The Flatmate from Japan Returns🚶‍♂️Travelling Tales & More [950]

Summary

Luke's ENGLISH Podcast – Episode 950

The Flatmate from Japan Returns 🚶‍♂️ Travelling Tales & More
Host: Luke Thompson
Guest: Peter Siddell
Date: August 25, 2025

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Episode Overview

In this engaging conversation episode, Luke reconnects with his old friend and former flatmate Peter, whom he first met during his early teaching years in Japan. Eleven years after Peter’s debut on the podcast (Episode 203), the two catch up and discuss Peter’s global adventures, cultural observations, experiences teaching English across continents, performing stand-up comedy, and reflections on life as a long-term expat. The chat is filled with humor, vivid anecdotes, language insights, and a deep dive into both mundane and bizarre travel experiences.

Key topics include:

• Reverse culture shock and returning to the UK
• Jet lag tips
• Comparisons between living in Japan, Malaysia, and Europe
• Travelling tales (from Latvia to Cambodia)
• Stand-up comedy customs and experiences
• Dealing with scams and weird encounters
• Teaching English: student differences across cultures
• Favorite Coen Brothers films and musings on cinema

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Main Discussion Points & Highlights

1. Reintroducing Peter & Catching Up (01:27–13:42)

• Luke’s Connection: Reminisces on their time as flatmates in a tiny Tsujido apartment in Japan, previous podcast episode (#203), and Peter’s evolving teaching/travel career.
• Peter’s Journey: Lives in Manchester → Japan (19 years) → Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (for nearly a year), still teaching English, Stand-up comedy fan, avid traveler.

Luke [09:59]: “So now, 750 episodes later, Peter, the flatmate from Japan, returns to the podcast for another friendly chat.”

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2. Dealing With Jet Lag (12:53–18:37)

• Peter’s Jet Lag Strategy:
  • "Stay up as late as possible, operate immediately in local time, switch phone clocks to destination time zones."
  • Admits finding it harder to recover as he gets older.
  • Avoids medication, prefers to trust his body.

Peter [14:00]: “As soon as possible, tell yourself it’s local time… I try not to medicalize things and just power through the jet lag.”

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3. Reverse Culture Shock & Observations Upon Returning to the UK (18:37–24:21)

• Advertising Differences: Shocked by UK TV's “forthright” and “sexualized” adverts compared to conservative Malaysia.
• Nature: UK's lush greenery still surprises both; Peter compares with Malaysia’s surprising urban jungles (e.g., KL’s mini rainforest, monkey sightings).
• What He Misses from UK:
  • Football (“I like my football and music”) – quality of live games and concerts.
  • UK’s live music scene is more vibrant and alternative than Malaysia’s, where "noisy rock" is rare.

Peter [24:21]: “I do miss being able to see good quality live football and good quality live music ..."

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4. Life in Malaysia vs. Japan & England (32:41–36:02)

• Seasons: KL is always hot and humid – “difference is one of degree, not substance.”
• Clothes & Stand-up Comedy Custom:
  • Only wears long trousers for work or on stage.
  • Stand-up taboo: no shorts unless it’s an intentional part of the act.
  • Performing in Malaysia: local audiences expect humor rooted in their experiences and ethnic stereotypes, which is tricky as an outsider.

Peter [35:18]: “Don’t miss [chilly weather] a bit, no… the only times I wear long trousers in Malaysia is to work or to be on stage.”

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5. Stand-up Comedy Around the World (36:02–45:02)

• Differences by Country:
  • In Japan: Mixed expat/local audience, so jokes are more general/personal.
  • In KL: Locals-for-locals, more inside jokes and ethnicity-based humor.
• Navigating Cultural Lines: Peter avoids jokes about local stereotypes and instead draws on personal and language-learning anecdotes.
• Bizarre Language Textbook Examples: (“The old man is almost dead”; “The hostage cannot move because his arms and legs are tied up.”)

Luke [42:42]: “Assistance on aisle five, there’s a nearly dead old man.”

Peter [43:28]: “The hostage cannot move because his arms and legs are tied up.”

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6. Travel Experiences & Weird Encounters (46:31–53:59)

• Travel Philosophy: Minimal research, explores by walking, follows “his nose” to experiences.
• Scam Encounters:
  • Paris: Beware of clipboard and bracelet scams, card games.
  • Asia: Fake monks selling charms in Thailand and Singapore.
  • India: Constant “grift,” aggressive sellers and scammers.
• Strange Incidents:
  • Got punched in a supermarket in Toulouse after refusing to buy ham for a stranger:

    Luke [66:41]: "You don’t just show them ham and punch them until they buy it for you.”

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7. Language and Teaching English (54:11–59:20)

• Student Differences:
  • Malaysia’s students: often from Middle East/Asia, more outgoing and engaged.
  • Japan’s students: excellent at grammar, but shy to speak; group dynamics defer to older members.
• Impact on Teaching: More direct student feedback in Malaysia (“brutally direct” Egyptian student), but makes lessons dynamic.
• English Proficiency Across Europe: Scandinavian and Baltic countries excel, thanks partly to education policy and exposure (TV undubbed).

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8. Favorite Places & Pop Culture (50:51–55:04; 81:05–93:26)

• Travel Favourites:
  • Riga (Latvia): Beautiful, trilingual locals.
  • Portugal: Looking forward to visiting, previously enjoyed Spain.
  • Norway: Luke excited for a fjord adventure “cabin with no shower” holiday.
• Favorite Coen Brothers Films:
  • Luke: Fargo (“Absolutely love it”), No Country for Old Men.
  • Peter: Miller’s Crossing (“Atmosphere and writing... glorious”).
• Coen Brothers Themes: Dark absurdity, incompetence, evil versus innocence.

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9. Living Light & the Joys of Minimalism (97:05–100:18)

• Embracing Minimalism: After the painful process of emptying his Japan apartment, Peter now travels with a single medium suitcase, buying and donating books as he goes.

Peter [99:27]: “I am making an effort not to accumulate stuff … I’m living out of a medium-sized suitcase at the moment, and that’s how I like it.”

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Notable Quotes

• On Culture Shock:

  “Coming back to the UK, everything seems strange and different and somehow familiar.”
  — Peter [18:57]

• On Malaysian Music Scene:

  “Noisy rock seems less common in Malaysia … in Southeast Asia generally there's a preference for pop music.”
  — Peter [27:44]

• On Travel:

  “I'm all about the experience; even seeing familiar things can be interesting.”
  — Peter [47:21]

• On Stand-up in Shorts:

  “You don’t look authoritative in shorts … if you go on stage in shorts, the audience is gonna think you look stupid. Why should we listen to you?”
  — Peter [37:23]

• On Language Books:

  “Orang tua itu, hampir mati. The old man is almost dead.”
  — Peter [42:42]

• On English Teaching:

  “In Malaysia, students are much more forthcoming … not afraid to speak, not afraid to make mistakes.”
  — Peter [56:13]

• On Travel Scams:

  “While you’re looking at the clipboard, someone behind you will be pickpocketing you.”
  — Luke [68:22]

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Noteworthy & Fun Moments (Timestamps Included)

• [15:46] Luke’s story of jet-lagged supermarket bike ride in Japan.
• [19:30] UK deodorant advert: “Boobs, balls, butts” – directness that shocks Peter.
• [24:50] Soccer in Malaysia: “The game was marred by a partial referee.”
• [36:26] Stand-up: Odd rule on shorts and knees—comedy's unspoken dress code.
• [43:08] The "hostage” Malay textbook example: "Assistance on aisle five, there’s a nearly dead old man."
• [64:44] Peter's “ham down the pants” incident in Toulouse supermarket.
• [68:22] Paris scam warnings: clipboard, bracelet, street games.
• [73:48] “Grift” tales from India: everyone’s got a hustle, even in airports.
• [79:59] Luke and Peter’s travel plans: Glasgow, Sky (Scotland), then Portugal and back to Asia.
• [83:46] White Russians and the Big Lebowski segue into favorite Coen Brothers films.
• [99:03] Peter’s post-Japan minimalist lifestyle: “I’m living out of a medium-sized suitcase at the moment…”

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Final Thoughts

The episode blends warmth, British wit, practical advice (travel, language, life), and keen cultural observations. It’s a lively companion for English learners and seasoned travelers alike, brimming with authentic banter, reflections on global living, and plenty of quirky tales that only a life of adventure can produce.

Recommended for:

• Learners seeking natural English conversation
• Listeners interested in global living, travel, and teaching
• Fans of stand-up comedy and Coen Brothers films
• Anyone craving a humorous, insightful window into expat life

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Further Listening

• Luke’s ENGLISH Podcast #203 – The Flatmate from Japan: Peter’s first appearance (recommended as a “prequel”)

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End of summary – for full stories, laughs, and language gems, listen to the full conversation or read the transcript linked in the episode description.

Transcript

[Luke]

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[Luke]

