#19 | Growing out of drugs | this one thing will happen to all of you!

00:00:00:00 – 00:00:24:10
Hello and welcome to Lads anonymous. It's episode 19, a podcast where two best mates of over 20 years invite you to join their safe space, where all manner of subjects will be discussed. We'll focus on a specific subject matter first and then answer your questions, dilemmas or need for advice. All handled anonymously. So sit back, relax and enjoy the podcast.

00:00:24:12 – 00:00:50:05
Flav. Yeah. Do you have a towel regime at your house? A towel regime? So, like, when I get out the shower, there's. I grab my towel. Right. Dry myself off, pat myself down, put it back on the radiator to use it. To use it for the next day. Yeah. So to the Tuesdays. Only two days of daylight for.

00:00:50:06 – 00:01:10:09
Yeah, yeah. There have been occasions where I've probably been lighting a third, but then. Right, right. Yes. Are you, would you change your towels each time or what? I'm the same. Oh, hang it up for a couple of days and then. Yeah, then it goes in the washing machine. I tell you, I know where this is going, Ricky, because I live with two women.

00:01:10:11 – 00:01:31:01
I know exactly where this is going. What fucking happens in our house, mate? Is we will have towels. They'll go through the wash, and then after about six days, all the towels will be gone. There'll be none in the airing cupboard. Nothing. You know, wherever they would all be. And my daughter's clothes room? Yeah, in a wet mound.

00:01:31:03 – 00:01:57:21
Yeah. There's been a few times I've had to go into the girls room and fish out wet towels that that were just collected in a bottle, and you scream as you're doing it even. No, I just because I've tried that, I just huff and use my sunglasses as I'm walking across the land and stomping around. But my missus as well, she when she hangs up her wet towels, she just scrunches it in a ball on the towel rail on in a bowl on top of the towels.

00:01:58:00 – 00:02:16:20
Yeah. Fucking mental. She. Where is she? What are you doing? Where is she? She works. Is that what you call her? When I call her, I will call her sick. Are you sure she's the one? Yeah, I know, you know. I've actually been thinking about that. Maybe she's not the one I know. Yeah, I just don't know. I love her, you know that.

00:02:16:20 – 00:02:34:02
I always loved that, but I just. I know the two. I don't know, she's the one. I think you need to start thinking about whether or not this is long term for you. Yeah. Me too. I don't I'm not sure whether it's probably going to go the full distance. Yeah. I look, you know, if you choose to leave her, I will support you.

00:02:34:04 – 00:03:16:16
Thank you. Yeah, sure. Like, after 25 years, you're having this revelation. Yeah. Scrunching up is definitely, definitely cause to end the relationship for sure. Yeah. How is it ever going to dry out? It's a ridiculous dude. Like, if you're in a pair of jeans you wear more than once, once or twice. There's this. There's differences to this. So I do if I travel to London and I've been on the undergrounds and I've been on trains and I come back like public, public transport and sitting around and in the, the festive, not festive, fetid and fetid of, London and then they'll have to get washed or maybe or maybe even on my way home.

00:03:16:16 – 00:03:38:24
I'll take them off. Yeah, I just burn them down the back of a toilet system. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And I'll just walk through wool and wear with my trainers, socks and boxer shorts. I'm fully dressed. Top half. Let me ask people out there because people don't generally recoil when I say this. But if you buy, if you spend money on quality denim, you shouldn't put it through the washing machine as regularly as you would a pair of tracksuit bottoms.

00:03:39:01 – 00:03:55:11
It ruins. So? So what's the question? How often? So do you wash your jeans? I do, I went into a shop in bath because I was looking at a pair of Edwin jeans. I'd been. I think I'd been jeans or a Ford. They're expensive, but they're affordable and they're quality. Right. So you might. I've never heard of them.

00:03:55:16 – 00:04:17:16
They're Japanese. So the you might spend £150 on them, but they do. Yeah I know, I know it's expensive for a pair of jeans but they do not, you know, like Topman is buying. Everyone is a go. Topman £30 stretch jeans might still still there. Still there is top man in H&M, right? Right. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. How long, how long they last year before the knees start going.

00:04:17:16 – 00:04:37:11
Maybe a year. The gusset goes ballocks hanging out. Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah yeah. Edwin jeans. That will never happen in their entire lifetime. So. So for you buying 4 or 5 pairs of H&M jeans, if you buy a pair of Edwin's, then that you'll have them for 30 years if you if as long as they fit you. Anyway, I went in there and I was like, what do you do in a washing?

00:04:37:11 – 00:04:54:18
Because like when I find, I find that when I put them back after the wash, they just don't feel the same. And he says, and you got to wear into the denim. He says, I never wash them once. And what? Never. You've never washed them. The shit do they start to smell? Weirdly? The denim doesn't smell too bad, but they do.

00:04:54:18 – 00:05:14:18
After a while it does, you know, especially if you're having a piddle and, you know, some of the some left in the chamber, all those things. Yeah, yeah. Is and what you got to do is you put it in a freezer, you wrap, you put it in a bag and you put your, your jeans in the freezer, leave them overnight or a couple of days and they come out not because you put them in a bag.

00:05:14:18 – 00:05:35:07
They're not rigid, but that removes the smell. And other than that, you just wipe them down. I was like, I'm not sure about that, mate. But yeah, a couple of days. I wonder what people's. That's that's true. That is true. They one of the, tips they tell you if you have smelly trainers to take the soles out and put them in the freezer, really put them in the freezer.

00:05:35:09 – 00:05:58:12
It's the, the bacteria in the, in the soul that is frozen to fat, deteriorating and smelling the bacteria. When you put it in the freezer, it kills it. All right. So I'll explain this to my wife. She doesn't care. She just takes the jeans and washes them. I want to talk about pet parenting. I want to talk about parenting.

00:05:58:14 – 00:06:25:22
We will not today. Not today. We're going to go to. I'll tell you what. Well, today we are going to be talking about growing out of drugs and which which is inclusive of cigarets, vapes, alcohol or any kind of other kind of addictive thing and how it makes you feel. Afterwards or you've lost your, your love and relationship for.

