Transcript
Speaker: um Back in the room. Hello. Back in the room. Back on the bus. Back on the train. So let's go to a place where the distractions and landmarks and details are the main roads. Welcome to ADHDville. Hit that button.
Speaker: Come on.
Speaker: All about A, D, all about A, D, all about A, D, all about A, D, D, H and that kind of stuff. Exactly.
Speaker: A return ticket please. return ticket? Okay. Hello, I'm Paul Thompson. was diagnosed with the combined ADH and the D again about two, almost two and a half years ago.
Speaker: Jesus Christ, mate. Jesus Christ. What a two and a half years that has been. Blimey, isn't it? Right. Isn't it? Isn't it? It comes around, doesn't it, that anniversary?
Speaker: Doesn't it? Doesn't it? Doesn't it? Does Does she? Does she? Do they? They do. Wait, when did they do that? didn't know about that. All the time. Yesterday. Did they do it yesterday?
Speaker: Twice. Twice. Twice? My God. Anyway, back on track. And I'm Martin West and I was diagnosed with the combined ADHD poopoo platter in 2013. And we are here in the King's Agitated Head um pub in ADHDville, where we, the co-ex-mayors of ADHDville, take care of business. We sit in the back... we hand We are enjoying a nice little drink. I'm enjoying my green tea currently, as I mostly do. got lemon and ginger.
Speaker: Oh, yeah. I love that. I love that. um I find that green tea stews are a little bit too much from mine for me. Oh, you have to... You can't leave it.
Speaker: It can only be in there for like three or four minutes. Yeah, yeah. And we come it can't be boiling water. So my kettle has different tea settings, right? Wow, that's advanced.
Speaker: It has a green tea setting and a black tea setting. Really? Yes. Come on, Paul. What are you, in the Stone Age? Yes.
Speaker: I think I'm in, not even Stone Age, the Flint Age. Oh, no, that is the Stone Age. Yeah. Flintstones. Flintstones. Yeah.
Speaker: um ah but but but but but Yeah. So um anyway, we are going to be talking about public transport. transport um Yes. So, and we have a quiz. No, we don't have a quiz.
Speaker: Don't we? No, I don't have a quiz, mate. Okay. I've just fucking realised. I've just fucking realised. I don't have a quiz. Blimey. I was sitting here like twiddling me thumbs because I i got all. Why don't we do one of mine then?
Speaker: All right. Let's do one of yours. All right. and then and then And then I'll have to do two. I've got them i've got them teed up Then you do two. i've got I've got three or four teed up.
Speaker: You're a lifesaver, Mr. I am. Hang on. I just need to get that duck up. All right, while while he's getting his duck up, I will tell you that we're going to go and we're going to jump in the tractor um and and his ducks and me, and we're going to go to the bus station.
Speaker: Okay. Heard the ducks on. There we go.
Speaker: It's mysterious, this bus station. All right. Fantastic. Okay. Right. i've got So I've got the quiz lined up. Fantastic.
Speaker: All right. yeah Looking forward to that. um ah Paul Thompson saves the pod again. um So, all right.
Speaker: ah Okay. So public public trend transport. I mean, like you and I, yeah i mean like and I think this is fairly common because...
Speaker: Even though we have cars, I mean, there was quite a lot of our time, especially when we were younger, where we didn't, where we used public transport. And then we also, um we used to catch the same train into lud London,
Speaker: That's right. when When you lived in oh Earlswood and I lived about three streets away from you. The 712 to London Bridge.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah. Or was it Victoria? It was, I suspect it was legend gentlemen victory Victoria. I think it was London Bridge. Right. Or maybe not.
Speaker: Anyway, um ah it ah Just remembering that fact reminded me yeah that one morning you and I yeah met each other on the platform.
Speaker: Yes, yes. Hello, Mr. T. yeah Hello, Mr. M. Oh, it's you again. and Right, exactly. And we we got on the train. Yeah. And I said, mate, I've got some news.
Speaker: And you said, oh, mate, I've got some news. Yeah, exactly. I remember that. I remember that. Yeah. i enough And I said, mate, I'm moving to New York.
Speaker: Yeah. And you were like, mate, I'm moving to Italy. Yes. Yeah. Isn't that bizarre? Yeah. And here we are still.
Speaker: Ironically, you then moved to Italy and I moved to New York. Yeah.
Speaker: What's going on there? It could still happen. We could still swap. we just There is time. Yeah. um So, yeah. All right. Well, I mean, yeah, that that was that was the only thing that i could think of, but which was like you and I and public transport. Yeah. and but that's stable That same year, my friend Jonathan moved to Copenhagen.
Speaker: Jesus. it was it was like yeah It was the big migration year. Yeah. And we were saying last week, our country has gone to shit ever since. Exactly. We left.
Speaker: The whole thing fell apart. It's gone tits up since we went away. I'm just saying, cant it's more than a coincidence, surely. Yeah.
Speaker: Although I could also argue that that this country that I'm in has gone more tits up since I arrived. Right. Yes, that can be said.
Speaker: Although England is hot on your tail. ah Yeah, well, I don't know. Instead of shits uppiness. Nigel Farage, mate, if he gets in...
Speaker: It's going to be, he's a friend of Trump, for Christ's sake. Anyway, let's not get into that. Yeah. Reel it back in, Paul. Reel it back in. Back on theme.
Speaker: Yeah. Public transport, which which I'm counting as buses and trains. And I include like underground trains in that whole thing. So like.
Speaker: What about ferries? No, that's private, isn't it? ah No, I mean, like, New York has a public ferry. Of course it does.
