Food Poisoning, Paris & Parenting

21:52Romesh Ranganathan:I'd love to know which era we're talking about where Bob laid the foundations for this ancient church. No, but you go to any big old church, people who start the groundwork... But they don't need... That's the thing, they don't need to see it. They've contributed. Often, probably, they didn't give a chance to look at the plans or the sculpture of it. But look, let's not keep... Listen, we can talk about ancient churches, we can also talk about having a similar thought when we're watching the Qatar World Cup, alright? You know? These things are happening left, right and side. Yeah, I know, yeah, yeah.

22:22Romesh Ranganathan:anyway the point but can I just say to this point about the tunnel it's just fucking it's like not saying it at all it's like in the future we hope that we'll build a glass tunnel to Jupiter and then we're going to get in a catapult and get shot across and it'll take three minutes isn't that exciting it's bollocks the technology doesn't exist to make it happen I actually make you right whoever has written that yeah fuck you man that is my worst kind of journalism that's the worst kind of journalism that's the worst that is of all the journalism that exists of all the shit that is said about people yeah the phone hacking all of that stuff that's the worst that's the worst type of journalism yeah people getting your hopes up about stuff like that imagine if we'd had a bet on that and you'd had to give me a grand and then like we both walked out here I'm a grand up and then you read the rest of the report and went get back here you bloody drifter it's like that kind of thing just drives me crazy 700 like 800 years essentially yeah to put it there's no one in the world and also who's going to put up the money to do it 2 trillion you won't even see it for generations to put up was it 20 trillion all of these numbers are just insane I think it was an Elon Musk thing okay well there you go why have we even entertained this for the amount of time that we have done 20 trillion dollars 20 trillion dollars 20 trillion, okay.

23:50Romesh Ranganathan:So let's just say it's unlikely. Although Elon Musk, recently I saw a thing where he said by 2036 money will be irrelevant. Yeah, I saw that. What are people dealing in then? What he's saying is that AI and technology will be creating so many goods and services that money will become worthless. Absolutely. Isn't he saying that working will become a choice? Yeah, none of us are going to be doing jobs. And, you know, I would say anybody that listens to or watches this is thinking we're already on our way there. The shift that these two have been. You spent the whole of the weekend with the lads, by the way, talking about this retirement plan.

24:27I've never seen any of you.

24:28Romesh Ranganathan:Well, there's a few questions I want to ask you about this, about this whole weekend. First of all, I think that I was sort of the outcast of the group a little bit. The outcast? Yeah, sort of the one that was getting on with the others a little bit less than each other. In what sense? That's my first observation. The second one is you and Rob are essentially... As I was watching you two, I was like, fucking hell, I do a show with him and a podcast with him, and now it all makes complete sense. You're the same people in different moulds. You look up from your phones and notice the same things in the car at the same time.

25:08Romesh Ranganathan:And you're both like, chicken, we want chicken. I didn't know how much like Rob Beckett I was Mate, so odd Three days with him It was a great time I didn't think you were the outsider I think you had things on your mind for the first day I think you really relaxed into it The last second two days You were more yourself I was quite worried about your first day What, first day filming? No, no, no, first day of being there There was an edge to you I felt quite Yeah, well as you know I was going through a little bit Anyway, the other thing that the other thing is I've got to thank you this is like beautiful but I want to give you your flowers now you went on a walk and I didn't say this at the time it's one of the many myriad of reasons that I think you're a top don so you've gone for a walk and in your travels you have seen a little golf bar place where you can play on a golf simulator you've made a note of it and then we went out you suggested it as a thing we went out and found it and you, me and Rob I've not played golf I think the last time I played golf was when we did it for Rob and Romish Versus with Kyle Walker obviously Rob has got his he's trying to he's going toe-to-toe with Holly Willoughby on YouTube with his his golfing channel so so he's playing it a lot you play a lot of golf yeah yeah and then I hadn't played it for ages we'd have mate that was like it's one of those that's like a surprise good time That was a great time.

