How Do You Get Through Christmas Working in Hospitality?

Timothy R Andrews00:00:00

Today I'm joined by my beautiful host, Tracy, and my not so beautiful host, Jo. Yes, celebrity. She's a celebrity.

Tracey Rashid00:00:09

I'm a celebrity. Who knew I just needed to leave London?

Joe McDonnell00:00:12

I got my motorbike license. I've never been on a bike before in my life.

Timothy R Andrews00:00:17

Well done. Yeah, exactly.

Rachel Kerr-Lapsley00:00:20

Oh, Uncle Joe, every day at Cadbury is too much. Do I want to eat a plain milk chocolate Cadbury every day till Christmas? The answer is no. And should I leave my partner? I don't know.I shouldn't have said that. Sometimes that's alcohol and sometimes that drugs and sometimes that's like sex with an inappropriate person.

Joe McDonnell00:00:38

What is the difference between a snowman and a snow woman?

Timothy R Andrews00:00:43

I know this one.

Shape The Future (Band)00:01:03

The Voices You Know, Timothy, Tracy and Joe, this Christmas show. From front of house to chefs on the line. Every voice can shape the future at Christmas time.

Timothy R Andrews00:01:28

Happy Christmas, everybody. Talking hospitality Christmas special. How are we today? I'm joined by my beautiful host, Tracy, and my not so beautiful host, Joe May.But he is beautiful on the inside.

Joe McDonnell00:01:43

Thanks. And that's what counts.

Timothy R Andrews00:01:46

Well.

Tracey Rashid00:01:49

So we saying that I'm not beautiful on the inside. Kind of. Is there like an undertone here in it?

Timothy R Andrews00:01:54

See, this is what happens, Joe. This is what happens. This is ladies for you. So anyway, you never win.

Tracey Rashid00:02:03

Wow.

Timothy R Andrews00:02:05

Oh, I'd drink if I was you, Joe. I'd drink.

Tracey Rashid00:02:08

I know my value.

Timothy R Andrews00:02:11

Yes. You don't know my story.

Joe McDonnell00:02:16

You don't know me.

Tracey Rashid00:02:17

You know.

Timothy R Andrews00:02:18

Yeah. Don't judge me. So, Tracy, what's been going on with you? Let's catch up. Let's get our audience. Catch up with you. What's been going down?

Tracey Rashid00:02:27

Well, as everyone knows, I've not really been on. On the season much. It's been a very busy year for me.I moved to Southsea in Hampshire, so a lot of my kind of time and energy has gone into making sure that my kids are good and into their new schools, which they've done seamlessly. Very proud of them, I have to say. And then for me, I've been like, just a networking ninja. I have been to. To every event I could find.Not in the evenings, though, because it's just too much, but anything during the day. Like, I. I know so many people down here now, it's absolutely ridiculous.I can go to any event on my own and probably know half the people in the room and they know me too, which is amazing. One of the things I wasn't expecting is the support from the council that you get in Portsmouth. Like, they really support entrepreneurs.Portsmouth is one of the most condensed entrepreneurial city in the uk and especially on a creative side, which obviously for me is awesome. And I have to say, like, the people I've met, the people that have inspired me just in the year that I've been here has been immense.And the council have just been like pushing me to all the right places, getting me on panels.I did the chef's table at the South Sea Food Festival where I was doing a demo of baking like some vegan cupcakes and demoing, making like handmade roses. I got spotted at another festival, the Thai festival. Someone recognized me and I was like, drop my altar off. So obviously they did.

Timothy R Andrews00:04:00

Celebrity. She's a celebrity, darlings.

Tracey Rashid00:04:04

I'm a celebrity. Who knew I just needed to leave London. That was it. So for me, it's been like amazing.Just kind of embedding myself in this amazing city and being right by the sea. I, you know, we're just loving that side of it as well. And yeah, we're just kind of getting on with it.It's been hard, don't get me wrong, because, you know, eight year old business, but starting again. But I don't regret a thing. It's just been an amazing, amazing year for sure.

Timothy R Andrews00:04:32

Good for you.

Tracey Rashid00:04:33

Well, I've missed you guys. Yeah, thank you. Thank you.

Timothy R Andrews00:04:38

But.But don't worry. Our listeners or our viewers will be able to see more of you in some upcoming episodes at the beginning of January and February.So if you're a Tracy fan, watch this space.

Tracey Rashid00:04:50

Seeing the contract. I've got no choice.

Timothy R Andrews00:04:53

Yeah, you've got no choice. She's contracted, damn it to the hilt. Right. So what about you, Joe? What's. What's going down with you?

Joe McDonnell00:05:00

Well, the big news is I bought a Barossa Valley Shiraz from Aldi to drink this evening and it's terrible. So that's.

Tracey Rashid00:05:12

I know.

