168: Funerals for Dead Podcasts

Well, to quote Edmund Hillary Tim, I knocked the bastard off. Really? Is that a direct quote? Are you sure? Yeah, I think when he first came down off Mount Everest and like, well, not off Mount Everest altogether, but got down to the first camp where his... colleagues were having done the summit with Tenzing. He said, I think it was George he was speaking to. He said, well, George, we knocked the bastard off to confirm he'd done it. He had a long time to plan those famous words.

A long way up and a long way down. And that's what he came up with. Well, there's not a lot of oxygen up there. You're probably not thinking too clearly. That's one long, tedious climb for a man. Well, look at Neil Armstrong. He had all that time as well and he mucked up his line. He did too, yeah. But I summited Ben Nevis, the UK's highest peak.

for my charity fundraising climb. So it's actually the second time I've climbed it, but I climbed it when I was a lot younger and fitter. This time I was not so young and fit. I was very ill prepared. And I'm going to be honest.

It was a bit of a struggle. I'm not surprised by that. Having looked up Ben Nevis now and seen... what a decent climate is like i know you've been talking about it and so in my mind i've kind of pictured something along the lines of the bluff in victor harbour here in south australia where tim and brady cave is but it's having looked it up it's that's a decent

a decent effort like i think you're a bit crazy to have tried that but i mean people who are fit and do hikes you know semi-regular yeah it's not difficult i mean i was in a group of 10 and most of them i would say

weren't massively challenged by it, but I was. How many hours? I mean, how long a climb is this? About seven. I think it was about four up and three down. And are you using your hands to climb or is it more like bushwalking? No, no, no. it more like bushwalking you never have to it's no technical climbing i use sticks and a lot of people use sticks to help out you know walking sticks but uh no it was never uh

You're never like, you know, pulling yourself up rocks or roping onto things or anything like that. You can just do it as a solid hike, but it's properly uphill. Before we get into the war stories, why is it called Ben Nevis? Like, who... Who was it named after? Do you know what? I didn't look that up. It's a Scottish thing. There's not a person called Ben Nevis.

Like, for example, the valley there is called Glen Nevis. So it's not named after a guy called Ben Nevis. Oh, is Ben like a Scottish name for hill or climb or something? I believe so. Look, I'm going to have to look it up now, aren't I? Ben Nevis, etymology. It's just like the Scottish to have some sort of, you know, let's cross this Richard and claim that Ben and, you know. Munro's, yeah.

There are all these different things, aren't there? Etymology. The name comes from the Gaelic bain noibus, meaning mountain of the nevis. Oh, okay. And I believe the nevis is the river that skirts the base of the mountain. the river's name itself is of unclear origin probably from the old gaelic nemus meaning venomous one so there you go there you go ben nevis 1,345 metres. 1,000. And so just for novices, like, am I right? Everest is 8,000, is that correct? Yes, 8,848. Right. So you've...

climbed one eighth of Mount Everest. So well done. Thank you. Is base camp at the real Mount Everest, which you've actually been to higher than 1000? Yes, it's about five and a half thousand. Oh, right. Okay. So you've done a lot. Way, way higher. This is a bit of a pathetic effort then, isn't it, man? I mean, what? Well, some may say, some may say.

But when you're a bit unfit, it was hard. But yeah, normally the weather's what kills you on Ben Nevis because it's really unpredictable Scottish weather. And it was predicted to be really terrible, like really windy.

really rainy i think the guide that was helping us was a bit worried at the start but we got quite lucky uh and there was no rain on the way up and a little bit of rain on the way down but it was fine so why did you why did you lead with that as the challenge like rather than saying I'm climbing Ben Nevis if climbing Ben Nevis is no big deal but the fact that it might be stormy is a big deal why don't you say hey folks I'm going out in bad weather

It just happens to be on Ben Nevis, but I'm going out in bad weather to fundraise. You don't know what the weather's going to be, do you, until the day? But, I mean... It's not insubstantial. You know, for hikers, regular hikers and climbers, it's okay. But, you know, I don't think you would enjoy it. No, I'm not doing it. Clearly not. No. So anyway.

Before I let you belittle it anymore, the reason I was doing it was for charity, Tim. It was for children and families dealing with muscular dystrophy. It's an incredible feat. Well done.

You knocked the bastard off. Well done. I did. And actually, Tim, let me tell you about something called a personal preference kit. This is something I borrowed from NASA and astronauts. It was particularly big in, you know, the days of Apollo where the astronauts were given like a small bag that they were allowed to put their own things in, their own personal items.

And it was like the stuff you wanted to take to space because weight is at such a premium when you go to space. They're pretty strict about what you can take. So the astronauts would be given a bag and it had to be itemized what was in it and weighed and things like that. Right. And the tradition around personal...

reference kits was always things like coins or medallions or stamps and things like that that you could then distribute later to people and say this went to space quite often it would be like quite a noble cause like you would

the people, like the staff who helped you go to space, you would give them a medal at the end and say, this is for you, Jack, because of all the work you did. And this was carried in Buzz Aldrin's personal preference kit. So this went to the moon and you got to have this item that went to space. Right, yeah, yeah. Later on. There were a few controversies around them because sometimes...