26:41I was genuinely, it was probably the most relaxed I've been for a long time. We went in, we had a laugh together. Then Josh had been out photographing. Photographing. Photographing. Came and joined us. He's not into golf. I mean, neither am I actually. By the way, you hit some great shots.

26:59Romesh Ranganathan:There's one shot, you know, I was getting frustrated. You were? I was obviously nowhere near as good as either of you two, but you're giving it a go. And you two were very kindly giving me instruction. being very the opposite of toxic I would say you know you've got to be there for your pal then right at the death I connected sweetly oh it's lovely and then I realised why golf is addictive yeah and then you hit I said let that be your last shot and I didn't listen to you and I absolutely spanned it but then we went for that lovely little that sit down with our little meal little drink together I didn't say this to the group that place gave me the shits did you got because I had food poisoning you got food poisoning From onion soup.

27:40Romesh Ranganathan:So I can't figure out whether it was, because we went out for a big meal the night before. All of production and everything. Yeah. Went out for a big meal. You had onion soup and then a chicken supreme, is that right? Yeah, a chicken supreme. Apparently it was the onion soup. Well, you don't know that. Somebody that wasn't there has told you that, right? Yeah, but it literally, it didn't even hit my stomach, whatever it was. I didn't have the shit, so I literally was just throwing up. Yeah, I had a different experience. Oh, my God. I felt very poorly. Until we had to do filming, it was tricky.

28:06So hold up, you got the two bits from... Yeah. Did you even eat in that place we went to? I only had fries. Oh. I don't know what's happened with that. Because we had an Il Flottant. What? We had an Il Flottant. Oh, yes, you had a floating island. You're obsessed with floating islands. Floating my favourite dessert. Do you know, by the way, I'll cherish the moment I saw both Rob Beckett and Josh Whittacombe have their first Il Flottant.

28:31Romesh Ranganathan:So it's a meringue in custard? Yeah, with almonds. yeah little powdered almonds yeah I will say that the first one came out amazing yeah you went double bubble so two nights in a row you had the second place I was coming out out of food poisoning yeah um I would say if you don't mind me saying that um you had quite heavy food poisoning um and I don't want to get into trouble with a cat your behaviour the day after having food poisoning was fucking wild can I say I let it out my system I didn't eat anything during the day I had a French you ate a French loaf in its entirety yeah yeah I had a sleep for a bit yeah then I was ravenous yeah we went we popped out and what you're supposed to do in those situations is take it easy because you're reintroducing your stomach yeah there's something so what you did was you had yourself a light chicken burger with fries and followed up with a floating island.

29:35Romesh Ranganathan:But the second floating island... The one thing you did do is not have any drinks. No, I didn't have any alcohol. The floating island thing, so the first one was incredible. Very, like, nouveau cuisine type of thing. The second one, I said to the guy, hold your horses before closing the kitchen because me and the... We want to... What did I say? Can we get a drop on the floating island? Can we get a drop? Oh, yeah. Yeah, so the waiter comes over, French. Yeah. And not great English. Yeah. And why should it be? Yeah. Right? We're in France. And you go to him. You want to check because it's about to close.

30:12Romesh Ranganathan:Kitchen's closing. You want to check if we can get a floating island. For some reason, you don't speak French, fine. Your decision to ask like this, excuse me, mate, is it possible to get any old drop of the old floating island? Is there any chance of squeezing us in before the old gaffo close-o? And he's like, what? Obviously. Is that what the fuck you're on about? And then he went, floating island. Possibly get a drop of that before you lock up. What? And then we had to explain to him in basic English. Yeah, yeah. Il flottant. Il flottant. Anyway, he said, it doesn't matter about the kitchen.

30:50I'll make them at the bar. Yeah, that made you nervous. Yeah. They're very rarely made at a bar. No. And then we watched him put up an ice cream container, an old ice cream container from a fridge. I didn't see any of this. And he put a big dollop that he got, which was the meringue, and then he put a custard in round it. So the custard's cold? Yeah, it's all cold. I know the meringue would be. Yeah, it's all cold. And then he got some almonds and just squirted them on there.