Joe McDonnell00:05:12

I just, I don't want to. And that's the big thing. Like, I don't want to drink any more of it. Like, I don't, to be fair.

Timothy R Andrews00:05:18

Joe, another two glasses. It won't matter. It won't matter.

Joe McDonnell00:05:22

It might not. Well, the plan is now to drink this Pinotage instead, which is delightful.

Tracey Rashid00:05:29

Well, you've got something else. Okay, well, that, that I was feeling bad for you even though I was still drinking. But, you know, let's.

Timothy R Andrews00:05:36

That's why she was drinking. She felt so bad for you. It was emotional drinking.

Tracey Rashid00:05:43

I was just a port drinker. That's what it is.

Timothy R Andrews00:05:47

She's your enabler they call it Is there anything you'd like to share with the audience? No?

Joe McDonnell00:06:02

Yeah, loads.

Timothy R Andrews00:06:06

He really, really loves you.

Joe McDonnell00:06:08

First of all, don't buy the Shiraz from Barossa. Valli from Aldi. The next one is. What. What else happened? Lots of things happened this year. I got a nephew.

Timothy R Andrews00:06:16

Congratulations.

Joe McDonnell00:06:17

Another family. Which is really exciting.

Tracey Rashid00:06:19

Yeah, Uncle Joe.

Joe McDonnell00:06:22

Uncle Joe. Yeah, that's right. Uncle Joe. Yeah. So that's wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. What else happened?I got my motorbike license, so it started doing my test. I've never been on a bike before in my life and I may or may not have fibbed about how much experience I had so I could do the test bit faster and.Yeah. Passed easy.

Tracey Rashid00:06:43

So well done.

Joe McDonnell00:06:44

Thanks. Yeah, thanks.

Timothy R Andrews00:06:45

Well done. Yeah, exactly.

Joe McDonnell00:06:48

I think it's like. Yeah. Maybe getting the. Oh, go on. Yeah, go on.

Timothy R Andrews00:06:52

Have you got the Talking hospitality leather jacket?

Joe McDonnell00:06:54

The minute there's a budget for one. The minute there's a budget for one

Tracey Rashid00:06:59

Can we. Can we invert it, though? Make it black with a yellow logo or something?

Joe McDonnell00:07:05

Black leather for sure

Tracey Rashid00:07:06

Yellow leather is really not the thing you want to be doing

Joe McDonnell00:07:10

No, it's very Bruce Lee. Incredibly expensive, actually. Yeah. And Kill Bill.

Timothy R Andrews00:07:17

And Kill Bill, yeah. Have you seen the new one? The combined one. They've combined the two movies now and added some extra anime.

Tracey Rashid00:07:25

Oh, no. I'm see out the movie scene.

Joe McDonnell00:07:28

It's coming out soon.

Timothy R Andrews00:07:28

Well, she's busy. She's too busy being a celebrity in Portsmouth. She hasn't got time to watch movies, you know, gets the free champagne, walks out to the next event.That's how she rolls.

Tracey Rashid00:07:40

Well, you know, where's Prosecco? But, you know, we. Splitting hairs. Splitting hairs.

Timothy R Andrews00:07:46

Yeah.

Joe McDonnell00:07:47

And apart from getting that. Yeah. Getting the midlife crisis out the way, like five years early, what else have I been doing? Working in the farm park industry, actually.It's very on brand at the moment. You know Clarkson's Farm? I've been working on his little stuff. No, I haven't, but I work in that industry and yeah, it's pretty amazing.Like, we've been doing sort of imagine like doing like seven or eight opens and closes of a venue every two or three weeks or every two or three months. Like it's crazy. So you really sort of get really stuck into it.

Tracey Rashid00:08:21

Mr. Timothy, how's your year been? What have you been?

Timothy R Andrews00:08:23

Well, beginning of the year, I was working at a five star luxury hotel which cannot be named, and now I'm not, so. And we'll be announcing why very shortly, but not today. But we have got obviously new sponsors, which is marvelous.We've got Hospitality Jobs UK come on board. So we're very grateful for them and we've got some smashing stuff coming up with them.And of course Graphic Kitchen have renewed and they are redoing our branding and we'll have a new website in 2026. So it's all very exciting there. And of course the big news is we are number four in the UK and number eight globally.So in our sector and we have over 20,000 viewers cross platforms. Viewers / listeners.

Tracey Rashid00:09:11

Amazing.

Timothy R Andrews00:09:11

That is pretty good. So thank you everybody who's been listening, subscribing following, please start making some comments. We will be. Exactly.We will be creating a community next year for you lot. So we'll be much more in touch with you. So please, please, thank you very much for listening and I hope you continue in 2026.Hey, so let's review the season. By the way, like Joe said is we're actually completely ad libbing this. There was literally no preparation.It was kind of like, by the way, turn up, wear your jumpers and good luck everybody. It's fine.

