Some breakups do not involve romance at all
Scott had seen a message online from somebody called Falaq.
She had asked her driving instructor when lessons would restart.
The reply was extraordinary.
The instructor explained that he did not think they should continue, that her driving was too fast and dangerous for him, and that he needed to think about his health.
He was passing her to another instructor.
It was effectively a breakup text.
Falaq even replied asking him not to go.
Scott immediately recognised the feeling.
Sometimes ending a relationship with somebody providing a service can require almost as much emotional preparation as dumping a partner.
Hairdressers, trainers and housemates all need the speech
Scott had experienced it with hairdressers.
There is nothing technically stopping somebody from simply booking somewhere else.
But after enough appointments, conversation and familiarity, disappearing can feel rude.
Chris remembered breaking up with a personal trainer and inventing a long explanation about no longer prioritising his fitness.
Scott had once written an enormous message explaining why he was moving away from a housemate.
Neither situation was romantic.
Both had somehow acquired the language and anxiety of a relationship ending.
The show asked listeners for their own examples.
Even professionals sometimes do the dumping
One barber apparently lost a client for the simplest possible reason:
the client went bald.
Other listeners had been dropped by instructors or service providers rather than choosing to leave themselves.
The feature exposed how many everyday arrangements become relationships almost by accident.
Once somebody has cut your hair, trained you, taught you to drive or lived beside you for years, “I’m just going somewhere else now” can sound surprisingly brutal.
One boyfriend had an alarming number of WhatsApp groups
Listener Amy raised a different modern relationship concern.
Her boyfriend belonged to an enormous number of WhatsApp groups.
Not a handful.
Enough that he could have more than a hundred unread notifications and consider this completely normal.
There were different chats for hobbies, football, friends and extremely specific subjects.
Scott and Chris could not understand how anybody kept track.
Amy’s boyfriend barely seemed bothered.
Radio 1 considered infiltrating listener group chats
The show then invited listeners to describe the strangest WhatsApp groups they belonged to.
There were family groups.
Cycling groups.
A Casio-watch group.
Running chats.
A group devoted to spotting faces in inanimate objects.
Scott and Chris briefly considered getting a dedicated Radio 1 phone so the programme could actually join listeners’ group chats.
This was obviously asking for trouble.
That made the idea more attractive rather than less.
The Who Game and Live Lounges finished Monday
The Who Game returned with what one caller described as “vintage” material.
Old mobile-phone phrases such as Hello Moto and forgotten social-network habits surfaced again.
Don’t Look It Up then moved to Live Lounges That Time Forgot.
We Are the Ocean, Gnash and Gabrielle Aplin appeared through old covers.
Scott and Chris recognised pieces of the performances without necessarily remembering the sessions had ever happened.
That continued to be the perfect definition of the round.
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