339: Just the Two of Us: From Cape Town to the Arctic

0:03Hello scumbags, this is the Scummy Mummies podcast with your hosts Ellie Gibson and Helen Thorn.

0:16Alright, here we go. I'm just going to start a new one. It's going to be a new one. Yeah, I've started a new one. Hello! Hello and welcome to the Scummy Mummies podcast. It's me, Helen Thorne. And it's me, Ellie Gibson. I'm thrilled, Ellie. Are you?

0:31Ellie Gibson: Always. I know. Well, just once I'd like to start a podcast with, I'm very disappointed to be here today, or I hate this guest or something like that. But we haven't even got a guest today, have we? No, it's just you and me. Just the two of us. Exactly right. And we're in Manchester. We had a banging gig last night in a lovely venue. Great crowd. It was really fun. Very, I would say, some of the jazziest lights that we've ever had. Really jazzy lights. lovely audience and then we watched the the Scotland v's Brazil match in a sort of weird mostly empty bar so what an adventure we've had and now we're in a premier in hotel room oh we're on the 10th floor looking across the metropolis of Manchester she means the Arndale Centre yeah yeah beautiful anyway we're on tour but we we love doing a little a little pod yes on tour and we thought we'd do a little almost like a travel special today oh yes I like that like a travel supplement yes yes yes exactly um because and also we need to catch up because we haven't seen each other for a couple of weeks and we thought let's let's have that catch up publicly yeah let's do it on the internet yes that's that's what we needy little whores yes that's the phrase you used yeah and I said yes that's me um so yeah where have you been Helen Thorne well recent oh all over um The biggest thing I did recently was I went to Cape Town, Ellie, to do the Cape Town Marathon.

1:56And I was all keen. God forbid you could go on a holiday not to do a marathon. Oh, no, I have been changed. So, yeah, I went to Cape Town last month to do this marathon. I was gung-ho. I thought, I'm fit, I'm well. And it turns out you can plan. You can plan. You can feel well. but I got horrific gastroenteritis three days before. So basically I went to Cape Town, got the shits, spent most of the time in the hotel, did the marathon as best as I could and didn't poo myself on the actual race.

2:32Ellie Gibson: You did it. None of this best as you could nonsense. It doesn't matter. If you ran a marathon, if you got from start to finish with gastroenteritis, who gives a fuck what the exact details of that were? You did a marathon. That's amazing. Thank you, Ellie. I was, yeah, it was one of the hardest things I have done in recent history. It's a scary prospect when you're out in a foreign country, you running for a very long way. And yes, but I will say, so usually in the lead up to a marathon, you are meant to carb load, right? But I did a lot of carb deloading. You dropped off a lot of carbs at the pool.

3:12Oh, my God. I always, now despite you think, Helen, you run a lot. Surely you should be very svelte. No, I eat so much bread and rice and pasta for a while. I usually put on a couple of kilos when I do a marathon. This time, not so much. I lived off. What actually saved me on the marathon is that Coca-Cola had sponsored the marathon. And every three kilometers, they had big cups of full fat Coke. Wow. And so because I couldn't eat, or if I ate, I would be sick. I just literally did the marathon on full fat Coca-Cola.

3:46Ellie Gibson: Are they sponsoring you for this podcast? No, they are. Because I've not had a sniff of this Coca-Cola money. Where's this Coca-Cola money going? Have you got a secret bank account? Well, I realise. Like your ex-husband, but that's another story. Just like to get that in there. Anyway, but I realise when we did the base camp of Mount Everest, every day I would have full fat Coke because I was told that that's a really good thing to get you through. You know, anyway, not sponsored, not sponsored. Other cola beverages. I mean, you've said Coca-Cola 18 times now. We're four minutes into the podcast.

4:19Ellie Gibson: I know. No affiliate link. No. Other Coca-Cola based drinks are available. Some people like Pepsi. Not me, actually. I think it tastes like piss. But anyway, carry on. Anyway, so I got through, got me medal. I was so determined. I thought, right, I've spent all this money to get there. To the Cape Town Coca-Cola Marathon. Yeah. yes exactly maybe if we do say it enough they'll give us some money retrospectively i'm sure that's how the internet works yes yes exactly right um yeah all this money yeah and i thought i've got to finish it because uh you know it's it's a lot isn't it to get you know i you know sort of child care all the sort of things um but um yeah anyway so i got i got me middle and then it turns out cape town has become one of the world major marathons and so now i am one of the first of less than 2 ,000 people in the entire world who has completed all eight world major marathons.

