Two Plus Banana Equals A Government Headache

A government office made a basic math mistake and a married couple pays for it with months apart. Craig Taylor joins us to unpack the true story behind his unforgettable book title, “2 Plus Banana Equals No,” a phrase born from a UK spouse visa refusal that relied on adding bank balances from different dates and treating the result like a real threshold check. It’s absurd on paper, but it’s devastating in real life.

We talk through the full long-distance love story: meeting online, navigating travel constraints that push them to meet in Turkey, and choosing Batumi, Georgia for their wedding. Craig shares what it’s like loving Olya while she’s stuck in Russia under constant stress, and how the visa process turns everyday life into a loop of waiting, worry, and expensive legal steps. If you’ve searched for answers about UK spousal visas, Home Office appeals, visa refusals, or immigration bureaucracy, you’ll hear what those systems feel like from the inside.

We also get into the parts that make their relationship feel joyful and human: blending families after divorce, raising grown kids who now see you as a person, and learning each other’s worlds through music, culture, and the small adventures that end up mattering most. Craig explains why he wrote the book, how the tone shifts from romantic comedy to something much heavier, and what he’s building next with a companion website and petition so the story doesn’t stop at the last page.

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Transcript

The Book Title That Stops You

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Today's guest may have one of the most intriguing book titles we've had on the show so far. Craig Taylor joins us to talk about his upcoming book, 2 Plus Banana Equals No. And that title alone already tells us this is probably not a conventional book. Join Elsa in discovering the meaning and the message behind Craig's book in today's show.

SPEAKER_05 0:19

Well, hello. I mean, right off the bat, there's no elephant in this room. It is right there behind you. I love this. I love unique titles. I love titles that make you stop. You know, if you're in a bookstore and you're walking and you glance at the titles, right? And you see, right? And you can't.

SPEAKER_04 0:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 0:40

Exactly. So absolutely brilliant. Um, so I mean, right off the bat, we have to we have to talk about that. So let's just dive right in because I know people are gonna be dying to know. So we're not gonna tease them. We're not cool people. Let's tell them about that title.

SPEAKER_02 0:55

Well, we will be covering more of the background to the book and the story in the rest of the conversation we have. But

The UK Visa Refusal Explained

SPEAKER_02 1:02

at the crux of all of this, I uh married my new wife back in March last year. She is Russian, she lives in uh Caterinburg in Russia. And it was part of the we wanted to get married, and it was part of the process for us to be able to get a visa to be able to live together in the UK. Uh the visa, we got married in Batumi in Georgia. Uh we then submitted the visa application in September. We initially got a blank template response saying no at the start of December, with no explanation. Uh so we challenged that through our MP, and the MP then managed to push them to come up with a proper response on the 22nd of December, perfect timing. Uh, and again it was a refusal.

SPEAKER_03 1:53

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 1:53

And what it came down to was they had taken my I have two bank accounts, and part of the process is you have to have uh more than 88,000 in your bank accounts for six months prior to the application. They claimed that in March of last year, they there was a period where my accounts fell about two and a half, three thousand below the 88. I knew that was wrong. I'd watched it like a hawk. I proved it on a spreadsheet. Uh they we had to go, you you can't just say, sorry, I think you've made a mistake. Uh we basically went back to them uh through the MP uh and explained it to them. I went to my bank to get a letter to confirm it, sent it to them, but they said, sorry, you're in the appeal process now. It could take 12 to 18 months to uh before we check it, even though it's just a mathematical error. Oh and uh the two plus banana comes from they have what they'd actually done was they've taken uh a balance off one of the statements on the 18th of March, a balance off the other statement on the 21st of March, added them together, and on the basis of that, they said no. Oh, you can't add two accounts on two different dates, and on that basis say no. And on the 18th, I moved money from one account to the other account. That's why that one went down. So they had the lower amount on the account they used, and the lower amount on the other account they used before it transferred the money over. So it was above 88,000 for the whole period. So they'd added two things that can't be added together, two and a banana, and got the answer no.

SPEAKER_05 3:35

I well, I I I'm almost speechless.

