📙 Part 2: Describe an occasion when you got lost and needed help

This episode's vocabulary

To get turned around - to slightly lose your way.

To wander (verb) - to walk around slowly in a relaxed way or without any clear purpose or direction.

To trace (verb) - to find someone or something that was lost.

Tributary (noun) - a river or stream that flows into a larger river or a lake.

To wade (verb) - to walk in water that is not very deep.

To retrace your steps (idiom) - to go back to a place in the same way that you came.

Crossing (noun) - a place where something such as a road, river, etc. can be crossed safely, or a place where a road and a railway meet and cross each other.

Bird of prey (noun) - a bird, such as an eagle or a hawk, that kills and eats small birds and animals.

Terrain (noun) - an area of land, when considering its natural features.

Intuition (noun) - (knowledge from) an ability to understand or know something immediately based on your feelings rather than facts.

Questions and Answers

M: Right, Rory, give us your story.

R: It's a bit of a struggle to talk about the last time I was lost, to be honest, because we have GPS to help us find our way around these days. But I do remember one time I got a bit turned around when I was out for a walk near my old home in Aberlour. It's in the north of Scotland. And the village is very small, so there are lots of people around. Which I actually quite liked, and I often went out for walks in the local area. This was a few months ago after I stopped teaching in state schools, so I had the time to go for a wander without any real plan. I went through the forest and traced a path along the river that runs by the village, which was pretty easy, since all the usual course markers were pretty obvious. However, I was walking back and I ran into a tributary that I couldn't cross. So I decided to try and find a way around it. But the water just kept going for what seemed like miles. And it was funny because the other bank was only a few meters away. But I wasn't wearing anything appropriate to go wading or swimming. I wasn't particularly worried, though. It did occur to me that I was in the middle of nowhere. So if I got into difficulties it would take ages for people to find me, but I mean, how serious could the difficulties be, to be honest? Anyway, after what felt like an age, I eventually gave up and retraced my steps before finding a crossing and going through some farmland that I hadn't initially planned to go through. The sheep weren't very happy, but I made it back fine. Actually, it turned out to be a better experience than following the river since I was able to see a lot more local wildlife like deer and the occasional bird of prey, which usually don't go to the water sights, especially when people are around. You might be wondering why I didn't just use my phone and look at the map. And the reason for that is the mountain terrain prevents a lot of signals from getting through. And even if it didn't do this, the maps wouldn't be very accurate just because the signal quality isn't very high. So I had to rely on my own intuition and memory of the path I'd taken. If I hadn't been able to do that, then I think I'd have dropped by one of the farmhouses or fishing places that's dotted about the place. It wouldn't have been such a big deal. Though, I think the locals would have been very amused about showing up looking for help after living there for so long.

M: Do you often get lost?

R: No especially not now that I've moved back to the city.

Discussion

M: What a lovely story, dear listener. So Scottish, our Rory, poor old Rory struggling and just walking there in the middle of nowhere in the highlands with sheep and birds and rivers and mountains without any connection. Oh... How Scottish could you be, Rory? Yeah? Maybe if you were drunk. You weren't drunk, right?

R: No, I was not drunk.

M: A drunk Scot wandering around the highlands. Right, dear listener, here when you got lost. Obviously, you don't speak about your life. Because in life we get lost pretty much maybe every day. You can get lost in a new city or you went to Venice and you got lost there, you get lost what? In your neighbourhood, perhaps? In your city or country?

R: You can get lost trying to find your way somewhere if the maps are not very accurate.

M: Yeah, you can also get lost in a building. For example, if you go to a university, usually university buildings are massive and there are all these corridors, and classrooms. So once I got lost in my own university. So, it's a bit of a struggle to talk about the last time I was lost. If it's difficult for you, you just say it's difficult for me to talk about the last time I was lost, I got lost or I was lost. So it's a bit of a struggle. I'm struggling to talk about this. It's difficult for me. But I do remember one time. I do remember, you intensify the meaning like I, yes, I remember this last time. And you said I got a bit turned around. I got a bit turned around.

R: But that just is another way of saying I got, well, I was slightly lost, not completely lost.

M: So I lost my way slightly or I got a bit turned around. Yeah?

R: Well, you're never completely lost, are you? Because you always have a general idea of the area where you are.

M: Could you give us another example with this turned around?

R: I was trying to find the room we were supposed to have the meeting in and I got a bit turned around.

M: I got a bit lost. Yeah. And then Rory said this like...

R: Aberlour.

M: Oh, it's so funny. You were speaking English and then something like...

R: I don't understand... There's nothing difficult about saying Aberlour. Although, I would love to see the statistics on how your Scottish place names work because I bet there is a significant percentage that begin with either Aber something and Dun something.

