#14 - Buffet Etiquette, superstitions and Pink Hair Power

It’s Big June, which means: everyone suddenly has budget, every event lands at once, and Martin and Issy are running on fumes.

In this episode, they’re thriving because busy season is booming

They debrief a two-day festival, a full-day marketing conference, and a studio day packed with client content… then immediately spiral into the important topics: why wireless kit is worth it, the horrors of buffet etiquette, and the grim truth about chocolate fountains.

Also in this episode:

• the event that made Howell Media go wireless (and the “dirty underwear in the cable” moment)
• Pizza Hut trauma, buffet nightmares, and the five-second rule (toddler edition)
• awkward doctor stories (yes, that kind)
• Issy’s pink hair glow-up and the confidence reset that came with it
• superstitions, angel numbers, and whether “111” means anything at all
• and a closing joke so bad it deserves jail time

Thanks for listening to Allegedly Thriving and for coming along for the inevitable detours.

If you want to learn more about the two potentially unhinged presenters:

Martin - Photographer and Owner of Terry Harrison Art: Martin Newham Photography  and TerryHarrisonArt

Issy - Director, Owner and all round Digital Genius:  Howell Studios and Howell Media

Transcript

Welcome And Thriving Check-In

SPEAKER_04 0:11

I have to be cannot be.

SPEAKER_00 0:15

Anyhow.

SPEAKER_03 0:17

Welcome.

SPEAKER_01 0:20

Not again. Welcome to the Allegedly Thriving Podcast, the podcast where Izzy and I talk about whether we are thriving or surviving in the wonderful world of business in the Northeast and the UK.

SPEAKER_03 0:30

Who is?

SPEAKER_01 0:31

I am Martin, owner of Martin Newman Photography. This is Izzy.

SPEAKER_04 0:36

I own businesses, Howl Media and Howl Studios.

SPEAKER_01 0:40

Crucially, the studio that we are currently sitting in with the massive green screen that you can't see because by the power of Ultima, we have suspended time. Ducks.

SPEAKER_04 0:52

Yes. I love it. So yes, this is a clusterfuck of an episode already.

SPEAKER_01 0:58

Welcome to the podcast. Yes. Izzy.

SPEAKER_04 1:00

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:01

Are you thriving or surviving?

SPEAKER_04 1:02

Oh Christ. I think you know what? I think I'm thriving.

SPEAKER_01 1:09

Wait. I carry on.

SPEAKER_04 1:11

Okay, because I'm glad of applause.

SPEAKER_01 1:13

I'm gonna deliberately

Peak Season Workload And Fatigue

SPEAKER_01 1:15

put some in there.

SPEAKER_04 1:16

No, I want like a when I say but. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:22

There you go.

SPEAKER_04 1:23

Thank you. Um, but uh I um even though I am thriving, I feel like I am literally so tired I could fall asleep on the motorway.

SPEAKER_01 1:35

Okay, so full context, this is a busy week. So we've just done, because I helped well no, I was photographing, you were filming, uh, a two-day festival over a weekend, so they're very long days. Um, and there was then an entire marketing conference for the whole of yesterday, which is basically set up on the Monday, um, seven o'clock till seven o'clock on the Tuesday. Uh, and then Izzy and I have been in the studio all day helping clients um make content.

SPEAKER_04 2:02

Full day.

SPEAKER_01 2:02

All day.

SPEAKER_04 2:03

So but then I what I would say is is that um for for context, we're recording this in June, which is and June is a peak season for for the business. For me, everyone who has any possible budget for any kind of content or any event decides June is the month, and June is always the month that people want to get in touch with me, and it's the month where I try and hide from everyone because I've got so many people wanting to work with me. That's what I mean. That's why I'm thriving, is that it's great because I've got a lot going on and it's all good stuff, and just seeing everything working how it should work and the machines in motion, it all it's it's fabulous. I love it, but it's fucking exhaust. Well, are you thriving or are you surviving?

SPEAKER_01 2:47

Yeah, absolutely thriving.

SPEAKER_04 2:48

Are you?

SPEAKER_01 2:49

I've got a hundred photos left to edit from 4,000 start.

SPEAKER_04 2:54

And how have you found working for me outside of this room?

SPEAKER_01 2:59

Excellent.

SPEAKER_04 2:59

Really?

SPEAKER_01 3:00

I think we had great fun.

SPEAKER_04 3:01

Yeah, I think we we we gel, we vibe.

SPEAKER_01 3:04

My approach has just been have fun.

SPEAKER_04 3:07

And work.

