Transcript of The Happy Pod: The chance encounter that became a lasting friendship

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. How do you update old systems without slowing your business down? It's not about modernization just to modernize. Or move AI from pilot to production. It's not the technology that's failing. It's the use case that you pick. Find out how global leaders are turning enterprise change into real competitive advantage. Do it in a resilient way with speed and effectiveness. Follow Resilient Edge, a business vitality podcast paid and presented by Deloitte. Check out our new episodes wherever you get your podcasts. This is the Happy Pod from the BBC World Service. I'm Alex Ritsen, and in this edition. I like to learn what she's up to and get a perspective on the world that I don't get. Our friendship has given me an opportunity to slow down and to be grateful. It's a great experience. For older people and younger people to get together. I recommend it. Two women whose chance meeting led to an intergenerational friendship tell us why it's something we all need in our lives. The giant Tortoise is returning to an island in the Galápagos after nearly two centuries. This really is the start of a new species.

As an evolutionary biologist, this is very exciting because here we are repopulating the island, and it's really a new start. Plus the Gen Z divers restoring Indonesia's coral reefs. Seeing the changes in growth of the coral from when we first transplanted it until it grows gives us a sense of pride. Why getting out into nature can be so good for our mental health? The US veterans reunited more than 80 years after serving together. We start in New York, where two women have developed an unconventional friendship after a chance encounter on Christmas Back in 2021, 26-year-old Nina was showing friends around the city during the holidays. She was on the subway when she saw a leather wallet on the seat next to her belonging to a then 84-year-old woman named Carol. Instead of handing it in, Nina decided to find Carol and personally return it to her. They've been friends ever since. Five years later, one of Nina's posts about how they met has gone viral on TikTok. Have a listen. On the surface, it may not seem like we have much in common, but why do we have to seek surface-level likeness and everyone we look to as a friend?

We both see the world through a critical but hopeful lens and share the same dark, sarcastic sense of humor. Her unbridal joy reminds me that everything eventually will be okay, and she appreciates my cultural commentary on Bad Bunny Super Bowl performance. She told me I give her hope for the future, which is nice to hear on my hardest days. Who's going to complain about a home-cooked meal that ends with cookies and ice cream every time? Now, aged 30 and 88, Nina and Carol have been speaking to the Happy Pods' Tamsyn Selby, about why their bond is so special. Nina began by explaining what it was like meeting for the first time. It was really nice. She was so sweet. She came, it was cold outside. I think it was probably the day after Christmas at this point. She handed me a card, and the card basically said me finding her wallet was the best Christmas gift. Subsequently, she asked me if you're ever in the city or in her neighborhood to come by and maybe have a cup of tea together. And so I thought that was really nice, and it felt like a genuine offer.

She said that had I been her age, she would have thought it was an empty invitation. But because I was older, she thought it was a real invitation, which it was, and she followed up on it, and we became friends after that. Carol, what's your favorite thing to do with Nina? I love to go to her concert. She's a singer, and she sings in Farsi, Spanish, and English. And I also just like to talk to her. I like to learn what she's up to and get a perspective on the world that I don't get. They're probably more positive about the world that I am at this point and more ambitious, I'd say. The way that Carol lives her life is very ambitious and inspiring. Her social life, her friends, the way she keeps up with people, how active she is, how much she travels at her age, and then also everything that she accomplished in her younger years, coming to New York City as a single woman in the '50s, and what you built for yourself and everything you accomplished. And that's why I think it's important for people to have these intergenerational friendships, is because we have so much to learn from the people who are older than us.

We consistently go to people who are our age, seeking advice, failing to remember that we're all in the same boat. Why not go to somebody who has seen it, who's done it, and who can offer you insights that come from a world of experience? I'm starting to I work on a children's book with one of my friends that's inspired by Carol and I's story because I want younger people to see value in those who are older than them. Nina, what would you say is the biggest lesson that you've learned from Carol? In the end, everything is going to be okay. Life is going to happen how it's going to happen. Some mistake you make or something that you don't do to the level that you want in the earlier part of your life is not going to determine whether or not you can be happy 50 years down the line. She didn't do everything traditionally. She did it in the way that made sense for her and that brought her happiness. She also brings a lot of joy to others. And it reminded me that there are a lot of roads to joy, and I just have to decide which path will be mine.