Tracey Rashid00:09:51

Well, do you know what, Timothy? We did this last year. We smashed it. Like it was just, you know, it.

Timothy R Andrews00:09:57

Was actually one of our most listened episodes. It actually was. Yeah.

Joe McDonnell00:10:03

Let's say Merry Christmas again.

Timothy R Andrews00:10:05

Yeah, Merry Christmas again. Merry Christmas. So what was your favorite episode? So let's, let's take it back because like everybody gets introspective at this time of year, don't they?They just do. So what, given a whole year, what would you say with the episodes or what was your favorite episode so far that you were on? And Tracey?

Tracey Rashid00:10:28

Well, as we know, I don't have many to choose from, but I would say for sure it was the one we had with Mex Ibrahim.So she's the founder of the women in food industry and what I really loved about the episode was she's doing something for the better of the industry which not many people do without having some sort of monetary kind of gain from it. And she's doing it for women, which is great.And she's spotlighting women that have been doing things for so long in their kind of corner and just given them that platform to shine.

Timothy R Andrews00:11:06

Who's this? Oh, it looks like Santa's dropped in a little surprise, everybody. It's Chris Fletcher from Tech on Toast

Tracey Rashid00:11:15

Hello, hello.

Timothy R Andrews00:11:17

Hello, Chris. Welcome and welcome to the show.

Chris Fletcher00:11:20

Thank you very much. Excuse my headphones. I Look like something off Star wars, but.

Timothy R Andrews00:11:24

Yeah, but I see how you've managed to, like, coordinate with your T shirt, which I think is quite cool. Really.

Chris Fletcher00:11:30

Yeah, actually, and I'm. Yeah, in the middle of that, so excuse the background noise.

Timothy R Andrews00:11:36

Yeah. So Chris is at the other house, isn't he? Celebrating Christmas at the moment, and he is with the Hospitality Choir.

Chris Fletcher00:11:44

Cheers.

Timothy R Andrews00:11:45

Okay, cheers.

Joe McDonnell00:11:46

Cheers.

Timothy R Andrews00:11:47

Cheers. Right, yeah.Oh, so the reason why Chris is joining us is because he has recently released with the Hospitality Choir, a new single called Always Open At Christmas, which is designed to support the Hospitality Action charity that we've had on the show here before. But also many of you will know because of the great work that they've been doing. So, Chris, would you like to tell us a little bit about it?

Chris Fletcher00:12:12

Yes, sure. Anyway. Hello, Joe. Hello, Tracey, how are you? Nice to meet you.

Joe McDonnell00:12:16

How you doing, mate?

Chris Fletcher00:12:17

You're right, yeah, good, thank you. But, yeah, basically we. I had an idea about. God, it was probably about eight weeks ago, so it was a quick turnaround and we wanted to do something.I got told a story about a young chef who'd been living in her car because times had turned hard and she was potentially about to lose a job, quite a bit of debt, and was losing. Had lost her accommodation. And I heard a story how hostile to action.It basically giving her a burser to help her pay off some of her debt and get back into work and not lose a job.

Tracey Rashid00:12:43

Right.

Chris Fletcher00:12:43

So that was the only thing going well for her to keep her going. And so they managed to turn around, she got back in a flat. And I thought, wow, it's quite powerful, isn't it?You know, especially, you know, I've spent a lot of years in this industry and it's quite powerful to hear stories like that about kids who work in the industry. And not just kids, Right. Adults as well, who work in the industry who've been through tough times.And I want to do something different to kind of help give back. And, yeah, I came up with the idea. My team kind of. Kind of laughed nervously, went, okay.And then we said, let's do a song and let's record at Abbey Road. And I've got to be honest, along the way of doing it, Angels just dropped in and helped me.I like, genuinely, because I had no idea what I'd taken on. I booked Studio 3 at Abbey Road, which is where Amy Winehouse, Tony Bennett, the Beatles recorded, which was amazing!And it, you know, it wasn't cheap, so we put some money into it. As well. And we kind of backed it. And along the way, as I said, I didn't have a musical score written.I'd just written the lyrics, had a bit of a tune in my head.I met a guy called Jeff Black, who's going to be with us in a minute, who was our musical director on the Friday before the Tuesday we recorded literally that late. He then wrote a musical score over the weekend with a lady called Adena Cahill, who's also with me tonight.And we kind of put it all together and somehow ended up with 40 people in Abbey Road Studios going through groups kind of. And they're all never met before. No one had sung before. Never met before. Some, obviously, as you can hear, are great singers. Others me, not so great.But somehow Jeff got everyone together and, yeah, we pulled it off. And the song's really about the people that matter in the industry, right? The people that keep the thing running.The kids, the girls and boys on the floors, in the kitchens, on the pot wash, who are kind of room attendants in the hotels. All these kind of guys that kind of get forgotten a bit at Christmas. So, yeah, it was for them. And so far it's had, I think, 23,000 views on YouTube.We're up to about, I think, two and a half thousand downloads on Spotify. And, yeah, we're doing great. And I think next two weeks will be quite big for us.We're trying to get it on, you know, try and get it in the press as much. Kind of lovely people like you helping us out, trying to spread the word. And who's that behind us?