SPEAKER_02 3:39

Uh no, I'm I'm speechless still every time I say it. Um you can't do that, that's basics.

SPEAKER_05 3:46

So of course, but you know, just just the the whole story though is so incredible because most of us, and I definitely myself, I have no idea what that process looks like and how stressful that must have been. I can't even imagine.

SPEAKER_02 4:02

Yeah, I've I've already met uh mentioned it in the book that the uh the first 18 months of ourselves being together, so because we were together since uh January of 2025. Okay, four, twenty twenty-four. Uh and then we had so we've had like two and a bit years together. Uh and the first 18 months of that was the best 18 months of my life. Oh the last six months have been the worst six months of my life.

SPEAKER_05 4:31

Yeah, I would think so.

SPEAKER_02 4:34

And at the same time, uh my wife Olia lives in an industrial city in Russia, okay, and most nights has drones flying over her perhaps or flat. So I'm worried about my health, her health.

SPEAKER_05 4:49

Uh, whether she's gonna be alive in the morning, uh, and on the on the whim of a process at the visa office, we're gonna have to wait for 12 to 18 months potentially to get the so you are truly still in the middle of all of this.

SPEAKER_02 5:06

I mean, you are in this well what what happened what happened was with the and we're probably now flipping all well, we'll do all the questions, but not necessarily we're making our own order of everything

Long Distance Love Across Borders

SPEAKER_02 5:18

right now. No, we uh I because uh of the war in Ukraine, there were no direct flights uh to Russia or from Russia to the UK. So we've had over the last two and a bit years, we've had four trips to Turkey because that's the easiest place to meet from a visa perspective. Uh and on one of those trips, I actually arrived uh at Istanbul Airport about 12 hours before Olya. Uh so I was moving around between different coffee shops in the airport trying to stay awake uh because I didn't want to miss air flight. And in one of those coffee shops, I was chatting with somebody who uh asked me why I was there. They were there meeting somebody else, and I explained the full story because we've had quite a few adventures, and that's the the one thing I should reiterate is the book's not just about the uh application for the visa. Uh the first uh sort of two-thirds of the book are about we've had a few adventures where we've lost each other in cities uh and all about meeting up with each other and all that sort of thing. But I told this woman about all of these uh these things that had happened in in our lives, and she said to me, You should write a book.

SPEAKER_05 6:29

The prophetic words right there.

SPEAKER_02 6:31

Yeah, so deceived in my mind, and that was well before we'd even got into the uh application process for the for the visa. And then when all of that happened in January of this year, I said, I I need something to distract me. Sure, I need something to give me a bit of a feel good factor going back over all the things that happened with me and all yeah. Uh so I wrote the book. It was uh it was fun writing the first two-thirds of it, very therapeutic. It was very difficult writing the last two chapters.

SPEAKER_04 7:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:00

It was all bringing it up to date and all about the visa process, and that just got me more frustrated and angry again.

SPEAKER_05 7:06

Sure. Oh my goodness. Um, but you know, the the the first part, of course, how wonderful to get to not only relive all of these memories that you guys have created together, right? But now you have them in print, and it's just it keeps it alive. How wonderful is that?

SPEAKER_02 7:23

And it it it basically gives everybody an eye uh could use the word hope. Um but I I got I was getting divorced, I didn't actually get divorced until three weeks before Oli and I got married. Well but we'd separate I'd separated from my wife. Uh I've got two grown-up children. We basically it just come to it's it's time we uh um we just sort of drifted apart, as it were. Uh we we got separated, uh, sorry, we got the divorce through at the start of March and then got married at the end of March in that year. Uh but it was I was in the position probably six months before that where I was thinking, where's my life going now? I was sleeping on the sofa at the sofa at home while we sold the house. Uh and I got onto some dating sites. I met a few people, uh, the relationships didn't work out. I then met somebody who I very attractive woman over in Russia. Uh except well, no, sorry, I should say, very attractive woman in Leith in Scotland, which I thought, okay, that's only about an hour away from me. Uh and I started talking to her online, had a couple of boys chats with her, thought there was a strange accent. She then started to go to bed at half past five, six o'clock at night, thought she must be a shift worker. So I built up the confidence to ask her, and turned out she was in the middle of Russia. Uh and it was her daughter who lived in Edinburgh who would put her on uh eHarmony, as it was, uh, to try and get her mom out of the out of Russia and out of the troubles. Um so uh and then the the next bizarre fact was that I actually met her daughter and the daughter's husband before I met Olya. Um wow I met the daughter of my now wife before I I met her, which happened. Never happened to me. Never, never, no, but we met in Edinburgh just for uh say hi, get to know each other, and then we planned her initial trip over to the UK.

