The Good Listening To Show: Stories of Distinction & Genius

Legacy Life Reflections: 'Onwards and Upwards' with Linda Jacomb! Light Dancing on the Water and a Life Proudly Lived with Resilience, Pragmatism, Optimism & Courage

• Chris Grimes - Facilitator. Coach. Motivational Comedian

Share episode

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 49:29

Send us Fan Mail

A Dorset walk to a walled garden. Light dancing on water. A motto whispered at crossroads: onwards and upwards. Linda Jacob invites us into a life built on fairness, quiet courage, and the everyday craft of choosing our response when events feel out of hand. We talk about here roots in Buckinghamshire, a grandmother named Florence who taught kindness without gossip, and the determined climb from leaving school early to earning skills through night classes and long bus rides. One formative moment—watching a senior leader belittle a colleague—sparked a promise to lead with dignity, a pledge she kept across decades in social work, supported housing, pubs, and company directorships.

The centre of gravity is service. Linda shares intimate, hard-won stories from homelessness support, including a young father who, after months of learning and resolve, won custody and a new home for his child. These are victories measured in confidence regained, routines restored, and doors opened. Her inspiration comes from ordinary people facing extraordinary pressure and from the disciplined habit of finding a usable positive in the negative. We explore how she practises emotional agency—separating content from reaction—and why “Just for today” remains a practical anchor for focus and wellbeing.

There’s tenderness, too: Halcyon days in the long spring of 1975 when her first child Brennan was born; music that holds memory—Simon and Garfunkel’s Bookends, the ache of Going Home; and a signature coffee cake taught by Nanny Taylor that became a small community legend. We linger at twilight, that moment when day blends into night, and consider legacy without fanfare: protect dignity, pass on what works, laugh when you can, make one good thing well and share it. Linda also speaks candidly about facing serious illness and her plan to turn hardship into guidance for fellow social workers, transforming pain into a map others can use.

Come for the stories; stay for the tools. If you value humane leadership, homelessness advocacy, emotional resilience, and the restorative pull of nature, you’ll find a generous guide here. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs steadiness today, and leave a review with your own motto for moving forwards—what keeps you going onwards and upwards?

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! 

Setting The Scene & Warm Welcome

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 54321, 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. Well, hello! Good morning, good morning, good morning. And just to put a flag in the sand of a timeline of life, here we are on the 6th of November 2025. And it's my absolute privilege and pleasure to be curating you, uh Linda Jacob. I've just checked your spelling like Jacob's crackers. And you've just what was the type of march you said your house was like to walk through? It was like a walk-up march. Yes, because Linda has just gone off to get herself a glass of water and she's done a root march to and from to be able to get her glass of water. So welcome to the show. This is a special Legacy Life Reflections recorded episode of the Good Listening to show Stories of Distinction and Genius, where we're going to celebrate everything to do with being Linda Jacob. Hurrah! So how's morale, Linda? What's your story of the day, please?

Linda Jacomb

My story of the day.

Chris Grimes

Yes.

Linda Jacomb

Um, well, being here and being in a positive frame of mind, I think is the important story of the day.

Chris Grimes

Lovely. And I read something recently about we all need to be where our feet are, as in as we go through the day-to-day today, and it helps us be monumentally present by always being where our feet are. And may I say what a great privilege it is for my feet to be parked under this table here. I'm speaking to you from Bristol. So geographically, where are you, Linda, speaking from today?

Linda Jacomb

Oh, I'm in a sleepy village in East Coker in Somerset.

Chris Grimes

Get in. So we're not too far away as the crow flies, actually.

Linda Jacomb

The best is that it's a farming community here. We're very rural.

Chris Grimes

Marvellous. And in terms of just the basics, um, you mentioned that you're gonna well, you're 73 today, and within a few days you're gonna be 74.

Linda Jacomb

Yes.

Roots, Family, And Early Life

Chris Grimes

And I did say there was a Ronald Reagan joke way back when where it was actually spitting image, where they said, How old am I, Ed? And he said, Well, I'm uh you you you're 82, Mr. President. 82 today, and 83 tomorrow. I'll be in my 90s by the end of the week, was the joke. So that was just his struggling with timelines, obviously. And talking of timelines, this is what we're gonna do. We're gonna actually go almost back to the beginning, and then we're gonna traverse you through a unique storyscape which will involve a clearing, a tree, a lovely juicy storytelling exercise called 54321. There's gonna be some alchemy, some gold, a couple of random squirrels, a cheeky bit of Shakespeare, and a cake. But just before we do that, um, where were you born originally, uh, all those 73, shortly to be 74 years ago?

Linda Jacomb

Well, uh I came from High Wickham in Buckinghamshire, which is uh a very leafy, nice area. And um actually as a baby, I was brought home to um a house in Micklefield Road, and it was called Micklefield Road because the surrounds were covered in mickle mistakes, which was lovely. So when I was young, it was at quite a rural location. Now it's terribly built up, so it's very, very different now. But um, yes, there were fields and fields of mickle mastasis, that was lovely.

Chris Grimes

So you're liking the rural vibe here because you've just described where you're living is now rural as well. So have you always had a ponchamp for the countryside?

