Now, here’s a thing…

This podcast is not total improvisation. Yes, and occasionally we do prepare what we are going to say. Yes, and we are also comfortable with winging it. Yes, and today was a mixture of both inspired by "Whose Line Is It Anyway?". Then we turn to a troubling matter, well for Tracy anyway. Lateness. According to this article Heather found, being 5 minutes late isn't really late..... hmmmm. Apparentl...

Welcome to "Now Here's a Brian Thing". This week Heather shared the top ten songs that have been scientifically proven to make us feel happier. We are not convinced, but we are not scientists. See what you think. Tracy wonders about the new blue economy, ie seaweed farming in Wales. Is regenerative ocean farming as good for nature as it is expected to be for the economy? We do hope so. And finally...

Heather is expanding her gardening experience with the help of Charles Dowding, her neighbour Brian (secret garden elf) and a calendar gifted to her by her husband. I can't believe she's not watching Gardener's World yet though. Her Friday nights are sorted from here on in. Poorna Bell wrote an inspiring book about women's strength which I can highly recommend but that wasn't my thing this week (a...

It's still series 1 and we have no plans to move onto series 2 at any point. It's easier to keep track of how many episodes we have published ;) Raging Grannies captured our imaginations this week thanks to Sharon Blackie, author of Hagitude. Social justice activists who dress up and sing protest songs. Sounds right up our street but there don't seem to be any gaggles in UK and we can't sing (but...

In the absence of any credible preparation by Tracy on account of her being totally pre-occupied by a book she's reading, what and how we like to read is the first subject we explored this week. If any of you know what a "novel reader" is, as referenced in the actual novel "Spellbreaker", then please do contact either of us on social media. So far we have drawn a blank. And Heather brings up the s...

This week Heather has been triggered a couple of times this week and here you'll find out what Heather experienced 50 years ago which has caused her to the the butt of a joke in her family since then and stopped her joining the police force. And please don't offer her the role of a male character in a play! Please do let us know if you see a police officer jumping 1 metre on the streets. Tracy sha...

Inspired by an article about an avant garde mother in The Observer, Tracy & Heather explore the nature of what it means to be an artist and when you can call yourself one. We also learn that Heather is often surprised to realise that she is indeed an adult. We both need to read this book called "When I grow up" by Moya Sarner just so that we can be prepared! Heather's "thing" this week was a s...

You may be disappointed when you hear that a slap around the face wasn't one of our "things" for this week. Nevermind, we proceeded to discuss the complicated languages of flowers and fans. That geraniums represent folly did not surprise us, but orange lilies meaning hatred did. But then we blew our own minds trying to negotiate the scenario in which you were presented with an upside down bunch of...

Heather goes mad for royalty this week and Tracy exclaims a little too much (not being a massive fan of the concept) although admits to being slightly intrigued by the court circular and the finer details contained therein. And we were both enthralled/horrified/amused by the etiquette guide in Debrett's. And now we know the dangers of calling your child Richard (Dick) Head. It's good to know that...

Welcome to the podcast with the signature hum/buzz/drone! When we get over this annoyance we chat about animals, specifically medal worthy animals such as Simon the cat. We learned that the PDSA Dickin medal is the highest award any animal can receive whilst serving in military conflict. No longer do we underestimate the significance of carrier pigeons. And then we wonder what is good for the soul...

To say that these two subjects are diverse would be quite the understatement, as it would also be to say I (Tracy) was annoyed with the background hum that I have tried but largely failed to edit out of this episode. One day we'll find out what is causing the hum and we'll do a whole episode on that! What movements bring you joy? For me it's open water swimming and yoga. Heather puts herself in th...

What is your earliest memory? And is it real or learned? Tracy smells a wendy house (pretty sure that's real) and recalls throwing her toys off a balcony (this could be learned from a mother who remembers having to deal with it!). Heather remembers being told off for getting lost at the seaside. Heather brings some weird stories to the pod this week plus a tv show recommendation. Tracy lazily brou...