Timothy R Andrews00:14:36

Oh, look who it is. Look who it is. It's Mr. Street. There he is, Podcaster there.

Chris Fletcher00:14:42

This is Darren.

Tracey Rashid00:14:42

Hey

Timothy R Andrews00:14:42

Hello, Darren.

Chris Fletcher00:14:43

He does a big note halfway through. If you hear all the songs, look how famous he is now.

Timothy R Andrews00:14:47

Yes. Darren Jackson, you, well done.

Chris Fletcher00:14:50

Can you get Adena, please? I think that's everything. So Adena is going to come and do a couple of notes for you. She might break your microphone because she is power.So you're on. On the song. The very last closing notes is Adena. And she did that take about 15 times, Abbey Road that night. And she is. She's incredible.So I'm just waiting for it. Turn over and we'll get her to.

Timothy R Andrews00:15:08

Sing a little bit and we'll just put a little clip in. Now.

Chris Fletcher00:15:32

This is Adena. I'm going to give you her. My headphone so you can hear her.

Timothy R Andrews00:15:34

She says, I know you. Hello, Adena.

Adena Cahill00:15:37

I'm all, hello, Everyone.

Timothy R Andrews00:15:40

Hello, Adena.

Joe McDonnell00:15:41

Hi, Adena. How you doing?

Timothy R Andrews00:15:43

How are you?

Adena Cahill00:15:43

Great, how are you?

Timothy R Andrews00:15:44

Congratulations. An amazing single.

Adena Cahill00:15:47

Oh, thank you very much. I mean, we were just talking and really it's Chris's world, we're all just living in it.So it's his wonderful and weird idea and I'm so glad that we did it.

Timothy R Andrews00:15:57

Don't be fooled by Adena's casual appearance there and calm demeanor. She can sing. You can sing. When did you learn to sing?

Adena Cahill00:16:05

I did an undergraduate degree in opera and then a master's in musical theater. So that's actually what brought me over to this country.

Timothy R Andrews00:16:12

Fantastic. So are you going to share any notes?

Joe McDonnell00:16:17

Sure.

Adena Cahill00:16:17

I mean, all I can, all I can tell you is that you should definitely go listen to the wonderful "Always Open at Christmas", which is now streaming on all platforms and on YouTube. We welcome the dreamers, the brave, the unsure, the part time heroes that give even more.And then I need my other half to finish that phrase, but she's not here yet.

Timothy R Andrews00:16:43

Thank you.Well, thank you so much and thank you for contributing because it's a really good cause and we'll be sharing, of course, the, the links to the video and encouraging people to buy and spend and support this really important charity. So thank you very much.

Adena Cahill00:16:57

Thank you very much, guys. I'm gonna hand you back.

Tracey Rashid00:16:59

Thank you.

Chris Fletcher00:17:00

There you go. That was Adena. She's amazing.And I just made a zoo that if you want to listen to this song, if you head to the Hospitalitychoir.org all the information's on there, the single, the video, everything you can go and watch and download it. Streams mean money, so the more streams we get, the more money we make. So yeah, please add it to a playlist.We've got some brands like Bill's Prezzo Italian adding it to their national playlist this week. So Greene King, which is really cool, right? So it's playing all the restaurants around the UK, which is such a cool thing to do.So yeah, if you can help us, we appreciate you.

Tracey Rashid00:17:28

We're all over it.

Timothy R Andrews00:17:29

We appreciate you and all the hard work you've been doing, Chris. And to our listeners, yes, of course. Check out the single. We'll send some links, we'll provide, provide some links.Please support this really important cause and of course, please do listen to Chris's wonderful podcast Tech on Toast. We'll also provide a link there as well. Chris, you're at a party, let's not keep you any longer. Thank you very much.Have a great Christmas and thanks for coming on the show last minute. Thank you.

Chris Fletcher00:17:55

You're welcome, my friend. Take care, everyone. Have a great Christmas.

Joe McDonnell00:17:58

Thanks, mate.

Timothy R Andrews00:18:04

That was fun. Wow. So hospitality choir support Hospitality action.And it is a song called Always Open at Christmas, and it is all hospitality professionals and it is an incredible song. So please, if you're listening, go and check it out. Now back to Joe. Tell me, Joe, about your favorite episode or episodes and what you learned.