Linda Jacomb

Yes, but I love water, I really love being near the water as well. I'm very fond of that.

Chris Grimes

And and how far do you have to um do another sort of march before you can plop it into some water?

Linda Jacomb

Well, just on the edge of Somerset and um, you know, um on the border to Dorset. So over in Dorset, um, there's a place I go to quite regularly that um I really love being, and that's pool in Dorset.

Chris Grimes

Wonderful. And what did your parents do as well, just while we're going back to the beginning?

Linda Jacomb

My mother for a period was a stay-at-home mum, but um, she did various jobs over the years and you know, waitressing and all kinds of things, and my father was an engineer, but um he also wanted to live abroad and um captain a ship, which he did, and that's how he lived his life, going from you know, taking one ship from one port to another. And was that a cargo ship or was that a passenger ship that he was um well, yes, he did both actually, but he worked out a Spanish suitor a lot and um all around the Mediterranean ports, which he loved.

Chris Grimes

And did you ever get to travel, you know, that sort of bring your child to work day imperative that exists now? Did you ever get to travel abroad with your dad?

Linda Jacomb

No, I didn't actually, but I did actually go to meet him at London docks once when I was a very young woman, when he was bringing a very big ship in, and I was amazed at the size of it, and it had um a dance floor and all kinds of things. I was absolutely amazed.

Chris Grimes

Wow, what an extraordinary trip. And and and siblings, and do you have brothers and sisters as well?

Linda Jacomb

No, well, I had no brothers and sisters growing up, but then when I was first married, well, I married quite young, when I was first married, my father married again and um had twins. So actually, I do have twin sisters, but there's 18 years between us.

Chris Grimes

Wonderful. And uh how's the relationship with them? Is it very precious because they came later and all that chablan?

Linda Jacomb

Yes, well, well, basically, I mean, we were in touch now quite a bit, but um uh growing up years, um, I mean, you know, they started off life in France, so you know, I didn't actually see a lot of them when they were tiny.

Chris Grimes

So they're bilingual twins by the sound of it, because obviously French is their first language, no doubt.

Linda Jacomb

No, I don't think they are. Well, they may be. I mean, my one of my sisters has lived all over the world, um, worked for the Red Cross, and um, you know, she um she's an air operations manager actually, so she's been all over the place. But she may speak French. I don't know that she does because they came over when they were quite young toddlers, really.

What Linda Does And Why It Matters

Chris Grimes

So there's a sort of travel DNA in your family. I'll ask you explicitly what you've mostly done shortly, but um, there was you've just mentioned planes and boats in both parts of that family trajectory. If somebody doesn't have a frame of reference, and we've I've had the great joy of meeting you in the last two weeks while we've been leading up to today. If somebody doesn't have a frame of reference for you and says, Linda Jacob, what do you do then? You know, what's been your your main job that you've enjoyed doing in your life?

Linda Jacomb

Well, well, I I've had very varied jobs in my life, actually, but I am root and core, I suppose, a social worker. That's what I am, basically. But I've been a company director, I've managed all kinds of property over the years, um, I've managed pubs and bars. So I had done quite a lot of very varied work, but I suppose if you said, you know, what was my happiest times um working, um, I would probably say, all the many years I spent working with the homeless, um, managing property and supported living. And you know, that that was a very rewarding time.

Chris Grimes

Yes. And you mentioned having run a club and being a social worker and a pub. I think they're sort of connected because you sort of need to be a social worker, you know, get out of our pub and all that schablang, as as we know from from Barbara Windsor any standards.

Linda Jacomb

Well, I usually had a manager there to be truthful, but um no, I mean, actually, it there's there's a lot that um, you know, people like to um actually tell you things, shall we say?

Chris Grimes

Yes. And um I mentioned Barbara Windsor. I've just uh noticed that as a compliment to you, you bear a passing resemblance to Barbara Windsor.

Linda Jacomb

Oh, I take I will take that as a compliment.

Chris Grimes

It was meant as a compliment, it really was. So um, in the following structure, uh Linda, before we get going, and I'll ask you if there are any questions before we start, the invitation to you, the invocation is to go as deep as you like, where you like, how you like, if ever you like, whenever you like in this structure. Because it's very much about bathing you in the sunlight of this curated structure. So, do you have any questions before I start to pull you through the gateposts of the storyscape?

Linda Jacomb

Um, I don't think so. Let's go.

The Clearing: Dorset Walk And Walled Garden

Chris Grimes

Let's start. Do this. Wonderful. So, first of all, there's going to be a clearing, which is you, as my very precious guests, serious, happy place, first of all. So, where would you say uh Linda Jacob has gone to get clutter free, inspirational, and able to think as your happiest place in life?

Linda Jacomb

I will say that my happy place is a particular Dorset walk around a bay and through the woods into a walled garden. I used to walk that route every night after work to clear my thoughts each day, empty my mind of problems, and find a deep peace. And I still do that walk whenever I can.

Chris Grimes

Wow, and of course, there's that beautiful children's book of the secret garden. And you've just made me it it that's really evocative of that, the walled garden. So um just to be a bit more specific about the geography of that, whereabouts is that?

