0 - 5 Enjoyment 🙋 #347
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This is Rock and Roll English. Real people, real English. Here's your host, Martin Johnson. Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of Rock and Roll English, episode number 347, baby. Oh yeah. In today's episode, I speak to Champagne Char. She is back. Oh yeah. And we speak about...

enjoyment, okay? What enjoyment you get from different things. And speaking of enjoyment, remember on Tuesday the 3rd of February I am running my 14-day vocabulary challenge again. Remember, the vocabulary challenge is designed for lazy people or busy people that have no time to study but want to learn new vocabulary because on this challenge you will learn vocabulary without a

studying. If you don't believe me, if you think it's not true, click the link inside the podcast you're listening to now. Read all of the reviews of people that have already done it. So yes, Tuesday the 3rd of February. Make sure you get involved if you haven't already. If you've already done it, it's probably not worth doing. So anyway, that's enough of me. Here is the conversation with Champagne Char. I will talk to you at the end. Happy listening.

Champagne Char, how are you today? Hello, I'm good, thanks. How are you? Always fantastic, Char, always fantastic. Especially, I think this is a first for Rock and Roll English that I'm recording a podcast. Not just me in pyjamas, but the person...

the guest in pyjamas as well both in our pyjamas right now aren't we not in the same room it's just to know no we are in separate houses in our pyjamas at the grand old time of nine o'clock at night yeah that's pretty late for us obviously both in our 40s now char as well since the last time you were on

which yeah let's just keep moving there nothing to nothing to talk about there thank you no nothing to talk about so just to tell people though what happened obviously we're doing a late night podcast here and I came downstairs in my pyjamas but I did bring an Adidas jumper and I thought yeah I can just put that on the top champagne shawl sent me a message just and said just to let you know I'm in my pyjamas and

I quickly responded, thank God for that, because now I don't need to get changed because I'm also in my pyjamas. So I do think you hit the age of 40 and you just don't care anymore. You can take me as I am. Absolutely. So, yeah, both very comfortable in our pyjamas. But so it's been a while, I think, since you've been on Shark. I actually remember. But do you remember how we start the show? I do. Is there a review? No.

oh yes i mean you're actually asking me i normally do this the other way okay we'll try it the other way you've you've thrown me you've thrown me off here now char i'm a very routine man okay i like to stay with my routine you're asking me if there's a what the fuck is going on okay we'll start that one again i can't remember how it's there we go okay it's a review do you think we have a review char i would hope we have a review

Oh, yes, we do. And what a review. So this review is from Zoe and it was on Facebook and iTunes. OK, absolute perfect combination. Title 100 star podcast. OK, they only give you the option of five on the platforms, but.

So it here has given me 100 stars. Okay, so it says Rock and Roll English is a 100 star podcast. The maximum score I could give here was five, but it's worth a lot more. Martin and his friends are fantastic. It's the kind of people you'd like to have in your real life.

When I listen to an episode, I feel like I'm with them in a pub having a laugh together. They are such lovely people and always so funny. I burst out laughing every time. It's the only podcast to learn English that I know that works so well. It's so entertaining, never boring. When an episode ends, I immediately have to listen to the next one. It's addictive. It's hard to stop.

Plus, it's excellent listening practice because they are spontaneous conversations between native speakers. You laugh and learn at the same time. What more could you want? I also recommend joining the Rock and Roll English family where you can establish direct contact with Martin. There are beautiful people from all over the world and lots of content and opportunities to practice English, the place to be. Martin, you really created something unique. Thank you so much. Zoe.

wow what a review that is hey champagne char that is such a lovely review oh yes and where does zoe come where does zoe live in switzerland i believe in fact i know that because i know zoe personally because as she mentioned i speak to everyone in the rock and roll english family quite a lot and i actually met her she came to my 40th birthday i had a 40th surprise birthday party people from the rock and roll english family came can you believe that

Wow. In England? In England, yeah. In fact, that day, I haven't actually spoken about this, so it was a big surprise and I was very surprised. I was not expecting this at all. Also because it was like 10 days after my birthday and Mrs. R&R had had her birthday. Yes.