SPEAKER_01 3:08

Well, yeah, but work and have fun. And I think doing what you do, being part of a technical crew, so being responsible for uh for context, it was a live streaming event, you know, for a bunch of cameras on live stream. There's a bit of teamwork involved and stuff like that. But once you get the basics, it's fun. There's a bit of responsibility. You know if you screw up, there's going to be a mess up potentially on the live stream, so there's some pressure. But I got to watch half of the events at Comicon and earn money. I mean, that that's win-win as far as I'm concerned.

SPEAKER_04 3:40

I mean, like we and also like in terms of the people who I mean you've seen it more because you've been chatting to us and been in here a lot, but like the preparation for these events, yes, they happen in like June, but we start thinking about them in like February

Live Streaming Gigs And Teamwork

SPEAKER_04 3:55

time, March time. Yeah, you have to because time moves really fast and suddenly it's on the horizon, and then oh my god, it's next week.

SPEAKER_01 4:04

And then I think in your case as well, you're you're progressing with the times and you're making technol technological advances as well, because you've invested in a lot of wireless transmissions now.

SPEAKER_04 4:14

Yes, and you know what event made it made us go wireless? I won't say it specifically, it was an award ceremony. And you want to know the exact moment we discovered that we didn't want to go wireless? Was I mean I don't know if I'm actually asking if you know or not. No, I haven't got a phone. So the exact moment. Isn't it just like we were live streaming a dare I say riotous um event, like an award ceremony, where according to the events team that I was with on Saturday, someone lost a thumb at because it was that mental. We got evacuated because there was a big punch up. It was like a barroom brawl, it was insane. But we were derigging and taking up all the cables and picking them all up and everything, and obviously, you know how we have miles of cable and you've got to like roll them up properly and whatever. Um, in that we had we had the music was so loud and there were people screaming and doing drugs and throwing up, and it was like being in some sort of hellscape. Wrapped up in the um in the SDI cable that we use, uh wrapped up in that was a pair of dirty underwear.

SPEAKER_00 5:15

Oh.

SPEAKER_04 5:16

Exactly. And we had we were like, oh my god. And then that point.

SPEAKER_01 5:23

So somebody somebody had to clean the whole cable.

SPEAKER_04 5:26

Basically, I think that cable, I think we just left and sacrificed the 50 quid or whatever it was for a cable. Um, and then we were like, hang on a second, we could have

Why Going Wireless Suddenly Matters

SPEAKER_04 5:35

left this event like two hours earlier if we hadn't all these cables.

SPEAKER_01 5:39

So, what is it what is it about people? Like humanity basically losing its sense of humanity out in the wild. It's just crazy, like festivals, everyone goes mental. But it's not but it's not just festivals, it was riotous. So, not sure if I'll keep this in, but anecdote. Years and years and years ago, early noughties, um god, what did you do? My then wife, um uh you know, first wife, uh, was working as an assistant manager in a Chinese buffet restaurant in the gate in Newcastle. It was called Walkamania. And um they had like 700 covers, I know, um, a day. It was crazy, it was a all you can eat buffet restaurant. And um at one point, um one of the kitchen porters came down from the loos with a plate full of shit.

SPEAKER_03 6:25

What?

SPEAKER_01 6:26

Somebody had gone upstairs and had a chair on a plate.

SPEAKER_03 6:31

Oh no.

SPEAKER_00 6:32

And then bizarre, the kitchen porter came down with the plate of shit. I was like, what do I do with it?

unknown 6:39

Oh no.

SPEAKER_00 6:40

I don't know what you didn't put it in the toilet to start with.

SPEAKER_04 6:42

Anything to do with bodily functions makes it physically.

SPEAKER_00 6:45

So he clears a plate and then starts to put the plate near the dishwasher, and everyone's like, what are you doing? What are you doing?

SPEAKER_04 6:50

No, you throw that away. Oh my god, that's awful. I just people are gross. Like, I I I just um tell you about what happened in Pizza Hut when I was a kid. No, no, no, that made me not go to Pizza Hut for 20 years, which was um when you had one of the pizzas?

Buffet Horror Stories And Hygiene

SPEAKER_04 7:10

But no, the um I you ordered pasta. No, it was Pizza Hut in Crawley, so I mean that should do the maths anyway. But my parents took me and my brother there, and I was about six or seven, and my brother's about twelve, and um you know the ice cream machine thing that you go and you get a bowl and squeeze out whatever gelatinous mess that is with some smarties. Um we went off to do that, the self-service thing, and there were no bowls left. And my brother was like, Oh, excuse me, excuse me, waitress, um, can we have a bowl, please? And she went, Yeah, sure, hang on. And she spat in a bowl and used her the bottom of her top, her shirt, to dry it off and then handed it to us and went, There you go, there you go, love. And my parents witnessed it and basically appeared out of nowhere, pulled the bowl away from us and pulled us away from that, and we left and we didn't pay a penny. They literally just walked out and went, No, that's not happening. And I hadn't gone back because I was so traumatized by that. I haven't gone back to a pizza hut until obviously I had my daughter and then ended up at birthday parties. And I still won't go for the ice cream. So yeah, disgusting.

