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Speaker 1: The host of Grand Designs is coming to town and

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Speaker 1: you can catch Kevin McLeod's Home Truths at the Riverside

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Speaker 1: Theater February fifteen.

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Speaker 2: Tickets are through ticket Teck. Kevin's joining us now, Good morning.

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Speaker 1: Hey, what home truths will you be discussing at the show?

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Speaker 2: What do we mean by home truths?

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Speaker 3: What do we mean by home truths mean? Yeah, it's

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Speaker 3: a good question. So the whole evening is sort of

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Speaker 3: structured around questions and answers. So I've basically been asking

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Speaker 3: over the airwave for the last six months where the

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Speaker 3: people have got burning questions that they want answered and

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Speaker 3: what conclusions we can draw from them, you know, things

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Speaker 3: like why, for example, are the no tubbleware lids in

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Speaker 3: my cupboard? Why have I got a sock draw full

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Speaker 3: of single socks? Why why does my front door let

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Speaker 3: air in when it's shut? You know, things like that,

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Speaker 3: but also some bigger questions about you know, what is design,

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Speaker 3: what makes great design?

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Speaker 4: What makes a great building? You know? And what is

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Speaker 4: just enough?

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Speaker 3: So there's lots of kind of fun questions to ask

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Speaker 3: on the way, and the whole evening is the sort

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Speaker 3: of little set of design journeys that we go on

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Speaker 3: together with the audience and it's very interactive, you know,

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Speaker 3: so we're working together on it.

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Speaker 5: Oh that's great. So many super fans of Grand Designs

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Speaker 5: and all the shows you hosted over the years, Kevin,

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Speaker 5: But what is the question you get asked most about

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Speaker 5: the series of shows over the years.

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Speaker 4: So is there one particular thing that comes up time

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Speaker 4: and time again?

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Speaker 3: Yeah? Why do you wear so many layers of clothing?

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Speaker 3: That's the one, really real. Yeah, and the reason is right,

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Speaker 3: the reasons. I know when I've worked outside. I spent

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Speaker 3: my life working outside, living outside, and filming outside, so

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Speaker 3: I know when i'm working I wear a T shirt

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Speaker 3: and a pullover and that enough. Because you're moving, your

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Speaker 3: active and I built you know, you carry you're really active.

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Speaker 3: But when you're filming, it's not really a job. You're

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Speaker 3: just standing around waiting all day for people to get

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Speaker 3: their stuff ready, and for a plane to stop flying over,

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Speaker 3: and for the noise to a bait in the background,

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Speaker 3: and so you just get incredibly cold just standing still

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Speaker 3: doing nothing all the time.

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Speaker 4: In the UK, yeah, it wouldn't happen in PERSE.

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Speaker 3: You know, I can get away, I can wear just

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Speaker 3: a T shirt in person on February.

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Speaker 4: Yeah.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, they were in the high thirties this week.

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Speaker 1: So it's very per You've hosted Grand Desister for over

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Speaker 1: two decades. It has such a wide and varied following

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Speaker 1: of viewers.

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Speaker 2: I've always thought about this show.

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Speaker 1: But as for the people who've been on the show,

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Speaker 1: has anyone ever been so super mad about the feedback

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Speaker 1: that you've given them to the point where you just

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Speaker 1: couldn't ers.

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Speaker 4: So what happens is.

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Speaker 3: I give people advice, right, and I try and help

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Speaker 3: them off camera and on camera a bit like a therapist,

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Speaker 3: you know. And what happens is people look at me,

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Speaker 3: but they sort of look through me and they say, no, Kevin,

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Speaker 3: you're wrong.

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Speaker 4: You know it's going to be fine.

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Speaker 3: And it's like they've joined some kind of cult and

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Speaker 3: that they've been hypnotized. They're on this mad, their own

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Speaker 3: little adventure, and they are so righteous, they so believe

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Speaker 3: that everything is going to be perfect. Every human being

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Speaker 3: I meet pretty well conveys to me this, this this

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Speaker 3: truth that we are all. You know, that hope and

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Speaker 3: optimism in our lives is such a powerful force. It

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Speaker 3: drives us right at the edge of the cliff, does

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Speaker 3: it come.

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Speaker 1: From a place if they've got their fingers crossing behind them.

