We’re back with a special guest: travel agent Joanna Lynch, aka Jojo, joining us from a very relaxed corner of El Gouna. We chat winter sun, Casa Cook’s lovely hospitality, the El Gouna Film Festival, and a private speedboat trip to islands and a colourful coral reef.

There’s also a near-whiplash towel-sunbathing incident, some debate over camel kofta, and the looming “Bill of Doom.” Normal podcast service resumes next week, with listener contributions and hopefully some house-move news.

In this episode:

• Jojo’s travel-agent expertise—and how she planned the trip
• What El Gouna is like for a luxury winter-sun break
• Snorkelling, colourful coral and the speedboat ride
• The film festival glamour we couldn’t identify
• A promise of house-move updates to come

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In this episode, we look back on our first trip to Egypt: three days exploring Cairo, followed by a few days relaxing in El Gouna. It was a holiday of two halves, from navigating Cairo’s traffic and busy streets to getting used to life at a resort.

We talk about seeing the Pyramids and the Sphinx, visiting the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization and its Royal Mummies Hall, and taking a boat trip on the Nile. Along the way, we share a few first impressions of Cairo, including the hospitality, the street animals, the driving, and the unofficial “Uber” offers at the airport.

There are practical travel thoughts too: what to expect at the Pyramids, getting around, finding places that serve alcohol, and what we’d have liked to know before we arrived. Plus, we compare this trip with our 40th birthday celebrations ten years ago—and admit that Pharaoh’s revenge had a hand in keeping this holiday a little more restrained.

This is Part One of our Egypt trip. We’ll carry on in Crisis Talks, where we talk more about Hurghada and El Gouna, with special guest Joanna Lynch.

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Katy and Katie are back after being poorly, and they have plenty to get off their chests. Katy recounts a train journey featuring a man who seemed to snore while awake, a very unusual phone call and some truly enormous suitcases. Then the pair debate backpacks in crowds, unsolicited train conversation and the stress of trying to get a GP appointment.

There’s also a catch-up on holiday plans for Egypt and India, Katy’s house move limbo, and a listener’s Room 101 contribution: “I didn’t see that on my bingo card.” Plus, the phrase “spending time in nature” gets a thorough airing.

Send in your Room 101s, and your husband moans—for a future episode.

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Stop Trying to Do Everything. Just Do One Thing.

We started with a September Reset.

Then Katie objected.

So naturally, we renamed it September Shit Together.

In this week's Crisis Talks, we're talking about what we actually want to change, sort out or carry forward between now and Christmas — without giving ourselves a massive list of things that we'll inevitably abandon by October.

The answer?

One small thing at a time.

We talk about:

• Why September feels like a natural time to get your shit together
• Katie's attempt at taking up drawing — and why doing something just for yourself actually matters
• Clearing out wardrobes, cupboards and the mysterious “shit cupboard” we all seem to have
• Why books multiply when you're not looking
• The brilliant idea of doing one small job a day instead of overwhelming yourself with a massive list
• Starting DIY projects with huge enthusiasm and then immediately wondering why you started
• Why decorating is 90% boring preparation and 10% actual fun
• The unrealistic deadlines we give ourselves
• Why rushing makes everything worse
• Cleaning one room properly instead of trying to clean the entire house in one go
• The pressure we put on ourselves as Christmas starts creeping into shops and our heads
• Why “getting your shit together” doesn't have to mean completely changing your life
• And the one thing each of us wants to do differently between now and Christmas

Our conclusion?

You don't need a complete life reset.

Pick one thing. Do it properly. Then do the next thing.

And if all else fails, just call Neil.

Midlife? No Crisis!

We're two 50-year-old friends trying to navigate work, kids, relationships, houses, holidays, hormones and whatever the hell comes next.

Sometimes we've got the answers.

Mostly, we're just figuring it out as we go.

If you enjoy the chat, share the podcast with a friend — apparently that's how this whole podcast thing works.

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September has arrived, we're both 50, the kids are getting older, summer is disappearing… and apparently we're supposed to use this moment to completely reset our lives.

