This chat in a noisy cafe is about a life in music, not fitting in, creating songs with meaning, and what is beyond paradise. "The problem with record companies is they want to sell an image, they don't want to sell good music... you become a product... but I was different, they did not know how to sell me... that's what I am, I can't change for you to sell me". #otherlivesareavailable #eastlondon #podcast #busking

On an old market street in central London @theartifacts we chat about the business of selling clothes, how to build a community in a shop, why womens clothes are a minefield, and taking a punt on a good idea. "I'll take a risk on absolutely anything... all I do is get burnt, left right and centre!... I'm in an industry that I can do what I want when I want... you don't buy the ticket you don't win the lottery." #otherlivesareavailable #podcast #eastlondon #clothes

The joy of a morning coffee, learning from Mum's cooking, and having conversations with yourself are part of this chat by the river. "A lot of people always forget about music when they have people over, which I find really odd - you can't be eating in silence... I don't want to hear other people chew!" #otherlivesareavailable #eastlondon #podcast #chef

Playing the tin whistle in the park and in pub folk sessions, the importance of thinking time, and taking a calculated risk are all part of this chat along the canal path. "Last year I made a very difficult decision about myself and about my life... I took a big risk, I assessed the risk, I looked at it, I said 'I trust in myself', I'm going to do this, I don't know what the outcome will be but I think it's going to be positive, and I did it". #otherlivesareavailable #eastlondon #podcast #tinwhistle

This chat takes place in @cake_me_over , where the conversation covers baking, why customers aren't always right, running a business and trying to spread happiness. "When you are a single Mum and when you are pushed around by society, you lose yourself... and then to gain back your confidence it takes time. So I feel like the business helped me to get back on my feet, because it brought back my confidence". #otherlivesareavailable #podcast #eastlondon #cake

In a bike repair shop we chat about making changes in life, gaining more energy as you approach 40, and swapping countries. "I'm someone who has always been very scared about heights... when you're scared about something and you go gradually... you fight your fear, and after you completely remove your phobia, and now I'm climbing 40 metre routes in the middle of nowhere and it's so beautiful. I'm scared, but the satisfaction is massive." #otherlivesareavailable #podcast #eastlondon #change

Walking along the Thames we chat about playing the double bass, living in the west country, London as home, and getting through chemotherapy. "I'm not a great one for doing regret, I mean I think at the time you make choices... and you make the choices within what's happening. To look back and say I wish I hadn't, it doesn't help really... " #otherlivesareavailable #eastlondon #podcast #cancer

This chat is all about the animals on @hackneycityfarm_official as Poppy and Shanti show me round. We hear about the beauty of goats, the intelligence of pigs, and the habits of some of the characters who live there. "Our donkeys go to Westminster Cathedral every year... for the Nativity... they stand at the front and thousands of children from local schools come and see... Clover is quite a seasoned professional, she fell asleep". #otherlivesareavailable #podcast #eastlondon #hackneycityfarm

This conversation starts by a busy street and goes straight into a story about cancer and survival against the odds. We pick it up again a couple of days later in a park, and go back to a difficult childhood in a post-war home, which Colin only knew for 5 years before he was sent away, never to return. "It wasn't until I was around about 40 when my sister was in the process of passing away, she told me the reason why I had the childhood I did." #otherlivesareavailable #podcast #eastlondon #cancer

This walk & talk starts with a family secret, and goes on to a search for answers, and what to do with the information discovered. "People were really interested, but actually what they were more interested in was telling me their story... telling me about their history, their family... it is worth trying to tell stories, however personal they might be, because they might have an impact on someone else." #otherlivesareavailable #podcast #eastlondon #familyhistory