📙 Part 2: Describe a plan that you've changed recently

This episode's vocabulary

To pan out (phrasal verb) – to develop in a particular way or to be successful. → We’ll have to see how things pan out.

A get together (noun) – an informal meeting or social gathering. → I tried to organize a get together with some friends.

To slip one's mind (idiom) – to be forgotten. → I was meant to call you, but it completely slipped my mind.

To set about doing something (phrasal verb) – to start doing something. → I set about putting things right and arranged to meet them.

Lack of foresight (noun phrase) – the failure to imagine what might happen in the future. → The plans changed due to an uncharacteristic lack of foresight on my part.

Uncharacteristic (adjective) – not typical of someone's usual character. → It was an uncharacteristic mistake for such an organized person.

To put the kibosh on something (idiom) – to spoil or destroy an idea or plan. → The coffee shop being closed put the kibosh on the whole thing.

To hunt around for (phrasal verb) – to search for something. → We hunted around for another place online.

To settle on something (phrasal verb) – to make a final decision about something after a period of discussion. → Eventually we settled on Starbucks.

A rip-off (noun) – something that is not worth the price you pay for it. → Some of my friends think Starbucks is a bit of a rip-off.

To drop the ball (idiom) – to make a mistake or fail to do something important. → Usually I'm the organized one, but I'd really dropped the ball this time.

To make up for something (phrasal verb) – to do something to show you are sorry for a mistake or for upsetting someone. → I paid for everything to make up for it.

Destitute (adjective) – without any money, food, or a home. → If I keep paying for expensive coffee, I'll end up destitute.

Questions and Answers

Maria: Describe a plan that you've changed recently. You should say when this happened, what made you change the plan, what the plan was, and say how you felt about the change.

Rory: Well, normally I stick to plans once they've been made, but this one time that does come to mind is when I'd arranged to meet one of my friends and it didn't quite pan out how I'd been expecting it to. Speaking about when exactly this was, I actually really don't remember the dates, but it was about a month or so ago when I tried to organize a get together with some friends I hadn't seen in quite some time. I'd only realized it when I'd been scrolling back through my WhatsApp messages and came across a casual message that I had totally failed to reply to, which is so unlike me. It just completely slipped my mind altogether. Anyway, I set about putting things right and arranged to meet them and buy coffee and have lunch together. If you consider what made the plans change, well, that was another uncharacteristic lack of foresight on my part. I'd arranged to meet them in the late afternoon at a coffee shop, but of course, all of them close at that time of day. So that kind of put the kibosh on the whole thing. When I think about how things changed, it was just a case of finding a place that would do everything we needed, but obviously, that was still open. So we hunted around for a place online after we met up and eventually we settled on Starbucks. Some of my friends were none too happy about that, since they really don't like it and they think it's a bit of an expensive dump or a rip-off. But it was the best we could do, and beggars really can't be choosers. So we just took the car there. As far as how I felt about the whole thing is concerned, well, at the time, I was pretty embarrassed. Usually I'm the organized one in the group, but I'd really dropped the ball on that front this time. On the plus side, it'll never happen again. It's kind of one of those mistakes you only make once. And I did pay for everything to make up for it. Hopefully I won't have to do that again. Otherwise I'll end up destitute. Like I said, Starbucks is very expensive.