T.7. Journey from London to Avignon

1 set off at six. It was still dark when I put mysuitcase in the car and drove off. I had a good journey through London because it was Saturday so there was no rush hour traffic.

Soon I was on the M20 motorway heading towardsFolkestone on the south coast. I stopped at a service station for a cup of coffee and a sandwich. I didn’t buy any petrol because it's much cheaper in France.

I arrived in Folkestone at 8.10. The problem with travelling by car from England to France is that Britain is an island. There are 35 kilometres of water between England and France. You can get across it by ferry, but there's much better and quicker way the Channel Tunnel!

The Channel Tunnel's only a train tunnel. Not a road tunnel and so you have to put your car on a train. The journey takes an hour and a half, the drivers have to sit in their cars because there are no seats on the train for passengers. I arrived at the terminal and joined the queue of cars waiting for the next train.

At 10.30 the train arrived in Calais and I drove my car off the train and onto the road - a French road. I had to remember to drive on the right, not on the left!

The traffic in Calais was quite bad. Finally I got out of Calais and onto the motorway to the South of France. The speed limit on French motorways is 130 kilometres an hour and the road was clear so now I could travel quickly. But first I stopped at a service station to fill up with petrol.

Petrol's cheaper in France than in Britain but on the other hand you have to pay to travel on French motorways. In Britain they're free.

It's 960 kilometres from Calais to Avignon, and the journey on the motorway was boring. I listened to my favourite music to pass the time and I stopped again for lunch.

At eight o'clock I finally arrived in Avignon. I found my hotel and I was looking forward to a lovely French meal.

 

T.8. Are English people too polite?

Laszlo. Well, I think sometimes yes. English people can be so polite that you don’t really understand them. For example, I went to London with some other teachers from Hungary to do a training course for teachers of English. It was a special course for foreign teachers. During the course the tutors, the people who were teaching us, talked to us a lot about our progress- and we thought we were all doing very well. So we were very surprised when some of us failed the course! What had happened was that the English tutors were so polite when they gave their opinion about our teaching that we didn’t realize we were doing things badly. I think that is typically English. I think sometimes they need to say what they think, to be more direct.

Paula. I think English people are so polite that it makes us Latin people think that they are cold. I mean we’re very noisy and extrovert and so when they are quiet and polite we think that they don’t like us, that they’re being unfriendly. So, may be yes, they can be too polite. I think they need to relax more.

Melik. I think the English are very polite, but I don’t think that they’re too polite- I mean I don’t think it’s a bad thing, I think it’s a good thing. In my job, I’ve met a lot of English people, I think they are much more polite than we are, both in the way they talk and also in the way they respect other people’s opinions. And their manners in general are much better. OK, this isn’t true about all English people. The football hooligans and some of the tourists that come here to Turkey and drink too much- they’re not polite- but the majority is and I like it.

 

T. 9. Flamenco guitarist

Interviewer: Rafael Lloyd. A Spanish first name and a British surname?

Rafael: Yes. My mother was Spanish and my father’s English.

Interviewer: Is Rafael your real name then or your stage name?

Rafael: It’s my real name: my mother was from Cordoba in Spain and Rafael’s the patron saint of Cordoba. But it’s also my stage name.

Interviewer: What nationality are you?

Rafael: I’m British and Spanish. I was born in Spain and I was brought up there. I’ve spent a lot of time in Britain too. I’ve been living in Oxford for the last ten years.

Interviewer: Oh, nice. Are you bilingual?

Rafael: Yes, I am.

Interviewer: And, it’s a strange question, do you feel more Spanish than British or vice versa?

Rafael: Well, I think I feel more Spanish in most respects, especially as a big part of my life revolves around Spanish culture. But I do like individuality, eccentricity, and tea. I must feel a little British too, I suppose!

Interviewer: Do you think you look more Spanish than English?

Rafael: Well, I think I look Spanish, but when I travel, people always think I’m from their country and people have stopped me in the street, for example in Cairo and in Rome, to ask me for help, so I must have an international face… maybe I should be a spy!

Interviewer: When did you start learning to play the guitar?

Rafael: I started when I was nine when my family lived in Madrid. A teacher used to come to our flat and give me lessons.

Interviewer: I see, so how long have you been working professionally as a flamenco guitarist?

Rafael: I started when I was 17, I mean that’s when I started to get paid for my first concerts. I’m now 39, so that’s, erm, 22 years.