September 29, 2025 • 38 mins
#138. We're off on an Ozzie adventure!
But, first things first, as promised, the all-important anonymous form: 👉 https://forms.gle/LmFrrd4xvvnEhG5R9 👈 (it'll make sense when you've listened to the episode!)
Welcome to The Silent Why, a podcast on a mission to open up conversations around grief, exploring if hope can be found in 101 different types of permanent loss.
This episode is a little different, because we recorded in an unusual location about a very unusual topic!
We (Chris & Claire) are embarking on an adventure. For the rest of this year, we won’t be releasing our usual fortnightly episodes - primarily because we’re heading down under for a while - but this doesn't mean we'll be Silent. Why?Â
Listen to find out.
Oh, and about that ticking clock… no, you’re not going mad - I don't think you can hear it!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Claire (00:00):
Right, are we doing an intro?
Chris (00:03):
Yeah, we need to.
Claire (00:05):
Do you want to do that bit?
Chris (00:06):
Don't do it off-piece very often.
Claire (00:07):
Yeah.
Chris (00:08):
Okay.
Claire (00:12):
That is really weird.
Okay, it is a bit different.
Yeah, okay, but this is stillThe Silent Why podcast.
Chris (00:17):
Yeah Right, Hello and welcome to The Silent Why
podcast.
Claire (00:22):
Even with hand actions.
Hello.
Chris (00:26):
Yes, today is a little different.
Claire (00:27):
Yeah, because we're sitting in a different room of
the house using differentmicrophone technology to record.
Chris (00:33):
I feel like it's not proper.
We're just sat here looking ateach other, little microphones
on our jumpers.
We're not in the big usualsetup.
I feel like it's odd.
Claire (00:43):
Well, let's introduce ourselves in a less odd way.
I'm Chris.
Chris (00:47):
I'm Claire.
Claire (00:47):
A husband and wife couple.
We run the Silent Y podcast asour mission to explore 101
different kinds of permanentloss.
We're up in the 60s Yep, andthis episode is a bit different
because the future is a bitdifferent.
Chris (01:02):
Yes, not the whole future .
Claire (01:05):
No, no, just the near future, just the next few months
, yeah.
Chris (01:08):
As I've mentioned before in previous episodes or alluded
to, chris and I are having a.
Claire (01:14):
I don't know what we're calling it yet actually.
Chris (01:15):
It's like people are calling it a sabbatical.
So I think we've adopted thekind of phrase that yeah, it
might be a sabbatical, it's along holiday holiday.
Claire (01:27):
that we've been looking forward to um or had in the
diary for we think maybe thethree years ish, three to four
yes, three to four years in theplanning.
I think we explored doingsomething big for your 40th
birthday, because my 40thbirthday we did something
wonderful, went to iceland weflew there and had a week was it
yeah, and then it came to your40th birthday, which fell around
the pandemic time, didn't it it?
Chris (01:44):
was 2021, so we were still under restrictions of only
meeting up in bubbles andthings bubbles.
Claire (01:49):
So that didn't really happen for you.
And then we thought, well,we've got our 20th wedding
anniversary coming up, which isthis year, and so we set to on
planning something quite big andat the same time, developing
our friendship with Dave inWestern Australia over the last
four or five years, and so we'vecoincided basically with I was
(02:13):
going to say scabbing free, butit's probably what's a more
generic known term for takingadvantage of friends, and family
for free accommodation.
Chris (02:22):
We were invited to visit and we took the opportunity.
Claire (02:25):
Yes, and extended that invite to several weeks.
So we're going to WesternAustralia via Singapore, where
my brother and his wife arecurrently living temporarily,
and staying with them for a fewdays and then heading to Western
Australia for several weeks.
Chris (02:43):
And by the time this goes out, it will be almost days
away.
Claire (02:46):
And that's quite scary because this last year has
absolutely flown.
So our routine is going to bemassively disrupted and we
didn't want to pause and not putout any podcast content,
because we really enjoy doingthis.
Chris (03:00):
Yeah, I'm always nervous that everyone will go away and
not come back again.
So I don't want that to happenand you know some very lovely
people support the podcast.
So I don't want to just likehave loads of months off every
year because that doesn't seemfair.
And we, yeah, we just likekeeping people updated with
where we are, and I think thatincludes the good and the bad.
And so, when we were thinkingabout it, normally I've taken
(03:26):
last few years I've taken Augustoff podcasting to focus on
writing and other stuff, becausewe tend to put episodes out
every couple of weeks all year.
It's very rare we have a weekor a break.
So I thought I'll take Augustoff, because it's very hard to
record interviews in August,because it's quite noisy around
here with children in thegardens nearby, so I normally
have August off.
I didn't have August off thisyear because I knew we were
going to have to change thingsfrom October onwards.
So, yeah, instead.
Well, we don't know exactlywhat we're doing yet, but it is
(03:49):
going to be something differentand we've been mulling it over.
Claire (03:52):
Even this is different right now this is different.
It might be us just sitting ina room with these new
microphones that we've boughtfor ourselves, that we can clip
onto ourselves, rather than theproper plumbed plumbed in.
Chris (04:03):
Yeah, this is our first practice run with the small
microphones that we havepurchased that we can take with
us to australia so that we cando stuff if we want to, yeah,
while we're away.
But it is weird.
I am going to have to get usedto it because I feel like like
this is such a casualenvironment, I feel like I might
get tricked into saying evenmore than I normally share, and
I'm quite an oversharer anyway.
So, yeah, it's sort of it'sweird, but I need to get used to
(04:24):
it.
Claire (04:24):
I need to get used to this whole new microphone setup
for when we're away and we wantto do stuff quite right and what
we should say as well, probablybecause when we go away on
holiday, we're pretty unusual inthat we use those opportunities
for quite deep conversationbetween the two of us.
Anyway, yes, some people can bequite scared by the fact that
we return from holidays as thetwo of us having worked on
(04:49):
marriage stuff I think last timewas it our last time away where
you actually planned a coupleof marriage questionnaires-
probably there's a fairly famouscounselor I can't remember her
name does a podcast and stuff inesther parole, esther parole,
yeah, andyou.
You literally downloaded orprinted off a couple of
questionnaires that we workedthrough, uh.
(05:11):
So we went away and were quiteintentional about the
conversations we were havingabout marriage stuff and about
how we connect and how we remainconnected, uh, and so I
remember I remember getting backto work after that particular
time away and somebody saying,like what did you get up to?
And I was like, well, we didsome incredibly deep work on our
(05:31):
marriage and they were justlike you could just see their
eyes open.
I don't really know what to sayabout that.
I just want to know if you hadsome candy floss.
Chris (05:40):
Clearly you're having problems.
Claire (05:41):
Yeah, so we do enjoy, I think, the time away from
routine, the time away fromexpectations, just a reset, and
for us, that requiresconversation and we know that
our time in Australia, yes, it'ssomething very different and
there will be lots ofconversation.
(06:02):
We have expectations differentand there will be lots of
conversation.
We have, we have expectations.
We are pretty sure that this isgoing to do some really
interesting work in us, in ourmarriage, in each in each other,
and whether we do that withmicrophones on or not is the
question yeah, what do we do?
Chris (06:22):
the other thing I've also realized is that we left the
clock on, so if I edit any ofthis, I'm going to have to be
very cautious of the clockticking.
I'm really hoping now thatwe'll just go through and I
won't have to edit any of it.
Claire (06:32):
Yeah, there's not going to be much silence.
These are all things we'relearning.
We're learning about.
Chris (06:35):
There's not normally a clock in the background.
Claire (06:46):
You can probably, if it's annoying on a podcast, can
you hear it?
And I've got two clocks.
I've got the big clock overthere on my left ear and the
doorway.
Chris (06:49):
I've got a second clock.
Yeah see, we didn't think aboutthis, but anyway.
Well, there you go.
These are all good learning.
Claire (06:53):
This is behind the scenes editing, but now actually
in my professional capacity, afew times I've had to say to
people could we just move awayfrom this if there's a vehicle
moving or if there's your clocksticking, because if you put
little edit points in it can bereally difficult if there's a
ongoing sound yeah, that's thechallenge for the listeners
listen to the clock and if youhear it go and it's not in time,
(07:15):
you know we edited somethingout.
Yeah, but I'm hoping we won'tneed to edit this you are very
good at editing and you havevery, very good oversight from
me yes, who picks up all of mymistakes instantly.
I'm very kind and graciousabout pointing them out to you.
Chris (07:29):
Yeah, yeah, you're very good.
We've never had a conversationabout how harsh you are with
that at all.
Claire (07:33):
So we will enjoy this.
We will enjoy this a lot, Ithink.
Just chatting intentionallywith microphones on whether
we're in the garden with galahsand different bird sounds
whether we're at the beach.
You know how exciting to thinkwe could record our conversation
.
We don't need to be sittingupright and very close to big
(07:55):
microphones wide into a computer.
So see how this goes, but do wedo it?
I think the question we want tothrow out there is is there
anything you would like to hear?
I mean, clearly, option onecould just be us being us and
just doing what we do and whatwe really enjoy doing in our
marriage, which is chatting toeach other, spending time with
each other.
So it could just be that.
It could just be how we'refeeling, how we're getting on A
(08:18):
bit of a road trip diary.
Chris (08:21):
Yeah, kind of what we're seeing, what it feels like.
Claire (08:24):
Yeah, how much we're seeing what it feels like.
Yeah, how much we're sweating.
We've never been to singapore,we've never been to australia.
It's going to be eye-opening,coupled with the fact that we've
never well, in 25 years of workfor me, I've never had longer
than three weeks off I think,that's right.
Chris (08:37):
Even medically did I when I had nose surgery when I had
my septoplasty that wasn't morethan three weeks was it.
Claire (08:44):
So I've never in 25 years of work, I've never had
longer than three weeks off inone block.
We've done a couple of tripsover the last 15 years.
So this trip for me for nineweeks off work is going to be
really interesting, because Iknow that the I'm going to be
really giddy, excited for thefirst spell.
Then that's going to wear offafter a week or two and then I
(09:05):
wonder if I'm going to hit somesort of slump, whether I'll hit
some sort of blue.
I don't know what's going on.
This is very different.
So I'm partly wondering if I'llhit a bit of a low point and
then I'll come back up andreally get into it.
That's sort of what I thinkmight happen.
Chris (09:22):
I might be wrong yeah, it's an interesting one, I do
think, and that's why itprobably helps to give some
context as to why you'd want tohear from us or not, because I
think it will still.
