The Good Listening To Show: Stories of Distinction & Genius

Best of Bristol: "From A&E to the Sea!" Emergensea (Doctor) Duo Adam Baker and Charlie Fleury’s 'Polar Ice Swim Challenge' Fundraiser for Wonderful Causes in Palliative & Hospice Care

• Chris Grimes - Facilitator. Coach. Motivational Comedian

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Ever wondered what drives someone to row 3,000 miles across the Atlantic or swim an ice-kilometer in the Arctic and Antarctica? Meet Husband & Wife Dream Team Adam Baker and Charlie Fleury, the legendary 'Emergensea Duo', whose extraordinary feats in the name of charity are as daring as they are inspiring. This episode is a captivating exploration of their motivations, their meticulous preparations, and the life-altering experiences that have shaped their adventurous path. Adam and Charlie, both emergency doctors, share their journey of balancing demanding careers with a shared passion for extreme sports and philanthropy, and how these endeavors are deeply rooted in their commitment to ocean conservation and hospice care.

Join us as Adam and Charlie recount their remarkable partnership, which began at university, and evolved through shared adventures and a powerful connection to the sea. From a rare medical emergency in New Zealand to a near-death experience that reframed their view on life's fragility, they open up about the pivotal moments that have driven them to seize every opportunity and challenge conventional life paths. Their story is one of resilience, adaptability, and the pursuit of purpose, as they navigate life's unpredictable waters with both humor and heart.

In a heartfelt finale, Adam and Charlie reflect on their aspirations to make a lasting impact, whether through monumental challenges or simple acts of kindness. They reveal their philosophy of controlling their immediate environment, and share insights into their legacy goals, inspired by the notion of life as a stage. As they prepare for their next adventure to Antarctica, they invite listeners to support their charitable causes, demonstrating that their mission is not only about personal achievement but also about lifting others up. This episode promises to leave you motivated to embrace life's unpredictability and inspired to contribute meaningfully to the world around you.

Tune in next week for more stories of 'Distinction & Genius' from The Good Listening To Show 'Clearing'. If you would like to be my Guest too then you can find out HOW via the different 'series strands' at 'The Good Listening To Show' website.

Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW wherever you get your Podcasts :)

Thanks for listening!

Chris Grimes:

Welcome to another episode of the Good Listening To Show your life and times with me, chris Grimes, the storytelling show that features the Clearing, where all good questions come to get asked and all good stories come to be told, and where all my guests have two things in common they're all creative individuals and all with an interesting story to tell. There are some lovely storytelling metaphors a clearing, a tree, a juicy storytelling exercise called 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, some alchemy, some gold, a cheeky bit of Shakespeare and a cake. So it's all to play for. So, yes, welcome to the Good Listening To Show your life and times with me, chris Grimes, are you sitting comfortably? Then we shall begin. And there we have it.

Chris Grimes:

Welcome to a very, very exciting episode of the Good Listening To Show. This is another in the seven series strands, but this is the series strand called Best of Bristol, bristol Voices, which is setting out. But this is the series strand called best of bristol, bristol voices, which is setting out to help promote and amplify all the best of all the creative endeavors that are happening in my home city and community of bristol. But at the wonderful emergency duo you'll see what they're doing here in a moment. Adam baker and charlie flurry are here in the clearing, so so welcome both.

Adam Baker:

Thank you very much for having us.

Chris Grimes:

And if I may hopefully enjoy this play on words, you're coming in for an ice swim, for a nice swim. Well, an ice swim through the Good Listening 2 show clearing, you are about to do the most extraordinary thing You're going to do. Well, you're doing a polar swim and, if I'm right, you are mid-swim, shall we say. Is that correct?

Adam Baker:

Yeah, absolutely. So we're hoping to swim a nice kilometre in both the Arctic Circle and Antarctica, and we've just got back from competing our Arctic Circle swim and then we'll be swimming in Antarctica in about three weeks' time, which is really exciting.

Chris Grimes:

And it's very exciting, with all bells and whistles. I can even show you, everybody, a. Show me your qr code, please. At the end we're going to be raising money for your wonderful emergency duo. Now you're called emergency duo, I know, because you both happen to be emergency doctors, which is the the story behind that story. But let let you tell that. So just get on the open road of the story behind the story why you, husband and wife, adam baker, charlie flurry call yourselves emergency duo over to you so, yeah, we're both doctors uh here in devon and we were both um in the emergency department working and I'm still working within um emergency medicine.

Charlie Fleury:

Adam will come to tell you later that he's actually jumped ship to palliative care, but we created a husband and wife team to. Originally, our first challenge was to take on rowing 3,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean for charity.

Chris Grimes:

And that was the Jalisco Whiskey Challenge as part of that. That was rowing the Atlantic, wasn't it?

Charlie Fleury:

It was yes, that's right. Yeah, we were trying to be the first mixed pair to do that and also take on a second challenge, which was rowing around Great Britain in the same year.