SPEAKER_01 8:25

Got one other fact for you. So chocolate fountains.

SPEAKER_04 8:28

Oh no, no, they're probably really gross with loads of chemicals and loads and loads of like horrible things.

SPEAKER_01 8:33

Not so much loads of chemicals, but germs. No, just the you know how they're silky and they're glossy when they're flow and stuff like that. That's because it's only half chocolate. The other half is oil.

SPEAKER_02 8:45

Oh no.

SPEAKER_01 8:47

So don't have chocolate from a chocolate fountain. It's it's literally just pure fat.

SPEAKER_04 8:52

Oh worse than chocolate. This is gross. All this conversation is gross.

SPEAKER_01 8:57

If you put a large three-tier chocolate fountain in a buffet restaurant, at least once a week someone's going to put their head in it.

SPEAKER_04 9:05

Wow. Well, it's like Vicary Dibley. I just always think of that scene where she puts her head in it.

SPEAKER_01 9:10

The one saving Grace is that the person who puts their head in it suddenly realizes that the way that the chocolate flows so nicely is by being quite warm.

SPEAKER_04 9:18

Oh, yeah. No, I I think all of this stuff is like I don't everyone had a chocolate fountain in the noughties. And a lava lamp. Everyone had everyone had a chocolate fountain.

SPEAKER_01 9:29

I I still think lava lamps are cool. Well, I think lava lamps look brilliant. I I I I don't think lava lamps have lost their alert. That's fair. I still look like I dress like the 90s. I always will. Blue jeans, t-shirt.

SPEAKER_04 9:47

I'm surprised you haven't come in in a billion t-shirt yet.

SPEAKER_01 9:50

I don't have any. They're mainly animal.

SPEAKER_04 9:52

Oh no, that's even worse. Yeah. What is uh what is the ultimate buffet etiquette for you? If you're at a buffet, what's the thing that will make you turn around and go the other way?

SPEAKER_01 10:05

Dishes without tongs.

SPEAKER_04 10:07

Oh, people reaching out with their fingers. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:10

That implies that people are using hands. But I I mean I don't tend to I don't I don't really do buffet restaurants anymore.

SPEAKER_04 10:16

No, I don't, but I have been at a wedding buffet once, which was a very low-rent wedding. I did not enjoy it at all. Um and You went so partially. Um valet parking. And they um and I watched a child pick up a spring roll.

SPEAKER_00 10:33

They had cheddar. It wasn't even rockboard, it was cheddar.

SPEAKER_04 10:36

I watched a child pick up a spring roll from the buffet, licked it, went, ugh, and put it back. And then someone behind basically picked that one up, and I was like further in the queue, and I was like, nope. And I then proceeded that night. I think I ate three Pringles and like one breadstick. I was absolutely dying. So gross, gross, gross things. People are gross, I don't like it.

SPEAKER_01 11:00

Okay, at home, at home, oh god, if you drop some food on the floor, what do you do?

SPEAKER_04 11:08

Depends.

SPEAKER_01 11:09

If it's not like saucy, if it's like, you know, something solid.

SPEAKER_04 11:13

If it's like a chip and the floor is clean, I'll pick it up and eat it.

SPEAKER_01 11:17

Five second roll? Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 11:18

But you're forgetting I live with a toddler, and this is a girl who will not have cow if you like I had to basically get her in a headlock to give her a bit of m sweetie medicine. This is a girl who I have seen at the Metro Centre, which is a big shopping mall in the northeast, at the Metro Center, outside KFC, picked up a chip off the floor and ate it. And you're like added character. I've got a whole you get a whole when you're around a toddler, you get a whole new understanding of what's hygienic and what's not and what's passable. But I'll it depends. I know how clear my own floor is, and some days it like everyone's is, some days it is, some days it needs a hoover. Depending on the day, I'll take a view.

SPEAKER_01 12:06

I just know that everybody, everybody at some point will

Curiosity Privacy And Family Boundaries

SPEAKER_01 12:10

drop something, pick it up, look at it, go and then eat it.

SPEAKER_04 12:15

It depends, it depends, it all depends.

SPEAKER_01 12:18

And and anybody who says they don't, they're lying. They've totally done it once.

SPEAKER_04 12:23

Oh yeah. See, I think that I've I'm I don't know about you, but I have this real morbid curiosity about what people are like in their own homes, but also don't want to know. Like like when you meet people at like networking events or you see people on LinkedIn, you think, yeah, but you go home and like probably pick your nose and like you probably do other gross things, you've probably got weird fetishes, you've probably got this. And then I think I kind of I don't want to know, but I kind of want to I don't want to know. It's like being in GP waiting rooms. I always sit there and sit around, look around, going, what's wrong with you?