Speaker: The Staten Island ferry. All the ferries in Venice are state-owned. all right. So you hop around from, you know, say different parts of Venice, you get on there, it's brilliant. It's the best.
Speaker: i didn I forgot to think of it. I didn't think of that, actually, but an amazing um public transport thing venice it's so good that's cool all right so i thought i think one thing that i'll just have to kind of touch on is this yeah is that is that is that neurodivergent travelers do report significantly more more more sort of barriers when they're using public transport, transport including like sensory overload, planning difficulties, yes and and fear of it all going wrong and getting lost yes ending up in the wrong place. Right.
Speaker: It's funny mention that because i remember when I first went to Paris, And turns out that their underground maps are nothing like the London maps.
Speaker: Right. right Right? have a completely different logic. And I was i was lost, literally. I couldn't work it out because in London you could get up you get on a train and it was all based on kind of like, okay, you knew where it was going, it was coming from and where it was going to.
Speaker: Whereas in Paris it was different. was like, oh, and I couldn't get my head around that at all. Yeah, yeah. i was in um So when I lived in China – Getting around the subway system was weird.
Speaker: And when ah when I went to Japan, it was the same it was the same the the same thing. So you would look at a map, right? And there were no English words. They were all just either Japanese or...
Speaker: Mandarin. you go, right, I'm i amm looking for the station that has a square and then a little top hat on it, and then next to it is is like a train, and then there's like a guy that looks like he's sitting down. You have to like...
Speaker: So you would have to remember that and try and get around that way. And then also on the ticket machines, you know, when you buy your by tickets, it's all in Mandarin.
Speaker: And the only way that I knew that I could get a ticket was to guess. I'd go, well, if this was English, this would be the right button.
Speaker: And I would do it that way. No way. Position or colour? Colour and position, whether it was on top or whether it's underneath. Type of plastic. Was it was it like a glossy plastic or was it slightly textured plastic?
Speaker: I know. I mean, I'm just dealing with a screen. love the screen. Yes. Yes. with with with a With a computer screen where you're putting in where you want to go. yes of course. And pushing all the buttons.
Speaker: I'm just guessing, like, if. If this was English, this would be the buy button. the the buy market really Oh, that's sort a nightmare. it it was it It was hilarious. and And I thought, well, you you know what?
Speaker: At worst, someone's going to go, or mate. Yeah. you Your ticket doesn't get you to this station, but they'll say it in Mandarin, and I'll be like, what?
Speaker: I don't understand. And then they'll just be like, I don't know, they they'll just let me go or something. Who knows? but Yeah, yeah. That sounds like a nightmare.
Speaker: but they Because they another like in Tokyo, I think they're having dual language, don't they, Tokyo? It's dual language. Well, not that saw when I was there.
Speaker: I mean, I suspect there was an English button somewhere at the top that I didn't see. Right. Perhaps. It's because they were hiding Martin.
Speaker: Probably. felt the same, though, even even with the without language difficulties. When I was in New York, I remember going to Madison Square Garden Subway,
Speaker: And even then, it's like, for me, just about there's a different font. Oh, dear. Oh, but Like, significantly different font. Whereas if you go to Berlin, it's a fairly similar font.
Speaker: I can we get my head around Berlin. That was okay. Mate. America was really hard. if if If you ever... They used a condense they're used condensed, don't they, or something?
Speaker: Probably. if you ever questioned whether you had autism or not, just just remember that. Just remember the the yeah the that the font that the station is in threw you out.
Speaker: Yes. And made the map almost unreadable. Yes, it was.
Speaker: Well, this is, I mean, you joke and you are joking. Kind of. And we're laughing, so that's a good sign. But other than that, noticed so much. of I've gone through spurt recently. I've gone through ah a phrase, a phase recently. I'm really noticing my autism a lot.
Speaker: Right. A hell of a lot. More than ever before. wow you're literally in the last two or three months its sort like there's been a spike martin a spike in my noticing oh dear i'm so sorry paul but i get the same talking of signage and fonts also with colors because in in in italy The motorway is green.
Speaker: Okay. The sign's green. um And the other roads are blue. Whereas in England, it's the opposite. It is the opposite. And I still get confused. I've been in Italy for 22 years.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah. I get confused here with because American roads can have two different names and two different numbers. So instead of it just being like a, you know, a this is the M25, which is like a noteway, it will be it's it's it's interstate number three.
Speaker: But it is also the something something highway, right? Oh, God. Or something. that i'm I'm using the the the kind of wrong word. But it it'll be like Route 105, and it will also be Route 6 or Interstate 6 or whatever. so Okay.
Speaker: That gets sounds like a nightmare to me. Yeah. Yeah, their signage sucks. So size signage and transport and timetables. you have problems with timetables, you'd like think, okay, I want to get a bus from from Florence to Rome, okay?
Speaker: Yeah. And it's like, apart from the fact these days, it's really hard to find them printed, you know? Yeah, i did so in Britain, the bus timetable would be printed on, I think this is probably fairly common, right? The bus timetable is printed on a thing and it's on the bus stop and it tells you when it's coming and it's written in this tiny, tiny, tiny, yes tiny font and and you have to stare at it. and Yeah.
Speaker: and And I think after a while, you kind of get it, right? you you It takes you a while to work this fucking matrix thing. There's a logic that you need to understand. yeah And if you've lived in that place all your life, you you've got it. It's familiar.
Speaker: Right. Yeah. But it's um it is interesting how, I mean, just to kind of like um stay on maps, and ah public transport maps for a second. um I did this. So um when i when I worked at this particular ad a agency, we were doing...
