Episode 17 and I'm joined by Molly Keane:

00:25 — Intro / meet Molly / Sligo, photography, trail running, sourdough donut discourse

03:22 — Note 1: Barry / Something overheard on the Crete flight home between a creepy guy and his seat partner

12:44 — Note 2: Molly / Oldest note: a shopping list that reveals a decision she made about herself → Dirty Girl Fridays → pineapple pizza → candied pineapple toasty on the Tour de Mont Blanc

27:05 — Note 3: Molly / A dream from April 2022 involving someone unlikely being fearless → recurring childhood nightmare → Tenet, Inception, and why Molly is a serial rewatcher of Little Miss Sunshine

36:40 — Note 4: Molly / A New Year's Eve note that asks one big question and leaves it completely blank → Paris Marathon, strength training, running podcast recs

44:45 — The Mongolian massage: a forty-five minute education, a gas station inflatable man, a lit rollie, and €50 Barry didn't see coming

51:37 — Mongolian throat singing, Tilly the dog's review of it, and Barry's DART claim that didn't survive five seconds of scrutiny

Molly is a photographer, trail runner, and all-round outdoor enthusiast based in Sligo. But that's only a small portion of our convo. We'd met exactly once before this. You can find Molly at @mollykeane_photo on Instagram and @molly_wanders on TikTok, where she documents everything about the northwest of Ireland with her rescue dog, Tilly, and her wonderful fiance Garth.

We cover...A note I took on the flight home from Crete that I probably shouldn't publish but absolutely am. Molly's oldest note — a shopping list from 2021 that brings us onto Monty Python. A dream she wrote down in April 2022, which opens up into a proper conversation about recurring nightmares, Christopher Nolan, and Little Miss Sunshine. And a single question jotted down on New Year's Eve with absolutely zero follow-up — which then leads to the most honest conversation about marathon training, patience, and why runners hate hearing about strength training. That bit was written by AI. So sue me. It's really late.

And then at the end, because we went about twenty minutes over and I couldn't stop myself, I told Molly about the time I booked a Mongolian massage in Berlin through ClassPass. Forty-five minutes of massage history. A scarecrow. A gas station inflatable man. A lit rollie. A calcium deficit diagnosis. And a €50 surcharge on what I thought was a free session. I don't have many regrets in life, but.

The podcast's instagram: https://www.instagram.com/secretphonenotes/

My website + contact: https://barrytaylor.co/

Cheers!

This week Barry is joined by Danny, an Ecuadorian musician-turned-entrepreneur based in Guayaquil, Ecuador for a roulette through his notes apps. Daniel spent eight years as a musician in Germany, fronting Ponte Pilas. Now he's back in Ecuador running Pulso Verde, a sustainability startup that communicates climate action through comedy and sketches - their self-declared moonshot: to become the SNL of sustainability. They get into the challenge of building a green business in a country where sustainability is, in Daniel's words, still in nappies, and what it actually looks like when individual impact becomes measurable. Also: a 2014 note about an album cover involving two blocks of ice, a one-line note on human conviction that doubles as a perfect summary of climate inaction and gastritis pizza relapses, the Ecuadorian expression "el mundo de los sin zapatos" (the world of the shoeless), the Philip Seymour Hoffman hair-pulling story from the set of The Master, Jake Gyllenhaal's eyebrows in Nightcrawler, and Barry's 35 before 35 list. (I'm sorry, AI summarised this. I am too too tired).