They could be used to enrich the astronaut. There was a controversy around Apollo 15, I think, where a bunch of stamps and covers and things were taken up and then they were sold. They turned up on eBay or something.

Right. Well, the equivalent of. But the idea was you would take things up. You could take something for your children, you know. Here's your little mini teddy bear and daddy took it to space for you and I put it in my personal preference kit. So, Tim, I took a personal preference kit. at Ben Nevis. Right. I took a little green bag in my backpack and I filled it with all sorts of lovely trinkets, including guitar plectrums from the Unmade Podcast, sofa shop pins.

all sorts of interesting little items that went to the top, and I am now selling or auctioning them depending on what they are, purely to raise money for Muscular Dystrophy UK. This is not to enrich myself. If you are interested in seeing what's left, they're selling like hotcakes, so you've got to get in quick. But if you want to see what might be left and buy something or bid on something, they come with little certificates of authenticity and all that sort of good stuff. I'll put some links.

down below i actually took a baseball up because i know americans have got this weird obsession with signed baseballs oh they do yeah not even necessarily signed by baseballs it could be signed by like a president or something yeah so when i got to the summit i actually signed and dated it at the summit I also added a flag up there and a couple of other little things. So these are all available.

for purchase or auction all proceeds muscular dystrophy uk go and check it out like similar to the astronauts these are available for purchase or bidding on The eBay of our day, which just happens to be eBay. Some of the unique items are on eBay, like the baseball, and some of the items that I took like 10 of, like the pins, I'm just selling them.

on my website. So you can check them out if you're interested. A lot of people already have purchased them. If you are one of them, thank you very much. If you are not interested and would just like to make a donation, I'll include a link for that. And if you're just not interested at all... That's fine too.

It would have been more impressive if you were selling them actually on Ben Nevis. Like, you got to the top and then walked up to people. You know how, like, those people, like, with those big coats and they just, like, open one up and there's, like, all these trinkets under their coat? Yeah. Hey, hey, you want some mun, man?

stuff here we go although i imagine the idea of owning something that's been to the summit of ben nevis would mean less to someone who is currently standing on the summit of ben nevis That's the one particular part of your target market. They're going to be less impressed. It's the only people on Earth that don't want something from Ben Nevis are the people you've carried all the stuff up there for. Magnificent. Oh, that's great.

I tell you what, there's a whole other conversation to be had about what you'd put in your little, what is it, personal pack? Personal... Personal preference kit. You're right. It is interesting. That is interesting. I think they still do them. I don't know if they're bigger now because they can take more weight. I'll put in a few requests. I know a couple of astronauts and got a few contacts. I'll see what I can find out what they take up these days. And you're right, good podcast idea.

What would you put in your personal preference kit? Like, is it as big as like a backpack? Is it that kind of carry-on luggage, really? Or is it tiny? I don't know what the situation is now. In the days of Apollo, definitely smaller than that. You're talking... About the size of a book, maybe. It's a cloth bag, maybe about the size of a paperback book, around that size. That's why they would always take small things like coins and stamps and stuff. Right.

Yeah. And there was like a weight limit and stuff like that, how much they were allowed to put in the bag. And so, you know, you had to ration it out and really think about it. Was there on your trip to Ben Nevis, was there a defining moment? Like, was there a moment of tipping? point mentally when you were almost at breaking capacity and decided to plough on or yes there were a few times i struggled but the first hour and a half to two hours

which was just a continuous uphill climb. I really like struggled. I really hit the wall. Like my legs were really weak. My cardio was struggling, but also I just felt this weakness in my legs. And I thought, and I was like, you know, I was... slower than everyone else I was with. And I was thinking I'm a bit of an anchor to the team here and I'm letting everyone down. And I thought maybe I should just stop.

But just before I'd done it, my wife had like put a message on my charity page saying, you're so determined and so full of grit. I know you're going to do it. I know you can make it. And then little Edward sent me a video message saying, you know, good luck, daddy. you know good luck making it to the top right daddy you've got to keep going so keep going daddy you can do it keep going i love you daddy and those two things just made me think i can't stop

I can't not do it after that. And the fact I had that kit in my bag was stuff I wanted to take to the summit to raise money. Yeah. And if I didn't go to the top, I felt like I couldn't really do it. So I also felt like I've got to get this stuff to the top. I've got to sign this baseball at the top. I've got to get up there. Otherwise, I'm letting down the charity as well. So those things really pushed me after that first hour and a half. And then my legs kind of came good.

You know, I still struggled a few times, but I was okay after that. Coming down, I always have problems coming down mountains. I had this problem both times I went to Mount Everest. Yeah. My knees really, really hurt. And like every step is like being stabbed in the knees. But that's just because I've got...

old bad knees right yeah so in your you were in a little group and you were like the one coming last is that right all the way up well near the back near the back there are a couple of us that were a Not quite as speedy as some of the others, but the group stops every, you know, 20, 30 minutes anyway for a drink and we re-bunch up. And there was a real camaraderie in the team. So it's not like people want to...

steam ahead and everyone's really encouraging everyone else. So, you know, we would stop every 20 minutes and regroup and those that were steaming ahead had to stop for longer and wait for the slow coaches to catch up. Right. And then we just, you know, then you just have a bite of a Mars bar and a drink. if you drink and press on. So we sort of did it together, ultimately. It's not like they were calling you Ball and Chain Brady or anything like that. Not to my face. Right. So...