Chris Grimes:

So a lot of rowing, a lot of blisters, esau bottoms and yes, you're the second pairing actually that have come into the Good listening to show to talk about the talisker whiskey challenge. I know that statistically there are a few fewer people doing the talisker whiskey challenge than have climbed everest. So it is an extraordinary human triumph to be one of the the very few that have done that extraordinary epic row across the atlantic. So you know, congratulations for having done that, and you hadn't done any rowing before you decided to take that on, had you?

Charlie Fleury:

No, that's right. Actually, at the time of the decision to take on this challenge, I was in a wheelchair, so I just had major pelvic surgery for hip dysplasia that I was unaware of. That was in a lot of pain, that was preventing me from kind of walking, driving and doing my day-to-day job, and it gave me kind of purpose to complete my rehab and also something else to focus on, because it can be so frustrating, um, you know, not being your healthy self how extraordinary.

Chris Grimes:

My pelvis is in pain. I know what I'll do I'll row. Row the Atlantic. That makes you a dynamic duo as well as an emergency duo, but I love the title. I discovered you through Bristol Life magazine. I saw your article and that encouraged me to get in touch with you because I thought it'd be an absolute pleasure to amplify all that you're up to. I'm going to just read a tiny bit of copy about you that you wrote about yourself For your next challenge. You're quite literally going to the ends of the earth to take on an extreme swimming challenge. You're swimming an official ice kilometer in the frigid waters of both the arctic circle and antarctica in nothing more than a standard swimming costume, aka speedos. The comedian me has to say budgie smugglers in Antle Place. And then I like this bit no wetsuits, no lard, no excuses Me, being too lardy would be my excuse anyway, but you mean lard, as in plastering yourself in lard to protect, is that right?

Adam Baker:

Yes, yeah. So I think it's one of those things that we get asked a lot when we tell people about the swim and I think traditional channel swimmers used to do that but to help people out the swim and I think traditional channel swimmers used to do that but yeah, for this challenge, literally nothing but that standard swimming costume allowed, and how has part one gone?

Chris Grimes:

were you at the antarctic um sort of leg of it, or were you doing the arctic circle one first?

Adam Baker:

so it was the arctic circle that came first, so we thought we'd go north to start and then we'll head south. Um, partly because, uh, the ar Arctic Circle is a little bit warmer, so the water was 3.3 degrees centigrade, and then in Antarctica we're probably expecting somewhere between zero and minus one. But yeah, it was a beautiful, beautiful place to have a swim, absolutely incredible to swim in front of this glacier there and incredibly remote.

Chris Grimes:

And how close to each other were you? I'm assuming you kept each other very close during it because you're doing it as a dynamic duo.

Adam Baker:

Yeah, so we ended up swimming one at a time just for safety, and so I think, for Charlie let Charlie tell how that was tricky psychologically because she had to watch me swim and get out and re-warm, looking pretty rupee, having been in the water for 55 minutes. So I think that was a really interesting thing for Charlie to have to watch and then go and compete herself.

Chris Grimes:

And then you have. I suppose you have a sort of who was more blue off at the end of it when you finished, because you put photographs on, I'm sure as well. You're both smiling beautifully as if it was good and you've succeeded. So how are you feeling about part two, please?

Charlie Fleury:

well, I think some of it's nervous, kind of smiling and laughter, because it honestly was so, so brutal, um, and there's just no escaping from that kind of extreme environment and and no matter how much training you do psychologically and physiologically, um, that water it's just going to take over.

Charlie Fleury:

And so we had trained for 18 months, trying to get as fast as possible, getting used to the cold water, mitigating any cold water shock response, and then also trying to get a little bit fat as well so that we did have some insulation and weren't cool as quickly. But yeah, there's no other word to describe it than absolutely brutal. And actually it's not just getting in, that's hard. It's then swimming with the loss of kind of your proprioception of your arms and the power in your arms, because you're getting all this cooling which is causing kind of a decrease in your arms, because you're getting all this cooling which is and causing kind of a decrease in your neuromuscular performance. And then, once you've managed to complete it and you're slightly kind of delirious, with either happiness or hypothermia, you then have to rewarn as well, which is incredibly painful and can last kind of hours. So we're absolutely ecstatic that we've managed to complete the first, but very nervous that the second one is even more remote and probably a lot colder as well.

Chris Grimes:

And I loved your expression from either happiness or hypothermia. That must be a very dividing line between both, actually.

Adam Baker:

It's a very yeah, it's a bit of a sharp knife edge between the two.

Chris Grimes:

And is there a medical team looking at you as consistently as they can? Are you being monitored and sort of apped up to sort of work out what's happening to you?