00:23 — Introduction

04:57 — Note 1: Barry / Camino hiking shopping list → peach loops, sweaty Camembert, and morale management on long trails

11:06 — Note 2: Daniel / oldest note (2014, Bremen) → "You and I, we're gonna live some more" → Ponte Pilas origin, music background, parents who wanted to be musicians

~18:00 — Note 3: Daniel / "El mundo de los sin zapatos" → creativity and discipline → the Berlin park "temple" → Bismillah album, Peter Kat Recording Company

31:31 — Note 4: Daniel / "The condemnation is that we know what to do and we don't do it" → sustainability parallels → gastritis and the pizza relapse

36:09 — Pulso Verde deep dive: the SNL of sustainability, the talk show, team of 13, no greenwashing

41:01 — The man who brought his reusable cup / what measurable impact actually feels like

43:37 — The Studio (Seth Rogen) / Hollywood making fun of Hollywood / the actors who said no and are now calling back

45:10 — Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Thomas Anderson, and the hair-pulling story / Jesse Plemons / Jake Gyllenhaal's eyebrows in Nightcrawler

50:20 — Barry's 35 before 35 list / acting class as the litmus test of fear / sign-off / "el mundo de los sin zapatos"

Practicing your Spanish? Listen here:

Pulso Verde: https://www.instagram.com/pulso__verde/?hl=en

Pulshow: https://www.instagram.com/pulshowww/?hl=en

More episodes etc:

Secret Phone Notes: https://www.instagram.com/secretphonenotes/?hl=en

This week Barry is joined by Sara Louise — Sydney-based brand strategist, singer, musician, and author — for a roulette through her notes app. In the last thirteen months, Sara has recorded an album at Abbey Road Studios, written and released her debut single "Buen Hombre", and self-published May the Road Rise, a book tracing her Irish family roots back to the Cork flying columns and the War of Independence. Her grandmother was a member of Cumann na mBan, awarded IRA medals, and was involved in printing illegal propaganda with Erskine Childers in a cottage outside Kilnamatra, Macroom. Also: working in Tokyo and why KFC is Japan's Christmas tradition, singing "My Way" in Spanish at a Bolivian celebration of life, Barry's overheard Bray prom conversation that doubled as a commentary on Ireland's cocaine statistics, and what it means to carry your grandmother's DNA a hundred years after she left Cork.

Links:

• https://www.saralouise.me/
• https://barrytaylor.co/
• https://www.instagram.com/secretphonenotes/
• Email: barrytaylor1993@gmail.com

00:00 — Intro / meet Sara

04:57 — GUEST RANDOM NOTE

08:18 — Japan: KFC Christmas and NYE traditions: Shinto New Year, Yoroshiku Negaishimasu

14:14 — RANDOM HOST NOTE:

Ireland's cocaine stats → Jameson whiskey → the Boston deathbed story

22:51 — GUEST RANDOM NOTE

singing at a Bolivian funeral → Irish songs and grief → dream of singing in Irish

37:54 — GUEST RANDOM NOTE

Coke for Vinnie → Sri Lankan food in the Hunter Valley → what is jaggery

46:17 — Irish family history: the flying columns, 8th Battalion, Cork ambush sites

52:20 — Cumann na mBan → grandma's IRA medals

56:41 — Erskine Childers, illegal propaganda, TB, and leaving Cork in 1925

1:00:09 — Wrap-up: May the Road Rise book, the album

This week I sit down with Niamh Barry a Cork-born, Dublin-based photographer and documentary filmmaker and we roulette her phone notes app. Niamh's debut documentary Something in the Air, officially selected for Galway Film Fleadh 2026 and GazeFest, follows Raychel Sanner, a storm chaser and trans woman living between Oklahoma and New Mexico. Just last month it won Best Short Documentary at the BAFTA-qualifying Manchester Film Festival.

• https://www.filmsomethingintheair.com/donate
• https://www.niamh-barry.com/189a7061fd-content

We get into Tornado Alley, anti-trans legislation, what surprised Niamh about the LGBT community in Oklahoma, and what it took to finally photograph boygenius, including a last-minute visa scramble and a flight to Philadelphia.

Amongst other things, we kick off with Barry's (me, host) (not Niamh) awkward opener involving a dermatology appointment and the SH:24 free STI testing service (get checked, folks). Chapter list is below. as well as other links!

