37.119
I mean, obviously, like as a swimmer, they're the last thing you want to be in the water with.
00:40:37.280 --> 00:40:37.440
Yeah.
00:40:37.599 --> 00:40:43.599
But if they're ones that don't sting, like I've like I swam with not deliberately, but I've swam with moon jellyfish before twice now.
00:40:43.840 --> 00:40:44.239
Have you?
00:40:44.480 --> 00:40:45.360
Was it scary?
00:40:45.519 --> 00:40:56.079
Yeah, it's a little intimidating, but I thought I was thought I was being bashed by loads of plastic bags, and then it was just in the gower off Three Cliffs Bay, and I just stood up and I was surrounded by I mean thousands, thousands.
00:40:56.159 --> 00:41:05.199
I think it's a smack of jellyfish, and it was, but I mean they weren't stinging, and and same in um Vancouver Island, but I was in a kayak and we got the photographer to get in the water with them.
00:41:05.440 --> 00:41:08.480
It was fine, but yeah, they're incredibly beautiful.
00:41:08.719 --> 00:41:09.440
They really are.
00:41:09.599 --> 00:41:16.320
I love, I mean, I'd seen jellyfish in the sea and obviously love watching them in in tanks and they're just mesmerizing, aren't they?
00:41:16.480 --> 00:41:22.239
But I love swimming in the sea and I love snorkeling and seeing the fish and seeing the sea creatures.
00:41:22.320 --> 00:41:25.280
I feel like I could do that in warm seas, I could do it all day.
00:41:25.440 --> 00:41:27.199
I think it's it's one of my favourite things.
00:41:27.360 --> 00:41:28.079
Oh wow.
00:41:28.320 --> 00:41:32.480
I think I'd definitely keep seahorses in a tank if I could.
00:41:32.800 --> 00:41:33.199
Yeah.
00:41:33.519 --> 00:41:35.199
I don't think you're allowed to.
00:41:35.440 --> 00:41:36.639
No, sorry, Lisa.
00:41:37.039 --> 00:41:37.519
I know.
00:41:38.480 --> 00:41:41.280
Disclaimer, I haven't got seahorses in a tank.
00:41:41.519 --> 00:41:46.079
But imagine being able to look at them anytime you wanted, because I could I could watch them all day.
00:41:46.239 --> 00:41:46.400
Yeah.
00:41:46.559 --> 00:41:50.960
But you know, but fish uh anyway, fish tanks are not easy because we've had this conversation before, Bex.
00:41:51.119 --> 00:41:55.599
You you you know, it's really hard to like, it's like managing a zoo, isn't it?
00:41:55.679 --> 00:41:57.440
You know, you've got to make sure the fish get on.
00:41:57.760 --> 00:42:04.559
I actually managed to keep a fit keep fish in a tank and uh successfully in our old house in London.
00:42:04.800 --> 00:42:14.239
Moved them in the the day we moved to to Bath, I had the fish tank on my knee in the car all the way because I was so worried about these fish.
00:42:14.480 --> 00:42:22.079
And then we had them here for a little while and they would settle into their new home and we added some new new ones and it was all fine.
00:42:22.159 --> 00:42:27.599
And then I messed up and put something in the tank to clean it that somehow managed to kill them all.
00:42:27.920 --> 00:42:31.599
Oh no, yeah, it was a it was a very sad, very sad time.
00:42:31.840 --> 00:42:32.239
Yeah.
00:42:32.480 --> 00:42:38.079
But did I tell you that I once met a poet who writes underwater, just talking about liking being in the sea?
00:42:38.480 --> 00:42:54.960
Yeah, she's called Anna Selby, and she writes these beautiful poems about experiences and things that she sees and how she feels underwater, and she takes like a waterproof pad and um and pen, and you know, and I guess she can hold her breath quite well, but she goes up and down and swims around, and yeah.
00:42:55.440 --> 00:42:58.400
You should interview her in the magazine, she sounds interesting.
00:42:58.719 --> 00:43:00.719
Yeah, yeah, we should actually.
00:43:00.880 --> 00:43:01.440
We should.
