Midlifing

Send a textLee and Simon explore Simon's return to New Zealand and the deep, embodied sense of “home” he feels there, distinct from the buildings or habits that mark belonging elsewhere. They circle the gradations of alienness across places – London, Lisbon, Italy, the US – and reflect on privilege, inequality, and the uneasy freedom to move between worlds.Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net. ---The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

Send a textSimon and Lee discuss how “the slop” of online discourse warps attention, community, and even basic ways of being with other people, then land on the uneasy idea that conversation can be as much a mirror (to feel real and worthy) as a window (to actually learn and connect). A second thread is the double-truth of social life: feeling useful and coherent while simultaneously hearing the inner heckler saying “you're a fraud,” and how that vulnerability can push people toward bubbles that reassure them.Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net. ---The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

Send a textLee and Simon talk about ageing, visibility and bodily maintenance, moving from Tai Chi scams and ripped male bodies to the uneven cultural tolerance of ageing faces, especially women's. The thread tightens around choosing how to age – attitude over appearance – while catching themselves mid-slide into weather-moaning, grammar-policing crotchetiness.Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net. ---The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

Send us a textSimon and Lee reflect on how “it's just history” can function as a shield, contrasting nostalgia and certainty with the messier ethics of speaking up, particularly around homophobia and memory. The episode widens this to a mistrust of technological truth-claims, arguing for caution, empathy and interrogation over easy laughter or false neutrality.Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net. ---The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

Send us a textLee and Simon talk about Heated Rivalry as hockey smut, using it to think about bonkbusters, fan fiction, masculinity and the manosphere, and why gay male romance written by and for straight women feels culturally charged. They contrast escapist fantasy with realism, testing where disbelief breaks (coming out in elite sport, hockey culture) and where emotional truth still lands.Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net. ---The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

Send us a textLee and Simon move from bread, travel and pensions into a sharper conversation about advertising, sustainability and how language quietly manipulates trust. What starts as midlife logistics ends in unease about media ethics and the stories we are trained to accept.Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net. ---The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

Send us a textLee and Simon discuss overload: storms, sickness, media saturation, and a growing sense that attention itself is the battleground. They land on “what we ignore” as a survival skill, using sport, news, and desire as case studies for selective blindness and unexpected meaning.Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net. ---The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

Send us a textLee and Simon reflect on ageing through ordinary shocks – driving at night, learning languages badly in public, and realising your social stamina has quietly changed. The episode circles the relief of opting out (sleep, simple food, cinema marathons) versus the effort of keeping up, without pretending either choice is noble.Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net. ---The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

Send us a textLee and Simon reflect on the turn of the year not through resolutions but through attention to time, labour, and value – what feels worth doing, and what quietly drains energy. The conversation circles embodied work, intergenerational thinking, and the midlife urge to spend less time reacting and more time building things that outlast you.Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net. ---The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

Send us a textLee and Simon circle from Christmas silliness to showers, cocktails, bureaucracy, and grief, using humour to hold off the end-of-the-world feeling while letting something tender through. Beneath the ramble, the episode quietly lands on memory, loss, and the strange intimacy of ordinary rituals.Related link:I Asked 64,182 People About “Jingle Bells, Batman Smells”. Here's What I Found Out: https://youtu.be/V5u9JSnAAU4?si=3bZKOd90pUXNdZFpGet in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net. ---The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

Send us a textLee and Simon circle around the messy line between saying “no” (as self-respect) and staying relational, using condominum meetings, Portuguese/Italian slips, and a post office queue as lived examples of how “transactional” life can feel. They land on the idea that some exchanges (kindness, levity, basic decency) aren't quid-pro-quo at all – and then veer into unfiltered joy at Olivia Colman's acceptance speeches.Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net. ---The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

Send us a textSimon and Lee spiral from the weird intimacy of recording their friendship into the horror of AI-fuelled “chatfishing” and the prospect of being “back on the market” after loss. They end up sitting with ageing, death, and the line between cherished solitude, unacknowledged loneliness, and the hunger for simple physical affection.Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net. ---The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

Send us a textLee talks about realising how “thin-skinned” he is at home and at work, and how that sensitivity both hurts (wanting to cry over a throwaway comment about his clothes) and helps him get more quickly to the truth of what's actually going on emotionally. He and Simon fold this into a wider question of whether you want to be “a radiator or a drain” in relationships, and how different couples' styles of teasing or volatility shape what feels possible or survivable in a long-term partnership.Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net. ---The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

Send us a textSimon and Lee chew over how trauma and pain can't really be compared or ranked, even inside cushioned-but-precarious academic lives where people still don't feel safe. They then push a fraught hypothetical about raising a daughter into a misogynist world.Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net. ---The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

