Hopes, Dreams and Life ✌️ #346

December 16, 2024·26 min·2 clips

Hellraiser dreamed of being a fireman who plays saxophone to distract from burning houses.

Mark Johnston hosts this relaxed conversation with his friend, the Hellraiser, reflecting on their lives and past dreams. The episode features the two longtime friends catching up in a casual, meandering style typical of their podcast. They discuss childhood aspirations, current hobbies, and humorous memories from their shared history. Mark begins by asking the Hellraiser about his childhood dream, which included being a fireman and a saxophonist. The Hellraiser played the saxophone for five years and jokes about using it to distract from fires. Mark's own childhood dream was to be a professional footballer, a hope he humorously notes has failed. They reminisce about a school memory where Mark attempted to break a pencil on his forehead, resulting in a graphite line across his skin. The conversation shifts to tattoos, referencing Mark's infamous "BJ" tattoo and another botched tattoo from Thailand with an incorrect date. They discuss their poor memory systems, both relying on paper notes they frequently lose. The Hellraiser repeatedly misremembers their friend Boom Boom's career, insisting he works in insurance despite evidence to the contrary. Current hobbies are briefly mentioned, with the Hellraiser citing walking, reading, and a new interest in sauna culture. Mark describes an awkward early sauna experience where he kept his swim shorts on while others were nude. The Hellraiser claims to read only a page per night, often rereading the same page. A surprising insight is the Hellraiser's claim that his saxophone skills could have funded his retirement. Mark reveals he has scheduled 15 minutes daily to read a book about personal finance, titled "What They Don't Teach You About Money." They both admit to rarely thinking about retirement planning, with Mark joking his retirement fund is likely negative. The Hellraiser's financial advice, which mirrors the book's, is to simply stop thinking about money. The tone is informal, humorous, and digressive, capturing the rhythm of a friendly chat between two mates. The style is conversational and anecdotal, with no central narrative or agenda. Listeners who enjoy casual, personality-driven podcasts about everyday life and friendship will appreciate this episode. Those seeking structured language lessons or focused topic discussions might find it too meandering.

As heard by us

A loose, funny English lesson built around life, lists, memory, and spoken practice.

Rock n' Roll English leans into hopes, dreams, and the general mess of life, and that loose shape works in its favor. Mark Johnston and the Hellraiser keep things moving with jokes and stray observations about fame, memory, and the odd business of keeping track of things, so the…

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Why you'd press play

For when you want English practice that feels more pub table than classroom.

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