Queue to the KEW | Calm Strolls and Quiet Conversations

In Queue to the KEW, Marco and Amanda ease into a softly spoken reflection on a recent visit to Bota Bota, the floating spa in Montreal’s Old Port. They describe the gentle rhythm of hot and cold circuits, quiet waterfront views, and the peaceful hush that settles in when phones are tucked away and voices soften. The conversation unfolds slowly, like steam rising off the water.
From spa serenity, the episode drifts into a lighthearted linguistic musing: “queue” versus “line.” Marco’s affection for British expressions meets Amanda’s practical preferences, creating an easygoing exchange about language and how words shape everyday life. Naturally, this leads to a shared appreciation for calm British television — the kind of cozy, low-stakes viewing that pairs perfectly with late-night wind-downs.
As always, this calming podcast offers a relaxing conversation designed to help you fall asleep, ease anxiety, or quiet racing thoughts. It’s ideal for background listening at bedtime or during middle-of-the-night wake-ups. Let the spa stories and gentle wordplay guide you toward a peaceful rest.

​Queue to the KEW

(Original airdate: Nov 8, 2023) 
Marco: 
 Welcome to the Insomnia Project. Sit back, relax and listen as we have a calm conversation that is meant, of course, to help you drift away and possibly find your way to sleep. Thank you for joining us. I'm your host, Marco Timpano.

Amanda:  I'm Amanda Barker.

Marco:  Amanda, uh, uh, we've mentioned it. I think last week this podcast is nominated for two Canadian Podcast awards that are coming up. Best Health and Fitness and best Outstanding Production. So there we go. And uh, we were just in Montreal because uh, another podcast I work on, uh, had a live, a live broadcast that was really excellent. I had a really great time in Montreal and uh, it was well received and the authors being interviewed were fantastic and it went very well.

Amanda:  And we got to go to Bota Bota.

Marco:  Yes. And I'd love to talk about that for our listeners because we have a lot of listeners who enjoy spas and things like that. So tell us about Bota Bota.

Amanda:  Oh, I thought you were going to um. Well, Bota Bota is a spa on a boat.

Marco:  Hence the name Bota B O A T A B O A T A. It's right near Old Montreal on the water.

Amanda:  Mhm. And you kind of nestled on the St. Lawrence River.

Marco:  Walk through a little path that keeps telling you to be silent. And uh, then you check, uh, in with the attendants.

Amanda:  Yeah, yeah. You get a towel and a robe. Very similar to other spas that we've been to. Um, but it's interesting because some of it is on the boat and then they have a little bit of land next to where the boat is docked. And you know, we say boat but it barely resembles a boat. It's definitely floating on the water.

Marco:  There were two old barges I think that they made into a spa. So you keep going up and up on the boat and there's different dry saunas and wet saunas. And I never do these cool pools or what are they called, you jump in them all the time.

Amanda:  Cold plunge.

Marco:  Cold plunge.

Amanda:  If it's wet, I'm going to get into it. If it's dry, I'm going to get into it. I want to make sure I do everything there.

Marco:  I fell asleep on one of the little hanging egg chairs.

Amanda:  Well, what they have, and this is very common with spas, is they tell you to do what they call the circuit. And so at Bota Bota, uh, they say that the circuit is a hot put pool or a hot tub experience. There are hot tubs. Um, there is also a very warm pool. Two warm pools. So you get into one of those nice and steamy and then you go for a quick cold plunge. Apparently it's very good for you.

Marco:  Not for me.

Amanda:  And then you lounge for about 15 minutes and just relax.

Marco:  Oh, I didn't know that you're supposed to lounge.

Amanda:  And then you repeat that. Yeah. So there's places to lounge. Like you said, there's so sort of swings that kind of resemble little egg crate. Well, egg crates, I don't know, but they're like little, um, oval baskets. Baskets that you can kind of swing and lay in. And, um, there's also a whole. You know, there's a room we didn't even go into that's like a nap room. Then there's another place that has music kind of going. And yeah, it's. It's a really. I mean, the thing that's really neat about it is there's so much to it and it's in a downtown setting. Because the last time you and I went to something like this was a year ago almost exactly.