Send us a textLee and Simon meet in person for the first time in three years and move from gallbladder scares and overstretched health systems into a reflection on post-pandemic disconnection, social capital and the erosion of community. They sit with the discomfort of feeling more willing to be “a doer, the joiner” abroad than in the UK, and the unsettling knowledge that not joining in also helps democracy to unravel.Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net. ---The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

Send us a textLee's rebellious gallbladder and the realisation that he's not “a box with a brain in it” spark a conversation about midlife bodies that can no longer be ignored. From Lisbon-airport dehydration to shamelessly helping-while-queue-jumping anxious Americans, they sit with the mix of pride, shame and “curiosity, not judgement” toward other people's (and their own) fragilities.Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net. ---The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

Send us a textLee and Simon explore what it means to remove yourself – physically and psychically – from one life while tentatively building another. A wardrobe installation in Sassari becomes an existential reflection on identity, work and the quiet liberation of decoupling.Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net. ---The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

Send us a textA lively riff on “Good luck to you Leo Grande” becomes a tender meditation on grief, intimacy and how performances can feel “mannered” or disappear into truth. Plus a quick detour into house anatomy -- those elusive eaves and the ever-misnamed “Gabel end.”Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net. ---The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

Send us a textLee arrives wildly apologetic (sugar hangover and “pre-arranged lateness”), then recounts a calm immigration-enforcement raid spotted on a dog walk where Jeff and Poppy bristled first. The pair unpack the crowd's quiet “witnessing,” the shaky economics versus the “beautifully shiny ideology” of such raids, and how immigration talk often masks racism.Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net. ---The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

Send us a textSimon's grim HMO viewing – “a cupboard with a toilet in it” – kicks off a sharp rant about rent, greed and our own complicity in gentrification (yes, palazzo included). Lee's just out of Covid, still “quite brain foggy,” as they juggle setup jitters, wool-winding, and the uneasy balance of rights vs responsibilities.Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net. ---The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

Send us a textToday's episode sits between worlds: Lee's COVID-brain-fog ramble collides with Simon's identity shift as Sardinia becomes a “forever home.” The mood is excited but tender: new kitchen colours, shallow washing machines, and the coat of academia starting not to fit.Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net. ---The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

Send us a textEarly-morning chaos (Jefrey's squeaky-toy alarms and “Dr. Claggy” cinnamon-bun focaccia) spirals into a tender-but-fiery riff on migration, tribalism, and the everyday bureaucracy of moving lives across borders.Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net. ---The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

Send us a textThe chat spins from joking about posthumous albums into a deep dive on Bowie, The Beatles, and Peter Jackson's Get Back, with Simon realizing he might be the “Paul McCartney” of his work life. Meanwhile, the two reflect on trust, apologies, and which Beatle they'd most like to be.Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net. ---The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

Send us a textA tummy bug led to a missed call, sending Simon into a gently comic spiral of catastrophising while Lee nursed ginger ale. They laugh about phones, worry, and how fast our minds jump to worst-case scenarios.Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net. ---The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

Send us a textFrom crocodile-flatbread daydreams to bake-off blunders, the chat lands on pressure and nerves: how we choke in high-stakes moments yet sail when we're wearing a role. A gentle riff on anxiety, agency and tiny cues (like “6.9 minutes”) that make being human weirdly manageable.Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net. ---The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

Send us a textLee and Simon chat about how being “smart” has turned into a bit of a buzzword, popping up everywhere from phones to fabrics to how people talk about each other. They wonder if it's really that important, especially when things like reliability and good questions often matter more.Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net. ---The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

Send us a textLee and Simon drift from lighthearted chatter about films, music, and horror-comedies into a deeper reflection on fairness, empathy, and how business rules affect personal relationships. What begins with K-pop demon hunters and Coen Brothers ends with a heartfelt unpacking of hurt, rules, and the weight of being treated “just like everyone else.”Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net. ---The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

Send us a textLee and Simon muse on the strangeness of plastic-covered furniture and saving things for best, linking it to habits of consumerism and care.Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net. ---The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

Send us a textLee and Simon discuss how their understanding of success has changed, from youthful drive and ambition to the satisfaction of doing things well.Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net. ---The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

Send us a textLee and Simon discuss podcast recording quirks, Italian language and food, the difficulty of finding good restaurants in Rome, and the virtues of immigrant-run eateries. They detour into cocktail adventures, running habits, architectural quirks in old houses, and auditory remedies involving bad covers of Sade's Smooth Operator. Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net. ---The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

