This episode’s vocabulary
One-on-one
adverb — If two people discuss something one-on-one, they discuss it directly, without involving anyone else.
To stick in (one's)/the mind
idiom — To be very memorable; to be unlikely to be forgotten.
Taxing
adjective — Heavy, difficult; requiring a lot of effort.
To yammer on
verb — To talk continuously for a long time in a way that is annoying to other people.
Kilt
noun — A skirt with many folds, made from tartan cloth and traditionally worn by Scottish men and boys.
Tipsy
adjective — Slightly drunk.
Idle
adjective — Without any particular purpose.
Chit-chat
noun — Informal conversation about matters that are not important.
Dull
adjective — Not interesting or exciting in any way.
Questions and answers
Rory, your story.
This is a hard question to answer, because I don't really go to parties these days. I usually just see my friends one-on-one and try and avoid places that are so loud I can't even hear myself think. However, there was one person I met recently at our school Christmas party, that sticks out in my mind. So it might be worth telling you a little bit about him. Like I said, it was the school Christmas night out with all the teachers and school staff, away from the pupils, so we could relax and really be ourselves. And that involved drinking a lot of alcohol. It was reasonably fun, but there was a bit of an age gap between me and the people I work with. And while I'm sure they didn't mean to be, it was getting extremely taxing, listening to people yammer on about things I honestly did not care about. So, I did what you do in these situations and I looked for someone random to talk to. To prevent myself dying from boredom. And I settled on this guy, who was about six feet tall and wearing a kilt, that I thought it was a little too short. So I decided I would share this information with him. I would point out, that I was a little bit tipsy at this point at the bar and I don't recommend anybody does this when they are stone-cold sober. I mean, I doubt they do that anyway. However, I'm very glad I did. After he got over the initial shock of being given fashion advice by a completely random person, we got to talking and it turned out he was the under manager of an isolated Scottish resort. Apparently, you can only get there by railway and frequently, it gets cut off because of the bad weather. Imagine it's not everyone's thing, but for me it sounded ideal. It's like a little adventure for work, almost. The conversation also bought me a few hours of social entertainment, since he wanted to write a book and I'd already written a few of my own, so it wasn't entirely idle chit-chat. I was actually able to share some advice. If I hadn't done that, I think I'd have had a really dull time and the evening wouldn't have been as fun as it was. I'd definitely do it again, if I had the chance. <figure> </figure>