I think a lot of what we willtalk about, what we will
experience, what we will gothrough, will still be very much
linked to the podcast topic.
Anyway, I don't think we'll betoo far off topic with this.
We are not heading into aholiday where we have yes, we've
(09:43):
got eight weeks away in total.
We're not packing that withloads of stuff.
So some people are saying to usoh, you know, you're going to
Australia, you're going to doSydney, you're doing the East
Coast, you're doing New Zealand,whatever, we're not doing a lot
of that.
We're not doing the East Coast,we're not doing New Zealand,
we're considering Tasmania, butwe're keeping it pretty low key
and to see how we are when weget there.
And I think that's becausewe're not in a place in life
(10:05):
where we feel like we have theenergy or we want to waste eight
weeks just rushing around andthen come back.
I think for us it's quiteprecious time, because it's a
long amount of time away fromour routine.
I think it's going to be quitehelpful and healing for us.
That's my hope anyway.
But so we're also going in a waythat's a bit tentative because,
as most of you will know, I'vehad health issues over the years
(10:27):
.
We were pretty confident theywould be well behind us almost
by the time we went to Australia.
We're now less than four weeksout from leaving and it's not
where we want it to be yet.
So it's that's been very tricky, so that I've got that
tentatively in the back of mymind.
What if I'm not feeling?
Amazing.
What if I don't feel well whenI'm on holiday?
That would be reallydisheartening.
(10:48):
We've had so many holidayswhere that has sort of impacted
it, so there's a lot ofnervousness there as well.
I also think stepping away fromlife makes us reflect a lot more
, and the older I get, thedifferent reflections I find I'm
having on being childless andnot being a mum.
And you know what's the purpose.
What does the future look like?
What do I want it to look like?
(11:08):
I need to make a decision onthat, or else I'm just going to
float through the rest of myyears not really knowing.
So there's a lot of stuff on ourminds still, and I think it's
still linked to a lot of griefand loss.
So I think it'll also beinteresting to see if that
impacts us at all, in either agood way, because we've got the
space to think it through andwe're away from things.
Maybe that's really helpful andhealing.
Or, you know, it could hit usin a big way and think, oh my
(11:31):
word, we're actually grieving atthe moment and then we might
come out of that and be able toenjoy.
It might be lovely to grieve ina hot country.
I don't know what it's going tolook like.
I might be fit and well and wehave an amazing time and I'm
full of beans and it's like thisis fantastic.
I don't know.
So I think if we do some stuffwhile we're away, it's probably
going to be a mix of processingall that.
So I still think it's on topicfor us, which is nice, but it'd
(11:54):
be also lovely to share ifpeople are interested in where
we're going, what we're doing.
What does Australia feel liketo a Brit and what are the
things there that are different?
What are the things there thatare surprising?
What are we?
Yeah, what are the things therethat are different?
What are the things there thatare surprising.
What are we doing?
How are we getting on?
Claire (12:07):
I don't want to overcommit, but I think we could
potentially do a conversation aweek.
Chris (12:13):
It probably is overcommitting, but yeah, it
wouldn't be a normal episodewould it?
Claire (12:17):
We're not doing all that lovely intro with clips.
Chris (12:21):
No, it won't be a scaled-down version.
Claire (12:23):
Lots of editing, it's just going to be push, push,
start on the recorder yeah, andI also think if we do it,
there's a very high chance.
Chris (12:30):
Rather than so, we're away for eight weeks, so that
would be the equivalent of fourfull podcast episodes that we
would skip if we did nothing.
There's not that many, but it'seight weeks and I think if we
did this, I'd be very tempted torecord, put it together, stick
it out.
I'm not going to be doing stuffevery other tuesday and saving
things up for that.
My plan is, if you want to beon this journey with us, then
(12:50):
over those eight weeks I'm justgoing to push episodes out as
and when we have stuff, so itcould be any time of day or
night, and it could be 10minutes, it could be an hour, I
don't know.
Keep it free like that, really.
So what we thought we would usethis episode for is just to
update you a bit on that and letyou know what's happening.
What we're thinking and also,do you want to hear anything
from us is is that somethingthat you would be interested in?
Claire (13:13):
it's a horrible question to us because it might be no,
it's terrifying, really.
Chris (13:17):
So what we're going to do is, I think, the easiest way.
I'm going to put a link to agoogle form in the show notes
and if you'd like to hear fromus, click on that link and just
fill out.
There's probably going to belike two, three questions of
like what is the kind of thingyou'd like to hear?
I'll probably put some optionsand then a free box to put
whatever and it's completelyanonymous.
And if you want to hear from us, if you'd be interested in that
(13:37):
kind of thing, fill out the box, hit submit.
It'll take you like two seconds.
It's not even a case of openingup a new email and sending it.
It's not a case of go to thewebsite and fill in this.
It's going to be right there.
I'm making it as easy aspossible so that hopefully,
people will reply.
If nobody replies, we won't doanything.
We will just go and have eightweeks, enjoy it and just not
think about the podcast.
It can go either way.
Claire (13:58):
That's really yeah, you're setting yourself up for
potential problems there.
Why?
Because no one might reply, andthen we'll feel really hurt.
Chris (14:07):
Well, we'll process it on our own.
Claire (14:09):
But I think it's, but I think I quite enjoy doing a.
Chris (14:13):
Yeah, I'd like to do it Like an audio diary, but if
nobody's really interested in it, then we can do it ourselves
and have it.
That's fine.
Or maybe I'll use it forepisodes when we get back.
But I'm not going to go to theeffort of doing all this.
If there is zero interest frompeople and I understand if there
might not be they might be likeI don't want to hear about your
sodding long holiday.
That sounds yeah, but it's nota holiday.
Claire (14:32):
No, it's an adventure, it's time away, it's a trip.
But, yeah, even the worstholiday.
Chris (14:39):
You don't know instantly whether they want to hear from
us or not.
But I just want to encouragepeople.
I think there will be a load ofpeople that do want to hear,
but I also think that they mightthink other people will just
message in so they won't doanything.
So there is a very real chanceof getting no responses.
It's a famous fact inpodcasting that to get
engagement from audiences isincredibly difficult and it's
(14:59):
been debated so many times andit's partly because there's no
easy way for people to do it.
So if you put your podcast onyoutube as a video, people will
comment, they'll watch, they'llkind of you can do live stuff
and they'll chat underneath andstuff.
It's very easy to respond audiopodcast.
There is no way of doing that.
Some people have like you cantext in or you can do a voice
(15:19):
note from the website.
There are things, but it's it'sincredibly difficult to get
people to respond to stuff.
So that is a well-known fact.
So if nobody responds and Iknow it's not because people
don't want to, it's just thatit's hard to respond to episodes
and that's just how thepodcasting world is.
But yeah, I'd encourage you ifyou're interested and if we even
get one person that responds,then I will commit to putting
(15:43):
something out.
While we're away there, eitherhave an amazing time and not
stop to record much and forget,or completely crash and then
eventually, after three weeksbeing away, you'll get a very
depressing episode from us aboutwhat's happening, but I
honestly think it will searchfor the hope very easy.
We're staying with somebody,we're in someone's home.
It's not difficult for us tosit out the back and just record
(16:06):
a few things.
It's not like we're stuck in ayou know, an airbnb or somewhere
we don't know what theatmosphere is going to be like.
Claire (16:11):
It doesn't need to be an hour episode does it.
Chris (16:13):
It could just be 15 minutes of a catch-up Brits
abroad.
Claire (16:16):
The Silent Y.
I like this.
This has just come to me theSilent Y Down Under.
Chris (16:22):
We like to go deep, don't we?
We do, and now we're going deepdown under.
Does that sound a bit.
Claire (16:29):
Creepy.
Chris (16:37):
A bit creepy, a bit wrong it might do the silent y on
tour, the silent y down under?
Yeah, we'll have to work on it,okay.
Oh, I like.
Yeah, down under is always good, isn't it?
Is it now?
I said it sounds weird, butthat is how we refer to
australia.
Is the way I'm sitting no, notpicturing it, just it sounded a
bit rude and then it justsounded weird when I said it out
loud we'll work on it, yeah soform on the show notes, put some
notes in there.
Claire (16:57):
Yeah, because so we like to be intentional about our
chats, so we could, we could, wecould consider and think about
and talk about any aspects ofprocessing yeah, I mean, tell us
what you'll know.
Chris (17:08):
Do you want to know what it's like?
Just like you know, I'mfascinated by what foods do they
eat over there?
What do the supermarkets looklike?
What are the differences?
One of the things we went toamerica that stuck with me, it
was one of the biggest thingsthat I was like oh my word, we
found a bottle of like I thinkit's ibuprofen or paracetamol in
one of the supermarkets, orsomething that had a thousand
tablets in it and you could justbuy this thing off the shelf.
(17:29):
That might seem a very normalthing for americans, I don't
know, but for me I was.
Just like you know, we can geta maximum of, is it 30?
Claire (17:38):
yeah, a small box with sort of sachets.
Chris (17:41):
I think you can get two, lots of 16 but that's the
maximum you can buy in one go,and then you'd have to go back
again and again and again.
If you're sneakily trying toget more.
Um, but we are very restrictedon stuff like that.
You certainly won't be able tobuy something that size.
Things like that little thingsthat just fascinate you about
different countries um, I dolove watching americans and it
is mostly americans I watch oninstagram walking around british
(18:02):
supermarkets pointing out allthe stuff that's super weird
stuff like that.
I don't know.
It might be you want to see thetrivial side of life.
It might be you actually wantto hear what we're going through
.
It might be you just want tohear descriptions of what we're
seeing, and you know we're verywildlife people.
That doesn't make sense, is it?
Claire (18:18):
we're wildlife people.
We do like the wildlife we likeit.
Chris (18:20):
So a lot of what we're going to be hunting for is just
the different animals andinsects and things you can see
out there and I don't know,maybe that's something that
interests people.
I don't know, it could beanything I'm already.
Claire (18:30):
I'm already thinking.
Can I use this form without youknowing it's me and say that
I'm looking forward to hearing agraveyard musing in australia
that would be cool withaustralian names on the
gravestones.
Yeah, we did one in wales andthe names were very welsh.
We did one in belgium belgiumand the names were very
(18:50):
different, so I wonder whetherlike going to aust Australia.
I can't think of it.
What's a?
Chris (18:57):
stereotypical Australian name like Bonza.
I can't even think of any.
Wow, no stereotypicalAustralian names.
Claire (19:07):
That's coming to mind.
Chris (19:08):
The Australians will be shouting them at the podcast.
They must have the equivalentof R Smith.
