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Your bad night's score.
Rory are you okay? Yeah, I'm fine.
I just had to come here by bike to record.
By bike? Like by bicycle?
Yeah. Shall we talk about bicycles?
Let's talk about bicycles.
Yes, there are bicycles.
Did you have a bike when you were young?
I did indeed. I remember it vividly actually.
It had blue and black patterns on it and the word big shot was stenciled on the frame.
Do you have a bike now?
No, I get around on foot these days.
I'm rarely in that much of a rush and if I am I can just hail a cab.
So having a bike is sort of pointless for me.
Do you often ride a bike now?
I honestly can't remember the last time I rode one to be honest.
It must have been when I lived further north and the transport options were more limited.
Are bicycles popular in your country?
I can't say to be honest.
You certainly see more of them these days but that's in the cities and I'm not well versed in how things are in the countryside these days.
When was the last time you used a bicycle?
Well like I said, it was probably when I lived in the countryside, so we're talking about three years ago.
Oh wow, that was a long time ago.
Is it difficult to learn to ride a bicycle?
I think at first it is, yeah, because well, I mean for example children need stabilizers and I was no exception in this pattern.
So I think it's difficult at first but then you get the hang of it and you can balance yourself.
I don't know what the rate of progress is but at least in my case I don't think I was practicing for more than a few months.
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See you soon. Yay Rory, thank you very much for your answers, bicycles, voodoo, delisina.
Are you fond of cycling?
In all this sports?
Cycling when you ride your bicycle?
Like it's called cycling.
Cycling or biking for example, or bicycling.
Oh my gosh that sounds so weird.
Cycling, yeah, so a bicycle or a bike.
Or you can say that I enjoy cycling but a bike can also be like a motorbike.
It could yes but it would be fairly obvious from the context which one that is.
And here we're talking about like bicycles.
I remember it vividly so if you remember something vividly you like you remember it very well and you remember it clearly in a detailed way for example I vividly remember my first day at school.
I was cheating a little bit there because I've been teaching one of my students about ways to describe memories and that one popped into my head.
Sweet. You can describe your bicycle when you were a child if you didn't have a bicycle you can imagine your bicycle delishna.
You can say that we'd had blue and black patterns.
Patterns like little thingies.
Very descriptive. I'm kind of like designs.
Regular forms and shapes.
There we go that's a pattern there's some kind of regularity about it.
Like colours, lines for example it had a beautiful pattern or it had floral pattern.
If you had flowers on your bicycle my bicycle had a floral pattern.
Did your bike have a floral pattern?
No it was just it was like sky blue very simple bicycle yeah like a cheap bicycle.
It's fine no? When I didn't have a bicycle for a very long time I used other people's bicycles and only I think at school maybe like secondary school I got like I was given a bike.
I feel like it's a very European thing though to have a bike when you're a child.
I imagine people in a lot of parts of the world don't have this so it's a weird contrast.
I think it's so very popular now like everybody has a smartphone pretty much everybody has a bicycle especially a child like like small bicycles I think they are very popular especially if you live in the country for example.
Well like I say probably closer to Europe that will be true.
I'm not sure how true it is for places like South America for example.
We have different parts of a bicycle and we have a frame.
So any bicycle has a frame this kind of this skeleton of your bicycle there is and maybe some word could be written on the frame.
Written or already what which verb did you use?
Stenciled. Oh it's a very weird verb stencil to stencil to draw or paint something using a stencil.
What is a stencil? It's like a I suppose like a device that's got the forms of shapes or letters cut out of it so that they can be reproduced many times.
Wow. I mean you wouldn't paint things on a bike by hand you could but you wouldn't be able to mass produce them.
Yeah so you can say that I know like Maria was stenciled on the frame or like live your life or happy life was stenciled in gold.
How expensive is your bike?
Pretty much if you had a word written on your bicycle you can say like wow so like big shot was stenciled on the frame.
Or just words for stenciled on the frame you don't need to remember if you cannot remember if you do not have a vivid memory and you have a fuzzy memory which is a word for unclear then you can just say there were word stencils on the site and there you go you've used the band nine word.