5:15Come on, everyone. Toot, toot.

5:17Ellie Gibson: I'm blowing my trumpet again, Ellie. Oh, you blow yourself as much as you want. I will. I will blow you as well. Oh, thank you. That's an amazing achievement. Congratulations. Thank you, Ellie. I was quite proud of myself. I really was. And it was such a great thing. I'll do a small little thank you shout out to the lovely people at sports tours. I went with them. They're a company that does world marathons around the world and other marathons. And they're lovely. And you go and they have like welcome drinks and they take you to the expo and they just look after you. It's like having, you know, like a lovely supportive group of running enthusiasts.

5:55So I could just like other people who are like me, who'll be like talking about their watches and their Stravas. Wow. I wish I'd gone with you. I know. That sounds great. It's like a convention of nerds. Oh, it's wonderful. But yeah, if you ever want to do a running event around the world, go with them. They're very, very nice people. And yeah, I had a lovely time. Is running the only sports tours tours or do they do other sports? They do cycling as well, I think. Oh, no. Oh, I'll tell your husband. He loves it. He loves a ride. Oh, God, send him on a bloody cycling holiday. Oh, yes, yes, yes.

6:27Yes, please. Give you some peace. Yes. So they're great. Anyway, so I would highly recommend them. But yeah, South Africa, I basically saw a lovely hotel. I saw a little bit of the city via the marathon. But yes, it was a great time in terms of knowing, you know, it's all the cliches, knowing how strong you are, endurance. It was another thing where I learned a bit about myself, really. Yeah.

6:53Ellie Gibson: Well, I was going to say, so how many marathons have you done? I know you hate talking about this. Oh, stop. No. How many marathons have you done now? 14. 14 yes again thank you thank you and then uh yes and then next on the 5th of july if you listen to this when it um comes out i'm doing my first ultra in surrey and it's called she trails wow it's only women and there's no cutoff times i'm going to do 50k in the surrey hills and it starts and ends in a winery oh i know i might come to that one please yeah that sounds all right that's more my cup of cup of vino yes yes um so but so you've done 14 that that'll be 15 what what what have you learned Helen what do you know now that maybe you didn't know for those first couple of marathons that you would say to people maybe just starting out on their marathon journey well it's it's a funny thing because I think with each marathon I do learn a different thing about myself and and and And also that we do have an incredible amount of endurance and strength.

8:00And also there is something really good about spending that much time in your own head, like being away, like choosing yourself, like having that time for yourself, feeling how strong your body is. But also I think the community of people in running is just amazing. Like to be amongst other women and other good people, it's it's a good reminder of how good people are that makes sense i don't know like when i always cry when i do a marathon because there'll be people with you know their stories on on their bibs about who they're doing it for i know when i did the london marathon this year i started and ended the the marathon with the with the guy next to me who was carrying a fridge did you see and he had did 30 marathons in 30 days to raise money for dementia because his mum died of early dementia and has raised millions of pounds.

8:52And he, yeah, and I just get inspired and I meet people who I wouldn't meet.

8:57Ellie Gibson: You're not going to do I'm wearing a bloody fridge, are you? No. That's crazy. I mean, a microwave, a tops, but a fridge. I can't. I mean, I barely get through just holding my water, honestly. But, yeah, it's an inspirational kind of thing. And I think, you know, with Cape Town, I walked a lot of it. And I've never walked in a marathon before. And it doesn't fucking matter. you can walk the whole thing you've still done the marathon and i think i think there's a lot of um uh expectation that it's um you know you you have to do it a certain way but i think you know and again this is all the cliches the marathon is usually all just about the training it's about every week three or four times a week you get to choose yourself you get to choose to um you know prioritize your body your mental health and all that sort of things and that all just sort of adds up and then you get this confidence in yourself in other aspects of your life I heard this phrase the other day through courage comes confidence and that's been my new mantra I really think that's good and every time I do something a bit new and a bit outside like oh I wouldn't have done that two years ago or five years ago or 10 years ago I think it gives you a taste for a little bit more because you you I've always admire you like the way you talk about what you did in your 20s you were very courageous and you did some really amazing courageous things when I was, you know, didn't do much in my 20s, but now I feel like I'm doing my courageous 20s now.