Marco:  Right.

Amanda:  And it was just outside of Ottawa in a place, uh, called Chelsea, Quebec. I had been filming a Christmas movie that had wrapped. And, uh, so we went to that place which was called Nordique. Now that was almost like the amusement park of spas. Like it had everything. It was sprawling and amazing. This. So everything after that is going to feel a bit more truncated.

Marco:  And it was our listeners who recommended going to Norge. So they made a spa lover out of me because prior to that I had not been.

Amanda:  And we've been to three this year. We went to Bota. Bota. Ah. Um. And obviously, as we said a year ago, we went to Nordique. And in between that, for our anniversary,

Marco:  we went to Skandinav.

Amanda:  Skandinav Spa, which is up in Collingwood.

Marco:  That's right.

Amanda:  Look at us. How bougie.

Marco:  I know it feels. But what's funny is we went to Bota Bota after 5pm so we got a after hours discount.

Amanda:  Yeah, that's the way to do it.

Marco:  That is definitely the way to do it.

Amanda:  Also, it's really cool to be at one of those places at night because you're in the hot pool and looking up at the city and the stars. Pretty neat.

Marco:  It is pretty neat, I have to admit. And then, uh, you and I drove there. So we drove back home and it was a lovely drive.

Amanda:  I know it feels like a blur almost.

Marco:  Um, feels like a blur for sure. And look at me rhyming. And then, um. Yeah, we've just been. We've just been action packed since then. So we're just kind of unwinding and enjoying. Enjoying our.

Amanda:  Yesterday was one of those days where we had a lot of things and it all worked out, but it was a very. As it turned out, it wasn't meant to be that way. But it became a very time allotted day. I know we've all had Those. And. And, um, I always, when I have a day like that where it's pretty packed the next day, I always call it my work hangover day.

Marco:  Oh, of course.

Amanda:  Like you have a hangover from the amount of work that you did. You and I, we used to work heavily on the weekends.

Marco:  That's right.

Amanda:  If you remember, early in our relationship, sure. We did a lot of promo work, which meant we would work, you know, uh, conference centers and events, trade shows, festivals. So those tend to be on weekends. Right. So we would go and we'd be doing a promo gig for a wedding show or a baby show or whatever.

Marco:  A show where you could stand in a phone booth and win fake money

Amanda:  for a particular Canadian company, where we would go and spend the weekend sort of hyping up a store and getting people giving people dollars, sort of almost like little mini gift certificates that they can use in the store. But, um, they could be intense weekends. So then I'd always say we have the work hangover on the Monday if we weren't working. You always have to book a sort of chill day, even if it's still a work day. Just something a little bit more laid back. And also today, in, uh, the end, I didn't really cook today. I made some bread, but that was in the bread maker, so it's mean itself, really. And, ah, had a very, very simple salad for lunch. And we had, um, some soup that was in a mason jar that your mom had handed to us last night.

Marco:  You were recently talking to, um, someone whose father has a bread maker that when the bread maker is on and baking the bread, it'll kind of walk itself off the counter.

Amanda:  The machine, It's a bread maker problem. Well, while it's kneading, ours does that too to a certain degr. Walk itself off the counter. But they get pretty, um, intense because they're kneading the bread and that is a real flapping kind of motion. And so the shifting of the weight, it's almost like a mini washing machine when there's one big heavy towel in it. It's just that kind of the weight, the circular motion of the weight is affecting the machine and kind of rocking it back and forth. For sure.

Marco:  Yeah. And, uh, I think last week I mentioned that I got starch and I used the starch. And my shirts are very crisp, and I'm very happy about that.

Amanda:  That's great to hear.

Marco:  Nothing like putting on a crisp shirt, uh, with crisp collars.

Amanda:  I need to listen. Starch is great in our food, and it's great in our shirts.

Marco:  Without a doubt. And uh, you know, it's interesting. Prior to coming down here, it was lightning sleet outside.