00:43:01.760 --> 00:43:03.039
What an amazing thing to do.
00:43:03.360 --> 00:43:05.920
She wrote one called Sea Cucumbers, which I really like.
00:43:06.239 --> 00:43:06.719
Very cool.
00:43:06.880 --> 00:43:10.400
But see, the sea does inspire artists, whatever type, don't they?
00:43:10.480 --> 00:43:14.800
We've got this woman, I can't remember her name actually, but that's because we haven't run the feature yet.
00:43:14.880 --> 00:43:22.960
But it's coming up in our July issue, and it's a gallery of her work, and she crochets shells.
00:43:23.280 --> 00:43:25.840
Oh, I've seen her work, it's beautiful.
00:43:26.159 --> 00:43:29.119
I mean, she does other things as well, like she does fungi amazingly as well.
00:43:29.199 --> 00:43:35.840
And apparently she lives like between the woods, uh, or she lives near the woods and the sea, so that's why she specialises in those things.
00:43:35.920 --> 00:43:41.440
But uh the shells are I'm not a I'm not usually a big fan of knitted uh kind of natural things.
00:43:41.599 --> 00:43:46.559
They always feel a bit incongruous, but these are stunning and the colours she uses as well.
00:43:46.639 --> 00:43:50.480
Anyway, we're doing a gallery of her work in July, so it'll be very good to see.
00:43:50.719 --> 00:44:03.760
But in the current June issue, we've got one of our know a thing or two about pieces, which is where we kind of try and bring all the pertinent and often Irreverent facts about a subject to the page.
00:44:04.079 --> 00:44:05.599
Joe, I think you've been reading this, haven't you?
00:44:05.679 --> 00:44:06.639
And it's all about salt.
00:44:06.880 --> 00:44:07.920
Yeah, I really enjoyed this one.
00:44:08.000 --> 00:44:16.239
So this reminds me of an old friend of mine called John Mitchinson, who was the head of research at um QI, and he did a talk for us once at um Wilderness Festival on Salt.
00:44:16.400 --> 00:44:23.119
He used to hold these salt parties where he'd get friends, you know, like friends would come around to do a wine tasting, but he'd have different salts from around the world.
00:44:23.679 --> 00:44:25.840
Um and they'd even like drink brine at the end of it.
00:44:26.079 --> 00:44:27.360
Hang on, whoa, whoa, whoa.
00:44:27.519 --> 00:44:30.400
They drink brine at the end of the night.
00:44:30.559 --> 00:44:32.320
Oh bet that gives you a hangover.
00:44:34.320 --> 00:44:36.639
Yeah, you'd wake up thirsty, wouldn't you?
00:44:36.880 --> 00:44:39.199
Yeah, I never went to one of these parties, but I quite like to.
00:44:39.360 --> 00:44:44.159
It reminded me when I was reading the speech because there's so many interesting um facts about salt.
00:44:44.320 --> 00:44:48.800
Because obviously it was used as a flavour enhancer, but it was a bit of a mystery as to why it did that.
00:44:48.880 --> 00:44:55.440
But apparently it suppresses the pal less palatable flavours like bitterness and then it allows the other flavours to sing like sweetness.
00:44:55.519 --> 00:44:58.000
So that's why salted caramel tastes so good.
00:44:58.239 --> 00:44:58.800
Oh, okay.
00:44:59.039 --> 00:45:01.039
Yeah, it's so interesting, isn't it?
00:45:01.119 --> 00:45:13.920
It's also obviously a preservative, which is what where the brine comes into it, because it draws water out from food, and of course, any microbes, bacteria that are living on it, killing those so that you can keep it for longer.
00:45:14.079 --> 00:45:17.920
And of course, it's the same process that the ancient Egyptians used in mummification.
00:45:18.079 --> 00:45:19.360
Also, it's a wound cleanser.
00:45:19.599 --> 00:45:22.559
Ever, you know, ever gargled salt water or you know?
00:45:22.880 --> 00:45:23.360
Yeah, yeah.
00:45:23.519 --> 00:45:24.320
Oh, okay.