Adam Baker:

Yeah, it goes back to basics a little bit. So it's based on your stroke rate is continually monitored and how you're looking in the water. Yeah, and the team that we took to the Arctic Circle knew us well and what we looked like when we were in a good place and in a bad place. Yeah, there was a medic there that we trusted and there was an official from the international ice swimming association, so we felt, yeah, very safe and in good hands with the team we had and, as you said at the beginning, charlie adam has jumped ship, as you said, to um hospice care.

Chris Grimes:

I know that's one of your charities that you are raising funds for. I think that's the Western Hospice, is that right?

Adam Baker:

Yeah, so I work for Western Hospice Care who support people at the end of their lives, both in Somerset and North Somerset. It costs in the region of kind of £5 million a year to run, only 18% of which is government funded. So there's lots of projects that are going on that the money will go towards. And then our second charity is the ocean conservation trust, who look to connect people with the ocean in order to protect it.

Chris Grimes:

So we're, yes, really proud of those two charities it's such a commendable side hustle that you're both doing, because I know being full time doctors is of itself incredibly pressurizing and of course then you decompress by getting very cold. So I commend you both. It's my absolute delight and privilege to be able to curate you through the journey of the good listening to show and the story scape that I've got for you. It's going to be a clearing a tree, a lovely juicy storytelling exercise called five, four, three, two, one. There's going to be some alchemy, some gold, a couple of random squirrels, a cheeky bit of Shakespeare, a golden baton and a cake. So it's absolutely all to play for. So shall we get you on the open road of curating you through this structure? That sounds great.

Chris Grimes:

Sounds good, and I'm very intrigued to know how, as a duo, you're going to answer this question. Where is what is a clearing for you both then? Where do you both go, or where do you individually go to get clutter-free, inspirational and able to think? Where is your serious happy?

Adam Baker:

place, so we share a clearing and for us it's anywhere by the sea. So I think, in particular for us around the Rain Peninsula in Cornwall, it's an area of coastline where we got married and holds a lot of importance to us. But I think being by the water and the open ocean is really important to us.

Chris Grimes:

And did you meet through sport or has your sporting acumen developed in your relationship?

Adam Baker:

So we actually met in the first week of university and I was late to a tutorial because I couldn't find the room. So I walked in, clocked Charlie at the back of the room and thought oh she looks great. Later Charlie tells me that she just thought I was an idiot because I was late.

Chris Grimes:

And of course, we're all asking the question were you late to your own wedding as well, please, Don't really know I was on time for that. Yes, you have to be at the front, don't you Ready to go? As Charlie came forward, that's lovely. So she thought you were an idiot. But you thought, oh late. But ding dong was what happened to you Absolutely.

Chris Grimes:

You called it the rain peninsula, didn't you? Yes? So now I'm going to arrive with a tree in your clearing to shake your tree to see which storytelling apples fall out. I've got a couple of comedy props. How'd you like these apples? So now this is your interpretation of a lovely construct called 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. You've had five minutes to have thought about four things that have shaped you, three things that inspire you, and then two things that never fail to grab your attention. And borrow from the film Up. That's where the oh squirrels are going to come in. You know what are going to come in, so what never fails to distract you? Whatever else is going on for you in your hectic lives of both being in in, obviously, medical emergency stuff and hospice care, but also anything else that distracts you. And then the one is a quirky or unusual fact about you both. It's not a memory test, so over to you. I'll curate you through it, but shake the canopy of your tree as you see fit.

Charlie Fleury:

So over to you so, yeah, let's put a lot of thought into this and I think, um, the first thing that probably, I would say, has shaped me is, um, actually using up one of my nine lives and and it's a little bit ironic being in emergency medicine and seeing how, uh, precious life is and knowing that there is that, um, that mortality, and being very aware of it. But until something actually happens to you, I think you kind of just put that thought aside and think you're never going to be that person that becomes aware of how fragile and precious life is. And we had got engaged, moved out to New Zealand and we're both working out there as emergency medicine doctors, pretty much ticking all the boxes and living our best lives. And unexpectedly, whilst we were on annual leave, I ended up having really bad right-sided abdominal pain, so much so that I was vomiting, I could barely walk, and I thought, oh, I've probably got appendicitis, went into hospital and all I remember was the unbearable pain and fear and ended up, um, unbeknownst to me, having a, uh, sequel volvulus, which is just a, um, your bowel kind of twisting on itself. Yeah, which is very, very uncommon in my age group, because I was in my 20s at the time, usually see it to very elderly people or very young people. So it wasn't a diagnosis that anyone was expecting.

Charlie Fleury:

But woke up the following morning with a scar above my belly button, all the way down me, where they'd had to open me up and do seven hours of emergency surgery, and and woke up on my own in a room thinking, oh my gosh, what have they taken from me? What's happened? And and just feeling so, so infallible. And I think, having that moment where you become, I know, I don't know kind of in control, and trying to be people's advocates and be, you know, be the person to help them and care for them, and being on the flip side and being the patient and realising that you, you know, were so lucky that you were close to hospital, because 12 hours later we were due to fly to Queenstown, when there isn't a hospital around, you know, 200 kilometres away from a hospital.

