📕 Part 1: Morning Time

This episode's vocabulary

Have a lot on one's plate (idiom) – to have a large amount of important work to deal with. → I'm pretty used to getting up early because I have a lot on my plate to get through.

A lie-in (noun) – a time when you stay in bed longer than usual in the morning. → If it's a weekend, I definitely prefer a lie-in with a book.

In hindsight (idiom) – understanding a situation or event only after it has happened. → I don't think skipping breakfast was the healthiest of choices in hindsight.

Sticks out in my mind (idiom) – to be very noticeable or memorable. → Heading straight to school without breakfast really sticks out in my mind from my childhood.

Substantial (adj) – large in size, value, or importance. → On weekends, my breakfast is something more substantial than a protein shake.

An early bird (idiom) – a person who gets up and starts work very early in the morning. → Rory is an early bird; he often wakes up at 5:30 a.m.

Ungodly hour (idiom) – an unreasonable or inconveniently early time. → Waking up at 5:30 in the morning is an ungodly hour for me.

Can't stand (phrasal verb) – to hate someone or something. → I can't stand getting up early to go to work.

Head off to (phrasal verb) – to start a journey or leave a place. → I would skip breakfast and just shower and head off to school.

Taxing (adj) – needing a lot of physical or mental effort. → Cooking breakfast for a whole family can be pretty taxing.

Ritual (noun) – a set of actions performed regularly in the same way. → Coffee and the newspaper are part of my morning ritual.

Chill out (phrasal verb) – to relax completely. → You could just have a lie-in and chill out on the weekend.

Affirmations (noun) – positive statements repeated to oneself to challenge negative thoughts. → I say affirmations every morning before I even open my eyes.

Questions and Answers

Maria: Do you like getting up early in the morning?

Rory: Well, generally I don't mind doing it. I'm actually pretty used to it during the week because I have a lot on my plate to get through and usually I'm quite well rested enough, so that's not a problem. If it's a weekend though, I definitely prefer a lie-in with a book or just my phone.

Maria: What do you usually do in the morning?

Rory: It's pretty consistent actually. I always get up, drink water, and then there's always some form of exercise like yoga or weightlifting. That depends on the day. And after that I usually shower and get started on my work for the day while I have breakfast.

Maria: What did you do in the morning when you were a child?

Rory: I don't really remember to be honest. It must have been roughly similar though. Oh, actually, no. I would always skip breakfast and then just shower and head off to school after I got dressed. I don't think that was the healthiest of choices in hindsight, but it does stick out in my mind right now. I think I also used to get up a lot later, but kids tend to need more sleep, don't they?

Maria: Do you spend your mornings doing the same things on weekends and weekdays?

Rory: Sort of. Even if I have a lie-in, I generally get up and do some sort of exercise, though maybe it won't be as intense as during the week. And breakfast is usually there, but it's something more substantial than the protein shake I have every weekday.

Discussion

Maria: Right, dear listener, if you enjoy early mornings, you can call yourself a morning person. I am a morning person. I'm not a morning person.

Rory: You are not a morning person.

Maria: I'm not a morning person. Rory is an early bird.

Rory: I'm a very early bird. So early, I go to early bird yoga.

Maria: An early means 5:30 in the morning. It's an ungodly hour, dear listener. It's freaking crazy.

Rory: It's not ungodly.

Maria: It's super early, five freaking thirty o'clock.

Maria: So, I'm an early bird. I'm not an early bird. I'm a morning person. I'm not a morning person.

Maria: If it's your habit to get up early in the morning, you can say, I'm used to getting up early in the morning. I'm used to getting up at 6:00 a.m. or 7:00 a.m.

Maria: I'm a very busy person. I have a lot on my plate, so I usually get up early. Or, dear listener, I hate getting up early in the morning, I usually get up at 12.

Rory: Well, you might hate it, but you might have to get up early in the morning for work.

