Now, here’s a thing…

What did we do before we had sat navs? In the olden days we had adventures with a road atlas and an A to Z. But what about before we had maps? One thing is for sure I (Tracy) knew very little about OS maps until Heather tested me with a quiz. Have a listen and be amazed by maps (and my lack of knowledge on the subject). One fact that I did retain is that that the most popular pub name with "Royal"...

We start with double rumblings (I only managed to edit out part of it, sorry) and a couple of bangs from next door, but eventually settle into a explanation of BookTok by Heather who discovered it in one of our favourite publications, Positive News. I apologise profusely for my lack of editing out of the annoying new tic of slapping our gums that we have both recently developed. I previously metic...

We start off by considering a Nanna/Grandad/Noble (?) nap but revive sufficiently to natter on for the best part of half an hour. We are treated to Heather reflecting on how we ate in the olden days as we discuss a recent report by WWF about how to achieve a healthy and sustainable diet, and it certainly wasn't by ordering everything in or having breakfast dates (and Heather is not ready for those...

No, this episode is not about poets who've had virgin births. But it is about virgin births and poets. I am fairly certain that there is no intersection of these two subjects.... but.... maybe.... And I have also decided that should I be required to wear a dress made from a book it will be In Search of Lost Time by Proust. 1.3 million words should provide ample coverage. Hosted on Acast. See acast...

Very quickly we recognise that we speak French like old ladies and that Heather is unlikely to progress with learning Mandarin even if her 5 year old niece teaches her (Japanese and Korean are already discarded). Spanish comes much more easily to her but won't boost her income as much as if she could speak German. Sometimes we struggle to get English words out coherently so...... wish us luck. And...

We both love the idea of The Kinder Shop in Cumbria (thanks AGAIN to Positive News) where items on sale have prices expressed in terms of hours of voluntary work pledged. A great initiative that we hope will cause ripples through more communities. Technical kerfuffles result from a low battery on the recording equipment, but we eventually overcome these difficulties to continue and move on to disc...

We both love a new concept and CQ is one that rather pleased us to explore in this episode. After recording I (Tracy) did a bit more research and confirmed that we have clearly been living under a rock because the concept has been around for at least 20 years. Hey ho. So much for proclaiming that it's one of the next big things..... And as it's mental health awareness week at the time of recording...

They say that you continue to live as long as people still talk about you and Heather is still talking about farmer Hannah Hauxwell, subject of several TV documentaries starting with Too Long a Winter from 1972. Google her name and talk about her with someone you know - and Hannah lives on in our memories. And then as if we planned this (we didn't!), we segue neatly from living on in people's mind...

We are well blessed with 3 bank holidays in May this year and that prompted Heather to research the history of bank holidays and we both looked back on holidays and boring Sundays when we were kids. And during the 1st bank holiday in May I (Tracy) binge read Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus (highly recommended btw) and then wondered whether I would enjoy the TV adaptation. There are lots of o...

We love a new word and this time we offer you.... bifurcation.... have a listen and then try to use it in a sentence. Better still, ram the phrase "fallacy of bifurcation" into a sentence and revel in the glory of your knowledge watch your friends drift away. Anyone who's ever met Heather will also know that she likes to wear bold colours and indeed it makes her look friendly, cheerful and confide...

Tid or tit? That is the question. We opt for titbits instead of tidbits. And then Heather fascinates us with hers. Listen in if you want to learn some facts and figures to dazzle your companions with if you are stuck for small talk at a party. I'm sure your fellow guests will be thrilled as you share your knowledge of when Interpol was founded with them. Not to be outdone my (Tracy) stomach decide...

What a week to start recording when hungry.... at least the recipes that Heather dug up from the 1940/50s archives weren't all that appealing. And then we pivot from mock goose to vulvas, vaginas and labia and the problems that the embarrassment about naming these parts of our anatomy is putting women's health in jeopardy. Heather reckons this stunned her into silence but she manages to continue t...