Charlie Fleury:

So had this happened there, um, it could have been a different story, um, and I think, just, yeah, being um in that vulnerable position, realizing that life is so short, and that actually I want I don't want to just cruise by, not that it had been a cruise like I have worked really, really hard to get where I am, but, um, to take every single moment that I can and kind of push myself, push boundaries, explore, be adventurous, do you don't just kind of stay on that treadmill of everyday life, just turning up to work and? Um, yeah, I think that that was one of the things that probably shaped me and you've already used up one of your nine lives as a cad.

Chris Grimes:

That's extraordinary because that was obviously life-threatening, and if a different geography it could have, I mean, it really was life-threatening by the sound of it, with hours to spare.

Charlie Fleury:

I think that's partly what then went on to draw me to this challenge of the Talisker Whiskey Atlantic Challenge and wanting to row across the Atlantic, being so remote, pushing your boundaries physically and mentally, not having anyone else to rely on. See how far you know, see how much you can achieve on your own, against nature. And there was a moment on the Atlantic where everything went pitch black. You're away from land, you have no light pollution, all the navigation lights pollution, all the navigation lights from all the other boats have disappeared. You're all spread apart. There's nothing else around you. And this most incredible display of the big dipper appeared in the sky and it actually looked like a question mark which aligned perfectly with our compass on our boat. And in that moment I just had the time to think and to question everything. To question what am I doing? What's my purpose? You know, what am I destined for? How should I live my life? And, yeah, it was one of those moments that's kind of stuck with me pretty much, yeah, and will do for the rest of my life.

Chris Grimes:

That's such extraordinary storytelling that the heavenly question mark aligning the Big Dipper on your compass point what's my purpose? I think that was beautiful. Wow, what a great first shape piece that is. Did you want to add anything at this moment? Adam as well.

Adam Baker:

Yes, I think we kind of split it. So those are two things that have shaped Charlie, and the two that I really thought about initially for me was I think the big thing was coming off the treadmill. So we talked a little bit before about what's called the rum line, especially when we were looking at our ocean rowing. So the rum line in navigation is the intention of your journey. So it's kind of a straight line from your starting point to your end point. And from a really young age I had a really solid rum line of what I wanted to achieve.

Adam Baker:

So from very early on I wanted to be an emergency medicine doctor. I knew what universities I wanted to go to. I knew what jobs I wanted after that to achieve the career that I wanted and I didn't really deviate from that and it. And then what we found on the kind of the row is that it's great having that wrong line but it's really inefficient if you're trying to autocorrect the entire time to remain on that. And there was a lot of value in both the row and in life and retrospect of letting yourself to meander a little bit away from that line and seeing what happens. And I didn't go into the traditional training route for emergency medicine that I'd always intended to, and I took up a job, uh, that funded me to do a master's in extreme medicine, which is something I've never considered really before and I think it was from that we met some amazing people doing incredible things, um, and including someone that had done the Talisker Whiskey Lancer Challenge that Charlie then decided that's what we should do together.

Chris Grimes:

I like that. She decided what we're going to do together.

Adam Baker:

It is hard to convey just how ridiculous the suggestion it was at the time, in that Charlie was in a wheelchair and one of the world's most seasick people, in that we once went on a date on an estuary in Exeter in a cafe. It was a completely calm day and I could barely eat because I felt so sick. This notion that we as a couple were going to row the Atlantic was just completely absurd. I'd done a half marathon at that point. I think I was training for a half Ironman. So this kind of endurance, world extreme kind of challenges it wasn't us, but just that path of coming off that treadmill, off that rum line, is kind of what led us there, um, and so I kind of I'm quite, um, passionate about advocating that for other people and it's a gravitational pull away from the rum, the rum line which has so defined your purpose.

Chris Grimes:

Hence, whatever, since, yeah, I've been trying to always anchor back to, I love the fact that you're open and adaptive and flexible, which is another great life allegory about adapt, change, evolve or die.

Adam Baker:

Really yeah, because I think it can feel really tempting. It almost feels counterproductive and allowing yourself that little bit of flexibility and coming off those goals, yes, and I definitely advocate the goal setting. Yeah, I think, just not being so hard-lined, that everything must be working towards that, you'll end up missing opportunities along the way. It feels like you're doing it in the most efficient way possible, but actually I think you miss out it reminds me of the idea or the notion of when you are setting a goal.

Chris Grimes:

You should set a horizon rather than a fixed point, because life will change, as you've both been attesting, if you you know because because chaos happens. That's the nature of life.