Yeah. And we had like guides helping us and there's always a guide at the back. So that guide was always coming last anyway, because they need to make sure no one falls off the mountain. You know, I could have nice chats with the guy at the back if I wanted. Oh, okay, okay. He's to make sure you don't get picked off by wolves or something like that at the back, like on the way through. Yes, yes, yes. He or she. There were two guys and a lady helping us. Indeed, indeed.

Is there a base camp to Ben Nevis? Did you get to somewhere and go, well, I've been to the base camp and then let's camp here for the night and everyone's like, we've only been going for an hour. Well, there's a visitor centre and there's a lovely pub at the end as well where we went for drinks afterwards. That would have been your favourite part, really lovely Scottish pub selling beer. You would have liked that. I might go...

To the pub on Ben Nevis. Or is it the base of Ben Nevis? Is that right? It's sort of... Yeah, no climbing whatsoever. You could just go walk, get straight to that. Easy peasy. Oh, that's nice. Write in if you'd like to see me go for charity. To the pub. For charity. At the base of Ben Nevis. The Glen Nevis pub, I imagine it's called, because it's in the valley. That's my spot. How many beers can you drink in seven hours? Yeah. It's all for charity, man.

It's all for charity. Yep. It's for a good cause. Doing it for the kids. Doing it for the kids. Well done, man. Good effort. Well done. Thank you for indulging me, Tim, and everyone listening. And if you want to make any kind of contribution or bid or buy anything.

Tim, I'm sure, will allow me to put a link in the notes for this episode. Oh, of course. So you can check it out. Thank you very much. What's your next? Have you got something else, man? Another adventure? Do you know what? Coming down the mountain, coming down the mountain.

I said, whatever happens, make sure I don't do this again. Remember how bad you feel right now and do not do this again. And then when I was sitting in the pub like an hour later, I'd had a beer. I was just enjoying the success.

there with my new friends, I was like, I want to do another one. I want to do another one. Like I'd forgotten already, even though I couldn't walk for four days afterwards. I was like, I want to do another one. And there is an obvious contender because I've now been at Ben Nevis twice. That's the highest mountain in the UK and it's the highest mountain in Scotland. I've been up Mount Snowdon in Wales twice, which is also very high. Right.

And there are three peaks. There's a thing you can do called the three peak challenge. Some people try to do it in 24 hours, which is very difficult. But the third one in the trilogy is called Scarfell Pike, which is in England in the Lake District. And I've never been up Scarfell Pike. So I would like to go up Scarfell Pike so I can claim like the career Grand Slam. and claim to have done all three. The Lake District, isn't that like really notoriously flat? Like...

It's all lakes. No, no. Because normally you get lakes and valleys, and valleys implies some mountains. All right. So the Lake District is hilly or mountainous, and it has England's highest peak. So I would like, before my knees go completely... Yeah. I think I would like to do Scarfell Pike. I mean, it'd be nice to do Scarfell Pike twice so I can claim all three twice. Yeah, no, you can't just do it once. No, it'll be like a stone in your shoe annoying you. You just have to do it again.

There is that. But Roger Federer only won the French Open once. So, you know, in his career of slams. Yeah, but I reckon it bugs him. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So Scarfell Pike. I'd like to do Scarfell Pike. That's next on the list if my body holds out. And this time I'm going to prepare better because I paid for my lack of preparation on Ben Nevis. Maybe don't have so many beers on the way up this time.

There were no beers on the way up. Nice work. Really quickly, a couple of little bits of follow-up. I want to shout out Sarah in Wisconsin who... I listened to our previous episode with Matt Whitman. Matt told us about having his accordion signed by Weird Al Yankovic. Oh, yes, yes. Yes, and Sarah was listening to that episode and enjoyed that conversation. while driving in her car on her way to a Weird Al concert, which she thought was a lovely coincidence.

And I think so too. Oh, that's marvellous, yes. Weirdo Jankovic is still around? Is he a nostalgia act these days or is he still making new material? Interesting guy. People are probably good. I reckon a huge section of our audience will be looking up who is Weird Al Yankovic or would have done when they listened to the last episode. That didn't strike me until later, but...

He was massive at one stage. He's less massive now, although in America you can do quite well off being less massive for a long time because it's so vast. Yeah, I don't know. I assume he's making new material, but, yeah, he's not kind of the phenomenon he was. at his peak when he was parodying the likes of Michael Jackson and, and whatnot. But yeah. There was a biopic about him, I think a couple of years ago. So anyway, people can find that out for themselves.

And obviously we did that little sort of game show type thing with Matt where we did the, you know, how well do you know your wife and your co-host? And then Tim and I went to the request room. for patrons and we did the same game with our wives and each other. Yes. And can I just say the feedback to that has been fantastic. Everyone has really loved it. That's one of their favourite things they've heard us do in the request room. It's not too late. You can sign on to the...