I would encourage people to make intergenerational friendships. There should be some society in every community in which young people meet older people because it's very important to have that connection. It makes you remember your earlier life. It makes you see life the way you saw it when you were younger. And it's very comforting. I grew up in a culture that has a lot of reverence for people who are older than us and sees a lot of value in people who are older than us. And I think that has been a little bit lost on American society. I think what you really need is to see people as more than just their age. And finally, rather than speaking to me, were speaking to each other, what would you say about how the last five years, how the other person has impacted you? Nina, do you want to go first? Our friendship has given me an opportunity to slow down and to pause and to be grateful. I think every time I come to your home, I feel such a sense of calm and safety and love. And it feels a bit like an escape because I feel like I can just rest in who I am when I'm around you.

And I don't need to perform. The experiences that we've had together are so special and unique and are things that have enriched my life so much. And you've also brought joy to the lives of the people in my life. I'd like to reiterate what she said, that she's brought a lot of joy into my life. And I just hope our friendship continues. It's a lot of fun. She's a really smart, amazing person, a great friend. I'm so happy to have met her and that she's accepted me into her life and into her circle of friends. I've introduced her to many of my friends. They love her. It's a great experience for older people and younger people to get together. I recommend it. Nina and Carol speaking to Tamsyn Selby. The Galápagos Islands, a thousand kilometers off the Coast of Ecuador, are home to many species found nowhere else on Earth. The unique wildlife of the archipelago has has faced a number of threats, with some animals becoming extinct, including a species of giant tortus, which disappeared from Floriana Island more than a century ago following the arrival of humans. But now, more than 150 young reptiles from a closely related species have been reintroduced there.

My colleague, Leila Nathu, spoke to Dr. Evelyn Jensen, an evolutionary biologist who's been involved in the breeding program. The Floriana tortus went extinct around 1840, but in the early 2000s, it was discovered that there was a living population of hybrids on one of the other islands. Those hybrids were brought into captivity, and their offspring are not the same species, but they have ancestry to the original extinct species. The hope is that they will have the best chance of survival and doing well on Floriana Island. Tortises are hugely important, especially in the Galapagos. They're the only large-bodied herbivore that's native to the environment. They really are the ecosystem engineers doing the grazing, the seed dispersal, the trampling, and basically making habitat for all of the other species. Just talk me through what reintroducing them to Floriana would entail. How would scientists How does it go about doing that? Well, I mean, they've spent years preparing the island for this. There's been huge campaigns to try and reduce or eliminate some of the key invasive species. Then, of course, for almost 15 years now, they've been captive breeding to to get this population of juvenile tortuses. We are expecting huge shifts in the structure of the whole community, and nobody's really sure how it's going to play out, but it can only be a good thing.

The Galápagos Islands have suffered from lots of invasive species, and having the native ecosystem engineers back there should help restore balance and move the environment back towards a more natural state. The hope is that over the coming decades, other species will have their populations increase as Floriana becomes more like it used to be. Presumably, these tortises are now going to be tracked and monitored, and hopefully, they will then breed and the species will run its course. They have GPS trackers on them so they can look and see their movements and where they're going. It's a relatively small group of young tortises right now, 8-13 years old, and so they're not going to be reproducing themselves for at least another 15 years, if not more. But this really is the start of a new species. This is very exciting because here we are repopulating the island, and it's really a new start for not the same Floriana Tortus, but a new Floriana Tortus. Dr. Evelyn Jensen. On the other side of the Pacific Ocean, the waters around Indonesia's Spamonde Islands lie within one of the most biodiverse marine regions on Earth, part of the Coral Triangle.

Many locals rely on the health of the oceans for their livelihoods, from both fishing tourism. But the reefs have been badly damaged from heavy shipping traffic, illegal fishing methods such as explosives and poisons, and coastal development. So as Lesthia Kato-Pattie reports, a group of young women decided to take action, planting new coral colonies on the seabed. They call themselves underwater gardeners. Working together, they collect broken coral fragments that can still grow and then tie them on to metal frames, which they then place on the sandy patches of ocean floor where the reef wants to arrive. Dila is one of the volunteers. Seeing the changes in growth of the coral from when we first implanted it until it grows gives us a sense of pride, especially for us women who can be directly involved and work hands-on in the field. Divers must carry heavy oxygen tanks, descend in currents, and spend hours underwater securing fragile fragments, as another volunteer, Iam, explains. It's actually not that difficult. We are already used to carrying tanks. They're not too heavy. Collecting coral fragments and tying them underwater are still relatively easy for us to do. Moudasir Zainudin, a conservation activist, also promotes reef recovery through a program he calls Coral Adoption, inviting the public to participate by supporting coral planting and monitoring its progress over time.