Claire (19:11):
I'm just thinking of characters from Neighbours and
Home and Away circa 1995 nowwhen I used to watch it, alf
Madge.
Chris (19:19):
I don't know if Alf is a.
Claire (19:22):
That was Home and Away, wasn't it?
Chris (19:24):
If we do the Graveyard Music and they're all called Alf
, then we'll know.
Claire (19:27):
Yeah, charlene, and Scott and Charlene.
Chris (19:30):
Please don't list all of the people you remember from
Aussie soaps.
Claire (19:33):
Very famous, wasn't it?
Scott and Charlene?
Chris (19:35):
Yeah, but they're normal names.
They're not Australian names.
Claire (19:37):
Okay, well, still, if I find a gravestone with Scott and
Charlene on it, you're going tobe eating your words.
Chris (19:45):
Well, I think there's a high chance you might they're
pretty normal names across thewhole world.
Claire (19:50):
Okay, so, so, yeah, a graveyard museum, that could be
really interesting.
Chris (19:52):
Yeah, in australia it could be anything at all.
Maybe we can find some aussiesto interview.
I'd be brave yeah getting acouple of accents on.
I don't want a couple I love anaccent, I don't know.
Anyway, it could look likeanything.
Claire (20:05):
So yes, please let us know in the form I'm pointing to
the link yeah, it doesn't workwhen there's no video cameras
filming.
Does it pointing down?
That's where the link yeah itdoesn't work when there's no
video cameras filming, does it?
Pointing down?
That's where the link is.
Chris (20:18):
That's where the link is Down under Idiot.
Claire (20:19):
Idiot, and so literally the next time you're hearing
from us could be is that rightIn Australia?
Chris (20:26):
yeah, Right.
I know it's frightening.
Claire (20:29):
So the things you're not looking forward to.
I can share this without yourconsent that the flight length.
You're not sure how you'll geton with a long flight to.
Heathrow to Singapore, toChangi in Singapore.
What about 14 hours flight?
Chris (20:43):
Yeah, I think only because when we flew to America
I had that blood pressure dropand I had to have the oxygen at
the back of the plane and it'sall very cramped back there when
you're not feeling very well.
So I think that's just made mea little bit like I really don't
want to go through anythinglike that again and you've got a
real issue.
Claire (20:57):
I don't know why, with tiny airplane toilets, I do not
like shutting that door I haveto summon.
Chris (21:04):
I don't like saying I'm claustrophobic.
I don't like saying I'manything.
I don't like labeling myselfwith something that gives me a
fear I then have to have becauseI'm.
I'm pretty convinced you canget over any fear you want to,
even though I haven't conqueredall mine.
But being shut in small spacesis not my favorite thing in the
world, and when I go into thattoilet I just want to leave the
door unlocked, but you can't,because that's what triggers the
light.
Obviously you'd be outsidestopping people coming in.
(21:26):
Yeah, but, you have to lock itfor the light to come on.
And when I shut that door andlock it, all I can think about
is the fact that I'm just milesup in the air and if anything
happens now, I'm in the smallestbox.
Like I'd rather the plane wentdown when I was in my seat than
be shut in the toilet would youprefer having a seat belt on the
toilet?
No, I don't want to be trappedin there, I just want to be in
and out as quick as possible.
Claire (21:46):
I just don't like locking the door so I know
you're not looking forward tothat.
Chris (21:50):
I know you're not looking forward to the humidity of
Singapore, not looking forwardto I think I'm just like they're
the things that would be I'llhave to work with a little
there'll be a challenge.
Claire (21:59):
You're not great with physical discomfort, so the idea
of sweating.
Chris (22:02):
I'm not good with being really sweaty.
That's why I exercise.
Claire (22:05):
We've been having a day off work.
Today, we've been out lookingfor linen shirts, because you're
convinced that a piece of linenis going to stop you from
sweating not stop you.
Chris (22:16):
No, it dries quicker and it's cool okay, rather than
cotton oh no, and cotton, linenand cotton oh, just I think,
because linen seems to be one ofthe best ones, but from what I
can work out, it's also one ofthe most expensive.
Claire (22:27):
So so that's something that we know is going to be a
bit of a challenge.
Yeah, uh, do I think?
Chris (22:31):
overall, I just I don't like feeling unwell and that has
been a theme of my life for thelast 10 years.
And so feeling unwell at homeis one thing, because you know
you can control your environment, so that and I I honestly
thought I'd be feeling great bynow and I wouldn't have to think
about this stuff.
But the closer I get, the moreI just think, what if it's
(22:51):
really difficult and I don'tfeel well for a various amount
of reasons and I'm in a placewhere it's really hot and humid?
I know you're in air cons it'snot the end of the world, but
even air con isn't the mostnatural environment for people
who aren't used to it.
What if I'm in someone else'shouse and you're not feeling
good?
You know all that kind of stuffwhen we're on a plane.
It's those sorts of things thatwouldn't actually normally ever
(23:12):
bother me.
I was never someone that wasbothered by any of that stuff
before.
So that's the frustrating thing, and I might not be bothered by
it at all by the time itarrives.
It really depends what myhormones are up to.
But yeah, what about you?
You must have something.
That would be a challenge foryou doing something like that.
I know you have like no fears.
Claire (23:31):
I do have fears.
Chris (23:32):
Only like dark water.
I do have fears.
Only like dark water.
Claire (23:34):
I mean, there's well, no , there's already a thought.
I know this is ridiculousbecause millions of people live
in Australia, but the thought ofmassive spiders and Okay, I
think we're on the wrong side ofAustralia for that.
Okay, snakes, maybe Things inthe sea Like.
I'm not a huge sea swimmer, butif the sea's nice to go in,
then I'm happy to go in the sea.
(23:54):
But there it's like there'ssharks and things, so I'll be a
little bit nervous about thewildlife.
Chris (24:01):
I'd rather have a close experience with a shark than
feel unwell on holiday.
But you can't see it.
Claire (24:07):
So anything that I'm feeling a little bit nervous
about, not really.
I do get excited far more inadvance than you do.
You get excited at the time.
You don't really do build-up.
Chris (24:21):
I do a lot more build-up, mine will start to arrive when
we've checked our suitcases inand when we get on the plane and
it feels like it's happening,it's like yes, and halfway
through the flight it will dip abit because I'm getting a bit
bored of being shot in a capsule, and then I'll get more excited
again when we arrive.
then I'll probably feel a bitjet, lagged and tired and feel a
bit rubbish and worry that I'mgoing to get ill.
Then I'll have a good night'ssleep and feel better and then
hopefully I'll just be excitedabout holiday.
Claire (24:42):
It's a very simple process I think that what and
we've spoken about this beforein our podcast chats about
managing my expectations.
I think the only thing thatcould trip me up is my
expectations.
But I can't see it's beendifferent with me in the past.
If we go away for, let's say,10 days and then we spend what
(25:07):
is a lot of money to fly awaysomewhere in a hotel, got 10
days there wanting some warmthand sunshine, usually because
we're familiar here with yearsbeing a bit grey and damp and
not particularly hot.
So having an opportunity to getaway in the sunshine the two of
us is a real privilege and wechoose very carefully.
(25:29):
I spend a lot of time I can bea bit too obsessive about
researching where we're going,where we're staying, trying to
find the very best possibleaccommodation for our money, all
that sort of itinerary and thenwe get there and I've put all
this effort and work in and it'sjust like grey and cloudy or it
rains and cloudy or it rains.
(25:53):
That that has hit me in thepast and I've been quite bad
company for 24, 48 hours while Icome out of my sort of crash.
Chris (25:57):
That this is not why I expect that's when we had that
really sad episode where I toldyou that I should be enough to
enjoy a holiday and you were.
You replied with but you're notyep, I didn't mean.
Claire (26:09):
I didn't mean that in an unloving way.
Chris (26:11):
I totally understood what you meant.
At the time.
Claire (26:13):
I was like I know, but yeah, it was just the weather
and everything was bad it'swonderful, but I want to be with
you in under a blue sky andwith sun on our skin and just
thinking this is, this is goingreally well, um, and it's.
It still makes me say, yes, canbe with you, but if it's
raining and we're abroad andit's just oh.
So I have had some questionableholidays more recently where
(26:39):
I've just set my expectationsreally low.
But you might say that's just abit negative, that's a bit
depressing, that's a bitpessimistic.
But then I've thought actuallyit has been quite effective that
I've come away thinking, well,I didn't go with massive
expectations of achieving thisand that and seeing this and
that and feeling this and that.
So to bring that up to a triplike Singapore and Australia,
(27:03):
then I could run away with oh, Iwant to go to New Zealand, I
want to go to here.
Chris (27:08):
I want to go to Olaru.
Claire (27:09):
I want to go and see the East Coast.
I want to see the Garak BarrierReef.
I want to go to here, I want togo to Olaru.
I want to go and see the eastcoast, I want to see the Garek
Barrier Reef.
I want to go and see Sydney andthe Opera House and the west
coast and I want to travel andsee koalas and kangaroos and I
do want to see ocean life and torelax and be wonderful and read
and enjoy myself and come awayfeeling rest, all that sort of
stuff.
I'm like no, no, that's justridiculous.
Peel all that away.
(27:30):
So we have been managing ourexpectations, I think, quite
accordingly, so I can't see howit can go wrong.
So, in summary, I think theonly thing that could trip
myself up is myself yeah, Ithink when we first started
looking at this I remember Ijumped online.
Chris (27:44):
I was like, oh my word, this could be our opportunity.
Because I've always wanted todo the circumference of the
earth in a trip, I thought thiscould be it.
Like we're going so far around,we could do like a few
countries on the way toaustralia, then we could do new
zealand, then we could getourselves over to like hawaii,
back to la, do a bit of america,maybe a bit of canada, come
back.
The flights are actuallycheaper if you do around the
(28:04):
world thing.
And I started looking to allthis stuff and you very quickly
realize that a eight weeks isnot that long if you want to do
that much stuff.
You'd be rushing around fromhere to there and also it just
gets stupid expensive.
And then I had to really justadmit we don't have the.
I don't think we've got theenergy or the mental space right
now to do that.
I think maybe one day we willstill um, but we haven't done
anything like this when we wereyounger.
(28:25):
We didn't go traveling like alot of people did after uni or
anything like that.
It's the first time we've doneit.
So I think that's why we sortof jumped initially to like, oh
well, people who go traveling,they do all these countries and
we know people have done thatit's like an amazing thing.
But they also did it when theywere like 21 and that is a very
different energy level and adifferent time in life, and so I
think we've had to scale down.
