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Simon and Lee open on the tyranny of public pianos: one played beautifully by an old friend at Euston station, another axed to pieces in Lisbon after one too many renditions of the same tune. It tips into a longer meditation on recognition, virtuosity, and the icky feeling of wanting to be seen, prompted partly by Simon's nephew Finn asking how the professorship (announced last episode) is actually sitting with him a week in. Lee has his own news too: after two headache-inducing years, his university's research degree awarding powers bid has finally gone in.

Mentioned

• Chopin – composer; played by an old friend of Simon's at Euston station, mid-piece, as he arrived to meet her
• Cais do Sodré – train station in Lisbon; site of a public piano playing the same tune on loop until commuters had it removed
• Hamilton – the musical; the "room where it happened" line recurs, and Lee had recently been watching an excellent Japanese-language production
• Meta Ray-Ban glasses – smart glasses; cited as an emblem of frictionless recording culture
• Michael Barrymore – British TV entertainer and former host of The Generation Game; recalled via the detail that someone died in his swimming pool years ago, then (probably wrongly) credited with now filming strangers in shops via Meta Ray-Bans for TikTok
• The Generation Game – UK Saturday-night variety/game show; cited as an example of personality-driven light entertainment
• Noel Edmonds' House Party – UK entertainment show, named alongside Strictly Come Dancing and Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway as part of the same "Saturday night" lineage
• Strictly Come Dancing – UK dance competition show; named as a descendant of that variety tradition
• Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway – UK Saturday-night entertainment show; offered as the closest contemporary equivalent

Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net.

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