Adam Baker:

Yes, yeah the other thing that really shaped me was um burnout, and I think it's quite prevalent in health care and in a lot of other settings as well, and it's something that I'd heard a lot about growing up, but I never thought it would be me. I always thought it was this thing that happened to other people. But I found myself in quite a tricky situation a couple of years ago in that from that young age I'd always wanted to be that emergency medicine doctor and I'd worked incredibly hard to get there. And I found myself a few years back on paper, having my dream job and everything that I thought I wanted, but actually being the most unhappy I've ever been. And it was this horrible moment of realization of is this? It Is this what I work towards? Why am I not happy? This is everything and just a really horrible place to find yourself.

Adam Baker:

And the road came at an amazing time and it allowed me that space to really look at what it was that I liked about my career and what I didn't. And it was on the Atlantic that I decided to leave emergency medicine and go and work in palliative care. But some other actions I think are really interesting when you tell people that you're unhappy and that even people that are really close to me I really value their opinion would say things like well, isn't that a bit of a waste if you change? And I do get that and it almost felt a little bit like that in my own head, but it's along the lines of that sunk cost fallacy and that, yeah, I could absolutely have stayed in that career but I was miserable.

Adam Baker:

And also I think medics are really guilty of putting a lot of their self-worth in their career and their title, and I certainly had identified myself for so long as an emergency medicine doctor that it was really scary thinking about what that meant if I left that all behind and moving into then the palliative care side of things.

Adam Baker:

We tend to think about the start of our lives and we obviously celebrate our birthdays every year, and then some of us are quite open about thinking about the end of our lives not everyone, but not that many people think about the dash in the middle, and for me there's a really lovely poem about the dash which is about looking at how we spend our lives and I'd realized on the atlantic that I just I needed to change because I was so miserable, and so I think that period of burnout was really formative in leading on to things like the other rows that we did and the swims that we're currently doing two things there that's so relatable the the dash poem was actually at my own father's funeral less than two months ago.

Chris Grimes:

My mother found it and was just really moved by it. And also when you write your book, which I sincerely hope, you will have a chapter called the sunk cost fallacy. I think that's beautiful. I'm really enjoying this. Thank you so much. We're still in the canopy of the tree. We might be at the point of three things that inspire you. Now how would you like to interpret that?

Adam Baker:

So I think the first thing for me is, I've always been inspired by acts of kindness and selflessness, and it's really difficult in today's world to not always focus on the negative. Our brains have biased the negativity, and, throughout the challenges that we've done, we've met some extraordinary people who have been so unbelievably kind to us. So, when we were running around Great Britain, we had people coming out in waders up to their neck, bringing us cold beers and fresh fruit on ice, because they knew we were stuck in an anchor, unfortunately. What was awful was, though, we couldn't accept it, because we were doing an unsupported row and aiming for a world record.

Chris Grimes:

I didn't want to break behind you banking it all.

Adam Baker:

And then, when we rode past Scotland, a doctor that we didn't know came out onto the rocks to play his bagpipes as we went past, which was just incredibly moving. We had loads of random people sponsoring us from around the world. We had loads of corporate sponsors who were incredibly generous with both their time and advice in getting us to the start line for the swims. The team that we work with gave their time to come and support us so that we could do it safely. And, yeah, it always humbles me just hearing about acts of kindness and that always, always inspires me that there are some incredibly good people out there doing some amazing things and I had no idea you could get up to your neck waders.

Chris Grimes:

I love the idea of that. That's your clothing line alongside your book. I love that wonderful. That's a great inspirational too.

Charlie Fleury:

Next, uh, for me, for this question, I think it is those moments of awe, um, and I thought kind of a lot about what awe is, and it's that feeling of something vast that you, that's outside your frame of reference of reality, and it's like that mystery, that unknown, unexplained thing, and it can be either things like absolute kindness, like moral beauty, or it can be found in nature or music. And for us, a lot of our moments of awe, on the roads and things, were the incredible encounters we had with, uh, wildlife, the sunrises, the sunsets, and all of that is entirely free and it gives you that moment of just pure magic and joy, and I think we, you don't need to row an ocean to find it, you know, you can just get outside amongst nature and it will just, it just seems to like reset you and in that moment all your worries just disappear. You stop sweating, the little things, um, and you realize you're something, a small part of something so much bigger than yourself, and and so, yeah, those little moments, little moments, are what inspire me.

Chris Grimes:

Lovely answer. Thank you very much Anything else you'd like to say about inspiring.

Adam Baker:

That seems complete to me, but just in case you're gagging to say the next thing, I think it was our only last thought on it was that it's often people that are being their authentic selves is what really inspires us, and we live in this almost hyper curated world of people showing their best selves online, so it can be really hard to pick apart. So actually, I don't even we couldn't even find any specific examples, because often it's the people that are doing stuff without shouting about it that is what we're really talking about, but just people that love what they do and do it for the right reasons, I think is so inspiring to us, and you come across them every once in a while.