Maria: Yeah, I have to, I have to do it. Yeah, I have to get up to go to work. So I don't like it. I dislike it. I can't stand it. I hate it.

Maria: To have a lie in. This is the word of the episode, dear listener. To have a lie in.

Rory: To lie in bed and just chill out.

Maria: Yeah, kind of you, you don't have to get up early, you just wake up, you stay in bed later than usual in the morning. So to have a lie in, lie, L. I. E. just, we lie on the bed. So I enjoy having a lie in on the weekend. Okay. Or, when I have a lie in, I usually read a book. I prefer a lie in with a book. I don't like getting up too early in the morning, I prefer having a lie in with a book.

Rory: Sensible.

Maria: Rory is pretty boring. So he just says, I get up, I drink water, I do some exercise. But

Rory: Well, sorry I can't be like Action Man all the time.

Maria: What would you like me to do in the morning?

Maria: Okay, I'm going to tell you. Wait.

Rory: Oh God.

Maria: So, according to flown.com, morning routine ideas, 35 things to do in the morning. Okay, there you go.

Maria: Get natural sunlight.

Maria: Do somatic breathwork.

Rory: Oh, come on. You do plenty of somatic breathwork when you're in bed.

Maria: Shush, shush. Shush. Now I'm telling you what to do. You wanted me to tell you what to do in the morning?

Rory: I'm regretting that choice already.

Maria: Dear listener, just choose something interesting to, to say. Gently stretch. You stretch your body, okay? Right. Then, take an energizing shower. So you don't just say, I take a shower. You say, I take an energizing shower.

Rory: Oh, don't you, don't. You have a shower or you take a shower or have a glass of water. You'll be fine.

Maria: You take an energizing shower. Which means that you just pour some warm water and cold water on yourself. Even if you don't do it, just say it just to be interesting. Then, do a Sudoku puzzle.

Rory: When you wake up in the morning.

Maria: Yeah, exactly. Play a calm jazzy mix in the background. You pet a cat. In the morning, the first thing you get up, you pet a cat.

Rory: Well, I'm allergic to cats, so that's not happening.

Maria: So you kind of you touch a cat, but you say pet a cat. Check in with your money.

Rory: No, no, no.

Maria: No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, we don't do it. Oh, oh, oh. Yeah, there you go. Thirty two, point thirty two, drink your morning coffee without guilt.

Rory: You're not meant to have coffee in the morning, it's bad for you.

Maria: Yeah, yeah, you should drink a warm glass of water. Yeah, number one, drink a glass of water before anything else. Number one. Then get natural sunlight.

Maria: So, dear listener, just some ideas for you from flown.com blog lifestyle things to do in the morning. Thank you very much.

Rory: Or you could just describe what you do in your early bird yoga classes. I could do that. That'd be easy.

Maria: Yeah, so you could say, I drink a glass of water to get started on my day, to get started. Well, I listen to music to get started, to get me going. Yay. But, dear listener, maybe you have your morning routine? Maybe you dance? What what what what what what do you do?

Rory: I think a lot of people might cook breakfast for their family. That's got to be pretty taxing.

Maria: So you could say that.

Rory: It's quite taxing, but I enjoy it.

Maria: Taxing meaning?

Rory: It requires a lot of energy.

Maria: When I was a child, I used to play in the morning. Or I used to skip breakfast, so I didn't have any breakfast. I headed off to school. I went to school. So I would skip breakfast, because there was no time. And I would head off to school.

Rory: Well, there was time. I was just a very irresponsible child. And that is why I'm short now, because I didn't eat, I didn't eat enough breakfast when I was younger.

Maria: When I think about it now, in hindsight, when I think about it now, it wasn't really healthy. Skipping breakfast is awful for your body. So in hindsight, when I think about it now, it wasn't healthy.

Maria: On the weekend or at the weekend, I usually have a lie in. Again, have a lie in just to stay in bed later than usual. Then I get up, do some exercise. Again, Rory just repeats the vocabulary, but what we do say, do you remember, dear listener? I take an energizing shower.

