Other Lives Are Available

This chat happens in a boxing gym @lefthookboxing where we talk about making changes in life, therapy, the confidence of youth, staying on the straight and narrow, and working towards creating personal freedom. "The winning feeling, for me, I actually found it difficult, and I still do to be honest, because I feel like because I won, then I'm going to get complacent." #otherlivesarea...

This chat happens on a sunny spring afternoon in the park and covers feeling lonely, being a barista, wearing the hijab, managing siblings, and matcha. "When I'm walking home with my headphones and it's the evening I do sing out loud, coz it's dark, but that's only coz it's dark! But why can't I do it any time? I'm like suppressing myself singing in my head... it f...

Walking slowly along the Thames, we chat about how John became a professor, helped create A level psychology, thinks 'research' can be a weasel word in universities, and why (aged 94) he likes anarchist ideas. "What I think psychology is or should be about, and what I think education is or should be about, is increasing the ability of individuals to make rational and compassionate dec...

Threading needle through canvas as we chat, @nino_paulito talks about Hungarian castles, the vibrations of a gong bath, the magic of a granny, and how his pieces develop. "As luck would have it, my hotel was next door to a haberdashery.. and then the other side was a wine cellar, so I was like OK, I have my two favourite things, lets do it!" #otherlivesareavailable #eastlondon #podcast #embroidery

This conversation takes place at a laundrette, where we chat about the challenges of being an unpaid carer, the calming effect of a crucifix, and playing in bomb sites. "I need the sea and a beach... not a different country... just quiet, peace and quiet... I can just sit there on the beach with my thinking". #otherlivesareavailable #eastlondon #podcast #laundrette

Standing at the bar of the @theprincearthurshoreditch we talk about running a 300 year old pub, hitting the sweet spot with music, and why English signs have to be 30% smaller than French signs in Quebec . "The pub - the british, unique little thing that the pub is, is your house - so you are in my house, in that way. So it is a hospitality that is more homey than just going into a restaurant...

Sitting in the winter sunshine, this chat is about putting down thoughts with pen and paper, the role of God in life, whether or not to address a problem and reaching goals as a hair and makeup artist. "I'm not entirely where I want to be with certain things, but I'm in a good place, I feel like I'm on my way there". #otherlivesareavailable #eastlondon #podcast #journaling

On a street in E5, Kev and Dave chat about living abroad, the highs and lows of the silver and crypto markets, diving for sharks, and no regrets. "I've still got some of the same jobs from twenty five years ago which were a fiver, and are still a fiver. What I should have done really is put it up 30p or 40p every year... all the new jobs are proper priced up... but back in the day five po...

Walking along the canal on a grey rainy day we chat about changing jobs, how a film script is shaped, and the joy of ducklings. "If a writer can write great dialogue that's an amazing thing... it's a very specific skill writing good dialgue and I actually haven't come across that many writers who are truly brilliant at it, it's one of the hardest thing for some reason, making...

This chat on a park bench is almost entirely about poetry, starting from a theme of longing and going on to the creative process and finding your voice. "It's very easy to think that you're pushing boundaries and breaking the rules, when really what you're doing is not very interesting at all. I'm getting to a point where I have a much better sense of where the contemporary wo...

With a bag of nuts in her hand, Ajeet feeds the squirrels as we chat about the importance of religion in her life, exercising in social groups, and enjoying retirement. "I don't feel lonely, I can be alone but still I feel okay... every person is different... for me I'm just quite happy at home, even if I don't talk to anyone." #otherlivesareavailable #podcast #eastlondon #re...

This chat with @johnbirchallsalon is about a life lived to the full. Cutting the hair of the beautiful and the famous, partying with the stars, growing up in a vibrant Liverpool scene yet feeling at home in New York, making a big mistake and passing on karma. "I don't know what my hands are doing, to this day, I've got no idea - I start a haircut, I don't make sections, I don'...

