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Georgie and Neil share real stories about mistakes. Georgie breaks into her own house, and Neil does something very embarrassing in a car park. 

Transcript

Neil
Hello and welcome to the Learning English Stories podcast. I'm Neil and over the next few weeks, we're going to be telling you some real stories and learning about some language we use to tell stories in English. Today Georgie is joining me.

Georgie
Hello, how are you, Neil?

Neil
I'm very well, Georgie. How are you?

Georgie
I'm also very well, thank you.

Neil
Well, we're talking in this podcast about mistakes, aren't we? So, do you have lots of stories about mistakes, Georgie?

Georgie
Unfortunately, I do, because I'm a very forgetful person, a clumsy person, so I'm always doing silly things.

Neil
OK. Sounds interesting, Georgie. Let's hear your story.

Georgie
Right, so I live with two housemates and both of them were away, for a week or something, and I decided that I wanted to make myself some food and go to the park for a picnic. I cooked the food and because I wanted to eat it hot, I rushed out of the door and then I realised I'd left my key inside, which meant that I couldn't get back into the house because neither of my housemates were there.

I decided to enjoy my picnic for a while and forget about it. But then after a couple of hours, I had to face reality, but luckily I'd left quite a few windows open, and I'm sure you can see where this is going.

The windows were quite high up, so I needed help. I asked the cafe next door if I could use their ladder, which is like a row of steps that you can use to climb up to another height. And the people in the cafe were happy to help, but they were a bit busy to actually help me climb up, so I went to the next door neighbours who let me into their house, got me on their roof and helped me to climb through my bathroom window.

So I did manage to get inside my house in the end, which was very lucky. What I learned was that my neighbours are really lovely and helpful, but I also realised how easy it was to break into my house, so that wasn't very good.

Neil
Hmm. Yeah. OK. Did you think when this was happening that somebody might think that you were trying to break into your house to steal things?

Georgie
Yes, I did think that, but luckily my flat is on quite a quiet corner, so there weren't that many people watching me, so it was OK.

Neil
OK, so you ate your whole meal in the park. You didn't think, oh, I need to, you know, deal with this situation straight away. You were relaxed enough to go to the park and eat this whole meal alone.

Georgie
Well, yes, because I thought the problem is going to be there now – later. It doesn't make a difference, so I might as well enjoy my meal. This is part of my personality. I'm quite a relaxed person. I don't tend to stress too much about things.

Neil
I mean, it sounds to me like you were so relaxed about this that you possibly have been in this situation many times before.

Georgie
Actually, this was the first time this has happened. Yeah, this was the first time. And only since then.

Neil
Right. And you've probably learnt from it.

Georgie
Yes, I learnt that my neighbours are very kind.

Neil
Yeah.

Georgie
Right. Neil, I would like to hear your story about a mistake.

Neil
Yeah. OK. So this was a few years ago now, either in or just sort of after the Covid pandemic, so people hadn't really seen each other for a long time or didn't see each other very often. And this was one of those times when we were allowed to meet up outside. And so me and my family, so that's my wife and my two kids, drove somewhere to meet my parents, and we live in different cities. So we agreed to meet somewhere in the middle in the countryside, and we agreed to meet in this car park. And me and my family, we arrived before my parents, so we were just sitting there waiting. And then my parents arrived in this reasonably busy car park, and they, they drove in and they kind of drove around looking for a space, and I saw a space that was free.

So I went over to the space and I started sort of waving my arms around to direct my parents into this parking space that was free. And my parents have got quite a good sense of humour, so I thought I'd, you know, be a bit funny, and I started directing in a very kind of exaggerated way. Like, you know, you see people directing planes on a runway into a space. So with big movements of my arms and sort of crouching down to my knees to guide them into this space. And as they got into the space, I realised that these people were not my parents. And they were just some other old couple. And I immediately realised what a complete idiot I had made of myself. And when they got out of their car, I went over and apologised and said I thought that they were my parents, which was why I was behaving so strangely in a car park. And they seemed to want to get away from me quite quickly.

Georgie
So, when your parents did arrive, did you do the same thing?

Neil
No, I was very calm. And actually, they didn't arrive for a little while after that. And what I realised was that several other people arrived at that car park in the time before my parents, and that lots and lots and lots of old people in the UK look very similar - grey-haired men with grey beards and women with white curly hair.

Georgie
I absolutely love this story. What did your, what did your wife and kids think of your silly actions?

Neil
They thought it was very embarrassing and very funny, and they have never and will never forget it. And they remind me of it from time to time, and I blush and feel embarrassed, and now I'm telling everyone who's listening to this.

Georgie
Yes, I have heard this one a few times, but it never gets old.

Neil
No, the oldies are the goldies. So you've heard about our ridiculous mistakes. Now we want to hear about yours. So please send us an email and tell us your story. Our email address is [email protected]. We'd love to hear from you.

Georgie
And that's it for this episoden Next time, Phil and Beth will be sharing some stories all about journeys. Goodbye for now.

Neil
Goodbye.

Now try this...

Listen to this Learning English Grammar episode on Reminiscing. 

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