📙 Part 2: Describe a time when you forgot or missed an appointment

This episode's vocabulary

Disorganized (adj.) - badly planned and without order.

Time flies (idiom) - used to mean that time passes surprisingly quickly.

To match up (phrasal verb) - if two pieces of information match up, they are the same.

Schedule (noun) - a list of planned activities or things to be done showing the times or dates when they are intended to happen or be done.

To materialize (verb) - if an idea or hope materializes, it becomes real.

Slip someone's memory/mind (idiom) - to be forgotten

Relief  (noun) - a feeling of happiness that something unpleasant has not happened or has ended.

Off the hook (idiom) - if you are off the hook, you have escaped from a difficult situation.

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Questions and Answers

M: Could you start speaking now, please?

R: Well, I missed a meeting with my friends for coffee last week, because it was a bit disorganized, which was a bit disappointing. In greater depth, it was the first week of my holidays, and I really wanted to see as much of my friends as possible before I got back to work. Time tends to fly when you have to take two weeks to have a holiday. So it's important to make the most of it. I'd already seen them one evening, but it was so short that I thought another round was necessary. To describe who I made the arrangements with in more detail, it was supposed to be with one of my best friends from my childhood, and his husband, who I'm also good friends with, plus two other friends, who I know through the first pair, the five of us are all radically different people, but it's always hilarious when we are together. To describe why I missed it further, I think it's because, in addition to having wildly different lives, we also have wildly busy lives. So matching up schedules is always hard. In this case, I thought we had a plan together. But on the day, the whole thing just failed to materialize and totally slipped my mind since I had a lot of other things going on. Well, in terms of how I felt about it, I was a bit annoyed with myself, actually, that I forgot. But there was some sense of relief as well, because it turned out that everyone else let the whole thing slip too. So I was off the hook as well as they were. Hopefully, we'll get something together again in the future because it's nice when we're all together. However, at least this time we all seem to have, well, just collectively failed to remember it.

M: And do you often forget things?

R: Oh, no, not often. My diary helps me remember.

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Discussion

M: So an interesting topic, a time when you forgot an appointment, or you missed an appointment. Is it the same though, you forgot an appointment and you missed an appointment? Or they're different things?

R: No, they're a bit different. So forgetting is when you just failed to remember but missing is when you do remember, but you cannot make it. Oh, sorry. Missed could be that you just failed to make it. It could be because you didn't remember but that's because, that's just one reason that it could be.

M: Yeah, it's like I missed a plane. Yeah? For example, I went out, I went clubbing all night and then I overslept. I missed a plane, yeah? A true story. This happened in Dublin in Ireland. And yeah, I missed an appointment, I overslept, or, I don't know, I got ill.

R: Because you were partying hard.

M: Yeah, I was partying hard and just didn't bother. Okay, and an appointment could be a meeting with any person, right? An appointment could be a formal meeting. Or, for example, it could be like negotiations or a job interview also, like you missed a job interview for some reason. Rory, you started with, I missed a meeting with my friends for coffee. So a meeting with somebody for something, right? Oh, I missed a job interview. Or I forgot about a job interview and didn't go to this, yeah? It was a bit disorganized. Oh, Rory was disorganized?

R: I wasn't disorganized. Everybody else was too.

M: Oh, so everybody was disorganized. Oh, wow.

R: Yeah. That sounds so dismissive. Oh, everyone was disorganized. Where are they?

M: Well that's strange, because, usually, you are super organized and you have everything written down.

R: But I'm on holiday. It is a true story. But I'm on holiday, so it doesn't matter.

M: Yeah. So everybody was disorganized, a bit disorganized. And it was disappointing, yeah? Then to keep going, what did you say?

R: Oh, yes, then I said, alright, when I realized what was happening, and then in greater depth, and then I added more details about when.

M: In greater depth. Wow, that's nice. And then, yeah, more details about it was the first week of my holidays, and holiday season for Rory is like he's all over the place. He doesn't remember stuff. He posts strange things on our podcast chat. This is Rory on holiday. And then I really wanted to see as much of my friends as possible. So Rory wanted to see his friends. Aw...