10:24Ellie Gibson: Yeah, I suppose. I mean, well, I just, you know, I guess, yeah, I did a lot of travelling and I worked in a few different countries and also did a lot of pissing about and drinking lager on beaches. Let's be honest. It's not like I was digging wells and, you know, researching the cure for cancer let's let's be honest but um yeah I'm I'm and that did that did definitely give me confidence the courage to yeah like just being on your own in in foreign countries really far away from home and sometimes sometimes it was really scary and lonely and uh but you sort of get through it and I think it does it does build you up and stuff um having said all that I'm terrified of the idea my children might leave home and go riding around southeast Asia on the backs of mopeds don't do it it's incredibly dangerous don't do it it's so funny isn't it now that we we've been there and we know that we know that hunger for adventure and and the world is just like it's full of possibilities yes and and but also for their mothers terrifying yes well and it's and I wonder if it's better or worse now because when I was when I did my sort of most of my traveling which is sort of in the early 2000s before I did the work traveling stuff um I you know there was I think there was barely Facebook and there was email but there was none of this WhatsApp nobody had a mobile phone no um you know my parents I'd maybe ring them you know if I got back to Bangkok I'd maybe ring them at great expense for three minutes yeah once every three months and that was but that was fine that was just you know it was a strange and I don't know what it's like now when you can just WhatsApp your child in the middle of Ho Chi Minh City and say have you brushed your teeth I don't know how I'm gonna cope with that but we'll see eh I know yeah because I I I traveled a little bit in my sort of late 20s but you know not very far but I don't remember you know I'd send like a group email that was that was the thing where you do like you know 18 paragraphs like then I went to Vatican and then I went to Barcelona and then you just you know attach massive photos so it clogs up everyone's email account but that would be it Yeah, there was no like constant WhatsAppping of videos and things like that.