00:06:26:02 – 00:06:45:15
But before we do that, I just like to say we're recording very bloody early this week because I'm going on a stag day. So last week pod is is only just about what I did. You, you see that little, you know. Yeah, I did, I did it for the white thing that fell out the sky. Yeah. By the way, people.

00:06:45:15 – 00:07:04:03
Right. When we do a podcast about our fear of flying, we have a genuine fear. So anything that happens in the sky with paint, you don't need to tag us. We'll see it. We'll know about it. You don't need to DMs and, you know, at us on Instagram or Twitter or whatever. It's all right. I'll see it.

00:07:04:05 – 00:07:21:16
Just not my inbox has been full of it. All right? And and I know you didn't know at the time, but I'm, like, flying in two days time. So I knew that. Yeah. And I yeah, that's why I bring it up again. Really. It's just flying tomorrow and you I am flying tomorrow at 5:30. So when people hear this right.

00:07:21:18 – 00:07:47:00
Yeah. Hopefully by the time they hear this I would have flown to the stag do. Had four days in Portugal and flown back. And I would be here ready for when this comes. Oh, you're dead at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, one or the other. Yeah, well, one of the other one or the other. And if that happens, if the latter happens, make sure this goes to number one in the podcast charts.

00:07:47:00 – 00:08:12:00
All of them. Apple, Spotify, please. I'd have to find someone else to do with. I think you could do it solo. But anyway, well, tell us about what. So the conspiracy theory, Flav and I spoke about, we spoke about three Covid, Illuminati. And what was the other one was Covid. Was it? We talked a bit about 911.

00:08:12:00 – 00:08:41:14
We talked a bit about, false flag, flat Earth, flat Earth. That's it. So, we we spoke about those three now, because it's fresh out still, we've had a few replies on it. People were surprised that we didn't bring up the moon landings in great depth. Princess Diana, there's a couple of others. Bearing in mind we try to record this podcast in an hour.

00:08:41:20 – 00:09:07:21
We know it goes to an hour 15, 20 because we chat like, you know, I just but I just want to say, yeah, that if people were interested that we did pick a specific conspiracy theory in the future and we focus solely on at the polls. No. Yeah. We could we can do that. We can do that. Just, just, just quickly, because I spoke to my Mrs..

00:09:07:23 – 00:09:29:24
And I because she loves conspiracy theories and believes a lot. Yeah. She was like, what was, 911 was the inside job. Yes. She believes it is. Yeah. Covid is it was it sort of there's a lot of misinformation around Covid. She believes there was. Yeah. Tray, flat earth. Did you believe in action? Not as fucking stupid.

00:09:30:01 – 00:09:48:17
Yeah. Moon landing. We didn't believe me. I don't believe the moon landing. I don't believe I don't believe it, and I'm. I'm really quite, got strong opinions on it, and then I didn't really get that opportunity to go into it. So I say, yeah, if if someone wants to bring that up again, we will certainly do a podcast on that.

00:09:48:17 – 00:10:15:11
Now, we received a tweet. My wife looks after a boy aged ten, whose father, an educated man, is a flat earther, about. The boy has told my wife that the army stopped people at the edge. In addition, his father claims to have been to the end of the rainbow. He believes this too. For fuck's sake, man, that's scary.

00:10:15:11 – 00:10:37:19
So that is so. He should he they should they. People who believe this have kids? No. I mean, like, because the Army is stopping them at the age of the kids to get bullied because of his dad. They just got a mega fighting dog. Go back round, but round I back round, back round the. You know, the way you came.

00:10:37:21 – 00:11:01:08
Go back that way. So if you fly in one direction, you reach the same spot. So how can there be flat? Because sneakily you've taken a UAV somewhere. They don't tell you where it is. It's so much safer. Pilots are in. Yeah, there's so much sea that you just disorientated. So you just. Yeah, they just do a little loop and they trick you.

00:11:01:08 – 00:11:19:23
But even that even though like the moon landing, I don't think that's a moon moon landing happened. I don't care that they did it, that they faked it. It doesn't it doesn't like I'm not like. Right. Those fuckers. Right. What else are they lying about? I just assume they're lying about everything. So just crack on. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:11:19:23 – 00:11:47:05
Pretty much. I would like them to come out and just be surprised, okay? We didn't really do it. We didn't really do. It's just a 50 year old bannaja. Yeah. Cool. However long they fucking idiot what we did, it. Moon shack, you gave us the, We like little you cheeky little scams because, you know, I knew, somehow I don't feel like we know, but,

00:11:47:07 – 00:12:12:07
Yeah, just, I think that that they'll keep on to that one until they die. Now, we had a voice note sent in, and this wasn't about the previous podcast, actually, it's a podcast we just mentioned, Fear of Flying. And this gentleman was having a discussion with his pal who said he has a fear of flying and he shared this podcast with that person.

00:12:12:09 – 00:12:38:23
And the person said, I don't have a fear of flying. I have a fear of boats. So you're going to listen to the podcast, to the audio. Now. Hey, yo, Ricky, love, there's a map on for you. So I shared the pod with a lot of work. Ollie came up to me today, so they just finished listening to the Fear of Flying episode, and we had a bit of a debate because I'm also terrified of flying.

00:12:39:00 – 00:13:01:06
It's the, for me, it's the not. I feel like I can feel like there's nothing under the floor like night when you walk over a bridge anywhere. He says, no, no, no, no, no, but so scary. So I was like, what do you mean? How can boats be scarier? Anyway, he told me a story about when he went on a cruise when he was in high school.

00:13:01:08 – 00:13:21:13
He says he went for a swim and the pool was on the deck anyway, climbed out to get on the diving board and dive into the pool anyway as he dived in, the hole below hits a wave, sending all the water in the pool to one side of the pool. He hits the bottom without any water being their face.

00:13:21:13 – 00:13:43:18
Plants sadly shattered, most of his teeth, knocked him unconscious, and then the water went back over him and he just let that at the bottom of the pool, toothless, unconscious and out to be drugged out and resuscitated. And, yeah, that was a new fear, for me. But yeah, crazy, crazy crazy. I'm not laughing. Ain't funny, but fucking how unlucky you got to be.