Speaker: um ah this this campaign for a mobile phone. And this was back in the day when it was now color. You you could have color pictures, right?
Speaker: So this is how this is how far back that that goes. So your mobile phone can now take color pictures. wild just who So we did this ad campaign in the London Underground, right?
Speaker: which was basically we did underground maps, but they were in but in that in black and white, right? So just tones of grey. Yeah. um and And the whole idea is just kind of emphasise how colour is quite important. And this phone has colours, yeah? Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker: and we and And we did it. And then decades pass. And then I'm now in a room with my cousin at some birthday function or something, you know, like family stuff. And I'm chatting to him. And I find out, oh he works for public transport. Oh, that's interesting. And he says, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker: I approve all of the ads that get shown on the underground. Okay. And I went, oh, I did this ad back in the day. said, yeah, I remember that.
Speaker: i i am i ah i I approved it. Nice. That's good. Okay. Anyway. Excellent.
Speaker: anyways but i thought But I think on your on your on your thing about timetables, right, this is this is the thing. So what public transport does do is it ised is, as ah as I've got done here, it it exposes our relationship with time, with systems, our need.
Speaker: for Yeah. You know, like, um well, you know, like, um you know, it, it, it the the, we like things to be flexible. you know, we like it when, know, we want the bus to turn up when we want it to, but there's this rigid fucking structure that it that is inconvenient.
Speaker: Yeah. For us always. And unpredictable. Right. Right. Well, yes, certainly. It doesn't do what they're supposed to.
Speaker: Right. And then you get a bus that's been cancelled. How? What the hell? You know? Right. And you end waiting two hours for a bus. Right. Yeah. You know that that that that thing of like you you're sitting there and you're waiting for the bus and then you see the bus coming in the distance and you're like squinting at it right down the road. Yes.
Speaker: yeah And you're squinting really hard because you want to see that number on the front. Is it your bus coming? mean And then your eyes start bleeding. Right, and it gets closer and closer, and then it's like either not yours or it's out of service, and you just watch it like go... Yeah.
Speaker: Past you. know that feeling. Mad, sad. Talking about sensory overload, do you remember, Martin, and think you probably do, the whole public transport business of the nineteen seventy s eighty s and into the when, this is quite particular if you if you're British, you had double-decker buses, and you had the joy, far as were when I was a little boy, going upstairs, a double-decker bus was a treat.
Speaker: That was our entertainment. Living. That was our entertainment in the 70s and Going to the top deck of a bus, come on!
Speaker: It's that rock star status that that is. It's a rock star thing. That was entertainment. That was certain element of joy because you could watch things go by from a vantage point.
Speaker: So i I was always hyper-observant. Well, still am. Hyper-observant. But on the top deck of a bus, you could be hyper-hyper-observant. You could watch everything from a vantage point like you were God or something.
Speaker: Right. Yeah, yeah. No. ah You know, like, there are some really good... I mean, obviously, there's the sensory things which we'll come on to, but there are some... but But there are some really nice things, which, yeah, as as you say, the top deck of the bus is is is is one. i Also, on ah on a train, ah you know, like when you're just like staring out of the window and the scenery just kind of like washes past you in an almost sort of rhythmic way and you've got your headphones on?
Speaker: Washing past you. It sounds like your train has been submerged. Exactly. It wafts past you. It wafts past you. And you have, like, sort of music on, and then it yeah and then and then you know you you do you I don't know if if you ever do that thing, but if you've got music on with a with a beat, and you're just staring out the window, and it's almost like you're trying to match the beat to the things that are coming... You know, like... Yes. photograph poles going past you, you almost want them to kind of be in time with the music.
Speaker: The Chemical Brothers did a video based on this. Yeah, they they did, yeah. Yeah. And it was really cool. it It was cool. It was exactly that.
Speaker: That whole effect, though, so the the world washing past you, your headphones on, and then up until recently, the the the trains had this like, um the old trains had this kind of rhythm to them, ah but they'd also move slightly to one side and then to the other, so they'd rock you to sleep.
Speaker: Oh. ah I sleep like a baby on the on the trains. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then they modernized them and they took that whole pleasure away.
Speaker: Bastards. Bastards. They were some, like, they didn't they didn't um they didn't rock from side to side anymore. Right. That sucks. I mean, like,
Speaker: one one One thing that I did think going back to the buses was and that waiting at the bus stop thing was that I i honestly think you are not a you you are not you are not so of British until you've stood at a bus stop with a complete stranger waiting for the bus and tatting about when when it was going to arrive, looking up into the sky and then making small talk about whether it's going to rain or to rain? Oh, yeah, I know, I've got my coat. You have that kind of conversation about the the yeah weather.
Speaker: I love that. Yeah, that's that's very English. That's very English. I've got something here that's very... um and Well, it's not it's not English or any other thing. It's... It's me desperately trying to do a segue and failing completely. So anyway, just forget any segues. I've got... ah For me, it's a bit of an ad ADHD hack for when you find yourself in a foreign country slash city, okay? Yeah.
Speaker: And you want to you the fastest way to get to know a city, but also to get away from the kind of a neurotypical itinerary, okay? Right.
Speaker: on Get on any of their random um public transport systems and go in a random direction, okay? Uh-huh.
Speaker: For about half an hour. For about half an hour, right? Right. And then just walk back to your hotel. Wow. Okay. That's what I it's what i do.
Speaker: I did that in... I went on... It was a nightmare. have you do you ever Do you ever go on group holidays, Martin? Group holidays? do you mean by group holidays? You go on holiday with a group of friends.
