📙 Part 2: Describe a time when the electricity suddenly went off

This episode's vocabulary

Starting out (phrasal verb) – beginning a career or new phase in life. → When I was starting out as a designer, I worked on small freelance projects.

Load shedding (noun) – the deliberate shutdown of electric power in parts of a system to prevent failure. → Load shedding is common in some countries during peak electricity demand.

Cut off (phrasal verb) – to disconnect or stop the supply of something. → The water was cut off for several hours due to maintenance work.

Electrical grid (noun) – the interconnected network for delivering electricity. → Renewable energy is being integrated into the national electrical grid.

Power went out (phrasal verb) – electricity stopped working or failed. → The power went out during the storm and didn't come back for hours.

Under normal circumstances (phrase) – in usual or typical situations. → Under normal circumstances, the delivery takes about three days.

Resolve themselves (phrasal verb) – to be solved naturally without intervention. → Most minor technical issues tend to resolve themselves after a restart.

If memory serves (phrase) – if I remember correctly. → If memory serves, we met at a conference in Beijing last year.

Disrupted (verb/adjective) – interrupted or disturbed the normal progress of something. → The construction work disrupted traffic in the city center.

Middle of nowhere (idiom) – a remote location far from populated areas. → They built their house in the middle of nowhere for peace and quiet.

Adaptable (adjective) – able to adjust easily to new conditions. → Being adaptable is essential when working in different countries.

Taken aback (adjective phrase) – surprised or shocked by something unexpected. → I was quite taken aback by how expensive the tickets were.

Get by (phrasal verb) – to manage or survive with difficulty. → We can get by with basic supplies until the shops reopen.

Infrastructure (noun) – the basic physical systems and facilities needed for society to function. → The city is investing heavily in public transport infrastructure.

Cope with (phrasal verb) – to deal effectively with something difficult. → Learning time management skills helps students cope with academic pressure.

Questions and Answers

Maria: Describe a time when the electricity in your house, wherever you were, went off. You should say when and where it happened, how long it lasted, what you did during that time without any lights in your house, and explain how you felt about it.

Rory: I'd probably like to talk about the time when I lived in Ghana. This is about 10 years ago now, when I was just starting out as an English teacher. And if you're not aware where it is, then it's a country in the west of Africa. And I'd been living there for a few months. And in the first month, this kind of thing didn't happen. But later on, I was warned that it might. It's a practice called load shedding, I think, which is where electricity supplies are reduced or cut off in some places. I think it's part of managing the electrical grid in some countries, but I don't know enough about it to say for sure.

Anyway, when it did happen, of course, the power went out because it was disconnected; it lasted for a few hours, actually. And under normal circumstances, it would be difficult to know what to do during that time. But in my case, we knew that it was coming. Maybe not exactly when, but we knew when it was coming. We knew it was coming. And so I was ready. I just picked up a book, and I sat and read my book in the sunshine until the power came back on. We knew that happened because the fans started to work again. Some people have a real problem with the heat, but I don't mind sitting out in the sunshine and just waiting for things to resolve themselves.

When it comes to how I felt about it, well, it was a new experience. Having grown up in the UK, where this is not a common practice, it was a bit of a surprise. But nothing terribly dramatic happened. I was happy when it was over, but it's not something that really had a major impact on my life, because if memory serves, it happened at the weekend, so there wasn't really anything that was hugely disrupted by that. I lived in the middle of nowhere, so not a big problem. Of course, if it hadn't happened, then that would have perhaps been slightly more convenient, but it's hardly a disaster.

Discussion

Maria: So, dear listener, now you should remember a time when the electricity suddenly went off. Right? Or lie. You can choose Rory's story, just steal his story. If you've never had such a situation, make it up. Imagine you went to a country house, and then maybe there was a storm, or the rain was pouring down, there was a thunderstorm, and then bam, the electricity went off. And Rory, tell us, what usually happens when the electricity goes off? So it goes off, there is no electricity.

Rory: The power is cut, so nothing works; no electrical items can function. So this could just be the lights, or it could be computers and other things that are connected to the mains electricity.

Maria: The power is cut. The power is cut off. The power means electricity. So I had no power. The power was cut off, or the power was off. We can't use any electrical devices, pretty much nothing. And also heating, right? If it's winter, there is no heating, because heating is also connected to electricity, to this electrical power. So there is no heating, and all you have is candles, your fireplace, if you have a fireplace. And sometimes in some houses, water is connected to electricity. So if I don't have any electricity, I don't have any water.

Rory: Oh wow, that is a weird one. Although I suppose water pumps require electricity.

Maria: Yeah, water pumps. To have water in your bathroom, you need electricity. So we saw that I'm going to tell you about a time when the electricity was cut off in the countryside, or when the electricity was cut off, when the power was cut. It's not a common practice where I live, or it's quite common where I live. It's kind of a regular situation. It happens all the time, and usually it happens if there is a storm, thunderstorm, or if it rains heavily, there are some problems with the power. So it's common, or it's not a common practice in my country. And Rory told us his story about Ghana, in Africa, how Rory worked in Africa.

Rory: Honestly, this is not something that I'm used to dealing with, so thank heavens that I was able to remember when this happened.

Maria: And Rory, when you lived in the countryside in Scotland, in your parents' house, the power was always on?

Rory: Yeah, even when there were freak snowstorms or something like this, we always had power.