00:13:43:20 – 00:14:02:23
Mate. But I heard that I was like, new fear of boats unlocked. Yeah, that's that. May I get a dog? Scared? I wouldn't be scared of a freak accident like that. But being out in the middle of an ocean, on top of a vessel that can fail, it's not fun. You people buy fortunes, right? My missus wants to do it.

00:14:03:00 – 00:14:27:10
I Mrs.. Was it? But that's just to return from a ten day cruise in Norway. And, that one, if you can just come back from Norway. Yeah. You spent ten days, as you say. I'm just waiting. Yeah, yeah, I really should do that. Then give it some a drink. I'm not, you know, some guy just did that, and that stinks on TikTok.

00:14:27:10 – 00:14:47:15
Yeah, that's when they do, montages with mad fucking boats at sea. And it's not really rocking from the still it. Yeah. The North Seas the worst. One of the worst ones I know, isn't it. Yeah. That's just that's only like fuckin 500 miles from where we're sitting right now. Why? They're naughty out there. And it's where all the oil rigs are, mate.

00:14:47:20 – 00:15:09:20
Working. No, no, no. If anyone listening to this is somehow connected, someone who works in an oil rig. Yes, there is, there is. And they emailed in and I was desperate to read their story that they sent in. But as we just get so much stuff that sent in, I just missed out on the pod. It seemed like it was about it was about fear of flying.

00:15:09:22 – 00:15:30:15
And he has to get a helicopter to work. Oh fuck. So he's on one of the oil rigs. So they fly him and they fly him back. And in bad weather he was saying about this time in bad weather where you can hear the wind banging against the blades and you dip in and stuff, and normally he's okay, but he's looking around the apron at his face.

00:15:30:17 – 00:15:47:02
It's colleagues at work and they saw Rick and he was just like, where we are not okay. We are not okay with it. And the helicopter was blown off course way off course. And you can see where it's supposed to go and where it was blown off. They made it. He's back on the oil rig. Oh, yeah.

00:15:47:06 – 00:16:02:02
It's splashing around in oil again, so. Well, so you said not only do you have to go through that process, you then have to live on a fucking oil rig. Fuck that. I'm glad they they deserve every penny they get because I know they were really well paid, but I reckon we are fortunate. What an idea for us, Rick.

00:16:02:04 – 00:16:23:16
We interview people at the mental jobs as a little bonus pod to lads and on. Oh shit. Yeah, we interview. We could interview Ben, the pilot. He was talking about someone who was vaping in his toilet. The other day and itself to listen to the master alarm in the airplane. I think that means everyone is his fucking alarm.

00:16:23:18 – 00:16:44:04
Me me me me. Imagine not me, man. 37,000ft up. Me me. No, no, I don't want to do this now. Not that one. Good enough to do a little smoke in the toilets. See if you can set off the master alarms when you get a flight. All right. Fuck that. I, by the way, everyone Instagram, everyone taking their.

00:16:44:04 – 00:17:04:18
For everyone taking a screenshot of them listening to the lads anonymous posting it on to their story, asking lads anonymous to show us where you are and when you listen to me. We absolutely love it. But word of warning, right? The people that are taking screenshots and sending it into our DMs for us to post, that's not how it works.

00:17:04:20 – 00:17:25:17
That is not how it works. You post it on your story, you at us, and then we reshare your story and put it on our grid. That way all your mates get to see that you listen to lads anonymous. And when you're on our story, everyone that follows us gets to see your pretty face. Yeah. So the deal is the deal.

00:17:25:17 – 00:17:55:19
And we all shake hands and we all love each other. So keep on doing that. We love seeing you from all around the world. Thank you very much. Now today's topic is growing out of drugs. And your mum was a smash. Gary Barlow. I don't know, actually. I met a girl the other day. Yesterday and she said, Now at Ron, he's the hottest one out.

00:17:55:19 – 00:18:23:24
Take that. All the women want to smash Gary Barlow. My I remember being at school. Maybe. We would have been 1314 when take that split up. Maybe 15, 13 to 15. Somewhere around there, a girl in our class was hysterically crying at at Take That breaking up, and we all laughed at her dearly. For company that do you know who that girl is?

00:18:24:01 – 00:18:45:15
It should have been the girl. That's the girl I've been with for 25 years. My life. I was going to say you should have beat her up. Yeah, I know, I think I did. Tried to. Yeah, but, you know, she loved them. It really up less, 100%. Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Margarine was course. So the old saying to us sports Spice Girls, right.

00:18:45:17 – 00:19:06:13
Yeah. Spice girls, would you, would you not want to to Emma Bunton. Oh I am a bun bun. And baby you say she's so bloody plain. Oh I love it. And also apparently a family like Tottenham. Oh really? I don't know when you know what they do. Back in the day like for them and stuff like that.

00:19:06:13 – 00:19:27:16
And they were all my kids but it wasn't a Tottenham kit. Yeah. You're talking about I remember that, you know, you know the people that are listening to this, if you're under 40 you won't know what maxim what for? Yeah. What what loaded. You felt even bit dodgy by a loaded. That's nuts, you know, but nothing to do with something else.

00:19:27:16 – 00:19:45:04
They came later. That was the lad culture. Yeah, because that was like, perfect. That was like, you're going to see tits in nuts. More or less. Yeah, it guaranteed benefits. You weren't always guaranteed. So it was always a bit of a lottery. Is this going to be a good month? But man yeah knock him one out. So far Jim was a wreck down a wrecks.

00:19:45:06 – 00:20:04:11
Yeah. But Emma, do you remember the video when when she seemed to become one of Martin. Yeah. Yeah yeah yeah. And I'm I'm. Oh. You doing. What do you mean by that? I know exactly what you mean to say, though.

00:20:04:13 – 00:20:28:15
Yeah, she was, She was she was my top tier. She, Yeah, she would go back into, grinder of drugs. Yeah. Quickly, but yes, but I, I used to like, I like, I like posh and, Mel Bay as well. Posh and Mel B yeah, I liked it, but yeah, Mel B, do you remember that you could see their nipples in the, in the video, you know, you know.