Linda Jacomb

That's Dorset, basically. It's Dorset, and it's um actually a long walk that goes up to Upton Country Park.

Chris Grimes

And may I ask when the last time was that you were there?

Linda Jacomb

Last week.

Chris Grimes

Ah. So and and how many when did you first discover it? Because it sounds like it's almost like a factory default setting of a serious happy place as the trials and tribulations of life have hit.

Linda Jacomb

Well, I I first found it when I was actually managing um a project for the homeless in Dorset, and I just moved down to Dorset, and we actually rented accommodation at the time because I didn't know the area and thought, right, well, I'll rent somewhere while I have a look round to see what I can find.

Chris Grimes

Yes.

Linda Jacomb

And um I eventually found this house that was right on the edge of Holes Bay, which I just loved. It was a bit of a novelty for me because we'd lived in an old barn before then, and it was like the fourth bridge. You'd finish doing one end renovating and then you'd be at the other. So um to have a house that was all up together, okay, it was it's a very square modern type of house, but the views are just stunning. And I thought I haven't got anything to do here. And actually, given that I had a very busy working life, I thought this is quite nice. So, what I used to do is drive home overnight, park the car, and you could then walk all the way through these woods up to Upton and just, you know, release your thoughts, be at peace.

Chris Grimes

And it sounds very much like this is a solo walk you tended to do over the years.

Linda Jacomb

Oh, definitely, yes, yeah.

Chris Grimes

And when you mentioned we were looking for somewhere to rent, is this you and your husband, may I assume?

Linda Jacomb

Yes, yeah.

Chris Grimes

And is he still with us, may I ask?

Linda Jacomb

Yes, he is, yes, yeah.

Chris Grimes

Wonderful. And what's his name?

Linda Jacomb

Colin.

Chris Grimes

Colin. My dad was what well, what are the chances? My own father was Colin as well. Colin Grimes, so just big shout out for him as well. Wonderful. And how many children do you have? Because I know I've met Brennan because he was the one that got in touch with me, first of all. I have four boys. Wow. You are a proper matriarch then, surrounded by five. I've just done the maths, five men under the kosh of the pub landlady. So thank you for that beautiful evocative clearing that we're now going to be based in. So, in your Dorset walled garden, I'm now going to arrive with a tree in your clearing, and I'm going to shake your tree to see which storytelling apples fall out. How do you like these apples? And this is where you've been kind enough, uh, Linda, to have thought about the following things. Four things that have shaped you. Yeah. Three things that inspire you, two things that never fail to grab your attention, and borrow from the film, Up, this is where some squirrels are going to come in, uh, which is monsters of distraction, which I'll talk about when you get to that point. And then the one is a quirky or unusual fact about you we couldn't possibly know about you until you tell us. It's not a memory test, so rest assured, um, I'll prompt you through it. But let's go back to the beginning if you are happy to shape the canopy of your tree in that order. Four things, first of all, Linda, that have shaped you.

Four Shaping Forces And Core Values

Linda Jacomb

Okay, well, um, from a very early age, I'd always had a keen sense of fairness and was always quite indignant about anything that wasn't fair to anyone and the need to help redress the balance. Now, that probably stems from spending a lot of time with my grandmother as a small child, who, although not religious, she was a very what you'd call a good woman, who, although she was always very kind and helpful, never spread unnecessary gossip. But I was bought up on a lot of old adages. For instance, do as you would be done by. If you can't help, don't hinder. Kindness costs nothing but means a lot. Much of my value base comes from her. So, you know, that I would say is quite intrinsic to me. And it went in when I was very young and it stuck.

Chris Grimes

And may I say, you do wear that very obviously and overtly. I can I really get a sense of that, the underlying value that's there. May I ask her name, your wonderful grandmother?

Linda Jacomb

Florence.

Chris Grimes

What a beautiful name. And what was her maiden name, which obviously would be yours as well. Sorry, yours. Oh her name. My maiden name.

Linda Jacomb

Wathan.

Chris Grimes

Wathan. So I've gone back one generation too far there. What's your maiden name?

Linda Jacomb

Yes, you are. My maiden name is an interesting quirky one called Greenia.

Chris Grimes

Greenye? Yes. And what where that sounds quite exotic, actually. Where's where is Greenyear from?

Linda Jacomb

We'd love to know, actually. Um we did a little bit of work on genealogy, but um, yes, uh, we we don't really know for sure um how that's how are you spelling green yeah? It's green y-e-r.

Chris Grimes

Wow. I i uh that's really quirk it is quirky. I've never heard that before. So we can get people to write on on a postcard if they know if there are any greeners out there.

Linda Jacomb

The thing is, my father obviously was called, you know, um Mr. Green, Patrick Greener, but when his father died, his father was uh a musical comedian.

Chris Grimes

Oh wow.

Linda Jacomb

When he died, he actually adopted his name, which was Rafferty. So then, for instance, my sisters are known as, you know, um Trisha and Julia Rafferty. So, yes, I mean, um, he changed his name in honour of his father when he died.

Chris Grimes

My all-time comic hero is a vaudevillian Stan Laurel, and so it's fascinating that your grandfather's father, by the sound of it, was a vaudevillian.

Linda Jacomb

Yeah.