SPEAKER_05 9:31

Wow, she was being a good daughter, she was checking out this guy that her mom was talking to, right?

SPEAKER_02 9:37

Yeah, she wanted to get they hadn't seen each other for probably about three years. Oh she was keen to get a one out of the trouble uh and away from it all, uh, and just speculated and hoped that she would meet somebody. Uh and we clicked straight away.

SPEAKER_05 9:52

Wow, you know, we're I'm over here in in America, and you know, of course, we hear in our news, uh, Russia and Ukraine and all of these things, but because they're so far removed from us, and I think that's a very typical thing. I'm not knocking us Americans, um, but because it's something so very far away from us, uh, we don't feel that connection to it, and we don't really you don't think about the people and the the actual people and the lives that are are being affected and and just destroyed really by everything that's going on. So, you know, hearing this and and hearing things like uh, you know, your your wife's daughter uh and and her uh haven't seen each other in so long and all of these things is just it it brings the home the the whole uh heart part of it that that really tugs at your your heart strings, my goodness.

SPEAKER_02 10:40

Yeah, in the UK we're a little bit closer to it because we have quite a few people from the Ukraine that have come over to the UK uh to live, uh, but still it's not as immediate as then talking to somebody who's got drones wine over the house. Uh so it's and and hearing you know stories about about Russia. Uh it's it's a very sort of I wouldn't closed environment. Uh but actually hearing hearing stories about Russia minting somebody of Russian nationality, a daughter is half Georgian as well. That's why Georgia got on the agenda for the wedding. And a daughter and my youngest came came with me for the

Culture Shifts And Music Surprises

SPEAKER_02 11:25

uh for the wedding. So it was a very interesting trip just seeing how how Georgia is as well. Uh it's it's it's been a massive cultural change. Us adjusting to each other. We both come from a sporting background. Um at college in in Russia uh for basketball, but then she stopped growing. Uh so she uh she's an 0.6 and it's sort of thing that you need in basketball.

SPEAKER_05 11:56

A little bit of hype is for it, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:58

Exactly. Uh so she's she's now been a nanny, she's been a crane driver, she's been a historical uh archivist, but now she's been teaching English uh for the last I'd probably say about eight, seven or eight years. Uh her written English is better than mine. Um but it's yes, it's so it but the the the the big differences are my background musically. I um come from a punk and alternative music background. Audio is very classical and opera. So when she came over, that was the sort of music that we went, the events that we went to, uh, which was massive for me, a learning thing for me. But there are it it it's getting used to the cultural differences because the backgrounds are very different.

SPEAKER_05 12:49

Very, yes, absolutely. Did you grow an appreciation for the music? Uh you for hers and her for yours, or are you both kind of like you keep your music, I'll keep mine?

SPEAKER_02 12:58

No, I think the one the one thing for me was I I I know quite a lot of pieces, but I it's not my go-to for if I'm gonna put music on, I will put my own music on. But I I will listen and enjoy classical music. And there was one piece we went to, and it's in the book, uh, at one of the theatres in uh Glasgow. And part way through the the event, uh a pianist came on, he was probably in his early 20s, and he played probably for about 45 minutes and got a series of three, four standing ovations.

SPEAKER_03 13:34

Oh it was incredible.

SPEAKER_02 13:35

Yeah, but the most outstanding thing of the whole thing, he was he had been blind since childhood.

SPEAKER_05 13:41

Oh my goodness. Wow.