00:20:28:15 – 00:20:54:04
Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, yeah. I love that. So go on subjects. Go on. Let's get into it yet. All right. Okay. Today's subject. I'm trying. I'm trying to. But you keep pulling me back towards the, the oil rigs, the danger. I'm trying to coast out to the straight and narrow. Perfect. So before we go into this growing out of drugs episode, I don't want to glorify drugs.

00:20:54:06 – 00:21:23:21
And, you know, just celebrate them, I thought. Yeah, is a part of society. It has been a part of growing up. Yeah. And like between 20s and 30s, it was a huge part of our lives. So and the, you know, I don't know how I can help, you know, we talk about it. We will look about it of those days fondly.

00:21:23:21 – 00:21:48:00
Yeah. I can hope not. Because of the emotion and us being together and anybody else in that bubble at that time. It was amazing. But it's not that we are saying do so as we did. I've got to no, no, no one's going to glorify it. And and then in this moment, I look back at some of the stuff I've said about drugs in the past with regret.

00:21:48:00 – 00:22:21:24
And actually, I cringe at some of the things that I've said about drugs in the past. And there is nothing as a prefix to this conversation. Fundamentally, there is nothing positive really, that can be can be taken from going out and getting smashed on on drugs. It was great fun at the time. But drugs, fundamentally, I truly believe this whole you have a damaging impact on people and they have had on me and is part of the reason why I don't do as much as I used to.

00:22:22:01 – 00:22:52:20
Yeah. All true. All right. So that's the preface. Yeah. So double drop shows like for the first time, did it just double drop in another Jake Jake in it again. Let's go back to what you just said. Right. So your relationship with the drugs. Yeah. What is it like now as a 42 year old geezer in comparison to when you were, younger?

00:22:52:22 – 00:22:56:18
I'm in complete control of it now. That sounds.

00:22:56:20 – 00:23:23:17
That sounds like someone in denial. But it isn't the in terms of, like, I would say I'm not in control of drinking. I need a drink much more than I should. And I enjoy alcohol way too much. But in terms of gear, which is which is probably the sort of the center of everything, like cocaine, like I, I don't think unless it's special occasions, I'll never I don't think about it when I'm having a beer.

00:23:23:19 – 00:23:40:24
Whereas back in those days, couple of sips and I'm like, let's get it in. Yeah, let's get it in. And don't get me wrong, in the right circumstances now, it's still absolutely partaken. I did when when we went to Amsterdam, found what I think might be the strongest cocaine I've ever taken in my life. So much so.

00:23:40:24 – 00:24:07:09
And this is how we've developed with age. Rick. Yeah. Is that we agreed you wasn't there. I said not we, me and you. But we, the people that were there. We agreed to throw the cocaine away. Oh, that's that's this big step for you as well I think so. And it was like, so some people are bad, but the bad influence, right, when you know you're with some people, you know, there's going to be we're going to get involved.

00:24:07:11 – 00:24:26:06
Yeah. But this was we made an executive decision like we're flying the next day. We had some traveling to do. It was getting late. Shall we chuck the drugs away? And he said, I really don't want to and I'm not I don't want to. It goes against every fiber of my being. This is what we've grown up doing.

00:24:26:08 – 00:24:50:07
If you had great cocaine, you don't chuck it, flush it down the toilet. No, we did because we knew we we had to be responsible the next day. Wow. I mean, that's when you know, that's when, you know, the, it was way too strong. That chemistry is ridiculous. You can get too much. You can speak, you know, you know, no pub grub.

00:24:50:07 – 00:25:08:16
Then. No, I mean, look for people that don't know in England, you you get shit in the pub or whatever, right? Typical stuff you might pick up is cut with all kinds of stuff because dealers want to make profits of this stuff. This is the strongest gear I've ever taken in my life. Jesus. And I was I was scared of it.

00:25:08:16 – 00:25:27:00
I didn't want to take out my pocket. Like now. With that said, if that's what you going to do every week. And Rick, I'll be like, I'm not. But but the point is, that was a special occasion. We'd gone to Amsterdam, were there as adults to enjoy and partake, and we knew what we were getting into. Right. Yeah, but but now my relationship with drugs is pretty much in control.

00:25:27:00 – 00:25:46:18
If I, if I'm taking if anything is sort of magic mushrooms and stuff like that which are not addictive. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, I've noticed that actually. Yeah. No one does magic mushrooms and next they go fucking. Yeah, we want to do some more mushrooms. If your mood takes you, you will. But there's no comedown. There's no addiction to it.

00:25:46:20 – 00:26:05:02
And they stop working if you take them too regularly. So they sort of self-regulate in that respect. But cocaine is the polar opposite of that. You can truly get absolutely ruined. Your life can become ruined because of that drugs. And some people just can't break the addiction. But I was I was lucky enough to be able to do that with cocaine.

00:26:05:04 – 00:26:39:16
Yeah. So when you like, like, whoa, what? Since I was like 18, I'd probably say, I, I smoked a lot. We'd say from 18 to about 38, shall we say. I smoked weed every single day. And that wasn't in the sense of where I thought I was addicted, because I would see other people around me that would have, a spliff before work, a spliff on their lunch break, spliff when they're driving home from work.

00:26:39:18 – 00:27:09:19
So for me, that was, you know, they were they were addicted, but mine was always after work. Is your glass of red wine? It's a pint of beer. It's your someone going to the gym, someone going to play five a side is some, you know, it was my thing that just would take the edge off the day. But I know they say weed isn't addictive, but it it is.

00:27:09:21 – 00:27:26:16
Yeah. Tons of people that are addicted to it but they I mean isn't the the scientifically don't they say it's not addictive? I think there's a lot of bullshit around weed, and it's sort of made to be holier than thou and and it comes from the earth and it's, it's hyped up to be something that's actually like, good for you.

00:27:26:22 – 00:28:01:02
There's an ordered narrative around hemp and how useful that is, and no doubt it is. And it's it made it like a lot of mainstream, like music videos and, celebrities invested in it and smoking it in the US, isn't it? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. It's hugely, hugely addictive and damaging. Like like, don't get me wrong, for those 20 years, man, let's just say for those 18, 19 years, I absolutely fucking loved it.