Chris Grimes

And do you remember what his stage name was?

Linda Jacomb

Yes, Pat Rafferty.

Chris Grimes

Pat Raffti. And what was his act? Do you remember that?

Linda Jacomb

Yes, I mean, he he was on um the same Bill as Mary Lloyd, so he he he was quite, you know, yeah, yes, he was Wow. He obviously had quite a career. Um, and he was on the stage for 50 years, but um he he was a comedian, but he also was uh he sing songs, so wow. I don't know how good he was. Yes, so you haven't got any must have been pretty good because as I say, he he really made a living out of it.

Chris Grimes

And he was on stage with the likes of Mary Lloyd as well. That's fantastic. And it's evocative of um, you know, we we skipped a generation.

Linda Jacomb

And do you remember the good old days that used to be a program where we we would be and that's the type of time he would have been on the stage, I guess.

Chris Grimes

Because as a very young kid of 12 or 13, I remember that's when I ever perceived Ken Dodd, actually. That was on an episode of the good old days. Sorry, I'm aging us both in that regard, which is not my intention. So back to your grandmother, who is the wonderful, so flow is the great initial shaper of you, which has given you this deep-rooted, invested value proposition that you still to this day wear and bring to the world. Lovely. So shapage number two, please. And I've got a bell.

Linda Jacomb

Okay, shapage number two. Um, as a young woman leaving school with no qualifications, as most of us did in those days, um, because I left school when it was just changing, the following year you'd have had to stay to 16. Mind you, if I stayed at the school I was out, I wouldn't have learned any more in another year. But never mind, we won't go there. But um anyway, I realized I had to educate myself to get a better job. And I started attending night classes and then managed to get into a college. So I found it very hard going, but I was determined to succeed, and so would go in an hour early in the morning and stay an hour later practicing and then do the hours bus journey home. So I persevered and eventually I got the working grades I needed. So I learned that hard work and determination do pay off in the end, and I learnt resilience, but it was hard graft.

Chris Grimes

And congratulations for the values that you got from your grandmother, but then the hard work ethic that you instilled and she instilled in you to, as you said, persist. So tenacity and persistence are two of your core attributes as well.

Linda Jacomb

If you can't do it, try again.

Chris Grimes

And I and I, as we know, the pragmatism stands one in very good stead for resilience in any case.

Linda Jacomb

Yeah, it does, you know. I mean, I I was just rereading um David Copperfield the other day, and um I think that's pretty autobiography for for Dickens, really. Yeah, I mean, yeah, but um what he said about learning shorthand, I just sat there and laughed because it's the same, you know, it doesn't matter it that was, you know, sort of a very, very long time ago, it's still the same awful difficulty. It's like learning a new language, and it's all squiggles and dots, and you think you're never going to get there. And obviously, he was a wonderful writer. So the way he described his struggles with it, because I never knew he was shorthand writer, but he was. And um, you know, it just really made me laugh, and it had that resonance with what I struggled with.

Chris Grimes

And it it wouldn't have been Pittman's, because I remember there was a sort of course in shorthand. It was Pittman's because why I know that is because my mother, still alive, is was a secretary, and and she really did she was exceptional at fast shorthand, and I remember um a Pittman book lying around.

Linda Jacomb

Yes, yeah. Well, I got quite good at fast speeds in the end, but only um it wasn't pure Pittman's, I can tell you that. It was my own brand, but in the end, I could read it, and as long as I could read it, it was okay.

Chris Grimes

So it's a Jackham brand alongside the Pittman's, that's lovely. Wonderful. So um arriving into the world of work through your own hard work, grift and and uh tenacity, uh Shapage number three, unless you want to tell me more about number two.

Linda Jacomb

No, nope. Shapage number three, then, is I started working as a secretary and I worked for two local directors. Now, one of them was particularly abusive to the other, who was a very gentle, pleasant man. He was really nice. Um, he did this in front of junior staff, and it made me very angry as I felt he was belittling his colleague. And needless to say, although young, I showed my disapproval. So before I was in management myself, um I vowed if I was ever a management manager, I would never treat another person like that. And I'm pleased to say, after 40 years in management of one sort or another, I never have. So I learned how not to manage from that situation. Um, and I love the quote of um Culliel Gibron I have learned silence from the talkative, tolerance from the intolerant, kindness from the unkind, and I should not be ungrateful to those teachers.

Chris Grimes

Wow, that's truly wise and very profound and so resonant about how we all learn those important lessons from exactly the opposite, as in that's definitely not what I'm gonna do or how to do it. I love that.

Linda Jacomb

For me, it was just, you know, um, I I just I just loved that quote because I thought it's just so it is profound, it's absolutely right. Um, and you think you do, you learn far more from what you see that's wrong than you do from what's right.

Chris Grimes

And in a deliberate strategy of reincorporation, can you say the quote again because it's really worth it's almost like in your own DNA, but just give me the place again.

Linda Jacomb

I have learned silence from the talkative, tolerance from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind. I should not be ungrateful to those teachers.

Chris Grimes

Wonderful. Thank you. Now the fourth shapage, please.