But do we actually need a September Reset?

In this episode, we're talking about why September feels like a fresh start, whether it's genuinely different from January, and why we might just prefer the idea of a little seasonal shift rather than reinventing ourselves every five minutes.

We chat about:

• Turning 50 and why, actually, it might not be as depressing as we thought
• Teenagers, money and the shocking realisation that £25 doesn't buy a week's worth of food when you've spent it on Wingstop
• Why September feels like a natural time to sort your house, wardrobe, habits and life out
• The joy of new stationery, new notebooks and that back-to-school feeling
• Whether we really need to call everything a “reset”
• Hobbies, decorating, gardening and the things we keep saying we're going to do
• Social media outrage and why everyone seems to have an opinion these days
• Ed Sheeran, Sydney Sweeney and the latest internet pile-ons
• Why sometimes the best thing you can do is simply… not comment
• Getting older, having more freedom and realising we're actually quite excited about this next decade

And, as always, there's plenty of completely unnecessary chat, questionable advice and at least one conversation we probably shouldn't have left in.

Crisis Talks

And don't forget to join us for Crisis Talks, our shorter episode where we take one of the week's conversations and try to work out what we're actually going to do about it.

Because apparently we have a plan.

We're just not entirely sure what it is yet.

Listen, subscribe and come and join the Midlife? No Crisis! gang.

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In this week’s Crisis Talks, we’re carrying on our conversation about confidence — but this time we’re getting into the complicated relationship between confidence, appearance, clothes and getting older.

Does looking good really make you feel more confident? Why can one outfit make you feel fantastic one day and completely rubbish the next? And why, as women, are we still so obsessed with what we’re “allowed” to look like as we get older?

We talk about:

* Why what you wear can have a huge impact on how confident you feel
* Why getting older can make confidence around appearance more complicated
* The ridiculous idea that an older face is somehow a “worse” face
* Wrinkles, grey hair and why we should be allowed to actually LOOK our age
* The pressure on women to maintain a younger-looking appearance
* Hollywood, social media and the unrealistic image of what women in their 40s, 50s and beyond are supposed to look like
* Body changes as we get older — and learning to accept that your body isn't supposed to look like it did in your 30s
* Why we need to stop trying to “fix” every change that happens to our bodies
* The dreaded tummy, post-kids bodies and the pressure to train ourselves into a completely different shape
* Why sometimes you just need to say “fuck it” and wear the bikini
* Dressing for confidence at work
* The outfits we reach for when we want to feel good
* Why getting older might actually mean caring less about what everyone else thinks
* Quality over quantity when it comes to clothes
* Wearing the same outfit twice without having an existential crisis
* Why we should experiment more with clothes as we get older
* Barrel-leg trousers, skinny jeans and the eternal fashion struggle
* And, most importantly… WHY ARE WE SO RUBBISH AT ACCEPTING COMPLIMENTS?!

Our challenge this week is simple:

Tell someone they look nice.

And when someone tells YOU that you look nice?

JUST SAY THANK YOU.

No “Oh, it's only from Tesco.”

No “I've had it for years.”

No “God, I've put weight on.”

No explaining why the compliment isn't valid.

Just…

THANK YOU.

Because maybe giving compliments — and actually accepting them — is one of the easiest ways we can make each other feel a little more confident.

And, of course, there’s plenty of nonsense along the way, including Saga cruises, The Golden Girls, Hollywood, Alton Towers, raincoats, ponchos and Katy preparing to celebrate her 50th birthday!

Watch/listen now and let us know:

What makes YOU feel confident?

And are you any good at accepting a compliment?

#MidlifeNoCrisis #CrisisTalk #Confidence #WomenOver40 #WomenOver50 #Turning50 #MidlifeWomen #Aging #Ageing #BodyConfidence #BodyImage #Menopause #Perimenopause #FashionOver40 #FashionOver50

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Listen if you want a laugh and a comforting reminder that friendships don’t have to be perfect — they just have to be real.

50, Fabulous & Faking It: What Actually Makes Us Confident?