00:28:01:02 – 00:28:29:01
Not honestly. Not just of being able to take away the not taking the edge off the day, making things feel a little bit more easy, making things more enjoyable and and smoking weed, the smell of it, the whole process of rolling it and, it was just I loved it, and I still did, like, I still did, like, Miss the Habit.

00:28:29:01 – 00:28:54:18
So it wasn't it. It's like it's like, yeah, it's a process. All of it. Yeah. And the grind, and yeah, all these different things and buying a fresh, like, king sized wrestler and all of that good stuff. But then it got to go. It got to the end stage with it where when I was having a spliff or half a spliff, actually, I'd have half spliff and I'd be sitting all right, but I still feeling a bit aggy, a bit angsty.

00:28:54:18 – 00:29:17:16
The anxiety was through the roof, bit panicky, heart racing. It just wasn't great. And then I think I used to fucking eat this for breakfast, man. And then I'd have like a little second one skin and it would just push me over the edge. Panic attacks just not enjoying it at all. And just every time you're smoking it, most times yeah, yeah, yeah most times.

00:29:17:16 – 00:29:36:08
And, it would just push me away and then, you know, the next day I'd be like, okay, right, we'll just have a, a few blasts and then put it away, and I'd have the C blast and I'd be alright, and I'll go back in for a bit more and then I'd push myself over the edge again. So you, while you been higher.

00:29:36:08 – 00:30:01:02
That's when you were getting the, you're getting panic attacks while you were high. No no no no not on the come down. I saw that a scenario like it did for me, it was proper stoned and having a panic attack at the same time. Yeah. And it was like it was like I almost like white in while I was on my sofa trying to regulate my breathing and my misses is next to me.

00:30:01:05 – 00:30:27:08
He knows I smoke weed, she's fine with it, but she's not going to be fine with it if she sees me having terrors, you know? I mean, trying to control all of that did well to to get off it. Right? So yes, it got to a time where at that time as well, I was going through, to know quite how to word it, but I was pretty down at that time.

00:30:27:10 – 00:30:52:00
I'd been made, redundant from my old role. And there was a whole host of other things that I was just really struggling with and obviously struggling with. The weed was no longer, taking away that kind of crutch as of the day. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So then I just I just binned everything off. I had to bin everything off.

00:30:52:02 – 00:31:12:18
And from that. So counseling and, and other things. But that was that. So that early relationship with weed, which was, which was great. And then it just got, it's got out of hand and I couldn't handle it anymore. So I had to take myself away from it. That's the same thing with any drugs at the start.

00:31:12:18 – 00:31:34:23
They're always fun. They're always amazing. Like my first line, it was the fucking best. I felt like I was, I felt like I was flying, I was on like, but the the air, I could feel that cold on my skin, in the air. And I was like, I remember it. I remember my first line and and what I incredible night I had and I remember I rang you out went Rick.

00:31:34:23 – 00:31:54:08
I've done alignment. Where are you? I'm coming. Yeah, I do, I remember. Have you ever made it? Do you make it to me? Yeah. They in Liverpool Street, that's why I. Yeah. I can't remember much of the night at all. And I, it was, it was incredible. And no line as ever felt that good since, since.

00:31:54:10 – 00:32:14:06
And the problem with it and this, all of that and people listening to this would probably resonate and they were something they only they know. But you get to a point where you start picking up on your own, you get to a point where you start doing at home on your own, that yeah, that's your what used to be something that enhanced your evening with each other, with your mates.

00:32:14:08 – 00:32:46:09
It made you confident, able to talk to women. You know, you don't fear any all of your inhibitions are reduced or removed completely. And it's great. Social lubricant. The best in the world, right? Until it isn't a couple of years later, you're picking up and you're picking up on a Tuesday night, and you're sitting in your bedroom and you're watching porn and you're wanking and and your and your and your, you know, you you wake up and you go, oh, you you don't wake up, you don't go to bed and you go straight to work.

00:32:46:11 – 00:33:05:13
There was a couple of points in my life where that was that was a reality. Yeah. It was. Oh, I thought on, you know, it might be like your few beers on a Tuesday. Wednesday football. And what intended to just be a couple of pints was like, I pick up. Yeah. All right, fuck it. I pick up and what you think, what your brain does at the time.

00:33:05:15 – 00:33:29:19
What you're what you're what? Your your subconscious, the wants it. The heart wants it. It's addicted to this. It tells you this is a good idea. It's only half nine. You ain't got perverts on nine. And it's. They have a couple of lines. Go to bed. You'll be fine. You know, consciously. That is bullshit and impossible. You cannot again, for those people that don't know, cocaine is a stimulant.

00:33:29:19 – 00:33:47:05
You cannot go to sleep on it. No you cannot. You just. You just can't. It doesn't allow you to sleep. You just like, end up doing, you know, like when a crocodile gets its prey, bites it, and the dog does the death spin. You're just doing death spins in your own bed until, like, six in the morning to the birds.

00:33:47:07 – 00:34:10:09
Like, for fuck's sake. But, but my mate Nick, he, he's on it. Yes. You know Nick drugs. Nick. He's drunk. Counts at all. Yeah. He said drugs are fun. And that until they cost you, the more the cost you more than the price you bought them for. So? So losing a night's sleep. Not be able to function the next day, letting people down.

00:34:10:10 – 00:34:31:02
I mean, as a work to the extent that you need to be working at not following up on not answering the phone when someone calls. All of that is a product of, you know, the misuse of drugs and, you know, I found I could recognize that I could I could recognize that that was what was happening that back then, we're talking years ago, Ricky.

00:34:31:02 – 00:34:46:24
We're not talking. Yeah. You know, but I moved out of London in 2018, live with my wife and kids. Right. So that's at least six years ago, but just. But yeah, back then there was a couple of times I'd have a drink and I was like, yeah. But luckily I managed to to find a way out of it.

00:34:47:01 – 00:35:08:22
Just on the totally on the way. Yeah. Height, weight, height of always hated it. Yeah I mean we to smoke loads. So back in the day I don't think I think I enjoyed the smoking with you but we're not say smoking loads. You're talking about a half a spliff probably. Yeah. Yeah yeah that was it that when I do remember it really fondly that doing the bucket, trimming the bucket.

