“Wear the OTT dress!” Fearne’s got wardrobe and dating advice

What’s been going on for you this week? What are you happy about, and what’s making you not so happy? Fearne’s here with more chat about what’s putting her, Team Happy Place team, and you lot in a good mood, and what’s feeling a bit heavier. This is our space to explore what’s been on our minds. Want to join the chat? Send us a voicenote, DM, or comment on Instagram @happyplaceofficial! In this chat, Fearne explores: -Why the regular mates getaway is so vital -Why – contrary to popular advice – it’s important to talk to strangers -Sitting on a train without looking at your phone -Just bloody wearing the outfit you think is too extra -Coping with ill parents -Trying not to get frustrated with older people taking things slow -Young kids being obsessed with slime (???!) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 1:14Fearne Cotton?

  Hello, everyone. How are you? I am Fern Cotton. Welcome to Happy Place. I have had four seconds sleep, so I feel deranged today. Like, everything's slightly hazy, but not in a good way. Sometimes I don't mind that hazy feeling, where you're just floating through the day. But today I feel just sort of weirdly out of it. But, look, let's buoy each other up by talking about things that we really love, things that are making us happy, as well as things that are making us feel like crap. Because we've got to get it off our chests. It's good to vent, it's good to rant, it's good to have a place for these words and feelings. That's what this is all about. And you can always let us know yours, too. If you head to our Instagram, you can tell us what is floating your boat, what's making you feel great, and what is making you feel like shite?

• 2:01Fearne Cotton?

  Like, not sleeping. But I'm not going to bore you with that one, because I wang on about not sleeping all the time. It's bloody boring. Let's have a look at what you lovely lot have sent in. So, let's start with likes, because it's nice to be jolly. Nicola says, "The thought of going away with my sisters for a girls' weekend. Oh, is there any better feeling?" No. I am so due this. Me and my old schoolmates try and go away together, maybe twice a year if we can. I mean, we didn't go at all last year, which is a crime. We're all dotted around the place. One's in Newcastle, a couple are in the countryside, a couple are in outer London, one's in New York. That's a real issue. But when we have those weekends where it's just us being silly, we regress back to being

• 2:46Fearne Cotton?

  14 and everything is okay in the world. So, you've really reminded me that that trip needs to be booked. Let's move on to Team Happy Place. I'm going to begin with Penelope, AKA P, from Team Happy Place. Penelope is great and always has exceptional nail art, like, the greatest nails. Once she, and she does it herself. Once she made each fingernail look like a miniature strawberry, and they were textured. How? Also, I have no patience, so never going to happen. Penelope says, "Talking to strangers. My natural constitution is shy, but this summer, I discovered how much I love talking to strangers.

• 3:27Fearne Cotton?

  I was inspired by the southern hospitality in Nashville and Austin on a trip earlier this year, and now I can't stop. Since then, I've found myself chatting more with neighbors, people on trains, in queues, and of course, at the Happy Place Festival." I agree, and I think it's something that we've really lost over time, in such a sad way, because of phones. We're all just stuck to our phones, or sometimes we build a whole cocoon around ourselves with a hat, a hood, sunglasses, ear pods, and then we've got a phone. So, we are totally shutting ourselves off from people. And it is a lovely thing. I mean, sometimes, when like, you're in a mood like I am today, where you're fucking

• 4:11Fearne Cotton?

  knackered and you can't be arsed, maybe it's a big arse to then strike up a conversation with someone. But if you're in a good mood, there is something so wonderful about chatting to someone in a queue, or just having a random moment of kindness. Like, do you remember I told you that, you lot, that story a while back about Dennis, who's a lovely older man who I bumped into in a cafe? And he wrote a poem for me and my daughter. And it was just this spontaneous moment of chatting to a stranger, because it was pissing with rain outside, and we got chatting. And he wrote us this gorgeous poem, and it honestly made me and my daughter so happy for like, the rest of the week. So, Penelope, I wholeheartedly agree that it is a lovely thing. And if you can force yourself to like, I don't know, if you're on the train, sit there

• 4:56Fearne Cotton?

  without looking at your phone, you might end up like, clocking eyes with someone, having a chat. Back in the day, I'm talking like, the 90s, I met a boyfriend on the train, because we didn't have mobiles that had anything on them then. It was just like, an hour to send one text message, like, three presses for the letter C, like, you couldn't even be arsed. So, I was like, sat on the train, I looked at him, he looked at me, didn't see him, didn't speak to him on the train, but then bumped into him again at a pub that week, ended up being a boyfriend. That rarely happens, like, ever, these days, because we're all literally like this. So, Penelope, I agree. Now, what is making me happy this week?