Transplantation and adoption both involve replanting coral. Now we focus more on adoption because it involves the community. They help guard and care for the reefs. Videos of the divers working underwater have spread widely on social media. Conservation groups say women often play a key role in spreading environmental messages because audiences has respond strongly to their storytelling and visuals. Despite restoration work, reef health across the region remains fragile. Saf Yudin Yusuf from Hassan Yudin University studies local reef and say that driving coral cover is now difficult to find. Live coral cover above 50% is now very rare. What we mostly see is below 50%. Corals need a gentle touch because the polyps are very sensitive. These young women provide careful handling when planting them, which makes a very positive contribution. But the divers say, restoration alone is not enough. I invite young people to channel their energy into useful activities such as coral transplantation. Even if it looks like a small activity, it can have a very big impact and benefits for society and the future. Start with small things. When snorkeling, be careful your fins don't break coral. Another way is by not throwing rubbish into the sea.

Healthy reefs are not only important for marine life. They also protect coastlines from waves, support fisheries, and attract visitors whose tourism spending sustained island economies. Our biggest hope is that coral reefs will not be damaged again. Another hope is that tourism here does not disappear. People come to places like this to snorkel and enjoy underwater beauty. If the reefs are damaged, there will be no more tourists coming. For these underwater gardeners, the work is far from finished, but with patience and persistence, they believe the reef can bloom again. We should start with ourselves to contribute to transplant activities to protect existing ecosystems so that future generations can feel what we feel today and can continue these transplant activities for our children and grandchildren. Coral restoration volunteer dealer, ending that report from Lesthia Kertopathy. Coming up on the Happy Pod, how an unwanted tandem The bike traveled thousands of kilometers to transform paracycling in Kenya. There was no ladies for tandem, so I started searching where I can get bikes. I really wanted to give the bike to Alice, and we just had to work out how to get it across to Kenya. Frau Schmidt, was stellen Sie sich denn vor for Ihre berufliche Zukunft?

Ich will was Echtes machen, wo ich mich voll reinhänge und wenn es fertig ist, mega stolz sein kann. So was, wofür ich brenne und alle, die mit mir arbeiten auch. Und ich will das andere lieben, was ich da für sie mache. Ich will dranbleiben, Erfolge feiern, klar auch mal zweifeln, aber nie, nie, nie verzweifeln. Na ja. Also We focus on the part of the Internet that most people don't know about. It's called the Dark Web. Undercover in the furthest corners of the Dark Web. Us special agents are on a mission to locate and rescue children from abuse. Moving in now. Police. From the BBC World Service, World of Secrets, the Darkest Web follows their shocking investigations. Listen on bbc. Com or wherever you get your BBC podcasts. What happens when a mandate becomes a breakthrough? I'm Nashita Henry, special host of Resilient Edge, a business vitality podcast paid and presented by Deloitte. I sat down with two leaders who are redefining what enterprise transformation looks like. Jerry Huberman from Deloitte and Sarah Oligood from AWS took me behind the scenes on how manufacturing, government, and global enterprises are evolving through major systems change. What excites me is when we have these breakthrough moments that this stuff doesn't happen by accident.

The triad of AWS, of Deloitte, of SAP, being able to understand the value proposition that people seek, being able to architect that, and then actually to define a roadmap to progressively achieve the goal, really is what makes these successful. Getting your humans to change the way they're interacting with their technology, the way that they're following the processes, or just that they're reinventing altogether and we're going to completely throw something out is very challenging. Here's what stood out. The 2027 SAP deadline isn't a compliance problem. It's a strategic reset, a chance to rethink how value is created. If your vision is across a 10-year horizon, your ROI is going to be different than if your vision is across a one or two-year horizon. How do you move decades of systems and data without slowing the business down? How do you simplify operations while preparing for what comes next? From legacy systems to AI-ready infrastructure, the full conversation reveals how Deloitte, AWS, and SAP help organizations reduce risk and unlock continuous innovation. All of that and more on this special episode of Resilient Edge. Find us wherever you listen to podcasts. America is changing, and so is the world.