SPEAKER_01 12:56

No, I I think yeah, you're right. Not knowing is sometimes and quite often much better.

SPEAKER_04 13:02

But do you kind of want to know? Oh, there's always a gross sort of thing.

SPEAKER_01 13:06

Oh, but I think that's but I think that's human nature. That's the human nature of just wanting to know. For instance, I have an example for you.

SPEAKER_04 13:12

I thought you were gonna ask me, and I was like, I'm not telling you anything.

SPEAKER_01 13:15

So about two weeks ago, um two weeks ago, we were travelling down to my mum's, and to get to my mum's, we passed my dad's.

SPEAKER_03 13:23

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 13:23

Um so we were gonna meet him, um, his wife, and my sister-in-law down there. But we got a message two days before to say that my sister-in-law had had to go and have surgery so that um we weren't gonna see my mother-in-law because she was gonna be looking after her daughter. Absolutely fine, totally fine, not a problem. But we didn't know what the surgery was for. It was just, oh, it's a minor operation, but she she might be a bit sore for a while, so she can't do it.

SPEAKER_04 13:50

It's always something private, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 13:52

They then went a series of messages over many days with the person who was having the surgery asking how they were, asking what what was happened, not saying what you had done, right? What you had removed, but very, very much alluding to just tell us what the fuck you've had done. And nothing to this day, we still don't know, but we're too polite to just come out and go, it's now got to the point where we can't go.

SPEAKER_04 14:15

So um just poker and see what hurts.

SPEAKER_00 14:18

What happened? You know what I mean? But it but that's one of those that's one of those classic things where this was just like an itch.

SPEAKER_01 14:25

We just wanted to know, not not for any other reason than we just wanted to know, and it wouldn't have changed it, it wouldn't have changed our view. It doesn't matter what it was, it was the fact that somebody says, Oh no, they're having surgery, they need the mother to look after them for a while because they're gonna have crutches for a couple of days. Is it a toectomy? You know, what what what's happened? I I just I just want to know.

SPEAKER_04 14:47

I think I think there is there is that thing, but then also my question is to you is where is that line in a family? Because I always say, because as someone who works with works with my dad and I have for a decade, like I my parents, I don't obviously keep them updated on the more private side of my life, but also private areas of my body and whatever. I don't like if I have a reason to go to a GP or see someone or have some something done done that is intimate and private, I'll just hint at that and they'll be alright.

SPEAKER_01 15:18

I'd tell anybody.

SPEAKER_04 15:20

Really? Like straight up details. Well, I'll tell you graphic gory details.

SPEAKER_01 15:23

I just my whole ethos is just be upfront and honest now. I feel like I feel like I wouldn't do not for not unless you asked for gory details.

SPEAKER_04 15:30

No, I don't don't give me them, but or maybe give me them. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 15:33

But like if I get surgery now, you're gonna hear everything.

SPEAKER_04 15:38

No, but like I I I just well tell me when you're transitioning.

SPEAKER_01 15:42

I'm a 46-year-old man. There are probably things wrong with me that you don't want to know about.

SPEAKER_04 15:47

But this is what I mean. Now I need to know. I don't want to know, but I need to know. It's like uh it's like you know, when you're driving past a car crash and you kind of want to look, but you also don't want to look in case you see something traumatic, but you kind of want to look. It's like it's like I kind of want to know these things about people, but I also want the ability to delete it afterwards if I don't like it. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 16:12

I I think I think this just reminds

Awkward Doctor Visits And Oversharing

SPEAKER_01 16:15

me of the most awkward interaction I've ever had with a doctor.

SPEAKER_04 16:20

Oh no, I okay, you go first.

SPEAKER_01 16:23

I mean, and no, and the fact is you will always win. Like, as a woman, you will always win this because you guys have to have smear tests, you guys give birth.

SPEAKER_04 16:32

That's not embarrassing, though.

SPEAKER_00 16:35

But but it but it kind of is.

SPEAKER_04 16:37

I'm an agony, please do.

SPEAKER_01 16:39

But what I'm saying is it involves personal areas and that kind of stuff, right? So I got to 42 and I thought maybe I should get my prostate checked, just to check. So, you know, go to the doctor's yes, book of the exam, and you know that you're gonna have to have the finger up the bum so somebody can feel your prostate, which is fine. That's totally fine. But at the same time, it's like it's a bit uncomfortable, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_03 17:02

Did you make small talks?

SPEAKER_00 17:03

I didn't, but the doctor did. Honestly, he was the nicest doctor, and he did 10 minutes of just kind of medical chit-chat that I knew I knew in the back of my mind he was just making me at ease before I then had to lower my pants, lie on one side, and let a Vaseline finger go up.