Saggar makers had bottom knockers, did you know? And what about gandy dancers, do you know what they did? Listen to this episode and find out about these and more nuggets of information that you didn't realise you needed to know. And, don't you forget that this week I (Tracy) remembered to talk about memory. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Turmeric stained Tracy and, presumably unstained, Heather are women and are talking about Women Talking (film) and about bingeing (TV). We convince ourselves that we don't have a binge watching problem..... and then identify a few binge-worthy programmes coming up later this year to feed the habit. And while recording there were some strange rumbling sounds that didn't sound so loud in real life b...

Talkative? Us? Well yes, we have to agree. We kicked of this episode with words and the origin of words and origin of the word that means the origin of words. We rambled our way through a discussion about turtles and tortoises and Jonathan and ended up discussing wool from The Falklands. Random as well as loquacious. That's us. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As well as learning about Heather's desire to buy an inflatable cow suit, we chatted this week about World Book Day and other days that we hadn't known about before (and, honestly, will probably forget about again). I also let Heather know that we had been invited on a night out with my husband and his friends and then immediately uninvited. Weirdly he thought that Heather wouldn't feel comfortabl...

This episode is brought to you with the support of the much valued (by people who have to speak for a living) Jakemans cough sweet. Be grateful I edited out some of the (more phlegmy) coughs at least.... As this was recorded on Fat Tuesday we delved into the eggy and fatty world of pancakes and carnivals. After which Heather took a dark turn towards life imprisonment before we talked about things...

I (Tracy) did indeed edit out the first couple of minutes of our chat where Heather was venting her anger with f***ers who hacked her social media accounts and messed up her access to her Google calendar. Not because I don't agree that they are indeed f***ers but there was quite a bit of background noise as we shuffled around. We then discuss the exciting career of futurology (well in my opinion a...

Heather was hungry and taunted herself by talking about food, not that nettle pudding sounds particularly appealing and cockentrice sounds positively bizarre. Straight after this recording I (Tracy) expect her to whip up a quick fromenty...... or order a pizza..... whatever. Warning, if you decide to Google the last dish that Heather mentions and if you mistype you may be presented with details of...

In this episode we enjoy Heather's newly refurbished office and Heather manages to stand up without making an old person noise. Nice one. In other news, and in different seats to normal, we muse about the revival (or resurgence?) of vinyl and are amazed at how long it's been reviving (resurging?) for. We learn about solar punks who sleep on the roof in a Bedknobs and Broomsticks style bed and the...

Heather seems to be a magnet for creatives at the moment and is wondering whether she unleashed the creativity dragon by attending a boozy art class last week. I reckon I should join her next month to see if it has the same effect on me. I've got a good portion of creativity in my life already but can't resist the chance to doodle in a wine bar! Are you a friendly person? Do you unfriend more read...

In a week with few technical hitches (apart from an interruption by the ever vigilant Alexa) Heather shared some new words with us and Tracy shared a love of digging up useful/usless (you decide) information from public bodies. Something for everyone including the kinkeepers amongst us (which is more about the keeping of kin than kink, I am assured). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more...

Apologies aplenty for our absence in December. I (Tracy) proved to be a technical doofus (again!) and my masters degree in IT clearly counts for naught. But here we are now. It's a brand new year and we are still talking, and in this episode you'll learn that the best way to stop me talking is to point a camera at me. You also learn that Heather doesn't expect to but to be, but wouldn't say no if,...

You're at a training course/workshop/meeting and the facilitator asks you to introduce yourself and tell everyone a "fun" fact about yourself. Is that fun fact actually fun or do you offer up a list of serious illnesses you have suffered from and your last meal request....? Perhaps one of your fun facts could be that you collect coins. If you don't already participate in that pass time, Heather mi...

Although the title of the episode could perhaps suggest that steam trains and cultural birthday gifts were causes of death in 1632, neither of those two things appeared on the list we found on Twitter today. Instead we were faced with flux, wolf, surfet and the king's evil - and had to look them all up on a suitable historical website. Heather's not admitting to being a regular train spotter but s...