The Simple Joys Podcast

The company of animals can be one of life's great simple joys - the love we feel for our pets is perhaps the most uncomplicated love we will ever find. In the spirit of that, the guest this week is a semi-fictional dog called Leslie. And also Dog the Cat, a cat called Dog who lives at our house. Enjoy!

Does the thought of the future fire you up or fill you with dread? It's not always easy to know the right thing to do, and you can quickly tie yourself up in knots at a fork in the road. Eddie is a student of product design from Cologne, a good friend and a fellow overthinker. About once a year, Eddie and I put the world to rights - here's what that sounds like.

Brainrot has a pretty bad name. But could it be a simple joy? Cicely Hunt is a social media expert in both her professional and personal life, and in this episode we muse on the double-edged sword of content creation and consumption. And some other stuff, too.

Tom Allen is a writer, trail prospector and relentless supporter of the worldwide exploration community. He has published five books and three full-length films, as well as conceiving and organising the building of two national trails in Armenia: the Transcaucasian Trail and the Armenian National Trail. Tom and I met last year in Armenia, when I was three weeks into my thru-hike of the Transcaucasian Trail. I was totally feral, a bit sick and completely deprived of human contact - I walked all day, and every morning and evening I would read the TCT guidebook to know what I would face next. Then, suddenly, I met him. Tom is currently Expeditions and Fieldwork Manager at the Royal Geographical Society, and we met a few months after I got back from Armenia to talk simple joys.Janapar: Love On A Bike (book)Janapar: Love On A Bike (film)Karun (film)Tom'sBikeTrip.com (blog)Transcaucasian TrailArmenia: Bradt Travel GuideCycling Armeniatomallen.info

How do you fall (back) in love with your day-to-day life? Alex Bullivant is a theoretical physicist, ultramarathon runner and vocal advocate for the importance of adventure in a world of routines.