00:45:24.559 --> 00:45:26.960
So, but I made a brine once.
00:45:27.119 --> 00:45:33.039
Speaking of brines, you can use it to tenderise meat and help um enhance the flavour and the texture of it.
00:45:33.119 --> 00:45:38.400
So I think I was getting a bit kind of keen and ahead of myself and my culinary culinary skills.
00:45:38.639 --> 00:45:44.320
I got inspired because it's only a mixture of water, salt, and sugar, and then you can add little herbs and things like that in.
00:45:44.639 --> 00:45:48.320
Presumably, like all recipe specs, you have to get those in the right quantities.
00:45:48.639 --> 00:45:49.440
Definitely, yeah.
00:45:49.599 --> 00:45:51.760
And you can have wet brines and dry brines.
00:45:51.920 --> 00:45:56.239
Yeah, so you like you have a salt crust or something, but this is with a wet brine, so it's like a water liquid that it sits in.
00:45:56.320 --> 00:46:04.719
And I was really proud of this and and probably bought you know quite a nice piece of meat, and then obviously served it to people and um and it was just really horribly salty.
00:46:04.960 --> 00:46:08.960
Oh, yeah, I think I'd left it left it too long, or I don't know.
00:46:09.119 --> 00:46:11.519
I've not revisited brines since then.
00:46:11.760 --> 00:46:12.320
Oh no.
00:46:12.639 --> 00:46:12.960
No.
00:46:13.519 --> 00:46:16.960
Because salt salt can get a bit of a bad press these days, can't it?
00:46:17.199 --> 00:46:20.639
I mean, yeah, that whole too much of it isn't good for us.
00:46:20.800 --> 00:46:22.880
But but it's also important, isn't it?
00:46:23.119 --> 00:46:25.679
Well, it's in a lot of um processed foods, isn't it?
00:46:25.840 --> 00:46:31.760
So you know that that's the problem is some more added salt that I think you know we need to be we need to be careful with.
00:46:31.920 --> 00:46:32.719
But we need it.
00:46:32.880 --> 00:46:42.400
We need it, it's vital for uh this this sodium element of salt is uh an electrolyte, and um we need it to stay alive so for our nerve and muscle function.
00:46:42.639 --> 00:46:48.000
Um, you know, it that's why, you know, obviously you know if you get dehydrated, you're in all rehydration salts.
00:46:48.480 --> 00:46:48.719
Yeah.
00:46:48.880 --> 00:46:51.119
Did you know you you can actually get it from this country as well?
00:46:51.199 --> 00:46:57.199
Because you've you sort of think about Himalayan rock salt, which has this traces of iron oxide, which is why it's um pink.
00:46:57.519 --> 00:47:01.519
Um but yeah, you can get it from uh this country, so you can spot it in the place names.
00:47:01.599 --> 00:47:06.000
So any English town with a name ending which, like Nantwich, Drew Twitch, Northwich.
00:47:06.320 --> 00:47:06.559
Really?
00:47:06.800 --> 00:47:07.119
For instance.
00:47:07.199 --> 00:47:09.360
I don't know if that is that Norwich or Northwich, I don't know.
00:47:09.519 --> 00:47:14.960
But um, it's a clue that the Anglo Anglo-Saxon in Anglo-Saxon times there's a brine pit or a salt pan used to be there.
00:47:15.199 --> 00:47:15.920
Oh interesting.
00:47:16.159 --> 00:47:18.239
Because obviously you get it from two sources, don't you?
00:47:18.639 --> 00:47:20.800
It's either the sea or it's from rock.
00:47:20.960 --> 00:47:21.280
Yeah.
00:47:21.440 --> 00:47:33.679
So the rock in the sea is the sort of runoff of minerals where rainwaters hit the rocks on the land, but then the salt in the rock comes from where lakes and seas have dried up.
00:47:33.760 --> 00:47:37.599
But yeah, uh, I guess sea salt's the more fashionable one now, isn't it?
00:47:38.000 --> 00:47:38.320
Yeah.
00:47:38.480 --> 00:47:40.559
But ro people use rock salt as well, don't they?