You can sign on to Patreon anytime and go and listen to it retrospectively along with all the stuff we put in previous request rooms. Yeah, if you ever are thinking of signing up for Patreon to hear that stuff, this is a good time to do it because that episode has gone down really well. And thank you to everyone who listened. And thank you to our wives who were great sports and very funny in that episode. Did you listen to it at your end? I did. I did. Yeah, that was good.

Yeah, very good. I didn't listen to, I didn't get all the way to the end of it though. And then I heard later from someone, well, I hadn't got to the end of it when they told me the little mix you do at the end and I won't spoil it for folks.

of sounds and noises and things like that. So, yeah. A little compilation, yeah. I need to listen to the last little bit. Oh, you haven't heard that yet? No, I haven't. No, no, no. They keep mentioning it and others have talked about it too. So, yeah, that's cool. Don't let your wife hear that. She might not talk to me. me again indeed yeah then i had someone parody two people actually have have um imitated it to me so um yeah yeah anyway i look forward to hearing that but not showing it to her

I saw one piece of feedback where someone thought that your wife's voice sounded like your mum's voice. Well, we won't tell her that either. That's not... kind of feedback we want to be getting out there I have to say I'm not in agreement but other than the fact they have Australian accents I do think that my wife when she's speaking

formally, like in front of a group or answering questions from you, that kind of thing, when she's giving a considered answer, can adopt sort of a voice a little bit like the Queen? Like she's, well, hello, everybody. You know, she becomes quite formal. And I think that's because... Proper. Quite proper. Very proper and slow. She works with aged people, right? She's a chaplain as a minister with aged people. So she's forever...

you know, enunciating really, really clearly and speaking. And so when she speaks to everyone else, a little bit of that can come in. Yeah. And that would be a little moment of crossover with my mum who talks to everyone like they're a little child, right? So... There's something there, I guess, that people are probably latching on to. Anyway, she was a great sport and great fun. And everyone wants us to do a reverse version with our wives, which we will consider.

I may have to start my early work persuading her to do another episode for us.

That is a good idea. Yeah, that would be a lot of fun. Just a reminder also that the Glacial podcast, the One Word a Week podcast that I suggested a while back and I have been making since, is still running at unmade.fm. and i'll put a link down below so if you want to go and see where that's it i think we could be six or seven words into that podcast now so yeah things are really spicing up now uh

And you can sponsor an episode. Two people already have sponsored episodes. If there's something you want to sell or promote or just want to... want to hear something on there, you can do that too, which just brings in a few extra dollars to help cover the time of making it. I hope people are listening to it. I don't actually get stats on it, so I hope I'm not just doing it for myself now.

Check it out, people. It's almost at the end of one sentence then, surely. It must be coming close to the end of the first sentence. Yeah, yeah. And there are surprises ahead that I won't spoil. There is some planning going on here. It's a slow burn. It is definitely a slow burn. That is true. But yeah, check it out, people. Glacial podcast. It's the podcast equivalent of Brady walking up Ben Nevis. It's a slow burn.

It's not that slow. All right. Speaking of... Far out crazy ideas for a podcast. Let's get on with the normal show. Tim, are you bringing an idea for a podcast to today's episode? I am bringing an idea. And it's a very recent idea that has emerged. Look, this is an idea that it's really important that you like the context around this idea, which emerges from the host awaking from a nap.

driving to his office, buying an iced coffee on the way, and every now and then having the sound of a youth group going on in the background, because that's exactly what's going on at the moment. Okay. Okay. But there is something satisfying in the midst of this idea, which is called the three greatest naps ever. Right. I think this afternoon, like less than an hour ago, I have awoken from...

one of my top three greatest naps ever. Wow. Yeah. Really? I know. Why was it a top three nap? How does one get into that list? Well, there's a lot of things to do with it. a nap a good nap and i know you'll have a strong opinion about this but it's a bit about the vibe as you're going to sleep the sounds the feeling of warmth where you are how perfectly it is. There is also the length and that can be quite contentious because it can be too long, too short. You can be interrupted.

all these kinds of things, but just emerging from a nap with the lovely, perfect rhythm, but yet feeling a sense of being rested and yet ready for what's next. All of these, you know...

things collide together to make a perfect nap. Yeah. The one I had today, it's not going to be number one because it was a little bit too deep. Like, there was a sense by which I had to... draw myself back up to being alive again but then i remembered i've got a podcast and oh my goodness it's you know time to go and all the rest of it yeah and things have flown since there okay this is a podcast where people describe

the three greatest naps ever. It's been on, can I just say, this has been on my mind because I was given a book and maybe it's been influenced a little bit by having perused a little bit of a book. given to me by a friend called Saved by the Siesta. This is a book by Bryce. I'm going to say, which talks about the scientific benefits of napping, about cognitive performance. And, you know, there are those cultures in the world where they like work all morning then.

have a siesta and then everything shuts down and then they come back and they work a little bit more, but later into the evening and then they sleep. And there's... All these theories around, oh, that's the way we're supposed to be. That's the way life is supposed to be and all that sort of stuff. Yeah. So I'm a little bit influenced by that. I know you're a fan of napping. What do you think about this idea of the three greatest naps of all time? I would say.