12:34Ellie Gibson: Yeah. Did our parents lose any sleep? Were they worried about us 24-7? Mum told me that she was after the fact, but obviously I didn't really pay much attention to that. Well, I was sunning myself on an island in Thailand. That was not really, let's be honest, as I would say is probably the case for most 24-year-olds, not really in the forefront of my brain. So there you go. um but what has stayed with me from that time is a love of travel and a sense of that they're you know um places that feel far flung um luckily if you're lucky enough to be able to access them are accessible and and and I love going to different places and having different adventures and I like that the kids are a bit older now so um we can we can do that a bit more because I remember you know and i sometimes and i still sometimes meet people with kids who are like three and four and five and just think oh god like so i went to i took my kids to um thailand in february and they're 11 and 14 just turned 15 actually and then like we had a great time and the little one could you know drink watermelon shakes and hang out at the pool and the big one and i he went scuba diving and i had an ear thing but whatever but we you know and then we'd go out for we could have a beer on the beach and it was just really lovely and then i remember one day seeing this couple like one of them was holding a toddler and the other one was trying to push a buggy along a sandy beach no no and like I was just like why why have you done this and I sort of wanted to go up to them and patronize them and go you don't have to be here man no it's like no hold hold wait just just for the next couple of years just do a nice jet two to turkey you'll be absolutely fine yeah this this this is I'm not saying this is not for you but it's not for you right now yeah but maybe that's just because i'm lazier than they are who am i to judge i don't the muscle memory or the feeling is so strong i think it'll always be in our bones and in our nervous system it's like when it's like a hot day and you see a mum with tantruming toddlers in a supermarket and you're like i i'm instantly back there i can feel feel the stress and the kid demanding thing everyone's hot everyone's tired yeah yeah and and you know even though i'm years away from it it doesn't leave you that that you you you're instantly back in that that tired pit of hell yes no I saw a woman on the school run just yesterday and I was taking my year six child to school and we were just chatting away about you know oh bloody superman or something and I saw this woman and she had one baby on her hip and with the other hand she was one-handed pushing one of those little trikes that you can push with a long handle and I saw myself and my two sons and it was exactly that and I did that I must have done that for over a year try pushing that bloody thing yes and they're harder than they look especially even if the pavement is on a very slight incline oh and every day twice a day for months and months and months and I just I almost like just wanted to take the thing off her and go let me do it today but yeah maybe I should have I don't know uh maybe should have been patronized again but this is you know getting back to endurance thing yeah this is this is we i think us women are made for this ultra marathons these things because that's what the first five six ten years of period was like it feels like a marathon every single fucking day yeah no medals though no medals no medals no coke every 3k sorry this is like the argument i was having with uh miserable steve hill in the van yesterday it was a six hour drive to Manchester so quite quite quite quite an endurance an endurance feat in itself it's exactly um and we were um I was moaning about these hydration breaks that uh they're having in the world cup matches which as Steve acknowledges uh is is just there so the Americans can sell more coca-cola so they can put adverts on right so and I was like these bloody you know meant they can't run round for 25 minutes without stopping to have a little drink yeah i gay i was in labor with charlie for 12 hours yeah and steve said you were lying down wow wow well okay let's let's put some electrodes on your testicles shall we yes and then i just want to get my phone because i wanted to read you this message um that we have someone where have i put it yes but the point is this yeah this hydration break thing i you know it is all just commercial because i've watched american sports before it's it's about 95 breaks and yeah and ads yeah exactly so and then we had this message from cantwell's underscore cabin she wrote i carried a baby to over full term in 35 degree heat throughout the summer on the underground to work daily before we were given special badges in 2001 was driving my car and got cramp in my left leg in a manual car eight months pregnant absolute nightmare agony yet the football players fall on purpose oh and he i read that out steve and he went well yeah they do but that's not the point so there you go so thank you for that message anyway we've got sidetracked back to travel yes yes so we were yeah we were we were in in in thailand and we were talking about um seeing people with toddlers because we now have we now are traveling with teenagers which is obviously a different a different ball game but also I would say I'm really enjoying the the travel with teens I'm really I'm really um I um yeah after I went to um South Africa I met my kids at Gatwick airport oh I still had gastro I was like mainlining Imodian and just basic electrolytes so I sat in Gatwick for six hours they arrived and then we went to um uh Lanzarote for six days we went to a lovely place called club la santa which is like a sports thing but i just lay down and i ended up seeing a doctor anyway but they did all the sporty things and that was great and they and they cooked dinner every night and that sort of thing so it was like being on like in a little share share house which is great very different to the toddler years i would say yeah it's different with teens and i've now moved into a new phase helen as well traveling with old people which is probably what our teens say yes but you're but you've had you've just come back from a lovely trip with your mum yes so I took my mum to the Arctic which is still a sentence that sounds strange to say with HX expeditions and so they are a Norwegian company they're amazing actually so they've been around for 130 years and I actually went with them a couple of years ago to Antarctica with my dad oh wow that's right yes so um and to be honest that trip to Antarctica it it didn't even really occur to me my mum so my mum is disabled so my mum has degenerative osteoarthritis um and she's 80 so what that means in practice is that she can't walk basically yeah even standing up she can stand up but it's a massive effort she can shuffle about she can get up and down stairs on her hands and knees but you know she's she's disabled she has to have a wheelchair and um to get anywhere so when the antarctica opportunity came up it wasn't really on the table that my mum might be able to go my dad is lucky enough to be very fit and active he still rides his bike and you know scores for the cricket play squash all of that one of the most active people i know of any age yeah he's always he's always doing something his gym oh he's one he's going to live to 150 or he's going to drop down tomorrow but not know anything about it and he's quite happy with that like it could be either thing but um so my dad came with me to Antarctica and we had a great time and I realized on that trip that actually what HX is really good at along with providing these amazing trips these amazing places on these beautiful boats and great food gorgeous rooms like it's a really comfortable which is really important I think especially for my mum and for me thinking about my mum is i want it to be comfortable and these it's just like being in a big gorgeous floating hotel and that i just knew she would love it she loves all sort of nordic stuff and it's definitely got that nordic vibe everywhere um but hx are really good as well about making things accessible for older people and for disabled people so the boats have actual lifts so you can get around and obviously they're sort of flat and they have accessible disabled cabins um so i started to think well i think actually maybe this is is feasible um and my my mum um she has her disability because again because it sort of happened gradually i think she wouldn't mind me saying that it has it's just limited her it's made her world a bit smaller yeah it's limited not only what she's willing to do but what she feels confident in doing because there's always there's added worry and pressure will i be able to get here or what if I'm not comfortable or what and a big thing for my mum as it is for I think a lot of older people and especially women maybe is feeling like a burden yeah and feeling very anxious about you know is this trip going to be the kind of trip that means someone else has to do a lot of work for me and that for my mum especially of her generation she's one of these people is I don't want to be a burden and all this so there's all these sort of complicated moving parts but as I say having done the Antarctica trip I thought mum could absolutely do this maybe not all of this Maybe not get on the little rubber boats and go out and, you know, look around on slippery ice.