SPEAKER_02 13:43

He's he was playing better than I've ever seen anybody else play before. And that's the one thing that with me, with music, I respect the artist and the quality of their ability to play the music. But to see him playing that gave me a new respect for for classical, sorry, classical music.

SPEAKER_05 14:00

Yeah, absolutely. And and seeing, I I think for me, anytime I see live music, when I see it being performed live, even if it's something I never would have listened to before or imagined that I would like or be interested, something about live music, watching in person. It just affects you in such a different way than just hearing it on a radio or a record or a CD, whatever the case is. Live music, guys. That's the uh that's the one. If you're not sure, go watch it live, then yeah, you'll right. Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_02 14:27

The one that got me the highest amount of respect with my now uh stepdaughter, uh, oh, yes, daughter, was that she's a massive music fan. And then she found out that I'd actually back in the 80s, I saw Queen live.

SPEAKER_05 14:42

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 14:43

And I saw Freddie, Freddie Mother.

SPEAKER_05 14:45

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_02 14:46

And she went, You sitting in live?

SPEAKER_05 14:49

She had my reaction, right? Did she gasp?

SPEAKER_02 14:52

No, but that was that's still out there. I saw you two back then when they were very, very, very young as a band. Uh so it's things like that that stay in your mind. Uh and that's pretty cute. Whatever the event, whether it's uh ballet, whether it's uh classical, whether it's a a gig, it can create things that stay in your mind. And that's what we were lucky enough to get. Where when all year was over, we we did a lot of live events. That's one culminate in a typical, typically British pantomime, obviously, because it was near Christmas when she went back.

SPEAKER_05 15:26

Oh yeah. Yeah, so I mean you you because of the circumstances, you really had to you had to pack so many uh things in and in a relatively short period of time, right? Like it was like sped up, of course, because you're time limited.

SPEAKER_02 15:44

Yeah, she was there for but she was here, supposed to be here for six months on a visitor visa to start with. She only managed four and a half because she fell ill. Um we couldn't get her treated here because they hadn't got the background information. So she ended up going back just before Christmas of that year. Uh and that's why I think it was the day before she went, we saw the pantomime. Uh, but then she went back uh and but we'd agreed you get yourself well, then we'll get married. Uh and not till we got married in March.

SPEAKER_05 16:13

Wow. What an incredible story. Tell me about uh so obviously, you know, such a whirlwind, all of it, so

Divorce, Adult Kids, Second Chances

SPEAKER_05 16:20

much going on. You said you were fresh off, a divorce, you have um adult adult children, they're still teens, adults, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_02 16:27

Uh 18 and 21 now.

SPEAKER_05 16:28

Okay. Uh so young adults.

SPEAKER_02 16:30

I think that they are best kids in the world. Um they are completely different in personalities. One is more laid back, uh, but lives life to the full. The other one, uh, the eldest, Jake, is is a lot more uh thoughtful. Uh uh and he will always do whatever he can to help. Some will some will meet as the youngest, but they will do as much as they can for other people. They're best friends, which is great as well.

SPEAKER_05 17:03

That's so awesome.

SPEAKER_02 17:04

And uh they've wanted to help me with this.

SPEAKER_05 17:06

That's wonderful. I think ultimately, especially when they're adult children, they have such a different perspective than when they were children, of course. And you know, you're always going to be mom and dad, um, but they start to see you a little bit differently through an adult's eyes, and they start to understand that you know life is so much more complicated than what they knew, and nothing is as easy as we think it is when we're children, you know. So it it's it's great when they realize that their parents are are more than just mom and dad, and they're actually human beings, they're they're men and women, and they have you know thoughts and feelings and lives, you know.

SPEAKER_02 17:43

I think I think we were lucky, if you can call it lucky, that it was probably when they were when the youngest was 17, 16, 17, that we separated. So they were old enough to understand a bit better. It wasn't such a shock to their systems. Uh and I I think we we take some some solace from from that, that uh it didn't happen when they were young, which would I think be a lot more difficult.

