📙 Part 2: Describe a time when you were caught in a traffic jam

This episode's vocabulary

Get-together (noun) - an informal meeting or social occasion, often arranged for a particular purpose.

Cab (noun) - a taxi.

To pack (verb) - to come or bring together in large numbers or to fill a space.

Rush hour (noun) - the busy part of the day when towns and cities are crowded, either in the morning when people are travelling to work, or in the evening when people are travelling home.

To curse (verb) - to use a word or an expression that is not polite and shows that you are very angry.

To redesign (verb) - to change the design of something.

To compound (verb) - to make a problem or difficult situation worse.

Furious (adj.) - extremely angry.

In/within spitting distance (idiom) - if something is in or within spitting distance, it is very close.

To stroll (verb) - to walk in a slow relaxed way, especially for pleasure.

In dire straits (idiom) - in a very bad situation that is difficult to fix.

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Questions and Answers

M: Hello, our dear premium listener, and welcome into IELTS speaking part two. Rory here is going to describe a time when he was caught in a traffic jam. He's going to say when it happened, where it happened, how he passed the time while waiting. And he's going to explain how he felt when he was stuck in that traffic jam. Rory, are you ready to talk about this exciting topic?

R: This extremely ordinary, everyday occurrence.

M: Tell us.

R: I can remember it like it was yesterday, actually. It was the late spring of 2021, and I was heading to my office to meet some colleagues before we went bowling that evening. The reason why we were going bowling is like every Friday we would have a get-together in the office and people were getting a bit bored of that. So we decided to actually go out once in the evening and I was travelling from the edge of Moscow into the centre and I can actually remember the train station or the metro station that I used to get the taxi from. Because that was just where I was every Friday. Anyway, I caught a cab to get to where I needed to be, which was in the centre and we got stuck in traffic. And this was particularly ironic because I'd taken the cab in order to avoid the metro which would be packed and I didn't want to be late. And I think we were stuck in the rush hour for well over an hour. And it's not like you can just step out of a taxi into five lanes of traffic in Moscow. Well, you can or you could, but only if you don't really value your life. I spent much of that time texting people and just cursing the terrible Moscow infrastructure and how I wished I could redesign the whole thing from the ground up. I really was not best pleased, to be honest with you. And this was all compounded by the fact that I actually hadn't eaten since breakfast, and that was about 6:00 in the morning. So anyone would start to get hungry at that point. And I was no exception. I was absolutely furious by the time we were within spitting distance of the office and the gridlock was still grinding away. It wasn't the taxi driver's fault. He had to find a safe place to park and there really wasn't one. But by then there were only three lanes of traffic and I felt like I was dying of hunger. So I just paid him and strolled out. It probably wasn't the safest choice, but it was definitely a necessary one. And I made it to where I needed to be. However, after that, I promised myself that I would never, ever get into such dire straits again. That was a horrible experience.

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Discussion

M: And...

R: Hah, have you talked to your friends about this?

M: Yeah. What about the taxi driver? How did the taxi driver feel?

R: I think the taxi driver was just pleased to be paid and be rid of the angry Scottish person in the back of his taxi.

M: An angry Scot at the back of a car.

R: I imagine it's not a common occurrence for Moscow taxi drivers, but like I say, it wasn't his fault and he got paid his full fare. That's only, well, that's only fair.

M: Yeah, maybe like while you were texting your friends, the taxi driver was texting his family or friends and saying like, oh, I've got a Scottish Scot, a foreign person who is behaving in a strange way.

R: There's a foreigner in the back of my car. How can I get rid of him?

M: He's going to eat me. He's hungry. Oh, well. Yeah, I was struggling with a follow-up question, dear listener, because usually, oh, well, yeah, usually, the examiner asks you a very short follow-up question. When you stop speaking in speaking part two, it could be something about your friends or how often do you do it, or when will be the next time you'll do it. So something like very easy and your answer should be very short. So here I was kind of like, hmm, what should I ask you?

R: I was going to say, I don't even know what the follow-up question would be for the examiner. It's like, have you told your friends about this experience?