Yeah, let's be realistic aboutwho we are and what we want from
(28:47):
this, and I would like to comeback feeling like something in
me has changed and is differentand is better because of this
trip.
That would be my priority overcoming back and having seen a
hundred different amazing things.
But it was shattering and tiringand now I need a break, almost
because it's been so much movingaround and we didn't get to sit
(29:09):
and actually enjoy any oneplace because we were moving
around so much.
And so, yeah, I think we'vescaled it back and I think
that's good and I just reallywant to experience life in
Australia just like almostliving somewhere for a bit.
We've never done that.
This is the closest we're goingto ever get to feeling like
we're living abroad for a littlebit, and I think that could be
really exciting and will give usa hint for future life of like
(29:30):
well, do we want to do this moreoften, like longer holidays, or
do we want to go and tryanother country for a while?
I don't know, it could opendoors to anything.
So I think it's a great baselayer because absolute worst
case scenario, we're sat inPerth for eight weeks.
That doesn't sound too bad.
Claire (29:45):
That sounds pretty amazing.
Chris (29:46):
Exactly so.
If our base layer is thatamazing in theory, like you said
, it can only get better fromhere, Unless.
Claire (29:53):
Perth has its coldest and wettest spring and start of
summer.
On record that coincides withour arrival.
Chris (30:02):
I don't think even we could break the Australian
weather.
Claire (30:05):
No famous last words.
It's a bit like a retreat.
It's an adventure for us, butbe careful with your
understanding of adventure,because it means something
different for everybody else.
It's a retreat of sorts.
It's a time away.
It's going to be a whole newexperience.
Chris (30:21):
I'm excited I'm starting to get there now.
It's just weird that it just itwas such a thing on the horizon
for so long to think that nowwe're going.
I can't work out if it's justlike, if it's exciting, daunting
, amazing.
It's just a mix of everythingand I don't really think I'm
going to fully clock what thisis actually is until I'm about
(30:42):
four weeks into it, thinking I'monly halfway.
Yeah, this is amazing because Ithink it's just going to feel
like another holiday long haul,yes, but we've done that before
for like three weeks, so I thinkwhat?
Past the three week mark, it'sgoing to feel like, oh, my world
, we've still got like loads oftime left, and that's.
That is very exciting and wehave got some lovely things
planned.
We do want to do like a trip upthe western coast of australia
and there's lots of wildlifeythings and kangaroos and
(31:04):
penguins and quokkas anddolphins, all that kind of stuff
waiting for us, so that's veryexciting and nature's amazing.
Claire (31:11):
I'm excited to see what we were told about a few days
ago when we spoke to dave andtrace on the phone bin chickens
bin chickens, who knew they werea thing.
Chris (31:23):
There was another one.
Oh fairy penguins.
Claire (31:25):
We didn't know they had penguins there something,
something, chuck Bush, chuckBush chucks Yep Bin chickens I
know, it's a whole new world.
Which are a sort of are they awhite ibis?
Chris (31:36):
But they literally scavenge in bins.
Yeah, like a long black beak.
Claire (31:39):
Call them bin chickens and bush chucks.
Chris (31:41):
And we're very keen if we can see one, because they are
native to that part of frogmouth yes, it's a very strange
looking.
Claire (31:49):
Is it called a tawny?
It's not an owl though.
No, it's not.
It's not an owl.
It looks like it's called atawny frog crossed with a bird
yeah, it does look like a funnylooking thing.
Chris (31:58):
I think I saw one once in one of the birds of prey center
things, but never in the wildyeah and I've got a horrible
feeling they're nocturnal, so itmight be a tricky one, but I do
want to try and find a frogmouth oh yeah, I won't be
surprised if they're nocturnal.
Claire (32:09):
I don't think you're going to see one unless we go to
some sort of wildlife park.
Chris (32:12):
It's going to involve some night walks.
Claire (32:14):
Yeah.
Chris (32:14):
So yeah, that's our plan.
So don't forget, the link is inthe show notes.
I'm going to put it right atthe top with loads of big arrows
pointing to it.
So yeah, I'm just I'm.
A lot of our feedback is thatyou know, people love the loss
(32:35):
episodes and everything elsewe're doing, because you know if
you're here, you're herebecause you understand loss and
grief is hard and you're lookingfor help to get through it or
you're interested in how othersare getting through it.
But we get a lot of feedbackthat people like the episodes of
just the two of us chattingjust as much, and I think that's
because you get to know us alot more yeah, so interaction
would be lovely, if there'squestions about where we are,
what we're experiencing, that wecan come in and make part of
our conversation while we'reaway you could email or message
us.
I'll still get those.
So if you've got anything youwant us to talk about or any
(32:57):
questions you want to answer,please get in touch, because
it's lovely to answer things anddo things from listeners yeah,
we'd love to involve you in that.
Claire (33:06):
I have thought, actually this is a horrible thought to
have at this point now, becausewe're using these new little
clip-on microphones for thefirst time.
There's no way to really checkif we are recording correctly.
Can you imagine, if I think?
Yeah, I've been monitoring,you've got a red light on yours,
so I think that's the key.
Chris (33:22):
You've got a red one on yours, so I think that's okay
okay but could you imagine if?
Oh, one of us wasn't felt halfan hour and then it wasn't
recording.
Well, that's all part of it.
It'll be fine.
It'll be fine.
Claire (33:34):
So we haven't said this for a while, but, as with all of
our episodes, please rate them,please review them.
Whatever the platform is,you're listening to them.
If it gives you the option toput a star rating or to write a
review, please do it.
Do it now.
Do star rating or to write areview, please do it.
Do it now.
Do it as soon as you've pressed.
(33:54):
Stop on this, because it makesa big difference for the
algorithms of the podcastplatforms.
It will bring our podcastbefore the eyes of other people
and we're really keen to do thatand spread our message about
finding hope in all types ofloss.
Chris (34:06):
So, writers and reviewers , as we said, we've got up to
65,.
I want to say I'm just on myphone now I'm going to check
while I'm talking, so just bearwith.
Here we are 65,.
Yes, hannah Rumsey was 65 aboutloss of a friend.
If you haven't heard that,check that out.
It's a really lovely episode.
So we're up to 65.
There won't be any more thisyear.
(34:27):
The next time we will put anepisode out will be we usually
do a christmas chatty catch-up,don't we?
so if we can, I will try and getthat in at the end of december,
once we're back yeah with achatty catch-up between the two
of us and then normal episodesand lost episodes and blogs and
all that kind of stuff willresume in the new year so more
of us, certainly aroundchristmas, hopefully before then
(34:49):
, as we record a bit of ourjourney down under the silent y
down under my stomach's justmaking noises.
Does the microphone pick that?
Up, we will find out we've gotso much to learn the vibrations
so much to learn.
Claire (35:02):
This might even work, as we're walking around, as we're
sweating.
Yes, around the streets ofsingapore.
Chris (35:07):
We could record these little square microphones have
got those little fuzzy hats thatwe can use outdoors.
Claire (35:12):
I mean that's mostly for the wind, but also, yeah, if
there's wind, noise not justfrom your stomach.
Chris (35:16):
Your wind, I think it'll still pick it up.
Yeah, they're fun to wear.
We could walk and talk.
Claire (35:23):
We could sit and talk.
I'm not going to do one on theplane because there's a lot of
background noise on the plane,isn't it?
Chris (35:28):
oh, it's really loud.
It can be really loud.
Yeah, I mean we could try a bitof audio and see what happens.
Claire (35:32):
It's a long flight, we'll be a bit bored yeah, so we
have our person next to us,will be thinking but we could
interview them.
Chris (35:39):
They'll be trapped in the window seat.
We can just.
Yeah, I'm sure they'll want tofocus their flight on permanent
loss and grief.
Claire (35:47):
That's just what they want to entertain them 14 hours
on a plane where they can'tescape from us.
Yeah, we've got a batterypowered mics.
I think that's it for now.
This is going to be interesting.
The followers on social mediaoh, actually, that's a.
I don't want to carry ontalking very much, but I'm going
to have to agree with you aplan for social media use while
we're away, because this is onething, but you know, do you have
(36:10):
to?
Chris (36:10):
update social media platforms, I think yeah, for
those of you who wait until yousee me post on social media to
say there's another episode out,I think you just have to know
that's probably not going tohappen.
I will put a social media postout before we go, basically
saying we're going to be puttingepisodes out, but I won't be
putting social media posts outto tell you that they're they're
going out.
So I think that's a commitmenttoo far.
(36:31):
I'm going to spend age on acomputer if I do that and you
know writing it and then postingit across all of them, so I
think you'll just need to.
You can literally set anotification on pretty much all
podcast players and you getpinged when a new episode comes
out.
It's not difficult to beupdated on podcast episodes for
podcasts that you want to knowabout, so there's ways of doing
that.
But yeah, I won't be puttingout stuff.
What I might do is put theoccasional thing on our like on
(36:52):
the instagram story.
If I see something that's fun,I might post something on that.
But um unlikely to do too manyposts, but always follow us on
social media.
It is a fairly fun place to beyes, fairly fun.
I mean it's about loss, but Itry and make it interesting yeah
, certainly so.
Claire (37:08):
For all the regular content, just search for the
Silent Y Pod on your socialmedia platforms.
Chris (37:14):
Yeah, and obviously Herman's will be on hiatus while
we're away, so I won't beselling any of those, but I will
be taking a Herman with me forsure.
And yeah, I will probably beposting photos of Herman in
Australia, but that will be onthe Herman account.
Claire (37:26):
So if you want to follow Herman, in Australia.
Chris (37:29):
you need to follow at the Herman Company on Instagram.
He's only on Instagram and Iwill try and post some stuff on
there as well.
Claire (37:35):
Great, we can waffle, can't we?
Chris (37:37):
We can.
And the other thing is normallywhen we're recording, we have a
rough idea how long we've beentalking for, but these do not
tell us.
Claire (37:44):
It's about 14 minutes.
Chris (37:46):
I think it'd be near like three hours.
Claire (37:47):
No it's about 40 minutes 40 minutes yeah it's been a
little while that's a long while.
Just to say basically we'regoing on holiday and that's my
gut feeling and I'm not greatwith so it's probably about an
hour and a half, yeah that'strue, okay thank you for
listening.
Yeah, joining us in a differentroom of our house for change.
Let's hope these microphonesare.
Chris (38:07):
G'day.
Can you say that as a goodbye?
Claire (38:09):
I don't think you can say that at the end of a
conversation.
Chris (38:11):
I thought you could say it at the beginning and end.