00:35:08:22 – 00:35:31:02
So the cutting that you know I do that really fondly. But I've had a couple of really bad experiences on drugs. Sorry. On on weed. I never want to repeat. And one of them was a close family member. Nearly killed me. I want to say it. My mum. My mum killed me. She made a weed cake for her husband.

00:35:31:02 – 00:35:46:08
Really, like, has a has bad back and stuff like that. So he takes it and it helps with his, helps with his, just his ailments that he's going for. He's getting on now. And my mum said my mum bakes instead of him smoking is badly broken in the cake in his wedding. I took some and it was the best.

00:35:46:08 – 00:36:06:22
I had such a good time. I was cracking up. I couldn't stop laughing. It was wicked time and I was like, oh, do it again. My mum come round, brought some cakes round. I had a tiniest bit, tiniest bit. It bent me in half. I was like, oh, you know what it like? It's like, yeah. Oh it's about I thought I was generally going to like the only time in my life I thought, I'm going to.

00:36:07:02 – 00:36:28:08
This has killed me. I'm going to die unless I go to the hospital. I went I, we took it was sitting around the dinner table. My wife, my mum and her partner, husband. And after about 20 minutes, I started feeling it. And I was like, Jesus is heavy. It's a lot and I'm looking round. Everyone else has done the same amount and I'm like, it's all right.

00:36:28:08 – 00:36:45:12
It's fine, it's fine. Everyone else it's fine. So I must be fine. Another ten minutes, I was hardcore, get out of here. I was like, excuse me, I just need to lie down for a bit. It's really hit me that I went on the sofa and I swear to God, which was next door to the kitchen, I thought my toes were bending up and touching my head.

00:36:45:13 – 00:37:07:00
Forehead? I thought I was literally my bones were breaking. That's how I felt. Well, after a while I had to go to bed. I couldn't stop shaking, shaking Rick, or like not convulsing, but. And all these things. I didn't know what could happen on. We'd like you shakes. You can get shakes from, from, you know, overexposure to whatever is the the THC.

00:37:07:02 – 00:37:27:00
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oddly, I didn't speak to anybody the whole night. I went to bed. I went to bed like mad. I know, but, I mean, I've weed, I've seen loads of it back to them. Like completely when they just melt me to the safe, bit tripping out and stuff like that. But that sounds like a real kind of, bad reaction.

00:37:27:00 – 00:37:44:12
Only came up later having after having to entertain my mum and her husband. Bear in mind that I'm the I'm the person that binds them. All right? That's the reason why they're there's because of me. I've just jumped ship was like, I can't do this. I've got stairs and she's come to bed after they've gone home and I'm shaking in bed.

00:37:44:12 – 00:38:03:15
Now when I think I need an ambulance, like I'm bearing in mind we've been in all kind of states together, right? So, you know, big part of how we got together was, you know, she's enjoyed various drugs. I, I said, I need a hospital, I need I think I need a hospital, babe. And she's like, shut up, shut up.

00:38:03:17 – 00:38:16:19
I'm going to bed. You're fine. Just shut up. And I was like, I have what I need. I went die in there. That's the last thing you got to say to me. It turns out off about an hour, it started to fade and I was okay. And I didn't need an ambulance after all. But yeah, that was a bad one.

00:38:16:20 – 00:38:45:23
Never touch a weed again. Fuck that shit. So all of those things are like. I think because of our age, we naturally feel that the calm downs and hangovers are just like ten to. They are like from when we used to go out, we would literally got on a Friday, get mangled, and then on a Saturday, like she would go out again, pop and football.

00:38:45:23 – 00:39:04:19
Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And it would just be like this thing on, on, on loop where you could master something within you. And then after a few beers and a few few lines or whatever, you're good to go again. Now, like I, as I said at the top of the show, I'm going to style them into my cousin's stag do.

00:39:04:21 – 00:39:28:00
Oh, absolutely lovely lads. I'm not. They're not like, in like, they're not frying dust. They're not sneaking pills through the plane. No, not exactly that like really, really good lads. But I'm already getting a beer there. I'm already getting hung over there like I'm like. Like in my mind. I'm not. I'll do a normal beer and then I'll do a 0% beer.

00:39:28:01 – 00:39:50:01
Then I'll do a normal beer, then all these different. I'll. When I have a pint, I'll have a pint of lager. It's. I can't believe that I'm. Now you've changed 41 and how I used to. But back then you where I am now it's fucking. You're remembering how you reacted to hangovers much more kindly to yourself. You were always awful on hangovers.

00:39:50:01 – 00:40:11:20
Yeah, well, sometimes you wouldn't speak. You'd be walking around, like moping around. Remember when we went to see my little brother boxing in Bournemouth? Yeah, yeah. De you? I've never seen anyone more upset that they were hung over the that and that was heavy to be honest. That was a, that was a heavy day. But you've, you've always you've always suffered somewhat.

00:40:11:22 – 00:40:30:12
I'm, I'm I know what you mean. No Ric you're I'm scared of a pint now. Yeah. And then that it's about getting like we middle aged right. We get in on. But it's the thing that we've got things to do. And to be fair, I mean, there's this everywhere. You've got a fucking a whole business to run. Yeah.

00:40:30:12 – 00:40:53:17
I mean I'm not. You can't have a day off of. I'm hung over. I'm just going to lay on the sofa, hands down my trousers, watching, fucking the chase. No no, no no chance. You can't even, like, one day or half a day you could possibly get away with. But that that that just puts a backlog on what you're recording, what you're doing, your your schedule, all of that shit.

00:40:53:17 – 00:41:24:05
So it's in the back of your mind that will also we drink. Yeah. The hangover goes on for days. Or when we do, if we're doing drugs that come down and alcohol is going on for days and not only, is it, it's just a day out, like, you know, at that of the week, it just goes into the bleeds into the following week and into your work and how you function and looking after the kids and doing the dinner and all of that.