SPEAKER_04 17:22

And now and and did you get a COVID?

SPEAKER_00 17:24

And then out there comes and you get the snap of the gloves, and it's like, yes, you can put your trousers on now. And it was an all-fine and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01 17:31

But it's just that it's that one moment where you're lying on the thing and you're like, I know he's a professional, I know he's a doctor, but there is a man's finger up my ass.

SPEAKER_03 17:42

Where do what point do you look?

SPEAKER_00 17:44

Do you just like stare into all into a f you're not watching it, it's behind you. I mean, I think it's a it's a very niche area that sits there and sets up mirrors for your prostate.

SPEAKER_04 17:56

Watching it on the live streaming.

SPEAKER_00 17:58

It's like, uh, if you'd just like to lie on your side uh and make comfortable, I will enter here. And if you're interested, if you just look up on the ceiling.

SPEAKER_04 18:09

You look up, and it's like, oh, okay. You actually had a heart-shaped bed in a motel.

SPEAKER_00 18:15

At least at least it's not a teaching hospital. I'm just gonna be here and I'm just gonna undo this curtain, and there are gonna be 17 medical students, all of which have a greased up finger ready to go. Oh, finger 20 times in a house. Oh, I'm gonna have to cut this out. This is too much. My prostate was fine.

SPEAKER_03 18:36

So my it was preventative.

SPEAKER_00 18:39

The great thing is, my prostate was fine, which is great, but technically, didn't he do that? That was that was an elective operation.

SPEAKER_04 18:46

Oh, my most embarrassing Government I've had a few, but one that really stands out is oh god, I'm crying. One the one that really stands out was when I was about 20, about 20, I'd say, and I went to the GP because I noticed on my neck I had this like weird thing that looked like a mole. You know, and then you know it was like, oh god, because obviously my parents obviously used to live in Spain, so I used to be in the sun quite a lot, and I was like, Oh god, I'll check that. And I and obviously that was over ten years ago when things were a bit easier to get an appointment. So I could literally booked in with seen later that day. And I went in and the GP, you expect some kind of balding round man, but it was like I called him stock photo doctor because he was so gorgeous. Like you know those people that look like a stock photo, like white teeth, bulging muscles, like stethoscope round the neck, perfect hair. And I walked in, I was like, holy fuck, okay.

SPEAKER_01 19:50

And then I had to like you just kind of dribble a little bit, relax.

SPEAKER_04 19:54

And then I had to say, Oh look, I'm really concerned about about this thing on my neck.

SPEAKER_01 19:59

I was about to say, uh at this point, did the ailment suddenly go south a little? Like this thing on my um my chest.

SPEAKER_04 20:06

Yeah, then mum and dad stop listening now if you are. Um but he then put me on the bed. I got on the bed, and um he was checking it and measuring it, and like as they do the thing on the neck.

SPEAKER_03 20:23

Okay, just check it.

SPEAKER_04 20:24

And I was looking into his eyes as he was doing it. He checked the he checked it, measured it, all this stuff, and he was like, Yeah, that doesn't that doesn't look right, does it? Let me get a light, and he was like shining a light in it on my neck. Turns out it wasn't a mole, it was a hickey. And he said, Oh, um, I think this looks like a bite mark. I don't think it's a mole, I think you've just got some bruising, and I was like, Oh god. So I I I wasn't at some sort of vampire convention, it was purely accidental, but I thought it was a mole. Turns out it was a hickey.

SPEAKER_01 21:01

I'm not sure that doing a podcast late in the evening is is such a good idea because apparently we just overshare.

SPEAKER_04 21:07

Well, I was just about to say to you, what's one secret or one thing I wouldn't know about you?

SPEAKER_01 21:12

Well it wouldn't be a secret then.

SPEAKER_04 21:13

Remember, hundreds of people are listening.

SPEAKER_01 21:15

Hundreds?

SPEAKER_04 21:17

Remember one person is listening. Remember your mum is listening.

SPEAKER_01 21:19

Oh well I'm not sure. Oh actually she might be hi mum. May as well. I don't know. I've been pretty open to be honest.

SPEAKER_04 21:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:27

I don't have a lot of like you have no skeletons. Not really, no. I mean I can't think of anything that's particularly salacious or anything like that that you would want to know. You know, I mean there's lots of things about me you don't know, like you know, reading tastes, all of this kind of stuff, you know, certain there's probably thousands of things you don't know, but they're just generic everyday

Superstitions Angel Numbers And Skepticism

SPEAKER_01 21:50

things.