Claire (38:13):
No, what do they say to say goodbye, you flaming galah,
I don't know.
Goodbye, don't ever, don't evertry and do an Australian accent
.
Chris (38:25):
I won't do that in Australia.
Claire (38:26):
Goodness me, yeah.
Raters review podcast.
Follow us on social media.
Thank you for listening.
Chris (38:41):
Do I just press, stop record.
Right, are we doing an intro?
Chris (00:03):
Yeah, we need to.
Claire (00:05):
Do you want to do that bit?
Chris (00:06):
Don't do it off-piece very often.
Claire (00:07):
Yeah.
Chris (00:08):
Okay.
Claire (00:12):
That is really weird.
Okay, it is a bit different.
Yeah, okay, but this is stillThe Silent Why podcast.
Chris (00:17):
Yeah Right, Hello and welcome to The Silent Why
podcast.
Claire (00:22):
Even with hand actions.
Hello.
Chris (00:26):
Yes, today is a little different.
Claire (00:27):
Yeah, because we're sitting in a different room of
the house using differentmicrophone technology to record.
Chris (00:33):
I feel like it's not proper.
We're just sat here looking ateach other, little microphones
on our jumpers.
We're not in the big usualsetup.
I feel like it's odd.
Claire (00:43):
Well, let's introduce ourselves in a less odd way.
I'm Chris.
Chris (00:47):
I'm Claire.
Claire (00:47):
A husband and wife couple.
We run the Silent Y podcast asour mission to explore 101
different kinds of permanentloss.
We're up in the 60s Yep, andthis episode is a bit different
because the future is a bitdifferent.
Chris (01:02):
Yes, not the whole future .
Claire (01:05):
No, no, just the near future, just the next few months
, yeah.
Chris (01:08):
As I've mentioned before in previous episodes or alluded
to, chris and I are having a.
Claire (01:14):
I don't know what we're calling it yet actually.
Chris (01:15):
It's like people are calling it a sabbatical.
So I think we've adopted thekind of phrase that yeah, it
might be a sabbatical, it's along holiday holiday.
Claire (01:27):
that we've been looking forward to um or had in the
diary for we think maybe thethree years ish, three to four
yes, three to four years in theplanning.
I think we explored doingsomething big for your 40th
birthday, because my 40thbirthday we did something
wonderful, went to iceland weflew there and had a week was it
yeah, and then it came to your40th birthday, which fell around
the pandemic time, didn't it it?
Chris (01:44):
was 2021, so we were still under restrictions of only
meeting up in bubbles andthings bubbles.
Claire (01:49):
So that didn't really happen for you.
And then we thought, well,we've got our 20th wedding
anniversary coming up, which isthis year, and so we set to on
planning something quite big andat the same time, developing
our friendship with Dave inWestern Australia over the last
four or five years, and so we'vecoincided basically with I was
(02:13):
going to say scabbing free, butit's probably what's a more
generic known term for takingadvantage of friends, and family
for free accommodation.
Chris (02:22):
We were invited to visit and we took the opportunity.
Claire (02:25):
Yes, and extended that invite to several weeks.
So we're going to WesternAustralia via Singapore, where
my brother and his wife arecurrently living temporarily,
and staying with them for a fewdays and then heading to Western
Australia for several weeks.
Chris (02:43):
And by the time this goes out, it will be almost days
away.
Claire (02:46):
And that's quite scary because this last year has
absolutely flown.
So our routine is going to bemassively disrupted and we
didn't want to pause and not putout any podcast content,
because we really enjoy doingthis.
Chris (03:00):
Yeah, I'm always nervous that everyone will go away and
not come back again.
So I don't want that to happenand you know some very lovely
people support the podcast.
So I don't want to just likehave loads of months off every
year because that doesn't seemfair.
And we, yeah, we just likekeeping people updated with
where we are, and I think thatincludes the good and the bad.
And so, when we were thinkingabout it, normally I've taken
(03:26):
last few years I've taken Augustoff podcasting to focus on
writing and other stuff, becausewe tend to put episodes out
every couple of weeks all year.
It's very rare we have a weekor a break.
So I thought I'll take Augustoff, because it's very hard to
record interviews in August,because it's quite noisy around
here with children in thegardens nearby, so I normally
have August off.
I didn't have August off thisyear because I knew we were
going to have to change thingsfrom October onwards.
So, yeah, instead.
Well, we don't know exactlywhat we're doing yet, but it is
(03:49):
going to be something differentand we've been mulling it over.
Claire (03:52):
Even this is different right now this is different.
It might be us just sitting ina room with these new
microphones that we've boughtfor ourselves, that we can clip
onto ourselves, rather than theproper plumbed plumbed in.
Chris (04:03):
Yeah, this is our first practice run with the small
microphones that we havepurchased that we can take with
us to australia so that we cando stuff if we want to, yeah,
while we're away.
But it is weird.
I am going to have to get usedto it because I feel like like
this is such a casualenvironment, I feel like I might
get tricked into saying evenmore than I normally share, and
I'm quite an oversharer anyway.
So, yeah, it's sort of it'sweird, but I need to get used to
(04:24):
it.
Claire (04:24):
I need to get used to this whole new microphone setup
for when we're away and we wantto do stuff quite right and what
we should say as well, probablybecause when we go away on
holiday, we're pretty unusual inthat we use those opportunities
for quite deep conversationbetween the two of us.
Anyway, yes, some people can bequite scared by the fact that
we return from holidays as thetwo of us having worked on
(04:49):
marriage stuff I think last timewas it our last time away where
you actually planned a coupleof marriage questionnaires-
probably there's a fairly famouscounselor I can't remember her
name does a podcast and stuff inesther parole, esther parole,
yeah, andyou.
You literally downloaded orprinted off a couple of
questionnaires that we workedthrough, uh.
(05:11):
So we went away and were quiteintentional about the
conversations we were havingabout marriage stuff and about
how we connect and how we remainconnected, uh, and so I
remember I remember getting backto work after that particular
time away and somebody saying,like what did you get up to?
And I was like, well, we didsome incredibly deep work on our
(05:31):
marriage and they were justlike you could just see their
eyes open.
I don't really know what to sayabout that.
I just want to know if you hadsome candy floss.
Chris (05:40):
Clearly you're having problems.
Claire (05:41):
Yeah, so we do enjoy, I think, the time away from
routine, the time away fromexpectations, just a reset, and
for us, that requiresconversation and we know that
our time in Australia, yes, it'ssomething very different and
there will be lots ofconversation.
(06:02):
We have expectations differentand there will be lots of
conversation.
We have, we have expectations.
We are pretty sure that this isgoing to do some really
interesting work in us, in ourmarriage, in each in each other,
and whether we do that withmicrophones on or not is the
question yeah, what do we do?
Chris (06:22):
the other thing I've also realized is that we left the
clock on, so if I edit any ofthis, I'm going to have to be
very cautious of the clockticking.
I'm really hoping now thatwe'll just go through and I
won't have to edit any of it.
Claire (06:32):
Yeah, there's not going to be much silence.
These are all things we'relearning.
We're learning about.
Chris (06:35):
There's not normally a clock in the background.
Claire (06:46):
You can probably, if it's annoying on a podcast, can
you hear it?
And I've got two clocks.
I've got the big clock overthere on my left ear and the
doorway.
Chris (06:49):
I've got a second clock.
Yeah see, we didn't think aboutthis, but anyway.
Well, there you go.
These are all good learning.
Claire (06:53):
This is behind the scenes editing, but now actually
in my professional capacity, afew times I've had to say to
people could we just move awayfrom this if there's a vehicle
moving or if there's your clocksticking, because if you put
little edit points in it can bereally difficult if there's a
ongoing sound yeah, that's thechallenge for the listeners
listen to the clock and if youhear it go and it's not in time,
(07:15):
you know we edited somethingout.
Yeah, but I'm hoping we won'tneed to edit this you are very
good at editing and you havevery, very good oversight from
me yes, who picks up all of mymistakes instantly.
I'm very kind and graciousabout pointing them out to you.
Chris (07:29):
Yeah, yeah, you're very good.
We've never had a conversationabout how harsh you are with
that at all.
Claire (07:33):
So we will enjoy this.
We will enjoy this a lot, Ithink.
Just chatting intentionallywith microphones on whether
we're in the garden with galahsand different bird sounds
whether we're at the beach.
You know how exciting to thinkwe could record our conversation
.
We don't need to be sittingupright and very close to big
(07:55):
microphones wide into a computer.
So see how this goes, but do wedo it?
I think the question we want tothrow out there is is there
anything you would like to hear?
I mean, clearly, option onecould just be us being us and
just doing what we do and whatwe really enjoy doing in our
marriage, which is chatting toeach other, spending time with
each other.
So it could just be that.
It could just be how we'refeeling, how we're getting on A
(08:18):
bit of a road trip diary.
Chris (08:21):
Yeah, kind of what we're seeing, what it feels like.
Claire (08:24):
Yeah, how much we're seeing what it feels like.
Yeah, how much we're sweating.
We've never been to singapore,we've never been to australia.
It's going to be eye-opening,coupled with the fact that we've
never well, in 25 years of workfor me, I've never had longer
than three weeks off I think,that's right.
Chris (08:37):
Even medically did I when I had nose surgery when I had
my septoplasty that wasn't morethan three weeks was it.
Claire (08:44):
So I've never in 25 years of work, I've never had
longer than three weeks off inone block.
We've done a couple of tripsover the last 15 years.
So this trip for me for nineweeks off work is going to be
really interesting, because Iknow that the I'm going to be
really giddy, excited for thefirst spell.
Then that's going to wear offafter a week or two and then I
(09:05):
wonder if I'm going to hit somesort of slump, whether I'll hit
some sort of blue.
I don't know what's going on.
This is very different.
So I'm partly wondering if I'llhit a bit of a low point and
then I'll come back up andreally get into it.
That's sort of what I thinkmight happen.
Chris (09:22):
I might be wrong yeah, it's an interesting one, I do
think, and that's why itprobably helps to give some
context as to why you'd want tohear from us or not, because I
think it will still.
I think a lot of what we willtalk about, what we will
experience, what we will gothrough, will still be very much
linked to the podcast topic.
Anyway, I don't think we'll betoo far off topic with this.
We are not heading into aholiday where we have yes, we've
(09:43):
got eight weeks away in total.
We're not packing that withloads of stuff.
So some people are saying to usoh, you know, you're going to
Australia, you're going to doSydney, you're doing the East
Coast, you're doing New Zealand,whatever, we're not doing a lot
of that.