22:06Ellie Gibson: That's nobody's dream, pushing a wheelchair on an iceberg. If I did the risk assessment for that, I would say no. Yes, yes. But I thought, you know what, my mum would have a really lovely time being on this boat, looking at this amazing scenery and eating this great food. And I think she'd really like it. And I put it to her. And to be honest, a little bit to my surprise, she agreed and she was up for it. Yeah. Yeah. So HX said, yeah, OK, well, you can you can go. And they gave us an accessible cabin and they were so great at just checking we had what we needed. I have to say the airlines. Great as well.

22:39Ellie Gibson: I was really nervous about going on holiday with a disabled person because I've never done it before. I've never been the primary or the only carer. And I was really pleasantly surprised by how well a lot of stuff is set up and how easy it was 90 percent of the time to get around the airport. And people helped us and all of that. And as I say, the boat was just, it was a breeze, really. And people couldn't do enough for us. And people are so nice. Yeah, isn't that lovely? And kind. Yeah. And it really, that was something I wasn't expecting at all. I was really focused before the trip on making sure my mum was okay.

23:17Ellie Gibson: And, you know, and then I wasn't expecting to sort of be reminded that actually the vast, vast majority of people are fundamentally good. and have compassion and empathy and want to help. Because I was going on this trip in a world in which there are riots in Belfast and there's all this, oh, just all this awful division. And then I was on this boat where, like, there were people all over the world. So a lot of the staff are Filipino. But the head chef is Greek. The head of hospitality is Hungarian. There were expedition leaders from England and Mexico and France. and the boat captain was Norwegian and it was just and everybody seemed to just sort of rub along and again of course they were guests from everywhere from America and South Africa and Ireland and you know and I made sort of friends with all these people and was just just really and they were all so nice to my mum and so kind and they didn't patronize her even though she's in a wheelchair and everybody chatted to her and made friends with her and oh there was an amazing night with a filipino house band um played like dancing queen and dance for on the oh she was on the tambourine helen oh so gorgeous she does at 17 but you know she had just a fabulous a fabulous time she loved the scenery and all of that and i've honestly came away from it having my faith in humanity restored i was just like lovely my god you know there really is goodwill out there and love is really what is the word isn't it and it was lovely to see people being loving to my mum and I hope and she says she did feel very looked after and you know it was it was fantastic yeah and hopefully that gives her the confidence to do some more things just you know tiny steps outside of her comfort zone as well she said that to me she said you know it's it's made me realize you know there are still things I can do and it's it has you know I'm not gonna she said I've missed out on so much i'm not going to miss out anymore yeah oh my god that's life-changing isn't it and then she was like right when's our next holiday all right i was like all right this is on the boat home all right oh she's she's like you we all do it yes we're on the travel you know we're on the travel we're on holiday we're like what what's next yeah where are we where are we going next but it's that i i think it's the anticipation of holidays that just keeps me going i think i I love the buzz, the, you know, excitement.

25:49And I know I'm very privileged that I get to go on these trips. Like I've just recently been made an ambassador for sports tours because I love doing my marathons and I love doing all these adventures. So I know I'm very, very lucky. But like you, I met lots of amazing people. And one of the people, Michelle, who's a nurse, who's been doing all these marathons around the world, She's been following us for ages. And she's coming to our show tonight in Watford. And so I love making new friends. It's all these sort of things. It's been really, really wonderful. But I think when you come together and that collective, you know, like you on the boat, there's a collective love of people who just want a bit more out of life.

26:32They want to see the world. They've got that, you know, they're open to new experiences. You get a real, there's a real energy about that.