You're listening to Luke's English Podcast. For more information, visit TeacherLuke.com. Hello listeners and welcome back to my Podcast for Learners of English around the World, a podcast in which I aim to give you interesting things to listen to in order to make sure you get a steady stream of natural English input into your life. A bit like living next to a river, but a river which instead of having water in it, lovely fresh water, has lovely fresh English in it. So it's just there. You can just go out and just get some. Not that there's a shortage of English available in the world, but still, it's nice to live next to a lovely, fresh bubbling stream full of. Full of English. That's what it means to be a subscriber to Luke's English podcast. Anyway, this episode is a conversation episode and you can hear me talking to an old friend that I used to live with my old flatmate. And there is a full transcript available for this conversation. You'll find a link in the description. Is that clear? A link in the description either in your podcast app of choice or in fact, wherever you're listening to this, there's a link for the PDF transcript right there. You can just download it. You're welcome. So if you like, you could read along with us or just check it later if you want to consolidate the things you've heard or check that you understood Everything. And perhaps make note of any interesting vocabulary that comes up. And there are loads of little phrases, loads of little expressions and things that you could spot and collect if you want to. Let me just tell you about my guest and then we'll get started. So, as you may know, I used to live in Japan, right? I might have mentioned that once or twice before in the past. I spent several years in Japan at the beginning of my teaching career many years ago now. And it made a big impression on me, actually. I lived in this tiny little apartment that was provided by the company I was working for while I lived there that was a language school. And working for this language school, they kind of took care of things for the teachers, including finding you an apartment. And they would put you in an apartment probably with one or two other people. So the apartment I stayed in had two small bedrooms, a kitchen, dining, living room, which was one small room that combined those three things into one tiny space, which was quite funny. Whenever I had a guest over to the apartment, I used to enjoy giving the tour of the apartment, which basically involved standing in the middle of the room and just moving my arm across, pointing and saying, so there's the kitchen, there's the dining room, and this is the living room. And in, just in a. In a matter of two seconds, that was it, that the, the tour of the apartment was over. So it was a tiny, tiny apartment in a place called Tsujido in the Shonan area of Kanagawa in Japan. When I first arrived there, my first flatmate to be was already living in the apartment. And when I arrived, I had no idea who he would be. And I discovered him, you know, when I moved in. And he ended up being this English guy who, well, I found a little bit difficult to live with for various reasons, different habits he had and things he did. I won't go into all of the sordid details now, but it wasn't that great, okay. Then he left, he moved out. And for several wonderful months I had the whole apartment to. To myself. And then one day I received a letter from the company saying that they had found someone else to occupy the other room. So my time living alone in this flat was coming to an end. And after my previous experience living with my previous flatmate, I was frankly dreading living with another random flatmate again. Who would it be? Would I have another similar experience as the previous one? The letter told me that I was to be joined by someone called Peter from England. I had no idea who he was, and yes, I was quite nervous who would I get? What would he be like? Would he be the same as the previous flatmate? Would he have the similar dirty little habits and other things that he did, which I won't go into now? Or somehow worse? Could it be worse? I was a bit worried. Then the day came when Peter was supposed to move in. I was working late at the school on that particular day and I got a telephone call telling me that my new flatmate was stuck. He couldn't get into the apartment because he didn't have a key. For some reason, they hadn't given him his key. This is a fascinating story, isn't it, listeners? The drama. So I was told that I would have to meet him and let him in. He was waiting for me in the local McDonald's. And so, with some trepidation, I made my way there to the McDonald's in Tsujido train station. Apparently it doesn't exist anymore. Pity, they should have put up a monument to commemorate my first meeting with my old flatmate. Anyway, I went into the McDonald's and there, sitting at one of the tables surrounded by luggage, was Peter, my new flatmate. He was a bit older than me. In fact, he still is a bit older than me. He was and indeed still is from Manchester in England. And the more I got to know him, the more I realized, ah, this guy's all right. I got lucky. We had things in common. Similar tastes in music, films, comedy. And we got on pretty well. We had some really fun and memorable times in Japan together, including nights down at the local beach bars in places like Hayama, Sushi, Kamakura, Japanese listeners. Do you know those spots? Going to see the local football team, Shonan Belmare at their football stadium, trips to Tsukiji market in Tokyo, karaoke sessions, full moon parties with our colleagues, and shared experiences of trying to teach English to our local Japanese hosts. Later, I left Japan and went back to the uk, but Peter stayed and he ended up living there, but for 19 years, and we are still in touch. A few years ago, after not having seen Peter for about 11 years, he visited Paris and we met up again and I took the chance to do a podcast with him that is episode number 203 called the Flatmate from Japan. Have you heard it? If you haven't, you could listen to it after this if you enjoy it, as a sort of prequel to this episode. Then a couple of weeks ago, Peter visited Paris once more and we had lunch and coffee. But we didn't have time for a podcast, so we decided to do one Remotely instead, the following week with him in the UK at his parents house where he was staying and me in France. So now, 750 episodes later, Peter, the flatmate from Japan, returns to the podcast for another friendly chat. Just a bit of background information. As I said, Peter is originally from Manchester in England. He moved to Japan in, in 2003, lived there for about 19 years before moving to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia where he lives now. He's been living there for nearly a year. He's an English teacher. He's also interested in travelling. He loves travelling and he's been to lots of different places. He loves seeing live music. He also does stand up comedy. So as you can see, we do have things in common which I hope will lead to a fun, an interesting conversation for you today which is going to start in just a moment. So let's catch up with Peter again for a conversation which covers a lot of his interests, his traveling experiences, reverse culture shock when going back to the uk, dealing with jet lag experiences of living and teaching English in Japan and Malaysia, seeing live music in different countries, performing stand up comedy for different audiences, getting punched in a supermarket in Toulouse, avoiding scam artists while traveling and randomly, our favorite films by the Coen brothers. Again, full transcript available link in the description there are loads of little phrases that you could pick up from this, so scan the script to see what you might have missed or just enjoy listening to this friendly chat with my old mate Peter. And here we go. Hello Peter. Welcome back onto the podcast.

[Peter]

Thank you, Luke. Good to be back. Pleasure to be here.

[Luke]

Yeah, it's, I think it's about 750 episodes.

[Peter]

Wow.

[Luke]

Since you were last on the show, I can remember.

[Peter]

Yeah, you have been busy because that was, that was back in 2014, I think.

[Luke]

Okay. So yeah, it's about 11 years ago. That's funny because when I last saw you, it was about 11 years since I'd seen you the previously.

[Peter]

Right.

[Luke]

And now 11 years later, we're doing it again. So for some reason, every 11 years we have to do this.

[Peter]

All right? We've set the pattern, we've got a precedent. So 2036, you'll have to come and find me wherever I am.

[Luke]

Yeah. Where do you reckon you'll be in 2036? Any idea?

[Peter]

I couldn't tell you. I have no idea. You know, 11 years ago I had no idea I'd be living in Malaysia. Eleven years before that I wouldn't have thought I'd have been living in Japan. So there really is no telling.

[Luke]

Who knows who knows where you'll be? Anyway, how are you doing today?

[Peter]

Doing well, mate. Yeah. I've been staying with my family for a while, but tomorrow I'm pleased to be heading out and going to visit Stratford on Avon for a few nights.

[Luke]

Yeah, very nice. Shakespeare's hometown. Yeah.

[Peter]

Gonna see some Shakespeare stuff. Not. Not sure I'll go and see any actual stage plays in Stratford because a look online suggests that they are wildly expensive, it seems dedicated to extracting money from tourists.

[Luke]

Yeah, probably, yeah. Yeah. That's a pity because I mean, they've got a couple of nice theaters there. There's this, the Swan theater.

[Peter]

Yeah.

[Luke]

Which is kind of like in the round.

[Peter]

Yes.

[Luke]

Which is an interesting thing. You know, the audience is all around the. The stage.

[Peter]

Yeah. That's a good way to see drama.

[Luke]

Yeah, it is. Last time you were on the show, as I said, About 750 episodes ago, you were really, you were really jet lagged. You did really well to maintain your focus during the conversation, but you did start flagging near the end. So you were really jet lagged then, but you're not jet lagged now. You've kind of got over your jet lag since coming to the UK this time, I think.

[Peter]

Yeah, it's been a while. I actually came to Europe something like eight or nine weeks ago. I traveled in Spain and France for six weeks. Caught up with yourself at a nice restaurant then? Yeah, maybe it was a bit strange old thing. Like I. My parents had planned to go on a cruise, so my plan had been stay with my sister for a week, then visit Switzerland for a week, then come and stay with my parents after they had had their cruise and recovered a bit. So that's more or less what happened. I went to England, did my week in Switzerland, and for the last week and a half been staying with my mother. So I am very solidly in UK time.

[Luke]

Okay. How do you deal with jet lag? Because you are someone who kind of travels quite a lot and living in Japan, living in Malaysia these days that does involve traveling quite long distances sometimes. How do you deal with jet lag and do you have any kind of tips for recovering from jet lag or dealing with it?

[Peter]

I've been finding it's getting more difficult as I get older, as we all are. So, like, especially like traveling east to west, so from Asia to Europe, time was I'd be able to just like stay up extra late for one night and I was in European time straight away. It takes longer these days. Like, I still think not sleeping is the Key just when you arrive, tell yourself it is this time, it is local time. Then try to stay in that time as much as is possible as soon as you arrive. So this time. Yeah, I flew from Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia to Madrid, landed about 8pm which would have been very late for me, and then stayed up as late I could each night. But it took me maybe four or five days to completely acclimatize to Spanish time. I did find myself waking up early and flagging in mid evening for a few days. Going the other way, I would say the same as soon as possible, tell yourself it's local times. So in the middle of September I'm going to be flying from Lisbon to Tokyo via Abu Dhabi. So as soon as I get on the plane in Abu Dhabi, I'm changing my phone to Tokyo time. So then my head will be thinking, ah, it is this time. And when I arrive in Tokyo, with luck and justice, I will be used to it.

[Luke]

Yeah, but it's, it's extra hard going that direction, isn't it? Going from west to east for some reason it is extra punishing. I remember going from England to Japan the second time and trying to kind of function normally straight away. I remember going, taking my bike, my mama Chari, hey, that I used to have mama cherry, this big sort of housewives bicycle that used to ride around, taking that down to the local supermarket, filling up the baskets of my bike with stuff and then riding back. And I got so suddenly so drowsy and so lightheaded that I couldn't ride the bike. I got all dizzy on the bike and I had to just. I remember pushing this bike back to my apartment. It was suddenly such a struggle. It was. I was hit by this wall of jet lag and. Yeah, but going the other direction is not so bad for some reason I guess you're going against the. Is it that you're going against the rotation of the earth or something like that? Is that what it is?

[Peter]

I think, I think it's just more disorienting going from west to east because you sleep and you wake up and suddenly it's evening. So it's like 8pm and you're Hey, awake. Yeah, I mean when I arrived first in Japan and like we were sharing that apartment, I had never been to Asia before. I had like no clue how to deal with it. So I just arrived in Japan. Hey, look at this. And I remember like one time you saw me just curled up on my futon in the middle of the afternoon because I had just been knocked over by the same thing. By that wall of jet lag.

[Luke]

Yeah.

[Peter]

Suddenly it just became impossible to stay awake. My body said no sleep time.

[Luke]

Yeah, exactly. You just shut down. But you're right, the best way is just to as soon as possible start operating on local time. Make your mind think that it is local time and just, you know, adapt as much as you can. I've heard that there are things you can take. I can't remember what it is now, but apparently you can sort of take drops or pills even that kind of help you adapt. Something to do with sunlight. So what's the word? What's. There's a chemical, isn't that.

[Peter]

Is that melatonin?

[Luke]

Melatonin, right. I've heard that you can take melatonin. That helps. Not sure if it's true.

[Peter]

Yeah, I would be wary of doing that. I just like trust my body to know what it's doing. And as much as possible, I try not to medicalize things and not to take medicine when my body is able to deal with it by itself.

[Luke]

Yeah.

[Peter]

So I just power through the jet lag until I'm in the right time.

[Luke]

Yeah, that's the thing, that's the key. So you're back in the UK then, after. I mean, you do visit occasionally, but most of your time is spent these days in Malaysia. But yes, a long time in Japan as well. But being back in the UK now, what strikes you as being different? Do you ever get that feeling of reverse culture shock?

[Peter]

It's a weird one, isn't it? Because first Japan and now Malaysia, they became my points of reference. So when I go anywhere I'm comparing it with Malaysia now. So coming back to the uk, everything seems strange and different and somehow familiar. So it's an odd one. Something that has jumped out at me straight away is the advertising on tv.

[Luke]

Huh.

[Peter]

It has. It has become much more forthright.

[Luke]

Yeah. Really?

[Peter]

Yes. There's a advert on TV for like an all over deodorant body spray. And like in big letters on the screen they're saying boobs, balls, butts.

[Luke]

Yeah. Really?

[Peter]

Yes. And people are like spraying this spray down their pants and people are sniffing each other's butts and crotches and it's

[Luke]

very weird because you wouldn't get that in Malaysia. Something so blatantly, so outrageously kind of sexualized.

[Peter]

Exactly. It is a much more conservative society. So that was a surprise for me.

[Luke]

Yeah. It must be weird for some visitors going to the UK where you do see things like that that seems. Seem so kind of Sexually explicit or permissive. Certain things about our culture must be so kind of shocking. Exactly, yeah. I remember going after living in Japan, you know, for a relatively short time, really, compared to how long you've been living away.

[Peter]

Yeah.

[Luke]

And I'd been away for maybe 18 months, and I went back in August and I was struck by how. How green everything is, even in London. And I'd been living, you know, just outside Tokyo, and, yeah, just how kind of green everything is always strikes me. Even now I live in Paris, which is not really that far away. But, yeah, going back to England, everything seems so lush and green. And even in towns like Warwick, where my parents live, or other towns in England, you get this sense that there's so much greenery that's growing. You see kind of brick walls and there's moss growing on the wall or there are, you know, there's pavements and then at the edge of the pavements there's grass growing out from the gaps and things. It always seems so kind of lush. Do you get that feeling as well?