00:47:40.639 --> 00:47:42.000
What I like are the sayings.
00:47:42.320 --> 00:47:51.360
You know, if you think when you start thinking about taking it with a pinch of salt, salt of the earth, but the one the one I like best is worth his salt or worth her salt.
00:47:52.239 --> 00:48:01.199
But it's not what you think because the the the other fact I really liked in the piece was about the fact that Roman soldiers were paid, it's where the word salary comes from.
00:48:01.360 --> 00:48:06.880
Okay, but they weren't actually paid in salt, but they were it's like a kind of living wage.
00:48:07.039 --> 00:48:09.599
The money they earned was to buy salt.
00:48:09.840 --> 00:48:10.880
Oh, I see.
00:48:11.119 --> 00:48:17.760
So it's it's called salary, but actually, worthy salt was not to do with the salary, but in fact, I don't really know what it's from.
00:48:17.840 --> 00:48:19.199
I've already forgotten the fact.
00:48:19.440 --> 00:48:22.480
I'll put it in the show notes, but I liked the backstory.
00:48:22.719 --> 00:48:24.159
But you know, worthy salt.
00:48:24.559 --> 00:48:28.639
Reading that piece reminded me that I used to throw salt over my left shoulder.
00:48:28.800 --> 00:48:29.440
We used to do that.
00:48:29.679 --> 00:48:30.400
I used to do that.
00:48:30.880 --> 00:48:33.360
Is that to ward off like spirits or something?
00:48:33.440 --> 00:48:34.719
I can't remember what you do it for.
00:48:34.960 --> 00:48:38.239
Did we do it for good luck or did we do it as like a touchwood kind of thing?
00:48:38.400 --> 00:48:40.159
No, it's to ward off evil, I think.
00:48:40.400 --> 00:48:40.719
Yeah.
00:48:40.880 --> 00:48:42.960
I can't remember the context of when I would have done it.
00:48:43.119 --> 00:48:48.079
Even isn't it if you spilled some salt, you then had to throw some over your left shoulder to get rid of the devil or something.
00:48:48.159 --> 00:48:48.480
Yeah.
00:48:48.719 --> 00:48:50.079
Oh, yes, that was it.
00:48:50.239 --> 00:48:52.480
Because you were inviting the devil or something like that.
00:48:52.559 --> 00:48:52.800
Yeah.
00:48:53.039 --> 00:48:53.760
That's it.
00:48:53.920 --> 00:48:54.719
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:48:54.960 --> 00:48:57.840
Clearly, we've researched that fact really well on this one.
00:48:59.039 --> 00:49:02.400
I'd have been throwing salt over my shoulder in all the wrong occasions.
00:49:02.559 --> 00:49:05.679
I know, but that you know, we are we are dabbling, that's what we're doing.
00:49:05.840 --> 00:49:15.280
But the way I know we all want to dabble in this because we did a yet another great piece in our June issue on citizen science, and there were so many ideas in this.
00:49:15.360 --> 00:49:27.440
And you know, citizen science being that kind of, you know, you might count butterflies, watch bees, survey seaweed, but the idea is that your observations contribute to wider knowledge because lots of people are doing it.
00:49:27.599 --> 00:49:31.920
And are we, I mean, we've all picked something, I think, and we yeah, yeah, I can't remember Bex.
00:49:32.159 --> 00:49:33.519
What were you gonna do from it?
00:49:33.679 --> 00:49:37.519
Well, I like the sound of the seaweed surveys because I'm really interested in seaweed.
00:49:37.599 --> 00:49:41.119
I like it when I've tried it in cooking, and um, there's so many different types.
00:49:41.280 --> 00:49:56.000
The Natural History Museum is apparently asking for people to do these seaweed surveys where they can look for and note 14 common species and uh on a stretch of beach, and then obviously they can record that and note about the any impact of the changing environment and what that's having on sea life.
00:49:56.079 --> 00:49:58.719
So I thought that would be really interesting, and it would get me to the beach as well.
00:49:58.960 --> 00:50:00.239
Nice, yeah, exactly.