• 5:41Fearne Cotton?

  I would say it's the notion of wear the thing, okay? So, we've all got in our wardrobe, probably, this thing that we bought ages ago that we're not wearing, because we've not got a place to wear it to, or it feels a bit extra, or what will people say? It could be like, a hat, but you never normally wears, wear hats, but you bought this hat. Or it could be a dress that's like, really out there. Or it could be a pair of shoes, and you just think, oh my god, everyone's going to be staring at me. Wear the thing. Wear the jazzy shirt. Wear the ridiculous hat. Like, do the thing. I bought a dress two years ago, because I fell in love with it.

• 6:24Fearne Cotton?

  And it's this big, red, fluffy thing. I don't know how to describe it. It's like a metre wide. It's wider than it is long. And I've been putting off wearing it, like, oh, I've got nowhere to wear it to. And then I went to a party, I nearly wore it, then I chickened out. What if everyone stares? Or what if people think I'm attention-seeking? Anyway, the other day, I just thought, fuck it. And I put the dress on, and I wore it to a party, and it was the best night ever. I was spinning around in circles, because this dress, like, I almost took off, like, that's, it has a wingspan, this dress. I had the best night in this outfit, and I'm so glad I wore it.

• 7:06Fearne Cotton?

  So, push through the feeling of awkwardness, the feeling of slight cringe, and wear the thing. Wear the thing. Just do it. Shall we move into the territory of venting? Because, oh, I need a good old vent today. Crikey. Some stuff not podcast-friendly, so I'll just leave it for my mates. But, we shall vent together. If you've ever got things that are pissing you off, or things that are just making you feel sad, things that are making you feel low and down, tell us about it. You know, I don't think on Happy Place, a brand that has the name happy in it, we should always talk about happy stuff. I think we need to get real and talk about stuff that's really impacting us in a negative way, too. So, you can always get in touch and tell us.

• 7:50Fearne Cotton?

  So, let's go to you lovely lot first, because again, we're up for you sending in your dislikes of the week. Mark said, and this is what I'm talking about, like, real life stuff. We've all got real life stuff going on. It's really easy to go on Instagram and go, oh, everyone's having a wicked time, it's only me that's struggling. I'm not saying that is a bad thing. We all do it. We all, we all assume that we're having the shittest time. Everyone's going through something, whether it's privately, publicly, people know about it in their friendship circles or not. But Mark is really going through it at the minute. Mark's mum had a stroke recently, and that is obviously bloody stressful thing.

• 8:31Fearne Cotton?

  Many of us who are watching this now, listening to this now, are of an age where our parents will have ailments. One of my best mates at the moment has got a really poorly parent, and it's taking up so much of their time in life. Obviously, they want to be there for their parent, but it is so stressful. So, Mark, all of us at Team Happy Place are sending you so much love and so much strength. And to your lovely mum, too. We sent her a huge, huge amount of love. Let's move to Team Happy Place.

• 9:03Fearne Cotton?

  Jenna. Now Jenna does PR for Happy Place. So she gets the word out there. She really helps us get people hearing about the Happy Place Festival before it happens, or the podcast, or the guests we've got on the podcast. And she's fucking brilliant at her job. Jenna says, "What's really making me upset this week is when I see an elderly person taking their time driving and I can see other drivers getting irate with them." Now, I need to read that because I can sometimes be the irate person, if I'm really honest, on the school run. We're in the summer holidays right now, so I don't have to do the school run, which I'm loving, because my kid's school is like a 20-minute drive, which is really annoying. So if I am

• 9:47Fearne Cotton?

  even a tad late, it just throws the whole morning off. And if someone's driving badly or slowly, I can be very impatient, tapping the dashboard, sometimes swearing when my kids are in the back. It's not great. So Jenna's message has reminded me of this. This is Jenna's PS. "We will all be old at some point. Let's always please remember that. And isn't it better to be safe than sorry than rushing for no need? That could be your grandma or granddad. So let's always think from that perspective." You're so right, Jenna. I haven't got any grandparents left, but my nan Ruby drove a car until my dad had to quite literally take it away from her.