00:41:24:06 – 00:41:50:08
Well, that's what you just can't do. That's that's how that's how I manage to kick get to the point where it was like a weekly thing or twice weekly thing to never do in it is you cannot be the parent that you wannabe and the husband that you want to be. If you're on cocaine, you take it. I for me, I don't know what other people might be able to do it, but for me it was just like, that's non-negotiable now.

00:41:50:10 – 00:42:10:11
Like, yeah, well, the kids, the kids have to be out of bed, made to get ready, I mean, overnight. Now they can do it mostly themselves. But, but, but but then they it would be like if I was using then I wouldn't be able to do that. I wouldn't be able to drive them because I'd still be fucked from the night before.

00:42:10:11 – 00:42:25:14
I live in the middle of nowhere, so you have to wake up sober. You. There has to be. There has to be. From when you stop drinking to when I'm driving in the morning, there's be significant gap in the drink. I need to have the sleep. I need in order to to be safely drive them to school. Right.

00:42:25:14 – 00:42:42:07
So it was a non-negotiable when that was a fact, then that's when that's when that's when it's stopped. But, and like, you know, you when you, you can't like, it's all right going out for the weekends and you know, like, all you do have to do is sit on the sofa or whatever, but during the week you've got responsibilities.

00:42:42:07 – 00:43:00:14
It's it's impossible. And I found now when I'm if I've had a beer, I can't sleep properly. It fucks my sleep, I wake up if I don't drink, I have the best night's sleep. I sleep all the way through. In fact, I don't even want to wake up in the morning. Whereas if you've had a drink, then you're waking up at 4 a.m. and then your brain starts ticking over.

00:43:00:16 – 00:43:24:07
That's what I have. Look at it quite a lot. If I've had a if I've had a few too many ones. Yeah, fuck that. But and like I say, the speaking of which as well. Well, you were talking about which jogged my memory. That's the motto of the pod. It was like fitness and lifestyle. Yep.

00:43:24:09 – 00:43:52:03
Doctor anon, Oh, did I love him? He he laughed at my nighttime routine about having to have the space of an hour between having the cigarets, two cigarets, and then going to sleep, and that's why I was going to sleep late. But he said, by the by, this is his list from good to bad. I don't know if you should list harmful to harmful.

00:43:52:05 – 00:44:50:06
In his opinion, the narcotics list on edibles least harmful. But bullshit. He's never been buckled. He's never been buckled. Then if he got mushrooms. Yeah, vaping, smoking weed, shisha, alcohol, cigarets, ecstasy slash MDMA, speed cocaine, meth, heroin, stroke, opioids as most harmful. Yeah that was his list. And then also he said that he listened to the other podcasts and we said about HIV the diabetes if we did get one of them and he said HIV all day long.

00:44:50:06 – 00:45:11:17
Yeah, I have a diabetes. He said, it's so much more, like people still think of the the stigma around it. And he said, it's so much more controlled now. It's mad that isn't it just isn't a problem at all in today's it's mad. Yeah. I need the stigma that it carries. Yeah. They're even people that contracted HIV in the 80s that survived and now live.

00:45:11:19 – 00:45:31:04
I live in a full life. But yeah, like if you if you had, if you wanted one or the other, you'd the best way as we said, didn't we. It's just the stigma he's had. I've got Aids but it's all right. It's managed in a non detectable and all that. You can take drugs so you can have unprotected sex so you don't pass it on to Jesus right.

00:45:31:04 – 00:45:55:03
No that's mad. Yeah. So you can be HIV positive but you're not detectable. I, if you were tested you would you would test negative and you cannot pass it on due series blockers. But you do have it. It may be you. Maybe you would test positive. I don't know what it is. It's basically if you have a test you I think is that you can't you don't come up as HIV positive even though you are and you have to disclose you are.

00:45:55:05 – 00:46:15:11
You can't have sex with someone and they don't know, but you wouldn't pass it on. You can, you know, come whenever you want, but you have to take these drugs, right? Okay. That's good. Yeah. But with diabetes the beat is mate. You can't. Yeah. You have your leg off. Especially me. We SMB I mean I've been the bin man.

00:46:15:12 – 00:46:36:03
But if someone said like what? What do you want to give Rick. We've got to give him one or the other. I'm just say making a bait. Right. Okay. Just for the. Well, I mean, you're a wealthy doctor, anon. He says that's fine. So, yeah, so be it. So be it. I am with I'm not going to read this out.

00:46:36:03 – 00:47:04:23
No, I'm not going to read it out. What I am going to say. We've had no dilemmas this week and I know there's been a short turnaround. I've already said we're recording very early. There is two something only you know. Okay. Which which is great. Lovely stuff. Lovely stuff. I went on to our Spotify and the followers on Spotify seem to have just dried up.

00:47:05:00 – 00:47:34:05
None. Zero. ZIP. If you listen to us on Spotify, I know you automatically download, but can you please make sure that you are following the pod on Spotify? Also on Apple, if you go on there and you follow us on Apple, that'd be amazing. Or anywhere where you pick up this podcast, make sure you give us a follow and if you could do so, give us a review.

00:47:34:11 – 00:48:10:00
Five star review. That would be amazing. Next week. Topic. So it's the party season. It's the end of May. We're going to be talking about lads holidays. So this is your first or first few lads holidays? I know we've previously spoken about pranks and lads banter. This is going to be more aimed at the culture around lads holidays, so if you've got any stories of lads holidays and what happened, send them in.

00:48:10:02 – 00:48:46:11
If you've got any positive or negative things that happened to you from a lads holiday, paying it over to lads anon pod at gmail.com and we will read it out for you. So Flav, shall we jump into something only you know. Yeah, let's do it. Something. You know, you.

00:48:46:13 – 00:48:49:23
I'll let you hold my thumb up.

00:48:50:00 – 00:49:17:07
Again, Guinness is like a meal anyway. Barcelona with the lads. We've been friends for as long as I can remember. And finally, finally, we've managed to organize a trip away flying from Luton Airport. 6:45 a.m.. We made sure to arrive early. We hit the bar, slamming down the extortionate airport priced pints. No, that was, I'd say, feeling it already.

00:49:17:07 – 00:49:38:23
The plane journey couldn't have gone better, but I halfway through the flight I did wake up with an absolute rock on. The old couple next to me didn't seem to notice. Not necessarily to the story, but details matter anyway. We land in Barcelona and we've nothing to do until four. That's when we check into our apartment. It's 4:00.