Speaker: Oh, yeah, no. i i did... like when i was really you know like when i was in my like you know i was like 18 or so can remember we we we went me and steve shillito and janet and my ah my brother and jane and yeah we were all like yeah we were going and let's go to yeah so we went down to the south south coast it was okay Yeah, but that kind of well, that's okay. Going to the south coast, but cooper fred that's all right. But I mean, like, travelling abroad, like long holiday, going to a foreign country...
Speaker: I don't think I have, mate. I don't think I have. it Because it's quite popular in Italy. They've often gone holidays in groups of friends in Italy, right? Nightmare.
Speaker: I went to Istanbul with a group of Italians, right, an ex-girlfriend. And most of them were neurotypicals. Yeah. Let's put it like that. It was a nightmare.
Speaker: It turns out... Why? I and know. And I knew We'd organised. So let's go to Eastern Pole. Great.
Speaker: The next day, she'd invited her mates as well. And I was not happy. Not happy. fucking hell.
Speaker: And one of them I knew was like, oh, that's going to be trouble. There may be trouble ahead. I said, that's going to be trouble. He had a bit of a drug problem, this guy. Oh, Jesus Christ. Right?
Speaker: Yes. Oh, God. And I thought, we're going to Turkey. Oh, bloody. Istanbul. And you've you've seen the film, haven't you? based um He was based in a Turkish prison.
Speaker: no. Midnight Express. Oh, no. Midnight Express with John Hurt. No. True story about so an American guy who tried to smuggle drugs out of Istanbul. So it's bad so these these kind of ideas flashing in my mind. No, Paul, he would never he would never try and try take his drugs into Istanbul. That's not going to happen.
Speaker: No. na He did. Oh, Christ. Yeah. Fuck it now. Luckily, he didn't get caught, but I found out like three days later, he's got some trucks on. said, where he get those from? He's having a problem with him from Italy.
Speaker: said, you are fucking kidding me. Jesus Christ. Anyway, apart from that, the worst part of it was it was just boring. So I just got on a bus.
Speaker: Right. That's my connection to track public transport, Martin. it's also It's also a good um good way to get to know any country, like Cuba.
Speaker: Do you remember we used public transport in Cuba? Oh, we did. Yeah. the best The best and one of the most memorable and amazing experiences of my life has been in Cuba on public transport.
Speaker: We were on a bus, right, and no lie, we were bus. the bus would do whatever you wanted. Like, so we stopped because a woman wanted an ice cream.
Speaker: so we literally stopped and she got an ice cream and then got back on and then we carried on. yeah. yeah One time. Yeah.
Speaker: yeah One time, sorry. just um Do you remember when the bus broke down? And we went, oh, and everyone piled off.
Speaker: And we got around the back. And we pushed and we jump-started the bus. The bus roared to life. We all went, hooray. We all climbed back on the bus and we carried on.
Speaker: forgotten about that. Oh, amazing. Yeah. Amazing. I got on a bus. This the first time i went to Cuba, which was in... 1990, so 36 years ago. ah And i was traveling by myself, and it was in the middle of the night, and the bus suddenly stopped, and everyone got off. yeah Right?
Speaker: And it was pitch black. it was We were nowhere near. ah As far as I was concerned, there was only one stop. And it was long, you know, it was ah another four or five hours away. Everyone just got off, including the bus driver, turned all the lights off.
Speaker: And I was sitting there.
Speaker: What the hell? Was it, do I smell? Was it something I said? oh dear. And I didn't so but it like, well, it was pitch black and I couldn't see what the hell was going on. And this lovely Cuban lady came back on the bus and she brought me back a snack.
Speaker: Oh, she liked you. That's so sweet. She liked me. Yeah. Do you remember we we we got on we went to a bus station, we bought our tickets, right? Yes.
Speaker: I can't remember where we were going. think we were going from alkamebu they will go to to del Rio. All right. So we' we so we we buy our tickets, right?
Speaker: and with and we're And we're sitting there in the kind of bus shelter thing in the in the room um waiting for our bus.
Speaker: Mm-hmm. And... um Bus arrives, we get on the bus, we drive for a long time, and then it spits us out, right?
Speaker: Yes. in in a In a car park, in a parking lot at night, late at night, around 11 p.m. at night.
Speaker: You get off the bus and there was a guy standing there with a sheet of cardboard with our names on it. Paul and Martin. Right. And yes we're going, how the how did you know that we're on this bus? And he said, yeah, well, it it's my aunt. She sold you the the bus tickets the station and then phoned me to say these two guys are going to be on the bus.
Speaker: That's brilliant. And then he he said, okay, well, i'm not so cool I've got some rooms for you. Are you interested in room? wellre yeah absolutely absolutely, because that's what you do in Cuba.
Speaker: It's literally by the seat your pants. But yeah. That was piut Pina del Rio, the town, with the tobacco growing region in the north.
Speaker: All right. But, Martin, do you remember before that point... And I convinced you, because at a certain point after about four days in Havana, i said we decided let's get out of cute out of Havana, okay? yeah And I convinced you somehow that, okay, I've got it sorted, mate.
Speaker: aye And we grabbed um our backpacks, heavy ones. Yours especially was huge. It was huge! Who's that the size of me And in my romantic little mind, and by the way, it's still romantic and it's still little, we went off in a random direction. i was just convinced that we would just like blag it and we'll we would find, we'd get to our destination. Turns out in the end, we went in a massive loop.
Speaker: o in the hot Cuban sun ah with our backpacks. We were in a massive loop and ended up in a bus station. Yeah.
Speaker: Oh, yeah, that's right. We went, fuck this. Let's get a bus. Yes, let's get the bus.