[Peter]

I do, absolutely, yeah. Like we've. We've had warm, dry, sunny weather for the last few days, but then a couple of days ago, like, the rain came back. And I think that the climate does impact that because I live in Hemel Hempstead, like a new town suburb of London. It is very residential. But everywhere there's trees and bushes and little patches of grass and playing fields and open spaces. Like five minutes walk away, I've got the village green, where you've got people playing cricket in good weather. And that, that is ringed by trees. So it is everywhere. I think it. It doesn't jump out as me as much now because Malaysia is also staggeringly green. Kuala Lumpur is like a very urbanized. But also like everywhere in kl, you've got lush greenery. There's like a big, big park and botanical garden. Even the busy, busy roads have got trees and grasses along the side of them. I remember, first time I visited, I took a picture, which I'm still entertained by. So in the background you've got like the Petronas Towers and KL Tower, and in the foreground you've got a big patch of green, like grassy land with a couple of cows grazing on it.

[Luke]

Wow. Yeah. Isn't it true that there is a. There's technically a rainforest within a building there? I read about it.

[Peter]

Possibly. I don't know that it's within a building, but certainly at the base of KL Tower there is a small patch of rainforest yeah. Which I have done a little walking tour of. It isn't big, it doesn't take long to get around. But it is wild, it is lush and there are like monkeys living in it.

[Luke]

Right. Do you see the monkeys then?

[Peter]

Sometimes when I went there, I did, yeah.

[Luke]

Okay. What kind of monkeys are they?

[Peter]

Small ones? I don't know exactly what kind, but yeah, they're. They're just small little things. Not, not like, not big, like, not gibbons or apes or chimpanzees or anything like that.

[Luke]

Right.

[Peter]

Possibly Mechax.

[Luke]

Right. Just kind of steal your lunch kind of.

[Peter]

Little.

[Luke]

Little ones.

[Peter]

Yes.

[Luke]

Yeah. Okay. Going back to the UK then. Do you miss anything about the uk? I mean you, you live away, you know, long term now, so, you know, you've obviously chosen to live away from the place. But is there anything that you miss?

[Peter]

A couple of things, yeah. I mean I like my football and I like my music and I do miss being able to see good quality live football and good quality live music. In Japan we could go see the local team, we could go see Shonan Belmonte and wasn't premiership quality, but it was fun to be in the stadium and be among the fans and get the atmosphere.

[Luke]

Yeah.

[Peter]

I, I've been to one game in Malaysia. I. I made a friend who actually works for the Asian Soccer Federation and so she scored us a couple of tickets for like the, the Kings cup final. Like the equivalent of the FA cup final that was held at the National Stadium. 70, 000 people. And it was full, it was rammed.

[Luke]

Yeah.

[Peter]

In England, the game is the spectacle. So we go and we watch the game and we sing our sweary violent songs. Yeah. In certainly this game it was more like entertainment. So there was a pregame show with singing and dancing and like even an hour and a half before the game started, before kickoff, they were just blasting this mad loud music everywhere in the stadium. So me and my friend, we couldn't actually talk with each other because the music was so loud.

[Luke]

Wow.

[Peter]

Yeah. The game, well, the game was marred by a partial referee.

[Luke]

A partial referee? Yeah.

[Peter]

Like the referee seemed to be favoring the big side.

[Luke]

Oh, so the referee was kind of biased to, to the, to the big team.

[Peter]

Yeah.

[Luke]

All right. That's not good, is it?

[Peter]

It wasn't? No. Because you had like the, the main team which were. I forgot their name and like another mid table team called Telanganu. And this is something that jumped out at me as well because Kuala Lumpur is very multicultural. In Malaysia it's something like 70 or 80% Malay people, 20 Chinese, 10 Indian. That's not exactly right. But loosely those are the proportions. But like the Chinese and the Indians are concentrated in the main cities, but Telanganu is out in the countryside. It's in the northeast of the country. It's pretty rural. So when I was on the train going to the stadium with the Tulenganu Fans, it was 100% Malay people. Yeah. So that really jumped out at me.

[Luke]

Right, yeah. You gave you an idea of the kind of ethnic makeup of the country.

[Peter]

That's right, yeah. Because like I've traveled to a few places around Malaysia, but only really to the like, bigger and more built up cities and towns. So I've not been out to the real like countryside, more remote areas.

[Luke]

Okay, so football and music. So they don't. Do they not have the same kind of live music scene over there?

[Peter]

I'm slowly finding it. But I mean like, for example, like in, in, in Japan, in Tokyo or in England, there's like lots of music happening everywhere all the time. I can find lots of noisy rock that I like. Noisy rock seems less common in Malaysia. Like in Southeast Asia generally there's a preference for pop music. So like rock is generally rock of the kind I like. The weird, noisy psychedelic stuff is very much a minority taste. I have found a couple of bands. There was one band I saw, it was, it was fantastic. It was a bunch of like middle aged Indian men playing noisy, noisy hard rock.

[Luke]

Wow.

[Peter]

It was fantastic.

[Luke]

Oh, that's great.

[Peter]

It does exist. I'm finding like a few bands that I'd be interested to go and see. But yeah, like the scene seems to be much more about pop and jazz and classical, less about horrible noisy rock.

[Luke]

I wonder why that is. Why horrible noisy rock is not. Yeah. Sweeping the nation.

[Peter]

It's much easier to find in Japan.

[Luke]

Yeah.

[Peter]

In, in Tokyo I could go on tokyoguide.com and have no trouble finding noise or abstract or experimental. And I would happily gamble 2 or 3,000 yen on a concert just for the sake of actually going to the show and being in the space and having the experience of seeing the live music. And fairly often it would be good and sometimes it would not be.

[Luke]

But it's interesting that in Japan you do find all this kind of alternative music. You know, it's a really vibrant scene for all different types of alternative music. Yeah. And yet apparently in Kuala Lumpur this is not so much the case. And what, I wonder why, what could be the reason for that?

[Peter]

No idea. Like just speculating off the top of my head, it could be outside influence. Japan was not. Not completely occupied by the us, but there's like, in the post war years, there'd have been a heavy US influence on, like, Japanese social culture, just from the presence of troops, bringing all their food and music and movies and what have you.

[Luke]

Yeah.

[Peter]

So that. That is one possibility.

[Luke]

Yeah. Similar to the UK in a way, because post war, the UK was flooded by American pop culture and that includes a lot of our music. And so you've got a kind of rock and roll scene which. Which sort of developed into its own thing with stuff like Mersey Beat in Liverpool and other forms. And in fact, what eventually happened is that the UK sent American music and culture back to America and was very successful with that. You can sort of see how Japan was influenced in a similar way as well, and. And as a result, kind of like expanded into these different genres of music.

[Peter]

Yeah, I can see that.

[Luke]

Going back to the UK again one more time. Are there things that you don't miss about Britain, about life in England?

[Peter]

I don't get tired of being warm. I like that.

[Luke]

Yeah.

[Peter]

Yeah. So it does rain in kl, but it's generally a quick downpour at the end of the afternoon.

[Luke]

Yeah. I was going to ask actually what the kind of seasons are like, because, you know, in England, of course, winter, cold, dark, often wet, you don't see the sun for a good three or four months, it feels like. And then spring comes along. Spring is wonderful. It's never really that hot, but you get showers and sunshine and everything comes to life. Summer is typically dry and hot, although you do get summer rain. And then the autumn things cool down. You can get lovely sunshine and stuff like that, but it's generally sort of dry in the summer and wet in the winter. Japan, it's kind of the opposite. So in winter, it's often very dry. It's cold, but it's extremely dry. The sky is often beautifully blue. And then you get. After a lovely sunny spring, you get that kind of rainy season where for a month it rains all the time. It gets more and more humid, and then the summer arrives and it's boiling hot. Really humid and really difficult, I found. And then big storms happen at the end of summer, you get all these big storms and stuff and a lot of rain and wind and electrical storms, and then you kind of go back to that dry, colder weather. What about in. In Malaysia, then?

[Peter]

It's tropical. It's hot and humid all the time.

[Luke]

Whoa. Okay.

[Peter]

Mildly humid. Like not. Not anything. Like as humid as the Japanese summer Because that was horrendous. Yeah, I. I have, I have because I've been to, like, I live in Malaysia, I've been to Singapore, Vietnam, Myanmar, Thailand. And I have never, ever suffered humidity as badly as Kyoto in summer. It was rank. I wasn't dry for a week.

[Luke]

Yeah, it's horrible. Yeah. I remember in Japan, people would even, you know, I heard people talking about, I would ask my students, like, how do you deal with this kind of hot, humid weather? Constantly asking the students, you know, for their advice and their experiences. And people would talk about your clothes because they get damp. Even your clothes. The clothes in your cupboards would get damp and they would even get moldy. So I would hear about people having mold grow on their clothes. And so they would buy silica gel in large bags and put silica gel in their cupboards and things to absorb all of the moisture.

[Peter]

Yeah, I can totally see that. Because until I came back in May, I was like, renting a room in a shared apartment in Kuala Lumpur and I kept a few things just in a suitcase on top of the wardrobe. And when at the start of May, I came to open the suitcase. Yeah, there was mold growing on a couple of things.

[Luke]

Yeah, I mean, that's crazy for us, you know, it's just like something that never happens. You never experienced that. But yeah, that was a. That was a weird thing. So, okay, so it's. It's hot and humid, then all year round you don't get like a. It's not seasonal. You don't get colder periods and, and warmer periods. It's just more or less kind of the same thing all the time.

[Peter]

More or less the same year round. I haven't clocked the seasons completely yet because I haven't lived a complete year yet in Malaysia. But there are times of year when it gets slightly hotter and slightly more humid and it rains a bit more. But the difference is one of degree, not actual substance.

[Luke]

Yeah. Okay. Okay. All right.

[Peter]

Basically, it's. It's more or less the same year round.

[Luke]

So you don't miss that feeling of always being a bit chilly in England or being in your home and there being a draft coming from a window and having to, like, put on an extra layer or pair of socks to keep yourself warm. You don't have to worry about that, do you?

[Peter]

Don't miss that a bit, no. The only times I ever wear long trousers in Malaysia is to work or to be on stage.

[Luke]

Those are the only times on the stage.

[Peter]

Yeah.

[Luke]

When you're doing a stand up.

[Peter]

Yeah. No shorts.

[Luke]

No shorts on stage. Is that. Why not?

[Peter]

It's. It's kind of an unspoken rule in stand up. The feeling is that if you're gonna wear something on stage that doesn't look the same as the audience, then it needs to be part of the act.

[Luke]

Meaning if they can see your knees, you need to make a joke about it.

[Peter]

Yeah, something like that. So if I go on stage wearing a funny hat, then I. I need to talk about the hat. Otherwise the audience is going to be thinking, why is he wearing that hat? And be distracted from my fantastic jokes.

[Luke]

Right. Yeah. Okay. And similarly, if you go up there with funny looking knees, you have to make sure that your material is funnier than the knees that they can see.

[Peter]

Exactly. Yeah. And my knees are pretty funny.

[Luke]

So. Really knobbly. Knobbly knees.

[Peter]

Yep. Yeah. Your audience should be glad that this is only your audio recording.

[Luke]

Yeah. There's no camera. There's no knee camera for this. No, no. Yeah. Okay. I only ever did stand up in shorts once.