We're not doing the East Coast,we're not doing New Zealand,
we're considering Tasmania, butwe're keeping it pretty low key
and to see how we are when weget there.
And I think that's becausewe're not in a place in life
(10:05):
where we feel like we have theenergy or we want to waste eight
weeks just rushing around andthen come back.
I think for us it's quiteprecious time, because it's a
long amount of time away fromour routine.
I think it's going to be quitehelpful and healing for us.
That's my hope anyway.
But so we're also going in a waythat's a bit tentative because,
as most of you will know, I'vehad health issues over the years
(10:27):
.
We were pretty confident theywould be well behind us almost
by the time we went to Australia.
We're now less than four weeksout from leaving and it's not
where we want it to be yet.
So it's that's been very tricky, so that I've got that
tentatively in the back of mymind.
What if I'm not feeling?
Amazing.
What if I don't feel well whenI'm on holiday?
That would be reallydisheartening.
(10:48):
We've had so many holidayswhere that has sort of impacted
it, so there's a lot ofnervousness there as well.
I also think stepping away fromlife makes us reflect a lot more
, and the older I get, thedifferent reflections I find I'm
having on being childless andnot being a mum.
And you know what's the purpose.
What does the future look like?
What do I want it to look like?
(11:08):
I need to make a decision onthat, or else I'm just going to
float through the rest of myyears not really knowing.
So there's a lot of stuff on ourminds still, and I think it's
still linked to a lot of griefand loss.
So I think it'll also beinteresting to see if that
impacts us at all, in either agood way, because we've got the
space to think it through andwe're away from things.
Maybe that's really helpful andhealing.
Or, you know, it could hit usin a big way and think, oh my
(11:31):
word, we're actually grieving atthe moment and then we might
come out of that and be able toenjoy.
It might be lovely to grieve ina hot country.
I don't know what it's going tolook like.
I might be fit and well and wehave an amazing time and I'm
full of beans and it's like thisis fantastic.
I don't know.
So I think if we do some stuffwhile we're away, it's probably
going to be a mix of processingall that.
So I still think it's on topicfor us, which is nice, but it'd
(11:54):
be also lovely to share ifpeople are interested in where
we're going, what we're doing.
What does Australia feel liketo a Brit and what are the
things there that are different?
What are the things there thatare surprising?
What are we?
Yeah, what are the things therethat are different?
What are the things there thatare surprising.
What are we doing?
How are we getting on?
Claire (12:07):
I don't want to overcommit, but I think we could
potentially do a conversation aweek.
Chris (12:13):
It probably is overcommitting, but yeah, it
wouldn't be a normal episodewould it?
Claire (12:17):
We're not doing all that lovely intro with clips.
Chris (12:21):
No, it won't be a scaled-down version.
Claire (12:23):
Lots of editing, it's just going to be push, push,
start on the recorder yeah, andI also think if we do it,
there's a very high chance.
Chris (12:30):
Rather than so, we're away for eight weeks, so that
would be the equivalent of fourfull podcast episodes that we
would skip if we did nothing.
There's not that many, but it'seight weeks and I think if we
did this, I'd be very tempted torecord, put it together, stick
it out.
I'm not going to be doing stuffevery other tuesday and saving
things up for that.
My plan is, if you want to beon this journey with us, then
(12:50):
over those eight weeks I'm justgoing to push episodes out as
and when we have stuff, so itcould be any time of day or
night, and it could be 10minutes, it could be an hour, I
don't know.
Keep it free like that, really.
So what we thought we would usethis episode for is just to
update you a bit on that and letyou know what's happening.
What we're thinking and also,do you want to hear anything
from us is is that somethingthat you would be interested in?
Claire (13:13):
it's a horrible question to us because it might be no,
it's terrifying, really.
Chris (13:17):
So what we're going to do is, I think, the easiest way.
I'm going to put a link to agoogle form in the show notes
and if you'd like to hear fromus, click on that link and just
fill out.
There's probably going to belike two, three questions of
like what is the kind of thingyou'd like to hear?
I'll probably put some optionsand then a free box to put
whatever and it's completelyanonymous.
And if you want to hear from us, if you'd be interested in that
(13:37):
kind of thing, fill out the box, hit submit.
It'll take you like two seconds.
It's not even a case of openingup a new email and sending it.
It's not a case of go to thewebsite and fill in this.
It's going to be right there.
I'm making it as easy aspossible so that hopefully,
people will reply.
If nobody replies, we won't doanything.
We will just go and have eightweeks, enjoy it and just not
think about the podcast.
It can go either way.
Claire (13:58):
That's really yeah, you're setting yourself up for
potential problems there.
Why?
Because no one might reply, andthen we'll feel really hurt.
Chris (14:07):
Well, we'll process it on our own.
Claire (14:09):
But I think it's, but I think I quite enjoy doing a.
Chris (14:13):
Yeah, I'd like to do it Like an audio diary, but if
nobody's really interested in it, then we can do it ourselves
and have it.
That's fine.
Or maybe I'll use it forepisodes when we get back.
But I'm not going to go to theeffort of doing all this.
If there is zero interest frompeople and I understand if there
might not be they might be likeI don't want to hear about your
sodding long holiday.
That sounds yeah, but it's nota holiday.
Claire (14:32):
No, it's an adventure, it's time away, it's a trip.
But, yeah, even the worstholiday.
Chris (14:39):
You don't know instantly whether they want to hear from
us or not.
But I just want to encouragepeople.
I think there will be a load ofpeople that do want to hear,
but I also think that they mightthink other people will just
message in so they won't doanything.
So there is a very real chanceof getting no responses.
It's a famous fact inpodcasting that to get
engagement from audiences isincredibly difficult and it's
(14:59):
been debated so many times andit's partly because there's no
easy way for people to do it.
So if you put your podcast onyoutube as a video, people will
comment, they'll watch, they'llkind of you can do live stuff
and they'll chat underneath andstuff.
It's very easy to respond audiopodcast.
There is no way of doing that.
Some people have like you cantext in or you can do a voice
(15:19):
note from the website.
There are things, but it's it'sincredibly difficult to get
people to respond to stuff.
So that is a well-known fact.
So if nobody responds and Iknow it's not because people
don't want to, it's just thatit's hard to respond to episodes
and that's just how thepodcasting world is.
But yeah, I'd encourage you ifyou're interested and if we even
get one person that responds,then I will commit to putting
(15:43):
something out.
While we're away there, eitherhave an amazing time and not
stop to record much and forget,or completely crash and then
eventually, after three weeksbeing away, you'll get a very
depressing episode from us aboutwhat's happening, but I
honestly think it will searchfor the hope very easy.
We're staying with somebody,we're in someone's home.
It's not difficult for us tosit out the back and just record
(16:06):
a few things.
It's not like we're stuck in ayou know, an airbnb or somewhere
we don't know what theatmosphere is going to be like.
Claire (16:11):
It doesn't need to be an hour episode does it.
Chris (16:13):
It could just be 15 minutes of a catch-up Brits
abroad.
Claire (16:16):
The Silent Y.
I like this.
This has just come to me theSilent Y Down Under.
Chris (16:22):
We like to go deep, don't we?
We do, and now we're going deepdown under.
Does that sound a bit.
Claire (16:29):
Creepy.
Chris (16:37):
A bit creepy, a bit wrong it might do the silent y on
tour, the silent y down under?
Yeah, we'll have to work on it,okay.
Oh, I like.
Yeah, down under is always good, isn't it?
Is it now?
I said it sounds weird, butthat is how we refer to
australia.
Is the way I'm sitting no, notpicturing it, just it sounded a
bit rude and then it justsounded weird when I said it out
loud we'll work on it, yeah soform on the show notes, put some
notes in there.
Claire (16:57):
Yeah, because so we like to be intentional about our
chats, so we could, we could, wecould consider and think about
and talk about any aspects ofprocessing yeah, I mean, tell us
what you'll know.
Chris (17:08):
Do you want to know what it's like?
Just like you know, I'mfascinated by what foods do they
eat over there?
What do the supermarkets looklike?
What are the differences?
One of the things we went toamerica that stuck with me, it
was one of the biggest thingsthat I was like oh my word, we
found a bottle of like I thinkit's ibuprofen or paracetamol in
one of the supermarkets, orsomething that had a thousand
tablets in it and you could justbuy this thing off the shelf.
(17:29):
That might seem a very normalthing for americans, I don't
know, but for me I was.
Just like you know, we can geta maximum of, is it 30?
Claire (17:38):
yeah, a small box with sort of sachets.
Chris (17:41):
I think you can get two, lots of 16 but that's the
maximum you can buy in one go,and then you'd have to go back
again and again and again.
If you're sneakily trying toget more.
Um, but we are very restrictedon stuff like that.
You certainly won't be able tobuy something that size.
Things like that little thingsthat just fascinate you about
different countries um, I dolove watching americans and it
is mostly americans I watch oninstagram walking around british
(18:02):
supermarkets pointing out allthe stuff that's super weird
stuff like that.
I don't know.
It might be you want to see thetrivial side of life.
It might be you actually wantto hear what we're going through
.
It might be you just want tohear descriptions of what we're
seeing, and you know we're verywildlife people.
That doesn't make sense, is it?
Claire (18:18):
we're wildlife people.
We do like the wildlife we likeit.
Chris (18:20):
So a lot of what we're going to be hunting for is just
the different animals andinsects and things you can see
out there and I don't know,maybe that's something that
interests people.
I don't know, it could beanything I'm already.
Claire (18:30):
I'm already thinking.
Can I use this form without youknowing it's me and say that
I'm looking forward to hearing agraveyard musing in australia
that would be cool withaustralian names on the
gravestones.
Yeah, we did one in wales andthe names were very welsh.
We did one in belgium belgiumand the names were very
(18:50):
different, so I wonder whetherlike going to aust Australia.
I can't think of it.
What's a?
Chris (18:57):
stereotypical Australian name like Bonza.
I can't even think of any.
Wow, no stereotypicalAustralian names.
Claire (19:07):
That's coming to mind.
Chris (19:08):
The Australians will be shouting them at the podcast.
They must have the equivalentof R Smith.
Claire (19:11):
I'm just thinking of characters from Neighbours and
Home and Away circa 1995 nowwhen I used to watch it, alf
Madge.
Chris (19:19):
I don't know if Alf is a.
Claire (19:22):
That was Home and Away, wasn't it?
Chris (19:24):
If we do the Graveyard Music and they're all called Alf
, then we'll know.
Claire (19:27):
Yeah, charlene, and Scott and Charlene.
