Phew, what a scorcher!

Last Thursday was a scorcher, the hottest day of the year so far, and, as luck would have it, I had an unexpected free day because there was a strike at the university. My friend Simon had called the week before saying he had a spare ticket for a big concert in Hyde Park. It was a reunion gig for a band called Blur who were big in the 90s. We got there to find thousands of people sitting out in the sunshine enjoying the atmosphere. There were a few support bands playing so we sat around, shooting the breeze and quenching our thirst and then at about 8pm the main attraction, Blur, came on stage to a rapturous reception. They played for two hours and even though they hadn’t played together for ages, they were superb. The audience of 30 and 40 somethings had a chance to relive their youth, forget their troubles and pretend they were 18 again! Magic!

A scorcher - a very hot day

As luck would have it - by chance or by good fortune

Gig - a concert

To be big - to be popular

To shoot the breeze - to chat

Quench your thirst - to drink so you don’t feel thirsty anymore

A rapturous reception - a huge and friendly welcome

30 somethings - people who are in their 30s

Magic - great


Hi Jiae,
The question about the photo was a little tricky I admit. I actually took it in Seoraksan National park. Have you been there? It’s really beautiful – great for walking and escaping the rat race for a while.

It’s a shame I wasn’t able to stop in Pusan, it looks really nice from your pictures. I also wanted to go to Jeju island but I was en route to Japan and could not stay any longer. Have you been to Jeju island?

Again, you write beautifully. I’m impressed by your use of idiomatic expressions, modal verbs, tenses – everything in fact. I’ve picked out a few sentences which I’d like you to think about though - can you see anything wrong with them? These are minor problems, but you’ve set the bar very high! (what does that mean?)

I will try to respond your comments

Thanks for welcoming!

the world best camera

If you have a chance of coming to Korea…

I finished my final exam the last Sunday.

I was sick and tired of being at the collage residence after having done all the work for the semester. So did my friends.

we really didn’t know what we would find out

We did long lists of chatting

At last, we arrived in the Pusan Station at 4.30 in the morning.

Near the beach there is an island called Dongbeksum, where you can also take a walk through with feeling a nice sea breeze and it’s leading to Nurimaru APEC House.

Really good descriptive writing is very difficult – both for native speakers and non-native speakers. The best descriptive writers are able to paint pictures with language and words, they use a great variety of adjectives and adverbs, metaphor and analogy and different sentence structures to communicate ideas, images and sensations. Jiae, you’re doing pretty well so far!
Here’s an example by an Indian writer called Arundhati Roy who wrote a fantastic book called ‘The God of Small Things’:

It was raining when Rahel came back to Ayemenem. Slanting silver ropes slammed into loose earth, ploughing it up like gunfire. The old house on the hill wore its steep, gabled roof pulled up over its ears like a low hat. The walls, streaked with moss, had grown soft, and bulged a little with dampness that seeped up from the ground. The wild, overgrown garden was full of the whisper and scurry of small lives. In the undergrowth a rat snake rubbed itself against a glistening stone. Hopeful yellow bullfrogs cruised the scummy pond for mates. A drenched mongoose flashed across the leaf-strewn driveway.


I love the idea of a house wearing its roof like a hat!


LE bloggers! You wrote some fantastic mini descriptions of important moments in your lives. Great stuff – well done! In my next post I’ll try to respond to anyone who sent in a mini-story.

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