M: Yeah. Or maybe like, are you often caught in traffic these days or... Yeah. Excellent. So Rory told us about a time when he was caught in a traffic jam. So to be caught in traffic or to be caught in a traffic jam. Also, you paraphrased it like I was stuck in the rush hour. Okay?

R: Yes.

M: So to be stuck in the rush hour. And a traffic jam also could be the rush hour or a traffic jam could be without the rush hour, but it's a nice word, a colocation to use. And you started with: "Hmm, I can remember it like it was yesterday".

R: I can, I can remember the name of the metro station, everything. The taxi that I got was from Rokossovsky Boulevard, which is way up in the end of the red line. Do you know it?

M: Yeah. It's just up there.

R: So it's right at the edge of the first ever metro line in Moscow. The red line.

M: Oh, yeah.

R: Yeah.

M: Good. You do know your Moscow metro.

R: I do. I know the Moscow metro like the back of my hand. And that's another expression that you could use to describe a familiar situation. Anyway, I didn't say I'm going to tell you about a time when I was stuck in traffic. No, I can remember it like it was yesterday, actually. I don't want to remember it, but I can, because it was quite traumatising for everybody involved.

M: Yeah. And then you can say it was spring or it was the late spring of 2021 and I was heading to my office. So I was heading to my office - I was going to my office, Past Continuous, because it was a specific moment. So I got stuck in traffic when I was going to my office or when I was heading to my office, like head, heading. And then you said something like, oh, my colleagues before we went bowling and it sounded like we went bullying. So, you know, like an angry Scot with some Russian friends of his went bullying and to bully some people. So bowling.

R: Or maybe bully the Moscow mayor to designing a traffic system that actually works.

M: Bowling. And then I was travelling from the edge of Moscow, again, past continuous. I was travelling. Because at that particular moment when I got stuck in traffic. From the edge of Moscow. So I'm from just somewhere so far away from the centre, from the very edge. So pretty much almost not Moscow, into the centre. So I was travelling from into the centre. And then Rory said I caught a cab. Do you call it a cab in Moscow? I thought it's just a taxi.

R: It doesn't matter. A cab, a taxi. I was running out of ways to paraphrase taxi. "The hireable transportation service". Hireable? Is that even a word?

M: Hireable. Yeah, I caught a cab or I caught a taxi to get there, so we get there. And then we got stuck in traffic. Another one, another synonym. So I got caught in a traffic jam, I got stuck in traffic or I got stuck in a traffic jam. And then Rory used the Past Perfect.

R: Did I?

M: Yes, you did. Past Perfect. Woah. This was particularly ironic as I had taken the cab to avoid the metro, right? So I had taken the cab, first, the first action, and then it was ironic. I did it to avoid the metro nice.

R: And use of as instead of "because".

M: Right. Yeah. I caught a cab as I wanted to avoid the metro. Yeah. Really nice. So this like answer is full of grammar. Super grammar.

R: It is. But we haven't focussed on grammar in a long time.

M: True. True. And then, you go with a relative clause, a relative clause. So to avoid the metro, which would be packed. Right? So to add some information, additional information which would be packed. So if the metro is packed then it's full of people. You can say, oh, the bus was packed.

R: I suppose, if I really wanted to place this event in the past, I should have said which would have been packed and I didn't want to do it.

M: I'm thinking, yeah.

R: But, do you know, I don't think it makes a difference because it's clearly in the past if I said I had taken and would, so it's okay, and also didn't. But would have been for a higher score, even higher.

M: Yeah. So here it's not a mistake. Right? So I could say would be packed or it would have been packed. Would have been packed. Yeah. And then we were stuck in the rush hour for well over an hour, so well over an hour. More than an hour. So you wanted the journey to take like, what, 5 minutes and then it was over one hour?

R: Well, not from the edge of Moscow. But I was thinking like the app said it was only going to be 25 minutes and I was like, great, it's 4:00, I can be at my work by half four. We could sit down, have a drink and then go out. And then I was just in traffic and angry.

M: And angry. I was so angry.

R: Yeah. And then you go like, it's not like you can just step out of a taxi, right? So to step out of a taxi, like the taxi is going and you go, okay, stop the car, and you just step out of the taxi. Of a taxi like in a movie.