SPEAKER_04 21:52

I think everyone is the thing I wanted to talk about was Obviously, we were at Manifest weekend, which was which is a whole other like I think a whole other episode. Because we could discuss that for a while.

SPEAKER_01 22:07

I think we should do a whole episode of Manifest.

SPEAKER_04 22:09

But the or the concept of it as well as the event. Because remember, it's a client.

SPEAKER_01 22:14

But genuinely, just it it was a great event. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

SPEAKER_04 22:18

So what I but then through being at that event, which for reference was an event all about manifesting a spirituality that we were both working on. We were um through that I've been thinking and reflecting quite a lot on how I am not necessarily super duper spiritual, but what I am is quite superstitious. And where superstition and spiritualism kind of go hand in hand. I like how we go from prostate exams to this. Anyway, um have you got any superstitions? No, I don't think you would. I don't have superstitions. You play with a straight bat.

SPEAKER_01 22:51

No, all of this, you know, you spill salt, throw it over your shoulder, all the superstitions, all of the crows thing and everything.

SPEAKER_04 22:56

Really?

SPEAKER_01 22:57

No, no superstitions.

SPEAKER_04 22:58

See, because I feel like superstitions start a bit like addictions, which is you do it once and then you think, oh my god, I can't stop. Because if I do stop, what if this is the time that I don't do it and then I die?

SPEAKER_01 23:10

But the thing is, some of them are based on just pure common sense. Like, you know, it's bad luck to walk under a ladder. Yeah, really well, it is. Never walk under a ladder. That's just good practical safety advice.

SPEAKER_04 23:20

The superstitions that I have, I want you to just tell me which one is the wackiest. Okay. Okay. So I salute magpies.

SPEAKER_01 23:28

Idiotic.

SPEAKER_04 23:29

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 23:29

Although they are a very handsome bird. Yes, and they deserve a salute. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 23:34

Obviously, only one, you don't salute more than one. I throw salt over my left shoulder if I spill it.

SPEAKER_01 23:39

Idiotic. You just get you're just spilling salt more places. Sorry, just quickly. How is the act of throwing salt over your shoulder not spilling more salt? In theory, should you not then have to throw salt over your shoulder for throwing salt over your salt over your shoulder?

SPEAKER_04 23:53

Yeah, and then you just never end it taking me four years to get out of it. I'm just saying the other one that I have from this is a family one. This runs in the family. New shoes can't go on the table.

SPEAKER_01 24:02

Why are you putting shoes on a table?

SPEAKER_04 24:03

So you know when you buy like a new pair of trainers and you get home and you put all your shopping on the table, you shouldn't put new shoes on a table. That's another one. When I was a kid, my mum used to put everything on the floor.

SPEAKER_01 24:14

If the shoe is in a box and the box is on the table.

SPEAKER_04 24:17

Yeah, it still counts. New shoes on the table. If I did that as a kid, my mum would basically like bat it off the table and be like, no, umbrellas indoors.

SPEAKER_01 24:24

It's just stupid to open them. It's also bad luck. No, it's not bad luck, but it is stupid. You are going to actually break something. So at some point, somebody's probably opened umbrellas indoors and realized, oh, now I'm swinging this thing around. I've broken a load of stuff. That was about that was unlucky. It's not unlucky, it's just stupid. Don't open umbrella indoors.

SPEAKER_03 24:42

Those are my superstitions. They're not which one's the stupidest?

SPEAKER_01 24:44

The salt.

SPEAKER_03 24:45

Really?

unknown 24:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:47

The salt, because you're just making more mess. Followed very closely by the shoes, which are in a box, on tables. She isn't that.

SPEAKER_04 24:53

I mean, my my great-grandmother was so superstitious that if she dropped a butter knife or a knife, she wouldn't pick it up for like a week because she was terrified that it would mean something. Like there's a lot of superstitions in my family. I don't like the number 13. I only like even numbers. But what's your opinion on angel numbers? Thank you. That was that was the opinion. I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01 25:19

Could you expand on what an angel number is?

SPEAKER_04 25:22

So an angel number is something that it's the probably the most woo-woo thing I am on the cusp of believing. You know, when you see consecutive numbers like 333 or 111 or 777 or 666, the theory is that if you keep in your daily life seeing that same set of numbers in different areas and environments, it means that some kind of higher power or universe is sending you a message. I see one one one a lot.

SPEAKER_02 25:50

Do you?

SPEAKER_04 25:51

And that me and and no, but I genuinely do, but I don't know if it's like the pink elephant thing where like or like the the you know, think of a Ford Fiesta and you'll see him everywhere sort of thing. But I know it's probably bullshit, and it is, but there's a part of me that kind of sees it as a comfort. So it's like if I'm stressed and I see one-one one in everywhere, and I'm like, oh, that means things are gonna get better. It makes me feel more reassured. Is that what all spirituality is? That's fine, and I know it's probably shit.