31:19Romesh Ranganathan:That sounds horrific. Yeah. I did not see any of that. That was, yeah, I was watching that. Did that not put you off a bit? Yeah, yeah. I mean, it did for a moment. I mean, you smashed it, though. Yeah. I mean, you absolutely ploughed through it. It didn't put you off that much. We shared it between three of us. Yeah. Well, I saw Josh and Rob have a little bit. But obviously... I took out most of the island. Yeah. I love Paris, but I fell in love with Paris. I've never been before. I have been. I've been to watch football. That's your only second time there? As a tourist, my first time actually knocking about.

31:51And I loved it. I fell in love with it. I was like you know and I will say this really adored the French had a great time chatting to some French people I found them to be that's one of the first times you've discussed being in a European country and actually liking the people I don't think I'm exaggerating I love the Portuguese the Italians yeah not the Greeks not the Bubbles no the French people are great I love them yeah there's no getting around there's a coolness to them an edge the way that Parisians dress it's a delight isn't it it's the only place that you can smoke and still look cool yeah when you walk down the street and see someone smoke you don't go ugh

32:37Romesh Ranganathan:I just think all of them like even the not the ones that you don't think have really made an effort there's just something about how they look I find they can there's very yeah they've just thrown on a pair of slacks and a shirt but it somehow looks so put together it's a city of contrast I'd say Paris because some of it is really beautiful. When you get off the Eurostar, the Gardenault station, around there, it's like fucking Mordor. It's fucking terrible Mordor. It's so bad. Fucking that is one of the scariest things I've been through. Mate, wow. On the way back, by the way, I wasn't as scared because I was with you.

33:10Yeah. So I thought, yeah, me and you, we get about a bit. Yeah. On the way back, and also we got straight into a car and drove off. Yeah. I mean, when a chauffeur comes and picks you up, it's very difficult to feel too alarmed me and Josh basically we couldn't get through the traffic due to the event that was going on so me and Josh had to jump out with our suitcases and make it through walk through Garden Hall for about 20 minutes and it was walking through Josh with Josh who had the biggest case, I thought your case was big by the way, Josh's case was he was pulling it on like that, it was nearly bigger than him it was insane I was like this is people are eyeing us up like we're taking them on yeah we haven't understood a chance there's four guys just in one corner trying to sell us cigarettes and I don't know what it is as soon as you're in a situation I became such a pussy

34:08Romesh Ranganathan:I know you can't help it you want cigarettes no no alright I don't smoke I used to smoke when I was younger I don't smoke anymore take the money anyway but keep the fags Yeah, yeah. Have my phone if you need it. It's pretty. Yeah, it is bad. And then when you get to the station, the stations... Oh, the stations are a pain in the arse. It's shabba rank. I always say, actually, going through... There was a lot of... Three different passport controls you've got to go through to get out of there. We had some... There were some biscuits, by the way, inside the... In the lounge. It was as good a biscuits that we've ever had in my life.

34:43Really? I'd speak to Josh. He was like... Did he have any? He had a couple. He at one point, and me and Josh are close, not as close as I am with you, obviously. Josh had to say to me, Tom, I don't think you can go up for more biscuits. How many did you have? I had four plates. Four plates? No, and say seven on each plate. Sorry, you had 28 biscuits? No, I was 21. On my fourth guard, Josh went. Oh, Josh said not to get the fourth plate. And Josh took quite a few back. It was quite sweet for his wife. He got them in a little tissue. They struggled to get biscuits in Exeter. I found that a really sweet little thing how did he say it to you to stop he said I don't think you can keep going up for biscuits but you can it's a lounge yeah but I was coming back because also there was no other food there I just don't believe you ate 21 biscuits easily had that yeah how big were they they're like that big

35:36Romesh Ranganathan:oh that's okay fine yeah but I actually Josh went up so far in Westmont he enjoyed the biscuits so much because we were just saying how beautiful these biscuits were he said I need to take some back for Rose. So he went back and he got this little handkerchief out and he filled them full of biscuits. I had a little bit of a... I thought it was really sweet. It is really sweet and also, when you see things like that, it does make you slightly reflect on... Your behaviour. Yeah, because, for example, Rob got Lou a nice gift while we were out there. Yeah, yeah. I mentioned it to Lisa that Rob had done that and the way she looked at me, it wasn't even disappointment, it was sort of like, and of course you didn't get me anything.