Chris (19:30):
Please don't list all of the people you remember from
Aussie soaps.
Claire (19:33):
Very famous, wasn't it?
Scott and Charlene?
Chris (19:35):
Yeah, but they're normal names.
They're not Australian names.
Claire (19:37):
Okay, well, still, if I find a gravestone with Scott and
Charlene on it, you're going tobe eating your words.
Chris (19:45):
Well, I think there's a high chance you might they're
pretty normal names across thewhole world.
Claire (19:50):
Okay, so, so, yeah, a graveyard museum, that could be
really interesting.
Chris (19:52):
Yeah, in australia it could be anything at all.
Maybe we can find some aussiesto interview.
I'd be brave yeah getting acouple of accents on.
I don't want a couple I love anaccent, I don't know.
Anyway, it could look likeanything.
Claire (20:05):
So yes, please let us know in the form I'm pointing to
the link yeah, it doesn't workwhen there's no video cameras
filming.
Does it pointing down?
That's where the link yeah itdoesn't work when there's no
video cameras filming, does it?
Pointing down?
That's where the link is.
Chris (20:18):
That's where the link is Down under Idiot.
Claire (20:19):
Idiot, and so literally the next time you're hearing
from us could be is that rightIn Australia?
Chris (20:26):
yeah, Right.
I know it's frightening.
Claire (20:29):
So the things you're not looking forward to.
I can share this without yourconsent that the flight length.
You're not sure how you'll geton with a long flight to.
Heathrow to Singapore, toChangi in Singapore.
What about 14 hours flight?
Chris (20:43):
Yeah, I think only because when we flew to America
I had that blood pressure dropand I had to have the oxygen at
the back of the plane and it'sall very cramped back there when
you're not feeling very well.
So I think that's just made mea little bit like I really don't
want to go through anythinglike that again and you've got a
real issue.
Claire (20:57):
I don't know why, with tiny airplane toilets, I do not
like shutting that door I haveto summon.
Chris (21:04):
I don't like saying I'm claustrophobic.
I don't like saying I'manything.
I don't like labeling myselfwith something that gives me a
fear I then have to have becauseI'm.
I'm pretty convinced you canget over any fear you want to,
even though I haven't conqueredall mine.
But being shut in small spacesis not my favorite thing in the
world, and when I go into thattoilet I just want to leave the
door unlocked, but you can't,because that's what triggers the
light.
Obviously you'd be outsidestopping people coming in.
(21:26):
Yeah, but, you have to lock itfor the light to come on.
And when I shut that door andlock it, all I can think about
is the fact that I'm just milesup in the air and if anything
happens now, I'm in the smallestbox.
Like I'd rather the plane wentdown when I was in my seat than
be shut in the toilet would youprefer having a seat belt on the
toilet?
No, I don't want to be trappedin there, I just want to be in
and out as quick as possible.
Claire (21:46):
I just don't like locking the door so I know
you're not looking forward tothat.
Chris (21:50):
I know you're not looking forward to the humidity of
Singapore, not looking forwardto I think I'm just like they're
the things that would be I'llhave to work with a little
there'll be a challenge.
Claire (21:59):
You're not great with physical discomfort, so the idea
of sweating.
Chris (22:02):
I'm not good with being really sweaty.
That's why I exercise.
Claire (22:05):
We've been having a day off work.
Today, we've been out lookingfor linen shirts, because you're
convinced that a piece of linenis going to stop you from
sweating not stop you.
Chris (22:16):
No, it dries quicker and it's cool okay, rather than
cotton oh no, and cotton, linenand cotton oh, just I think,
because linen seems to be one ofthe best ones, but from what I
can work out, it's also one ofthe most expensive.
Claire (22:27):
So so that's something that we know is going to be a
bit of a challenge.
Yeah, uh, do I think?
Chris (22:31):
overall, I just I don't like feeling unwell and that has
been a theme of my life for thelast 10 years.
And so feeling unwell at homeis one thing, because you know
you can control your environment, so that and I I honestly
thought I'd be feeling great bynow and I wouldn't have to think
about this stuff.
But the closer I get, the moreI just think, what if it's
(22:51):
really difficult and I don'tfeel well for a various amount
of reasons and I'm in a placewhere it's really hot and humid?
I know you're in air cons it'snot the end of the world, but
even air con isn't the mostnatural environment for people
who aren't used to it.
What if I'm in someone else'shouse and you're not feeling
good?
You know all that kind of stuffwhen we're on a plane.
It's those sorts of things thatwouldn't actually normally ever
(23:12):
bother me.
I was never someone that wasbothered by any of that stuff
before.
So that's the frustrating thing, and I might not be bothered by
it at all by the time itarrives.
It really depends what myhormones are up to.
But yeah, what about you?
You must have something.
That would be a challenge foryou doing something like that.
I know you have like no fears.
Claire (23:31):
I do have fears.
Chris (23:32):
Only like dark water.
I do have fears.
Only like dark water.
Claire (23:34):
I mean, there's well, no , there's already a thought.
I know this is ridiculousbecause millions of people live
in Australia, but the thought ofmassive spiders and Okay, I
think we're on the wrong side ofAustralia for that.
Okay, snakes, maybe Things inthe sea Like.
I'm not a huge sea swimmer, butif the sea's nice to go in,
then I'm happy to go in the sea.
(23:54):
But there it's like there'ssharks and things, so I'll be a
little bit nervous about thewildlife.
Chris (24:01):
I'd rather have a close experience with a shark than
feel unwell on holiday.
But you can't see it.
Claire (24:07):
So anything that I'm feeling a little bit nervous
about, not really.
I do get excited far more inadvance than you do.
You get excited at the time.
You don't really do build-up.
Chris (24:21):
I do a lot more build-up, mine will start to arrive when
we've checked our suitcases inand when we get on the plane and
it feels like it's happening,it's like yes, and halfway
through the flight it will dip abit because I'm getting a bit
bored of being shot in a capsule, and then I'll get more excited
again when we arrive.
then I'll probably feel a bitjet, lagged and tired and feel a
bit rubbish and worry that I'mgoing to get ill.
Then I'll have a good night'ssleep and feel better and then
hopefully I'll just be excitedabout holiday.
Claire (24:42):
It's a very simple process I think that what and
we've spoken about this beforein our podcast chats about
managing my expectations.
I think the only thing thatcould trip me up is my
expectations.
But I can't see it's beendifferent with me in the past.
If we go away for, let's say,10 days and then we spend what
(25:07):
is a lot of money to fly awaysomewhere in a hotel, got 10
days there wanting some warmthand sunshine, usually because
we're familiar here with yearsbeing a bit grey and damp and
not particularly hot.
So having an opportunity to getaway in the sunshine the two of
us is a real privilege and wechoose very carefully.
(25:29):
I spend a lot of time I can bea bit too obsessive about
researching where we're going,where we're staying, trying to
find the very best possibleaccommodation for our money, all
that sort of itinerary and thenwe get there and I've put all
this effort and work in and it'sjust like grey and cloudy or it
rains and cloudy or it rains.
(25:53):
That that has hit me in thepast and I've been quite bad
company for 24, 48 hours while Icome out of my sort of crash.
Chris (25:57):
That this is not why I expect that's when we had that
really sad episode where I toldyou that I should be enough to
enjoy a holiday and you were.
You replied with but you're notyep, I didn't mean.
Claire (26:09):
I didn't mean that in an unloving way.
Chris (26:11):
I totally understood what you meant.
At the time.
Claire (26:13):
I was like I know, but yeah, it was just the weather
and everything was bad it'swonderful, but I want to be with
you in under a blue sky andwith sun on our skin and just
thinking this is, this is goingreally well, um, and it's.
It still makes me say, yes, canbe with you, but if it's
raining and we're abroad andit's just oh.
So I have had some questionableholidays more recently where
(26:39):
I've just set my expectationsreally low.
But you might say that's just abit negative, that's a bit
depressing, that's a bitpessimistic.
But then I've thought actuallyit has been quite effective that
I've come away thinking, well,I didn't go with massive
expectations of achieving thisand that and seeing this and
that and feeling this and that.
So to bring that up to a triplike Singapore and Australia,
(27:03):
then I could run away with oh, Iwant to go to New Zealand, I
want to go to here.
Chris (27:08):
I want to go to Olaru.
Claire (27:09):
I want to go and see the East Coast.
I want to see the Garak BarrierReef.
I want to go to here, I want togo to Olaru.
I want to go and see the eastcoast, I want to see the Garek
Barrier Reef.
I want to go and see Sydney andthe Opera House and the west
coast and I want to travel andsee koalas and kangaroos and I
do want to see ocean life and torelax and be wonderful and read
and enjoy myself and come awayfeeling rest, all that sort of
stuff.
I'm like no, no, that's justridiculous.
Peel all that away.
(27:30):
So we have been managing ourexpectations, I think, quite
accordingly, so I can't see howit can go wrong.
So, in summary, I think theonly thing that could trip
myself up is myself yeah, Ithink when we first started
looking at this I remember Ijumped online.
Chris (27:44):
I was like, oh my word, this could be our opportunity.
Because I've always wanted todo the circumference of the
earth in a trip, I thought thiscould be it.
Like we're going so far around,we could do like a few
countries on the way toaustralia, then we could do new
zealand, then we could getourselves over to like hawaii,
back to la, do a bit of america,maybe a bit of canada, come
back.
The flights are actuallycheaper if you do around the
(28:04):
world thing.
And I started looking to allthis stuff and you very quickly
realize that a eight weeks isnot that long if you want to do
that much stuff.
You'd be rushing around fromhere to there and also it just
gets stupid expensive.
And then I had to really justadmit we don't have the.
I don't think we've got theenergy or the mental space right
now to do that.
I think maybe one day we willstill um, but we haven't done
anything like this when we wereyounger.
(28:25):
We didn't go traveling like alot of people did after uni or
anything like that.
It's the first time we've doneit.
So I think that's why we sortof jumped initially to like, oh
well, people who go traveling,they do all these countries and
we know people have done thatit's like an amazing thing.
But they also did it when theywere like 21 and that is a very
different energy level and adifferent time in life, and so I
think we've had to scale down.
Yeah, let's be realistic aboutwho we are and what we want from
(28:47):
this, and I would like to comeback feeling like something in
me has changed and is differentand is better because of this
trip.
That would be my priority overcoming back and having seen a
hundred different amazing things.
But it was shattering and tiringand now I need a break, almost
because it's been so much movingaround and we didn't get to sit
(29:09):
and actually enjoy any oneplace because we were moving
around so much.