Chapter list:

00:00 – Welcome & introducing photographer and filmmaker Niamh Barry

03:40 - FIRST HOST NOTE (RANDOM)

04:20 – An awkward first phone note: skin checks, STI tests & Irish healthcare

09:40 - FIRST GUEST NOTE (RANDOM)

10:20 – The notes behind working with Irish band Sprints

15:45 – Flying to Philadelphia to photograph Boygenius

20:45 – Queer representation in music photography

24:45 – SECOND GUEST NOTE (RANDOM)

26:20 – Making Something in the Air

30:10 – Storm chasing, Oklahoma & meeting Raychel

33:45 – What Hollywood gets wrong about tornadoes

36:50 – Will & Harper, empathy & travelling across America

44:00 - THIRD GUEST NOTE (RANDOM)

44:50 – The Irish Photography Prize & photographing community

50:30 – Barry's accidental photography exhibition

55:20 – Wrap-up

Social links:

• https://www.instagram.com/narryphotographyvids/
• https://www.instagram.com/secretphonenotes/

Thanks!

Ready to roulette a stranger's notes app? Today I'm joined by Chris Barrett, an adventurer who is known for sharing stories of Irish and Arctic nature. He's also a woodworker, conservationist, designer, and many other things. He's worth a listen. It's one of my fave chats so far. Anyway, let's see what we find in his notes app.

• Secret Phone Notes Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/secretphonenotes/
• Chris Barrett's Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/chris_barrett_photo/

Rough overview and chapter list below: A citizen science Arctic expedition off Svalbard, a year bike packing through Patagonia, Bolivia's salt flats and the Atacama Desert, and a near-miss on Bolivia's death road all come up through the notes. So does an autonomous fertilizer ball, a gecko-inspired glove built for his college thesis, and the Trinity College research linking polar bears back to the Irish brown bear. Plus: Tom Crean, translucent polar bear fur, and why biomimicry has 3.5 billion years of R&D behind it.

• 00:00 – Welcome & introducing Chris Barrett
• 01:20 – RANDOM HOST NOTE
• 02:00 – Colour blindness, whiskey ads & Coca-Cola myths
• 04:50 – Coca leaves, altitude sickness & hiking in Peru
• 06:50 – Bikepacking Patagonia, Bolivia & traveling light
• 09:15 – The Pacific Crest Trail & ultralight hiking culture
• 12:30 – RANDOM GUEST NOTE: the autonomous fertiliser ball
• 16:55 – Nature restoration, farming & rural Ireland
• 20:05 – Biomimicry: how nature inspires better design
• 24:55 – Gecko gloves, shark skin & everyday invention
• 28:10 – RANDOM GUEST NOTE
• 31:20 – Cycling the Bolivian salt flats & drunken drivers
• 36:20 – RANDOM GUEST NOTE
  • Boxing inventions → Arctic photography
• 37:30 – Polar bears, climate change & photographing the Arctic
• 41:55 – Svalbard expeditions & a life-long obsession with the poles
• 44:20 – Tom Crean, Shackleton & Ireland's greatest explorer
• 48:35 – Wrap-up

Thank you for listening!

Ready to roulette a stranger's notes app? Today I'm joined by Maureen Onwunali, a Dublin-born Nigerian poet who is a lot of fun. And national slam poetry champion twice! We scroll, we stop, and we reveal what's hidden away in the swamp that is our notes app. Let's listen!

• Secret Phone Notes Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/secretphonenotes/
• Maureen Onwunali's Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/monwunali_poetry/

You'll find the chapter list below but tl;dr - Maureen was dscovered on stage (ish) at 14 by poet Joelle Taylor, Maureen talks growing up between Dublin, London and Milton Keynes, performing at the Irish Embassy for Bloomsday, and what her name actually means. Plus: a viral puffer jacket poem, 1,776 phone notes, and the ongoing campaign to dethrone Maureen O'Hara on Google. Stay tuned.