[Peter]

Yeah.

[Luke]

And yeah, I bombed. Maybe that's it. Maybe because they could see my knees and they were like, well, look, we just can't laugh at your jokes, Luke, because for some reason, if we can see the lower half of your legs, then doesn't matter what you're saying, no matter how hilarious, it's just not going to work.

[Peter]

It's funny that I have done that occasionally. So on some of the few occasions I've performed in shorts, I have like made a joke about the legs. Yeah. So front row ladies, hold yourselves back. I don't feel safe.

[Luke]

Yeah, right.

[Peter]

Like, I don't think that's all the psychology. I think there may be something about I. You. You don't look authoritative in shorts.

[Luke]

Yeah. It's true, isn't it?

[Peter]

So if you go on stage in shorts, the audience is going to think you look stupid. Why should we listen to you?

[Luke]

Yeah. You haven't made an effort.

[Peter]

I.

[Luke]

Right, you've got to make an effort. This is true. You have to be presentable. If you're going to go up on stage and expect people to listen to you, you've got to make some effort.

[Peter]

Yeah.

[Luke]

At least covering your legs at least. Yeah.

[Peter]

I mean, it's not. Not in every case. There's a comedian, Irish guy who's based in Bangkok, but I saw him when he came to Malaysia, guy called Wes Dalton and being like wacky and very energetic and friendly and smiley and really way talking to the audience is his act. So for him, like the shorts and the bright shirt Works because like that it matches his on stage Persona.

[Luke]

Right.

[Peter]

But for most people that wouldn't work, like if like Jimmy Carr in shorts wouldn't work because he needs to be dressed like in a way that matches his high status act.

[Luke]

Right, that's it. It's about status, isn't it? Often the comedian is sort of playing with status. You need to at least be able to control that, that sense of status or you need to come across as high status before you can do something with it. Sure. But yeah, Jimmy Carr very much a high status performer and he, yeah, he's, he, you know, he's dressed in a suit, he looks really classy. And that's all part of the mechanisms for how his comedy works.

[Peter]

It is, exactly. Yeah. Like congruence is key. So like the, the jokes and the look and the delivery, everything has to be one package.

[Luke]

So you, you're still doing stand up. Now in Malaysia, do you find it to be a different sort of experience performing in front of a Kuala Lumpur crowd?

[Peter]

Yes, I do. Because in Japan, for example, Tokyo is not an English speaking city. So the audience is going to be like expats, some tourists, some English speaking Japanese. So you never know who's going to be in front of you. So you have to go very general or very personal. And Kuala Lumpur, it is an English speaking city, so overwhelmingly it's locals performing for locals. So a majority of the humor really plays into local knowledge. So like, and there's a lot of humor about ethnic stereotypes.

[Luke]

Okay.

[Peter]

But as a foreigner I can't really do that, partly because I don't know the stuff and partly because I don't have any credentials with a local audience. So if the ethnic Indian guy goes on stage and says, yeah, I was talking with my Chinese friend and I made fun of him being like greedy and he made fun of me being a drunkard, then this is okay because it's a local guy saying it and they are allowed to reference those stereotypes. But if I go on stage and say, hey, Malaysian people are lazy, aren't they? Nope. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, can't do that.

[Luke]

Yeah, it's got to be from the inside sort of thing.

[Peter]

Exactly, yeah.

[Luke]

So what do you find works then? What do you, what, what stuff do you end up talking about?

[Peter]

It has to be like very personal and a lot of those kind of more abstiners that I do don because like Malaysian audiences used to a different kind of humor. So they like puns, they like jokes that are like based in their local Social culture. I did one good bit that would work about my experience learning the Malay language. I haven't got the notes to hand, but basically the thought was that as you progress learning a language, the examples that are given in your textbook reflect the culture of the society. Because I did two sessions of 10 lessons of Malay language and in the Level 2 book, some of the examples were weird. I cannot imagine why people would be having this kind of conversation. I remember a couple of them. I can't remember the Bahasa Malayu, so that's kind of failed. But these are the true examples from my Level 2 Bahasa Malay book which I would use on stage. So example number one. I remember the Bahasa Malayu, Orang tua itu, Hampila mati. The old man is almost dead.

[Luke]

Oh, yeah, yes. Just normal everyday conversations. The sort of high frequency, high frequency language that you'd need.

[Peter]

Rarely do I go to the supermarket without commenting on a old man that's nearly dead.

[Luke]

Yeah, right, exactly. Did you find everything you needed in the supermarket today? Oh, yes, I did, thanks. Oh, and by the way, the old man is nearly dead. Oh, thanks for letting us know. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Peter]

Assistance on aisle five. There's a nearly dead old man.

[Luke]

Right. He's back again.

[Peter]

Yeah, yeah, quite so. There was that and another example for which I really don't remember. The Bahasa I was reading from notes on stage. The hostage cannot move because his arms and legs are tied up.

[Luke]

Oh, okay. Also very useful because you never know, do you? You never know when you're going to have to deal with a hostage negotiation.

[Peter]

When you're on a bound hostage while you're walking to the supermarket.

[Luke]

Yeah. It's like, be careful. Yeah. There's a hostage there on the floor. Yeah. And he can't move because his legs are. Arms and legs are tied together. Wow, that is a, that's really weird thing to put in a language learning course book, isn't it?

[Peter]

Yeah, yeah, it was strange. So like I, I'd run through that, I'd run through the idea, then I'd. What I had, I had some true examples and some examples that I made up. So I would read them out and get the audience to guess, is this a true example? Is it one that I made up and about a 50, 50 strike rate.

[Luke]

That is really odd. That is really, really odd. I wonder why, why would they end up putting stuff like that in their coursebook? And it wasn't like, it wasn't a specific module for dealing with kidnapping scenarios.

[Peter]

No. Like the modules were Based around a grammar point or a language point. So you'd be reading like normal examples that you might use, then suddenly come across these insane things.

[Luke]

Okay, that's pretty weird. Yeah, it's definitely pretty weird.

[Peter]

That one was in a lesson about the passive form. Okay, so his hands and legs were bound is an example of the passive structure.

[Luke]

Right. It's certainly memorable. I mean, you know, I guess the context is memorable whether you actually learned that you remember the first one. You don't remember how to say that in. In Malay though, do you? The second one, I don't know.

[Peter]

So I'll just have to cross my fingers and hope it doesn't arise.

[Luke]

Yeah, let's hope so. So you never have to deal with that. Yeah. Okay.

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[Luke]

I was going to ask you about traveling. You do like traveling. You go to lots. Yeah, you look. You go to lots of different places whenever you can. Do you have a particular. Well, actually, first of all, what's the appeal of doing that, then just going off to some place you'd never been to? Like recently you went to Switzerland. Out there in Asia, you mentioned some of the countries you've visited. This might be a really stupid, obvious question, but what is the appeal of just going to a place that you've never been before?

[Peter]

Experience. Yeah, experience. Seeing new things, getting to know a place. Just like sort of feeling the. The air and the music and the food. I'm all about experience. So, like seeing new things, even seeing familiar things can be interesting. If you're going back to it.

[Luke]

Yeah.

[Peter]

I remember, like, when I first left the uk, I traveled for six months around Canada, Australia, New Zealand. And before that I'd been living in Manchester about 12 or 13 years and kind of got used to it. It was where I lived and worked and went to the gym and what have you. But then after six months away, when I went back to Manchester, I was viewing it with a traveler's eye as an outsider. So I would actually pay attention to all the cool, interesting things that were happening, which I hadn't noticed before because I was just busy living my life. So I like to go to a place and just follow my nose and get a feel for what makes it tick.

[Luke]

Do you have a particular routine when you arrive in a new place?

[Peter]

I often do very little research before I go. Yeah. So I'll. I'll go to a place then. I'll. For example, I'll go to the main art museum and pick up a load of flyers for all the other, like, museums and galleries there are. I'll see if I can find a record shop and see what flyers there are or posters for bands or events that are going on. If there's a big tower up to go up, then I'll go up the big tower just to get a feeling for how the city or the town is laid out. Often I'll just go for a good walk around the main parts of the town and, like, get lost. Follow my nose down the street that has something that looks interesting. I will feel my way into a place on the ground.

[Luke]

Yeah, yeah. Have you ever ended up in some sort of weird situation? Because you often go into these places, there's a bit of unknown. There's an unknown element. And also, often when traveling, what you want is to meet some people and to kind of get to know people. And a lot of the time you just don't know where you are or what's going on, but you're kind of exploring. Have you ever, ever ended up in some sort of weird situation?

[Peter]

I'll come back to weird. Can't think of anything weird off the top of my head. In. In Copenhagen once I was like, we're just walking around the city in the evening, and in the middle distance I heard a kick drum, so I thought I should go and investigate that. And like, a few minutes walk away, down by the river, some people had set up some decks and we're having a little party.

[Luke]

Nice.

[Peter]

So there was. There was some techno being played, a bunch of people dancing. There was a food stand so you could get Some food and chill out by the water, listening to the music, watching people dance. So I got talking to a couple of people there, like a friendly Danish guy called Jorst talked with One of the DJs, a guy called Carsten, and they invited me to, like, a lounge night. They were having a hotel in the red light district.

[Luke]

Oh, interesting.

[Peter]

So. So that was groovy. So I just, like went down there and hung out at the hotel. Listening to the music.

[Luke]

Yeah.

[Peter]

Like, I asked if they wanted to dj, but they said no.

[Luke]

Okay. They've got that covered.

[Peter]

They did have, yeah.

[Luke]

Where are some of the best places you've been then? As a traveler? What are some of the best traveling experiences you've had?

[Peter]

Oh, I enjoy most places. So. Loved Riga. Riga was really beautiful. That's in Latvia. It's very interesting city because there's the old town, there's an art deco district, there's a sketchy district where a kind of black market goes on. There's also a gigantic Stalinist building. Very brutal in its architecture.

[Luke]

Yeah.

[Peter]

In a way that. In a way that I find quite enjoyable. I don't mind, like a big concrete slab.

[Luke]

It's an interesting spot, isn't it, that, you know, the. The. These Baltic nations are quite fascinating, really. It's an interesting combination of different cultures and influences.

[Peter]

They are. Yeah. Like young people in Latvia, I guess, in the other Baltics, grow up trilingual. They are brought up and taught in their schools to speak Latvian and Russian and English. So with a guy I met on a walking tour, I went to a bar where they were doing two for one mojitos, got talking with a couple of local Latvian women who spoke flawless English.

[Luke]

It's impressive. How do they manage that, then? I mean, because, you know, there are. We. We know that there are certain nations in the world who just are just really good at English. Like, probably the Scandis are the ones we think of. Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia. These places are right. Sort of right next door to these countries. Is it a similar story there? Is their English also really good?

[Peter]

It is, yeah. So I think it seems to be a northern European thing. Yeah.

[Luke]

What's the. What's going on there?

[Peter]

Germany, Netherlands also have excellent English.

[Luke]

Yeah.

[Peter]

Education. I mean, like, these places have progressive governments that know that it is useful for people to be able to speak English.

[Luke]

And also I think part of it is television as well. Right. Which is what we think of in Norway and Sweden. Denmark, I think they show a lot of shows in English which are not dubbed into the local language. Like in France, it's a law that things have to be dubbed and they're protecting the French language by doing that. But a lot of people say, a lot of French people say that this is actually part of the reason why maybe the level of English in France is not as competitive as it is in other parts of Europe, especially northern Europe, as you've said.