Amanda:  Yeah. And it's happening again this year. Last year we had, uh. Thunder. Snow.

Marco:  Yeah, that's right.

Amanda:  Thundersnow.

Marco:  Good old thunderstorm.

Amanda:  And the thundersnow is back today. It's our first snow of the year, I think.

Marco:  Well, it's not thunder, it's lightning sleet because it's not snow. It's sleety because I went to put the garbage out.

Amanda:  But earlier it was like an icy snow.

Marco:  Right. But there's no thunder. It's all lightning.

Amanda:  Well, that can't be.

Marco:  Yeah, I didn't hear a thunderclap.

Amanda:  I think you can't have lightning without thunder, right?

Marco:  I don't know. I think you can have.

Amanda:  When there's lightning, there's thunder.

Marco:  I guess I thought, uh.

Amanda:  I don't think you get the lightning without thunder.

Marco:  I didn't hear the thunder.

Amanda:  You don't get the rainbows without the rain, I guess.

Marco:  Well, it was quite sleety outside and I had to bring out the garbage in the, uh.

Amanda:  That's not a word you hear a lot. Sleety.

Marco:  No, no.

Amanda:  It's not the sleety side of the street. It's true.

Marco:  And we talked to our, um, sister in law and nephew.

Amanda:  Oh yeah, we did. That was a fun. I had a quick little lunch break and you happened to be home for it. And our little baby nephew. We have three nephews and one incredible niece that. Three incredible nephews. They couldn't be more different, the three of them. I love them all so, so much. And uh, our youngest nephew and youngest

Marco:  of all of them, he decided to call us.

Amanda:  Or his mom did maybe face call us.

Marco:  What do you call those things?

Amanda:  Yeah.

Marco:  And we got to see him and I tried to do all my. All my uncle tricks to make. To make my nephew giggle or laugh.

Amanda:  He's not sure what to make of us.

Marco:  He's not sure.

Amanda:  Oh, he's cute though. And smart. Yeah. Uh, he's a real joy and brings a lot of happiness and a lot of, uh, conversational topics to this house. We talk about him all the time. Just cause he's a year and a half now and he's kind of exploding with language. So he's learning all sorts of new things.

Marco:  So much fun to hear the words that he's learning. I got a postcard today which is always exciting to get in the mail when you get, you know, bill or m. Just junk mail. After Junk mail. And I think there was a magazine of yours and a flyer. And then I saw a postcard.

Amanda:  Huh. Uh-huh.

Marco:  From a friend who was working in the Northwest Territory, so that was so lovely to receive.

Amanda:  Yeah.

Marco:  Um, a postcard from that far north.

Amanda:  Uh-huh.

Marco:  From a friend. And I love getting postcards. I have to say, I used to write so many. I do make a point of writing a few postcards, depending where we are.

Amanda:  I feel poorly because when we were in St Pierre and Magdalene, I posted after we came back, and a dear friend of mine who lives in Whitehorse.

Marco:  Actually, you said St. Pierre and Magdalene. St. Pierre Miquelon.

Amanda:  Oh, that's funny.

Marco:  Yeah.

Amanda:  I'm tired.

Marco:  Yeah, fair enough.

Amanda:  I did. Yeah. But there are Magdalene Islands, right?

Marco:  That's right. There are Magdalene Islands.

Amanda:  Where are they?

Marco:  Uh, you know, Ile de Madeleine is.

Amanda:  But that's Ile de Madeleine. But what are the Magdalene Islands? Is that the same?

Marco:  I don't. I don't. I can't pinpoint that.

Amanda:  Oh, no. So many m. Islands. There's a lot of Madagascar, Mauritius.

Marco:  Wow. So many.

Amanda:  So many. Uh, Montserrat. Now, I'm just thinking of islands that begin with island, um, countries. Um, anyway, he saw it and he said, oh, please send me a postcard from there. I don't have one from there. I guess he has a big postcard collection, which I don't think I realized because I send him a Christmas card every year. But I guess it's the postcards he's after, so I need to, um, figure that out. Do we have one?

