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Pippa and Georgie share their real stories about New Year. Pippa goes to a musical and Georgie celebrates New Year with a new firey tradition.

Transcript

Phil
Hello and welcome to the Learning English Stories podcast. This festive season, we're sharing some of our own stories from this time of year. So, get cosy by the fire, grab a mug of hot chocolate and get ready for some wintry tales.

And today, we're going to be hearing stories from Pippa.

Pippa
Hello.

Phil
And Georgie.

Georgie
Hello.

Phil
And I'm Phil. OK, Pippa, can you tell us about your story in three words?

Pippa
Three words, OK. Train, theatre, blender.

Phil
Blender?

Pippa
Yeah.

Phil
OK, sounds interesting. Georgie, can you tell us about your story in three words?

Georgie
Strange, witch, ceremony.

Pippa
Spooky!

Phil
I'm really intrigued now. These sound like they’re gonne be some amazing stories. OK, Pippa. Let's hear your story.

Pippa
OK. So, a few years ago when I was living in London, I had gone to stay with my family for Christmas as per usual. And on Christmas Day, I'd been very lucky, received lots of lovely presents, including my favourite gift that year, a blender to make soups and smoothies. There was just one problem. The blender was quite big and bulky, and I was worried about taking it back home on the train along with all my other bags and presents when I went back to my flat after the holidays.

But as luck would have it, my New Year's Eve plans included a day trip into London to see an afternoon performance of a musical. So, perfect, I thought. I'll take the blender with me, pop up to my flat on the way to drop it off and then head on to the theatre. Then when I went back home in a few days, I would just take the rest of my stuff, and it would all be manageable.

So, New Year's Eve arrived. I got ready, caught the train into London, blender on the seat beside me. My flat at the time was up three flights of stairs. So I got quite hot and sweaty carrying this big box up to my door. I put the key in the door, I turned the handle, and I pushed, but the door wouldn't open.

I knocked on the door. I had a flatmate at the time, and I thought maybe she could let me in. But there was no answer. So I sent her a text message and she replied. So, it turned out she had headed away kind of on the spur of the moment for a New Year's party in France. And because she knew we were both away for a few days, she’d locked the extra bottom lock on our door to keep the flat secure. And it was a lock that we never used because it only had one key. And that key was with her on the way to France.

Because I was running so late, and it was New Year's Eve, there was no chance of getting a locksmith to open the door. So I had no choice but to pick up the blender and head off into central London with it. Arriving a bit red faced at the theatre, I went to the cloakroom where you can pay to leave coats or bigger bags. I'm sure the staff there see all sorts, but the man did look at me slightly strangely when I handed over this huge box to him with the blender inside.

The musical was great, but I felt a little bit silly as I headed back on the train to my parents’ house in the countryside, still carrying my huge blender.

Phil
That's a great story. What was your first thought as you got to the door of your flat and it wouldn't open?

Pippa
I… I actually think I lost all reason. I couldn't understand why this door wouldn't open because I'd completely forgotten that several months earlier when we moved in there was an extra lock that you can only see from the inside. So, I just really didn't know what was going on. I thought that the world had conspired against me.

Georgie
You should have asked the people in the theatre if they had any fruit, and you could've made a smoothie for the performance.

Pippa
Yes, a half-time smoothie for the interval.

Georgie
Exactly.

Pippa
That would've been good. I've made many of those since in the blender. But every time I use it, I remember that it went on an adventure to London and back, and then back again to London about three days later.

Georgie
A traumatic experience.

Phil
All the ingredients for a perfect story. OK, let's listen now, Georgie, you had a story about witches by the sounds of it. Let's… Let's… Let's hear your story.

Georgie
OK, so I spent New Year's Eve one year, a couple of years ago, with some friends having dinner and drinking. And just after the countdown and everyone said, Happy New Year, I think I must have gone to the bathroom or something. I left... I left whichever room everyone was in. And when I returned, I walked in on a very strange scene.

So, at this house, there was a fireplace, and everyone was gathered round this fireplace in a kind of semi-circle, and they were writing on bits of paper things that they were leaving behind in 2022. And they were, they were announcing what these things were to the group and then throwing them in the fire. So, things like negative energy or ex partners. Things that they wanted to leave behind in that year. And at first, I thought the whole thing was very strange and quite cheesy, very un-British. But once I embraced it, and I had a go myself, it was actually quite fun. And in the end, I kind of felt like it was quite a nice way of reflecting on the past year and being mindful about what you want to take into the New Year. So I quite enjoyed it in the end.

Pippa
I liked that story. Did it work, did whatever you put in the fire stay in 2022?

Georgie
That is a good question. If only I could remember what I put in the fire! What would you put in the fire?

Pippa
For this year? Maybe the rubbish weather we've had. We've had so much rain this year. I'd put that in the fire. Although, you know, it's all balance, isn't it? You've got to have a bit of everything.

Georgie
Yeah. What about you, Phil?

Phil
I think I’d put the rain in the fire, yeah. Although it’d probably put it out.

I've actually done that. I have some Colombian friends and apparently it's a tradition they have to burn the year at the end of the year. So, I remember being at their house, making a model of the year and then we stuck things we wanted to get rid of it and set it on fire.

And that's it for this episode. Next week, we'll hear about some of the storytelling techniques that you might have heard.

Remember, you can find all our stories and dramas on our website: bbclearningenglish.com.

Bye for now.

Pippa
Bye.

Georgie
Bye.

Phil
Happy New Year.