Yes. In those 10 days, because hers is just a few days after mine. So I walked into this pub and everyone said, surprise. And I was thinking, is this for me or is this for Mrs. R&R? And then I kind of looked around the room, like the people that were there, you're trying to process a lot of information very quickly. And then I was like, all right, OK, no, yeah, this is for me. But yeah. Did Mrs. R&R organise that for you? Well, I think a few people did.

um mrs rnr was very good in the whole process didn't sort of let on at all how did she keep that a secret all that time well in fact our wedding almost our wedding our marriage almost broke up at one point because uh i mean that's a bit of an exaggeration but we have like an open phone policy of she can look at my phone i'd look at hers and then a couple of times she said like no you can't have my phone because she was worried that she might get a message and i was like

What the fuck's going on here? But that was obviously why. And that day, actually, she had said to me, it was a Saturday. She said at three o'clock, we have to go and see all of the Italian mums. Like she's got some like Italian friends there.

And it was raining. I didn't really want to go to spend the afternoon with her Italian mum friends. So I sort of arrived not in the best of moods. Oh, no. But then it's kind of quickly you have to try and be like, oh, my God. So, yeah, it was amazing. So there we go. But on to today's episode, Champagne Shark. I did quickly tell you about this. And I would imagine I'll tell the listeners about this in the intro. But anyway.

What we're doing, I've got a list of activities here, okay? And you have to say how much you enjoy it. You can give it a number, okay, from zero to five, and then we'll just give it a number and have a talk about it, okay, in general, okay? Okay. Ready? So first on the list I have here, dancing. What are your thoughts? How much do you enjoy it from zero to five? I'm going four when on a night out with friends having a drink. I'm going two...

The majority of the time. Yeah, see, yeah, I think I would go the same. Maybe, you know what, I might even go five if I'm up for it. If I'm up for dancing, that means I'm absolutely, you know, shit-faced. Like, I have to be fully, properly drunk. Yes. But once I'm there, I'm loving it. Absolutely loving it. If not drunk, I mean, if I could give minus numbers, I would. It's...

So awkward, embarrassing, everything horrible. But I obviously have been on numerous nights out with you, Shah. Oh, yes. And the dancing thing, we have shared the dance floor many a time over the years, haven't we? We have cleared the dance floor many a time over the years. Cleared the dance floor. Now, people might be thinking because we were such good dancers, but I think it was more people just trying to get away from us. Yes.

I think our lack of control of our arms and heads. Yeah, I think as well, we always had like a similar taste in music and kind of like belting out the songs, like dancing arms in the sky. Not sure if other people like that so much, but that's kind of the dance moves that we used to go for. So that's why the dance floor cleared of people just dancing.

probably getting as far away from us as possible but we were having a bloody brilliant time so and we didn't remember much the next day so oh exactly because again to get on the dance floor had to be that level of drunk and i think we used to call it the black hole there was a particular bar that we used to go to the first part of the night was sitting down at the table having a few drinks and the dance floor was the black hole because by the time you're on there

Memory is hazy, to say the least. Okay. I'm very grateful that our dancing days were pre-camera phone. Oh, God, I think about that a lot. I think about that a lot. That would be... Because if someone had a camera on a night out back then, it was a rarity, wasn't it? And even then, it was kind of like, oh, God, look at that photo. That's an absolute stinker. But...

These days, my God, yeah, the whole camera phone thing. Yeah, I think we kind of just about missed that, really. Dodged a bullet there. Yes, absolutely. So the next on the list, and by the way, I actually got this list, well, the inspiration for this podcast from, again, someone in the Rock and Roll English family. And this one, I found this quite strange, but I thought I would ask it anyway. It says, Lie in a meadow of flowers.

Like, would that be a good thing? I'm not sure. So what would be your enjoyment? Because, you know, you see those like pictures of someone in the flowers. And I think I always think, is that comfortable? Are they not like ants running on you or something like that? I get to be very boring and say three because I don't think I would particularly enjoy it or dislike it. I'm not very good at sitting still. So...

There was a good one or two minutes. You sound like my three-year-old daughter there. This is why I work in education. I'm on a level with the children. Sitting still is a difficult skill to master, isn't it? It is, especially if there's ants crawling up your legs. Yeah, exactly. In fact, I often talk about ants in your pants when... Yes.

I'm talking to her. Yeah, you know what? I'm not a fan. Again, it might be old age. I can't remember doing this even though in my younger days. Sitting on grass without a blanket. No. I just feel a bit weird if I'm sitting on grass with no blanket, even like if it's summer. No. It's just a weird thing. How do you feel about walking on grass? I love walking on grass barefoot.

Barefoot? Not a fan. Don't know what you're going to find. Don't know what you're going to find. Don't trust the ground. I don't know what grass you're walking on. It's perfectly safe here. Yes, grass is not safe here. Yeah, I don't know why. Not a fan.