Inspiration: Finding Positives And Human Courage

Linda Jacomb

Okay. The fourth thing that shaped me as a young woman was a very wise and wonderful older woman who became a mentor to me when I was going through a very problematical time in my life. I remember clearly complaining to her one day about how someone had done something pretty awful and how upset I was about it. And she said to me, But how can they upset you unless you let them? I learned to practice the skill of being able to deal with separately separating out an event, dealing with the content, but actually putting the emotion to one side. And eventually I was able to master this. I learned that I can choose how I react to a situation, and it's made a huge difference to my life.

Chris Grimes

Wow, again, you're you're teaching the world some really extraordinary stuff here. That and and removing the people from the problem, what an extraordinarily good strategy that you've again been on the open road of testing for yourself all these years.

Linda Jacomb

Well, having done that, I've used it so much in my practice. And you know, if you find something that works and it's good, you need to pass it on. That's my opinion. You really need to pass it on, and it is a strategy that works. You do not have to allow somebody else to affect your emotions.

Chris Grimes

And I don't doubt you've, if I may assume, parented in the same extraordinary way as well.

Linda Jacomb

I hope so.

Chris Grimes

Yes.

Linda Jacomb

I hope so.

Chris Grimes

So that's a wonderful four shapeages. I know that life is not just four shapages, there are many, many more. Um, so now we're going to move on to three things that inspire you, uh, Linda. So three things that inspire you.

Linda Jacomb

Okay, well, always being able to find a positive and a negative situation, learning from it and moving forward is probably, as I say, when things go wrong that we learn the most from it. So for me, that's terribly important. You have to get meaning from something that's gone horribly wrong or badly wrong, because otherwise it's a waste. It's a wasted situation. You've learnt nothing from it. So um that's really important to me. And sometimes it's more challenging than others, as you may well imagine, but you need to be able to do that because if you can't do that, you can't move off.

Chris Grimes

And again, an exceptional lead by example attribute that you're bringing to the fore there. That's that's really beautiful, actually. Uh, second thing that inspires you.

Linda Jacomb

Okay, well, seeing someone overcome something that's been a hurdle for them and seeing their self-confidence grow through that process for me, that is fantastic. That, you know, it always inspires me. And um, you know, um, especially my many years working with the homeless, you know, where somebody has been in a um a very difficult circumstance, and with support, they began to work through it. And when they come out the other end, it's just fantastic when you see other people's wins.

Chris Grimes

Beautiful. And any particular examples of that that don't have to be?

Linda Jacomb

Yes, I mean, one young man I had that came to a hostel, he'd been married basically, and his partner was a heroin addict, and they'd had a baby. And uh the long and short of it was she was in prison, and they said, Oh, well, the baby, you know, must go into care because you know, obviously you can't deal with it. And anyway, to cut a long story short, um, through over a period of about 18 months, we worked with this young man that he worked with the family centre and did interventions to actually uh be able to parent this baby. Um, and you know, the day he went to court and he actually got custody, it was amazing.

Chris Grimes

Yes.

Linda Jacomb

It really was the greatest day. All the staff were, you know, we all had a bit of a tear because he'd come such a long way, he'd had to learn to parent a new baby by himself. Um, and because of that, um, because I was a supported to the manager, I could actually get him accommodation as well. So we got him a little flat so he could have that with his daughter. So things like that, absolutely.

Chris Grimes

And I know that's just one example of the many, many lives you've touched in that very positive way.

Linda Jacomb

Well, I I hope I've been apart.

Chris Grimes

And again, there's a lovely thread of humility in that awesomeness, too. Uh, third uh thing that inspires you.

Squirrels: Light On Water And Twilight

Linda Jacomb

Um the courage of ordinary people who find themselves in extraordinary situations. Um only the other week there was a train passenger who tried to hold off a knife attacker so others could get to safety. Any amazing act of courage like that, or I it always humbles me. It always makes me think, you know, isn't humanity wonderful? You've got to look at the good side. I know there are some horrible things in the world, there are, um, you know, but I choose to look at the good things that people do, and you think that's remarkable, isn't that amazing? Lovely.

Chris Grimes

And now we're on to the squirrels, borrowed from the film Up. Did I ask you if you've seen the film Up? That's where if you haven't seen it, I would really encourage you to watch it. It's a Pixar animation, and it's called Up. And there is a and there is the most beautiful montage which will completely produce, you know, tears of joy, wonderment, tragedy, because it's about a life fulfilled and unfulfilled at the same point. But anyway, there's a dog within the film that just goes, Oh, squirrels, and gets distracted by oh, squirrels. So the inference being we've all got monsters of distraction or metaphorical squirrels, sometimes called your shiny object syndrome. Yeah. So what two things never fail to grab your attention and stop you in your tracks, Linda?

Linda Jacomb

Well, light dancing on the water, I just find it magical. And I have often been stopped in my tracks to just look and marvel at the sheer beauty of it and absorb the peace of the moment. And it almost just stops me. Um, therefore, when I go over to pool, um, you know, I do get on with a lot of things because I, you know, I'm fairly productive. I try to do quite a lot in the day and make the most of the day. Um, but when I see that light on the water, you know, certain lights you get, it does stop me in my tracks, and I just have to stop and watch it.