Send us a textLee and Simon reflect warmly and self-critically on moments of unintended unkindness, exploring how irony, tone, and long-honed habits can cause harm even when the intention is to connect. They discuss the complexities of authenticity, performance, and informality—especially in academic or professional contexts—while gently mocking themselves and each other with characteristic affection (at least that's what chatGPT said).Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net. ---The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

Send us a textLee and Simon navigate tech issues, family estrangement, censorship, and a terrible Wimbledon defeat.Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net. ---The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

Send us a textSimon and Lee swap stories about how AI makes writing easier and helps smooth out prickly emails, even if they feel a bit uneasy about it all. They also talk a bit about underpants, academic jargon, and the oddities of midlife.Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net. ---The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

Send us a textLee and Simon discuss whether they're in a second act or nearing the end of their working lives. They reflect on legacy, how little most of us are remembered, and how not having children changes that.Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net. ---The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

Send us a textSimon reflects on feeling in and out of control while managing tinnitus; Lee discusses boxers, rewilding sleep, and lime wall repairs.Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net. ---The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

Send us a textSimon shares a new tinnitus struggle; Lee discusses scones; both reflect on midlife pride, sleep, and renovation woes.Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net. ---The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

Send us a textLee and Simon go from jam donut focaccia to knitting mistakes, obscure theatre shows to random celebrity run-ins – just the regular midlifing drift.Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net. ---The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

Send us a textLee and Simon talk about high school reunions before Simon launches a broadside against Meta (and gets a little hot under the collar) and then they finish with a quick chat about pronoia. Things covered: Bob and Lee's 29th wedding anniversary, Simon's 40 year high school reunion, reminiscence bump, the consequential things that happen to us when we are young, who we are is context, Lee rodding a drain (in Lisbon), home repairs in another country, Lee still talking about drains, the minds of two men (from a listener), saying gidday to Pete, something about Meta and Instagram and the advertising model, Zuckerberg's Hot or Not, the cultural role in how the advertising model functions, the horror of Instagram's algorithm, pronoia (Fred Goldner), harder to imagine than paranoia, Simon has chocolate in the cupboard (and hasn't eaten it all), strawberries in Lisbon, having glutenous bread sold by a Coeliac. Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net. ---The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

Send us a textLee and Simon talk about a moral conundrum: whether we ought to follow the wishes of the dead or that we owe more to those who remain alive.  Things covered: video calls and the future, Blake and Jerusalem, Simon dancing in Dorset, Helen Poynor, transformative art, Jefrey infected by another dog (Lola), Lee practising looking up, Simon has a moral conundrum about following the wishes of the dead or taking care of the living, giving people the option, Simon's feeling about honouring the wishes of the dead, the emotional intelligence of Lee's dad (Norman), Lee's grandad was a wheelwright, not falling out over a wheelbarrow, sentimentality, being clear or not.Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net. ---The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

Send us a textLee and Simon talk about changing their minds about things that matter, and finding compassion.Things covered: scent update and the feeling of clean fresh skin, schoolboy French, 'believing' in climate change, scepticism without an object, anthropogenic climate change, changing your mind, perspectives changing through what we read (or not), Lee's binary nature, dancing the flick switch, changing in time, Lee's beliefs re trans bodies, Derrida (again), post-structuralism, gender performativity, fixed positions, allyship, we are human doings not human beings, being changed by theory, the extent to which education changes or transforms us, beliefs and facts, seatbelt use, cultural change through legislation, theoretical paradigms, overestimating the impact of the academy and conversations that spill out from the academy, Judith Butler and trans bodies, woke narratives, wokeness, not voicing disagreement, arguing doesn't change minds, finding compassion. Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net. ---The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

Send us a textLee and Simon discuss scent profiles and the ways bodies smell. Things covered: jam donut focaccia, waking up early, cli-fi (climate fiction), The Deluge by Stephen Markley, description of a suicide bomber's body (from the inside) at the moment of detonation, Simon's scent profile, delving into the olfactory, not showering often, bottom hygiene, Crocodile Dundeee and two dunnies, armpit sweating while emailing, clothes shopping, wedding anniversaries, tolerating Lee, Lee blending scents (again), getting a window replaced in a property built in 1540, Lee living in a boarded up house (I Am Legend), Lee has a little spritz, Simon not wanting to spend his money on scents, Lee's sensitivity to the malodorous, Lee speaking to the Board of Governors, GANs (General Adversarial Network), AI (and machine learning), and artists using AI, Lee is not a pizza and beer man, body odour, an unwashed person, pheromones and being turned off by how someone smells, sniffing Bob, Simon needs a shower, releasing scents on the equinox and the solstice, Lee is correct. Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net. ---The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