R: Like a normal person.

M: Time tends to fly. Ooh, time flies. Yeah. Time has wings, dear listener, now you know.

R: Time flies when you're having fun.

M: Yeah, it means like, okay, time is quick. Yeah, just bum bum bum. It's important to make the most of it. So to make the most of something means...

R: To make sure that you maximize the good features of a situation.

M: Yeah, to make the most of my holiday, I'm making the most of my IELTS preparation by listening to this podcast. Well done you, dear listener. So yeah, make the most of things. So I'm making the most of my life, for example, yeah? Rory may not be making the most of his life because he thinks that Batman is not a superhero. But he actually is.

R: Maria is living in the delusion that Batman is a superhero.

M: Oh, blah, blah, blah, delusion. Okay... I was supposed to do that. I was supposed to meet my friends. That's a nice one. Because we're talking about something that you didn't do, but wanted to do. Right? So for example, you agreed on the meeting. I was gonna meet my friends. But then something happened. I was supposed to meet them. Yeah? So did you agree to meet?

R: Sort of.

M: How was it done?

R: It was done via Facebook with a whole lot of memes thrown in. So it's probably inevitable that people would have missed it.

M: Yeah. So we were supposed to meet or I was supposed to go to this place. Yeah? But I missed it. And we have wildly busy lives. And we know that Rory is a super busy person. And his friends are also wildly busy, like very busy. And it's hard to match up our schedules. So if we match up our schedules together with you, Rory, what do we do?

R: That just means that we have the same times available together.

M: And you said that I thought we had a plan together, yeah? And then what happens to this plan?

R: It failed to material... Well, no, the plan was not so solid and the event itself failed to materialize, which means it just didn't happen.

M: Yeah, the plan wasn't solid. So it wasn't like a well-laid out plan. And it failed to materialize. So we failed to meet, I failed to go to the meeting. So it didn't materialize. That's a nice verb. And then you said that it totally slipped my mind. Yeah?

R: Yeah, because I thought we had it planned. And then I didn't actually write it down. And then nobody else did. So I'd forgot.

M: So I forgot about the meeting or it slipped my mind. So it kind of slipped from my mind. It slipped my mind. It totally slipped my mind. I had a lot of things on, right? So I had a lot of things going on. Or you can say at that time, I had a lot on my plate, yeah? Like a lot of things, I was really busy, I was snowed under at the time, I was super busy. So it slipped my mind. And how did you feel about it, Rory?

R: Well, I introduced it by saying in terms of how I felt about it. So again, in terms of is a good way of just regaining your place in the conversation. And then I said I was a bit annoyed with myself. You can be annoyed with yourself or happy with yourself or angry with yourself, that I forgot, but there was some sense of relief as well. So also describing a sense of relief, a sense of annoyance, a sense of happiness. So a bit annoyed. A bit plus the adjective, a sense of plus the noun.

M: It turned out that everybody else let the whole thing slip too. So everybody else forgot about the meeting. It turned out that my friends forgot about it as well. I was off the hook. That's a nice one. I was off the hook.

R: I thought I was in trouble for forgetting but as it turned out everyone else forgot too. So it doesn't matter or it didn't matter.

M: Nice. So it's a relief, yeah. When kind of you start feeling bad, like, oh, I forgot the meeting but then everybody else forgot the meeting. You are off the hook. Dear listener, have you ever missed an important appointment? Like a job interview, for example, or an exam?

R: Or like a birthday for one of your close colleagues.

M: A birthday party. Well, I had to miss it. You know, I was in Pyatigorsk, and you were in Moscow. They're two different towns, cities, places, you know?

R: No.

M: Ah-a, no. Okay, I had to fly to Moscow for your birthday, yeah?

R: Just no.

M: Just no. Ah-a. Okay. Make sure you remember all your appointments. Right? So keep your word. Don't be like Rory, forgetting things, right? So organize your life, listen to our podcast. And we're gonna see you and hear in the next section, part three, when we talk about planning. Planning, Rory, planning. Bye!

R: I do love a good plan. Bye!

M: Bye!

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