[Peter]

Yeah. You know, makes sense somewhere else I went either Spain or Switzerland. I was told the same movies are dubbed.

[Luke]

Yeah, I think it makes a huge difference. But I suppose these days with the Internet, that's probably less and less of a, an issue. And I have noticed in France, the level of English among young people is definitely getting better. I think the Internet makes a huge difference.

[Peter]

Yeah, this is a good thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't think it's going to change overnight, but I think that that is having an influence, I'd imagine.

[Luke]

I think generally the level of English around the world is improving because of the Internet. I mean, you know, podcasts and stuff, but also just Netflix and the general homogeneity of, of, you know, of culture and the accessibility of it. You know, there used to be a time when it was really hard for people to access a lot of listening content in English. And these days it's just everywhere.

[Peter]

Yeah, I mean, in that way, like the Internet has been a game changer because, like, there's The Spotify, there's YouTube, there's all of this. It has made everything accessible everywhere.

[Luke]

So teaching English in, in Malaysia, do you find it to be a different experience to teaching in Japan? What's the.

[Peter]

Oh yes.

[Luke]

What are your students like? What kind of issues do they have with English compared to, let's say, Japanese students?

[Peter]

Again, it's a very different market we're playing to because Malaysia is largely a English speaking country. But what's happening is this. In, in China, in the Middle east, in North Africa, in Central and Eastern Asia, there's a lot of people who want to study English, many of them because they need ielts to be able to go to university in an English speaking country. But to go to England or to go to Australia and study English is madly expensive and often not possible because of the visa issues. But Malaysia is cheap and very generous with its visas. So a lot of those people come to Malaysia in order to learn English. So there's a lot of language centers have sprung up in Kuala Lumpur to meet that market. So mostly the students are Saudi, Yemeni, Chinese, Korean.

[Luke]

Okay. And do you find that as learners of English Are they quite different to the average Japanese student?

[Peter]

Yeah, they are much more forthcoming. So not afraid to speak, not afraid to make mistakes.

[Luke]

How does that affect your lessons?

[Peter]

It makes it easier. Like a lot of my lessons are Ielts because like I. I work part time, I just teach privately, like one to one, so I'm not having to deal with a big mixed group of people. So the students are like speaking and engaged and invested is a good thing. It helps the lesson progress.

[Luke]

Yeah, definitely. I mean, in my experiences in Japan, although I had like fantastic times. Yeah. Sometimes the challenge was to get the students to speak, to get them to work on their fluency, to work on their speaking skills. Often they spent a lot of time doing English work on paper, a lot of translation, a lot of grammar work. But the thing they needed to do was to be able to actually have a conversation. And that could be really hard even in a one to one situation.

[Peter]

Yeah, this is true, I think that, I think is just a consequence of the education system there. A lot of it is rooted in grammar translation. So speaking fluently is not something they practice much.

[Luke]

But then also in a group, if you had a group of Japanese students, what you want is everyone to do an equal amount of talking, you want everyone to be engaged, lots of speaking from everyone. But often what would happen is there'd be one maybe older man maybe who was probably quite fluent and would become the high status person in the group and everyone would just kind of defer to him. So he'd ask a group question to the group and he would probably answer and then he'd say, what about everyone else? What do you think? And they would just basically say, oh yeah, what he said.

[Peter]

Yep, I do remember that. Yeah, like the older man holding court and like everyone else, listening and agreeing and nodding along.

[Luke]

A lot of nodding along. Yeah. But then when I came back to England and taught here, I was teaching groups with people from everywhere, you know, and yeah, that was a totally different, totally different situation where you've got, you know, everyone taking part much more. And it became, it was quite a shock at the beginning because it was quite difficult to manage. People were very direct. You know, I had people from, you know, wherever, like Poland, Russia, Korea, South America and all sorts of places. And I remember being quite terrified, in fact, at the beginning, because people were just really straightforward and really direct and quite demanding, but nice. I mean, these days I would be far less intimidated by that situation and I would really be glad for the kind of, that responsive kind of attitude. But having just spent two Years, the first two years of my career teaching in Japan and then being faced with a group of people, upper intermediate students, all sort of like, with all these questions and all these things to say, it was quite terrifying, I'm sure.

[Peter]

Yeah. Because that's a very different thing because, like, we are used to being automatically the authority figure. Everyone is listening to me. Not anymore. I had a similar experience when I started in Malaysia, because when I started I was teaching like four hours a day, so two hours in the morning, two hours in the afternoon. Perfect schedule. Loved it. One of my students was an Egyptian woman who I hope is not listening to this. She was lovely and I will not hear a word said against her. But she would be brutally direct about how much she disliked the school and the system and the administration.

[Luke]

Oh, really?

[Peter]

Yes.

[Luke]

Oh, yeah, that's. That's tough.

[Peter]

Like, she. She liked me. She would, like, she would reassure me that it wasn't anything against me. But she was not happy with the way her course was being administered. And she was not shy about saying it. Like, I hate name of school, which I'm not going to mention.

[Luke]

Yeah, you don't tend to get that kind of straightforward, direct thing in Japan. But, you know, I. I like it, to be honest. You know, at least, you know, where I live in France, people are generally pretty direct here. And when you get beyond that sense of like, oh my God, they're saying exactly what they mean.

[Peter]

Ah.

[Luke]

When you realize that actually the consequences are not really that bad, it's fine. Like, it's funny, in France, people do have conflicts. They argue and disagree. And I see this in my lessons sometimes where students might disagree and it might become a little bit heated. And I used to get very uncomfortable in that situation. But with experience, I've realized that it really never goes further than that. Like, even in the street, you know, you see people arguing. You see drivers getting out of their car to go to visit a van driver who's taking too long to unload his van, and they will shout at each other. You hear it from the window, you go, and you think, oh, there's going to be a fight. They never have a fight. I've never seen fisticuffs. I've never seen actually someone throw a punch in this country. The entire time I've lived here. Maybe I just. I'm hanging out with the wrong people. But in England, you know. Yeah, you'd sometimes would see people fighting. Even in Japan, I spent two years there, I did see a fight happening once, which is quite rare. Yeah, that's rare, isn't it?

[Peter]

That is not something I remember ever seeing in Japan.

[Luke]

I'll tell you what, it was extraordinary, right? Yeah. So it was in the. The height of summer. I mean, this is a really rare thing that I saw. It was in the middle of summer and I was trying to stay cool in my apartment. It was the middle of the night and I wasn't sleeping very well and I heard something going on outside. Now, if you remember, in our apartment at the bottom there was a dodgy bar that we never really went to. I don't know if you ever went there.

[Peter]

I remember the one. Yeah. I think in the next. In the next building.

[Luke]

I think it was in the next building or part of our building. I can't remember.

[Peter]

Yeah, it was.

[Luke]

Must have been the next building. But it was a sort of sketchy looking dive bar. Yeah.

[Peter]

Didn't finish.

[Luke]

No. I went there a couple of times with a guy that used to live in our building and it was sketchy. There were. There were sort of like. I don't know how to describe the sorts of people who went there, but they were dodgy, sort of sketchy. Sketchy, borderline criminal type guys. And so anyway, I heard a disturbance and I looked over the balcony from the fifth floor and down below in the car park next to our building, there were a couple of guys having a fight. And it was extraordinary because they had their tops off. Right.

[Peter]

Wow.

[Luke]

It was like something out of a film. And the one guy who was obviously the better fighter, so the one would have a go at him and he would grab him and throw him, literally throw him onto the floor, slap on his back. He threw him down a couple of times, like kind of karate stuff. Slap onto his back on the tarmac. The guy would get up and have another go and he would then flip him and throw him again, slap onto his back on the car park. But that's the only time I ever saw a fight in Japan. But anyway, in France, yes, people will kind of disagree with each other and there will be discord, but it never seems to go much further than just raised voices. I'm sure people fight. Of course people fight here. I've just never seen it.

[Peter]

Yeah, I got punched in France.

[Luke]

Did you? Who punched you in France?

[Peter]

Very gently, you know, not. Not a smack in the face like in Interlo. When I visited just last month, it would have been. Yeah, yeah. In Toulouse, I was staying near a place called, I think Place Wilson, which was a bit sketchy. So I went to the local Colorful Express where There was a bunch of equally sketchy types hanging out, and one of them followed me in.

[Luke]

This is the supermarket. You went to the local supermarket?

[Peter]

Yeah.

[Luke]

Sketchy. It's a good word, isn't it, this word? It just means sort of like, how do you. Dodgy, sketchy. Kind of similar words, aren't they? Untrustworthy, suspicious.

[Peter]

Yeah, suspicious like vaguely criminal. Like don't. Don't look as if they're good people. So follow me into the supermarket, just like, sort of press me on the arm and spoke some French, which I assume was French for give me some money or buy me some food or whatever.

[Luke]

Yeah.

[Peter]

So I just said, don't touch me, and he punched me on the arm.

[Luke]

Oh, did he?

[Peter]

Yeah.

[Luke]

Oh, okay, right.

[Peter]

Not. Not super hard, but it was a punch.

[Luke]

He gave you a dig. That's the word for it. The dig in the arm.

[Peter]

Exactly. Gave me a dig in the arm. Brandished a packet of ham at me, which I guess he was expecting me to buy for him. I just. I just held eye contact and said no to whatever he said. And eventually he. He pushed it down his own pants and walked away.

[Luke]

Oh, he put the ham down his pants and just walked out.

[Peter]

Yes, he did.

[Luke]

Wow.

[Peter]

So I guess when you asked me about weird situations I'd been in when I was traveling, that qualifies.

[Luke]

That definitely does qualify. Yeah. Oh, dear. Yeah. Yeah. There's quite a lot of begging in this country.

[Peter]

Unfortunately, I found it hard to enjoy. To lose.

[Luke]

Yes. Right, right. Yeah, I can. I can see that. Yeah. Especially if you stay in one of the sketchy areas. Yeah. You're gonna come across a few dodgy people who are gonna punch you in the. That's not. I mean, you know, he should know. That's. That's not how you persuade someone to buy you ham. You don't just show them ham and punch them until they buy it for you.

[Peter]

You need a hostage whose hands and legs are bound, preferably an old man who's nearly dead.

[Luke]

Well, yeah, that would be perfect for you because you. But then you'd only be able to deal with that in Malay. You'd be like, how do I say this in French? Oh, Kirsty.

[Peter]

Yeah.

[Luke]

I only ever learned to book a restaurant table.

[Peter]

Gotta say, that is something that really jumped out at me in France, because previously I had been in Spain for three weeks and barely noticed any begging. I got harassed a couple of times by Romani grannies waving heather at me when I came out of a church. But very few street people and begging in Spain. I Noticed.

[Luke]

Yeah. There's quite a lot of it here in the cities. Yeah. And you see. You see it in Paris. There's also. There are also a few kind of scammers on the streets of Paris, too, in the tourist areas. So on certain bridges or in front of, like, near the Eiffel Tower, for example, you get people doing different scams.

[Peter]

Yeah, this I've heard about. Like, last time I visited, when I was walking past Lopera and I got approached by a very assertive woman with a clipboard, asking me to donate to her charity.

[Luke]

Yes, exactly. So you get the people with clipboards and there's various things going on with them. So when you are. So they'll come up to you and they say, speak English. Speak English, like this. And they've got a clipboard and they pretend to be doing some sort of survey and they want you to answer their questions on the clipboard. And while you're there looking at the clipboard, someone behind you will be pickpocketing you.