Alchemy: Work, Writing, And Nature

Chris Grimes

And may I say thank you for that? In all my circa 270 odd episodes of doing a version of this show, no one's ever said the light dancing on the water. That's beautiful. Second squirrel.

Linda Jacomb

I often watch Twilight when the day blends into night. I wonder whether I particularly love this time of day in winter, as I was born on a November day at about twilight. And it's just a special time, I think, you know, where, as I say, you've got one thing blending into another.

Chris Grimes

Again, just so precious and very beautiful. Thank you. And now, what the one in the 54321 structure is a quirky or unusual fact about you, Linda Jacob. We couldn't possibly know about you until you tell us all.

Linda Jacomb

Well, I often talk to myself, happily chuntering away in a little conversation with myself, rationalizing something or another, or maybe looking at the pros and cons of a situation. Um, and uh sometimes, you know, as I said, I think I'm on my own chuntering away, and somebody will open here and say, Who have you got in there you're talking to? I said, Never mind, I'm all right.

Chris Grimes

Also, congratulations for the expression chuntering away. And it I've got another compliment for you. In the time I've been listening to you, and again, I promise this is a compliment. You also remind me of Prunella Scales in your tone. Um, you would you would have been a really good Sybil, not because you're being you're you're bullying Basil, but you'd have been a really good Prunella Scales Sybil faulty, just in terms of tone. Have you ever been told that before?

Linda Jacomb

No.

Chris Grimes

I promise it's a compliment. This is a this is an oasis of the part well.

Linda Jacomb

I thought she was very funny.

Chris Grimes

Exactly that, exactly that. And it's lovely to see you chuckling along here as well. So we've shaken your tree. Hurrah. Now we stay in the clearing, which is your beautiful Dorset walled garden. And we've got the lovely sensory vocation of dancing on water and also twixt day and night, twilight. And now we're going to talk about alchemy and gold. When you're or when you have been at purpose and in flow in your life, Linda, what have you been absolutely happiest doing in what you're here to reveal to the world?

Linda Jacomb

Well, from a working perspective, I suppose I'm happiest supporting someone to achieve their goals, as I get a great satisfaction from that. I really do. Also enjoy writing and become engrossed in a project and again get great satisfaction in completing it, specifically for a deadline. Yeah, I especially for that, because I think, right, you know, I know what I've got to do and you know what I need to achieve by then. So, yes, those things I would say I'm probably, you know, sort of happiest doing. But from a personal perspective, I love to walk and never fail to find the beauty in nature around me, whatever the weather. And I love to swim in the open air and feel part of the elements. Um, I just find those things very therapeutic.

Halcyon Days And Music That Endures

Chris Grimes

And are you a sort of outdoor swimmer a lot? Is that something you frequently do?

Linda Jacomb

I swim normally from April to um September, you know. Um, and I'd probably swim four or five times a week.

Chris Grimes

So and of course, the whole zeitgeist is cold water swimming now, but you've been doing that for many, many years.

Linda Jacomb

Oh no, I've not been doing cold water swimming. Now come on, let's have a bit of comfort.

Chris Grimes

Okay. Oh, so we're talking about a heated spa pool or something, are we?

Linda Jacomb

We are, well, a heated pool.

Chris Grimes

Yes, which again reminds me of Sybil Faulty. You couldn't get Brunella scales in cold water, I'm sure. No, no, no. Yeah, I'm glad I qualified that. No, not cold water, are you? Absolutely insane. I love that. And just to get you to drop your guard slightly in my next question, if I may just stray into what's called our halcyon days, when you look back and reflect on everything you've been describing so far, your life path and trajectory, when would you say, Linda, your halcyon days either are or have been?

Linda Jacomb

Well, I remember when I first had my eldest child, Brennan, um, when he was born, it was a particularly beautiful spring. It was one of the most beautiful springs. Um, and I think they called it like an Indian summer because it started so early and it went to October. So that was in 1975. And that weather, I don't think we've ever had weather like that since then. And it was just particularly a lovely, lovely time. Um, you know, he was safely born, um, which, you know, I was extremely profoundly grateful for because people think they take these things for granted. But actually, um it's just, you know, it's quite it is quite a wonderful thing to be able to have a baby and that everything's okay. You know, you should never take things for granted that everything's going to be okay. And I never have done that in my life. And I'm just so grateful my baby was okay, I was okay. Um, and we had this beautiful spring, it was really lovely. So that was a lovely, lovely time. But um, there are many, many different lovely times in your life. And uh, I think in terms of job satisfaction being rewarded, I mean, I've been a company director, I've done all kinds of things and worked with many different people in my life. Uh, but I think my time working with the homeless actually was probably my happiest working time because the support you gave, you could make a difference. And it it's a lovely thing to have a job that's meaningful.

Chris Grimes

And I know that was in two parts, but I was just really struck with the Indian summer of 1975 as being a really good example of the Hausian days, then alongside the path of how you always wanted to make a difference and help people. Beautiful. Um, do you have a favourite piece of music that you've always loved? If I had a bit like Desert Island Is, if you had to pick your favourite music track, what might it be?