Speaker: And we ended up walking through some bizarre um suburbs of of Havana. with no particular sense of direction at all.
Speaker: I don't know what. I think i had this vague idea of where to go, but had not done any real um proper planning at all.
Speaker: Right. You see, that that's that's where the the the ADHD brain lets us down, right? Because the planning part... it can be quite boring.
Speaker: Yeah. And therefore, you know, like, you know, ah yeah, it's, it's it's ah yeah, yeah. It's not so, yeah.
Speaker: Things, yeah so, ah yeah, weird weird adventures happen. Yeah, but they do, and and especially in foreign countries, it's the the best. When I got on a bus, I've got on a random bus in Istanbul,
Speaker: for about half an hour and then just walked back to the center, historic center of Istanbul. It was the best day of the whole trip, I mean. Oh, blimey.
Speaker: Yeah. um All right. Well, I mean, like, I i will tell you, like, um you know, like, ah my worst commute, which was a public trend right transport commute. so So I worked for, know, I'm here. I was in, I lived in Brooklyn,
Speaker: And my job was in New Jersey, which is like the next state over. Right. So i have to go from from I have to go from Brooklyn through Manhattan and then into New Jersey. So for about a year, this was my My public transport... um um Oh, I remember you telling me about this. Yeah. Commute. So so this was my commute. So if if a if if if anyone thinks that they've got a bad commute on public transport...
Speaker: Let me give you mine. Right. So right car to the train station, a train to Grand Central Station in Manhattan. Then I get on the subway train for a bit. Then I have to change subway trains. So off that one.
Speaker: stairs, stairs, stairs onto a different subway line, take that into nugert into um into a somewhere in in Manhattan where I caught another train that went to from Manhattan into New Jersey. And then I caught a bus from the...
Speaker: Yeah. Train station to my work. So that's car, train, subway, subway, train, bus. And then on the way home, I do the whole thing in reverse.
Speaker: And working in between. yeah So I do that in the morning and then I do work and then I do the whole thing again. See, I suppose that you being ADHD and autistic...
Speaker: Right? You could do that because it was a total feast for your little eyes. For my little eyes! It was... Am I right or am I right?
Speaker: It just sounds exciting to me. It's tiring, right? Yeah. But, and once you kind of got the route down and you know where you're going to go and what platform and all of this stuff, you you almost did that on automatic pilot.
Speaker: um Totally. But, you know, like there are some good things. I mean, especially like when you talk about sort of people watching, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. subways and trains. Oh, possibly. Part of it is you're sitting there and you're looking at the other people.
Speaker: Yeah, And you've got all this, like, you know. Well, never bored. There's stuff going on and these people and you, like, eavesdrops into other people's conversations and you might see their phone.
Speaker: yeah. It's just nuts. It's odd because you think in that's in that situation, you'd think you'd have um overload, sensory overload, and yet you don't because it's so stimulating.
Speaker: I think it can go either way. for i mean, like some people can obviously find that very, you know, they have to wear the headphones, have to kind of like just try and knock block out as much sensory input as they as they can, and i and i and I totally get that. But there is a part of me...
Speaker: that is fascinated by the stuff that is going on in front of me. Totally. And I'm sitting there opposite someone and I'm looking at them and I'm kind of trying to invent their entire life. Like, okay, you work in an office, you've got a pretty nice job, blah, blah, blah, blah. You're married. Okay, all right.
Speaker: But if you didn't know you were autistic, all right, and you were doing a test, you people would say, oh, you're clearly not autistic, because that sounds like a nightmare for most autistics.
Speaker: and right i i am more adhd than i than i am yeah just for for for sure so that so so all of that interesting things now there's interesting things from my eyeballs as you say i'm totally on that totally up for that yeah but it's amazing how we've spoken about this before how you can i remember but i used to have this incredible ability, like most people can, of shutting things out.
Speaker: Our brains are amazing things. We can shut out as and when we want. So if you you get on a like a tube on the underground in during rush hour right and you after, you know, 40 minutes, half an hour, 40 minutes of that, you get into work and you start working again, you think, how do you do that?
Speaker: you're kind of thinking back but you I remember you i remember not remembering those journeys yeah like you know you do it and think oh did I just do that and like oh yeah I did you shut it you shut it out I think because you have to yeah you know in the end otherwise you get mentor Oh, that's interesting, though.
Speaker: But the i mean the New York subway is you see everything there. Like, it is nuts, the stuff that you would see on an almost daily basis. I mean, when you buy a ticket to the subway, it is like buying a ticket to us to a to ah a a circus show.
Speaker: because and yeah yeah anything can happen. I mean, like there was this time when ah you could um you could only take your dog on the subway if if if it was in a in a bag, right? So it basically, if you had like a sort of a backpack or or something...
Speaker: or or a small dog, you could kind of put it in a bag and then take it onto the subway. but But what was happening was that people with large dogs, for example, and what you would see is, you know those IKEA bags, those big blue IKEA? They were cut four holet a hole in each of the four corners,
Speaker: Put by hurt the dog's legs in the IKEA bag. of Just hold the IKEA bag and just let the dog walk, right? And die the dog is technically in a bag, right? It was a hack. It was a hack. Yes.
Speaker: That sort of shit happens all the And, you know, people arguing and couples having rows. i mean, I've had a row with my wife on the on the New York, you know, a row. It was like a loud argument. Right. On the subway, on a full subway train, no one gives a shit.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah. Because in 15 minutes' time, it'll be so someone else doing that. That's... that I've always had that impression of that in a New York, just weird shit, you know, visually all the time. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. Madness, total madness, much more than London. Oh, much more. You'd see madness in London, but not not on the scale of New York.