[Peter]

Yeah, exactly.

[Luke]

They use the clipboard as well to cover up what they're doing.

[Peter]

Yes.

[Luke]

So the clipboard is there right underneath you. You're looking at that, and under the clipboard there might be someone's hand in your pocket. Yeah. So that's. There's the clipboard scam. There's also this scam where people will come up to you with a. With a bracelet, and they'll loop the bracelet around your wrist so it's attached to your wrist, and then basically they've got you and they're also holding on to you.

[Peter]

Yes.

[Luke]

And they've put the bracelet on you and then you have to pay for it, you know. Yeah.

[Peter]

Didn't actually find any of that this time in Paris. I mean, I was only there for, I think, two full days, but I managed to avoid any scam people in Paris.

[Luke]

Yeah, you've gotta. You've got to be careful and watch out. And the other one is the. Is the card trick or the. Or they do the cups and ball trick.

[Peter]

Oh, right.

[Luke]

But the card trick. Yes. It's basically they put three cards down on a little portable table which they can quickly fold up and take away. They put the three cards down and it's basically, can you find the queen or can you find the ace? And they flip over the cards, move them around. It appears to be easy. But the thing is, there are other people around and they're all part of the scam.

[Peter]

Yes.

[Luke]

So you will walk over and you'll watch someone else doing it. And they put €20 down and the person with the cards flips over the cards and says, basically, can you find the queen? And then they move the cards around and it's really easy, you know, it's really easy to see where the queen is. And the person puts their money down and they get it wrong. You know, they obviously choose the wrong card and they go, oh, no, here was the queen. And because you've been following it, you can see, oh, this is easy. And so then it's your turn and then you have a go. And of course that's when they actually do the trick. And if you can and they take your money and if you complain, then guys step in, big guys who have been standing on the corners of the street keeping an eye out for the police or something. They step in and they all gather around you.

[Peter]

Yeah.

[Luke]

And so, yeah, that's another scam that you find. Do you not get that kind of thing in. In Kuala Lumpur?

[Peter]

Not in kl, but in, in Singapore and in Thailand. I've seen the fake monks.

[Luke]

Oh, yeah?

[Peter]

Yep.

[Luke]

Sounds like a band.

[Peter]

Yep. Extreme, extreme noise. Fake monks.

[Luke]

Right, so who are the fake monks and what do they do?

[Peter]

Well, like, proper Buddhist monks aren't supposed to solicit ever. They are, they're meant to stand quietly with their ball and wait for people to come to them and put money in the bowl. So that is, that is a proper, genuine Buddhist monk. Fake monks will approach you with either a charm or a bracelet or something that they want to sell you. Or I had one in Chiang Mai. I was just poking around the Buddhist temple in Chiang Mai, got approached by a monk who said, ah, if you want to go inside the temple hall, you need to register your email on this clipboard. And so on the clipboard it had like, name, email and donation and a list of people who had made very generous donations before yours.

[Luke]

Ah, right. See, there's that little social pressure.

[Peter]

Yeah, exactly. It's a bit of pressure.

[Luke]

Okay. And it's, it's a, it's a scam anyway because they're not Buddhist monks. They're just going to take your cash.

[Peter]

That's right. That's right. They're just going to take your cash because they are dudes who've bought a robe or found a robe.

[Luke]

Okay, well, there's a, there's a, there's a Buddhist monk in a cupboard somewhere with his arms and legs which have been bound together.

[Peter]

Exactly.

[Luke]

Just with normal clothes on. Meanwhile, the guy's taking his robe. Yeah, that's right.

[Peter]

Yeah. So. So if in my book there was a sentence for, like, that the monk's robe had been stolen, then I'd have been fine.

[Luke]

Right, so you have stolen that. That's not your monk's robe. I put it to you, sir, that you stole that monk's robe. Yeah. Yes. It's a tricky thing, isn't it, going to. Going to India. I've been to India a couple of times. I don't know if you've been there. Have you been there?

[Peter]

I've not. I haven't, no.

[Luke]

So, wow, the level of. You get pestered so much. So India is an incredible place and really worth visiting. Beautiful place. So many amazing things to see and do there. But I was struck by how much hassle I got on arrival. So I went with my cousin, we went to Goa and we arrived at the sort of nearest airport to where we were. I can't remember the name of the airport now, but anyway, my cousin Ollie and I started calling it grift. Being grifted. Everyone's got a grift going on.

[Peter]

Yes.

[Luke]

You know, and even if it's just you're on the beach and there are grifters that come down the beach and they just come up to you and they start engaging you in conversation. Oh, where are you from? This is great. And then. Then they bring out all of the products they're selling and they will stay there forever, you know, that you just can't get rid of them. And even people who appear on the surface to be just, you know, friendly, having a chat with you, then they. Then they start the grift, you know, where they're trying to sell you something. You go to a market because it's in the guidebook, and you walk around the market and if you express any interest in one thing, then, like, I think I. Because my friend said to me before I went, he said, bring me some saffron. Bring me back some saffron. I was like, all right. So I was in the market and I was like, oh, how much is that saffron? And she said, how much do you want to pay for it? I was like, well, I don't know, what's the normal price? And she was, you know, she started a quite a strong grift on me. You name your price, please. And I was like, well, no, it's all right, you know. And I was like, you know what, never mind, it's all right. Thanks. And then I left. We were walking up the market and she was following me all the way along, you Know, and just I couldn't get rid of her. It was a nightmare. And so, anyway, when we arrived at the airport, the first bit of grift that we experienced was that we were waiting at the baggage carousel for our bags to arrive, and they didn't arrive. So obviously we were then really worried and we were wandering around. We went up to an official person to say, our bags have not arrived. And just as we were doing that, this guy came up and he said, don't worry, I'll find your bags for you. I was like, okay. He went off, got the bags, and then handed them to us. And then just put his hand out.

[Peter]

Yes.

[Luke]

As if to say, now you pay me money. And, of course, what happened was he took those bags off the barrack. He wasn't someone who worked at the airport. He was just a dude hanging around. He pulled the bags off the carousel, put them somewhere, and then when we were going around trying to find them, he then gave us the bags and then demanded some money in return. Wow. Yeah. Yeah.

[Peter]

The grift is on before you even get through immigration.

[Luke]

Exactly. Yeah. There's just. And then. And then you get on a bus to take you down to where we were staying, and there are people gathering around the bus, sticking their hands in the window. You know, everyone's like, you know, hands are in the window, trying to get something. Yeah, that's quite an experience. That's not to say that it's not great, because it's as well as that. There are obviously so many other great things, but that was quite a sort of striking thing, you know?

[Peter]

Yeah. I mean, so in India, to me, does look fascinating. I'm sure it'll be wonderful. But like, that. That kind of thing I would find jarring. It's like something I wouldn't enjoy about being there, especially if it's every time I step out of the hotel.

[Luke]

Yeah.

[Peter]

We can feel it might be.

[Luke]

And I mean, is it. Is it. Was it in India or other places I've been to, Maybe Vietnam to an extent, walking around Ho Chi Minh City on my own. And you just feel so different and so obvious. Just like this pale Western guy walking around with a backpack on, walking everywhere.

[Peter]

Yes.

[Luke]

Because everyone else is on a scooter and you're walking, and so everyone is like, scooter, scooter. You want a rickshaw? Rickshaw, rickshaw, rickshaw.

[Peter]

Yeah.

[Luke]

And that's it. Rickshaw, rickshaw, rickshaw, rickshaw, rickshaw, rickshaw. This is India, I think. Tuk, tuk, tuk, tuk, tuk, Tuk.

[Peter]

Yeah, a lot of that. Something I liked about Cambodia was the Tuk Tuk drivers. They do take no for an answer.

[Luke]

Yeah.

[Peter]

So I'm walking around in Phnom Penh or Siem Reap. A guy will say to me, tug, tug. I'll say, no, thank you.

[Luke]

Okay.

[Peter]

That's the end of the interaction. It's fantastic.

[Luke]

Yeah.

[Peter]

But, yeah, in Ho Chi Minh, I'd have guys on their scooters following me down the pavement, demanding that they. Demanding that they take me where I want to go. And I. I do like walking around the city, you know, even in the heat in Southeast Asia, I think nothing of walking half an hour or 40 minutes, which to the locals seems insane.

[Luke]

When you've just arrived in a place, though, and you don't know, for example, what, let's say the normal local price is for a scooter ride, and you're just trying to get your bearings and you think, yeah, I'm going to walk to this museum. It's half an hour away. That's my way of getting to know the place and kind of settling in. And then there's people. Scooter, scooter, scooter, scooter. Taxi, taxi, taxi, taxi, taxi. And then they're demanding that you get on their scooter, and you. You're just like, no, just leave me alone, please.

[Peter]

Yeah, I. I often find it difficult to be polite in those situations. Yeah. Sorry. Just have to repeat. Nope, nope, nope, nope.

[Luke]

Well, that's what you have to do. Because if you're like, oh, that's really, like. A lot of English people like, oh, that's really nice, thanks. But. But you have to just be like, no and be called.

[Peter]

Yeah. Because in India, Engage. It encourages.

[Luke]

In India, we learned that you have to put your sunglasses on and just basically do the Robert De Niro where you just. Or Clint Eastwood, you know, just like, shake your head, like, you know, with. Behind your sunglasses. Just a general sort of, like, look of. No, that's it. Absolutely not.

[Peter]

Exactly. Yeah. It's a shame this isn't a video recording, because that was a flawless impersonation of Bob De Niro there.

[Luke]

I think that my viewers have seen that before.

[Peter]

Got the expression spot on.

[Luke]

All right, cool. So what are you gonna do? What are you doing next? You're. Are you going back to Malaysia in a couple of days? Is that right?

[Peter]

Not. Not for a while. Yeah. What's happening is this. I have been booking things, so going to Stratford to not watch expensive Shakespeare.

[Luke]

Yeah.

[Peter]

Then I'm going To Scotland.

[Luke]

Oh, yeah.

[Peter]

Gonna visit Glasgow for a few days, catch up with a couple of friends there. Going out to sky for the first time. So I'm excited about that.

[Luke]

That's. And listeners, that's. That's an island. That's not the sky. Okay. That's. That's an island called sky, which is. It's. How do you describe the location of Sky?

[Peter]

Hebrides in the northwest of Scotland. Like, it is an island, but it is, like, connected to the mainland. It's about six hours on the bus from Glasgow. So it's really remote, far away, very rugged, very mountainous. And the pictures I've seen show it to be very, very beautiful. So I'm excited about finally getting there.

[Luke]

Oh, yeah. This is like classics, classic Scotland. Rugged mountains and locks and. And waterfalls and stuff like that. Oh, it looks am freezing.

[Peter]

Yeah. So I have wanted to go there for a long time, so I'm very pleased that I'm finally getting to see there.

[Luke]

That's great. Do you drink whiskey?

[Peter]

I don't.

[Luke]

You'll miss out because I will. Good local malt whiskeys there.

[Peter]

I actually did do a distillery tour, like one other time I went to Scotland, tour the distillery, and at the end they gave us a. A couple of miniatures of whiskey to taste. So I managed to finish one of them. Enjoyed it. Five out of ten.

[Luke]

Okay. It's not your, like, liquor of choice, is it?

[Peter]

It's not my thing. I just generally, I don't like the taste of whiskey.