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Speaker 1: It's not so much it'll be all right, it's more

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Speaker 1: my God has God right?

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Speaker 4: No, do you know what?

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Speaker 3: I think most of them are just they're way beyond that,

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Speaker 3: way beyond things.

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Speaker 4: Really.

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Speaker 3: They are on the they're on the right, they're on

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Speaker 3: the roller coaster, and.

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Speaker 4: They're just they've let go of the bar. They're just

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Speaker 4: they've gone there.

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Speaker 5: Well, as we said over the use, Kevin, so many

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Speaker 5: people get their budgets and their timing wrong. We want

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Speaker 5: to be in by Christmas, the famous line, But have

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Speaker 5: you have there been some that genuinely resent the building itself,

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Speaker 5: their dream home or each other that you've picked up on.

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Speaker 3: Look, you know that it's going to only in one

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Speaker 3: or two things. Either it's a finished building or.

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Speaker 4: It's a divorce.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, so luck I mean, you know, most of our

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Speaker 3: couples get through it. We have had a couple where

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Speaker 3: literally the storyline has changed halfway through, so that we've

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Speaker 3: it's been about separations and one party finishing the project,

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Speaker 3: which is sad, but on the whole, our divorce record

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Speaker 3: from all of our projects over the years twenty five years,

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Speaker 3: I think it's pretty good.

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Speaker 4: I think we're about six of the national average.

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Speaker 3: So if you can survive self building together, you can

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Speaker 3: survive anything.

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Speaker 4: What doesn't kill you, you know, curs you.

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Speaker 1: I've always waited for the spin off Grand Divorce.

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Speaker 4: I love that, with the.

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Speaker 1: Same theme, music and everything. I think absolutely fantastic.

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Speaker 4: We played in a minor team. O. Yes, it's a

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Speaker 4: little bit more.

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Speaker 1: Now we are you're probably we're We're in quite a

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Speaker 1: housing crisis in Australia at the moment, especially here in Perth.

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Speaker 1: People are waiting in extremely long time for homes to

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Speaker 1: be built, and then there's issues with the quality of work.

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Speaker 1: Sometimes what in your expertise is one thing, the one

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Speaker 1: thing that people should always consider when building to avoid

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Speaker 1: structural issues when it's too late.

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Speaker 4: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: So Steve Jobs when he was young started he just

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Speaker 3: wrote to people who were hugely important in it and

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Speaker 3: Hewlett Packard and stuff and just ask for help and

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Speaker 3: support and just got like a summer job working at

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Speaker 3: Hewlett Packard and stuff. And I kind of think we

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Speaker 3: don't ask enough for help from those around us, from family,

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Speaker 3: from friends. We don't ask for enough help from professionals.

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Speaker 3: People don't employ architecture as often as they should, or

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Speaker 3: quantity surveyors, and if you want to build quality into

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Speaker 3: what you're doing, then actually getting other people who really

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Speaker 3: know what they're doing to help you is so important.

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Speaker 3: I mean, I ask for help if I need to

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Speaker 3: put up a shelf, you know what I mean, It's

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Speaker 3: like you've got to It's so so important. And I

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Speaker 3: you know, my dad was hugely practical and important in

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Speaker 3: my life and I miss even now not being able

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Speaker 3: to bring him up and say, you know, why is

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Speaker 3: my television stop working?

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Speaker 4: Why where are all the tupperware?

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Speaker 2: Have you seen my socks?

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Speaker 1: You know? And also there's an element they're not they're

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Speaker 1: too scared to us for help. They don't want to

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Speaker 1: pay for it either. But sometimes you've just got to

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Speaker 1: bite the bullet and pay, don't you, or you will

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Speaker 1: pay down the track.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, you've you've hit the nail on the head, because

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Speaker 3: if you don't invest in the support and the help

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Speaker 3: of really good people telling you what to do, and

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Speaker 3: if you don't follow their advice or work with them

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Speaker 3: and collaborate, then then yeah, you're just just going to

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Speaker 3: cost you a fortune and you end up with an

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Speaker 3: expensive house which is not only you know, perhaps just

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Speaker 3: cost too much, but it's also just doesn't work properly.

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Speaker 3: And great design is not about spending money. Great design

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Speaker 3: is about having and using brilliant ideas and that sometimes

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Speaker 3: is free. So it's it's all about getting into the

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Speaker 3: right frame of mind and you know, boring and using

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Speaker 3: using the best that's around.