Marco:  We might have one.

Amanda:  It won't be from there, but I feel bad because we worked really hard to get those posts. Postcards out there.

Marco:  We could send one from. I think I have a postcard from Jamestown, New York, if you want to send that.

Amanda:  I don't know if he wants that, but yeah.

Marco:  Um, Madeline island is an island in Lake Superior, which is part of Ashland County, Wisconsin. Is that what you're thinking?

Amanda:  Magdalene?

Marco:  No, Madeleine.

Amanda:  So there's Ile de Madeleine, too, which is different, but I said Magdalene, so that's what we're trying to find. I think there is Magdalene Islands, but I don't know if that's what they call Ile de Madeleine in English.

Marco:  Yeah. Magdalene Islands is, uh, off Fatima, Quebec, it says here, I think.

Amanda:  Or is that different islands?

Marco:  The Magdalene Islands. Ile de la Madeleine.

Amanda:  Okay, so there you go.

Marco:  It's a small archipelago.

Amanda:  Just because Magdalene could be in both languages and Madeleine can be both languages, so I didn't know if it translated Madeleine To Magdalene.

Marco:  You know, I didn't realize Madeleine is Magdalene.

Amanda:  I don't know that I realized that either.

Marco:  I prefer Madeleine. Although I did know a Magda. When I was in high school.

Amanda:  I. I worked with a Magda, uh, at my work. So there you go. Everyone knows a Magda.

Marco:  I see your Magda, and I raise you another Mag.

Amanda:  She was Ukrainian or Polish. I can't remember. Was your Magda a Ukrainian or both?

Marco:  No, she wasn't.

Amanda:  Well, what heritage was she?

Marco:  She was Italian.

Amanda:  Oh. Why are you looking at me like that, like as if I knew that. I didn't know. I didn't know Magda well.

Marco:  I had to think.

Amanda:  Well, her business.

Marco:  Oh, you. You know what? I'm sure she's doing well, whether she, you know, her business or not. I haven't. I haven't seen her in so many years.

Amanda:  Well, let's hope she's somehow listening, but this makes it to her. Magda, who you went to high school with. Do you remember? I won't. We won't say her last name. But do you remember her last name?

Marco:  Uh, I think so.

Amanda:  Not convincing.

Marco:  Listen, to be fair, Magda and I weren't. Weren't fast friends.

Amanda:  We weren't tight.

Marco:  No, we weren't tight. Um, I believe she was good in math, and I wasn't. And I'll leave it at that.

Amanda:  Okay.

Marco:  I'd never enjoyed a math class, but I did enjoy science and art classes and, you know, geography. I was good in geography. Speaking of Magdalene, Ice, our niece, was

Amanda:  telling me last night that she's really enjoying history and geography, but she now gets to study.

Marco:  Are you a fan of geography?

Amanda:  Yeah, but I wasn't as a kid, I don't think. But I also don't really remember taking geography.

Marco:  I took geography. Geography. Uh, class in university. And the thing I remember the most about that class was the teacher said, glossier for glacier.

Amanda:  Oh, that is weird.

Marco:  He was British. But he said glacier.

Amanda:  Okay. He was British.

Marco:  It took me. I, uh, don't think that's an excuse just because he was British.

Amanda:  That's a way to say it.

Marco:  Uh, glass here.

Amanda:  Like, do you say tinnitus or tinnitus or whatever?

Marco:  Well, clearly, I don't say the second one if you can't even say it.

Amanda:  Tinnitus is tinnitus. Tinnitus, Like Madeline is to Magdalene.

Marco:  Do you say aluminum or aluminium?

Amanda:  Aluminium.

Marco:  That's what you say?

Amanda:  No.

Marco:  Okay. Schedule or schedule.

Amanda:  Do you say coupon or coupon?

Marco:  Ooh. Do you say nuclear?

Amanda:  We're not answering these Nuclear or nuclear?

Marco:  Do you say library or liberry?

