Isi and Mitch recount their trip up north to The Peak District National Park. They talk about the friendliness of the people, precarious drone flying, mountains, caves and ginger shots. Easy English member James leaves us a belated Halloween tale of terror and we answer YOUR questions in our Unhelpful Advice section.

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Show Notes

• The Peak District video: UK Travel VLOG (Easy English 170)

Transcript

Intro

Mitch:

[0:23 ] Good morning, Isi!

Isi:

[0:25 ] Good morning! So here we are.

Mitch:

[0:27 ] We're back.

Isi:

[0:28 ] A bit tired.

Mitch:

[0:30 ] What did you pick up, from our trip from the north? Have you brought anything back?

Isi:

[0:35 ] It rains a lot.

Mitch:

[0:36 ] No, I meant have you brought back any characteristics or personality traits from the north?

Isi:

[0:43 ] They're very friendly.

Mitch:

[0:44 ] And you've adopted that now? You've become more friendly yourself?

Isi:

[0:47 ] I hope I was already. They call you love even more than down here.

Mitch:

[0:53 ] Tell me the times you were called love and who called you love.

Isi:

[0:57 ] How many times I was called love? I don't know, not so many times.

Mitch:

[1:01 ] Supermarket?

Isi:

[1:01 ] Yeah, mostly in supermarkets, little stores, little pubs, and from different people, all older than me, but not much older, some. But in a very loving, caring way, not in a weird way.

Mitch:

[1:17 ] So for people who don't know what's happened. We recently made a week-long trip, which ended up in us visiting the Peak District, which is an area, between Manchester and Sheffield. And it's a national park. If you're interested in seeing what the Peak District looks like, it's a really beautiful area, it's crazy dramatic; rocks and cliffs and fields and heaths and caves. We didn't go in any caves but we made a road trip video getting there and driving around some of like the best things to see in the Peak District. We didn't cover it all, but if you wanted to see a video where you can join someone on a road trip, getting there and speaking absolute nonsense for a while. But there's also some really beautiful things that you captured on your phone.

Isi:

[2:09 ] Yeah, I think it was like, well, first, I think the best thing about this is the drone footage. If you enjoy big pictures of great nature, then that's for you. But also, we did observe and comment on everything, I guess. And that, yeah, it's like you're with us in the car, basically, seeing the difference between the South and the North. Or, as someone wrote in our comments, it's not the North yet.

Mitch:

[2:38 ] But we were in Derbyshire, and Derbyshire is a Midlands county, but the peaks are so big, they span across into...

Isi:

[2:46 ] We were directly next to Manchester. So I would say we were in the North.

Mitch:

[2:51 ] Yeah, we're not going to be too specific about it. We are coming from Brighton, which is the absolute South.

Isi:

[2:59 ] Yeah, more South, you fall in the sea.

Mitch:

[3:03 ] We definitely... going back to the whole lovely people thing, we definitely witnessed some Northern character traits, right?

Isi:

[3:13 ] Yeah, the general thing was really just that people just approached me and I didn't even have a talk with them. That was really nice. So there was a lady that just basically just said hello to me, just because we met at the bananas and then the fruit section. And she was like smiling at me, like she knew me. So it was a bit like, I was like, that's nice. So I said, hello. We said, hello. But that was it.

Mitch:

[3:40 ] Wow. She'd have hated me if she saw the banana choice I would have gone for, they're so green! What are you doing?

Isi:

[3:47 ] Yeah. It was really nice. I asked someone for, like someone working there for something and they were so determined to help me. It was really nice. Are people in the North friendlier and then in the South? I think down here in Brighton, but Brighton might be a little bubble itself. People are super friendly, but that person was really determined to help me. I think she was really happy that I approached her actually. I asked actually, for ginger shots, because at home we, every day, prepare turmeric ginger shots for ourselves, for health, which it's not alcohol. It's a shot of a lot of healthy things. And because we couldn't do that on tour, I asked, because in supermarkets sometimes they sell those super overpriced, little shots. But as I was getting ill, I was like, we need those. I think for a long time while she was discussing it with me where to find it, she thought it's alcohol. I think she presumed, because I asked for it that it's something really cool that you have to have. Like everybody knows it, because I so normally ask for it. And so she was like, yeah, yeah, ginger shots. Mm, where could we have them? Yeah, and then she was like, oh, you know what? I don't think we have them. And then, wait, she then said, do you mean? She said a random alcohol, like completely something weird, like rum or so. I mean, ginger, rum works. And then I was like, oh no, it's not alcohol. She was like, oh, you said shot. That was really nice. So nice encounters, yeah.