Speaker: No, no. and And in fact, one of the one of the things that kind of thought, one of those times when when when I felt, oh Christ, I've become quite American or quite New York, yeah um is I went back to London I am standing on a train platform.
Speaker: The train comes. It's full. yeah the the The doors open and there are people there isn't any room to get on. But I look in the window and I see that the middle of the carriage is empty. People are just not moving to the middle.
Speaker: ah Right. Yeah, right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I'm standing there and then I just bang on the on on the window. Oi! Move your fucking asses in!
Speaker: but Yeah. And they were like, who and then they all kind of shuffled in. And then then the yeah me they me. I was like, oh, Jesus Christ. I've become quite New York, haven't I?
Speaker: Fucking hell. Yeah. You do become, I've been in Italy for 22 years, as you've been in America for 22 years, I suppose.
Speaker: I guess. I've become Italianized, definitely. Yeah. I jump queues and stuff like that. um I still get, but you could take the boy out of London, but you can't take London out of the boy.
Speaker: i still like some some some kind of order, right? um And in Italy, they don't. They don't have it. Not interested.
Speaker: Like you, if like a train stops and... people are trying to get on. So the the underground train or a bus, you you the train stops, right?
Speaker: And you wait, don't You you wait for people to get off so you can get on. Absolutely. They don't do that in Italy. Right, they're just fighting. There's a mad panic to get on the bus. And you're like, let me off the fucking bus. And I get really annoyed with them.
Speaker: I get really annoyed. Nice. Madness. All right. All right. All right. like Let's, um I think we should now we should now rate public transport. transport Oh, as were as very interesting. This is an interesting odd one. Here we go. Here we go. Here comes the... john ah Yes, here we go.
Speaker: Come on, Banjo. Is it a dopamine hit or is it a burnout thing? Public transport. Is it a dopamine hit or is it a burnout thing?
Speaker: Well, before we get to that point, Martin, we were talking before... about having a coma playlist. I think I want that little ditty that you made in my coma play playlist.
Speaker: All right. I'll send it to you. I just want to say that. I've made it public, that request. All right. Dopamine hit. Dopamine hit from 0 to 10.
Speaker: oh this is hard, you know. Right. Because for people watching, for but it's also massively difficult for sensory overload.
Speaker: Right. But for you personally, you personally. Yeah. Surprisingly. It's going to different for anyone. It's surprisingly high. All right. For me.
Speaker: Okay. um Because for me, there's always a level of of adventure. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I get it, I get it. I'm going to give it a solid
Speaker: And all those books that you that that you read while you're sitting there. That's true. Yeah, I used to read a lot on the buses and the trains and the... Yeah, especially trains.
Speaker: How about you, Martin? I'm going to give it like a six. So it's it's a solid six. Yeah, so it's pretty good. It's pretty good. um and yeah And you know that.
Speaker: And for, yeah, and how about um your. Burnout is high. How much of burnout is it? Yeah. Burnout is high as well, you see. Yeah.
Speaker: Right, but but is it 7.9? Is it above that or is it below that? so Burnout, because sometimes you meet weird people.
Speaker: I had a weird experience coming back from Germany about three weeks ago. This bloke sitting opposite me. So the burnout is high too.
Speaker: I'm going to give it an 8 for burnout. All right. so it's so it's So public transport for you is slightly more of a burnout than it is dopamine hit. Yeah. um I would give a yeah i would give a burnout of about about
Speaker: seven point two Okay, a solid 7.2. 7.742, yeah. a rounded up 7.2.
Speaker: Right. um So it is kind of, ah yeah, so it is definitely Bernie out. But I do see some positives. Now, just before we did this podcast, um yeah ah Alexandra, who... who will be will be going to Alexandria. I asked her because she gets the bus every day to go to work. um It's about an hour each way, I think. um And ah she says... ah so so so so so her her um summary
Speaker: of it was something like public transportce transport sucks. so that's so So that's where she's coming from. And I know that she kind of wears headphones on the bus.
Speaker: um so kind of trying ah but But her scores, she gave us her scores. All right, so here we go so So dopamine, ah a score of two.
Speaker: And that's only because thus so the the bus actually comes. So it comes and she sees it, I guess, and the little number or the name on the front of it and goes, oh, and you get like a hit.
Speaker: Like, yes, it's my fucking bus. so So that's two. But it it depends, though. Sometimes if there's only one bus, in in it depends. Well, for her, it's two.
Speaker: okay right and her And her burnout score is eight. So very definitely. Yeah. ah OK. It's a heavy bias towards. OK.
Speaker: Right. ah Well, speaking of her, ah let's jump in the tractor and make our way over to Alexandra's halted in.
Speaker: I mean, those ducks are still here in the
Speaker: in a row.
Speaker: And she's left and left a note here. um And it would ah go over to um go over to a YouTube and read all her comments. They're just amazing. um So I've just got rid of a few quick hits. um So one is, ah so last week's episode was about Old people? Aging.
Speaker: ADHD and a aging. So, um yeah, so we were we were talking about the ah the dementia playlist. So, yeah, she said, piss myself laughing with Martin's dementia slash co coma play playlist. Yeah.
Speaker: um Yeah, i I think it's like a... Being in a coma pretty serious end of of dementia. Come, come, i come. Yeah. um She also says, i love old people.
Speaker: So that's you and me, Paul. Right. She's got a good point, actually. i like but i like spending time with old people. Right. She says they are definitely more interesting people to to hang around, I believe, with age. Totally. You gain qualities I truly admire. Definitely harder to mask when you're older. Absolutely. And I'm so looking forward to to becoming a crazy old lady.