But what's happening in America isn't just a cause of global upheaval. It's also a symptom of disruption that's happening everywhere. I'm Asma Khalid in Washington, DC. I'm Tristan Redman in London, and this is the global story. Every weekday, we'll bring you a story from this intersection, where the world and America meet. Listen on BBC. Com or wherever you get your podcasts. We're often told the The next way to shed off life's stresses and relax is to immerse ourselves in the beauty of nature. It's advice which was put into verse by the Welsh poet William Henry Davis more than 100 years ago. What is this life? If full of care, we have no time to stand and stare, no time to stand beneath the bowels and stare as long as sheep or cows, no time to turn at beauty's glance and watch her feet how they can dance. No time to wait till her mouth can enrich that smile her eyes began. A poor life this, if full of care. We have no time to stand and stare. Well, now, new research has provided some scientific backing to this, finding that simply observing or standing and staring at one thing in nature every day for two weeks can significantly boost our well-being, especially if we take the time to write down how we feel.

James Kumrasami went to a small park near London's Heathrow Airport to meet psychologist Dr. Alison Greenwood, who runs a charity that promotes the mental health benefits of getting out into nature. Birds are there. The sky. We're in South East London. We'll hear some airplanes. But that really helps us with our model because it points out we still respond instantly, very negatively, to the sound of an airplane because it's a foreign sound. Here we are. We're sitting in a very modest environment, small environment, but it is It's full of the patterns of nature. Tell us, what should we be looking at? What is it doing to us when we're out here? You're looking at the fractal patterns of nature. Fractals are self-repeating patterns. When we look at the fractal patterns of nature, it increases our alpha waves in our brains. Alpha waves are an indicator of a wakefully relaxed state. These are the patterns that you only get in nature, isn't it? Absolutely. You go on a walk, you'll see the patterns on a leaf are very similar to the branches of a tree. They exist in very small bits of nature. They're also in the big bits of nature, so ocean waves, coastlines.

The very exciting thing about fractals is that they exist in us as well. If you look at the palm of your hand, you'll see the patterns on your hand quite similar to the patterns of the branches of a tree or on the back of a leaf. It's just a lovely reminder that we're not like nature. We are nature. We're part of the same natural world made up for the same natural fractals. Most This people's favorite sound is water. Again, it's not too difficult to imagine why our brains respond so positively to something that is so much a sign of survival: water. We are water as well, aren't we? Indeed, yes. Psychologists often call the fractal patterns of nature soft fascination, the impact on the autonomic nervous system in terms of switching us from our sympathetic nervous activation, so that's our fight/flight processes, into our parasympathetic nervous activation, that's our rest digest, is instant when we go outside, and there's that instant reaction physiologically that our body goes into. Now, this I recognize. Hi, my name's Tom. I came here about three years ago, having struggled with my mental health for the best part of my adult life.

It wasn't until I came here that it all started to click and I started to realize there was a reason why I would have that day where I'd spontaneously go to Bushy Park and just spend hours. It was there subconsciously, but now it's conscious. Yeah. What difference does that make? It's huge. I now feel like I have some sovereignty over my own mental health. There's a lot of brilliant emerging science about when we feel that sense of awe and wonder in nature. One of the theories a construct of small self. So when we are under a huge starry sky or on top of a mountain, we can feel quite small. Now, I love this construct as a psychologist because we spend all of our time digging people up. You are important. You do matter. And actually in the natural world, quite often we feel quite small and tiny and insignificant. And rather making us feel bad, it actually is quite reassuring. We're just this tiny little part of this natural world, and it's okay. Dr. Alison Greenwood speaking to James Kumrassami. To a tale of friendship that has spanned more decades than most, two military veterans in the United States have been reunited by chance, 82 years after they fought alongside each other.

The Happy Pods, Holly Gibbs has more. You were in the tank corps, right? Yes. Robert Miller and Willard Smith both live in a care home in Naperville, in Illinois. That's me in the service. It's from basic training at Camp Roberts, California. I was probably about 18, 19 years old. But while looking through old photos as they share their war stories, Willard noticed they had worn the same uniform. Notice that our hats are very similar. Of course, you wanted to wear it jauntily and also you're looking sharp. Robert and Willard had both served in the Pacific during World War II when they were teenagers, including Being fighting in the Battle of Luzon in the Philippines in 1945. I said, You look too young to fight this war. It probably was true. Eighteen years old. Willard recently turned 100, and Robert will do the same next month. Oh, man. I didn't think I'd make it that far. I'm looking forward to it to a certain degree. After leaving the military, both men got married, had children, and became teachers. Reconnecting after more than eight decades the pair can now enjoy reminiscing about all their shared history. It brings back a lot of good memories.

