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Talking about evenings

Episode 250307 / 07 Mar 2025

(Photo: Getty)

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Introduction

Neil and Georgie have a real conversation in easy English about their evening routines. Learn to talk about what you do after work or school.

Vocabulary

stay up late
continue to be awake late at night

wind down
gradually relax after doing something stressful

switch off
stop thinking about stressful things

night owl
someone who has lots of energy in the evenings and likes to stay up late

Transcript

Neil
Hello and welcome to Real Easy English. The programme where we have real conversations in easy English to help you learn. I'm Neil.

Georgie
And I'm Georgie. Go to our website for a text version of this podcast and a worksheet to help you learn. bbclearningenglish.com.

Neil
So, Georgie, how's your week going?

Georgie
My week's going well, thank you, Neil. How's yours?

Neil
Very good. Have you got any exciting evening plans?

Georgie
Not really. I'm just going to go home and chill. What about you?

Neil
The same, yes. And so what do you do in the evenings?

Georgie
Well, if I'm at home in the evenings, I usually, I might do some exercise. Then I have dinner, and then I'll do something relaxed, like, at the moment, I'm doing a lot of jigsaw puzzles. And then I usually go to bed. What about you?

Neil
Yeah. I go home and eat, I guess, quite early. About 6:30.

Georgie
Really? 6:30 you eat dinner?

Neil
Yeah, because I have kids and they need to eat. They're hungry after school. So, yes. And then I will try and do something relaxing and nice. I might study.

Georgie
What do you study?

Neil
Language.

Georgie
OK.

Neil
And then I might play my guitar or watch something or waste time on my phone.

Georgie
What do you, what's the most relaxing thing for you to wind down in the evenings?

Neil
I find playing my guitar very relaxing.

Georgie
Why's that?

Neil
I think because I have to concentrate and it's a different part of your brain that you use than the normal working brain.

How about you?

Georgie
I like watching TV to wind down, to feel relaxed. But like I said, recently, I've been getting into doing jigsaw puzzles because I think, similar to your guitar playing, it helps you to switch off your brain. You forget about the, the day you've just had at work and you can just relax.

Neil
Yeah, and when you watch TV, do you like to watch a whole series or do you just watch something and then something else and then something else?

Georgie
It depends what time it is. I try to limit, my TV watching to one or two episodes maybe, and I like watching quite trashy TV. Something that I don't have to concentrate too hard. Because, you know, the work day is long, and I just want to switch off.

Neil
Yeah. Do you go to bed late, then?

Georgie
No, I try to go to bed around nine pm.

Neil
Nine?

Georgie
Yes, because then I read my book, which I didn't mention earlier, but when I go to bed, I read my book before sleeping and it's another way to switch off my brain.

Neil
Okay, if, if I read a book, I fall asleep.

Georgie
Well, that's exactly why I do it. That's exactly why I do it. It helps me switch off.

Neil
Or if I watch a film with subtitles and have to read the subtitles, that makes me fall asleep.

Georgie
So, Neil, I said I go to bed at nine. I usually go to sleep around 11. What about you?

Neil
I go to bed later than that. I go to bed probably about 11 and I read, but then I fall asleep very quickly.

Georgie
So we go to sleep at similar times, really.

Neil
Yeah.

Georgie
And would you say you are a night owl? That's someone who has a lot of energy at night.

Neil
Yes. I think if I didn't work or didn't have kids, I would stay up very late. I like staying up late. When I was a younger man, I stayed up very, very late.

Georgie
Interesting. I'm the opposite. My brain is dead in the in the evenings, at night. I can't do anything late at night.

Neil
The evening is the best part of the day.

Georgie
I prefer the morning.

What about the weekend? Is your evening routine different at the weekend?

Neil
I stay up later because I don't have to get up early to go to work. So that's the only difference, really. How about you?

Georgie
Yes. Well, often at the weekend, at least for me, I'm more likely to have plans, social plans with friends in the evening. So I also go to bed later and spend more of the night awake, I suppose.

Neil
So you don't go to bed at nine at the weekends?

Georgie
Not usually. It depends, but mostly not.

Neil
Let's recap. We've had wind down, gradually relax after doing something stressful.

Georgie
We heard stay up late, which means you continue staying awake late at night.

Neil
We heard night owl, who's someone who likes to stay up late in the evening.

Georgie
And we had switch off, stop thinking about stressful things from your day.

Neil
That's it for this episode of Real Easy English. If you want to learn more phrasal verbs like switch off, Georgie's made a whole series, and you can find it on our website. bbclearningenglish.com.

Georgie
Next week we'll talk all about food and flavour. See you then.

Neil
Goodbye.

Georgie
Bye.

 

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