Speaker: With cats, i presume. That's a good point, actually. I do like older people. They become slightly more eccentric. yeah Yeah.
Speaker: I like eccentricism. And then we were doing the music. We were talking a lot about songs. um And she says that her guilty pleasure is the song Barbie Girl by Aqua.
Speaker: I'm a Barbie girl in a Barbie world. It's fantastic when you're plastic. Yeah. So thank you for that. Well, I've got issues with the lyrics, though. Is it fantastic when you're plastic? Is it, though, really?
Speaker: Is it? Is it? Is it really? Is it? Is it really? but Anyway, your feedback is vital to us, it says here. We read all of your comments, like this one from Nick S. Bailey,
Speaker: um who says, LOL, which is, if you're if you don't know what that means, laugh out loud. It's one of those things that kids say, laugh out loud. Yeah. It's hip and cool.
Speaker: Laughed out loud at my Proclaimers impression. yeah. And so I was singing to a Proclaimers song last week with a particularly good Scottish kind of twang. It was fucking epic, mate.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. And actually, they say that they somehow they have all of these on vinyl too. Right. But, I mean, they both wait but but the important thing is is this is his says that your Proclaimers' impression thought I was listening to the record. Yes.
Speaker: Listening to the record. It was that close. Yes. It sounds like Nick S. Bailey, you you maybe you come from England and you're quite good on the irony. Maybe.
Speaker: Maybe. You've been ironic, Nick S. Bailey. Maybe you right you'll let us know. Yeah, anyway. but of was Maybe I was that good, Martin. You were that good. Anyway, if you if if you have any yeah thoughts about this show or any stories about public transport, buses and trains, ah yeah, just just just kind of run to the comments and let us know and we'll yeah read them out probably. i'm All right. No, it's it's it's time for what I failed at, but what Paul
Speaker: pulled out of the hat is the quiz rabbit. It's the quiz rabbit. It's the quiz.
Speaker: It's the quiz. Okay. Let's rattle through these because we've used it up for a lot of time. we've rattled through this. Okay. um with The first two of these is a stim special, Martin. Okay.
Speaker: Okay. The first two, right? So the theme is, if if if we if if um any of our listeners don't know it, the theme is, you think you know me, Martin.
Speaker: lot of known each other for 40 years, but do you really? It turns out not so not so much. Anyway, right. Right. So you are winning. It's I think, or 5-3. 5-3. It's 5-3 to Martin. Okay. Here we go. All right.
Speaker: All right. Verbal stimming, okay? Yes. Verbal, or noises that I make with my mouth, okay? When I am stimming, Martin, okay? Yes.
Speaker: Let's see how well you know me. Okay. One, when verbal stim, so one of these is false, okay? Okay, yeah. One of these is false. When make noisy verbal stimming, do I, A,
Speaker: Play air banjo.
Speaker: okay yeah Okay. Yeah. Okay. and that's That's literally it. Okay. a That's literally a live sample.
Speaker: Right? Yeah. Make popping sounds with my tongue. Okay. Yeah. Do you want to hear it?
Speaker: Sure.
Speaker: Okay. Sounds like a woodblock. It's like my tongue bat batters against the lower part of my mouth. All right. Got it. Or three, a kind of lo-fi lofi Swiss yodel.
Speaker: ah Okay. you want to hear that? Yes, please. Okay. Dan.
Speaker: la Okay. Well, it sounds lo-fi swiss yodel slash turkey. Well, i mean, lo-fi swiss yodel is the only genre of music that I'm that i'm currently listening to.
Speaker: ah right. Is it on your COVID playlist? Yeah, it is now, mate. Okay. So... so have Airbagio,
Speaker: popping with my tongue, or this lo-fi Swiss yodel. Mate, see, the fact that you did all three quite well has thrown me.
Speaker: So I'm going to say. that was my That was my objective to throw you. I'm going to say the lo-fi Swiss yodel. It sounds too too fun and cool.
Speaker: You're right, Martin. It was the lo-fi Swiss yodel. That was a complete guess. The air banjo is quite a recent one. I've been doing it for the last two years. All right.
Speaker: Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. where I do that when I kind of have a moment of indecision. Oh, right.
Speaker: Wow. Yeah. Okay. Love it. Love it. Right. Stimming again, but physical stimming. Okay. Okay. Yes.
Speaker: Okay. My physical stimming includes... Okay, one of these is false. All right. Hand castanets. All right.
Speaker: Okay. And for the yeah for the people on YouTube, what does what does that what would that look look like? Okay, all right. clapping your hands around. Got it.
Speaker: You seem quite good at that. Okay. What? Yes. Yes.
Speaker: Hand popping. Okay. Hand popping. All right. Okay. Okay. right one Slamming your palms yeah together.
Speaker: And the other one a bit more difficult to hear. Knuckle grinding.
Speaker: Oh! Knuckle grinding. All right. I'll just i'll just take take your word for it. You know what? Yeah. You're going hate it. I'm going to go with knuckle grinding because if there's one thing that I've learned is that you always seem to put the false one as the last one, as the last op option.
Speaker: Damn it. Which which you've tu it you've been doing for the last couple of weeks. No, Matthew, I've been doing from the start.
Speaker: yeah it though think You can't win this way, Paul. All Hang on. Hang on. On this last one, I'm going to have to shuffle it around. You are going to have to shuffle it around.
Speaker: Well, it's only three, so the shuffling is quite easy. That's the positive side of it. All right. All right. Turns out shuffling with three is quite easy. But you're right, Marty. You know me so well.