SPEAKER_01 26:20

So I think I think spirituality is a broad subject, and I have broad views on it. I know you do, but and they're not they're not as contentious as you might think.

SPEAKER_02 26:30

What's your opinion on that? What's your opinion on that?

SPEAKER_01 26:32

On your one-one thing.

SPEAKER_02 26:33

My angel numbers.

SPEAKER_01 26:34

Your angel numbers. I think angel numbers are a puck of shit. But I think it's coincidence, and you're actually your your your subconscious is actually flagging to you that you're seeing the things that are always there anyway. They're not magically appearing. It's the thing that I assign meaning to this is the thing, this is the thing I always get frustrated by. It's like you see the number 111 more often than not, and you think something good's gonna happen, or something like that. But you're seeing it in a bus route number, which is always one one one, or a telephone number somewhere, which probably has always been there, or a number plate of a car that's probably driving around all the time, or it's in a shop window, which is always there.

SPEAKER_04 27:12

But then when I see it, I go, Oh my god, it means something. Oh, that's a relief. Certain superstitions and spiritual things, like I said, I'm skeptic, but I'm also kind of like whatever makes you feel good, then just keep doing it. Is that I don't necessarily believe in it, but I kind of want to.

SPEAKER_01 27:29

Yeah, I think I I'm I'm all for people be do what you want. It's like will willful spiritualism it for me, it's it's like religion, you know. You believe what you want, believe in what you want, don't tell what you're doing, practice what you want. No, tell me about it, and I will happily have a conversation about it because I find it incredibly interesting. And I really like speaking to religious people, I really like speaking to spiritual people who believe things I don't. As long as I can have a conversation about it, that's from a point of view of I don't believe, but I'd like you to tell me about it. My view is always I'll have an engaged conversation with them and I will respect the fact that they believe it, and I'll tell them that I don't. So they know I'm a cynic. So the conversation is always. No, no, I'm a cynic. I'm never going to sit there and deride somebody unless I'm very good friends with them and I think they're idiots.

SPEAKER_04 28:20

Oh, speaking of which, eyelashes, that's another one. When an eyelash, um when I get a loose eyelash, I make a wish and blow it away.

SPEAKER_01 28:29

I could never tell you when I've ever had a loose eyelash.

SPEAKER_04 28:31

No, because I and also I have the now that you know me very well, you will explain you're ging, so you can't really see your eyelashes.

SPEAKER_01 28:39

No, but they're fantastic.

SPEAKER_04 28:41

Yes, they are.

SPEAKER_01 28:42

I know. Um but most men have got incredible eyelashes because we don't we don't fuck about with them.

SPEAKER_04 28:48

You're basically a llama eyelash one.

SPEAKER_01 28:50

Yeah, we don't fuck about with them, which means we've got great eyelashes.

SPEAKER_04 28:52

But what I would say is is that so what I have the propensity to do is if I see an eyelash on someone's face, I'll literally attack their face and pull it off and be like, make a wish, blow on it.

SPEAKER_01 29:02

Interesting.

SPEAKER_04 29:02

So yeah. Speaking

Pink Hair Confidence And Self-Expression

SPEAKER_04 29:05

of Stevie Winder, very superstitious.

SPEAKER_01 29:06

Yes. Before we start wrapping this up, so is it you've got pink hair?

SPEAKER_04 29:10

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 29:10

What happened? Um allergic reaction to some shampoo.

SPEAKER_04 29:15

I sneezed and it went pink.

SPEAKER_01 29:17

Did you go to the garage and get some kind of transmission fluid on?

SPEAKER_04 29:20

Well, I'm like a flamingo, it goes pink in the summer. Is that what it is?

SPEAKER_01 29:23

No, I'm got a high krill diet.

SPEAKER_04 29:26

No, so basically, I um I've always had dark brown hair since I was, well, forever. And um a friend of mine, Sash Ours, called Susie Keel, who is the best hairdresser ever. Big up, Susie Keel. Big up Susie Keel, bigger up. She is the sweetest, nicest, most loveliest person ever. And I remember chatting to her, going, I don't really have a relationship with my hairdresser. Like, I don't, I don't feel like I can just talk about anything. It just feels like a transactional thing. She was like, No, your hairdresser should be your therapist. They should be every you should tell them everything. She was like, it should be the place that you can experiment and do this, this, this. And I was like, Yeah, but I don't really, never really had that in my life. And she was like, Come to me and let me do anything. I said, Oh, well, I was kind of thinking if I was gonna dye my hair, I've never done that. And she was like, Oh my god, yes, do it. And I eventually got got to hers and she was like, Well, what do you want to do? And I said, Do anything, do whatever you want. I am in your hands, and I now have really cool pink hair, and I feel fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 30:33

It looks fantastic.