Returning after an extend break for Christmas and New Year Tracy (me) is ready to stay snuggled down under her new blanket. It's weighted don't you know. But words fail her when trying to name the fabric it is made from. But in case you are concerned, I can now confirm that the fabric is in fact breathable MicroCool™ Fleece. Heather then eulogises about pantomimes and delves into the history of th...

White coat syndrome is a real thing according to researchers. As well as chatting about what this is, we reveal the guilt that we always feel when walking through the "nothing to declare" channel even though we are totally innocent. And a day you perhaps didn't realise you needed is teeny tiny Christmas, the day before the day before the big day where the big day is actually the day before the big...

I (Tracy) did very little (no) prep for this podcast but we still managed to talk at length. When you are winging it you can talk about winging it! Heather's thing is better researched but rather scarily leads us both to have a got a singing. Winging or singing. Which is worse? And if you are older than Gen Z then you want to listen right to the end because we'll be teaching you a new word. Hosted...

Anyone for cow cuddling? Grandma Snowflake and Cuddlepuff are Highland Cows ready and willing to offer solace at times of need. And then you can look back on the whole experience with rosy retrospection, but only after a little time has elapsed. Eclectic discussions once again! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The the event of surviving an apocalypse, the skills of foraging and, importantly, how to cook your finds so that they don't kill you will probably be valued quite highly. Thanks to Harvard University you can spend 14 weeks learning how to cook microbes and fungi - for free. You could also listen to this podcast but I wouldn't fancy your chances of surviving much beyond the apocalypse based on our...

If on average we tell 30 lies a day (we as in humans, not just me and Heather) how many did we tell during this episode? Everything we said about Epistemic Vigilance and the Nietzsche Thesis was the truth as we see it, courtesy of bigthink.com. They also provide us with three useful tips to improve our lie detection skills. Heather then shared her learning experience with a group of submariners (p...

No tricks, just treats from us two this week. Heather digs up some more of our old memories talking about superstitions (this podcast is starting to become a nostalgia-fest). And we have a question - do the younger generations have the same superstitions as we did? And I got excited about the history of witches and didn't tell the stories quite as quite as Ronald Hutton or Susannah Lipscomb. But I...

This episode is not about poo samples and I did my best to remove the humming sound that appeared from nowhere. Apologies for the residual rumbling - which at least is not as loud in the podcast as it was in the room on the night. What we did talk about was the council of Hull passing a motion (fnarr, fnarr) to grant the "right to grow" on unused council land, thanks to community organisation Root...

Humblebragging appears on a list of 50 things that annoy people and, as well as wondering why the list wasn't longer than 50, we ruminated on the reasons why people do this (no doubt, we've done it too in the past so apologise profusely to anyone we annoyed at the time!). So what we took from this is that we need to take the humble out of humblebragging today. Subsequently, I stood firmly on the f...

Whilst discussing the process of leaf shedding by deciduous trees we discover that the process is actually quite gruesome (if badly explained!) and also that we don't have sleepless nights worrying about storm damage if we aren't in our own homes. World Mental Health Day is 10th October and we learned that it was established in 1992 and then nattered on about its various themes since 1994. Our cha...

It's been a few weeks since we last met up and so the start of the podcast is a bit of a rambling catch up of a couple of middle aged birds. It all sounded fine as we were talking but as I'm editing it sounds more like the content of a fever dream. We had fun anyway. As we delve into the actual topics for the episode, Heather discovers a fascination with sea glass and we may soon find that she's t...

We're squeezing a podcast recording in between holidays (Heather and Tracy) and gym visits (Heather only). Whilst on holiday I (Tracy) was inspired to look into the history of sleep, particularly biphasic sleep, and felt the need to discuss it with Heather. So we I did, but not during the watch (you need to listen to the podcast to know what I mean!). And before Heather headed off to the gym again...

On the evening that my (Tracy) son made katsu chicken for tea, we also recorded a podcast in which we explored field names and ended up with more questions than answers. At least Heather was able to point us towards a couple of useful books that might help. And old maps reveal that I live in turnip field. Then we ponder about the possibility of a 2nd dark age and whether Heather's grandfather was...