We had a good run, I think, for a couple of soldiers. Willard and Robert ending that report by Holly Gibbs. Finally, to a simple donation of a used bicycle that's making a big difference thousands of kilometers away, opening up a new chapter for Kenyan Paracycling. Kari Ruxton, a gym owner in Scotland, offered her daughter's old tandem bike online, an offer seen by Alice Marengu, who'd been struggling to find a tandem to race with visually impaired cyclists. Five months later, with some help from the Scottish Kenyan community. The bike finally arrived in Nairobi on Valentine's Day and is now being prepared for international competition. My colleague, James Copnell, has been speaking to Cari and Alice. I put it onto this tandem Facebook page and I had quite a few inquiries. But when I read Alice's story and she told me that she sometimes had three people trying to use one bike, I really wanted to give the bike to Alice, and we really just had to work out how to get it across to Kenya. But luckily, Alice had a contact in Glasgow, a Kenyan, and he came to pick up the bike, and then it started its journey.

In fact, last September, I almost lost hope a couple of times. Then suddenly she contacted me on the 15th of February and said it arrived yesterday, which is Valentine's Day, the Day of Love. And so I thought, That's amazing. It's been sent from Scotland with love to Alice. In fact, the bike even had a little tart and ribbon tied to it for good luck. And so Alice told me she decided to call the bike, Valentine. And Alice, tell us about why you got in touch in the first place. Is it pretty difficult to get a good tandem bike in Kenya? Actually, no tandem bikes in Kenya. When we started this cycling for people with disabilities and people with eye problems, we didn't have enough bikes. Only one gentleman who had the bike. I was at the able cycling. I decided to quit to join the Para Cycling because there was no ladies for Tadam. There were no bikes at that moment, so I started searching where I can get bikes. As Kari said, it took That's quite a long time, several months for the bike to arrive in Kenya. That must have been quite a nervous wait, I guess.

We were waiting for it, for sure. This year, we have a para-truck race in Nigeria, and we are hoping to use it because we Now we have the bike, we want to share it. Cari, you mentioned sending it off with love and that little tart and ribbon around it. What will it be to see it in international competition? Will you be proud? Will you be emotional? How will you feel, do you think? Yeah, I'll definitely feel proud. I'm going to keep in touch with Alice, and I want to follow everything that she's doing. I'm absolutely passionate about getting women involved in sport. Alice is going to send me pictures, and I'm going to keep in touch with her team. Alice is one of the big goals to qualify for the Commonwealth Games, which are going to be in Scotland this time. Yeah, we are hoping that Nigeria will bring good results. Unfortunately, in Africa, we are only having two teams for Tadam Bikes. That is Nigeria and So we are hoping as well here in Kenya to bring up more ladies so that we can have more teams there. And a question for both of you, really.

This story has captured quite a lot of attention around the world. And I guess there's something quite powerful about that sporting solidarity across borders, across different cultures, Kari. Yes, absolutely. And this story through the BBC has already done a lot of good because I was contacted by another person in Edinburgh offering a tandem bike to Alice, so she's going to get two bikes. Oh, wow. Alice, that's great. Yeah, I felt so nice. I have already contacted him and we are organizing how it will each in Kenya. If you do qualify for those Commonwealth Games in Scotland, if Valentine the bike makes it that two of you might be able to meet in Glasgow? Yeah, I'll be proud. I'll be very much proud to meet her. Alice Mouringu and Cari Ruxton. And that's all from the Happy Pod for now. If you have a story you think we should cover, we'd love to hear from you. Just send us an email or a voice note to globalpodcast@bbc. Co. Uk. This edition was mixed by Philip Ball and the producers were Holly Gibbs and Rachel Bulkley. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Alex Ritson. Until next time.

Goodbye. We focus on the part of the Internet that most people don't know about. It's called the Dark Web. Undercover in the furthest corners of the Dark Web. Us Special Agents are on a mission to locate and rescue children from abuse. Moving in now. Police. From the BBC World Service, World of Secrets, the Darkest Web follows their shocking investigations. Listen on BBC. Com or wherever you get your BBC podcasts.