Joe McDonnell00:18:31

It's got to be Dawn Lawrence from HJUK. She was an absolute superstar. Absolute superstar. Yeah. Loved it.

Timothy R Andrews00:18:38

Very emotional.

Joe McDonnell00:18:38

Loved her. It was. It was. It was. She was. There's not many people that you can sit in a room with for. When we were chatting to her for 40 minutes.Like, there's not many people in the room. You can. You can meet Cole. Never met him before in your life.And 40 minutes later, they walk out the room, and you kind of feel like you know them very, very well, you know, and she gave that energy, like, for sure. Like, she was wonderful.Not only was she very inspirational in terms of her attitude and the way she talked to us and was very honest and open about what she'd done, but what I thought was really, really cool was this. Oh, no.

Timothy R Andrews00:19:19

Shell Righini from We Recover Loudly

Joe McDonnell00:19:22

What are you. What are you up to, Tim?

Tracey Rashid00:19:25

Honestly, dude.

Timothy R Andrews00:19:31

I didn't invite her. This is. She just wanted to come on. She heard it was a Christmas special.I want to be on there four times more than anybody else because three is not enough. So here she is. Hello, Shell. How are you?

Shell Righini00:19:44

How are you doing? And I just thought I would lurk outside and wait for the right opportunity to just knock on the door.

Tracey Rashid00:19:52

Excellent.

Timothy R Andrews00:19:52

Well, hello, Shell. Welcome to the show again. Lovely to have you on.We realize, obviously, at Christmas time, people like to have a lot of festivities and just thought it'd be nice to have a say a little word to those people that don't want to have a drink and can still have a good time, or you can have a good time and just, you know, and still wake up without a hangover tomorrow or the next day. So I'm gonna give us a little. Little words of wisdom.

Shell Righini00:20:20

My words of wisdom. This will be my fifth or maybe my sixth sober Christmas now, and it definitely does get easier with time.I think my advice for people who are working still and, you know, don't have necessarily an issue with alcohol is still to remember that the hours that you're going to be doing are like an elite athlete, and an elite athlete will fuel their Body with great food, with sleep, with, you know, water.They don't then go and do a 16 hour shift which is effectively, you know, a marathon on a can of monster and four hours sleep and a bottle of Jack Daniels. So just, you know, regardless of your relationship with alcohol, be really aware of how you're fueling yourself.But, you know, for me, every year it's been easier. The best thing about not drinking is that no one can tell you to stop eating because they're not that, but you are.So they better then if we can swear. But I. So I shot back the F up off you when you're having your fifth portion of cheese. Because I'm not drinking and therefore I'm basically God level.So make sure to enjoy all of that and then don't do what I do in the first year, which is almost kind of treat myself like this poor little sober girl who's in kind of like purgatory. And, you know, I'll just have a squash. No, I want a bloody expensive fancy drink. I want a fancy bottle of kombucha. I want a Schloer. I want to.If you enjoy non alcoholic spirits, you know, I want my own espresso martini and I'll have four of them.You know, like, just because you've taken the alcohol away doesn't mean that you don't deserve to still celebrate yourself in whatever way you choose to. And, you know, especially if it's your first sober Christmas.Look at all that money that you saved and use that to treat yourself to a delightful present. Don't share it on your family. They got it. Use it on you should be celebrated.Or on my website and get yourself something to prove, you know, like something to really symbolize the fact that you've really, you know, you've chosen yourself this year and you've made a real difference to your health and. And it's important to therefore celebrate who you are as well.

Tracey Rashid00:22:35

I love that.

Timothy R Andrews00:22:36

Thank you. That is a great message. Shell, thank you very much and thank you for coming in four times. Four times now. Four.

Shell Righini00:22:44

I know. All right. I couldn't possibly bear for you to record a single moment without me butting in. So have a word

Tracey Rashid00:22:52

It wouldn't be the same. It wouldn't be the same, Shell

Shape The Future (Band)00:22:54

And let's do this again in 2026. Hey, my calendar is wide open.

Timothy R Andrews00:22:58

Absolutely, Shell, thank you so much. Have a great Christmas. Thank you for coming by and we'll see you.

Joe McDonnell00:23:04

Merry Christmas Shell.

Timothy R Andrews00:23:09

So where were we? Right. Yes.Hello, Rachel.Keeping on the theme of Christmas and that we've talked about being sober is perfectly okay and you can have a good time and you're going to be listening to the hospitality choir and supporting organizations. What about if you need a bit of support and Rachel's here to help people through and point out some of the resources that are available to them.