And so, yeah, I think we'vescaled it back and I think
that's good and I just reallywant to experience life in
Australia just like almostliving somewhere for a bit.
We've never done that.
This is the closest we're goingto ever get to feeling like
we're living abroad for a littlebit, and I think that could be
really exciting and will give usa hint for future life of like
(29:30):
well, do we want to do this moreoften, like longer holidays, or
do we want to go and tryanother country for a while?
I don't know, it could opendoors to anything.
So I think it's a great baselayer because absolute worst
case scenario, we're sat inPerth for eight weeks.
That doesn't sound too bad.
Claire (29:45):
That sounds pretty amazing.
Chris (29:46):
Exactly so.
If our base layer is thatamazing in theory, like you said
, it can only get better fromhere, Unless.
Claire (29:53):
Perth has its coldest and wettest spring and start of
summer.
On record that coincides withour arrival.
Chris (30:02):
I don't think even we could break the Australian
weather.
Claire (30:05):
No famous last words.
It's a bit like a retreat.
It's an adventure for us, butbe careful with your
understanding of adventure,because it means something
different for everybody else.
It's a retreat of sorts.
It's a time away.
It's going to be a whole newexperience.
Chris (30:21):
I'm excited I'm starting to get there now.
It's just weird that it just itwas such a thing on the horizon
for so long to think that nowwe're going.
I can't work out if it's justlike, if it's exciting, daunting
, amazing.
It's just a mix of everythingand I don't really think I'm
going to fully clock what thisis actually is until I'm about
(30:42):
four weeks into it, thinking I'monly halfway.
Yeah, this is amazing because Ithink it's just going to feel
like another holiday long haul,yes, but we've done that before
for like three weeks, so I thinkwhat?
Past the three week mark, it'sgoing to feel like, oh, my world
, we've still got like loads oftime left, and that's.
That is very exciting and wehave got some lovely things
planned.
We do want to do like a trip upthe western coast of australia
and there's lots of wildlifeythings and kangaroos and
(31:04):
penguins and quokkas anddolphins, all that kind of stuff
waiting for us, so that's veryexciting and nature's amazing.
Claire (31:11):
I'm excited to see what we were told about a few days
ago when we spoke to dave andtrace on the phone bin chickens
bin chickens, who knew they werea thing.
Chris (31:23):
There was another one.
Oh fairy penguins.
Claire (31:25):
We didn't know they had penguins there something,
something, chuck Bush, chuckBush chucks Yep Bin chickens I
know, it's a whole new world.
Which are a sort of are they awhite ibis?
Chris (31:36):
But they literally scavenge in bins.
Yeah, like a long black beak.
Claire (31:39):
Call them bin chickens and bush chucks.
Chris (31:41):
And we're very keen if we can see one, because they are
native to that part of frogmouth yes, it's a very strange
looking.
Claire (31:49):
Is it called a tawny?
It's not an owl though.
No, it's not.
It's not an owl.
It looks like it's called atawny frog crossed with a bird
yeah, it does look like a funnylooking thing.
Chris (31:58):
I think I saw one once in one of the birds of prey center
things, but never in the wildyeah and I've got a horrible
feeling they're nocturnal, so itmight be a tricky one, but I do
want to try and find a frogmouth oh yeah, I won't be
surprised if they're nocturnal.
Claire (32:09):
I don't think you're going to see one unless we go to
some sort of wildlife park.
Chris (32:12):
It's going to involve some night walks.
Claire (32:14):
Yeah.
Chris (32:14):
So yeah, that's our plan.
So don't forget, the link is inthe show notes.
I'm going to put it right atthe top with loads of big arrows
pointing to it.
So yeah, I'm just I'm.
A lot of our feedback is thatyou know, people love the loss
(32:35):
episodes and everything elsewe're doing, because you know if
you're here, you're herebecause you understand loss and
grief is hard and you're lookingfor help to get through it or
you're interested in how othersare getting through it.
But we get a lot of feedbackthat people like the episodes of
just the two of us chattingjust as much, and I think that's
because you get to know us alot more yeah, so interaction
would be lovely, if there'squestions about where we are,
what we're experiencing, that wecan come in and make part of
our conversation while we'reaway you could email or message
us.
I'll still get those.
So if you've got anything youwant us to talk about or any
(32:57):
questions you want to answer,please get in touch, because
it's lovely to answer things anddo things from listeners yeah,
we'd love to involve you in that.
Claire (33:06):
I have thought, actually this is a horrible thought to
have at this point now, becausewe're using these new little
clip-on microphones for thefirst time.
There's no way to really checkif we are recording correctly.
Can you imagine, if I think?
Yeah, I've been monitoring,you've got a red light on yours,
so I think that's the key.
Chris (33:22):
You've got a red one on yours, so I think that's okay
okay but could you imagine if?
Oh, one of us wasn't felt halfan hour and then it wasn't
recording.
Well, that's all part of it.
It'll be fine.
It'll be fine.
Claire (33:34):
So we haven't said this for a while, but, as with all of
our episodes, please rate them,please review them.
Whatever the platform is,you're listening to them.
If it gives you the option toput a star rating or to write a
review, please do it.
Do it now.
Do star rating or to write areview, please do it.
Do it now.
Do it as soon as you've pressed.
(33:54):
Stop on this, because it makesa big difference for the
algorithms of the podcastplatforms.
It will bring our podcastbefore the eyes of other people
and we're really keen to do thatand spread our message about
finding hope in all types ofloss.
Chris (34:06):
So, writers and reviewers , as we said, we've got up to
65,.
I want to say I'm just on myphone now I'm going to check
while I'm talking, so just bearwith.
Here we are 65,.
Yes, hannah Rumsey was 65 aboutloss of a friend.
If you haven't heard that,check that out.
It's a really lovely episode.
So we're up to 65.
There won't be any more thisyear.
(34:27):
The next time we will put anepisode out will be we usually
do a christmas chatty catch-up,don't we?
so if we can, I will try and getthat in at the end of december,
once we're back yeah with achatty catch-up between the two
of us and then normal episodesand lost episodes and blogs and
all that kind of stuff willresume in the new year so more
of us, certainly aroundchristmas, hopefully before then
(34:49):
, as we record a bit of ourjourney down under the silent y
down under my stomach's justmaking noises.
Does the microphone pick that?
Up, we will find out we've gotso much to learn the vibrations
so much to learn.
Claire (35:02):
This might even work, as we're walking around, as we're
sweating.
Yes, around the streets ofsingapore.
Chris (35:07):
We could record these little square microphones have
got those little fuzzy hats thatwe can use outdoors.
Claire (35:12):
I mean that's mostly for the wind, but also, yeah, if
there's wind, noise not justfrom your stomach.
Chris (35:16):
Your wind, I think it'll still pick it up.
Yeah, they're fun to wear.
We could walk and talk.
Claire (35:23):
We could sit and talk.
I'm not going to do one on theplane because there's a lot of
background noise on the plane,isn't it?
Chris (35:28):
oh, it's really loud.
It can be really loud.
Yeah, I mean we could try a bitof audio and see what happens.
Claire (35:32):
It's a long flight, we'll be a bit bored yeah, so we
have our person next to us,will be thinking but we could
interview them.
Chris (35:39):
They'll be trapped in the window seat.
We can just.
Yeah, I'm sure they'll want tofocus their flight on permanent
loss and grief.
Claire (35:47):
That's just what they want to entertain them 14 hours
on a plane where they can'tescape from us.
Yeah, we've got a batterypowered mics.
I think that's it for now.
This is going to be interesting.
The followers on social mediaoh, actually, that's a.
I don't want to carry ontalking very much, but I'm going
to have to agree with you aplan for social media use while
we're away, because this is onething, but you know, do you have
(36:10):
to?
Chris (36:10):
update social media platforms, I think yeah, for
those of you who wait until yousee me post on social media to
say there's another episode out,I think you just have to know
that's probably not going tohappen.
I will put a social media postout before we go, basically
saying we're going to be puttingepisodes out, but I won't be
putting social media posts outto tell you that they're they're
going out.
So I think that's a commitmenttoo far.
(36:31):
I'm going to spend age on acomputer if I do that and you
know writing it and then postingit across all of them, so I
think you'll just need to.
You can literally set anotification on pretty much all
podcast players and you getpinged when a new episode comes
out.
It's not difficult to beupdated on podcast episodes for
podcasts that you want to knowabout, so there's ways of doing
that.
But yeah, I won't be puttingout stuff.
What I might do is put theoccasional thing on our like on
(36:52):
the instagram story.
If I see something that's fun,I might post something on that.
But um unlikely to do too manyposts, but always follow us on
social media.
It is a fairly fun place to beyes, fairly fun.
I mean it's about loss, but Itry and make it interesting yeah
, certainly so.
Claire (37:08):
For all the regular content, just search for the
Silent Y Pod on your socialmedia platforms.
Chris (37:14):
Yeah, and obviously Herman's will be on hiatus while
we're away, so I won't beselling any of those, but I will
be taking a Herman with me forsure.
And yeah, I will probably beposting photos of Herman in
Australia, but that will be onthe Herman account.
Claire (37:26):
So if you want to follow Herman, in Australia.
Chris (37:29):
you need to follow at the Herman Company on Instagram.
He's only on Instagram and Iwill try and post some stuff on
there as well.
Claire (37:35):
Great, we can waffle, can't we?
Chris (37:37):
We can.
And the other thing is normallywhen we're recording, we have a
rough idea how long we've beentalking for, but these do not
tell us.
Claire (37:44):
It's about 14 minutes.
Chris (37:46):
I think it'd be near like three hours.
Claire (37:47):
No it's about 40 minutes 40 minutes yeah it's been a
little while that's a long while.
Just to say basically we'regoing on holiday and that's my
gut feeling and I'm not greatwith so it's probably about an
hour and a half, yeah that'strue, okay thank you for
listening.
Yeah, joining us in a differentroom of our house for change.
Let's hope these microphonesare.
Chris (38:07):
G'day.
Can you say that as a goodbye?
Claire (38:09):
I don't think you can say that at the end of a
conversation.
Chris (38:11):
I thought you could say it at the beginning and end.
Claire (38:13):
No, what do they say to say goodbye, you flaming galah,
I don't know.
Goodbye, don't ever, don't evertry and do an Australian accent
.
Chris (38:25):
I won't do that in Australia.
Claire (38:26):
Goodness me, yeah.
Raters review podcast.
Follow us on social media.
Thank you for listening.
Chris (38:41):
Do I just press, stop record.
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