Midlifing

Send us Fan Mail In part 2 of a two-parter Simon and Lee carry on (obviously) from last week and get lost (and het up) discussing misogyny. Things covered: voting with our own best interests, the ruling classes, the feminist narrative, misogyny, Bob going shopping for batteries, skin hunger after COVID, getting closer and closer, women and fear, more misogyny, seeing ourselves in other men, rape c...

Send us Fan Mail In part 1 of a two-parter Simon and Lee start off (inevitably) with an apartment update, some elongated preamble, check in post US election, and voting in our own best interests (or not). Things covered: Photoshop vs CAD models, learning 3D modelling, planning a kitchen (again), apartment update, Bob and Lee making a list of all the things they are going to do on their week off, c...

Send us Fan Mail Simon seeks some advice from Lee about keeping things in confidence, and then they talk about what our work colleagues really think of us. Things covered: A messed up beginning riddled with technological issues and two different audio streams, Sennheiser headphones, Sony headphones, photoshopping floor plans (apartment update), Lee's Dad flipping houses, renovations from anot...

Send us Fan Mail Lee and Simon discuss the extent to which identities are tied to work, and some other stuff. Things covered: International Champagne Day (25 October), talking in the third person, Prosecco, Cava, a biscuity Champage, Franciacorta, apartment update (offer accepted), relative cheapness vs eye watering amounts of money, waiting on tenterhooks, needing an Italian bank account, the apa...

Send us Fan Mail Lee and Simon discuss what it is they are most proud of and the capacity to feel as if terrible events are gifts. Things covered: Not having a kitchen, Wolf ovens, removing fitted carpets from a place, Simon being met by a friend at St Pancras, Lee being proud of still being married to Bob, the challenges of a life, having had a difficult week (tummy anxiety), the feeling of under...

Send us Fan Mail Simon seems to be on the verge of buying something big and Lee wades in. Things covered: Catching up after being away and hearing each other's voices, Bob in China, high speed trains to Hong Kong, American and British voices in HK, being a foreigner vs being a tourist, not a lot of love for Keanu Reeves in our listenership, Timothy Chalamet, Tom Holland, being told when we ju...

Send us Fan Mail Simon and Lee call Finn to find out who he likes. Things really go off the rails, and then Lee gets back to his favourite subject: jettisoning friends. Things covered: Lee jettisoning friends (again), update and feedback from newphew Finn re Keanu Reeves, trying to add someone to a FaceTime call, live update from Finn: Paul Mescal and Pedro Pascal, Normal People, Ordinary People,...

Send us Fan Mail Simon and Lee get silly celebrating their 200th episode, and they discuss a translation of a speech by Donald Trump. Things covered: The arbitrary nature of 200 episodes, Lee's soporific tone, falling asleep during meetings, haribot in a mini, just how easy the marshmallow test is (for Simon), Simon's TeeVee snacks adventure (from another episode), brain messages, weeing...

Send us Fan Mail Simon and Lee work through earthquakes, what Lee sleeps in, ghost outfits and life after death. Things they discuss: The dancing scene in Call Me By Your Name, dancing at a wedding, swimming in the early morning, Lee survives an Earthquake in Lisbon (while naked), Bob doesn't even wake up for it, Georges Perec's "Life A User's Manual", the 2011 Christchurc...

Send us Fan Mail Simon and Lee discuss Simon's experience of a root canal. Lee chimes in with buying a car and a bit about optometrists. Things they discuss: Simon having a root canal, dealing with the unknown, teachers (for example) keeping in mind how unfamiliar an experience is and how important that is, getting the giggles while at the dentist, down-dogging to the dentist, Tonya Harding t...

Send us Fan Mail Simon and Lee discuss how Lee's relationship with his parents is changing (or not) and Simon going through his Mother's writing. Things they discuss: Jefrey is inbetween breakfasts, Lee's breakfast, brushing your teeth when you wake up, not talking about the science of brushing your teeth before or after breakfast, bacteria replicating at night in your mouth, water...

Send us Fan Mail Simon and Lee talk about the things they have learned from their enemies. Things they discuss: Mars the planet and who owns Mars the confectionary thing, Lee's newfound love of stickers, Pema Chodron's "Living Beautifully", the people we don't like, Bob interviewing a student who talked about their nemesis, Lee getting the discards, the wisdom of Ru Paul,...