Maria: I have my protein breakfast. I set up my top three priorities for the day. You see, dear listener, I do a brain game.

Rory: You could focus on the vocab on the grammar rather than the vocabulary. I said, even if I have a lie-in, and then I generally get up, but then I said, though maybe it won't be as intense, will not be. Even though it's a regular action, still won't. Oh. Then there's also the word substantial. Come on, that's got to be C1.

Maria: Substantial is good. Or, dear listener, you can say,

Rory: No, you can't. Don't listen.

Maria: Something good. Where I missed it? Oh, yeah. On the weekend, I usually practice a quick gratitude ritual. Gratitude is when you are thankful for everything. Ritual is like ritual. Like routine, what is a ritual, Rory?

Rory: I don't know. It's, a ritual is something that you do regularly. Often it's without thought or recognition of where it comes from.

Maria: Ritual is C2. A way of doing something in which the same actions are done in the same way every time. So for example, coffee and the newspaper are part of my morning ritual. Morning ritual. There we go. Dear listener C2, band nine. What do you do on the weekend? You practice a quick gratitude ritual. And then, dear listener, you do a two-minute body scan and release tension.

Rory: What a lot of absolute nonsense.

Maria: You kind of, you scan your body and you just get rid of all the tension.

Rory: There is no tension. I'm totally fine.

Maria: Tension?

Rory: I don't know. I mean, if you've not had a restful sleep, maybe you wake up feeling stressed, so the body scan will help you release the stress, so you can start your day in a nice way. However, you could also just have a lie-in and relax and chill out. There you go. Have a lie-in, idiomatic vocabulary, chill out, phrasal verb, and all of it normal. None of it involves drinking mindful coffee.

Maria: Mindful coffee. Yeah. Mindful coffee. And dear listener, now you are ready for a joke, which is connected to coffee and morning.

Rory: What was the joke? The vocabulary and suggestions for morning activity.

Maria: No, the vocabulary is just amazing. Okay? How do you start your day?

Maria: Actually, I, when I'm still in bed, and I kind of, I wake up, I don't open my eyes. So my eyes are closed, I wake up and I do kind of say affirmations. So it's kind of self hypnosis. I have my special affirmations, kind of statements, which are positive. So I say them and then I say that, okay, so today is going to be a good day for me. Yeah, I know, I know it kind of sounds silly, but it does work. So I kind of say, Maria, this day is going to be great, I'm going to be in a good mood, everything will be fine. So I'm happy, I'm healthy, and, yeah, so it's just my motto for the day today. So I do it every day before I open my eyes. So just the minute kind of you feel that, okay, I'm awake, so you should say that.

Rory: I don't think that sounds silly at all. I do something very similar. So I don't think that's a problem.

Maria: Yeah, it takes about a couple of minutes. And I do it before going to bed, before going to sleep. So kind of I fall asleep with these statements, and I wake up with them. So, yeah. That, that's my evening and morning rituals. Now you know the secret, dear listener, to a happy life. So the joke.

Rory: Oh, we've still got time for the joke. Oh God.

Maria: Absolutely. So,

Rory: The other people can't see your face, but I can and Maria just had this really intense look in her eyes and she was like, "absolutely." So we're getting the joke whether we like it or not.

Maria: Rory, what do you call a person who makes coffee?

Rory: A barista?

Maria: Yeah, a barista. So the joke is about a barista. Okay. Why did the barista get fired?

Rory: I don't know.

Maria: She kept showing up latte. Late.

Maria: Okay. So, the coffee is called cappuccino or we can have what do you call it? Latte? Latte?

Rory: Yes. L. A. T. T. E.

Maria: Latte. Latte. It's a hot drink made from espresso and warm milk. Late, if you are late, you are late. Yeah, you don't, you are not on time.

Rory: Oh God.

Maria: Thank you very much for listening.

Rory: Thank you very much for putting up with that.

Maria: Bye.

Rory: Bye.