SPEAKER_05 18:12

Oh, absolutely. Yeah, I think you're right. Um now you're in your bio, it says that your life focus is now on your life with your wife. And I to me that's so refreshing. And as someone who also has adult children, what a different stage of life to be in where you actually can. And I think it's always sad for when you're when you've been divorced and you have children and all those things, and of course, you you wish you knew the things then that you know now, right? And we are so much more tempered in our our feelings and our reactions and all of those things, and um, but when you do get that second chance to quote unquote do it right, your approach is so different, isn't it? Do you find that your approach in this marriage, um, and of course, and I understand you your circumstances are so unique, um, and that's a whole other whole other level. But do you find that in this incarnation of your life, do you find that you're more patient, more, more gentle, more all of the things in comparison?

SPEAKER_02 19:14

I think I think definitely yes. Yeah, and I think the one of the main things is when I was younger, there were a lot of other distractions.

SPEAKER_05 19:23

Right.

SPEAKER_02 19:24

Going, you know, playing my sport, going out. Uh, I spent a lot of time when I've worked away from home, uh, either in London or else I had a spell in Amsterdam. And so there were a lot of other things happening that were taking away and distracting away from the marriage. Uh, and I think now with the kids being now grown up, I still speak to the kids every day. Uh but it's I I've got more, for want of a better word, me time. Uh and that was how I felt when I first started talking to Olia that I found somebody that I could talk to 24 hours a day, 25 if they were 25. Uh but now I'm in the situation, and this is why it's so frustrating. That uh I've I've been with old Olia in the same place for only one way one week in the last 14 months. Uh and that is difficult.

SPEAKER_03 20:18

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 20:18

Uh, because she went back in the December. We had a week and a half in uh betumi, and then one of the other things that connected with the test, sorry, with the uh visa, is that even though she's an English teacher, she had to take an English test to approve her course in speech, and that's banned in Russia at the moment. If you take it in Russia, you go to jail. Um so we again we had to meet up in Istanbul uh for her to take that test, and that was quite stressful because Zodia would never has never uh failed the test in her life when it's done. Uh she went there, she told the test would last two and a half hours. It took her 15 minutes.

SPEAKER_05 21:05

Oh wow.

unknown 21:06

She passed it.

SPEAKER_02 21:07

But she was convinced herself because she'd done it so quickly, she must have failed it. Sure, sure. I guess four hours were hell. Um but she she passed it. Uh and then we we we took that as being

Forced Separation And The English Test

SPEAKER_02 21:20

our honeymoon. But that's pretty much we've only had last year we had a m a month together. That was it, sorry, a week together.

SPEAKER_05 21:28

Oh my goodness. Wow.

SPEAKER_02 21:30

Talk to people especially when you found somebody that you you're going that I could really settle down and of course in the flat together in uh in Glasgow, and you feel as though, yeah, I can spend every hour with this person.

SPEAKER_05 21:43

Sure.

SPEAKER_04 21:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 21:50

I mean it was to Yeah, that I think that makes it even more.

SPEAKER_02 21:55

The bank sends a letter. Uh so it's not just on me to say they've got it wrong.

unknown 21:59

Um

SPEAKER_02 22:00

It's officially done by the bank. But they won't look at it because it has to be done. It's like what I said to my solicitor is I've worked in banking and insurance for 35, 40 years. In banking and insurance, you you work with processes. But the process has to be fit for the scenario and has to be suitable for the scenario. And if you don't, then you can get fined or you can get told that you've got a cease trader. This scenario or this um situation we're in, they are living by the process. They're saying the only way they can change this is by doing it through an appeal. And we're saying, but you didn't add two numbers together properly. That's 15 minutes to look at that and go, oh sorry, we've made a mistake, energy visa. And we've taken it all the way up to the Home Secretary. It's been with uh one of the Home Office ministers who's come back and said, We followed the process. I'm not interested if you followed the process. You didn't follow the process right. Right. So but there's they're hiding behind the process.

SPEAKER_05 23:09

Yeah, and and for those of you watching and listening, uh, you know, just just a quick recap on the on the point that Craig made that uh this 15-minute fix, essentially, that they won't do will cost you potentially eight eighteen, no, 14, potentially 14 pounds.

