Yours Sincerely (Season 4, Ep 10)

Is there still a place for the pen-and-paper posted letter? Alison Hitchcock thinks so: when she discovered her friend Brian Greenley had cancer, she decided to write him regular letters throughout his treatment - initially as an attempt to cheer him up, then as companionship through some of his darkest hours.In this interview with Olly, she recalls how writing over a hundred letters to Brian helped get them both through a difficult chapter, and deepened their friendship immeasurably. You can find out more about them, and get tips on how to write to a friend with cancer, at frommetoyouletters.co.ukIn this week’s Lifehack, Ariele Rovati from Brewdog shares his top three tips on how to start your own microbrewery, courtesy of Squarespace. If you want to build yourself a beautiful website, simply visit Squarespace.com and use the code to 'MANN' to get 10% OFF a year's subscription.Meanwhile, over in the Zeitgeist, Ollie Peart highlights lab-grown meat lobbying, wonders whether ‘Snaplications’ are the future of job applications, and previews Brian Thompson’s meta-podcast ‘Whatever Happened To Pizza At McDonald’s?’.And, in the Foxhole, Alix Fox reveals why DEMO might be the new FOMO, and has wise words for listener Andrew as to the best way to find a willing woman for a forthcoming threesome: “the way people are in the streets is not always how they are under the sheets!”The Foxhole is sponsored by our friends at mycondom.com, who supply an incredible range of condoms, lube and sex toys. Visit their site and get 15% OFF at Checkout if you use our discount code, 'Foxhole'. If you have a question of sex for Alix, just use the Feedback form - you can remain anonymous if you wish - on our website, modernmann.co.ukFinally, our record of the week is ‘Talk 2 Her’ by Toronto outfit Sam Coffey and The Iron Lungs, who have a new album out in July. You can listen to all the music we’ve played this series in our Spotify playlist - find that at modernmann.co.ukThat's it for this series of the show - but we’ll be back for Season Five on the first Tuesday in June. If you value this podcast, and independent podcasting generally, please please do buy us a beer - every penny we get goes back into supporting the show, and we really appreciate it. Just visit modernmann.co.uk and click 'Beer Money'.Presenter: Olly Mann. Contributors: Ollie Peart, Alix Fox. Producer: Matt Hill. Theme Music: 'Skies Over Cairo' by Django Django. Additional music: Ambiant Obscur Technology by Komiku. Graphic Design: Jenny Mann Design. Copyright: Olly Mann / Rethink Audio 2017.