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Simon and Lee start off sleepy and a little weepy, which somehow tips into a debate about the line between pornography and eroticism, sparked by the Heated Rivalry novels Bob bought Lee for his birthday (which, they discover, started life as Bucky Barnes/Captain America slash fiction). From there it's kettlebells, sarcopenia, and shirtless YouTube fitness bros neither of them can bear to watch, before Lee reports that Bob's own kettlebell-honed solidity got tested by a phone-distracted man who shoulder-checked her on a London street – and didn't move. It closes on who gets to take up space and who doesn't, from Coventry's lime bike gangs to the rarity of ever seeing a pack of women do the same.

Mentioned

• The Empire Strikes Back (Star Wars) – Harrison Ford's sequel to the original film; invoked as a comparison for writing a hit follow-up
• The Da Vinci Code / Angels & Demons (Dan Brown) – blockbuster novels; used as another sequel comparison, with mock embarrassment at picking the less-loved one
• Dan Lepard – baker and food writer; arrives as a punning mishearing of "Dan Brown" and becomes its own joke
• Dan Brown's latest novel – unnamed page-turner about consciousness, featuring his recurring Robert Langdon character (described as "the same Tom Hanks character")
• Heated Rivalry (Rachel Reid) – romance novel series, a birthday gift; discussed as having started life as Bucky Barnes/Captain America slash fiction before becoming an original hockey romance
• Star Trek – Kirk and Spock's relationship is cited as the origin of the term "slash fiction"
• Swedish death cleaning – decluttering philosophy; referenced in a joke about a now-discarded handmade cassette collection 
• Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner – actors who played Spock and Kirk; clarified that their characters never had an on-screen romance
• Captain America / Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier (Marvel) – the fictional pairing behind Heated Rivalry's fan-fiction origins
• ChatGPT – joked about as a possible personal trainer 
• YouTube and Instagram – named as the real source of workout routines, alongside a complaint about shirtless fitness influencers
• Lime – e-bike share scheme; its riders in Coventry prompt a discussion about groups occupying street space
• Back to the Future – referenced via its high school principal character while describing a run-in with a pack of e-bike riders

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

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The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)