Christmas Stories: Ice skating and car disasters
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So hop on to ChumbaCasino.com now and live the Chumba life. Sponsored by Chumba Casino. No purchase necessary. VGW Group. Void where prohibited by law. 18 plus terms and conditions apply. Hello and welcome to the Learning English Stories podcast. This festive season, we're sharing some of our own stories from this time of year. So get cozy by the fire, grab a mug of hot chocolate and get ready for some wintry tales.

Hello, I'm Pippa and welcome to Christmas Stories. In this series, we tell real stories about Christmas, New Year and the festive season. Today, our stories come from Beth and Neil. Hi. So, Beth and Neil, can you tell us about your story in three words? Ouch, skating, embarrassing. Wrong tool and...

failure. Okay, I'm intrigued. Let's start with you, Beth. Can you tell us your Christmas story, please? Okay, so my best friend and I went ice skating. We decided that we were going to have a Christmas tradition and we thought, yeah, why not make it ice skating? So we

We were really bad at the beginning. We were like clinging onto the sides, feeling quite nervous. But then towards the end, we were getting quite good. And in fact, I thought, yeah, I'm really good. I can go fast. Bit of showing off. And my friend decided to get her phone out to film how great we were doing ice skating.

So yeah, I was going quite fast. I thought I looked really cool. And then I looked at the camera and I tripped and I smashed both of my knees onto the ice. So first aid people came over. I was put in a wheelchair, taken off the ice.

and I had to go to A&E and everyone was asking me what happened but my friend had been recording me so she was telling everyone I have the video do you want to see and everybody really wanted to watch and they all found it quite funny so I was in pain they were looking at my legs and they thought that I had broken both of my knees but unfortunately

They were all quite enjoying this video. Anyway, got to A&E and all of the people in the waiting room were shown this video by my friend of me falling over on the ice. I went in to get an x-ray and when I came out of the x-ray, I saw the nurses and they were gathered around my friend laughing watching this video of me falling over.

And in the end, it was okay. I didn't break my knees. I was on crutches for about two or three weeks, including over Christmas. So ice skating has definitely not become our tradition. ♪

No, it's a really sad story. Can you laugh at the video now? Do you find it funny? I can, but I also don't find it that funny that everyone was laughing at this video of me because I really hurt myself. But it is quite funny. And when my friend talks about it, she still laughs a lot because she still finds the whole thing quite funny.

Can we get this video on our website, please? Yes, I definitely have a copy of it and I'll show you all and maybe we can get it on the website.

OK, I enjoyed your story, Beth. Thank you very much. Neil, I think it's time to hear your Christmas story, please. Yes. OK. Are you ready? It was just a few days before Christmas. I had just one day of work left and I was planning to go to spend Christmas with my parents in the west of England.

But unfortunately, that morning, I discovered that the battery in my car had gone flat and stopped working. So I just bought all of my Christmas presents for everyone in the family. And so I didn't really have any money. And so I didn't want to spend money on a replacement battery. I told one of my colleagues what had happened.

And she said to me, oh, that's OK. You don't need to buy a new battery. I've got a charger, a battery charger for a car, and I will bring that in. You can borrow it. And I thought, fantastic. So she brought in this big piece of electrical equipment in a plastic bag and handed it over. And I bought her a drink and

to say thank you after work, and I went home, and I put the bag down by the front door, and I didn't look at it or anything, and I just started packing my bags for my trip on Christmas Eve the next day. And I didn't really get up early, or I wasn't in a rush at all. In fact, I was quite relaxed, and later on I regretted that very much. So after my nice sort of leisurely breakfast...

I thought I better start charging this battery so that the car works for me to drive down that afternoon. So I picked up the bag with the charger in it. I went outside, I opened up the car bonnet and then I took out the charger from the bag. And it didn't really look like any kind of charger for a battery that I'd ever seen before. In fact, it looked really like a power saw.

And as I looked at it more and more closely, I realised that that's because it was not a battery charger. It was, in fact, a power saw. But in that moment, I could see that my Christmas was going to be a complete disaster because I wouldn't be able to drive down to visit my parents. And so I had a little bit of hope that this power saw would work as a battery charger. And I even sort of held it against the battery to see if it would work. Obviously, it didn't.

I didn't have the right kind of insurance for somebody to come and fix my car at my house. And things were closing because it was Christmas Eve. So my only chance was to go and buy a battery from a shop. And there was a shop.

quite far away. I kind of ran down there to get to the shop on time, which I did. And then I realized that car batteries are very, very heavy. And I waited ages for a bus. And then I couldn't get on the bus because it was so full. So I had to walk...

carrying this enormous, really heavy battery, sweating. And then I got back and I opened the car bonnet again. I realised at that stage that I had absolutely no idea how to change a car battery. And that also the one that was in the car at that time was so old and rusted that it kind of needed to be forcibly removed. Yeah.

I kind of worked it out, but it was very unstable. And I was convinced that all the way on this journey that my car was about to explode at any moment. But I did get there. I did get to my parents' house late on Christmas Eve. And when I got in, I sent a lovely text message to my friend saying, thanks for the battery charger. You saved my Christmas. Did you ever...

Tell her, did you ever tell her that she'd given you a power saw and not a charger? Did it ever come out that she'd ruined your Christmas and not saved it? I did eventually, yes. And she thought it was very funny. And I thought it was very funny soon afterwards. But at the time, I thought this was the most ridiculous thing. But it seems completely crazy that you actually kind of managed to fit it and you drove the car without it.

Breaking down, like, did you then have to take it to the garage to get it fitted properly or was it just OK? Interestingly, I sold that car to a colleague and they took it for a service and they said, who put this battery in? LAUGHTER

Well, Neil, I'm glad you made it to your parents' house. It's kind of a couple of Christmas disaster stories there, really. So I hope that those listening don't have any Christmas disasters this year. That's it for this episode, but next week we'll be hearing two more Christmas stories. Find all our stories and dramas on our website, bbclearningenglish.com. Bye for now. Bye. Bye. Thanks for listening to Learning English Stories.

Did you know we have a BBC Learning English email newsletter? Subscribe for our latest lessons, worksheets and quizzes and weekly tips to help you study. Just search BBC Learning English newsletter or follow the link in the notes for this programme. Yoga is more than just exercise. It's the spiritual practice that millions swear by.

And in 2017, Miranda, a university tutor from London, joins a yoga school that promises profound transformation. It felt a really safe and welcoming space. After the yoga classes, I felt amazing. But soon, that calm, welcoming atmosphere leads to something far darker, a journey that leads to allegations of grooming, trafficking and exploitation across international borders. ♪

I don't have my passport, I don't have my phone, I don't have my bank cards, I have nothing. The passport being taken, the being in a house and not feeling like they can leave.

You just get sucked in so gradually.

And it's done so skillfully that you don't realize. And it's like this, the secret that's there. I wanted to believe that, you know, that whatever they were doing, even if it seemed gross to me,

was for some spiritual reason that I couldn't yet understand. Revealing the hidden secrets of a global yoga network. I feel that I have no other choice. The only thing I can do is to speak about this and to put my reputation and everything else on the line. I want truth and justice.

And for other people to not be hurt, for things to be different in the future. To bring it into the light and almost alchemise some of that evil stuff that went on and take back the power. World of Secrets, Season 6, The Bad Guru. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.