Chris Grimes:

Um the unsung heroes, you're absolutely I have an example. But my last guest, a wonderful adventurer called darren edwards, who's paralyzed from the chest down and, uh, his unsung hero was his therapist, who gave him the best piece of advice he's ever been given whilst he was trying to recover. Yeah, yeah that's an example, but anyway, thank you for those delicious answers and now we're on to the squirrels.

Chris Grimes:

The two things never failed to grab. It's borrowed from the film up. By the way, I love I don't. You've seen the film up with that sort of completely heart-wrenching, uh beginning montage. But when the dog goes, oh, squirrel, squirrels. So what are your squirrels? Or monsters of distraction? And because there's two of you, you can have a squirrel each. How about?

Charlie Fleury:

that I think for me this was laughter, and that's probably because my day-to-day job is seeing people on what's probably the worst day of their entire life, in painful moments both physically and mentally, with a lot of stress, noise, shouting, crying, and so when you actually hear laughter and that kind of full belly, contagious kind of laughter, you can't help but smile yourself, and so that, yeah, that never fails to grab my attention because it's just so raw, isn't it?

Chris Grimes:

yes, you reminded me of a quote that I found during the pandemic, reading a very dark book on the cartel, but a beautiful quote within it was we have to laugh because laughter, as we already know, is the first evidence of freedom. Just start sharing with you. You nunched that in me, so so that's a lovely squirrel, thank you. So much. Sort of laughter in adversity, lovely.

Adam Baker:

I think my one is that it's sunrises and sunsets, so they never fail to stop me in my tracks and I think my one of my favorite things about both the row across atlantic and around great britain was that for the 122 days we were at sea, we saw consecutive sunrises and sunsets and I'll never forget them and it was just incredibly powerful. They're basic, they're free, it's quite a primitive thing, but there's something about watching the sunrise and sunset, especially with a loved one. That is just something that I'll always try and stop to do and try and find time for.

Chris Grimes:

Lovely. And now a quirky or unusual fact about you both that we couldn't possibly know until you tell us.

Adam Baker:

So our one's a little bit weird, but essentially, charlie and I aren't scared of dying, but we're both quite afraid of not really living, and I think that's possibly from our careers and is a difficult one because we want to make sure that we are pushing ourselves and setting big goals and achieving things, but we want to make sure that we're doing it for the right reasons. So I want to make sure that we're doing it, that right reasons. So I want to make sure that we're doing it, that we're pushing for these things and not being pulled into them and trying to balance that fear. It can be a little bit tricky sometimes and just yeah, taking stock and making sure that we're doing these things for the right reasons.

Chris Grimes:

Lovely answer again. Perfect, actually. Okay, we have shaken your tree, hurrah, next we stay in the clearing, move away from the tree, and next we talk about alchemy and gold. So, when you're both at purpose and in flow, what are you absolutely happiest doing and what you're here to reveal to the world?

Adam Baker:

So I think we have a problem with life not being fair, and I think we've both found flow and purpose and see a little bit as our role of trying to nudge the scales back in favour of the person and we're in quite a privileged position to do that both in emergency medicine and palliative care and that we derive a huge amount of purpose from trying to nudge those scales back.

Chris Grimes:

Wow, again, phenomenally good answer, and now I'm going to award you with a cake. So, um, I know you have to nutritionally prepare for your sort of. We have hopped into the various oceans of no temperature, uh, but do you like cake? The both of you, absolutely yes. So are we agreed because you're a very conjoined married couple? Do you want the same cake, or are we going for different flavors here?

Adam Baker:

I think we're probably gonna give a difference so what are we? Going for coffee and walnut, because I definitely need caffeine and it's delicious love that good answer adam, I do like a coffee walnut, but I'm gonna go for battenberg go you the half the harley quinn of cakes.

Chris Grimes:

Okay, now, charlie, over to you, because now we're gonna put a cherry on the cake with stuff like what's a favorite inspirational quote that's always given you sucker and pulled you towards your future.

Charlie Fleury:

Over to you we had, um, a quote that was on the inside of our boat as we rode across the atlantic and that was the devil whispered in my ear you are not strong enough to stand the storm. Uh, today, I whispered in the devil's ear, I am the storm. That means a lot to me because, um, there are, there have been, there has been a lot of negativity in in life and those kind of criticisms from people and that that inner critic as well, and I think you have to let go of all those criticisms that reflect values of somebody else that aren't necessarily, yeah, your values, and just go for what you want and, yeah, go with gumption and with power.

Chris Grimes:

And a deliberate act of reincorporation. Now we know that context. Can you say the quote again?

Charlie Fleury:

Yeah Say. The devil whispered in my ear. You were not strong enough to stand the storm Today. I whispered in the devil's ear. I am the storm.

Chris Grimes:

Boom, lovely. And did you have a quote as well, adam?