Standing beside her @leapinglizardsuk stall, Aika chats about what goes into a healthy market mix, how she went from studying engineering in Kyrgyzstan to making clothes in London, and her approach to business. "Part of the market life is actually because you enjoy it, you meet your people, you meet the consumer.... it's never the same. So I can just lock myself in my workshop and make cl...

After exercising in West Ham Park, Ansar chats about growing old, his large family, and a life lived in two countries. "I left school aged 15... in those days your Dad says 'you can't carry on', you accept his word, start work earning money... I started my job making electric lights in a factory". #otherlivesareavailable #podcast #eastlondon #family

This chat in a noisy cafe is about a life in music, not fitting in, creating songs with meaning, and what is beyond paradise. "The problem with record companies is they want to sell an image, they don't want to sell good music... you become a product... but I was different, they did not know how to sell me... that's what I am, I can't change for you to sell me". #otherlivesar...

On an old market street in central London @theartifacts we chat about the business of selling clothes, how to build a community in a shop, why womens clothes are a minefield, and taking a punt on a good idea. "I'll take a risk on absolutely anything... all I do is get burnt, left right and centre!... I'm in an industry that I can do what I want when I want... you don't buy the tic...

The joy of a morning coffee, learning from Mum's cooking, and having conversations with yourself are part of this chat by the river. "A lot of people always forget about music when they have people over, which I find really odd - you can't be eating in silence... I don't want to hear other people chew!" #otherlivesareavailable #eastlondon #podcast #chef

Playing the tin whistle in the park and in pub folk sessions, the importance of thinking time, and taking a calculated risk are all part of this chat along the canal path. "Last year I made a very difficult decision about myself and about my life... I took a big risk, I assessed the risk, I looked at it, I said 'I trust in myself', I'm going to do this, I don't know what the o...

This chat takes place in @cake_me_over , where the conversation covers baking, why customers aren't always right, running a business and trying to spread happiness. "When you are a single Mum and when you are pushed around by society, you lose yourself... and then to gain back your confidence it takes time. So I feel like the business helped me to get back on my feet, because it brought b...

In a bike repair shop we chat about making changes in life, gaining more energy as you approach 40, and swapping countries. "I'm someone who has always been very scared about heights... when you're scared about something and you go gradually... you fight your fear, and after you completely remove your phobia, and now I'm climbing 40 metre routes in the middle of nowhere and it's so beautiful. I'm...

Walking along the Thames we chat about playing the double bass, living in the west country, London as home, and getting through chemotherapy. "I'm not a great one for doing regret, I mean I think at the time you make choices... and you make the choices within what's happening. To look back and say I wish I hadn't, it doesn't help really... " #otherlivesareavailable #eastlondon #podcast #cancer

This chat is all about the animals on @hackneycityfarm_official as Poppy and Shanti show me round. We hear about the beauty of goats, the intelligence of pigs, and the habits of some of the characters who live there. "Our donkeys go to Westminster Cathedral every year... for the Nativity... they stand at the front and thousands of children from local schools come and see... Clover is quite a...

This conversation starts by a busy street and goes straight into a story about cancer and survival against the odds. We pick it up again a couple of days later in a park, and go back to a difficult childhood in a post-war home, which Colin only knew for 5 years before he was sent away, never to return. "It wasn't until I was around about 40 when my sister was in the process of passing awa...

This walk & talk starts with a family secret, and goes on to a search for answers, and what to do with the information discovered. "People were really interested, but actually what they were more interested in was telling me their story... telling me about their history, their family... it is worth trying to tell stories, however personal they might be, because they might have an impact o...

This chat starts with Bo serving customers coffee @bluedaisyldn and talking about future plans and the role Jesus plays in her life, and then as Jack and Tom join, it develops into a wider conversation about Chistian faith which takes in prison, a murder, and the @eastendchurch_ . "Growing up in this area, it used to be a lot rougher... it wasn't super-sheltered, whenever I had personal q...