SPEAKER_02 23:28

12 to 18 months. It's gonna cost me solicitor fees to take it to court, and it will be have to then be reviewed by a judge in court. And a mathematical error.

SPEAKER_05 23:45

Oh, uh you know, and of course, like I said right at the top of this, most of us cannot even relate to this whole process because it's it's unique uh to most people. Um, but I think most of us can at least relate to frustration with bureaucracy, pretty much, you know, with with those types of things and the the way that um government organizations are are run to the detriment of you know everyday people. And simple things are you know 10 times more complicated than they ever need to be. And so that I I mean, I just I I'm I feel your frustration. I'm sure anybody watching or listening will feel your frustration too. And of course, as they read the book, you know, you get so much more of a rounded picture uh of all of this and and everything. And you know, and of course, the the the love story that's in it as well um is just wonderful.

SPEAKER_02 24:38

Um that's the way I've summed it up with when I was talking to the publishers. It's uh for for the first two thirds of the book, it's uh almost like the perfect romantic comedy. Yeah, and again, I can see it being something more in the future. But then it gets, as as my youngest said, it gets serious. Uh and that's the the latter part, it isn't finished, the story's still ongoing. Um my my plan is to put together a website that will accompany the book that will mean that uh any of the readers they would go, Oh, I really wish I knew what happened next.

SPEAKER_05 25:16

Yeah, you can't leave us hanging on this. You have to keep using I'll be putting it on the website. Uh good. Because we're invested now.

SPEAKER_02 25:23

Yeah, I'll be doing updates on the website. I've done a I've set up a petition as well, uh, so that I can use that and and and and take that to the government and say, look, I've got this many people backing me. I've only started it last weekend. But uh is ultimately to take that to the government and say, please sort this. Um it's it it's ridiculous. Uh everybody that I speak to about it says it's ridiculous, but you are sticking by.

SPEAKER_05 25:49

Your wife must be, yeah, your wife must be so odd and grateful to the links that you're going to. And you know, I mean, how touching is that to know that your person is doing all of this?

SPEAKER_02 26:02

It it is, but it's very difficult

Process Over People At The Home Office

SPEAKER_02 26:05

for her. We're in a particularly difficult situation at the moment that she can't believe it's it's almost unbelievable what's happening. Even more for her because she's stuck in Russia. She's getting ridiculed by the people that she works with because uh the West isn't so good, is it? Um and people feeding all sorts of stories about what the real reason is for why this hasn't gone through. So it's making it very difficult for us to have any sort of reason sensible conversation because it always goes back to where we are on the visa, and then we get upset. Um so it's putting a ridiculous amount of strain on our marriage as well. So it's a horrible situation to be in. Yeah, I've spoken to uh I've tried to speak to the BBC, I've tried to speak to radio channels, I've tried to speak to do uh things online, like I said, I'm doing the petition, and I'm trying whatever vehicle I can ultimately to support driving my wife here. I want the book to be successful. I would love the book to be uh made into something bigger in the future. But the real reason that I've written this is to get Olya here and to be with Olia. Yeah, uh to use it to publicize the story and the ridiculous situation that we're in.

SPEAKER_05 27:25

Yeah, your story reads like a movie. It does. Like I can easily see this as a as a movie, as something on the screen for sure.

SPEAKER_02 27:32

I'd have to insist, I I again it can be any old actor that plays me, but I think that Olya should be in it because she's more beautiful than most of the actresses that are in there.

SPEAKER_05 27:41

Oh, that is so sweet. All right, but I gotta ask, who would play you? I know you said you don't care. Who could you imagine playing you?

SPEAKER_02 27:48

It'd have to be probably somebody who's a comedian, a stand-up comedian. Uh I don't know. Uh I love it.

SPEAKER_05 27:54

I love it. I know I'm trying to think. I feel like I feel like it's like right there at the edge of my brain, who could play you?

SPEAKER_02 28:01

Everybody It's one of those things that I I I'm not uh I I'm a mathematician at art, I'm not a practicalist, I'm not an artist, I'm not, but I'm also somebody that doesn't self-publicize. And I wouldn't want to put a name against me again. I think yeah, I think they'd be good enough to play me because that's not just not the way I I work.