So not for me. So, OK, so I think I would honestly I'd give that a zero. I would not enjoy it. But OK, on to the next one, OK, which is looking at old photos. What are you saying? I'm doing that horrible thing where you're having to listen to me think.

I said to Champagne Char before we started, don't worry too much about the numbers because people don't want to hear you think. But if you do it silently, then I can just cut that part, Champagne Char. Okay. Just don't think out loud. I don't want to hear an um, okay? I enjoy looking through old photos. I do. Me too. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. Definitely.

There's always the old photo that brings up embarrassing memories and anxieties of behaviours past. But generally, when you're looking at old photos, you're in that mindset of reminiscing, aren't you? I think I do it a bit too much, actually. You know what as well? I often look at photos like pre-kids and sort of like remember what my life was like. I always think...

Oh, God, those were the days, weren't they? When I had no bags under my eyes. My hair was...

When you said no bags under my eyes, I was thinking of actual bags I'm carrying as well because every time I leave the house, I've got like 20 bags that I need to carry. I was actually riding on my bike with both of the R&R babies the other day and one of their backpacks fell off the bike in the middle of the road. This car looked like it was going to destroy it. I was like, stop, do not destroy the Minnie Mouse backpack, please. And it was caused like a fucking...

massive accident both children were on the bike one at the front one at the back oh my gosh it's it's i would say the moment where i'm happiest in my life and i think because the kids enjoy it so much that they they don't it's the only time they're not moaning this isn't the fold up lime green bike no you wouldn't get a kid on the front and on the back of that no

I've got a proper bike, let's say. Do you ride on the roads with them? Oh, fuck, of course, yeah. And Mrs. R&R always is like, be careful. But I'm like, fuck the cars, man. Like, the cars are going to wait for us. Absolutely. We fucking own the road. We are so on the road. I mean, like, in fact, I hope Mrs. R&R doesn't listen to this. But once I took them to like,

soft play and I thought I thought I remembered the way to get there like through the park and then I basically ended up on like

dual carriageway motorway i mean that that is an exaggeration of a motorway but a very busy road um but it was only for a little bit um but yeah i've got oh my gosh i could feel the looks of the people in the car thinking what is that idiot doing with two kids on the bike on this really busy road i hope mrs r and r doesn't listen to this conversation

As I said, we own the road. But yeah, as well, some old photos that you see. Well, I would say not in sort of almost the last 20 years, sort of fashion wise.

things like but certainly if i look at really old photos in fact just today when i was thinking of this podcast i was looking at some photos from our university days and like i think like baggy jeans were kind of um in a bit bit more fashion yes there in those days and i was wearing some very baggy jeans but one thing i've noticed i had in a couple of

The pictures was I was wearing a shirt, no tie, but top button done up. I thought, God, that's such a cool look. I said, I can't. I don't think you can do that when you're 40. You can't. No, you can't do that. It was a white shirt as well, wasn't it? Yeah. How do I remember that? Top button done up, no ties. Fuck me, that guy's so cool. But like I said, I would never try that now because...

Yeah, you get to a certain age. There's some things you can't do. Fashion is coming back round. But you're right. The age is against us this time round. Exactly. So there we go. OK, on to the next one, which is Google random questions that pop into your head. Do you enjoy doing this? I do. That is a five.

I'm so glad to hear that because I was thinking, am I the only person that does this? No, I will Google everything. I honestly think Google is one of the best inventions. Yeah. I must admit, I actually chat GPT it now. Because you can get a much more direct... Because on Google, you might have to Google it and then you have to click a link. Whilst if you go to chat GPT, you can just...

get it straight away. I'd not thought of that. There you go. Okay, as a tip, it's more than an educational podcast. Okay, people are not just learning English here. But yeah, the amount of stuff, I'll just be sitting there and like, I'll be thinking like,

Who won the FA Cup in 1978 again? And then put that in. One I actually put in quite recently because I have to watch Mickey Mouse in Italian, right? Oh, okay. Which is a bit weird. And we were talking about Donald Duck.

um which because obviously his name in english is donald duck he's got a different name in italian and mrs rnr asked me like what's his wife's name in english and i didn't know if it was daisy duck or daffy duck because you've got all of these duck characters um this is what happens in our house like

real riveting conversations so I've actually because when I was thinking about this about the podcast I sort of thought about that and then I thought I still can't remember who his wife is do you know who Donald Duck's wife is no okay well I've got it written down pre-prepared so I was about to google

I'll read it for you. But this is from ChatGPT, which this is the other thing. ChatGPT can be hilarious as well because it's like my new best friend and we have lots of banter together. I think ChatGPT likes to be sort of like quite, well, I'd imagine it was joking. So here it is. Okay, we're ready.