Rachel Kerr-Lapsley00:23:33

I also, I just think the most important thing to point out is that all your regular indicators as to like, oh, maybe I'm not feeling so good or oh, maybe mental health is getting worse, you're less attuned to them because you're just on like push time.So all the little signals that your body or your mind might give you that like, oh, maybe your depression is like not great or maybe you're disordered, even zacking up a bit, you're not necessarily going to receive those.So then what can happen is on Christmas Day or in January when that rush finally stops, all of a sudden our mental health can be in a way worse place than we expected because you're like, but I was feeling fine because you're just motoring. And then when that ends it's like, okay, well then what do we do?And I think it's really, really important to keep in mind that Samaritans, which is dialing 116123 and Shout, which is texting 85258, are 24. 7 Throughout the holidays there is no break. There are people on the other end of that phone.So if when you finally get a chance to breathe, you're not feeling good, you're feeling a little bit depressed, you're experiencing suicidal ideation, reach out to those numbers and use them. And they're also going to be able to connect you to other organizations that are going to be accessible to you during Christmas.And it's important to keep in mind that anything you experience in the realm of mental health is going to be exacerbated by the season. And not really because it's like the birthday of Jesus, but mostly because you're tired, you're not eating in the same way you normally would.If you're like a self care person and you're like, yeah, I feel good because I run 5k 3 times a week or I feel good because I spend all this time with my friends or I pet my cat. If you haven't had time to do all of that stuff, your mental health can end up in a way way worse place.So remembering what's there for you 247 and then I think the really important thing in the gap of taking care of yourself is making sure that you're checking in on people in your community, whether that's the people that you're working with, whether that's your family, your roommate, your friends. Anybody who's got a little something could be going through it a little worse at Christmas.So making time to connect for them and for you, especially if you're both busy and you're both working, I think that's super, super important. And make sure that they also know what's available. Sometimes you're the only person holding that information.It doesn't hurt to share it with people and if they use it, great. And if they don't, that's fine too. The other one to keep in mind that's 24/7 over Christmas is 111, press 2, which will connect you to NHS mental health support services and they'll be able to triage you with local mental health support within your borough that'll be available to you. And they can also access crisis support if you need it. So there's three that are going to be 24. Seven over Christmas.Samaritan's show at NHS 111 press two. All great to have in the back pocket.The other thing I just want to mention from the mental health perspective is like, figuring out how to hack the thing you do to feel better.So, like, you might be really, really into music and you walk home from work and you listen to music, but it's Christmas, so now you're just crying, you know, and it's just not the same. So make sure you find five minutes to do, like, the mini version of that.And maybe that's like locking yourself in the staff loo and, like, putting on a particular album and, like, rocking out or, like, listening to a voicemail from your, like, best friend or whatever, but wherever you can find time to rest and connect, take it. Rest and relaxation. We're looking for, like, the easiest thing we can grab.And sometimes that's alcohol and sometimes that drugs and sometimes that's like, sex with an inappropriate person. And so if you can instead grab. I'm going to listen to this album and rock out.I'm going to ride my line back home fast and, like, go down a hill and go wee or, like, literally, whatever, whatever you can do, do. And yeah, taking five minutes out of your day, if you can do it, do it.And don't be afraid to call other people or the support systems that are available for you. There's also. I just want to do one last thing with everybody. It's fun, it's interactive. So there's a light in. I can see your eyes light.So the thing I want to talk about is panic attacks and anxiety in general. They can really get heightened at this time.And, like, yes, for you and for the team who are under a ton of pressure, but also for guests who are experiencing whatever your hospitality game is, whether that's a restaurant or a private club or a hotel, people are with their families, they're not taking care of themselves, they're not sleeping enough. Like, everybody's anxiety is higher.And if you encounter somebody who might be having a panic attack, or if you're having a panic attack, there's a really easy breathing exercise we can do that'll help stall that and help regulate our nervous system. And it's super simple. And we're going to do it together now. So it's called box breathing. And it's easy to remember because it's four, four, four.So we're going to breathe in for four counts, hold for four counts and breathe out for four counts. Now, I won't do it because I have to count, and I've tried to do both and it's, like, very embarrassing.So on the count of three, we're gonna breathe in for four counts. Are you ready?

Joe McDonnell00:28:02

Okay.

Rachel Kerr-Lapsley00:28:03

One, two, three. Breathe in. Two, three, four. Hold your breath. Two, three, four. Now exhale. Two, three, four. So it's really that easy.And what I love about this is you can do it if you're punching in an order at the waitress station. You can do it if you're in a crowded office trying to manage reservations.You can do it if you're with a table, depending on how long they take to the side. You know, like, it's a really adaptable little trick and you can do it just about anywhere.So whilst ideally what you'd love to do is, like, leave work and go walk around and be in nature for 45 minutes, like you don't have that luxury, and treat yourself to some box breathing. And I'll just help calm down that nervous system and just get you through the end of service so you can go home and take care of yourself.So little tips and tricks and asking for help when you need it and just keeping yourself sane, you know, most generally.