Speaker: catching on. but And also ridiculously predictable. Okay. Last one. Nothing to do with stimming. All right. Okay. Clear your mind, Martin.
Speaker: My mind's clear. Clear your mind. Okay. Jen, this is a general. Right. How well do you think you know me? Yeah. One, I was once enlisted into the army to fight in the Falklands War.
Speaker: Enlisted in the army? You were enlisted in the army. No, i was i i wast I was invited to be enlisted. okay.
Speaker: that's That's a little bit more believable. Yeah. Right? Yeah. I once paid for lodgings in a house with a two-kilo can luncheon meat.
Speaker: Two kilos of luncheon meat.
Speaker: Okay. Right. Right. Jesus Christ. Yes. These quizzes are getting more unhinged as they go. Yes. And I thought, after the first one, thought I haven't got any more material.
Speaker: Turns out have. but unhinged okay i've always had the sense that i needed to rein my dancing style for fear of strange looks from bystanders right standards yeah i have seen your yeah all right So either... All right, so you you were either in invited to enlist in the army to fight in the Falkland War. Yeah. it's fucking
Speaker: Or you paid for lodging with two kilos of luncheon meat, or you ah you had to rein in your dance style for... Yeah. Okay, I think...
Speaker: Honestly, mate, I feel like... The first one, it sounds so unlikely, doesn't it? Yeah, but then... But then there are people who try and actively recruit you into the army. Yes. you know ah that's that's like So I can believe that someone k came up to you and went, do you want to do you want to fight the Argentinians? um Reigning in your dance style.
Speaker: I don't know. ah don't I I honestly think that you didn't pay for the lodging with two kilos of luncheon meat. Because it's because it's like just like, who has two kilos of luncheon meat just like lying around?
Speaker: Yeah. Well, that' so but that's a must-have. So that one's the luncheon meat is full... Oh, Jesus Christ. What was the false one then? The false one was, I've never thought of reigning my dancing style. i've always got a pretty mad.
Speaker: well i've was once I once received a letter from the Ministry of Defence enlisting me in the army. Jesus. Turns out was my uncle who faked the letter.
Speaker: What? Yes. During the Falkland Wars in the nineteen eighty s He thought he would, um A, surprise me, and B, give my mother a heart attack by sending. i just turned 21, and and the letter appears with a full, like, the legit kind of envelope with the logo at the top of the letter enlisting me for obligatory service in the army. all right. Conscription. Jesus.
Speaker: Conscription. Wow. but but But let's move on to what what how how the hell are you paying for lodgings with two kilos of luncheon meat?
Speaker: It was in Cuba. Oh, okay. And they they ah um they didn't want the um they didn't want me to play in pesos,
Speaker: um and they but I couldn't give them dollars either because it was illegal for Cubans to have dollars. So I went to the local store and paid for a massive, it might have even been four kilos of luncheon meat.
Speaker: And they were so happy. Oh, bless them. I paid for my lodges with a two kilo can of luncheon meat. what, I think that we we we both went to the, when we stayed at, we both stayed at some like little house in the country. Yeah. had they had they had They had the chickens.
Speaker: That was in In Vinales. Yeah. It's where we smoked cigars and got drunk on rum. Yeah. Yeah, um and we winning and and we went to the the store where normal Cubans aren't really allowed. because That's right, yeah. cause it's cause it's got food in it. yeah so so So wherever we went, we would like if if there was a store there, we would go to the store, we would buy stuff. We'd just buy stuff and just give it to the family. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: I should say that other luncheon meat, there was also um a an electric fan for their grandmother. Oh, wow. A bottle of rum.
Speaker: huh for the For the grandmother. um the fun grandmother And two bottles of Sprite.
Speaker: for the kids for the kids wow all right there we go so it it is now six three is the six three right the the the schools um all right so uh it'll be me next week for another two all right so uh let's go on to next week's episode what it it is your your turn Yes, Martin. i've got um it's It's difficult to pronounce, but I didn't let that stop me from having an episode right on the subject. Next week, Martin, ADHD and eccentricism.
Speaker: All right. Being eccentric. Being eccentric. All right. I'm just going write being ec eccentric. Yeah. Sounds sounds that.
Speaker: All right. So that's like all your kind of weird, you you your sort of ADHD, autism sort of weirdness hanging out. Yes. um But also my attraction for friends, colleagues, famous people on TV for for their...
Speaker: they're very being of it being eccentric. Right. You know, there's kind of things that you really appreciate when you, as you're growing up of like, like Roald Dahl books for me was like probably one of the first things,
Speaker: examples of of this kind of thing it's like wow that's just bizarre you know right behaving in weird ways that i've always found really uh inspiring exciting and uh joyful yeah well that sounds like it be a ah weird and fun episode to dig into right um so uh that just leaves me to say but I'm just waiting for the music to come in. God, it takes six ages. The ADHD is delivered fresh every Tuesday to all providers of fine podcasts. Please subscribe to the pod and rate Most time bus
Speaker: um and And feel free to correspond at Will in the comments. But wait, there's more if you wish to see our beautiful, beautiful faces and Sally Force on YouTube and the TikToks. And you can also pick up the quill and email us at ADHDWill at gmail.com. But in the meantime, fucking kind to yourself.
Speaker: And I beseech you fellow ADHDers, fare thee well with gladness of heart.
Speaker: There! day There we go. did One minute ten. One minute temple. Because we had out attend we had so many anecdotes and stories.
Speaker: Yeah, and I was reining it in. I know. I've loads of other material. know. I've got like half a script of i' i' things to talk about that that I never got to.
Speaker: Yeah, me too. But...