Amanda:  Do you say epitome or epitome?

Marco:  Oh, I don't say epitome. I never heard that before. My goodness. I will say this, though. You know, sometimes we get hired to do audiobooks, and there'll be words that we encounter that we don't necessarily know what the pronunciation is of that word, the correct pronunciation. So I go to this website called youglish, Y O, U, glish, and it will give you a bunch of pronunciations of that word in many different English pronunciations. So you can do North American. So the US or British or Australian pronunciations of those words.

Amanda:  Amazing.

Marco:  So it's proven handy because there's certain words that I encounter that I'm like, I have no idea how you pronounce that word. Huh? And you need to know how to pronounce them when you're reading a book. Speaking of books, we got the Britney Spears book that we.

Amanda:  Oh, yeah, we did.

Marco:  On audiobooks. We've been listening to that.

Amanda:  Uh, something happened and someone's finger slipped, I think, or something. Because we've skipped over a major part of her life and a major part of the book that has been well publicized. And at first we thought, oh, it'll come back later.

Marco:  But we're beyond that point.

Amanda:  It's not one of those memoirs where she's not following a timeline. She's following a pretty. Definitely pretty linear timeline.

Marco:  Do you prefer books that follow timelines, or do you like them to bounce

Amanda:  around when they're books written by Britney Spears? I think they can follow a nice, succinct timeline.

Marco:  Sure, sure.

Amanda:  It's not a long book either.

Marco:  No, we listened to it. What's funny is you were in Kew for it in the library.

Amanda:  Oh, my goodness. What a British thing to say.

Marco:  I always say Q. I was in Q fort. You were in Q Fort. How would you describe what you were?

Amanda:  I was on hold. I had it on hold.

Marco:  I guess. I guess. I think you were in Q for it.

Amanda:  But I've never heard you say that in Q for it.

Marco:  I use Q all the time.

Amanda:  Can you queue for some groceries?

Marco:  I always queue for groceries.

Amanda:  Super British.

Marco:  Well, listen, I can't help what I am. Um,

Amanda:  I'm more British than you are.

Marco:  No, by heritage.

Amanda:  It's all about the heritage today.

Marco:  Oh, my goodness.

Amanda:  What do you mean? Why are you upset about that?

Marco:  I don't think. I mean, you're here.

Amanda:  Oh, my goodness. Okay.

Marco:  Well, then I'm surprised you're not using Q. I understand.

Amanda:  It I don't use it. I'm also American fair. Remember we left Britain.

Marco:  Exactly. So you left the queue behind. You were in queue to leave.

Amanda:  Yeah. You don't have to queue anymore when you leave Britain.

Marco:  Uh, I still queue. But my point was not about your lineage to Britain. My point was that you had a. You were in a long list of queue for.

Amanda:  Still sounds weird for the book. You were like, yeah, there was like 2,000. It was like 2,700 people are ahead of you. You're like, oh, that'll be great.

Marco:  So we were like, we're not going to get this book for months and months because we prefer to use the library when we can to get both our audiobooks and our regular page books. What do you call them?

Amanda:  Our regular page books.

Marco:  It's a very British way to say it.

Amanda:  However, something happened with the library this week.

Marco:  They had a bit of a malfunction with their computer systems for a while, so we weren't even able to access books. But something happened this week, and Amanda skipped the cue to the very beginning of the line. And she has.

Amanda:  People couldn't get it out, I think. And then. So they just kept going up the line, and then I ended up getting it.

Marco:  And we were listening to it like it was going out of style and we were having a good time.

Amanda:  Yeah, we're not done it yet. We have two more hours left.

Marco:  We have two more hours. And because you skipped the cue, you only have it for seven days, correct?

Amanda:  Yes, that's right. So it's called the Skip the Line book.

Marco:  Oh, is it called Skip the Line?

Amanda:  Yeah, it's definitely not called the Skip the Cue book.

Marco:  I think it would sound better. Skip the cue, Lulu. Skip the cue.

Amanda:  Okay. Do you know about Kew Gardens?