00:50:00.320 --> 00:50:01.440
And it won't take long, will it?
00:50:01.519 --> 00:50:08.000
You know, you don't do it for like days and days, you just do it in one session, and then people can kind of get the results from that.
00:50:08.239 --> 00:50:10.639
But I like the fact that I'd be really learning something.
00:50:10.719 --> 00:50:16.400
Um I'd like to do it with one of my kids, maybe, and then also, you know, obviously contributing, which is the whole point of it, isn't it?
00:50:16.559 --> 00:50:16.960
Definitely.
00:50:17.119 --> 00:50:18.000
How about you, Joe?
00:50:18.239 --> 00:50:22.320
I'd like to do the great egg case hunt, which is part of the shark trust.
00:50:22.480 --> 00:50:28.960
Um, so that asks you to identify and record mermaid record mermaids' purses, which is an empty egg cases of sharks and rays.
00:50:29.199 --> 00:50:32.239
So these are all those things that I find anyway, that I find really fascinating.
00:50:32.320 --> 00:50:33.280
They're really beautiful.
00:50:33.519 --> 00:50:33.840
Yeah.
00:50:34.000 --> 00:50:34.239
Nice.
00:50:34.480 --> 00:50:36.719
But yeah, it'd be a nice, almost like a treasure hunt, right?
00:50:36.800 --> 00:50:38.079
To to go and find them on a beach.
00:50:38.320 --> 00:50:43.039
What's great is you only do like 15 minutes, 20 minutes, and yet the results Exactly.
00:50:43.280 --> 00:50:46.480
So you two know unsurprisingly are going to the beach then.
00:50:46.639 --> 00:50:47.039
Yeah.
00:50:47.280 --> 00:50:49.119
Well, the sun's shining as well.
00:50:49.360 --> 00:50:54.880
There was one on there that was quite interesting, which is you can count the bugs that get splattered on your number plate.
00:50:55.039 --> 00:50:55.519
Oh, yeah.
00:50:55.679 --> 00:50:58.239
I thought you could do this, Lisa, when you travels up north.
00:50:58.480 --> 00:50:59.199
Yeah, exactly.
00:50:59.440 --> 00:51:03.280
It sounds a bit weird, but I think you know, it's a marker of insect abundance.
00:51:03.360 --> 00:51:04.719
So maybe we'll have a go at that.
00:51:04.880 --> 00:51:09.440
But actually, more pleasantly, the Woodland Trust does an ancient trees inventory.
00:51:09.760 --> 00:51:10.719
Oh, I've seen this.
00:51:10.960 --> 00:51:14.239
If you find one that's not on the list, you can add one to it.
00:51:14.480 --> 00:51:17.039
It's practically like naming a tree after yourself, isn't it?
00:51:17.199 --> 00:51:19.199
You know, it's kind of like I found that tree.
00:51:19.440 --> 00:51:20.239
Love that idea.
00:51:20.480 --> 00:51:21.519
So um, that'd be good.
00:51:21.599 --> 00:51:25.679
And they actually they also do you know seasons changing, which I do a bit of this anyway.
00:51:25.760 --> 00:51:32.320
I I record in my diary of when the first bluebells appear and you know when the first snowfall is and that sort of stuff.
00:51:32.480 --> 00:51:33.280
So I like that.
00:51:33.440 --> 00:51:39.599
But the other thing is when I'm up north in the dales, we kind of get red squirrels in the valleys there and in the garden as well.
00:51:39.760 --> 00:51:54.000
And so there are lots of local red squirrel groups because to report sightings and monitor numbers because they're recolonising parts of northern England, and that feels really good to be part of that because that's like a species that's coming back, and that would be nice, yeah.
00:51:54.079 --> 00:51:55.119
So I look forward to doing that.
00:51:55.440 --> 00:51:57.280
That's really lucky that you get to do that.
00:51:57.440 --> 00:52:03.119
I mean, obviously at this time of year we're kind of thinking about things that you want to do outdoors, but there's lots of things that you can do at home as well.