26:39Ellie Gibson: Yeah, yeah. It was really exciting. and it felt so and the boat we're on the MS Spitsbergen wasn't that massive by those standards it was about 100 150 people so you really do sort of get to know people and you're all having this shared experience of oh look we're having breakfast one day and there's a polar bear on that bloody glacier you know or we went on the last day we went and saw all these walruses and it was just it was mind-blowing you've been looking at walrus a walrus your entire life it's a full circle moment exactly in the Horniman Museum one of my favorite photos is me and my bridesmaids and my bridesman and my dad in the in for wedding regalia in front of the giant stuffed walrus in the horniman and it was quite a moment standing on a beach in the arctic looking at about 40 of them just bloody lying around and grunting it was absolutely amazing so yeah it was it was magic it really was so many thanks to hx expeditions and we've had a few messages from people saying you know oh this is you know how feasible is it and would you and i would absolutely um 100 % recommend them as a company for a once in a lifetime trip you know or for if you're if you've got an older person who is getting to that age and they're like do you know what I'm like let's go yeah it was I think I think let's go yeah absolutely and I wanted to ask you so you did a polar plunge I did another one yes because I wanted to ask you you've literally been at both ends of the earth doing a cold dip yes a middle-aged woman doing a cold dip ellie cold water swimming unbelievable yeah so i did when i when i went to antarctica i did the polar plunge there and i did a little video about it on our instagram um and that water was 0.2 degrees celsius oh god i've just had a little heart murmur it was that was real real real cold oh yoy yoy and did you do that in the nude no I you're not allowed to I think because you like my one of the expedition leaders Ursula the amazing Ursula from Iceland was like the best way to do it is in the nude but uh it's you they were I think they worried you that the men would offend the other guests basically you know oh yes who knows yes not everyone wants to look at willies and tits I know I don't I do but anyway we're all different that's the point I know but yes you had your modesty cosy on so I had my cozy on and i wore my bobble hat which was so cute great amusement of people like you're gonna keep your hat on i was like why would you not keep your hat on at least one bit was warm yeah so in antarxia it was really cold and i remember and it was like i remember getting in and thinking this isn't so bad and then having actual shooting pains and my brain going get out get out like it was actually quite painful so yeah so in it came up on the boat in the arctic that there was an opportunity to do one as well and initially i was like oh i don't know and then everyone was like well you've done one poll you've got to do the other and I was like all right yeah I am a completist I've got to complete the game yeah I was like fine I'll do it and then I looked at the post that I'd done from the Antarctica one and I'd written in the copy um that was absolutely amazing I'm never doing it again so then I was like what am I doing and then I got really nervous because they announced that rather than walking in like we did in Antarctica so you can walk in as fast or as slow as you die yes I remember you marched I do like a quick march get it yes let's get Brexit done yes don't don't don't hold back but you obviously your body gets cold from the feet up whereas in the Arctic they were like we're just going to jump off the boat and and at this point we were sort of parked is that the word can you park a boat yeah anchored anchored anchored we were anchored in uh sorry in an actual ice field so you could see ice on the top of the water what and they were like yeah get get your robe on come down jump off the thing and I was nervous about that because i feel like health i'm not you know i make a joke that pete we call him captain health and safety because he's much more safety conscious than me but even i was like i don't know i'm not a cardiac a cardiologist yes i don't think that's is that great for your heart to jump into actual freezing water and i messaged nurse jesse obviously my my uh personal uh your one one one my medical team yeah and she was like oh i said i think you're doing this polar plunge jess and she was like well as long as you don't jump in i was like no no it's a jump in situation yeah and she was like oh mate um and i was like it's fine because they've told me there's a doctor with a defibrillator on standby and she was like oh so all of that and then um so i felt a bit sick but i'd said i was going to do it now so i had to do it and then we got we all got down there determination trumps medical advice absolutely courage and confidence Helen that's what it's about just push through it doesn't matter if you die absolutely yeah no that's that's the winning card yeah yeah yeah so we I went down there was all these there was quite a lot of other people doing all our robes going oh and all looking at each other a little bit sick yeah and then uh they the captain came up and said actually really sorry the wind the waves have got choppy which means we can't we have to put the propellers on which means you to keep the boat stable which means you can't jump off the boat no no no and we all went oh no oh i'm so gutted oh whoops oh dear so you went in the hot spa instead i went in the jacuzzi on the cup deck in the sunshine lovely with all the others we had an absolutely lovely time yes and then a day or two later we did we managed to dock in an actual dock and we did do it walking in off the beach and the water, I think it was like four degrees or something.