Donald Duck's long-term romantic partner is Daisy Duck, though they are not officially married. Okay, so not official. Daffy Duck is a completely different character from a different universe. He, so I'd imagine Daffy is a man, belongs to Warner Brothers, Looney Tunes, not Disney. Daffy is a character often paired with Bugs Bunny or Porky Pig. He's known for his over-the-top antics, rivalry with Bugs, and his famous catchphrase,

You're despicable. So while Donald Duck is a Disney creation, Daffy Duck is a Warner Brothers creation. Wacky and iconic counterpart. They are not related despite both being ducks. There you go. And then it put a duck emoji at the end of this. So as I said, ChatGPT is hilarious. That last line, they are not related despite both being ducks. My God, I was loving it. This is what...

This is what a great day is for me now, getting hilarious responses from chat GPT. Was it hilarious or patronising? Yeah, that's a good point. Yeah. Maybe I just didn't know that chat GPT was sort of...

patronising me, taking the piss out of me. But yeah, I often find myself just Googling absolute rubbish, but I do love it. We didn't have this when we were kids. You know what I think? I actually remember when we were at university, we were obviously some mutual friends, our male friends. I remember we had a massive argument in a pub about a goal in football and it was...

was the first touch with this player's right foot or left foot. We spent, honestly, about two hours arguing in this pub, okay? Because you couldn't just get your phone out and check, whilst now that's the problem with modern society, that you miss that. Because if this happens, you just get your phone out and it finishes there. But we were arguing and arguing and

If you're interested in knowing how it went, we had to go back to the room and download it because even before YouTube, we found some dodgy site, downloaded it. And it turned out I was right and I won the bet. Of course. Not relevant to the story, but I just thought I'd add it. You need the R&R family to know that. Yeah, everyone. So what would be better for a night out now then? The old way?

Or the new way? I honestly think we've gone too far. There are so many things which I think... So on this list, actually, one of the things was reading a newspaper. Like, because... And I thought, my God, when was the last time I read a newspaper? When was the last time I even saw a newspaper? I might see one in the shop, which obviously I never buy. But like, when I was a kid, there was very often a newspaper. Yes.

Like, I can't even remember the last time I was in a house where I saw a newspaper and picked that up. I pick up the free newspaper from the supermarket to clean my windows. Okay.

OK, so we are going to stop the conversation there today and it is going to continue in the Rock and Roll English family membership area. So having a look at some of the vocabulary from today's episode, Champagne Char. Sorry, I said to Champagne Char that she threw me off when she asked me about the review. Now, if you throw someone off, you kind of confuse them. I was or you can even say I was a bit thrown or thrown off. It's the same thing.

Then I was telling Champagne Char about the surprise birthday party I had for my 40th. And I said that Mrs. R&R didn't let on. So she didn't reveal the secret. So a common thing to say is she didn't let on. She didn't reveal anything. So I didn't know anything. So Champagne Char mentioned on a night out, which is just a lovely term, a really common term in the UK. When I'm on a night out, I love...

And I mentioned that when in the past I was on a night out with Champagne Shark, we shared a dance floor many a time. This expression many a time obviously means many times, just much more R&R, many a time. And we were belting out the song. So when you're belting out a song, you're singing as much,

much as you can, as loud as you can. I mentioned how memory was a bit hazy on those nights. So if your memory is hazy, you can't really remember very well. And we mentioned back then if someone had a camera, it was a rarity. So it was rare, but it was a rarity. Champagne Char said, yes, we dodged a bullet there, meaning fantastic.

Thank God camera phones weren't there. We dodged a bullet. And I spoke about the riveting conversations that we have in my house about ducks, about who is Daffy Duck, who is Donald Duck, stuff like this. Riveting basically meaning exciting. And then Champagne Char said that chat GPT was perfect.

patronizing me so talking to me as if I was a bit stupid so that's all of the vocabulary remember my vocabulary challenge is starting on the 3rd of February this will be a way on the challenge to actually remember the vocabulary because the method I use on the challenge is designed especially for that so thanks a lot for listening I will talk to you very soon but in the meantime just keep on rocking baby

Thanks so much for listening to Rock and Roll English. For more great content and to stay up to date, visit rockandrollenglish.com and facebook.com slash rockandrollenglish. We'll catch you next time.