[Luke]

No, no, it's not for everyone. What's your preferred liquor then?

[Peter]

What do I like? I have a bit of a sweet tooth.

[Luke]

Yeah.

[Peter]

So I enjoy Bailey's.

[Luke]

Oh, okay.

[Peter]

Yeah, yeah, Like Bailey's Carlua, amaretto. These are the ones I enjoy.

[Luke]

Like a White Russian would be a good cocktail for you.

[Peter]

Yes, it would. Yeah.

[Luke]

Like the dude from the Big Lebowski.

[Peter]

Ah, remind me. I. I don't remember really, the Big Lebowski.

[Luke]

You remember the film, right?

[Peter]

I've. I've only seen it the once, and that would have been when it came out.

[Luke]

Oh, you should see that again. Yeah, you should definitely see that again. So, yeah, the character played by Jeff Bridges, his cocktail of choice is a White Russian, which is Kahlua and vodka and milk, and it creates this lovely sweet, vanilla, coffee tasting cocktail. And yeah, he's often got a White Russian on the go while solving a strange mystery crime without even perhaps knowing how he's doing it. He's kind of a bumbling stoner character who gets caught up in a Kind of Raymond Chandler esque, Los Angeles noir mystery. And all he wants is to get a carpet from his apartment back, which gets stolen because of a case of mistaken identity. Someone thinks he is a different Lebowski, and there's him and then there's the big Lebowski, which is like this rich man who owns a big house. And anyway, Jeff Bridges character gets involved in this sort of underworld crime story and there's a lot of incompetence and lots of swearing and it's very funny and really good. One of the Coen Brothers, sort of better. One of the more light hearted ones.

[Peter]

Yes.

[Luke]

Yeah. Recommended. Definitely.

[Peter]

Cool. All right, so what's your favorite Cohen's film?

[Luke]

Favorite Coen Brothers film. Oh, that's a tough one, isn't it?

[Peter]

It is, yeah.

[Luke]

I have to say, I like the dark ones. I like that. I feel like Cohen for Coen Brothers films. They do. All of them have got some darkness and weirdness in them.

[Peter]

Yes.

[Luke]

But they've. They've got the ones that are just dark and then they've got ones which are a bit more colorful and light hearted, like something like on whimsical, like the Big Lebowski and Burn after reading.

[Peter]

Yeah. And Fargo has its lighter moments.

[Luke]

Yeah, that's right. Fargo's a good mix. I think Fargo's got to be one of my favorites. I absolutely love Fargo. It's brilliant. But I was just thinking recently about no country for Old Men. I think that is fantastic. I really like that. And you know, it's Cormac McCarthy who wrote the novel, and I love his work. Really dark stuff. And. But the fact that this one, it's kind of like this weird chase movie and it doesn't have a happy ending, just has a really bleak, dark ending. And there's no music in the film at all, really. No. Yeah, there's no.

[Peter]

I've not seen it.

[Luke]

Have you not? Oh, yeah. Oh, you should see that. That's brilliant. Javier Bardem is absolutely fantastic. He plays a psychopath in the film who's. Who's employed by the mafia to hunt down some missing a suitcase full of. Full of money. There's a drug deal that goes horribly wrong in the desert. And our main character stumbles upon the aftermath of this drug deal gone wrong on a. On a hunting trip out into the. Is it. It's somewhere in Texas, I think, near the Mexican border. And he stumbles across this. It's pretty dark scene where he literally has just happened and he finds the bag full of money and he. He Basically takes it from the fingers of a dying man.

[Peter]

Wow.

[Luke]

Yeah.

[Peter]

An old man who's almost dead.

[Luke]

Yeah, basically. Yeah. Maybe a couple of people have been bound. Their hands and legs have been bound together. And he takes the money, but he doesn't realize that there's a tracker in the case.

[Peter]

Ah. And. Yeah.

[Luke]

And then he's. He's the. Basically the film follows him attempting to escape from the baddies who come after him and he's trying to kind of second guess them and stuff. And it's like this long winded chase where there's a. It's full of dread and tension and. Yeah. No, no music. It's just the sounds of what's going on. It's very tense and really atmospheric and. Yeah. Javier Bardem is chilling. He's so frightening. His haircut is perhaps the most frightening thing.

[Peter]

Yes.

[Luke]

In the film he's got.

[Peter]

That I have seen. Yeah.

[Luke]

Yeah. It's kind of like this 1970s kind of.

[Peter]

Yeah.

[Luke]

Weird maybe Beatles haircut kind of thing.

[Peter]

Yeah.

[Luke]

This bowl cut, it's kind of a

[Peter]

bold, A parted, floppy bowl cut.

[Luke]

Yeah.

[Peter]

Isn't it?

[Luke]

Yeah. I mean. I mean. Yeah. That if. If you saw someone coming up to you with that haircut, you would want to run the opposite direction, even if you didn't know anything about it.

[Peter]

Him.

[Luke]

That's right.

[Peter]

Just. What? I'm out of here.

[Luke]

Yeah. No, you should see that. You should see that if you haven't seen it. Wow, that's. That's powerful stuff.

[Peter]

Yeah.

[Luke]

So there you go. What about you? What are your favorite Coen Brothers films again?

[Peter]

Like, Fargo obviously, is a good one. Really enjoy Fargo.

[Luke]

Me too.

[Peter]

Yeah. My favorite, I'm gonna say, is Miller's Crossing.

[Luke]

You know, I've never seen it. I've never seen that. One of the early. It's one of the early ones.

[Peter]

It is, yeah. Get onto that because, like, the atmosphere and the writing and the dialogue are just glorious. Yeah. Again, it's dark. There's not much levity in it. It's. It's like set in a nameless prohibition era American city. Not. Not going to tell you too much about it. It's basically about a turf war between two rival gangs who are trying to control illegal, like alcohol market.

[Luke]

Yeah.

[Peter]

Like, one of the gangs is like Irish immigrants and their descendants. The other one is Italian. No, I don't want to spoil it.

[Luke]

Is there a psychopath involved? There's normally a psychopath in their film somewhere.

[Peter]

Yes, there is.

[Luke]

All right. I thought so. Have you seen the. The. The TV series? Of Fargo.

[Peter]

I haven't.

[Luke]

No, it's good. You know, the first series, especially.

[Peter]

Yeah, right.

[Luke]

Yeah. Billy Bob Thornton. Yeah, he's the psycho in that.

[Peter]

Yep.

[Luke]

And also Martin Freeman.

[Peter]

Really?

[Luke]

Yeah. It's interesting.

[Peter]

Interesting combination of actors.

[Luke]

Yeah, it is, isn't it? Right. But it's interesting. What they've done with the TV series is they've definitely sort of. They've done something that's very similar to the original film. So the same aesthetic, the same accents, some similar characters. So Martin Freeman's characters. His character is a sort of pathetic, cowardly scumbag, like William. William H. Macy in the original film. And so it's a very similar kind of character.

[Peter]

Sure.

[Luke]

And there's. There's a. You know, there's a psychopath, just like in the. In the original film.

[Peter]

Yeah.

[Luke]

And so, you know, things play out in a similar way. It's the same sort of aesthetic.

[Peter]

Okay.

[Luke]

Situation. And so. Yeah. If you like the film, I'm sure you'd like the series. It's really good.

[Peter]

So question. If. If it's that similar, why would I watch the series instead of the film?

[Luke]

Well, I don't know. If you. If you want the. If you wanted the film to last longer, if you wanted there to be more of the same.

[Peter]

Yeah.

[Luke]

Then, you know, watch the series. If you like that atmosphere, if you like that world, if you like the accent that they all have. And if you want to see a person get stuck in a really twisted, difficult situation and you wonder how they're going to get out of it, or if they are going to get out of it, and whether evil, like a lot of the time in Coen Brothers films, it is about will evil prevail. You know, no country for Old Men is like that. It's basically like evil wins. And in Fargo, the TV series, there is a sense there is an evil benevolent force at work, and it. Will it win or will it be stopped?

[Peter]

Interesting.

[Luke]

It's kind of like that. Yeah. Yeah. The original Fargo is kind of like that as well, isn't it? You've got Marge, the detective, played by. What's her name? I can't remember the name of the actress.

[Peter]

Francis McDormand. That's her.

[Luke]

Francis McDormand. She's pregnant and stuff. And she's so sort of wholesome. She's the sort of. She's the good side. And then you've got Steve Buscemi and the other guy.

[Peter]

I can't remember his name, nor. I don't.

[Luke]

Yeah, he's played by an Italian. I think he's an Italian actor. Peter Stormare is the actor.

[Peter]

May be so. Yeah.

[Luke]

Yeah. And he's just that brilliant, cold blooded psycho, and he represents the heart of evil. And so Marge and him are these two polar opposites.

[Peter]

Yeah.

[Luke]

It's just. And it all comes together in a very satisfying way. There's similar themes, similar. Similar kind of symbolism in the TV show. They did a really good job of it.

[Peter]

Tell you what, in. In the original Fargo, I would have said that the evil one is William H. Macy's character, like Steve Buscemi. And the other one, they are mercenaries for hire. So they. They do the bad thing and they take the money. That's their thing. It's William H. Macy who sets off the intrigue by having his wife kidnapped in order to extract money from her family.

[Luke]

Yeah, yeah. That's just awful. Right?

[Peter]

Yeah.

[Luke]

And the way he presents himself as this. Oh, I'm just a kind of innocent guy.

[Peter]

Yeah, yeah.

[Luke]

Oh, that's horrible. And how incompetent he is as well, how useless he is at lying.

[Peter]

I remember the one scene where he's. He's sitting by the phone and he's practicing what he's gonna say. Something terrible has happened. No, I can't say it like that. There's been.

[Luke]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's really premeditated. Also, just his incompetence is.

[Peter]

Yeah.

[Luke]

Quite a thing to appreciate. Just like how rubbish he is at doing it.

[Peter]

Yeah.

[Luke]

And it all goes horribly wrong. Oh, God.

[Peter]

Yes, it does.

[Luke]

But it's so well made. Such a. Such a good bit of storytelling. Yeah. Good stuff. I don't know how we ended up talking about Coen Brothers films. I think it's because you. I was talking about what whiskey? And then that's. And you said you like a sweet tooth. And I said White Russians would be Right.

[Peter]

We got to that. Yeah. That's how we ended up talking the Big Lebowski. And now here we are.

[Luke]

Yeah. All right. So after Scotland, it's back to Malaysia. Is it? Is it? Is that the idea?

[Peter]

It's not. Oh, no. I am planning to be back in Malaysia by the end of the year, but not for a while yet. So after Scotland, I'm going to stay with family again for a couple of weeks, and then I'm going to Portugal.

[Luke]

Oh, right. Okay. Whereabouts?

[Peter]

Flying into Porto, then traveling to a couple of other towns between there and Lisbon and flying out of Lisbon to Tokyo.

[Luke]

Portugal is a fantastic place.

[Peter]

I've not been.

[Luke]

Oh, you'll love it. Yeah.

[Peter]

I like to check off at least one new country each year.

[Luke]

Yeah.

[Peter]

This year it's going to be Switzerland and Portugal added to the list.

[Luke]

Right.

[Peter]

Because I really enjoyed Spain, and so I feel that Portugal is going to be similar enough that I'm also pretty much guaranteed to enjoy it.

[Luke]

Yeah, I liked. I mean, I've only visited Lisbon and some of the areas around there.

[Peter]

There.