00:52:03.280 --> 00:52:19.760
And so if you can't go outdoors, you you know, you can do things like there's this thing called Zooniverse, and you can look at images that have been taken through a from a telescope, and you can fight look out for comets and clouds on Mars, these things called brown dwarfs, which are balls of cosmic gas that never become stars.
00:52:20.000 --> 00:52:20.320
Wow.
00:52:20.559 --> 00:52:31.679
You can kind of um keep an eye on all the footage from like wildlife cameras, you know, because someone's got to look back through all this and and see, you know, they're out there and you've got to, you know, note when things come into sight.
00:52:31.920 --> 00:52:36.960
I like the thought of that because you can obviously transport yourself somewhere else and and help out that way.
00:52:37.280 --> 00:52:37.840
Definitely.
00:52:38.000 --> 00:52:42.800
Well, I think I think we've made it fairly clear that there's much to dabble in and discover this summer, isn't there?
00:52:42.880 --> 00:52:49.840
You know, in the meantime, we've got to waste a bit of time in our motto for this season time you enjoy wasting is not waste of time.
00:52:50.000 --> 00:52:52.079
So I think we've all got one of these going on.
00:52:52.159 --> 00:52:55.039
Jo, do you want to do you want to talk what you see what yours is?
00:52:55.280 --> 00:52:59.599
I think it's just going to go collect those um shark egg cases because I think it'll be really fun.
00:52:59.760 --> 00:53:03.199
We're gonna do a lot of camping this year, so I think that'll be a nice thing to do at different places.
00:53:03.440 --> 00:53:03.840
Nice.
00:53:04.079 --> 00:53:04.960
How about you, Bix?
00:53:05.440 --> 00:53:18.480
Um, I'm kind of inspired to like potter and poodle just around my area and all the kind of summer events that happen from art sales and garden trails to summer fairs and that we have you know parties in the city.
00:53:18.559 --> 00:53:20.400
So I think you know, don't have to go too far.
00:53:20.480 --> 00:53:24.800
And that makes me quite nostalgic as well, doing all those kind of traditional summer things.
00:53:25.039 --> 00:53:36.480
I think I was on a similar vein, Bex, because I I I really want to spend this summer delving into local history a bit, but not just online, but kind of walking and noticing, but then looking it up and finding out more about it.
00:53:36.639 --> 00:53:39.360
Not for any practical purpose, just because it's interesting.
00:53:39.920 --> 00:53:44.400
Perhaps you could do a treasure hunt to help you give you a bit of an idea of where to go.
00:53:44.559 --> 00:53:44.960
Yeah.
00:53:45.199 --> 00:53:49.199
Maybe it's certainly possible, but you know, thank you both for our chat today.
00:53:49.280 --> 00:53:53.440
I always learn something new when we talk, and that's what I hope our listeners do too.
00:53:53.599 --> 00:53:57.440
And thanks also to Titanic Belfast for supporting us all season.
00:53:57.599 --> 00:54:02.159
I definitely want to take a first visit to the city and explore the history of Titanic.
00:54:02.239 --> 00:54:04.960
And you can plan your visit at Titanicbelfast.com.
00:54:05.119 --> 00:54:13.360
Now we're going to be taking a podcast break over the summer, but remember you can still listen to our earlier summer podcast episodes via your app.
00:54:13.679 --> 00:54:24.800
So I would start off with season six, which was our magical midsummer season, and then when school's out, you can move on to season three, which was our everyday holiday season for High Summer.
00:54:24.880 --> 00:54:32.800
And before you know it, we'll be back in September with our dusk autumn season, which runs from the autumn equinox all through to all Hallows Eve.
00:54:32.880 --> 00:54:41.760
An immediate start subscription means you can get June issues straight away, and our July amble issue and August magical issues will see you through summer too.
00:54:41.840 --> 00:54:43.199
So it's bye from all of us.
00:54:43.360 --> 00:54:43.679
Bye.
00:54:43.840 --> 00:54:44.480
See you next time.
00:54:44.639 --> 00:54:45.199
Bye for now.
00:54:45.599 --> 00:54:46.719
And bye from me.
00:54:46.800 --> 00:54:48.719
Thanks very much for listening.