Send us a textLee and Simon discuss furniture and curated maximalism (obviously Lee does most of the talking here), and chronic pain.Things covered: the excitement of countdowns, Lee goes to a wine festival, how many Beatles are left, whether the Beatles voted or not, the trailer for Sinners, Hitchcock's "The Birds" (and its soundtrack), spring cleaning, Swedish death cleaning, various style magazines, curated maximalism, being judged when people come into your home, Lee running his hands along the walls because they are so smooth, Simon's boss is a hoarder, moving buildings at work, two half empty apartments, formica tables, Lee's new sofa, Lee being ashamed of his shallowness, Simon being aescetic, Lee running the world from his bed (like Trump), Trump's alleged golden showers, the sofa as the public facing comfort space, Antonio Citterio, the bigness of TVs, getting out of bed and back pain, putting your socks on while standing, 40 years of back 'stuff', getting used to chronic pain, rotation about the longitudinal axis, the word 'curation' makes Simon gip, Elle Decoration and Vogue.Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net. ---The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

Send us a textSimon and Lee talk about metaphors and the tragedy of how poetry is taught, before discussing three truisms from Anthony de Mello.Things covered: the bell is tolling, true words said in jest, many a slip between cup and lip, not understanding metaphors, being literal, not liking poetry while really liking poetry, the meaning of poetry, Kae Tempest, Lee having an ugly cry at the traffic lights, Simon sneezes, all the Latin Simon and Lee know, the sweetness of dying for your country, Wilfred Owen, nationalism and nation states, Lee recites Owen's "Dulce et Decorum Est", Siegfried Sassoon, the Reform party in the UK, Anthony de Mello's "Awareness", returning love for hate, including the excluded, admitting you are wrong, turning the other cheek (Jesus during Sermon on the Mount), Wikipedia and academic research, Lee definitely married up, the unfettered unfiltered version of Lee, the reason to continue podcasting. Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net. ---The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

Send us a textSimon and Lee talk about things they love.Things covered: back in Blighty, the nature of home, putting down roots, having multiple passports (Jason Bourne), freedivers, things we love, what Lee is wearing (again), being self-conscious (or not) about the things we wear, being policed and judged, tortilla covered sourdough, Lee loves perfume and smelling good, layering perfumes, clothes or scent, Dubai chocolate, cookie mix floor tiles, negronis, spending time with friends outside, being social, Simon loves stillness, Stansted Airport, a bus trip to Coventry, TikTok, three hours swiping, the absence of boredom and over-stimulation, Simon's yin phase, two different looks in two different countries, Coventry after dark. Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net. ---The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

Send us a textSimon and Lee discuss the way age starts not to manner (as we get older), the absurdity of reducing friction in our lives, and then have a quick conversation about Adolescence. Things covered: Buona Pasqua, Lee's raw early morning voice, the true reason for buying a house, Lee's Dad's 84th birthday, the cost of a pint of Guiness, the way age starts not to matter, eating only the inside of a cake, Lee's vowels, BBQ Norman, Lee's Mum's spreadsheet, buying a storage cupboard to lead a frictionless life, kitchens as a place of work, Sassari apartment update (more about the floors), other languages (and the limits of vocabulary), Adolescence, misogyny. Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net. ---The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

Send us a textSimon reports in (once again) from Sardegna while attempting to buy a kitchen and the question of consent raises its head again. Lee and Simon also discuss Simon's lack of sartorial elegance. Things covered: marble floors and empty walls, buying a kitchen, 3D models of kitchens, discounts, putting washing machines in kitchens, boring jobs, sharing news over a negroni, descriptions of spaces in another language, asking for consent in Portughese, another leak in Lee's roof, climate change being real, imagining things (and bodies) in spaces, big cultural shifts, fritelle, the beginning of the end, trying to remove marble from a wall, bumping into friends on the street, having one's arm squeezed by a stranger, not being very dapper in an Italian city, Lee being a little more handsy than he thinks he is (on a train), Winnie-the-Pooh (and wanting to be sure of you), Simon is not dapper and Lee tries to give him some sartorial advice. Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net. ---The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