Katy is five hours away from turning 50 and, naturally, the countdown involves bad sleep, Prosecco, questionable sunglasses and a serious discussion about whether she is about to become a completely different person overnight. 😂

Meanwhile, Katie has been battling London, discovering that apparently everyone under 35 actually enjoys the chaos, mourning the fact that everyone owns her Zara coat and discovering the confidence boost that comes from finally having nice white teeth.

But underneath all the birthday silliness, this week we get properly stuck into confidence.

What actually makes someone confident? And is confidence something you're born with, or something you can practise?

We talk about:

✨ Why women can sometimes let less capable but more confident men take the limelight at work.

✨ The impact of perimenopause and those moments when you lose your train of thought, second-guess yourself or simply don't feel like the person you used to be.

✨ Why looking confident doesn't necessarily mean you feel confident.

✨ The difference between confidence, cockiness and arrogance — and why women can sometimes feel they shouldn't be "too confident".

✨ How much confidence is actually a performance, particularly in the workplace and at networking events.

✨ Stepping outside your comfort zone and why doing the things that scare you can actually make you more confident.

✨ How confidence can be different depending on the situation — you can be hugely confident socially but terrified of walking into a room full of strangers.

✨ Whether confidence really does come with age — or whether we simply get better at caring less about what other people think.

✨ The idea of becoming your own best friend and being kinder to the voice inside your head.

✨ Why believing in your own abilities might just be a superpower.

✨ How travelling alone forced Katy to become more confident — including the terrifying experience of eating in a pub on her own!

And, because this is Midlife? No Crisis!, we also find time for:

🛍️ A very early-morning car boot sale and the mysterious world of professional car booters.

🧥 Katie's increasingly controversial Zara coat.

🍂 People who make autumn their entire personality.

🎃 Boo baskets — and why they have absolutely no place in our houses.

📱 Influencers, fairy microphones and the never-ending stream of identical clothes hauls.

🎢 Katy's plans for her 50th birthday at Alton Towers.

And then, right at the end, Katie gives Katy a very special 50th birthday present: a poem that manages to sum up their friendship, their adventures, their ridiculous laughter — and their complete inability to know what they're doing but somehow figure it out anyway.

It's funny, it's honest, it's very us — and underneath all the chaos, it's a reminder that confidence isn't necessarily about never being scared. Sometimes it's simply doing the thing anyway.

🎧 Listen now wherever you get your podcasts.

And don't forget to join us for Crisis Talk, where we're carrying on the confidence conversation and getting into the particularly complicated relationship between confidence, appearance and getting older.

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It's Wednesday. It's Crisis Talks. And we're back to normal and very much NOT taking Ivan Rose's advice about being calm, rational and living in the moment. 😂

After our conversation with Ivan about midlife, anxiety and emotional regulation, we put some of his advice to the test particularly the idea of focusing on what we can actually control.

Which is easier said than done when your adult children are living on the other side of the world...

Katie's daughter has just headed off to Japan, leaving her feeling a little bit emotional (and slightly lost in a very big house), while her son is busy working, saving money... and spending it again.

We also catch up on:

• Katie's new varifocal glasses and whether she's going to throw up wearing them.
• Dave's new teeth and the imminent whitening operation.
• Our ongoing debate about emergency liposuction.
• Katy's 50th birthday celebrations and a very good night out.
• The house purchase, renovation plans and Katy's growing obsession with 1806, lead paint and horsehair plaster.
• Katie's pension and the eternal question: retire early or keep working?
• Why work is annoying. (Obviously.)
• Our one-year podcast anniversary and our complete lack of plans to celebrate it.
• And why, despite everything, we're trying to be a bit more Buddha and live in the moment.

Plus, we revisit some of Ivan's best advice from this week's main episode — including the reminder that our thoughts aren't facts, we can't control everything, and sometimes we just need to stop taking ourselves quite so seriously.

Basically, it's a midlife catch-up with a side order of existential crisis.

Come and have a chat with us. ❤️

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Listen if you want a laugh and a comforting reminder that friendships don’t have to be perfect — they just have to be real.