I'm not a big napper or a fan of napping. I know I have a reputation for liking my sleep and that's true and I particularly like a sleep in. But I'm not a huge sleeper during the day. I'm not a napper, partly because I don't have the discipline to nap and it's kind of like I'm not really – if I say I'm going to go and sleep for half an hour, I'll end up sleeping for seven. So it's like – Oh, right.

It's a bit like naps are dangerous for me because they're the thin end of a sleepy wedge. Right. So I wouldn't say I'm a napping aficionado, but I do like a good nap without. any preparation or notice it's hard for me to particularly remember particular naps I sometimes like a nap like you know when you go to like a spa retreat type place and you and they have special big beds you can lie down in with nice big rugs in special quiet

relaxation rooms. I sometimes like a nice nap in one of those rooms where you just kind of sink away into nothingness. Sometimes a good nap can be associated with a strenuous activity beforehand and you have a little i remember i ran a half marathon and i just fell asleep on the floor uh next to the TV while we're eating pizza. And that was just like really satisfying and lovely because you kind of earned it and you were truly deeply exhausted. Did you have a nap?

After Ben Nevis, or was that more of like a big sleep? You really collapsed and crashed? No.

We went to the pub and then we went back to our hostel for a little while. And I think one or two of the guys may have slept for a few minutes in the bunk bed. But no, then we went out to a restaurant. So there was no nap. But then I was staying in a hostel and all the guys were like crammed into... a little tiny room together in bunk beds and we all went to sleep really quickly that night and everyone slept soundly but there was no napping

Right, right. There is a difference between a really satisfying sleep and a satisfying nap. Oh, yeah. No, no, no. Totally different thing. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, yeah. That's a different podcast idea. Totally, totally. That's next week. My best ever sleep. But yeah, I mean, I appreciate a good nap. And I like this idea. If we were really making it into a podcast, I see a bit of danger for lack of variety maybe. But...

I like talking about naps. Think back to your childhood. Where was an ideal nap? I mean, there's sort of the classic back of the car nap coming back from somewhere. The back of the car, the back of the car, going to Arnie, Deb and Uncle Don's house in the Adelaide. Adelaide Hills, driving back down the Adelaide Hills late at night, seeing Adelaide out on the plain below, the twinkling lights of Adelaide, falling asleep as we came down the hills as we drove through suburban Adelaide.

Dad pulling up the car, me waking up in the back seat, but wanting Dad to carry me into bed, so pretending that I'm still asleep so that Dad can carry me. Yes, yes. And hearing my mum say, he's awake, he's awake. wake me thinking no please no and then dad going no i'll carry him and me going yes yes can you carry me into bed

Ah, those were the best memories. Oh, that's nice, yes. I can relate. Because I was an only child in our household, I- had the whole back seat to myself so i used to love the laying down after we'd gone on a day trip to phillip island or something like that i'd lay down in our hq holden big big wide car and and be able to lay down which is not something i imagine you were able

to do because it was you and your sister that was cool even with the seat belt sort of twisted it well i'd sit in the middle so i'd twist the seat belt and you know it was still strictly on but i was laying horizontal

That was marvellous. Another memory that I loved, and I don't know if I would nap or not. I don't remember if I would fall asleep, but... um on really hot adelaide days our concrete driveway getting really really hot right on the border of whether or not you could lay on it or not because it was too hot and I would go like in the swimming pool to cool my body down and maybe bring the towel out to the driveway and then lay down on the hot driveway face down and just like...

Yeah, on a hot baking driveway on a hot day. Watching a little ant just scurry in front of you and you're just staring close up to that kind of little bit of concrete. That's awesome. Looking at some... Leaf that's fallen off a gum tree. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Love it. Love it. I'm a big fan of the post-church nap, I have to say. Like, I know many people are a favour of the during the church nap, which... which I'm not as big a fan of that one.

The post-church nap is pretty good. Because for me, obviously, Sunday is a big work day. So I get up really early. I mean, six o'clock and you sort of go, go, go. And then it's before church and then church. And then after there's people and lunch and all that kind of stuff. And I'll often, we do it, you know.

know you have a bit of lunch debriefing with my wife this that and the other and then generally towards the end of that I just start zoning out right and just lean on one hand and I'll have a sort of a sitting up you know, kind of nap in that moment. And if it's a nice brief one, then I'll just sort of, oh, there we go. That was great. And get on with the day as normal.

Sometimes, though, it's like a lay down. If I take my glasses off, Sue knows that it's going to be a proper nap. Statement of intent. The glasses come off and it's going to be a couple of hours, which then means. You know, everything's...

The whole schedule is like, clear the schedule, all that kind of stuff. And you wake up again. It's been a couple of hours. You're kind of all a bit weird and groggy. And then it's like, okay, I'm not going to sleep for a while. So it becomes almost like another work day into the night. Nice. Nice. Post-church nap.

It's a post-church nap, particularly with – we also used to do it – I was a very regular post-chicken-and-chips-at-mom-and-dad napper as well. So we'd finish a day's work. This is when my dad was still alive. You know, Syl and I would finish work or whatever, you know, come home, get the kids. Oh, we're going to mum and dad's night, get chicken and chips on the way, go there, eat it. You know, 6.30, 7, the news is on, we're all just sitting around and I'd just doze off.

