My daily dose

Hello. It's a sunny and blustery day out today. I'd love to go for a bike ride or just amble down to the beach, but I have quite a lot of homework to do before I can go and watch the semi-final of Euro 2008 between Germany and Turkey, preferably in a pub with my friends (and my German teacher!).

Speaking of homework let's look at that homework I set you last Saturday which was the dialogue between the waitress and myself:

Waitress: "What would you like to drink?"
Me: "Some water, please."
Waitress: "Still or sparkling?"
Me: "Still, please."
(And that's where I should have realised she meant still or sparkling mineral water!)
A little later...
Waitress (opening the bottle and pouring out a glass for me): "Here you are."
Me: "Oh...erm...I'm really very sorry but I think there may have been a mistake. I wanted tap water, not mineral water."
Waitress: "Well, you didn't say so when you ordered it."
Me: "Well, yes, I realise that, but I thought it would be still tap water in a pitcher like everyone else here. I didn't realise I had to ask you specifically for tap water. Surely you could have offered me either."
Waitress: "No, you have to ask for the type of water you want."
Me: "Well I didn't know I had to ask. I thought you would offer me, the customer, the choice."
Waitress: "It's not up to me to do that. You must specify which you'd like. We atutomatically offer mineral water if you don't say what you want."
And so on until...
Waitress: "Fine, I'll change it." (That's when she takes away the already opened and poured bottle of water and brings back a pitcher of tap water, which some of you seem to think she might have spat in it!!! Oh no!!!)
Me (meekly): "Thank you."
Later...
Me: "Excuse me please!"
Waitress: "Yes?"
Me: "There seems to be a problem with my order. I ordered the lamb in an apricot and prune sauce, but this clearly isn't. I can't see any apricots or prunes in the dish."
Waitress (prodding the carrots in my dish with her finger): "What's that, then?"
Me (slightly astonished): "That happens to be a carrot!" (Thinking: take your fingers out of my food!)
Waitress (*sighing*): "OK, I'll see what the chef can do about it..."
10 minutes later...
Waitress: "Here you are. Our regular chef isn't here tonight and so our sous-chef must have forgotten to add those ingredients or something."
Me: "I see."
No apology or anything! Really! I'm not going back!

Well done Maione for having a go. I particularly liked the part where you have the waitress say "YOU haven't specified you want tap water so you are given the expensive stuff!"

I can't quite believe what happened to you, Cristina. When I was in Buenos Aires, the meat was cooked to perfection every time. Remind me NOT to ask you for the name of the restaurant you went to!

And Sylvia, what a really awful place you went to - and so expensive! I laughed out loud at the end when the non-Swiss waiter said you surely couldn't be from Lugano! I suppose in situations like these, it's best to laugh!

Thank you for your wishes regarding the Able Linguists' Day and also the government inspection last week. The inspection went well but I can't say much more than that as it is confidential! On the other hand, I can tell you about the Able Linguists' Day. The pupils were talented, personable and enthusiastic about it all (probably because they got the day off school to come here!). I joined in a lesson where we watched part of a film ("Goodbye Lenin", a romance set during the fall of the Berlin Wall). This proved to be rather challenging as it was all in German (no English subtitles), but the pupils clearly enjoyed it and we then had to act out a scene of what we thought might happen next. It was all a lot of fun. I think they all went home happy about their day.

Welcome back, Lukasz! I was beginning to miss my daily dose of what you get up to. Good to see you hard at work doing up the garage and then enjoying yourself at the impromptubbq. On your use of language, yes, very good, we would call them paving stones even if they are red and look like bricks. This is because you are laying them down. Then I must have confused you by talking about cobblestones because you use it in your next entry. Stick to your first word and meanwhile I'll look around for a picture of cobblestones. Well done on reading Agatha Christie. She certainly has a very clear writing style, perhaps purposefully so that we might guess who the murderer is? (I never manage to figure out who it is anyway!)

OK, enough nonsense from me for one day! I will just finish by saying my husband Simon will be coming to visit me in a couple of months, but before he does, he'll be taking over from me in July and chatting to you! He's currently living in Kyoto, Japan.

Vocabulary:

blustery When it's blustery, it's windy, but not constantly. It's usually violent and gusty.

amble A synonym is to stroll. It's walking at an easy, slow pace.

meekly In a humble or submissive manner. (Mainly because I was embarassed at having to argue!)

having a go Make an attempt at something. E.g: "I've never been horse-riding, but I'll have a go at it." You can also say 'give it a go'. Be careful not to confuse with 'have a go at someone' which means to tell someone off or start an argument!

confidential Private or secret.

daily dose A dose is a quantity of medicine prescribed to be taken at one time, usually daily. You can use this expression in many situations where you take or use something daily, like 'my daily dose of caffeine' (meaning my daily cup of coffee) or my daily dose of Lukasz's blog.

impromptu Suddenly or hastily prepared.

bbq Short for barbeque

figure out To understand or to solve something.

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