Send us Fan Mail Simon and Lee share a tricky conversation about the politics of representation. Things they discuss: finding the note about the tricky subject, Lee extemporising, representation and optics, box ticking, Bayo Akomolafe and representation on slave ships, Simon's confusion about representation, the end game of the politics of representation, Guild HE report on "Understandin...

Send us Fan Mail Simon and Lee talk about "youngest and smallest" and the long-term effects of this feeling (and other similar feelings). Things they discuss: visual but small, knowing things (or not) in meetings, refiling funding pots, knowing less than other people and what gets said (or not), speaking with confidence and authority, being the youngest and smallest, a curse of humility...

Send us Fan Mail Simon and Lee tier list the shit out of films starring Keanu Reeves. Things they discuss: Dangerous Liasons (including the book), Valmont (L&S got this name wrong), The World According to Garp, Sea of Love and having the hots for Ellen Barkin, slightly dirty (erotic) thrillers, Cruel Intentions, all the Keanu films (can't be bothered listing them all), Interview with the...

Send us Fan Mail Simon and Lee talk about obsessions and whether or not to talk about them.  Things they discuss: Being discombobulated, Lee's flight being cancelled, more on Simon's cholesterol and the NHS, budget cuts, brief (tangiential) conversation with Jefrey the dalmation, there will be butter (a film starring Daniel Day Lewis), birthday presents and Bob's birthday present re...

Send us Fan Mail Simon and Lee discuss hosting parties that are performances and re-wiring approaches to food. Things they discuss: Simon hosts a party that is a performance in which he is not the host called We Move In Close Circles, the stress of hosting a party, making a lot of pizza, curious.com (which changed its name to just Curious), On the Scent, cholesterol update, the cost of olive oil,...

Send us Fan Mail Simon and Lee talk about anxiety that persists over time and situations that appear to be high stakes when they are not. Things they discuss: Intrusive thoughts, self-diagnosing online, anxiety, worrying, ruminating and being lost in thought, getting into rows (and arguments) in your head, potentially high-temperature meetings (that are low stakes), Universities being hierarchical...

Send us Fan Mail Simon and Lee talk about no longer being children. Things they discuss: Lee deals with some parent issues, tries out his Australian accent, Simon had dinner with friends and talking about no longer being children, dying from a broken heart, family lineage, a line from Shakespeare's Hamlet, not being nurtured as children, being loved by parents, Lee's Mum wanting udder cr...

Send us Fan Mail Lee and Simon talk about imagining bad things as a way to not do them, Coldplay at Glastonbury, and human beings singing together. Things they discuss: Midlifing show titles, the desire or feeling to jump or fall off heights, the meaning of al fresco, being sucked off a balcony, thinking through the possibilities of a fall or jump, someone walking over your grave, airing out Lee&a...

Send us Fan Mail It's hard to describe what this one's about. Just listen. Things they discuss: Lee cutting half a yew tree (that has grown a lot), Simon's 40th at Riverford Farm, being old and unimportant academics, the foundations of Bob and Lee's house, youse as plural pronoun, the inaccuracy of language, splitting infinitives and Star Trek, mooching versus smooching (a clun...

Send us Fan Mail Simon and Lee are back in the saddle together (finally) and they talk about funerals and one of Simon's experiences in Rome.  Things they discuss: Lee is sick, they discuss Bridgerton Series 3 and Lee's eye for detail, Lee working too hard, a funeral in Portugal, drinking wine at a funeral, the size of one's funeral, Jefrey not technically being a person, dying befo...

Send us Fan Mail A minisode: Lee covers for Simon and talks about having too many water bottles. Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net . --- The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

Send us Fan Mail A minisode: Lee shaves off his beard and Simon doesn't make it. Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net . --- The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

Send us Fan Mail Lee and Simon talk about perfume and where to put it. Some other details from the episode: being overwelcomed, being taken out for dinner, saying thank you and please so much, Lee's shock collar to stop him saying bad words, language being amazing, Lee's Cult Beauty notifications, Lee wearing perfume (in layers), Simon not wearing perfume, half-chubs, more and more about...