Linda Jacomb

Oh, that's very difficult. I've got a very eclectic um um repertoire, I suppose, of things that I like. There's all kinds of music I like, really. Um, I always found very, very evocative bookends by Simon MacArthur. I think that's it's a very short piece, but it's just beautiful.

Simon & Garfunkel

A time of innocence, a time of confidence.

Linda Jacomb

And also going home by Katie Lester, I think that's particularly evocative.

Chris Grimes

I just go along. Thank you for that. And um now I'm gonna award you with a cake, uh Linda Jacob. Hurrah! So I have a a doggy toy comedy prop here. It looks like a carrot cake, but you don't have to say carrot cake. Do you like cake, first of all, Linda, is my question.

Linda Jacomb

Um, I I do, but I've never a lot of it because you know, like lots of women, I've always tried to wash my way. But I'll tell you a little story about this. Um, my favourite cake is Nanny's coffee cake. And I never make it without thinking of it. Um now nanny was not my nanny, but the mother of a dear friend who was renowned for her cake making. So I told my friend I had never been able to make a good cake, and would her mother consider teaching me how to do it? So Nanny did. The criteria was I wanted to be able to make one show-stopping cake. And Nanny proceeded to show me how to make a coffee or walnut cake par excellence. Now, this cake has been requested at gala's and fundraising events, and is as long as I follow Nana's recipe, I'm okay. And I can make this cake. But apart from that, I'm useless of cakes.

Chris Grimes

Well, that the one signature cake is all you need. So do the family.

Linda Jacomb

Exactly. Exactly right.

Chris Grimes

Do we bring sp leftovers home so the family too know what the uh your nana special recipe is? I'm tempted to request one myself. So you get to now put a cherry uh alongside your walnuts on your nanas coffee cake. Um, what was the name of the grandmother who made the coffee cake, just to give her the credit?

Linda Jacomb

Oh, Nanny Taylor.

Chris Grimes

Love that. Nanny Taylor's the stolen recipe by Linda Jacob of Nanny Taylor.

Linda Jacomb

No, she gave it to me. And what's worse, what's worse, her own daughter, who obviously had grown up with her and everything else, after Nanny passed, she had to ask me for the recipe.

Chris Grimes

I love that. So that's that's playing it forward in a beautiful way. I love that. So I'm I can listening to this, I can I can see it and taste it, which is the point of good storytelling. Now you get to put a cherry on the cake, Linda, with stuff like what's a favorite inspirational quote? You've given us a couple anyway, but is there another? Because I'm really struck and I'm grateful to you for your depth of research. But what would you say is a favorite inspirational quote that's always given you succor?

Quotes, Mindset, And Advice To Younger Self

Linda Jacomb

Well, uh in short, onwards and upwards. Always. So my mode of operanda has always been to do what you can with what you've got and do it now. When I've done what I can, it's always onwards and upwards. So that's something very important. Um, and interestingly, I popped in to see um a company that I work for, that I was um I was their one of their directors years ago, and I just popped by to see if any of the other directors were there, and they were. Um, and it was lovely to see them, and they were really pleased to see me, which was really good. Um, but they said we always say on was an always. And I thought that was lovely because I thought, oh, I'm remembered.

Chris Grimes

Of course you're remembered, and that's part of your wonderful work, ethic, and legacy, which is obviously also what this is all about. Now I love that. It's so succinct and so brilliantly profound, and so you, if I may say, in the time that I've known you, I can tell it's so you.

Linda Jacomb

And I also love the just for today quote from Alanon. I think that is just fantastic. Just for today, I will live through this one day only and not tackle all my problems at once. Those in the past need not concern me today. Future ones can be faced when they arise. It's very focusing.

Chris Grimes

I'm loving that. Uh I also really enjoy your very lovely chuckling in between what you're doing. It's so lovely your storytelling. This is just great. Um, with the gift of hindsight at next, um, what notes, help, or advice might you proff to a younger version of you, Linda? And you can tell us the period of your life where you may go back holographically reappear, wrap your arms around yourself and give yourself some sage advice. How old are you, and what would you say to yourself?

Linda Jacomb

As a young person, I would say probably you need to have more confidence in yourself and not to be self-effacing, um, not to work too hard and to cut mys cut myself more me time. That's what I would say, definitely, you know. Um, but um yeah, I mean, I I think that's what I would say, because I think that we do push ourselves too hard sometimes and we don't stop to smell the flowers.

Chris Grimes

Cut myself some more me time. If I may just ask a slightly darker question, might that be your biggest regret, maybe, that you didn't cut yourself quite as much me time as you should have done?

Linda Jacomb

Um no, because what I was doing, I was learning from, and now I've got more me time that I can reflect on that. So um with hindsight, you look back and you think you could have done things differently, and maybe you know, um, with hindsight you would have done. But at that time, in that given moment, did you do the best you could with what you've got? And if you say that, I think that's okay.

Chris Grimes

Lovely answer. You've also inferred this answer already, but another question is what's the best piece of advice you think you've ever been given by somebody else?