32:18Ellie Gibson: I mean, it was pathetic, really. It was much less painful than the Antarctic one. But still, I'm going to say it was cold enough, Helen. You were very brave. Cold enough. Oh, I'm proud of you. I'm proud of us. We did either ends of the world. Well, I pooped myself in the south. And you did something very brave. I froze my tits off in the north. yes and i managed to keep my boobs in my swimming costume which is more sadly so this poor this lovely lady that i met on the boat um and she had she did it braver than me i did it in a sainsbury's leopard print swimming one piece she did it in a very tiny pink triangle bikini wow that's not very supportive she really wasn't and she was brilliant she sort of went in sort of going quite flappy going and then she sort of dipped him and she like like she was dancing on hot coals or lego and then she she she turned around she sort of came out and her nips fell right out the boobs came right out and i was like oh babe and i looked at her husband who was just filming it and laughing he was wetting himself and i was like babe babe babe babe but i didn't have any shoes on and i couldn't run across the day i was like love love love boobs boobs bikini bikini and then and eventually she heard me and like oh god and like pulled it over and i turned around and the expedition guides were very being very uh good and not not looking but themselves laughing but they died away but her husband was absolutely wetting himself and i was like oh my god so it was and as i said to her that was excellent but it was x-rated so it was very funny oh my god something to remember always yes my mum didn't do the polar plunge would be amazing but she was she was pleased that I'd survived I did say to um I said to someone else in the boat listen do me a favor just go and knock on after the plunge go and knock on my mom's door and just tell her I didn't make it and he went I'm not doing that Ellie I said no she'll think it's funny and he went no she won't so yeah so what adventures we've had Helen Thorne I know and I love that they're you know even though they're a bit exciting and exotic they are also scummy yes we would stay true to form as well now just to bring it back to the tour we are going to go to Ireland with your father we are and I think that is that is going to be hilarious do we're having the it's the first week of November to our Irish listeners we're going to go to Dublin Galway uh Belfast and Derry yes with a side trip of Liverpool which I know is not technically Ireland but it's in that week and um what's really lovely is we we're having we're making a trip of it aren't we Ellie yes we are so we're going uh we're going with miserable Steve and uh roadie rose roadie rose the hammer hammock uh nurse Jessie I think is going to join us for at least part of the trip because she's um she's half Irish she's got Irish family yeah uh what it's it's going to be epic I think I think Albro my Spanish man is going to come over for a day or two because it's our four year anniversary oh so we're going to we're going to celebrate on the 4th of november our four years oh love or uh de año not ano which i once said i said a year of love in spanish but i actually said a year of us oh yeah a year of arsehole yeah oh was it what a long year that's been yeah arsehole of love i think it was ano de amor and he was at no it's año de amor like a year of love not an arsehole of love.

36:02Excellent. I don't want to offer that just yet. Let's wait till we're married. I think so. I think so. Sorry. I don't know how I hooked that in but anyway we're going to Ireland with your father which is going to be brilliant.

36:14Ellie Gibson: Yes. I think Ireland's going to be brilliant I hope and I met a couple of people on the boat from Dublin who are coming to the show apparently so sold a couple of tickets. Go! Go! Yeah. Have you got a scummy mummy confession you'd like to share? Oh. Yes I do. So when I was on holiday with the teens, we were in Lanzarote at the lovely Club La Santa. And yeah, I didn't know when I was going to poo myself next. It was great. And so we were out for dinner and I was, you know, having my half bowl of rice. And I was like, oh, God, I've got to go to the loot. And we were in a lovely, you know, restaurant.

36:50And my son very loudly said, do you think you're going to have diarrhea now, mom? Really loudly across the whole restaurant. I was like, thanks, thanks. Everyone needs to know that I've got gastroenteritis as I quickly skittered across the restaurant floor to the loo. I love that. And I did. I actually did.

37:08Ellie Gibson: But anyway, that's my scummy mummy confession. Excellent. Yeah. My scummy mummy confession is that I do not want England to get to the World Cup final. Now, I'm not a patriot anyway, so if that makes me some sort of traitor to my country, I don't care. But that is the truth. Now, the reason is because I've I've fucked up. So I put this holiday for me and my big son to go to Egypt. Just the just the two of us for a few days. The other son, who is neurodiverse, has complained quite vociferously that we go on too many holidays. And when we went to stay in my cousin's lovely house in France, he moaned every day that he'd rather be at home in Catford.