R: I guess you could say that for anything, though. Like it's not like you can just blah, blah, blah. Like it's not like you can just go around talking to people and asking them what kind of sitting position they like.

M: Oh yes, sitting is the fresh IELTS speaking part 1 topic. Can you imagine like I'm somewhere in the street, like talking to people? Excuse me. Can I ask a question? When you were child, did you used to sit on the floor?

R: Yes.

M: What's your favourite chair?

R: What's your favourite chair? So, yeah, it's like an introduction to something that's quite outrageous. It's not like you can just. And then the action.

M: And then you can say there are five lanes of traffic. So because in Moscow, some streets are really wide and roads are massive and instead of like one or two lanes of these kind of lines where cars go. So we have like five lanes, right? On one side. Yes. So like massive highways. So it's pretty much impossible to step out of a taxi into five lanes of traffic in Moscow. So you can't do it in the middle of the road. So not always, especially if it's like, like a huge road. And then Rory said, like, I spent much of that time texting people and cursing the terrible Moscow infrastructure.

R: So infrastructure, specific word for talking about traffic and cursing, which is just a word for saying horrible things.

M: Yes. Rory was dropping F-bombs and saying some bad words. Yeah, infrastructure's a good one. I wished I could redesign the whole thing. So the whole infrastructure of Moscow. Nice structure. I wish I could redesign it. Wow, so your answer is full of grammar.

R: It is. It's great, though, and it's all in the past.

M: You feel so emotional about this that you decided like, okay, it's going to be full of grammar.

R: Well, I'm glad it's full of grammar. Because we don't spend enough time talking about that. And also it's a story about the past. So we should be talking about the different past forms used.

M: Right. So we have the Past Continues. I was heading to my office. Then this was ironic as I'd taken the cab and now I wished I could, I wished, right, I could redesign the whole thing really nice.

R: To be honest, I probably could have said I wish I could redesign the whole thing and that would be okay as well.

M: I wish I could. Yeah, but still it's in the past, right?

R: It's still clearly in the past, but it's just a nice thing to have if you can situate the whole thing in the past as opposed to just relying on the part of it that you already said.

M: Yeah. Dear listener, so if the talk is about the past and if the topic is about a past situation, we use the past everywhere. Right. You can't be jumping from present to past. So here it's pretty much past everywhere. I wasn't best pleased, so about the feelings.

R: Which is a really nice way of saying I was really, really angry.

M: Yeah, I wasn't pleased.

R: So do not be confused. When a British person says they are not best pleased, it actually means they're raging.

M: Yes, because usually, British people are really soft. You know, they won't tell you in to your face that, oh, I'm very angry, I hate you. No, they go like, you know, I'm not best pleased.

R: I'm not the biggest fan.

M: Pleased like happy.

R: That causes problems, though. In the Korean War there was an American general who was asking a British commander if he needed reinforcements. And the British commander said, oh, it's just we're having a little bit of trouble here. And actually, what that meant was they were outnumbered 10 to 1. But the American commander is like, oh, they're fine. They just said they're having a little bit of trouble. It's fine. And all the British people were killed. So, you know, that's our problem.

M: Wow.

R: But what's not a problem is using it in your IELTS test because it sounds natural.

M: Yeah, it's really cool. Yeah, you're part of the British culture. Yes, you're very polite and nice and even if you are, you know, you're dying of hunger. You go, I was a little bit hungry. Yeah.

R: I was ready to kill someone.

M: And then Rory said, like, this was all compounded by the fact that. So compounded, like it got really complicated. It got even worse. So this was all compounded by the fact I had not eaten since breakfast.

R: Yes. Is that another Past Perfect? I hadn't actually eaten.

M: Yeah. It was getting worse because I hadn't eaten breakfast. So the action, which is the first, is I hadn't eaten breakfast or I hadn't eaten since breakfast, it's number one, and then it was getting complicated. It was all compounded by. It was about six in the evening. Oh, wow. Okay. So you had like breakfast at day and then you hadn't eaten. Oh, wow. The whole day.