• 10:30Fearne Cotton?

  She was in her 90s and my dad was like, "This is not good. This is not safe." And we're not just talking like driving slowly. And also her brother Hayden, my great uncle, who was a beautiful influence on me and my brother and cousins. He was an amazing, amazing man. He was actually in the episode of Who Do You Think You Are that I filmed about, God, it's probably nine years ago now, because we followed the story of my nan and her brother Hayden's dad, who was an amazing man. And Hayden, again, well into his 90s, was driving a car. When we shot Who Do You Think You Are, he refused for me and the crew to get a cab and said he'd pick

• 11:10Fearne Cotton?

  us up from the train station in Lymington. And we're all in the back going, "Ah, we're kind of driving onto incoming traffic and there's a tractor, Hayden. Can you see the tractor? Hayden, can you see the tractor? Slow down." It was one of those hairy car rides. But I love that both Hayden and my nan Ruby drove a car until they were quite literally told, "You're not allowed anymore." So if you spot an elderly person and they're driving slowly, well, let's be honest, slightly recklessly, have patience, as Jenna suggests. Remember that we're going to be that one day. And we don't want people beeping horns and swearing and being arseholes. So Jenna, you've reminded us of something very important. Thank you.

• 11:56Fearne Cotton?

  My dislike this week, and if you've got a 10-year-old child at the moment, you will go, "Oh, my God, me too." And that dislike is slime. Okay. So I went through this with my stepdaughter over 10 years ago now. She's about to turn 21. So I've done slime. I've already done it. And now I'm doing it again. And if you don't know what that involves, let me tell you. Every sink in the house will have dye in it. And I'm talking like bright blue dye. Every tray that you've ever owned has got shaving foam in the cracks. And what's

• 12:37Fearne Cotton?

  the other stuff? Glue, PVA glue. And then you have to go in specifically by slime activator. That's a thing. That is everywhere. That is in every bowl, in every tray that you own. Sometimes when we run out of trays, baking trays come out and it ends up in there, which is really fun to clean out. Also, I've got fake grass. So when I often say, "Please go and make slime in the garden," it's then in the grass. And you can't get it out of the fake grass unless you want to give it a haircut and like get scissors out. It is everywhere. It stinks of shaving foam, obviously. Pungent, pungent smelling. And it's just, also, it's like bad for the planet. We all know that. And it's the toss-up of, "Oh, God, this is

• 13:21Fearne Cotton?

  bad for the planet. But, oh, my God, it's the summer holidays and I want an easy life. So yes, I'll buy you some more activator." It's a parental conundrum that most of us are in. So if you are at that stage of parenting and you're this deep into the summer holidays, and let's face it, all rules have gone out the window. Are they sort of mainlining biscuits for breakfast at this point? Yes. Are they going to bed way too late? Of course they are. Are they on their iPads too much? Sure thing. That's the point of the summer holidays we are at. So it's slime central and we're going with it. But it remains wholeheartedly

• 14:00Fearne Cotton?

  a huge dislike. Oh, I feel better having that off my chest. I really do. I feel lighter. I could float out of this studio. If you've got any likes that you really want to shout about, this is also an opportunity for you to big up someone in your life that you love. It could be like something lovely that someone's done for you. We want to hear that good news. It could be your personal good news, whatever it is. We want to hear about it. We want to shout about it. So let us know. On Instagram, we're at Happy Place Official. Or you want to get something off your chest. You want to have a pop at something. This is the space to do it. Let rip. Let us be the conduit and let rip here on Happy Place. Thank you so

• 14:42Fearne Cotton?

  much for listening and enjoy whatever you're doing for the rest of your summer. We love you.

• 14:55Speaker 05

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