37:46Ellie Gibson: So that. So when I said I'm thinking of taking your brother away to Egypt, he went brilliant. and I said and you're going to go to Worthing with your grandparents and your dad he was like yes so don't feel bad for him he's he's more than happy so that's what's happening um so I booked and I so I was like I'm going to take Charlie so I was looking at these easy jet holidays and I was like oh these dates are really cheap we fly on that Sunday that's really relatively cheap isn't it and there's loads of flight availability from Gatwick which is perfect this is great so I booked this holiday and then um uh after I'd paid for it you know all of that I realized that the day we fly out the reason nobody wants to fly on that day is because that is the day of the world cup final oh and quite a few people like to watch it really and including my son including my son and I was like right okey cokey so I talked to him about it and he was very sweet and reasonable and he was like look mum if it's if it's not england in the final i don't care whatever we just you know but if it is england in the final and i said yeah and he's like it's just the thing is granddad is nearly 80 and england have got to the final once in his whole life and i was like yes darling that's true oh he's like so i kind of would like to watch it with my dad and my granddad and my friends and i was like oh he makes a point he makes a point and just to be in england if that happened right I do get it so I contacted EasyJet and I said look what if we just went on the same holiday but two days later and they were like let me check that for you that will be an additional 600 pounds and I was like I okay I don't have 600 pounds anyway yeah uh she was very nice the the lady she was like can I ask why and I was like blah blah football and she's like haha yeah no that's that's 600 pounds and i just had to go to pete and say say you made a mistake right would you bet 600 pounds on england getting to the world cup final and pete was like 100 no like never and never no no okay okay all right so i think i was like if i did scrabble together another 600 pounds and move this holiday and then england don't get through i will feel like a right yeah uh and i was like, all right, I'm going to hold.

40:03Ellie Gibson: I'm going to stick. I'm just going to bet on the fact that England will not get to the World Cup final. Other teams are very good this time, I believe. As my dad said, the problem with England is we've only got one player who can actually score goals. And I went, oh, right, Dad. And the other teams, do some of them have more than one man who can do goals? And he went, yes, Ellie. Yes, they do. Okay, all right. So that was my dad's football analysis of the situation. Okay, I think you're safe. Yes. Yeah. So I'm sorry if anyone feels let down. I'm sorry if anyone wants to. If you want to blame me because England don't make it to the final because I've wished them ill, you're welcome.

40:39Ellie Gibson: Again, I don't care. And I certainly won't care when I'm lying on a beach in Sharm Elshake. So that's where we are. So let's see. It does add, I would say it adds a frisson of jeopardy. I probably care more about this World Cup than I ever have before for the wrong reasons. Exactly. Yeah. Oh, I do have a little topper to my scummy confession. when I was on holiday with gastroenteritis. I was so tired that when I went to sleep, I was sharing a room with my daughter. I kept her awake from snoring. So she couldn't go to sleep. And in the morning, because I was so pooey, I woke my son up who was sleeping in the lounge through farting and making toileting noises.

41:20So they were thrilled, thrilled to be on holiday with their poorly mother. Yeah, so there we go. You want to watch yourself

41:26Ellie Gibson: or they're not going to take you to the Arctic when you're 80. I don't think so after that, no. oh well i've enjoyed our travel cat shop yes but i'm glad you've come back safe and sound and without gastroenteritis or any sort of other virally contagious disease no no i feel like i i really earned that medal i really did so there we go but um no and i'm so glad you had that special time with your mum it was really it was a delight so if you you've kept them on the highlights haven't you yes yeah yeah it's on the instagram people can go and watch i haven't even i could still do a walrus video actually i haven't done that but um yeah yeah share it it's brilliant it's brilliant and I just yeah I just yeah it's lovely you have to um yeah are you going to do a little photo album for her yes exactly that yeah I think that's sweet that's Christmas birthday was it it was the day before we left was her 80th birthday oh beautiful happy birthday mum well thank you everybody now we are on tour we have got um uh yes as I said we're going to Ireland but before that we are going uh in at the end of July we're going to Chester and Ulverston which is very very exciting and also uh in we're going on tour in september we'll be at seven oaks which we love gloucester which is excellent harrogate newcastle on the 29th of september which i cannot wait for and then we've got a couple of nights in chipping norton in october but all the dates are on scummy mummies.com yes so go and have a look and buy a ticket that's my suggestion to you great idea yes also don't get to buy coca-cola and

42:57Ellie Gibson: yes oh brilliant thank you ellie were we speaking of tours we better go we're meant to be meeting steven in two minutes we've got to be on stage in Watford in eight hours and we're in Manchester come on let's go off we go bye thank you for listening

43:17yay well done