EPISODE 37: Pain Softens Your Heart

Strangers on a Bench

Tom Rosenthal

Documentary, Bench, Random, Society & Culture, Park, Strangers, Conversation

4.8 • 1.7K Ratings

🗓️ 26 May 2025

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

**Content warning : contains description of violent abuse**

Tom Rosenthal approaches a stranger on a park bench and asks if he can sit down next to them and record their conversation.

This is what happened!

Produced by Tom Rosenthal

Edited by Rose De Larrabeiti

Mixed by Mike Woolley

Theme tune by Tom Rosenthal & Lucy Railton

Incidental music by Maddie Ashman

End music: 'My Friend Robin' by Edward Cross

Stream it here: https://ffm.to/myfriendrobin

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Instagram: @strangersonabench

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hello, sorry to bother you.
0:05.0	Can I ask you a slightly odd question?
0:09.0	I'm making a podcast called Strangers on a bench
0:14.0	where essentially I talk to people I don't know on benches for 10 or 15 minutes.
0:19.0	Are you up for that? Do you want to give it a go? What is your favourite day of the week?
0:46.3	My favourite day is a Friday because being a Muslim think, people gather for prayer
0:54.2	and it's known to be like a special day, a day of celebration.
0:58.1	You know, you clean yourself, you get dressed, you meet others,
1:01.9	and it's this kind of spiritual aspect and the kind of community aspect to it.
1:05.4	And also there's a belief that this is when God or Allah
1:08.8	created the seven heavens and the earth.
1:11.4	So it's a day of like celebration.
1:13.8	It's also actually a honour in our faith to even pass, like pass away on the day of Friday.
1:18.9	It's like a good sign for a good ending.
1:21.2	Oh, okay.
1:22.7	So.
1:23.5	Do you think people are kind of aimed to die on that day sometimes?
1:26.8	You pray for it. You pray for it.
1:27.7	You pray for it.
1:28.3	You're not intentional.
1:30.5	I like the idea that it's like 11.45 PM on a Thursday.
1:35.7	Like, oh, come on.
	...

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