R: Well, it wasn't my fault. I thought we were going to get pizza, but everyone had eaten it by the time I got there.

M: About Rory's feelings. So he also said I was absolutely furious. So furious, like, really angry. So, first of all, he says, I wasn't best pleased or I wasn't pleased. I wasn't happy. And then I was absolutely furious. And then, Rory used another synonym and the gridlock was still grinding away. Oh, wow. This is so band nine, Rory. Wow!

R: So gridlock for, well, traffic jam. Like a really serious traffic jam where nothing is moving at all and then grinding away like, oh, it's just going so slowly and it's very painful experience.

M: Yeah. Yeah. So the gridlock is another synonym for a traffic jam, for heavy traffic. Yeah. By the way, the traffic is heavy, heavy traffic. And then Rory was dying of hunger, and then he just paid and strolled out. So strolled out. He just opened the door and just like walked out, right?

R: And just go into the traffic.

M: And, yeah, you just stopped in the middle of the road, right? So you just like strolled down.

R: Yeah, but I mean, the cab was basically stopped anyway, so it wasn't doing any harm. I mean, if the traffic had suddenly magically started to go again at that point, then it might have been a serious problem. But you know as well as I do Friday afternoons in Moscow traffic, it's not moving.

M: No, no, no. Especially in winter. In winter it's just yeah, just forget about it.

R: Oh, my God. I remember seeing like cars flying across the road in winter, and it was just absolutely insane. Don't, don't drive in Moscow in the winter. Just take the metro everywhere. You will live longer.

M: Yeah.

R: There are accidents like every day. It's horrendous.

M: Yeah, yeah. True. No, because like people, especially at the beginning of winter, people think it's still, you know, summer and they drive as if it were summer.

R: They drive as if they were indestructible.

M: Yeah. Like, as if they had nine lives. And then like a usual comment would be like, well, is it summer? Yeah, it's like in summer. So, you know, because like people are still, you know, are not aware, perhaps like, oh, it's actually winter, you know, you should kind of slow down, but no. But come on, think of Istanbul. Think of, I don't know, Asia, Thailand. Dear listener, if you are from Thailand, your traffic is also, you know, crazy.

R: Oh, God. Yeah.

M: Right. So, you know, Moscow is bad, but...

R: And somehow no one dies. Like really.

M: Yes, exactly. You know, they kind of they drive in all directions and scooters and cars and taxis and everybody, people walk, but they are fine, you know, very few accidents.

R: Yes.

M: Okay, dear listener, if you are from Thailand, are we correct?

R: If you are from Thailand, I demand you answer for your people. How do you achieve this?

M: Yes. How is it possible? Oh, boy, I love Thailand. Right. And then Rory said I promised myself never to get into such dire straits.

R: Yeah. Actually, dire straits is just in trouble. Dire meaning bad and straits meaning, well, like a situation. However, I should point out that it's also the name of a band.

M: Strait. Dire Strait. Straits, plural, a difficult situation, especially because of financial problems. So usually we use it like this, in such dire, difficult straits. So dear listener, it's always in the plural and collocates well with dire straits. For example, many companies are in dire straits these days, or many companies are in such dire straits that their prices have come down. Yeah.

R: Dire straits just means a really difficult situation. So you get into them as well. That's another thing to remember.

M: Gets into such dire straits. Yes. And if in IELTS you talk about some unpleasant situations, you can always say, oh, I promised myself never to get into such dire straits again. So to get into such horrible situations again. Wow, how are you, dear listener? Really nice grammar, quality grammar. So these grammar structures could be used about any situation in the past. Past Continuous, Past Perfect. I wished I could. And then what?

R: And that's all.

M: That's all. Yes. Like yeah. No, but that's pretty much enough, right? I would, yeah, I would have, I would have. Yeah, it would have been difficult. So, yeah. You're welcome, dear listener. Yeah. Now you do know what to say about traffic.

R: If you didn't before.

M: And we're going to come back to you in IELTS speaking part three when we're going to be talking about traffic problems again. Surprise, surprise.

R: Bye!

M: See you! Bye!

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