SPEAKER_05 28:20

Um we'll have to leave that to other people to decide. I get it. You're humble, but I get it.

SPEAKER_02 28:26

We can open up a vote after the uh after a competition. That would be fun.

SPEAKER_05 28:32

That would be good for your website too. You should put that on your website, right? Take take votes on on who you think should uh should play in your radio. Oh, I love that. Uh if you will, take me a little bit through. So you had no expectations, no plans prior to this book of of writing a book, correct?

SPEAKER_02 28:52

Like that wasn't a part of your thoughts, or did you always not necessarily I've I've started probably writing um technical books before about project management and program management. Uh I once worked for uh Lloyd's bank, did a piece of work for them, and on the back of that, I got asked to contribute the last chapter on a technical piece for a piece of regulation. So I am a published author, uh on a completely separate genre of what I'm talking about. Uh and I but that came through because I'm not a fit, I'm not a theorist, I'm not somebody who took just talks about the regulation. I tell people how to do it. And that's the job that I've done for the last 25, 30 years, is is go in and steer projects to get the right solution in the right way to meet what regulators need. Uh and that's what that was that chapter in that book. And that's I've spoken at conferences on conferences on those sort of tunnels as well. But it was only after, like I said, uh speaking to the person in Istanbul that I thought, well, there's so many things that have happened.

unknown 29:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:59

We have got Oli's got a general knack for getting lost when she walked around. When she walked around in Edinburgh, she used to get lost. She used to go up to the top of our seat and then uh, which is the big extant volcano in the middle of Edinburgh, and then find out it was dark by the time she was coming back down again. So it was too late to come back. You know, she was struggling to get back. Um we ended up putting uh, you know, what you can put onto a phone a tracker so you know where people were, people are. And she used to have to phone me. I was in Blasgow at the time.

SPEAKER_03 30:29

Right.

SPEAKER_02 30:30

I found her on the map on the track to direct her back to lead us uh a daughter's flat. So I'm just giving her instructions over the phone to get home.

SPEAKER_05 30:39

That is so funny. You know, my husband and I go hiking quite a bit, and he's the one with the compass and the map and all those things. And I just, you know, I just trot along like a happy little puppy, and and I don't care where we're going because he's got it. So, you know, he'll figure it out and he's

Writing The Book And Sharing It Publicly

SPEAKER_05 30:55

he'll try and show me on the map. I'm like, don't care.

SPEAKER_02 30:58

Olia is when we were lost on the trying to get back to the um hotel to get to the airport when we were in Turkey one time. Olia was more concerned about flowers and fruit stalls. Uh, and I was more how are we gonna get back? That that's who she's more laid back, she's more happy to just go with life, but then she just loved wandering around Edinburgh to see what she found, not caring whatsoever about where she was or how she was gonna get back.

SPEAKER_05 31:24

Yeah, that's because she knew you would you would help her find her way.

SPEAKER_02 31:28

And then we got lost together in uh one of the times we were in Istanbul. I lost her for about an hour. Um and luckily I'd stayed at the museum that we'd been in, and I saw her wandering past the door outside uh after about an hour. And she had no money, no idea where the hotel is. Uh and I honestly thought I'd lost her at that point. That was the most difficult one, so I should have. But uh again, I I shouldn't say too many because all of these stories are in the book.

SPEAKER_05 31:57

Yeah, okay. Don't tell us anymore. We have to do that.

SPEAKER_04 32:00

Nobody writes in the book.

SPEAKER_05 32:02

Oh, no, you know, so I I actually I find that even more charming um with the idea of reading the book, knowing that it is it's written by somebody who is writing outside of their lane, but doing it for such an incredible um purpose and and reason. And there's so much heart behind that. So I I love that you have a self-professed uh, you know, mathematical, analytical, facts kind of mind, and you kind of set that side aside a little bit to write something that is, you know, truly from the heart. So I I admire that um that you're willing and able to do that. And I think that gives the book even more charm, right along with its you know, trem tremendous purpose to your life, you know, for your life.