Maria: Yeah, because in many countries, I think it's quite common in storms, in some heavy storms in winter. And if the power goes off when they fix something, so there is no storm, there is no rain, but they're working on something, and they switch it off, what do you call it? How do you explain the situation?

Rory: People are trying to restore the power. Oh, I could have said that, actually, the power was restored.

Maria: Yeah, the power was restored; it went back on again, or you can say that, yeah, the electricity went off because they were fixing something. And you can say something was disconnected. So what was disconnected in your story?

Rory: Well, the power was disconnected, so the fans stopped working, but that's not really a big deal for me, or it wasn't at the time; maybe it would be different now.

Maria: Yeah, sometimes they tell you that there will be no electricity on this day, at this hour, right? So I knew that it was coming, or I didn't know that it was coming. The task says, like, suddenly went off, but you can kind of say that I knew it was coming, so I was prepared, I lit my candles, and I started my fireplace. Yeah, you can imagine the whole thing. Or I didn't know it was coming, so it was cold, and I didn't have any heating, so I froze to death.

Rory: Well, if I'd frozen to death, then I wouldn't be here to talk about it now.

Maria: Yeah, the second condition, you see. No, actually, the third condition.

Rory: Well, then the power was cut, and I melted, and then I wasn't able to tell anyone about it.

Maria: Yeah, but Rory was in Africa, so it was pretty hot. The fan stopped working, and Rory picked up a book, sat down in the sun until the power came back on. So you can say, well, I didn't do much, I just waited until the power came back on. The power came back on in two hours. It lasted for two hours, or three hours, or five minutes. I just waited for things to resolve themselves. So we solve a problem, or we resolve a problem. So I just did nothing, I waited for things to resolve themselves. In my situation, when there's no electricity, I look at the chat. We have a chat, like, we're neighbours, all the neighbours are in this chat, and if there's no electricity, they write, Oh, do you have electricity? No, no, I don't. Okay, did you call them? So call the local authorities. So did you call them? Yeah, did you write to them? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I did, I did. What's going on? And then they start chatting about it. Oh, the power is off again. What's going on? So all this, you know, complaining is going on in the chat. I was really happy when it was over. I was happy when the power came back on again. I was delighted.

Rory: I think everybody would be.

Maria: Yeah, that's true. It didn't have a major impact on my life. So it didn't influence my life. So everything was fine. My life wasn't disrupted. So to disrupt something...

Rory: My routine was fine. It wasn't hugely disrupted. Or if it was disrupted, then the routine was not fine.

Maria: Yeah, we can disrupt a system, a process, or an event. For example, his show was disrupted by millions of fans. The meeting was disrupted by protests, for example. Or our meeting was disrupted by a power cut. Or you can say that I was really disrupted because I was having a meeting online at the time, and there was no electricity, so I couldn't use my laptop. Ta-da! So it was hardly a disaster. So it wasn't a disaster for me. Or it was a disaster. I was cold. I couldn't prepare my food. I didn't have any water. So you can make the story dramatic, dear listener. And this is a thing. To tell the examiner a dramatic story. Oh, I was so cold. I didn't have any food. And it was getting colder and colder and darker and darker. I didn't know what to do. So the examiner gets all excited and, you know, Oh, look, poor you! So the examiner will start developing emotions towards you.

Rory: We need more dramatic stories in the future.

Maria: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, this could influence the decision on the band. They would give to you. That's true, dear listener. That's our psychology, you know. Yeah, one of my students told a story about how he fell down while snowboarding and how he hit himself really badly. And after the exam, the examiner asked my student, So, were you okay in the end? Like, is everything okay with your leg now?

Rory: Oh, that's so nice. And then they were given a band nine.

Maria: Probably, yes. No, but he got a good score, like 7.5 or something. You see, drama, you know, suffering. But you kind of tell it in a happy way. But you kind of make emotions appear in the examiner's brain and heart.

Rory: Psychological manipulation. There we go.

Maria: Exactly, exactly. Very professional. Yeah, don't tell anybody that we're teaching this on the podcast, okay?

Rory: In this publicly available podcast.

Maria: Rory, what else can we say about the electricity? I mean, vocabulary. We say...

Rory: The power died.

Maria: Yes, the power died. Okay, what else?

Rory: The lights went out.

Maria: The lights went out. What do you call people who fix the lights? Who fixes electricity? Electricians?

Rory: Electricians? Well, it could be electricians or you can also have engineers that deal with this.

Maria: Yeah, electricians. I called the electricians to fix the lights, to fix the power, to fix the electricity. Any other technical vocabulary, like wires or electrical poles? What do you call these things? Well, I mean, that would only count if they'd been damaged in some way. So maybe like the electrical grid or the electrical lines were damaged, for example. But here... The electrical lines were damaged by the rain in a heavy storm. And usually this is a common situation. The electrical lines were damaged. That's why the power was down in the whole neighbourhood. What can a person do? Like maybe something that people can do at home? Ruin to damage the electricity.

Rory: Well, you could probably like plug in too many things and, I don't know, blow out your circuits or something like that. I don't really know how electricity works, to be honest.

Maria: So we're not electricians. So if you are, well done, good for you. If people plug in too many things, bam, you know, what happens? Not an explosion, but like you blow up your socket. The thing that you plug your plug into. It gets technical, dear listener.

Rory: That's why we should finish. Yeah, this is... I should have been an electrician.

Maria: Yeah, you don't need that. Okay, just use the synonyms we've given you. Okay, that will be enough. Thank you very much for listening. And we'll get back to you with more electricity stories.

Rory: Bye!

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