Welcome, welcome, welcome. This is the distraction pieces podcast episode 392. How are you all doing? I hope you're well.

Thank you to everyone who's been attending loads of love for the recent episodes. The the Laura Dockroll one is just getting so much love as is Amanda Abboton and Juliet Stevenson. So yeah. Thank you all for that.

This week's guest I was really excited about this one because it's it's it's Annie McManus known to many as Annie Mac and it's really weird. Our paths have never crossed and I mentioned that every now and then on a podcast with nerves, but it's always seemed odd to me that mine and Annie's paths have never really crossed considering the time in interjectory of our careers and mutual friends. I mean people we talk about at this podcast who are previous guests on the podcast if you want to go back and listen.

Zane Low was one of the first guests and Hugh Stevens, Fern Cotton, John Kennedy, Hughie Mulgar when we talk about roots manoeuvre. Did we mention my skin a week we talk about a lot of wonderful people who have all been previous guests and all often quite early because the people I've just had a lot of interaction with over my career. So yeah.

Always seem weird that we hadn't really crossed paths and then this chat happened and it made me kind of annoyed our paths haven't crossed because I loved having a chat with Annie. She was fantastic. If you enjoy this chat I want to hear more of Annie chatting. I highly recommend her podcast changes with Annie Mac and also her times best selling novel mother mother.

Both things that we talk about towards the end of the podcast but for the bulk of it we just have a good old chat and catch up about her whole career essentially as I've been very aware of it kind of on the outside watching enthusiastically.

So yeah it was great to have this chat. If you want to support the podcast you can head to speechvellumonrequels.com. That's my record label which we also talk about in this podcast and you can get TDs, DVDs, vinyl,

vinyl and all sorts of merch, sunglasses, umbrellas, vest, studies, all the things you need for a confusing British summer. But if you'd rather just chip in less than two credit month head over to patreon.com slash

pip. Yeah the minimum is like $1.50 a month for something but you can obviously chip in more. But if you enjoy the podcast and you enjoy them for three week after week and feel you want to contribute and say thanks to me to the to

to baddie piece and anyone behind the scenes then it's perfect. I want to do it. The reason I've got the I kept that subscription so low was so that people can just subscribe and forget about it. You're not going to heavily notice the dollar 50 a month coming out and if you if you would or if you do then don't

don't come over and subscribe it's not it's not that important. You know, but yeah it's an option anyway let's go on with the podcast. This is the distraction pieces podcast episode 392 with any

request from the manus. Right, I'll begin if that's okay with you. Yeah, please. Right, I'm here today with what we're going with today,

because I've known and loved you for many years as as Annie Mac, but you're you're more often going under Annie Macmanus at the moment. So what's your preferred non-deployment? You know what no one's actually asked me that in terms of just like having a conversation. I think Annie Macmanus because that's my full name. That is that is you know what what my family would call me my friends would call me. So let's go with that. Yeah, that that's perfect. And so how have you been in this in this weird year? Are you are you okay? Are you?

Yeah, I am. I'm well. Thank you. I feel like a lot has changed and that is something that has happened to me and also stuff that I have instigated myself and my general feeling is that I've I've got through and I feel good and I feel very grateful for that.

I feel like I'm a well-being feeling of just gratefulness and gratitude. Helped and bolstered recently by going back to Ireland for the first time in nearly a year, seeing my family, seeing everyone well and healthy.

So yeah, I feel I just feel a kind of overwhelming sense of relief and gratitude that I and my loved ones are all okay, I guess. And we're all through it.

It's such a strange difference being in a different country to loved ones in a time like this. I found it with us filming recently in Canada. And it was so weird because if I'd been in the UK, I wouldn't have been able to see them anyway.

There was obviously all the lockdowns and so on and so forth, but being in another country and not having that option just made me so nervous about everyone and everything. And again, similarly like having looked on and seen your schedule over the years.

It's not like you would have been always back and forth from Ireland. I'm sure there's periods where you didn't go for however long, but not having the option really changes something internally, right? In your concern and connection.

100% that's that's the key there. It's just not having the option having having the lack of choice. And yeah, like I have had periods of not going back to Ireland, but they've never actually been that long. And when they have been long, my family have come to me.

So I guess as you know, we've always seen each other quite regularly. The bit that I found very hard was going on for Christmas, which is something that I've just always done. And I think you speak to anyone in the Irish diaspora and they will say that going on for Christmas is, you know, it's it's a concrete part of your Irishness, you know, kind of like it's it's it's the part of of you that you need to like plug in and recharge, you know, remember who you are where you came from and kind of come back feeling stronger in your Irishness.

And in your identity, you know, when you live away from home from anywhere, your sense of identity and your kind of closeness to that place becomes much stronger because of your distance from it, you know, it becomes much more important to you and significant when you Irish abroad.

...