Chapter list:

00:25 Introduction to Secret Phone Notes

04:01 Exploring the Roulette of Notes

05:22 RANDOM HOST NOTE

06:19 Diving into Maureen's Oldest Note

07:46 OLDEST GUEST NOTE

08:58 The Impact of Lockdown on Creativity

10:26 Maureen's poetry beginnings, aged 12

17:42 GUEST'S NEWEST NOTE

22:15 An Ambassador to Milton Keynes

25:10 Which city has shaped Maureen's writing the most?

28:10 The mandem don't cry enough poem

32:10 What is slam poetry?

35:00 Building a university poetry team from scratch

43:30 Nigerian heritage, language & oral storytelling

49:24 Maureen performs a poem

55:50 Closing notes

Ready to roulette a stranger's notes app? Today I'm joined by Oisín for the 11th (official) episode of Secret Phone Notes. We scroll, we stop, and we reveal what's hidden away in the swamp that is our notes app. Let's listen!

• Secret Phone Notes Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/secretphonenotes/
• Oisín's amazing videos and prose - https://www.instagram.com/prendio2/

00:00 Introduction to the Secret Phone Notes Podcast

04:08 RANDOM HOST NOTE

05:08 Oisín's ludicrous way of keeping notes

08:13 Creative Processes and Cycling Adventures

08:34 GUEST RANDOM NOTE

09:56 Life Lessons from Cycling around the World

14:47 SECOND RANDOM GUEST NOTE

22:06 The Journey Begins: Starting at Granny's House

25:15 Facing Challenges: The Reality of Long-Distance Cycling

28:59 WhatsApp group of Irish cyclists around the world

29:06 Dervla Murphy, cycling solo from Ireland to India in 1965

31:12 When do you feel most alive?

33:57 Cycling around the world: What has surprised you the most

34:16 Biggest surprises along the Way:?

39:58 RANDOM GUEST NOTE

44:44 Bikepacking accommodation: Where do you stay?

46:13 The Cycling Community and Female Bikepackers

47:40 RANDOM GUEST NOTE

47:47 Reflections on Home and Belonging

55:21 Final Thoughts and Reflections

If you liked this, please send it to a friend/enemy or rate it or follow on Instagram or anything really that'll help push it to one more individual haha. Am I desperate? Yes.

Additional notes:

Bikepacking around the world, cycling trips

Ready to roulette a stranger's notes app? Today I'm joined by Adrien for the 10th (official) episode of Secret Phone Notes. We scroll, we stop, and we reveal what's hidden away in the swamp that is our notes app. Let's listen!

• Secret Phone Notes Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/secretphonenotes/

00:00 Introduction to Adrien

01:37 How we met, Barry's winning final goal

03:58 How the format works

05:23 RANDOM HOST NOTE

07:46 Experiences in Business Class and Celebrity Encounters

08:00 Barry's sole premium airline experience

08:33 Jameson First Shot and Barry in LA

10:20 The Kevin Spacey crisis

13:20 Superstitions and Personal Rituals

20:48 RANDOM GUEST NOTE

21:55 Adrien's Random thoughts: Bad whistlers

22:57 Adrien's Random thoughts: Americans and Their Cars

24:37 Designing Burger King menus

28:29 American vs. Italian Pizza

30:49 Warm shower thougths

33:56 Swiss Lifestyle and Swimming Culture

37:16 RANDOM GUEST NOTE

37:34 The Burger Boy and Culinary memories

40:08 Nostalgic Fast Food Memories

45:07 Cultural Roots and Family Background

51:23 Trolling England fans in a bar

53:35 Exploring Ivory Coast: A Cultural Perspective

Links and stufff!

• The Burger Boy - https://www.instagram.com/the_burgerboy_/
• The Burger Boy hiking the Alps for the ultimate burger - https://youtu.be/Y6KmqoU5jdE?si=ydH8DcS4ndDRr5GC

• Secret Phone Notes Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/secretphonenotes/
• Barry's Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/barrison_ford/
• Barry's Website - https://barrytaylor.co/
• Barry's email - barrytaylor1993@gmail.com

Thanks so much!