Other Lives Are Available

100. Nigel - social butterfly

This chat in Bethnal Green is about the social benefit of a charity shop, buying a coffee for a stranger, the shrinking geography of London with age, and cleaning a telephone box. “If you’re someone who lives alone and you’re in your late 70s or late 80s… just to have interaction with a human being is absolutely fabulous… and sometimes they turn round, especially in winter time, and say ‘thank you very much, I haven’t seen anyone for 3 days’”. #otherlivesareavailable #podcast #eastlondon #charityshop

99. Antonia - thinker

This chat on a stormy day is about figuring out your identity at 19, learning to be an adult, french military service lasting one day, being stood up on a date, the comfort of your home area, losing friends as a teenager and learning to win them back. “I fell out with my friends, and my automatic response was just like ‘I’m going to be your worst nightmare!’… everybody was against me, for good reason to be fair, I was crazy!… so I was like ‘everything I’ve done so far hasn’t worked’…  I need to be more of a loving person to others and to myself”. #otherlivesareavailable #podcast #eastlondon #stratford

98. Nathan - signwriter & lettering artist

This chat with @muchsigns is about pulling a line, a career that starts with a chance meeting in a pub, excessive pollen, glass tarot cards, and a supportive trade. "Sometimes you do have to kind of have nerves of steel for some jobs, and it's quite performative... even when you're not being watched or filmed you have to get your mind into the right space". #otherlivesareavailable #eastlondon #podcast #signwriter

97. Sean - race car enthusiast

This chat is about street racing, doing a job that you enjoy, not heeding your own Dad's advice, and growing up your kids. "It's problems that they know that they've caused... and they're going to call Dad to back them up... As much as I'm always going to be on their side... for my sons when they come to me 'Dad, listen this happened', I'll be like 'OK, I think this is what happened', you give them your version. And then they get that look in their face, 'Was you there??' Like 'I wasn't there son, but I've been there, you're just re-living what I've done already... I know the original version!' #otherlivesareavailable #podcast #eastlondon #parenting

96. Sukhdev - Clapton Community Football Club member

At the ground of Clapton CFC (www.claptoncfc.co.uk) we talk about how the fans created the club from scratch, what it stands for, the Spanish connection, and why it's about far more than football. "When you come to this club the team, the volunteers, are playing for an idea. Not for themselves, for an idea... and that is how community can come back together again, reconstitute itself into an anti-fascist, anti-racist, anti-sexist, anti-transphobe community that welcomes people, and how we can do things collectively." #otherlivesareavailable #podcast #eastlondon #claptoncfc