Marco:  Yeah, we've talked about them before.

Amanda:  Oh, we have.

Marco:  Remind us.

Amanda:  Kew Gardens, spelled differently. K E W. Are the gardens around, I believe, Buckingham palace, one of the palaces.

Marco:  Sure.

Amanda:  I don't know which palace. I think Buckingham. Is that the big one? It's your hairstyle, Windsor. I was gone by the time the Mountbattens were in power. Um, anyway, uh, they used to be the gardens that supplied all the food for the kingdom or for the queen or something, I don't know. But there used to be this show called, um. What was it called? Kew Garden or Four Seasons of the Q lineup.

Marco:  Gardens.

Amanda:  It's spelled differently. It's K W. I don't know if it means the same thing. And I found it the most gentle, calming series. I must have watched it A million times. There's only four episodes. But it was like all the things I love about calming British tv because they would be like, uh, in the spring, asparagus, uh, and then they would show a couple ways to cook asparagus and then they would show how, you know, the Victorians cooked their asparagus. They would. And there's always something crazy. They'd be like, they thought it was a good idea to preserve it in arsenic. They didn't understand why people were getting ill or whatever. I don't know, there's always like something like that. Or like they enjoyed making a savory tart with asparagus and lard or whatever. Like there's always something crazy. You're like, what? Um. And then they'd like make that thing or whatever it was for each season. So anyway, it's very enjoyable. If anyone can. I don't know where it probably lives in the depths of an Amazon prime catalog or something.

Marco:  Listen, you could always look up the library has it and put yourself on a tree.

Amanda:  I remember the name. Four Seasons of the Kew or Dinner from the Kew or Kew Gardens. I don't know.

Marco:  Well, that helps our listeners find it.

Amanda:  Yeah, it's super helpful. Let me see if I can find it.

Marco:  There you go. Um, speaking of gardens, I had to put away my garden outside and I had to bring all my indoor plants back inside. And, uh, lo and behold, none of my tomatoes made tomatoes this year, which I was very disappointed in. Not one, but we had.

Amanda:  It's just in.

Marco:  Okay.

Amanda:  Kew Gardens A year in bloom. 2021. It was made. Was that it? 2021.

Marco:  One episode and done or one season and done.

Amanda:  That's it. I thought it was longer ago. Well, there's a second series of cute gardens A Year in Bloom. I need to find. Channel 5.

Marco:  I'm watching this arts and crafts show once again, a British show because it seems like that's all we ever watch.

Amanda:  Hm.

Marco:  Where all these artisans have to live in a, um, in a grand estate.

Amanda:  Mhm.

Marco:  And they have to arts and craft it up.

Amanda:  Yeah.

Marco:  So they get a room.

Amanda:  What's it called?

Marco:  Victorian Arts and Crafts House or something like that.

Amanda:  Yeah.

Marco:  Um. And so what happens is they get a room and four of the artists have to approach the room and design in the room and the other artists kind of help them out, but they have to use what you would have back in the day. So for example, you know, one person,

Amanda:  it's called the Victorian House of Arts and Crafts.

Marco:  Right. So they have to use Victorian methods to make their arts and crafts.

Amanda:  Mhm.

Marco:  And so, for example, they had to make, um, wallpaper and they had to print it in the old fashioned way. It was pretty incredible, Amanda. And I'm really enjoying that. But it takes me at least three episodes to watch it because I fall asleep. But, uh, it is a great show. Yeah, I know.

Amanda:  Yeah, absolutely.

Marco:  And, uh, as you can tell, we're sort of.

Amanda:  We're drifting off thinking about Kew Gardens.

Marco:  We're drifting off ourselves. So I think I'm gonna wish you all the best. Thank you all for listening to our podcast and making it one that gets recognized for awards. And I really appreciate that. If you are a voting member of the Canadian Podcast Awards, feel free to drop us a vote. And if you're not, feel free to just listen, relax, and drift off to your Kew Garden or to your spa on a boat, or to your queue. Queue. Until next time. We hope you were able to listen and sleep.