SPEAKER_04 30:34

I weirdly, I think it's unlocked or updated my software in the sense that I feel like I now have I feel like when you've got like brown hair or when you've got short hair or whatever, you can feel quite boyish when it grows out. And like if I was wearing something dark and boring, like a hoodie and leggings like I am now, it just would be like eh. I just sort of blend it blend in. I can wear anything, and it's elevated by the fact that I've got it's a style, it's a look.

SPEAKER_01 31:02

So I think we need to take that feeling. Oh okay, and then I think you just need to broaden it, right?

SPEAKER_04 31:09

And go pink everywhere.

SPEAKER_01 31:11

No, oh well if you want pink eyebrows. If you want, but that feeling you've got of being able to do anything in a reset, yeah, right, bring that to work, bring that to go, bring that to speaking to people, to being outloaded, like shout about your business the way that you feel about pink hair.

SPEAKER_04 31:28

It feels like there's a part of me that just has like come alike, like I'm less self-conscious about like like because for for example, like when my hair was really, really, really short and I didn't wear my eyeliner or whatever, I'd feel quite like, oh, well, people know I'm a woman, which is stupid because you can tell. I mean, hello, but like I'll be like, oh, well, people know that I am feminine and this, that, and the other. But then, and I just that's why I wear a lot of eyeliner and I do things that make it look like I'm like, trust me, I'm a lady. But like now I have now I have pink hair. Um it's if you could see me from a hundred yards off and be like, well, that's a lady, and that has given me a level of confidence that I didn't have before, where you feel like when you've got short hair as a woman, you feel like there is I'm lacking something that all these gorgeous, wonderful people have, and that's like a giant beacon on the top of your head going, I am not as complete as the ideal woman is. I'm not complete at all, and you feel that, and I think now I have that thing that's given me that confidence back, but in a way that doesn't mean I have to grow my hair out and not be happy with it, and you know, that's the point. It feels like I feel more confident in myself, I feel like I'm less critical of myself, and I'm more like, hey, that was easy. I could just do anything I want, I can go purple next, I could go green.

SPEAKER_01 32:51

We are our worst critics without a doubt. We can criticize ourselves, especially when it comes to physical features, and we can sit there and think, oh, the world's gonna think this about me and the world's gonna think that about me. And in reality, when you actually think about it, that view is incredibly arrogant.

SPEAKER_02 33:07

Oh, yeah, no, we're gonna be right.

SPEAKER_01 33:08

Because you're thinking that somebody in the world act that the world actually cares. It doesn't. Just so just just do what you want to do, look the way you want to look and embrace it. And if somebody says something negative, more fool them because they're living a world that's actually constrained by all of these different rules that you're just saying, do you know what?

SPEAKER_04 33:25

And what and what I'm enjoying is how like because I don't have any tattoos, nor do I really want any, but I quite like the body creativity, more the modification. I like the I'm exploring ways that I can be unique that isn't permanent forever. But like, so it's like nails have always been my way of like my little way of sort of being the thing that makes me feel like me. And my eyeliner is the thing that makes me feel like me. I liked it when you did the dot. I know you're very hung up on the dot.

SPEAKER_01 33:57

I'm not hung up on it, I just liked it.

SPEAKER_04 33:59

What I mean is is that and I've got a nose piercing, I've got my ears pierced, I've got things that are like that. If I didn't want them, I just take them out and it would heal. Like I like the temporary nature of it. Like my hair's always gonna be brown underneath this and it's always gonna come back. I quite like that I've got a lot of life to just try different things. Like I might get my septum pierced, I might get this pierced, I might get that pierced. Who cares? Because if I don't like it, I'll just take it out and it'll heal. Like it's I don't like permanent things. I'd rather have like things that just feel temporary but also can allow me to express myself, but also that I don't have to have until I'm 95.

Next Week’s Plans And Closing Joke

SPEAKER_01 34:39

Fair enough.

SPEAKER_04 34:39

Which I plan, this is the year I plan on exiting this planet. So next week, will you be thriving or surviving?

SPEAKER_01 34:45

I'm gonna be thriving. I've got so many bundles of photos to reach out to so many people. I've done so much networking.

SPEAKER_04 34:52

Oh, you're so new to this world.

SPEAKER_01 34:53

I know. I'm not gonna get nothing from it, but uh that doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_04 34:56

So you'll be thriving.

SPEAKER_01 34:58

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 34:59

I will be thriving. I feel I'll be in the same state of exhausted thriving, but I have a joke to close. What do you call a spider with ten eyes? A spy, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Right, that's it for this week.

SPEAKER_01 35:17

That's a great one. Bye all. See you next week.