[Luke]

I went there with my wife and our daughter a couple of years ago. Just had a lovely time. People were just really nice and friendly and actually, people speak pretty good English there. And also they like to drink beer, which I enjoyed. You know, you can go. You go to, like, a little park. You know, most cities have these little parks with children's play areas and places where you can have a picnic and stuff. And a lot of those parks have these kind of kiosks that will sell you draft beer over the counter. Wow. Just perfect. Why don't they. Why don't they do that in Paris? I don't understand.

[Peter]

Yeah, you think so? It's like a half bottle of wine or something.

[Luke]

Yeah. Just so civilized. You can. You know, my daughter would play on the swings and I could just enjoy a nice half pint of local lager. Oh, it was good. Perfect.

[Peter]

Yeah. That would be civilization.

[Luke]

Yeah, definitely. Yeah. It's a really good spot. You'll enjoy it. You'll like Portugal. Interesting history, too.

[Peter]

Yeah. I got told off for drinking outside in Spain.

[Luke]

Oh, did you? Yeah. Maybe you're not allowed to do that.

[Peter]

Yeah, evidently that's not allowed, because, like, when I arrived in Madrid, I think my second night in Madrid, I went to do a spot at a open mic at the comedy club there.

[Luke]

Yeah.

[Peter]

Took my drink outside while I was waiting, and I got shoed back inside.

[Luke]

Well, yeah, if you've bought a. It's the same in Paris. If you've bought a drink in a bar, they're legally obliged to make you stay either within a certain little perimeter outside the bar, in the street, or you're not allowed to go out in the street with the drink. Okay. But you can buy a can of beer in the shop and just be sitting in the street drinking it, or you can be in the park and drinking it. That's okay. You don't have to put it in a bag or anything like that and cover it up like you do in America. I think you can just have a drink outside and that's. That's kosher. But. But doing it. Doing it on the street outside a bar where you've bought the drink. Yeah. There are Rules. Maybe that's even. Might be an EU thing. I don't know. I think it's the same in the uk. You can't buy a drink from a pub and then go just anywhere outside with it. You have to be within a certain area.

[Peter]

I guess it's part of the licensing.

[Luke]

Yeah, yeah, it will be. Yeah. Yeah. All right, well, enjoy the, Enjoy the parks in Portugal and best of luck for the whole trip. It's going to be great. You're going to have lovely adventures.

[Peter]

I am, yeah. Then. Then back to Japan for. For I don't know how long. I still have a working visa for Japan.

[Luke]

Oh, do you? Okay.

[Peter]

Yeah. Like before I left I got a five year visa so I can skip the queue and just go straight back in until, until June next year.

[Luke]

So do you, do you kind of like not have many worldly goods then because. Or do you have an apartment full of stuff in Kuala Lumpur or.

[Peter]

I don't. I have been making an effort to live light.

[Luke]

Yeah.

[Peter]

Because like when I left Japan, I had to empty a 2DK apartment and it took me a month.

[Luke]

You had to empty an apartment?

[Peter]

Yeah, because like I had. How long was I in Japan? I had about 19 years worth of accumulated books and CDs and clothes and general junk. And most of it I wasn't using it in one way or another. So there was very little of it I wanted to keep. So I had to empty the apartment and it took me the month.

[Luke]

Yeah, yeah.

[Peter]

It was such a ball ache. It was impossible because I gave my. Between leaving work and leaving the apartment, I gave myself a month to deal with all the admin and emptying the apartment and giving away everything. And on the morning I was moving out, I was still having people come around to take things away. It's hard to get an entire month.

[Luke]

It's hard to get rid of stuff in Japan though, isn't it? You know?

[Peter]

Yes, it is.

[Luke]

Yeah. I mean I found not just like giving your stuff away, but throwing things away. They're quite particular about the way you discard rubbish and whatever. It's hard to get rid of things.

[Peter]

Yeah, this is true. I had to. I had to pay people to come around and take away my fridge and futon and stuff.

[Luke]

Yeah, yeah. Well, I suppose it's, you know, they'd like to do things properly. Yeah. So. Okay, so now you kind of managed to live pretty minimally.

[Peter]

I am, yeah. I've got, I've got a couple of cases of stuff in Malaysia, but while I'm traveling, I Try and do it as light as possible. So, like last year when I was traveling, I had a big case and this year I've got a medium case. So I'm living. I'm living out of a medium sized suitcase at the moment and that's how I like it.

[Luke]

Nice. Very liberating.

[Peter]

It is, yeah. So I'm. I'm good. I'm making an effort not to accumulate stuff. So, like, what I'll do is if, like, I'll buy a book in a charity shop and I'll read it and I'll give it to another charity shop.

[Luke]

Yeah, this is a good way of doing it.

[Peter]

Yeah.

[Luke]

Ah, nice.

[Peter]

Yeah. So one. One out, one in. So, like, I have as little as I can use and if you have

[Luke]

just one book on you, you're sure to read it as well.

[Peter]

Exactly, yeah.

[Luke]

It's the thing. I've got loads of books but I just have too many now and I don't read them. No.

[Peter]

Which one do I read?

[Luke]

Yeah, exactly. You can't commit to one book. No. Whereas if you've only got one book in your pocket, then you're definitely going to read that. That's right. It's great. It sounds fantastic.

[Peter]

Yeah.

[Luke]

I'd love to go out on a similar adventure with just one medium suitcase or a large rucksack or something and just go traveling around. Yeah. But no chance of doing that. Although we're going to Norway this year on holiday.

[Peter]

How are you? Lovely.

[Luke]

Yeah, yeah. Have you been to Norway?

[Peter]

I have, yeah. I went possibly the same year that I came to Paris. That would have been part of a longer European trip, during which I went to Oslo. Yeah, I loved Oslo. I really enjoyed it. It's a very, very handsome city.

[Luke]

Yeah, I've been to Oslo. I did some teaching there. In Oslo. I spent a week there in winter, so it was bloody freezing.

[Peter]

Oh, I can remember, yeah.

[Luke]

Yeah. It was minus whatever. And I froze, I'm sure. Yeah. Yeah. But it was still great. And I went to the Edward Munch Museum and went up to visit the ski jump.

[Peter]

Yeah.

[Luke]

Up the top of the mountain.

[Peter]

Did you go to the mad. Did you go to the mad Sculpture Park?

[Luke]

Sorry, yeah, I did, yeah. Is it park or something?

[Peter]

Oh, it's so good with all the crazy sculptures.

[Luke]

And I sort of tramped around there in the freezing cold in the snow and stuff and looked around. Spent quite a lot of time in cafes making one coffee last all afternoon and reading, doing a lot of reading. I read the Cormac McCarthy the Road when I was There, Remember it?

[Peter]

Cool.

[Luke]

But we're gonna go and visit fjords and stay in a cabin in the middle of nowhere where there's no shower. There's no shower in the cabin.

[Peter]

You have to say, oh perfect. But then you said no shower, so I guess, yeah. Washing in the lakes.

[Luke]

Exactly. Apparently this is how they do it over there, that you don't have a shower and you wash in the local lake or little river that's near the cabin. So that's going to be interesting with a seven year old and a two year old taking it down to the river to wash them.

[Peter]

I mean for me that sounds fantastic. Like I told you, like when I travel I'm all about the experience. So for me that sounds great. That is something I would love to do.

[Luke]

Yeah, it's going to be good. And they all complain, but I think it's going to be a really good experience. I certainly hope so. Just fingers crossed the weather is not completely terrible.

[Peter]

Yeah. When is it you're going?

[Luke]

August.

[Peter]

Yeah.

[Luke]

Yeah, a couple of weeks.

[Peter]

I was there in the summer and the weather was lovely. Generally warm and sunny again with the occasional absolutely torrential downpour. Yeah, that was Oslo. I don't know what it's going to be like out on the fjords.

[Luke]

I think it's going to be a similar thing. It'll be probably not that different to British weather. Apparently it's not too hot, but it can rain. But you know, we wanted to escape the hot weather because we don't really like the heat. I know you do. You're a fan of the boiling hot weather. But no, it's exhausting and makes us cranky and. And exhausted.

[Peter]

This makes sense. If you're not used to it, then it can get a bit much.

[Luke]

Yeah. We're looking anywhere north. We were looking at Ireland, we were looking at Scotland, Wales. And then in the end we settled on Norway actually. It's a bit expensive, but yeah, we wanted to see those beautiful fields and get outdoors and it's going to be good. Yeah.

[Peter]

Like I've not been to the fjords but like my parents would routinely do cruises there like once a year or once every couple of years. And they do look ravishing. So that the time will come. I will get there.

[Luke]

Yeah. Well, I'll let you know what it's like.

[Peter]

Sure.

[Luke]

Yeah. Okay. Look, great to catch up with you again and Maybe in another 11 years.

[Peter]

Yes.

[Luke]

We can do this a third time.

[Peter]

Exactly. I'll put it in the diary now.

[Luke]

Okay. It'll be episode 1600 or something.

[Peter]

Yes. Perfect. Yeah. It's been a joy. Really enjoyed talking with you. It's always good to catch up.

[Luke]

Yeah, definitely.

[Peter]

Yeah. So with luck and justice, it won't be 11 years until the next time.

[Luke]

That's right. Okay. Have a. Happy travels. Safe trip. Speak to you again soon, mate.

[Peter]

Thank you. Yep. I. Always a pleasure. Take care.

[Luke]

Take care. So thank you again to Peter. That's Peter Siddell for his second appearance on the podcast. It was a real pleasure catching up with him in Paris and then recording this episode. Just very, very nice conversation. I hope you enjoyed that. Again, remember, there is a transcript link in the description if you want to just check anything. If you feel like you've missed something, you know, for whatever reason, you can go and check out the transcript. You could copy, paste interesting bits of English that you discovered. You know, I'll leave that up to you. It's there for you if you want to check it out. Yeah. Thanks again to Peter for his contribution to the episode. I think that's all I need to do here. I think we're done. I think that's probably fine. I mean, what else could I say at this point other than thank you for listening all the way up to until this point? How could you. How could you leave a comment to prove that you made it this far? Let me see. Maybe you could say something about. Well, I. I don't know that. I guess the. The running jokes in this episode were the things about the. The strange language examples that came up in Peter's Malay language course books about, you know, common useful phrases like, the old man is nearly dead, and his legs were bound. His arms and legs were bound together. The hostages arms and legs were bound together. So I don't think it would be appropriate for you to. For me to ask you to use language like that in the comments section to prove that you listened all the way to the end. Because that's just going to be weird, isn't it? You know, so I wouldn't do that. So what could you talk about at the end? Just tell us what your favorite Coen Brothers film is. Tell us what your favorite Coen Brothers film is. Okay. Is it the Big Lebowski? Fargo. No. Country for Old Men. Oh, Brother, where art Thou? Have you ever. If you've never seen a film by the Coen Brothers, then you can just say, what is Coen Brothers? I. I not. I am not understand. That would be fine. Meaning, what are the. What are the Coen Brothers? Who are the Coen Brothers? In fact, I don't understand that would be okay. Maybe someone will help you. Or just Google. Google it. Watch some of their films. They're good. Okay, that's the end of the episode. Thanks for listening. Have a lovely morning, afternoon, evening or night and I will speak to you next time. But for now it's just time to say goodbye. Bye bye. Thanks for listening to Luke's English Podcast. For more information, visit teacherluke.co.uk.

[Peter]

Par le tu francais parl italiano.

[Luke]

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