Tracey Rashid00:28:56

Brilliant. Love that.

Timothy R Andrews00:29:00

So thank you, Rachel, very much. Merry Christmas. Thank you so much for coming in.And we have got resources for our UK listeners that will be sharing and of course, our US listeners as well. We have links to Kelly's cause.

Rachel Kerr-Lapsley00:29:14

Have us also in Ireland, if you go to our website, Kelly's Cause.com.you're going to get pop ups, rental health resources, specifically for Christmas, that stuff to deal with homelessness, Mexican violence, eating disorders. If you've got it over Christmas, we've got the resource for it. If you head to our website, you'll be able to find it there.Ireland, us, uk, all available throughout the Christmas period. So come Visit us at kellyscause.com.

Timothy R Andrews00:29:36

Thank you very much. Have a great Christmas. Rachel, thanks for coming in.

Joe McDonnell00:29:41

Bye, Rachel. What a legend.

Tracey Rashid00:29:48

Yeah, I'm appreciating the fact that we're touching on those topics that people don't like to talk about over Christmas because it's always like jolly, happy, yeah, let's have fun, drink, blah, blah. But you know, there are people that do not have a good experience, whether it's personally or at work.So knowing that there's these support systems out there and even the box breathing, you know, even I. It was, it was a calming moment, you know, it was a really nice moment. Something we're doing that.

Timothy R Andrews00:30:16

So my favorite episode, I think I had quite a few different ones because this season we've grown quite a lot from being on YouTube and having an editor. Obviously more people listening. I think we've, we've started to shape who we've become a lot more. And I think.So there's different episodes where I see improvements, but I think the one for me is the 50th episode where we had pretty much loads of podcasters in the industry coming on to celebrate and support us. I mean, that was quite a magical moment in. To be able to do that. And like, each. Everyone said yes, like it wasn't even a thing.And so I felt very privileged that we could hold ourselves amongst some of those people that were there. So that was for me. So two more things and then we can all go and have a favorite Christmas joke.

Joe McDonnell00:31:09

I don't know if I can say it. It's not politically correct, but it is funny.

Timothy R Andrews00:31:18

Go on.

Joe McDonnell00:31:19

I don't want to say. I don't want to say it. It's so. It's not. It's not that bad.

Timothy R Andrews00:31:28

It's all right.

Tracey Rashid00:31:28

And we could not only you, me.

Timothy R Andrews00:31:31

And Tracy and 20,000 listeners that are here. It's just between us.

Joe McDonnell00:31:36

I literally said it in front of 150 people at a staff briefing recently. And afterwards I was like, should I have said that?

Tracey Rashid00:31:47

I'm just saying it's not building on a pretense.

Joe McDonnell00:31:49

Come on. All right, fine. What is the difference between a Snowman and a snow woman.

Timothy R Andrews00:31:56

I know this one.

Tracey Rashid00:31:58

I don't know.

Joe McDonnell00:32:01

Snowballs.

Rachel Kerr-Lapsley00:32:03

Really?

Shape The Future (Band)00:32:03

No.

Tracey Rashid00:32:04

Was that it? I was expecting something.

Joe McDonnell00:32:06

Oh, come on. Oh, the milieu. The milieu. Fine, whatever. Tame. Fine, whatever.

Timothy R Andrews00:32:13

Okay. My one. My one. What did the snowman. Still snowman, actually. It's obviously a theme.

Joe McDonnell00:32:18

Hang on. Careful.

Timothy R Andrews00:32:23

Oh, I don't know if I should say it. Don't know if I should say it. What did. What did one snowman say to the other snowman?

Joe McDonnell00:32:32

I don't know. I don't want to know.

Timothy R Andrews00:32:37

Can you smell carrots? You're welcome. And that leaves us with Tracey.

Tracey Rashid00:32:45

So I had my first Christmas dinner about two weeks ago with a group of people and in my cracker, it's. The joke was what athlete is warmest in winter?

Chris Fletcher00:32:57

Pass.

Tracey Rashid00:32:59

The long jumper.

Rachel Kerr-Lapsley00:33:04

Really?

Tracey Rashid00:33:04

That's the response?

Timothy R Andrews00:33:06

Yeah. Has anyone got an ejector seat? How do I put. How do I kick her out of this conversation when I do that? Leave.

Tracey Rashid00:33:15

I'm just saying. I'm just putting out that. I'm just. It's what I read.

Timothy R Andrews00:33:17

Yeah, yeah, whatever. You wrote it. Anyway. So 20 next year. 2026 next year. What is your mission or purpose? What do you want to get out by this time next year?What would you like to see?