36:15Romesh Ranganathan:it was like that it was like really you know yeah yeah yeah and I was like oh should I I did get Catherine some stuff yeah that's what I'm saying you got Catherine some stuff from Nike didn't you I got some bits that she'd be like yeah so of the four of us there's only one person that went home completely empty handed I would say that Josh has Josh has picked up some fucking free biscuits as much as I found it romantic it's still I still but actually the way that Josh Winnick said it it was actually the thing that I found really out of all of the stuff actually the bag the stuff I bought Catherine he didn't cost but it was the way he said how much we were enjoying the biscuits his mind is immediately gone Rose would like these biscuits so to me I looked at Josh I love that shit that's actually that's a really nice gesture I love that shit whereas like I went to because Catherine's been after these bits from Skims I will say by the way I mean I took a bit of a batter of everything in Paris the Nike in Paris it's the best Nike I've ever been to yeah he kept saying that he said it I think I'm not exaggerating when I say I think that might be the 40th time I've heard you say that sentence when I first saw Josh when we first got there he came in and you do such a bit of Josh I can't even get in the ballpark of Josh he came in and he'd been out taking photos of Paris he's become a photographer so he comes in he's been culturally I mean he had a prep for lunch and he said where have you been and I said have you seen the Nike here and he went what I walked to the night town or and Adidas which I know that you didn't but why three no I know you told me about it yeah I was yeah I think you only mentioned that 23 times I was blown away by that yeah I know you were do you know I reckon I said to at least six or seven members of staff there this is incredible this this is the best night I've ever seen what's so good about it I think the clothing there was different also there's just an atmosphere just just say la vie in there.

38:14Do you know what I mean?

38:23I would sometimes wish, you know, you said about the kick, doing kick. Yeah. Because I was in Nike and there's a part of me that this is just who I am. There's also a part of me who realizes as I'm leaving, that was too much. Yeah. When I spoke to a guy about some trainers, when he had them, I shook his hand and said, I've been after these. and we're literally to talk to you about on the day four yeah yeah you're very excited yeah and then he had I said oh yeah and then when I was paying for the stuff I said this is this place is incredible and the guy went oh thank you I went no no we have one of these in London it's nowhere near as good so I'm chatting to him and I tried to use my French and you know merci beaucoup and he said oh yeah I said au revoir and then I shook his hand and sort of waved as I left and I could see him thinking this guy's so happy yeah I kind of want to have a kick with me just to then watch it and go because when I look back at it I think I want to be a little cooler in there I want to be a little bit more why though it's like sweet yeah but in my heart I was so full of happiness at that moment I've got caffeine the bits I wanted I've got me some bits I wanted a little Gracie some stuff I felt really happy in that moment and then but then I wanted to share that with someone that's why I tried to get it back as quick as I could to share it with you and then I'm sort of sharing it with people there and I'm just but these aren't people who are ever going to but then I hope the way I go cool remember that big guy I was in earlier he felt like what a moment for him but do you ever think if he had kick with you you'd go oh okay that wasn't as bad or god I probably had to pull back from shaking hands with members of why would kick help you with that because then you can see back everything oh I see right yeah but you don't have to put it on kick you just well you just have someone film me yeah I've become addicted to watching people who kick yeah I've been watching a lot of Beaver