Adam Baker:

I do. Mine's a little longer. Mine's a quote by hunter thompson that I fell in love with um just before the rose really and I think encapsulates a lot of what we've been talking about. So it's life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a well-preserved body, but rather skidding in broadside, totally eased up and thoroughly worn out, and loudly proclaiming wow, what a rise thank you.

Chris Grimes:

Sorry that read again because that happened at my dad's funeral. Yes, thank you, um. Thanks sincerely, um, I've now recovered.

Adam Baker:

That's good, and so, with the spirit of reincorporation, just say it again because it's so rich Of course, Since life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a well-preserved body, but rather skidding in broadside, totally eased up and thoroughly worn out, and loudly proclaiming wow, what a rise.

Chris Grimes:

Excellent. And now what notes, help or advice? With the beautiful gift of hindsight, might you to a younger version of Emergency Duo, or you as individuals, obviously, For me.

Adam Baker:

I saw a flag recently that had it wasn't a quote, but I guess a phrase that just had give a damn on it and it really hit me and I think, in a world that does feel a little superficial and showy, I think just that notion of just, yeah, actually caring and be willing to go that extra mile for things and putting the efforts in, I think is what I'd convey to my younger self.

Chris Grimes:

It's such a beautiful antidote to the famous quote as we know it. Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn. But actually that give a damn, also through line, that I'd just like to share with you. That I think is really clear in what you're both doing, if I may say, your compass is pointing so true north. Everything you're saying is oscillating around a sense of direction. That's truly a compass pointing true north. It's a sense of direction.

Adam Baker:

That's truly a compass pointing true north. It's wonderful to listen to you, okay. So, um, we might have covered this. What's the best piece of advice you've ever been given?

Adam Baker:

Mine comes from a slightly unusual place, so we were in the jungle on doing a part of our masters in extreme medicine and the local guide, who didn't speak a word of English, kind of gave us some advice and it was control the two square meters around you, and it was in reference to surviving in the jungle. But actually it hit me in that I think it's a rule that I've applied in almost every context now. So from our OSHA rows that was around controlling the variables that we're able to and having good kit admin so that nothing went overboard, we didn't lose kits, um, keeping on top of the navigation to the swims, where it became more of a mental battle in that I couldn't control the elements around me, but what was in that kind of two meter radius was my mind and just in general life, having control of that immediate vicinity around you, I think is incredibly powerful to give you a sense of autonomy and structure how you approach any given situation.

Chris Grimes:

Again, fantastically eloquent answer. Thank you so much. Now we're ramping up to Shakespeare in a moment to talk about legacy and how you'd like to be remembered, but just before we get there, this is the Pass the Golden Bat moment, please. This is an invitation and, by the way, the first time I ever thought of Pass the Golden Bat and I had Roger Black in my clearing and he'd only ever won silver in the Olympics. Not able to, how he laughed Really, but it was a bit like pass the golden baton. So my invitation is now you've experienced this from within who would you most like to pass the golden baton along to, in order to keep the golden thread of the storytelling going?

Charlie Fleury:

We've decided to pass the baton to a chap called Duncan Roy, and he was actually our ocean rowing coach for crossing the Atlantic and then became a very, very close friend and he's one of those people you know, an unsung hero, so he'll always be there. He was sending us via sat phone the occasional joke or occasional kind of puzzles that we kept mentally stimulating through those 2.5 million, all strokes, and he's just the most genuine and authentic and kind, caring, lovely person who's also done some insanely crazy things. He's obviously he's an ocean runner, so he's done the pacific, the atlantic, um, and now trains up ocean runners, um, and, yeah, advocates for the sport as well thank you so much, and your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to furnish me with a warm introduction to duncan roy of your uncle, fanny gerard.

Chris Grimes:

Lovely thank you for that. Okay, so now shakespeare, inspired by all the world to stage and all the bittered with it, merely players. This is the moment where we borrow the jquery speech from as, as you like it, to talk about uh, how would, when all is said and done, uh, adam and Charlie from Emergency Duo, how would you most like to be remembered?

Adam Baker:

So I think for me it would be a bit like that poem the Dash, someone who gave a damn, who gave it everything and really, really lived that dash with a sense of purpose and intentionality, um, and did some wild things along the way.

Chris Grimes:

I think that is how I would like to remember this I'm sure that legacy is virtually in the bag already, but it's for many more rows. I was also. I just wanted to mention as well. Was it two and a half million oar strokes, did you say, to get across the Atlantic?

Adam Baker:

I think that was our total of both rows, so I think it's 1.5 million for the Atlantic roughly and around a million for around Great Britain. Gordon Bennett wonderful.

Chris Grimes:

And how about you, charlie? How would you most like to be remembered?