Tracey Rashid00:33:31

I want to see my business gray where I am. I can't keep driving to London for work. It's. It's a lot when we're kind of mental health perspective. I mean, I know that a 3 like the back of my.My hand now. I'm also excited to be a guest speaker at the Euro Global Women Power Summit in March, which Tim.

Timothy R Andrews00:33:53

So you did it all about.

Tracey Rashid00:33:55

I did it.It will be virtually not going to France, which is a shame, but the fact that they found me on LinkedIn and they were like, we want you to be part of this summit which is all about empowering the voice and empowering change. I'm really excited. I'm really excited to write my TEDx style 18 minute speech, which I've never had to do before, but bring it on.I just think it's gonna be amazing. I can't wait. And I can't imagine the things that will follow from that.

Joe McDonnell00:34:25

Yeah, I think for me, I mean, God, this year has been a year of change for sure.And I think actually in this talk I've been a little bit inspired by Tracy in terms of the getting back to ui, which is what I plan to do for the next year because obviously when everything goes up in the air and everything changes. It's easy to lose sight of that. So yeah, so that's the plan for the next year.Get back to my why and get back into growth, get back into empowerment and or play. And that'll be fun.

Tracey Rashid00:35:01

I love that. And Timothy, how about you?

Timothy R Andrews00:35:04

So mine is not original. I'm just ripping everybody off. Mine's very much the same.I kind of want to go back to who I am, what makes me tick and really what I want to do is use the platform that I have to counteract some of the negativity that I hear about from the industry that I believe to be self perpetuating.Like we keep telling everybody how bad our industry is and how awful things are and yes, they aren't great but they keep telling people this, then people aren't going to come and join us and we won't get change makers and we'll all be stuck in this forever. And we've been here since COVID We survived Covid. And I'm thinking it's time we need to change the bloody conversation.And I want to change be part of that change in conversation. And that's my plan for 2026.

Tracey Rashid00:35:48

That's brilliant. I love that. And it's very doable as well.

Timothy R Andrews00:35:50

So on that note, gone very doable.

Joe McDonnell00:35:54

Like very doable. Yeah, for sure. I think I can see a few episodes coming out next year that are addressing these issues.

Timothy R Andrews00:36:02

So now you know what we're about year. Right?

Joe McDonnell00:36:05

Well, look, I mean the budget was a big, was a big landmine. It's like, oh, where did that come from?So fine, so let's address them because they are, obviously the issues are significant, the industry has to react. But yeah, like it's not all bad.

Timothy R Andrews00:36:20

And on that note, yeah, there's ways.

Joe McDonnell00:36:22

That operators can roll to make a real impact.

Timothy R Andrews00:36:26

Correct. So on that note, I want to make sure that our listeners are aware that we are on YouTube and there's a lot of content being shared on there.But if you're on YouTube watching this, please also be aware of some of our audio because each one is slightly different going forward. So they've all got little different things that you can get from us. And don't forget to visit the website talking hospitality.com.and lady and gentlemen, thank you for being such great hosts throughout the year. Tracy, obviously you've got more coming up in the new in January. Guys, couldn't have done it without you.I think we've had a really cracking season so far. It's the longest Season we've had. We're not finished yet. Got another 10 episodes or so before we hit season six. So thank you all very much.Have a great Christmas. See you all in the new year.

Tracey Rashid00:37:15

I was gonna say one thing. I have absolutely loved having Joe on with us. I think he's been a great addition to the team.This quirkiness and thinking he's being rude and edgy with his jokes, but not. But you know that that will come. Joe, it's fine.But no, you've been an absolute pleasure to work with and yeah, thank you for bringing your viewpoints and your spirit. The talking hospitality team.

Joe McDonnell00:37:41

Thanks, Tracey. I really. That's. That's. That's my day. Thank you. That's lovely.

Timothy R Andrews00:37:47

And of course, thank you to our listeners, our viewers that have supported us through this year. We've got some new people this year that have grown. We've had people sharing our stuff, we've had people commenting. We encourage you, please comment.Please share with us what you want as well, what you'd like to see for season six. We're open to change and we look forward to you very much joining us next year. Just.We just also want to mention a big thank you to our sponsors, Hospitality Jobs UK and of course, Graphic Kitchen, but also to this game, pist, which is a card game. Which is a card game especially for Christmas. And it's fun for all. It's good, clean, family fun. Fan for all the family.If they drink, it's not suitable for Mormons. So we like to thank Pist for sponsoring today's episode. Been a great to see you.Have a really good Christmas and thank you again for your support and your time this year.

Tracey Rashid00:38:41

Merry Christmas.

Joe McDonnell00:38:42

Love you guys. Merry Christmas.

Hospitality Choir00:38:44

We're always here for you. Merry Christmas from the team. The kettles on the fire's warm welcome in. When the world went quiet and the night grew long we kept the fire burning we stayed strong. From empty streets to kitchens full of (music fades)