Other Lives Are Available

On a Sunday morning, sitting on a bench by the canal, we chat about working behind the iron curtain, growing fruit on a kibbutz, turning down a proposal in Canada, tears at the Sistene chapel, family ties, and retirement. "I didn't really think about missing people, I didn't really foresee that being a huge part of it" #otherlivesareavailable #podcast #eastlondon #family

This walk 'n talk is about the bond of sisters, freelance life, cooperative acting, WhatsApp voice notes, chatting with customers, and the small moments that make life good. "I've always been someone that's on the go, like even since I was a child my parents were like "you never sat still, we could never get you to bed!"... but I think I thrive off it a bit... running is...

This chat along a canal and into a park is about not fitting into a normal job, working out your limitations, setting up @thelowstudios and building a creative community. "As a buddhist I believe in Karma... every action has an equal and opposite action. By acting in a way that's good natured and genuine... you might stumble but you'll always find your feet... a lot of the times I hav...

Early on a sunny morning we chat about a dog who brings calm, a difficult childhood, community gardening, and not getting on with your Mum. "Everyone goes through sh*t, but it's how you come out of that, that shapes who you are as a human being... because I had lots of horrible experiences growing up, that hasn't shaped me as a person, it hasn't made me bitter, it hasn't made me twisted". #otherli...

This chat by the Thames starts with a love of planes, then goes on to the history of a family divided by World War II, the excitement of taking part in student protests in communist Poland, and why the Chernobyl nuclear accident still affects Anne's health. "I was feeling like I was in a real battle, the noise of it, the shouts... and then there was the gas... as young people we were goin...

This chat on a hot sunny day @mario_icecream is about a family business, giving up your summers, and working hard at a job you love. "If you look back into the 1980s, I believe across the whole UK there was over 68,000 ice cream traders, however … we are now down to around 8,400, because it’s a dying industry. And it’s a shame because it’s part of British culture… when there’s no ice cream vans in...

This chat in Bethnal Green is about the social benefit of a charity shop, buying a coffee for a stranger, the shrinking geography of London with age, and cleaning a telephone box. “If you’re someone who lives alone and you’re in your late 70s or late 80s… just to have interaction with a human being is absolutely fabulous… and sometimes they turn round, especially in winter time, and say ‘thank you...

This chat on a stormy day is about figuring out your identity at 19, learning to be an adult, french military service lasting one day, being stood up on a date, the comfort of your home area, losing friends as a teenager and learning to win them back. “I fell out with my friends, and my automatic response was just like ‘I’m going to be your worst nightmare!’… everybody was against me, for good rea...

This chat with @muchsigns is about pulling a line, a career that starts with a chance meeting in a pub, excessive pollen, glass tarot cards, and a supportive trade. "Sometimes you do have to kind of have nerves of steel for some jobs, and it's quite performative... even when you're not being watched or filmed you have to get your mind into the right space". #otherlivesareavailabl...

This chat is about street racing, doing a job that you enjoy, not heeding your own Dad's advice, and growing up your kids. "It's problems that they know that they've caused... and they're going to call Dad to back them up... As much as I'm always going to be on their side... for my sons when they come to me 'Dad, listen this happened', I'll be like 'OK, I t...

At the ground of Clapton CFC (www.claptoncfc.co.uk) we talk about how the fans created the club from scratch, what it stands for, the Spanish connection, and why it's about far more than football. "When you come to this club the team, the volunteers, are playing for an idea. Not for themselves, for an idea... and that is how community can come back together again, reconstitute itself into...

This conversation in Bethnal Green is about the rights of cleaners, the power of a strike, representing migrant workers, and the support @unitedvoicesoftheworld provides to its members. "We're small and mighty but we're growing every day. We started in pubs, in cafes, having informal conversations, representing cleaners... and now we're almost 5000 members and growing". (http...

On a beach at low tide we chat about being away from the crowd, the history scattered on the shingle, collecting things, and dancing the tango. "There is an intimate connection, which is an unusual thing in our world... and then you leave, and that's the nice thing, you leave. So it's clear after 3 or 4 dances it's over". #otherlivesareavailable #podcast #eastlondon #tango

This chat happens in a terraced house at dusk. It's about unions, the benefits system, helping others, opera, getting old, and saving a local market. "I can't think when I last invoked the fact that I was 81 and couldn't do this or that... I'm lucky being in this area, because you've got a very high asian population and they still have that respect for older people"....

This chat starts with a second time round read, and goes on to age and wisdom, the mirror of gossip, the need to perform, and having something to say. "People go and listen to a piece of poetry, a piece of music because it challenges you, makes you think... or they go there to be seen... 'that person's performed a story, or that song or that poem... explaining my experience, now I am...

On the pavement outside @cherryblossom_beautysalon we chat about planting flowers in a public space, the determination to carry on when your efforts get vandalised, inner beauty, growing up in the countryside, and knowing two cultures. "We help people to find themselves... it's not just about the way you look... we show them their beauty". #otherlivesareavailable #podcast #eastlondon...

This is an early morning park chat which is about visualising the language of plants through electrodes, studying and working at the same time, and how to reduce stress about being in debt. "I've made a written language for plants, and the hope is that when I plug in the plants I will get a voltage reading which is then reacting to stimulus around them... to I guess prove that there's...

This chat starts with an instrument and goes into making a change from bar life to ecstatic dance, friends fading away, no regrets, struggle, meditation, and a single cross on a calendar meaning good times. "I realised I was unhappy, but I had everything... I think I was looking for happiness in the wrong place... but the peace that I achieved that makes me happy, there's nothing that can...

This conversation by a canal lock is about writers block, how a family copes with dementia, a national scandal, and throughout it all a play is being created. "It kind of reveals who we are, who they are, but without being too judgemental - I know there are some forms of denial, some forms of not wanting to know... it's a tragedy to go through, and I think you can learn from it in an ideal world."...

This chat starts out with general observations about life, and then turns into a story of repeated trauma, drug use, the darker side of Soho, tragedy, and a twist of fate at the end. "I was bouncing around clippers, working girls, homeless guys, shoplifters and everything, my life just totally changed, it'd done a 180. Whereas before I'm working, a productive member of society, drinking a pint now...

Painting some iron railings as we talk, Jan chats about volunteering her time and effort for a local woodland, boat life, social change in her area, the silence which ended her acting ambitions, and enjoying retirement. "In the 80s... we were the first women in our law firm to carry on as partners and have children, and that was really tricky actually, trying to do both successfully, and one...

This conversation at the ground of @claptoncfc ranges widely, from identity and society, to caring for elderly parents, to bringing people together and why the working classes should run the country. "I've been into thousands of houses... you're getting 40, 50 years in the time it takes to drink a mug of tea... I could tell you hundreds of stories of peoples experience of what they we...

This chat happens at a brisk pace down the canal path and includes the loneliness of a freelance career, a dog from Albania, creating a support network for 200 people, gender and class in the arts, and wanting to leave where you grew up. "You just don't know what's around the corner, so I think it's about staying open and receptive to the things that are going on around you, and n...

This chat is about giving yourself time to think, feeling good about your 30s, not clearing a table too soon from a good meal with friends, and learning to be at peace with rejection for a role. "It's a challenge for me to be able to portray another person, how can I do it convincingly... everyone is in this idea that you are performing... but there's this magic that happens when you...

This chat on a park bench is about the problem of an empty day, a bicycle accident, a warehouse community, living on your own as a teenager, thinking in two languages, and belonging. "I grew up in the countryside... it's built my trust and my faith in humanity in a different way, that's something I've realised in the last few years." #otherlivesareavailable #podcast #eastlondon #filmmaker