40:09Romesh Ranganathan:yeah Beaver I don't know who you've talked about. He's the guy at the end of grief with recently, Sonny Reeves? Yeah. Yeah. But also the... Why do I know of these people? But everyone just thinks sort of Peevo's such a twat. That he... There's one, he's walking down the street and he sort of says, evening lads, and some guy's saying... I know, it gives him a bit of abuse. I've not seen that. And then... But then he sort of tried... It's not even like he's starting... He's going, why do you have to say things like that? I'm just trying to earn a living. I know. fuck me bro something like that yeah right Tom he's not ageing well is he Bevo I think he's I feel a bit sorry for him I feel sorry for him but he's not ageing well no he doesn't he doesn't look like he's I think he's stressed mate I think he's got high cortisol levels cortisol going through the fucking roof do you think there's a way that we could do like a sort of intervention with Bevo yeah I would like to see if there's a way of us our positivity and how we are if it could have it can have an impact on Bevo yeah maybe I think he's just too tied up in getting big on on kick now on whatever yeah do you think you could beat Bevo in a fight no really although he's got only one good arm hasn't he yeah so maybe Tom yeah we always like to build up to a big crescendo before you do your bit yeah and we've thrown in some Bevo chat yeah time for you to wrap us up baby okay So, Flint Rock was the most positive man in the world.

41:42No matter what happened to Flint Rock, he would find a positive spin. Someone would shout, hey Flint, your car's been broken into. Just another day, I guess I'll get another car. Hey Flint, it's raining and you've left all your clothes on the washing line. That means they've been washed twice, I guess. Always seeing the positive. The trouble of seeing the positive and putting a sunny spin on things for old Flint Rock meant that he was grinning the whole time, always smiling. And even when other people's luck churned, Oh, God, you won't believe it, Flint Rock. I've just been dubbed. Oh, plenty more fish in the sea.

42:18And not just fish, ladies as well, my friend. I'm gay, Flint. Then you'll find a man. The truth of the matter was, no matter where Flint went, he always found he had to be positive. so Flint found a place where he could be negative on his own he'd just sit there not wanting anyone to see the cracks in Flint's spirit so when he'd sit there at night he'd go, Flint you shilly billy why do you always try to be positive you should learn every now and again to see things bad you're an idiot Flint you are Flint Rock he starts scratching himself and pinching himself

43:03one day when flint was in a shake shack shack in a milkshake he passed over some change to the lady had ordered his favorite strawberry milkshake from she said uh oh that's seven pounds fifty he said oh there we go his sleeve just rolled up just a little bit further than normal. And she saw a little pinch mark. She said, oh, Flint, are you okay? Someone pinched? And Flint said, no, no, no, no, no, no. I pinched myself. And she said, Flint, why have you pinched yourself? He went, well, I'm always thinking positive, like I was about to say, this is the best milkshake I've ever had. And she went, isn't it, Flint?

43:47He went, no, it's not. The strawberries on, there's succulent and there's strawberry-ish as they usually are, and you've scrimped on the cream. And he felt a sense of relief. The lady said, oh, well, let me give you some more cream, Flint. She gave him some more cream. And then Flint went on his way, and as he walked outside, it was raining. He went, oh, fuck it, it's raining. I haven't got an umbrella. And so I said, oh, you might as well wait in here, Flint. So Flint sat down, and a lady came walking over, and she said, oh, is this seat table bacon he said oh yes no no she sat down said oh you flint rock he said yes mate for my for my shins she said oh was that a strawberry milkshake that's my favorite flavor he gave her a taste he said it's not as good as it usually is but she enjoyed it they chatted a while and he left with a phone number as he made his way home a puddle spread up and sprayed on his trousers and He went, yeah, you bloody bastard, to the driver.

44:47He felt good about that. Later that night, he called the lady he met in the soap shack, and they had a chat, and they had a laugh, and ended up getting married and having three kids. I've jumped her forward a little bit. I usually would. Truth is, that day, Flynn Rock learned a very important thing. He learned that actually being positive and not saying how you truly feel couldn't be as much of a pain as actually just saying how you feel. He learned that if he'd gone out in the rain and pretended it was okay, he'd never have met the love of his life. See, keeping things okay and letting things sit right sometimes can be the worst thing of all.

45:32So don't be like Finn Rock. Don't lock it down. Sometimes, let it out.

45:38Romesh Ranganathan:Really good, thank you. It's very rare that we get on this podcast a 50-50 ratio of podcast chat to Tom's story. But we've managed it today. Thank you so much for listening to the podcast. We'll see you for the email special. Peace.