Linda Jacomb

Best piece of advice by somebody else? Well, don't allow anybody else to affect your emotions, and that's much harder to put into effect than it is to say you have to learn that because if somebody's being quite offensive to you, um, you know, a normal reaction to that is to be upset by it or allow it to affect you. You have to work on that. That's something you have to work on, but it definitely you have to be in control of your own emotions and not allow anybody to affect that because if you do, it's to your detriment. Half the time, somebody's said something that's been quite upsetting, walked away, forgotten about it, but you're the one that's left with that emotion if you don't deal with it.

Legacy, Shakespeare, And Paying It Forward

Chris Grimes

Again, wonderful sage advice. We're gonna ramp up now to talk about Shakespeare. Um, and there's a quick question about the possibility of a golden ban, which can be yes or no. I don't mind. I have no attachment to this. But as you've experienced this from within, is there anyone else in your friendship group or your network that you know would really like or enjoy being given a damn good listening to in this way for a legacy life reflections?

Linda Jacomb

Well, I think you should hand it to Brandon, my son, and bear his wife.

Chris Grimes

I think he started this, so yes, exactly.

Linda Jacomb

So you can get on with it.

Chris Grimes

Yeah, have a taste of your own medicine. How do you like these apples? Love that. Um, he doesn't have to say yes, but that was a that was a wonderful gift. Um back to the playing it forward, that's back to the Indian summer of 1975. And now uh Shakespeare. All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players, to borrow from the seven ages of man's speech, and as we know, this is a particularly seismic um exploration of legacy and how we might like to be remembered. When all is said and done, Linda Jacob, how would you most like to be remembered?

Linda Jacomb

Well, as we pass through life, we often remember things that people have said or done. I'd like to be remembered as a positive influence and that I worked hard and tried to make the best of any situation. And given the situations I've encountered in my life and those that many of my clients have encountered, I'd be very pleased if I could be remembered in that way.

Chris Grimes

I would say your legacy is utterly secure, Linda. Um, as this has been your moment and your time in Legacy Life Reflections, as we know, a special series trend of the Good Listening to show. Is there anything else you'd like to say?

Linda Jacomb

Yes. Um, I'd say that given that most of us have to work for the majority of our lives to make a living, it's important to find a job you enjoy doing, something that's meaningful for you, fits in with your values, and enables you to find validation at the end of the day. We always need to remember that it's not what happens to us that counts, because that's often out of our hands. It's how we react to it. So if you can find a positive out of a negative, that's great, because often we learn more from what goes wrong than what goes right. And finally, always keep a sense of humour and be able to laugh at yourself. It's really important in the changing fortunes of time. And always, always make the most of each day.

Chris Grimes

Beautiful. And if I may just ask one extra risky question that we may decide we don't want this to be at the end of. Um, as we lay a flag in the sand of today being the 6th of November 2025, can I just thank you and commend you for your pragmatism and your bravery in speaking to me today with the backdrop that I know you have? Do you want to say anything about that or would you prefer not to?

Illness, Meaning-Making, And Choosing Private

Linda Jacomb

Um, no, again, I would say that actually, um, you know, this probably uh my current illness is probably one of my hardest challenges. Um because you have to think, how do you get a positive out of this? And I have to say it is a challenge. So the making of a positive out of this is you've got to look at, okay, um, this has happened, it's out of your hands, there's nothing you can do about it. So um basically, what good has come of this? Well, what good has come of it is you see um your friends and family and people that really support you actually um taking the time to spend extra time with you, which is lovely. Um and also um you need to make a meaningful experience of it. And for me, being a social worker, um, what I'm going to do with this is actually write a piece that actually um will guide other social workers on how you can support somebody going through this kind of an experience. So you're actually doing something meaningful with something that is really quite a negative experience. So that is my way of dealing with it. Um, and you know, moving forward, that is how I will deal with it. Yes.

Chris Grimes

And may I also just say you've shared such wisdom throughout this, sincerely, and there is an opportunity now, there is a choice. We can go down one path or the other. You can either make this the private show that we think it is, where you're just going to disseminate it to your nearest, dearest, and closest, or there is a choice, and I'm not attached to either version, you can go public with this where other people can learn from your wisdom. Uh that sounds like I'm trying to lend you, sorry, steer you one way or the other. But how do you feel about do you want to go private or public with this?

Linda Jacomb

Um, well, my initial feeling is definitely to be private with it with my family or whoever else wants to see it. But um, is that something I can change my mind on later on?

Closing Notes & How To Record Your Story

Chris Grimes

It absolutely is. So um I'll get back to you as soon as this is all published, and this is very much let our thinking unfold. Even what I'm saying now may well be on the final episode, uh, as in the final cut, because I I don't like to edit because of how authentic it's being. Um, so yes, you can absolutely decide. And and I've I've found this a deep privilege speaking to you, and I've loved your wisdom. Thank you. Wonderful. So I've been Chris Grimes. Most importantly, you've been Linda Jack, and thanks to Brennan for uh equipping us both with this opportunity. 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 Listening2Show.com website. And one of these series strands is called Legacy Life Reflections. If you've been thinking about how to go about recording your life story or the life story of somebody close to you for posterity, but in a really interesting, effortless, and creative way, then maybe the good listening to show can help. Using the unique structure of the show, I'll be your host as together we take a trip down memory lane to record the 5-4-3-21 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.