And then wake up going, come on, we need to go home. The kids have to go to bed. And I would have like missed the whole kind of visit apart from the eating the chicken and chips bit. You know, when you're a kid, right? And your dad naps and you don't nap because you're like a kid and kids don't nap.

You go to bed at 7.30, yeah. And you would always marvel at your dad's ability to sleep, like on a sofa or while the TV was on or while the sun was up. You'd always think, how did dads nap? And obviously you then get to a stage in life. where you nap as an adult like you know you become your dad what is either the age or the milestone or the crossover point where you go from someone who doesn't nap to someone who does nap

What happens that, what changes or switches that makes you become a napper? I reckon it's around the age of 45. And I don't know, there's just something about carrying the weight of the world for long enough that you like. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I give up. I give up being awake. You're not going to do this. I'm going to have to do this. I'm going to have to do life in two shifts every 24 hours. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I can't.

Going to break this into manageable pieces. Being able to nap while the kid's TV program is on becomes a learned skill as well in that level of noise and toys and stuff like that. Just one day you're sitting there engaged in it and then you're like... Hey, I could be sleeping right now. That's a way to block all this out. You just sort of close your eyes and realise, wow, it's amazing.

I think I could nap with a jumbo jet taking off next to me now after having done that for several years. My three greatest naps. Coming soon to a podcast player near you. Do you think we'll get to a stage when we're... Recording the podcast that we'll actually pause halfway through for a nap. Well, the listeners wouldn't know. We could have done it just then. Well, that's true. We can edit it out.

I know most of them do it. When we were doing Moon of the Week, a lot of them would take a nap in that moment. That was kind of the purpose of the segment. Speaking of which, it's time for... Brady, I'm totally on brand today because I have chosen a spoon from the Hein collection from... A place called Katoomba, which is in the Blue Mountains near Sydney in New South Wales. And this is a beautiful spoon. It features a picture of what's known as the Three Sisters. Yes.

The three sisters are a kind of rock formation. This is the closest thing we have in Australia to like Mount Rushmore. It's not carved to look like anything. It's just three little peaks close together. And at the end of a sort of a cliff edifice kind of thing in the Blue Mountains, which are very, very beautiful. And they're on here, the three sisters. And so I thought that was very much on brand. Why is that? Why do you say that's on brand? Oh, because it's.

Up in the mountains, and you climbed Ben Nevis. So I was just sort of making that comparison, that's all. Can I tell you why I think it's on brand for you? Why? Because you've done a spoon from Katoomba about the three sisters before in episode 105.

Are you serious? Yeah, not this spoon. A different spoon from Katoomba of the Three Sisters. You know, I wondered that, but this comes out of my Tupperware, my we haven't used these spoons yet. So I know that we haven't done it, but it did ring a bell. Yeah, we have. haven't done we haven't done this spoon though your dad obviously had two katoomba three sisters spoons not a million miles dissimilar from each other but different but we've done it before but it's very on brand for you to uh

Not have remembered. Well, that's true. That's true. I think this is my mum. My mum is a fan of this kind of area and had visited it many times, so I think she's the one that's picked up these particular spoons. It is silver-plated, so... it's Silver and nice. It kind of needs to be buffed up. It's quite dull and all the rest, but it's a... Yeah, it needs a bit of love, that one. It needs a bit of love. But I tell you what, it's beautiful. It's got wonderful decoration. Elaborate, actually.

in its styling a beautiful simple spoon the only the only downside i think of the spoon is that um the the picture which is almost like a photo i think it is a photo or certainly a rendering that's very close to a photo has faded it's faded like The video covers in a video store that are near the window.

Remember those? Yeah, it's got that kind of blue. Yeah, that bluishness, which is appropriate because it's in the Blue Mountains. Have you been to the Three Sisters in the Blue Mountains? I'm not sure I've seen them. No, I have never been to the Three Sisters. I've been into the Blue Mountains in different...

parts of it but they're quite vast yep never been to that specific spot i'm reading from wikipedia here the three sisters were formed by land erosion around 200 million years ago so your dad probably saw it happen he probably was there at the beginning that's right Yeah, it was during the Triassic period when the sandstone bulk of the Blue Mountains was eroded over time by wind, rain and rivers. The commonly told legend of the Three Sisters is that the Three Sisters, Wimala, Meany...

and Gunadu lived in the Jamison Valley as members of the Katoomba tribe. They fell in love with three men from the neighbouring Nipin tribe, but marriage was forbidden by tribal law. The brothers were not happy to accept this law. so decided to capture the three sisters, a major tribal battle ensued and the sisters were turned to stone by an elder to protect them. But he was killed in the fighting and no one else could turn them back.

I think I've heard that before or read it somewhere. Yeah. It says here, though, the legend is commonly claimed to be an Indigenous Australian Dreamtime legend. However, the legend, as is commonly told, may be traced back to non-Indigenous. 16-year-old schoolgirl, Patricia Stone, who gave the formations their Indigenous names. Ah, there you go. I actually am going to Katoomba, believe it or not, in November. Wow, what for? I'm going to speak an event with some chaplains. At a gathering.