M: And if you've got lost in a forest or in a village, so you can describe the village? It's very small. There aren't many people around. Around the area.

R: It's tiny.

M: It's tiny, very small.

R: It's sparsely populated.

M: And Rory went for a wander. So I went for a walk. Or you can say I had some time to go for a wander, wander. Like wandering around, just walking around. And then I went through the forest. And then I went along the river. A river runs by the village. Usually, we use the verb run. A river runs around the village or in the city, and then Past Continuous. I was walking back. I was walking back, like a long action. And I ran into a tributary. What is this? Tributary.

R: It's something that feeds into a river or it's part of a river.

M: I ran into a tributary. Like a small river.

R: Well, it's not like a small river. It's a small body of water that's part of a larger body of water that flows, very specific, very technical vocabulary.

M: Yeah, very technical. And actually, for this question, you might want to choose getting lost in a forest, even if you've never got lost in a forest, just to use all this vocabulary, you know, like, oh, I ran it a tributary, like I couldn't cross it. This, you know... Like village, mountains, forests, so really nice vocabulary. I decided to find a way around it. So Rory couldn't cross it. So he wanted to find a way around it. Right? But he couldn't, because the water kept going for miles, for a long distance. Basking tears again, I wasn't wearing anything appropriate to go swimming. So I was walking back. I ran into a river or into a mountain. I wasn't wearing any warm clothes, it was getting dark. And then Rory used another precise phrase. I wasn't wearing anything appropriate to go wading.

R: But wading is just another way of saying going walking through the water without being completely in the water.

M: Yeah, so imagine like kind of a small river and you should cross it so you kind of wade through the water.

R: Very slow walking.

M: I wasn't particularly worried. It did occur to me that I was in the middle of nowhere. So it occurred to me, I understood it, I realized. We intensify the meaning, It did occur to me, did occur. Occur in the present, did in the past. Like it like really occurred to me. I really realized. And then Rory talked about difficulties. If I got into difficulties, like if I died, or if I... I don't know...

R: Well, maybe not if I died, it would be difficult to have a chat then. There are no bears in Scotland in the wild.

M: Only sheep. But what about snakes or some like boars, wild boars?

R: No, there are no wild boars. There are adders. That's like the only poisonous snake in the UK but I don't think they live in the East of Scotland.

M: Peaceful Scotland, dear listener.

R: Devoid of dangerous animals unless you go to a night out in Glasgow.

M: Yeah, yeah, I was thinking about that. Yeah. Unless you just meet some...

R: Scottish people. Yeah.

M: In the middle of nowhere, and you're left alone with them. So if I got into difficulties, it would take ages for people to find me. After what felt like an age. So after a long time, a long time, you can use after what felt like an age. I eventually. Eventually. Finally gave up. So I just dropped to this idea of finding a way around this tributary and I retraced my steps. So Rory went back and he went through some farmland. Very Scottish. And the sheep were not happy to see Rory around them.

R: Do farms only exist in Scotland?

M: No, I don't know, it just seems so Scottish to me. Right. It turned out to be a bad experience. So it turned out, it happened to be quite good. I was able to see, I could see, I was able to see lots of wildlife, dear listener. Wildlife, like animals, like deer, and birds.

R: Specific birds. Birds of prey, they hunt other animals. They're awesome.

M: And then Rory said why he didn't use his phone. Because of the mountains. So the mountain terrain, the terrain is like, a kind of landscape with mountains. You can say, mountains prevent signals, or the mountain terrain prevents a lot of signals. And I relied on my own intuition. Okay? I got lost, I wasn't worried. I relied on my own intuition and memory. I relied on the memory of the path I had taken. So not a road but a path. Usually, there are paths in a forest or in a park. So I took this path, I had taken, dear listener, Past Perfect, because before Rory took it, okay? Kind of I had to rely on the memory of the past I had taken earlier. And our favourite third conditional. Rory, could you read it out loud? The sentence.

R: If I hadn't been able to do that, then I think I'd have dropped by one of the farmhouses or fishing places dotted about the place.

M: If I hadn't been able to do that. But I was able to do that. So we're imagining an unreal situation in the past, the third conditional. If I hadn't found my way out, or if I hadn't been able to do that. I'd have dropped by I would have dropped by one of the farms and would ask for help. Sweet, dear listener, how are you doing? Do you feel like you are walking together with Rory in these highlands in Scotland, together with sheep and birds of prey?

R: It's very nice. Everybody should visit the north of Scotland in one time in their life, I suppose.

M: Yes. And go to Rory's castle to have a party. Glasgow style.

R: Well, maybe not Glasgow style, you might not survive.

M: Thank you very much for listening! And we'll get back to you in our next episode about getting lost. Bye!

R: Bye!

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