SPEAKER_02 32:55

Um I can't understate the help from the American Publish publishers, uh, because they the the story that I sent to them was a list of very to the point facts and things that had happened, and they've helped me develop that into the book as it is. Uh, but everything's true. It's hard to believe it's all happened to two people and not just uh a mix of other people and you've all been pulled together. It all happened. It's all true.

SPEAKER_05 33:24

Yeah, it it has to be when you read it back, you know, after you finish writing it and wrote those last words, last words for now, uh in the book, um, to sit there and read it and look at it. It had to be such a wow moment for you. Like it's is all real. This is my life, this is what's happening, this is what I'm living right now. Like it had to be so surreal in that way.

SPEAKER_02 33:47

Yeah, I've got the the final, I've just got the final version through today. Uh so that's another thing for the weekend, uh, or tomorrow. Uh, but I've I've read it through a couple of times since it's been nearly finished. And I'm still yeah, I just yeah, it all happened. And I I still struggle to believe it's happened in such a short period. Uh but it's it it it has been like as I say, the best sort of 18 months of my life and then the worst six. But in that we did most of the book, and the people will be laughing uh and in in disbelief uh in a lot of instances, just like I was at this time when it happened. Uh but uh it's been an amazing, amazing relate uh relationship, and I can't wait to be back with Olya. And that's why I persist to get uh here. I'm not gonna give up. Uh I know that for the rest of my life I want to spend it with Oli.

SPEAKER_05 34:45

I love that. That's so beautiful. So beautiful. You just made anybody and everybody watching just went a col we all just did a collective. We all love that.

SPEAKER_02 34:56

That's well, I hope they I hope they now go out and buy the phone. No, I hope that's a good idea.

SPEAKER_05 35:00

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Take that all right over to Amazon. Will it be on Amazon?

SPEAKER_02 35:05

It's gonna be on Amazon. There are a lot of other platforms it's gonna be available available as well. It's gonna be uh ebook and it's gonna be audio as well.

SPEAKER_05 35:12

Wonderful, wonderful. And when, if you don't know the exact day, give us an approximate of when we expect this to be released.

SPEAKER_02 35:19

The the latest plan, like I said, we've got the final version uh with me today.

Release Plans, Links, And Closing

SPEAKER_02 35:25

Uh it's then gonna start going and being recorded for audio. And the plan is that we'll have all of that done by the end of May.

SPEAKER_05 35:31

Beautiful, beautiful. It's right around the corner, guys. I know now everybody wants to read it, and you're mad at me because I didn't tell you at the beginning that it's not released yet. It's coming out. Um, but the good news is is when you guys watch this, it should be coming out very, very quickly. So nobody panic.

SPEAKER_03 35:47

That's what we are.

SPEAKER_05 35:49

Yes, yes. No, we're gonna we're gonna will it into existence for it's gonna happen.

SPEAKER_04 35:53

Definitely, definitely.

SPEAKER_05 35:54

Yes. And you know, my my hope and and prayer for you and your wife is that the last thing that you do with this book is get that surprise that everything has has changed for the better, and you get to add that little postscript at the end of, you know, by the way, we're together and everything's fine.

SPEAKER_02 36:16

That was always the hope when I was writing the book that by the time we get to publish, I'll be able to say it's done. But we it really doesn't look as though that's gonna happen.

SPEAKER_05 36:25

Yeah, yeah. At the moment.

SPEAKER_02 36:28

Well, thank you.

SPEAKER_05 36:29

Yes, yes, we will uh we'll keep you in our our thoughts and our hopes and our prayers for that, and we'll be thinking of you as as this progresses. And um, and thank you for giving me the opportunity to share your story. I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_03 36:42

Thanks very much. Thank you.

SPEAKER_05 36:43

Absolutely. All right, guys, thank you all for watching. We enjoyed having you here with us, and we hope that when that book is out, we'll put the show, uh, we'll put the link in the show notes for everybody as soon as it's out, and you'll be able to get right to it. Uh, but for now, take care and we will see you in the next episode.

SPEAKER_04 37:01

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 37:02

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