Send us a textSimon reports in from Sardegna before Lee and he veer off into talking about what draws us to snake oil. Things covered: Getting the sound right while recording in a 'cathedral', flight delay, the mundanity of owning a place, Nodi networking function in Alghero, bumping back into Italian, experiences that are both concrete and abstract, dealing with uncertainty, meeting a life-coach, snake-oil, "l'aria fritta" (fried air), what draws us to people selling fried air, having one's buttons pushed over and over again, Sardegna drawing in a dreamcatcher vibe, homemade brick oven and making pizze, primal human experiences, cranio-sacral massages, gong showers (sound baths), golden showers, people talking (or not) about their kinks, piss play, more prevalent than us vanillas, lacking imagination (or perhaps theory of mind), Portishead, Beth Gibbons (singing Gorecki Symphony 3), how to be introduced into something we didn't use to like (e.g. yoga for Lee), the things we end up doing and believing, jam cocktail (listener feedback), unattributed quote from last week to George Saunders' commencement speech (in the links below).  --- Related links (and necessary corrections): Beth Gibbons singing Górecki's Symphony No. 3 (not number 5): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YlGYxCSDJUGeorge Saunders' commencement speech at Syracuse: https://genius.com/George-saunders-graduation-speech-at-syracuse-2013-annotated Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net. ---The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

Send us a textSimon and Lee don't talk about Adolescene (yet), spend way too long discussing Reacher (again), before discussing whether we become kinder with age. Things covered: Lee guesses Adolescence, finishing off the Reacher series (and just how bad it is), reading all the Reacher novels, trying to remember Duffy's name from Reacher, the Yankees and the Redsox, Stephen Tin Tin Duffy, founding member of Duran Duran (Lee reads out a bunch of stuff from wikipedia), not talking about Deliverance, becoming kinder with age (or not), a Rolodex, intransigence, Lee's parents getting kinder to Bob and the first time they met her, becoming more ourselves, being comfortable acknowledging our struggles, forgetting people's names, growing into ourselves, getting kinder to ourselves, watching people die, the sense of being connected and part of the human race, the desire to be happy. Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net. ---The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

Send us a textSimon and Lee talk about the relevance and irrelevance of age as precipitated by a Simple Minds song.  Things covered: Opening a can of beer, being taken out for lunch by a former PhD student, Noble Rot (Lambs Conduit, London), Reacher (the TV show), Anthony Michael Hall (The Breakfast Club), aging and looking aged, Lee and Andrew Child's 'In Too Deep', jumping the shark (again), The Chills, the Dunedin sound, Lee in Portugal again after a heavy pour, Finn and Sophie's visit to Coventry, Simple Minds' 'Don't You Forget About Me', having children versus not having children and the progression of time, not seeing people for a long time, cheque books, very short think pieces on TikTok, Gen X transitioning across so many different media types, Napster, Simon's upcoming visit to Italy, Negroni O'Clock, an empty apartment, a "preventino" or quote for renovation, getting a quote is different from a marriage proposal, Simon going to an online funeral (again) -- the death of his Aunt Adrienne Nolan (RIP).Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net. ---The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

Send us a textSimon almost got hit by a hearse and as a consequence Lee and Simon discuss the nature of stress.  Things covered: Taking risks on a bike, where humans feel stress, noticing being stressed, degrees of stress, the difference between stress and anxiety, Simon not having headaches, migraines, difference limens, Simon has a panic attack during an Italian lesson, shame and disappointment, Jefrey gives Australian and New Zealand cuisine an 8, Lee on a high with the Falmouth Postgraduate conference, Lee wears his home-knitted scarf, Lee's knitting tension is gorgeous, Lee exceeding expectations (more knitting stuff), becoming expert at things, managing self-expectations, Lee's urge to be liked (food related this time), scrapping out a jam jar, cows with names produce more milk, Lee knitting throughout the entire conversation, Lee going to high-level meetings, advertising for knitting, finding strategies for coping, Lee's first week out of Instagram and just how good it is. Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net. ---The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

Send us a textLee and Simon talk about things that bother them about themselves and learning to live with them. Things covered: Apple iCloud shared accounts and how shit they are, a ladybird backflip a la Jackie Chan, ladybugs, speaking all Northern, living in Lancaster, Blackpool, depressed British seaside towns, PIGS acronym (Portugal, Italy, Greece, Spain), Bob and Lee's ladybirds experience, finding out what ladybirds taste like, Torch Song Trilogy, the difference between hardware and software, knitting stick count in, Simon getting high on his own (bread) supply, Oliver Burkeman's Meditation for Mortals, learning to live with the the things that bother them, people pleasing, Totnes street folk singer who hates Lee, Lee sounding a bit more unhinged, chaos in the world of Bob and Lee (and singing a Christmas Carol), Bob and Lee teaching with Henry and William (their dogs at the time), performing "like me", pay them bitches no mind, self-absorption, Simon's clunking dogging him until he dies, Antipodeans going overseas to see the world (their big OE), risky humour in Turkey, the line between getting it right and getting it very wrong, squaring ourselves with ourselves, being aspirational, human beings recognising their shapes, saying goodbye. Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net. ---The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)