00:49:38:23 – 00:50:07:19
We're about 11 point state. We've set the time for the rest of the holiday. We freshen up back of the apartment, hit the strip. We find a lovely establishment, the old Irish pub with a live band playing some absolute bangers. We're sinking shots up on the tables, singing our hearts out the bar, then turns into a club. At this point we've made a few friends, so we hit the dancefloor to step into why Guinness in hand.

00:50:07:21 – 00:50:32:08
This is where the story we've been needing to so mean a friend to dancing with our new friend from overseas. When I felt a slash all over me, I looked over to see the guy had dropped his drink and he soaked my top. I wasn't making a big deal out of it that he was very apologetic, apologizing to me over and over again.

00:50:32:10 – 00:51:01:05
So a comment down and say, mate, it's just a drink. It's fine. He then disappears into the crowd. Well, all this two step in has got me thirsty, so go to have a swig of my pint as I take a massive gulp of my Guinness. I inhale through my nose to breathe and that's when I smell something. I smell acidic, hot, sick, and all of a sudden it clicked in my head.

00:51:01:07 – 00:51:24:09
He didn't just drop his drink, he threw up all over my top and into my pint. I just swallowed. Wasn't the head of my Guinness. Oh, panic sets in me immediately. My friend, still dancing next to me, asked me what was going on. As you could see me having pretty much a full on panic attack. I don't say anything.

00:51:24:11 – 00:51:45:12
I raise the glass to his nose. We lock eyes. He knows what's just happened. I just drank some random guy sick. And that's something only I know. How did he not throw up? He did say that he. He just held in. He just held it because he didn't want to disturb the party that was going on restarts Chandran.

00:51:45:12 – 00:52:11:10
Yeah. And then everyone's going to chunder. Mate, I'm not going to the the hot, acidic smell. We know it. We know. Oh, it's so, God, it's fucking grim. I'm glad it happened to him, not me. Uppercut to the nose, but onto the second one. I'll pick. This is called, out with a bang. Anyway, a little story.

00:52:11:11 – 00:52:40:03
My granddad died of mesothelioma. Never has. I think that's. I think this is asbestos cancer. Cancer? Oh, there. And being a tradesman are more likely to come across here and know people affected. So I decided to do a naked calendar to raise awareness and pay back money used for my grandad's end of life care from Saint Barnabus. Unfortunately, no one would participate.

00:52:40:05 – 00:53:12:18
So 12 months of my hairy ass. It was then, after completing my little mission, the photos didn't seem to stop. This became a slight addiction. I found myself thinking on every site I worked on. What can I do now? While in a loft conversion, a friend's house, a church bank refurbishment. It was like Pokemon. This one particular occasion I was at home, I got the kids off to bed and the ex-wife was pretending to be at the gym.

00:53:12:20 – 00:53:51:18
I had time to fix the tumble dryer that broke the day before. I decided once I changed the belt in the dryer, this was a perfect photo opportunity. I set my phone to record, set the angle, and with a carefully positioned kind of WD 40 in brackets, she says big can of. It's ready for a few screengrabs. After finishing my little shoot, I went to pull myself up using the top top of the dryer as leverage, totally forgetting I plugged the bastard in to see if it worked and my finger slipped onto the motherboard.

00:53:51:20 – 00:54:14:23
Bang. The next thing I know, I'm on my back, looking up at the LED light in the ceiling as I lay there thinking to myself, fuck, am I dead now? I can't be, I need to get out before I'm found like this. I'm stark bollock naked with tumble dryer parts scattered all over the kitchen, a camera recording and a can of WD 45 upside.

00:54:15:00 – 00:54:33:13
Paramedics will think I'm some sort of weirdo, and that is something only I. I guess I'm pretty well written as well. Very funny. Yeah, no, but it is excellent. Can you imagine? Not? You all found dead and you've got a tumble. You're naked, a WD 40 thinking you're some kind of a tumble dryer. Shagger. Do you know my friend of ours?

00:54:33:13 – 00:54:54:13
Guys? He is, Like, if he's dying. So if he's at the these. Something's happened. He's fallen over at work. He's had a heart attack or is tripped down the stairs, and he's given us a code word that he's going to text us. So we have to go round his house and delete all his hard drive, his porn so he doesn't want his family knowing what he's been looking at.

00:54:54:15 – 00:55:16:16
I think I think, I think what did he say that it was tulip or something like that. If we just see him just type tulip into our WhatsApp, we have to drive to his house and delete his search history. The pig, Got that? He lives miles away. I would never mind there now fuck his family. I know he's got no they've got a know an algorithm to do that.

00:55:16:18 – 00:55:39:17
So, that's the end of something. 98. Know something? You know, you. Got fucking clockwork. Like fucking clockwork. No. It's work. The first one. I want to stop my thumb up. And you just didn't stop. You didn't fucking speak. You just kept staring at me as I was done it. What do you mean? I've done the farm.

00:55:39:17 – 00:56:07:00
What more do you want than the thumb make? Your thumb wasn't on screen yet. The thumb somewhere else was not up. No farm was thumb establishing. But then, thank you for listening, everybody. And this is been the end of lads anonymous. This week. If you want to follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, friends, wherever you get your social media at Lads Anon Pod.

00:56:07:02 – 00:56:34:05
And if you could do us a massive favor if you wherever you listen to us, what media player Spotify, YouTube music, Amazon Music, whatever. If you could follow us on there or subscribe, we would hugely appreciate it. And the topic for next week again is lads holidays. So you got anything? Send it in to us, lads. And on pod at gmail.com and we will see you next Monday.

00:56:34:11 – 00:57:06:20
Bye. Night. Hazy light. Band of brothers. Playing tunes high as quiet. Midnight waves. Surfing through till daylight breaks. Rhythm hit us different ways. Love a music we prayed with our tongues in cheek. Band aside, we like to speak. And yeah, times change. But no matter what the bond remains. Brothers. It's well funny that video in it. He,

00:57:06:22 – 00:57:07:19
Well,