Charlie Fleury:

Adam and I are quite similar people, so probably similarly and and I think in, yes, in life, I, I was. It's a bit sinister, but I do wonder, like what my funeral will look like and things like that. And um, actually I, I really don't care how many people are there, as long as I've managed to have, you know, some really really strong connections with, um, some great friends, that's, that's all that matters. I don't, I just hope that in, I guess, in my work life, that I've just do you make that tiny little bit of difference to people.

Adam Baker:

I think that's it nothing grand or anything like that, but just that I've put a smile on people's face or I've made their lives a little bit better lovely if you could just tell us where we can find out all about you and your forthcoming swim, of course, and everything else that you're up to on as emergency duo yeah, so the best place is probably our website, which is emergencyduocom, and on there there's links to donate, there's more information about swims, there's links to a charity auction that we're currently running with some amazing prizes, and then our socials are at emergency underscore duo, where we'll post frequent videos, both from the swim that we've just done there's lots of stuff from all our rows on there um, and we're yeah, we're about three weeks away from heading off to Antarctica, so we're putting lots of updates about the training and the final prep for that as this has been your moment in the sunshine, in the good, listening to show stories of distinction and genius.

Chris Grimes:

Is there anything else you'd like to say? Adam and Charlie.

Adam Baker:

I think we're just incredibly grateful for all support we've had to date. We really do love the two charities we've chosen and we're a little bit behind where we wanted to be on our fundraising. So I think we're currently at 36%. So we're hoping to raise £20,000 for the charities. So if anyone did want to donate it would make the world of difference to both those charities. But we're incredibly grateful for everyone that's listened um, and people are more than welcome to reach out to us if they had any questions and I know I can tell you have a future, both of you in keynote speaking, because everything you've said has been so motivational.

Chris Grimes:

Have you been doing that anyway, or is that not something you've plumbed yet?

Adam Baker:

We've started doing a little bit in an effort to raise some of the money for the charities. But yeah, it's something we have started to enjoy.

Charlie Fleury:

Yeah, most of the talks we've done so far are to medics who probably think we're absolutely crazy.

Chris Grimes:

I'm sure they don't. I'm sure there's a little frisson of just well, awe and envy going on in the audience, but it's very inspirational. I was hearing all the chapter markings for all your various chapters. So, yes, if you're watching and you know you represent keynote speaking agencies, I would recommend Emergency Duo. They've been absolutely phenomenal how you've interpreted the questions. So, thank you so much. You've been listening to me, Chris Grimes More importantly, this has been adam baker and charlie flurry from emergency duo and just tell us the date of when you're gonna have your next swim, please when are you plopping in?

Charlie Fleury:

we set off on the 8th of november. I've got to get across strokes passage, so probably the swim date will be around the 12th of November.

Chris Grimes:

The very best. Well, I hope it goes fantastically well, thank you. Thank you Lovely. And because you work in the hospice movement as well, there is an outro coming up which reflects a series strand which is called Legacy Life Reflections, where my main cut and thrust is using the structure of this to record the story of somebody for posterity before it's too late, and just to share with you the story. I was mentioning my father's funeral.

Chris Grimes:

If I may dedicate this episode to the memory of my father, colin Grimes, I did use him in a good way as my first ever guinea pig three years ago, just before he dipped into a crater of, I suppose, declining health. I got him in the halcyon days of his 80s and he was about 83 at the time. He died when he was 87, just coming up to a couple of months ago. But I recorded, I got him as my first guinea pig recording a Legacy Life Reflections episode with my father, colin Grimes. So I'm going to play the outro which describes this not my dad, but describes it. But thank you for the resonance you gave me during our discussion about you know what actually happened at my dad's funeral, so that was incredibly poignant for me too.

Chris Grimes:

You've been listening to the good listening to show with me, chris grimes. If you'd like to be in the show too, or indeed gift an episode to capture the story of someone else with me as your host, then you can find out how care of the series strands at the good listening toshowcom. Using the unique structure of the show, I'll be your host as together we take a trip down memory lane to record the 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 of either your or their life story, and then you can decide whether you go public or private with your episode. Get in touch if you'd like to find out more. Tune in next week for more stories from the Clearing, and don't forget to subscribe and review wherever you get your podcasts. If I could just get your immediate feedback just whilst we're here, if you don't mind, what was that like for you being curated through this structure?

Adam Baker:

Yeah, I really like this structure and the only issue we had and I don't know if you had it, your end it's we're lagging on our screen by about 30 seconds.

Chris Grimes:

Oh gosh, hopefully that didn't come on on yours that didn't come across at all from what I think I've experienced at this end.

Adam Baker:

So I'm you've done phenomenally well, so interestingly you weren't lagging on, because we've obviously got the split screen of yourself and us. You weren't lagging at all, but we're 30 seconds behind so no, I'm sure what you were seeing I, I thought we were rowing in tandem.

Chris Grimes:

It was all fantastic, it was all really good. Anyway, thank you so much and best of luck for the next Polar Plop.

Adam Baker:

Thank you so much for having us.