And I'm like the guest speaker person. So I literally, it was going to be in Brisbane. It's been moved to Katoomba or near Katoomba. I looked up the place and I went, oh, that's near Katoomba. I will go to this spot. I will surely go and see the Three Sisters. Do it. Make sure.

Maybe, you know, you're a pretty senior guy in the church these days. Maybe you could throw a prayer their way and be the one who releases these three sisters from their stony tomb. Maybe you could be the elder who has the power to overcome this. I'm not sure. Well, maybe, man, but I'm not sure the church has that level of authority in relation to Aboriginal Dreaming Time stories.

Oh, okay, right. It's not your jurisdiction. I'm not sure. If I did do it, I think I could get into a lot of trouble. Well, maybe you just leave him as is. This is the time of the podcast where we give out some prizes to Patreon supporters to reward them for...

their support for the podcast. I haven't been doing the marble runs lately because I'm in a bit of an office transition. They will be returning soon as the mechanism for awarding prizes. But for now, I've gone back to my computer algorithm. And we will be sending sofa shop pins to Maximilian in Germany and Joseph in Denver in the US. Max and Joseph, congratulations, yes. And we'll be sending...

Spoon of the Week collector cards to Anne from Berkeley, Anthony G from Atlanta, Alexander from Surrey, Samvir from Bristol, near me, and Jason from Madison, Wisconsin. Nice distribution there. Across the pond. Not bad. Not a lot of European winners this week. And no Canadians, interestingly. But a New Zealander. Yeah, some UK. No, there was no New Zealand. Oh, the original one, wasn't it Maximilian from... Yeah, Maximilian.

a million was in germany oh sorry i'm sad yeah yeah yeah uh so no no new zealand thank goodness because the postage although posting stuff to the u.s is getting really tricky and expensive now there's a whole bunch of new rules and Yeah, the postage is getting tricky. Anyway, that's not your problem, listeners. I'll get the stuff to you. Don't you worry. Thank you for supporting us on Patreon. Time for an idea from me. Have you got something? I have. I had...

Two or three ideas here. One of them I'd researched really well and I've got pages and pages of research. And I'm not going to do that idea now. I'm going to do another idea that I had at the last minute because that's what I do. Gosh. My idea is inspired by... my communications with Tim this week because, Tim, I'm aware just lately you have presided over maybe a little bit more than average number of funerals and funerals of people, you know, close to you and stuff.

It just got me thinking about funerals because I knew you were doing funerals. So my idea is based on funerals. And my idea is called Podcast Funerals. And I know what you're all thinking. You're thinking, oh, yeah, you're going to do people's funerals, but make them a podcast. That is not my idea. My idea, podcast funerals, is that as a podcast, each week you hold a funeral for a podcast.

That has ended. That has died. Because podcasts end all the time. They do. People are well aware I've been involved with podcasts in the past, some of which are no longer running. Yes. And I thought my podcast idea is... to hold funerals for podcasts that have died for one reason or another. And it would be a lot like a normal... You would have readings, maybe from the Bible, maybe from elsewhere, that are somehow related to that podcast. You would have people doing tributes to it.

You would have like a main eulogy delivered for the podcast. Yeah, right. You could maybe choose a couple of pieces of music that are somehow relevant to the podcast. So I would want it to be structured very much like a funeral, except the thing that has died is a podcast. A question springs to mind, would the people who hosted the podcast be involved? Because obviously...

Most of the time they haven't died themselves. No. So there is that option. Yes. I quite like the idea of not involving them, like treating them always a bit like as being absent. I think that's kind of funnier, but that's my idea.

podcast funerals tim as somewhat of an expert on funerals what do you think of my idea

Oh, I think this is a marvellous idea. I think that's great. I think one of the disappointing things about podcasts is that many people, it seems like everyone's starting a podcast at some stage, and not a lot of them... last or find the sort of momentum and so they end and even those that have been big and massive like one day you know the rest is history some of those really big podcasts will come to an end and they'll have

I guess, a final episode, but often the last episode would have been the final episode and maybe they don't get a send-off and a funeral is a wonderful idea. I think it's almost... Cathartic for the listeners. Often this will happen on a radio show. If a radio show is finished and people will come back and there's a big celebration.

Oh, yeah, like a reunion episode or something. Yeah, yeah, you know, that kind of thing. And people get emotional because they have a real connection. Brilliant idea. Good fun idea. I love it. Yes. Do you think you'd have to be involved in it? Or like... Is this a podcast where every episode is a different funeral for another podcast? Or are you saying that you actually make it and it's released in the stream of that particular podcast? Like it's a service that's provided?

Oh, that's an interesting idea. I mean, in my head, it was its own podcast and each week you did a different funeral. But you could also say to the makers of that podcast, look, we've made a funeral for your podcast. You can also have a copy of this episode and pop it in your own feed if you want. I hadn't thought of that. Yep, yep. That wasn't my idea.

I guess I hadn't really thought about cooperation or permission of the podcast whose funeral you're running. I haven't really thought that through. Is it something you're just doing as an external tribute without them even knowing?

Because that's not what happens in real life. Like, we don't just host funerals for people that we hear may have died. Yeah, that's normally because you need the body. That's right. The family actually has to come and invite you to do it. You can't just sort of do it off your own bat. Yeah. You can't have rival funerals happening around town for someone who's passed away.