Mitch:

[5:21 ] Oh, cute.

Isi:

[5:22 ] She heard my German accent and was like, of course they want their schnapps, their shots.

Mitch:

[5:27 ] Oh, yeah. The German is here. I was trying to think if I had an encounter, but...

Isi:

[5:32 ] You didn't talk to people, did you?

Mitch:

[5:34 ] I didn't, I avoided people, there was actually one time when we bumped into this woman and we basically just asked her where the dog park is. And she... she did that thing that people do who forget that Google Maps exists, so was like; right what you do, right, is you go straight up this road and you look for the left, you come to a roundabout There's five exits, take the third one, third exit past the church on your right and when you come to an old dustbin, make sure you go before the dustbin, not after.

Isi:

[6:01 ] She even, already told us everything we could see which would be the wrong way. It's like, you cannot even remember that. If you see the field with the five horses... she actually said something, this is no joke, on the right, then you did, you did take the wrong turn and then it's wrong. (If you see an old willow tree, you're f**ked.) Then she said... she asked, if we are from there, is that a compliment?

Mitch:

[6:26 ] Are you local?

Isi:

[6:27 ] Why would we then ask? Anyway, then she asked how long we stay. It's a lot of questions. And we had it also another time, we asked for, one morning, no coffee was open in that village. And she was like, yeah, Monday, Tuesday, everything is closed. And we're like, okay. But then she told us about all the cafes in the villages nearby. So, long talk about that as well. But it's actually, is that an English thing though? You had a very funny call at the weekend, trying to get our internet back. And the person on the phone, you were just telling your problem and she was searching for something and she was like; so any plans for the weekend? And you were so confused, I heard you from the other room. And you were like, what do you mean, you want to know my plans for the weekend? And she was like, yes. And you were like, fixing my internet. Very German, by the way.

Mitch:

[7:21 ] That's never happened before. She was, as I was trying to again fix the internet, while she's sort of waiting to find a result, yeah, she was like, so what are you up to this weekend, any nice plans? I was like, what?! I didn't know you, who are you?! Fixing my internet, it was quite a dry response. And then what was your favourite thing you saw from the Peak District? What was the best sight? What was your favourite thing that we did?

Isi:

[7:49 ] Snake Pass, for sure.

Mitch:

[7:51 ] Yeah.

Isi:

[7:52 ] Yeah. Although Winnat's Pass is also really impressive, but it's such a small area. Snake Pass, being up there, on that road, that takes quite some time. And it's just, I love those... I love nature that is a bit like a moon area. There's like no tree, no bushes, no nothing, just like vast land. It was high.

Mitch:

[8:15 ] Yeah, your ears are popping and the clouds are...

Isi:

[8:17 ] You're basically in the clouds. We had bad weather when we were filming up there, but it was in the end, I think, really good, because it was so atmospheric, so melancholic, really, really nice. For the drone, I mean, it wasn't easy to operate the drone, I guess? Because it was, I mean, you did it, but it was really, really windy and rain, but the pictures are gorgeous.

Mitch:

[8:39 ] Yeah, the drone was... I kept getting a message saying the wind is too high, and you could see the drone was struggling to...

Isi:

[8:49 ] Don't worry, there was no one, so it's not...

Mitch:

[8:52 ] Yeah, no sheep were harmed in the filming.

Isi:

[8:54 ] No, but it was not in that sense and we didn't go over streets or so, so in that sense it was not dangerous for anyone, it was just dangerous for our drone, to not come back, ever.

Mitch:

[9:05 ] You have to remember before you fly the drone you can set a 'home point' and I always forget to do it I would say automatically assigns one. (Oh god.) And so, every so