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Speaker 5: Kevin, when we've seen over the years of people building

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Speaker 5: these sometimes monstrosities. Is incredible homes, but magnificent homes as well.

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Speaker 5: And I always laugh when I see a living and

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Speaker 5: they can do anything with their living room, and they

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Speaker 5: may put in a bespoke fireplace or something, and you

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Speaker 5: can't help but hide your disgust when they pop up

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Speaker 5: a MegaTV. Sometimes the bling, I can tell, the blink

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Speaker 5: doesn't always work for you.

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Speaker 3: Well, I've got a big television in my sitting room,

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Speaker 3: and my excuse is I work in television.

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Speaker 4: Most people watch Telly on their phones. Now. Want to think,

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Speaker 4: do you know what I mean?

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Speaker 2: Yeah?

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Speaker 4: Yeah?

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Speaker 3: Why do people put in more toilets into their homes

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Speaker 3: than there are physical inhabitants.

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Speaker 4: Of that building?

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Speaker 5: Ida toilet, I know, just toilets to clean or a bathroom.

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Speaker 4: Each bathroom here's one of my home trewths.

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Speaker 3: Here's one of my The more stuff you have in

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Speaker 3: your house, the more there is to go wrong.

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Speaker 2: Yes, that's right.

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Speaker 1: No, Kevin, your bio lists among the many skills and

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Speaker 1: talents amateur balloonist. Now, I'm assuming it's not making dash

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Speaker 1: ound dogs out of balloons at kids' birthday parties.

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Speaker 2: It's hot air ballooning.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I can't sound the noise that little.

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Speaker 2: It's horrible.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I can't hope with that squeaking noise. But no,

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Speaker 3: a hot air balloon ride I love. I love looking

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Speaker 3: at buildings from the air. Oh yeah, and you know,

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Speaker 3: drones of course allow us to do this in Telly

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Speaker 3: and it's beautiful. But some of the most exciting balloon

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Speaker 3: rides I've taken are across you know, landscapes with amazing

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Speaker 3: buildings in them, and it's just you just sort of.

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Speaker 3: The other thing about blooning, is right, is that you're

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Speaker 3: up there and you think it's a remote experience. But

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Speaker 3: what you can hear on a still day, every conversation

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Speaker 3: on the ground.

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Speaker 5: Yes, oh, incredibly. You're right about the drug shots too,

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Speaker 5: They've really changed TV. I don't know how much you

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Speaker 5: love your architecture. You know, you hear soon. So there

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Speaker 5: are two homes in Perth at the moment on the

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Speaker 5: market and one is a modern concrete building North Perth

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Speaker 5: and another is written an Ivan Ivanholf who is a

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Speaker 5: famous architect. That one on the market, Yeah, in the

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Speaker 5: Carron Ups. So both in the northern suburbs and may

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Speaker 5: still be on the market when you come. A lot

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Speaker 5: of people will go through them, but there's only a

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Speaker 5: certain number of people who want those incredible homes to

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Speaker 5: actually purchase.

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Speaker 4: It is quite busy.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, you're turning into a man agency.

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Speaker 4: My daughter, my daughter works.

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Speaker 3: My daughter is a journalist and at the moment she

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Speaker 3: does gote a lot of work for an really interesting

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Speaker 3: website in the UK called The Modern House that they

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Speaker 3: sell and deal with and rent and write about and

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Speaker 3: you know they promote the idea of modernist twenty years twenty.

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Speaker 4: First century architecture.

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Speaker 3: So yeah, that's what we need in perse Yeah.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, absolutely, yeah, Yeah, she can write more about it.

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Speaker 1: Clasy Coin the phrase real estate pororn I think in

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Speaker 1: terms of he likes to he likes to read the

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Speaker 1: real estate section. Well, we look very much forward to

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Speaker 1: having you in town. February fifteen. Tickets are through ticket Tech.

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Speaker 1: You won't need too many layers or socks.

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Speaker 5: No, it is a very warm part of just bought

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Speaker 5: shorts Kevin. That's all we need.

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Speaker 2: Tickets are through ticket Tag. Great awesome, love leading it out,

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Speaker 2: talk to Kevin.

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Speaker 4: All the best, splendid. Thank you both so much, Thank you,