No. Trying to draw people over. Yeah, which funeral are you going to go to? So there's a bit to think about. But, I mean, obviously it could be more of a tribute to podcasts that have ended. But I like the... I like the structure of a funeral. I think it's a fun, well, fun's an interesting word to use, but I think it's a fascinating structure to use each week to commemorate the podcast that you are commemorating the end of. Are there any particular parts of funerals, Tim, that you think?

could be fun or well adapted to podcasts, like to commemorating a podcast? Yeah, well, a funeral does have like an arc to it. It does have a certain amount of features. In one sense, a bit like a wedding, there's no... hard and fast rules about what you do but there there is the traditional you know kind of right a wedding's a little bit more set there are a few things you have to do legally um you know such as the vows and all that kind of stuff but a funeral

It can be anything at all, but there's just, you know, obviously there's a welcome and then there's often a reading and then there's a homily and then there's a eulogy in the midst of it and then there's a committal and a farewell and all these sorts of things that happen. And they could all, I like the idea of them all being utilised and used.

Like with their traditional names, but for a podcast. That's what I think would really make this idea unique. And somehow podcast them up a bit and maybe change some of the wording. Like instead of like ashes to ashes, dust to dust, you do something like, you know. microphones to headphones, bits to bits or something, I don't know. You could create a few of your own little new traditions and new traditional phraseology.

Yeah, I'd like the idea of finding readings. It'd be fun to find Bible readings or religious text readings that relate to the podcast. That would be an interesting challenge. Yes, that's right. Yeah, that's good. I also like the idea of... kind of the podcast tradition of maybe like at really inappropriate times really like solemn and special moments where people are really like reflecting

on the content, like chucking in like an ad for Squarespace or something. That would seem very apt as well. Funeral directors are obviously, you know, businesses, right? And so there you don't think of a funeral director.

advertising at a funeral like you don't go to a funeral and think about the fact that someone's advertising but of course their name's plastered on everything you know the tissues and the water bottle and the car outside and the sign and the thing like of course it's their show that's their job that's their business and of course

course they're hoping to get more customers um into the future i'm not saying that they're hoping people die i'm saying that you know what i mean that people have them in mind when the moment comes that they need to organize a funeral so

They are kind of advertising themselves all the way through. It's a really interesting business. I'm really quite fascinated by it in another life. I might have been involved in it. I like the idea as well of encouraging listeners to... grab a token or do something that they normally would do so when they listen to that podcast so if you always listen to this podcast in the car going to work then perhaps you know you go and listen to this episode in the car go and get in the car go and

drive the way you would normally drive and so there's this sense of you you know entering into doing something you would normally do if you always did over lunch then make sure you do this episode over lunch and like pick a charity that you think is appropriate for that podcast

somehow and say, instead of flowers, please send a donation to this charity. Yeah, that's a good idea. Although I do like the idea of sending the hosts flowers as well, though, like getting a wreath turning up at the door because they're podcasts. Maybe that's what we could do. Like the podcast, the funeral podcast could actually send a wreath as like your podcast has been honoured by, you know, the funeral. What are you calling it, man?

Funeral podcast? What are you calling it? No, I called it podcast funerals because that's the other way. That's kind of the right way around, isn't it? But I'd come up with a better name than that. I don't know what it would be. The Departed or something. Yeah. Yeah. Rest in pod or something. Yeah, that's right. RIP. I don't know, but yeah. Yeah, nice. Yeah. But you could, you know, whenever we do one, then the final conclusion bit is that we send a wreath off to...

somewhere, you know, tangibly to honour that. Or there's an online wreath or something like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Where a little wreath appears in the corner of their podcast from now on, you know, noting that it has been...

Buried. Or if you really were getting serious about it, you could own a little cemetery somewhere and you have little plots and you would put a little thing in the ground each time one's, you know, each time one's laid to rest and it's like a physical place people could go. Like the podcast cemetery. That's true. You certainly could have a virtual one of those, for sure. A virtual cemetery. Yeah, that would look cool.

This has legs, I reckon. This is interesting. Okay. Unlike you on Mount Nevis, this has legs. Yeah. Good idea. Thank you. Thank you very much. podcast funerals i like the idea of a cup of tea or something afterwards as well i'm ready for all the comments by the way Go ahead, people. I'm ready for them. Oh, okay. Yeah, right. You've got a whole bunch of people there ready to... Yeah, yeah. Yeah. A lot of Tims. Is that right, Tims? Yes. Bring it on. Bring it on. I'm ready.

Tim and I are now going to go to the request room. We've got lots of cool requests. A couple of games people have asked us to play that are quite interesting. And we might give them a try. So go to our Patreon. There'll be links below. Patreon.com slash Unmade FM. And remember, if you become a... patron now not only do you get to listen to today's request room you can listen to all the ones that came before including that cracking episode uh a week or two ago with our wives so

Now's the time, people. And you support us. You support Tim and I and it lets us make more episodes and it is really important. It is important and we really appreciate it. So, yeah, come on over and join us in the request room. Let's do it. Let's go now, Tim. We always get to this bit and I go to do something and I go, oh no, it's just more recording, isn't it?