I get around on foot these days so I don't travel by bicycle I don't use a bicycle or I don't go to work by bike I get around on foot on foot the listener by car by bicycle by train but on foot I get around like I go to places on foot or I can just hail a cab so in the UK they have cabs we have taxis they
have cabs we could also have taxis as well yeah but a cab is like a special taxi it's a cab is it what's the difference between like a regular taxi and a cab well I suppose are you talking about black cabs hmm but a cab is usually black well not necessarily I mean at least in my home town they can be
any color that you like but there are black cabs which I suppose is trademarked and it's kind of taken as a sign of British culture yeah but if you see a cab it's a cab it's not a taxi really oh okay I was using them interchangeably because people talk about taxi cab mm -hmm no okay yeah so I just can hail
a taxi I can take a taxi I can go by taxi and you can say that bicycles are pointless in my city because it's cold there are mountains within the city I am lazy yeah I am lazy I don't wanna you know exercise it's pointless for me because I don't want to exercise but I also said it's sort of pointless
which means it's kind of or quite pointless so sort of is quite good for all sorts of reasons because it's it's good for your pronunciation because you don't say sort of you say sorta it's sort of pointless there's no point I lay far from my work so it's sort of pointless especially in the winter you
can say I ride a bike or I rode a bike in the past tell us when I was younger I rode a bike every day for example or it could also be perfect tense as well perfect aspect I must have ridden a bike at some point in the last two years I must have but I can't remember yeah we're talking about the past
and probably I did this right so you are pretty sure you did that but still don't remember 100 % so you say I must have ridden one last year or it must have been when I lived in the country so I don't remember the last time I rode a bike probably it was when I lived in the country it must have been when I
lived in the country yeah and you like transport options were limited so I didn't have a lot of transport options I didn't have money for a taxi the one or buses so I used my bicycle I'm not well versed in how things are in the country to be well versed well versed know a lot about something for example
I'm well versed in modern history I know a lot about modern history Rory is well versed in English grammar he can tell you everything about conditionals no I cannot I am NOT well versed in this I probably could have I sat down and thought about it but I'm not able to do it just off the cuff so Rory
if an examiner asks your question and you are not sure how to answer it so you say I'm not well versed in how things are at the moment well there's a couple of things that we could do and I did both of them here I think I said I honestly can't remember or I said I couldn't say to be honest which is anchored
in place by honest but it's used in different ways to express the same point man I have no idea for example what clothes are fashionable these days I couldn't say to be honest because I'm no well versed in fashion but if I were to guess I would say it's like really baggy clothes seem to be in fashion yeah
baggy like loose like oversized when we learn to ride a bicycle we usually use stabilizers like children I think use them to be more stable so the bicycle has what one two three four wheels yes hmm so they are going like extra wheels are called stabilizers and then you learn how to balance yourself
on a bicycle so you get the hang of it get the hang of it but that's just meaning to be able to do something effectively yeah see two phrase dear listener is it yeah it is bad night oh my god that's great so it's informal get the hang of something to learn how to do something especially if it's not obvious
or simple so for example I've never used this program before but I'll get the hang of it I'll learn how to do it or for example I've never sailed a boat before you know this like boating but I got the hang of it so I it was difficult for me to learn how to ride a bicycle but I got the hang of it why
you can say like well it's some difficult usually most people get the hang of it pretty quickly and you know have you ever met people who are very bad at riding a bicycle they look kind of they really they afraid or they can't do it I don't know I mean how would you know unless they told you yeah they
usually say like oh no I kind of I can't manage a bicycle I'm not good at cycling well I can't ride a bicycle and then they try and they're so funny they kind of hey I have never seen anyone like that before oh my gosh well I mean it's I've never really thought about it to be honest with you I think
it's something like you learn when you're a child like swimming yeah I think I think that's normal although I know that some people don't know how to swim or how to ride a bike yeah true interesting but again not everyone is like middle class and has the family that has the time to teach them these
kinds of things so that's important to be conscious of as well so do is not I think that bicycles are in fashion so lots of people enjoy cycling and the one of the most expensive bicycles costs sixteen thousand dollars why is it so expensive that's crazy yeah because it's cutting -edge okay super design
how is it cutting -edge how can a bike be cutting -edge what does it need it's can ah it's like lightweight carbon construction oh what I wrote dynamic design I wrote dynamics okay why is the aerodynamic what does that mean why why what is like I read dynamic tube profiles and a flatback design significantly
minimize drag I have no idea what this means under what circumstances would you possibly need a bike like that unless you were an Olympic athlete oh and like 12 speed wireless electronic group set get it like you change gears you change this speeds the listener and apparently you can do it electronically
oh my god this is a game -changer that is a who needs that outside of someone in an Olympic Stadium oh sorry sorry it's the cheapest one what no no no it's the cheapest one I started from the from the end wait oh my god the listener okay okay are you ready Oh one million dollars gold extreme mountain bike
and it's gold solid gold mountain bike the world's single most expensive bike one million dollars I'm not joking is that label bicycles dot com to listen take a look this fat bike is plated entirely in 24k gold with luxury luxurious details like alligator skin crocodile skin saddle saddle is this thing
that the seat yeah and jewels oh my god it's so crazy listen can you imagine you're right gold with jewels okay now you know okay yeah I'm I'm still in shock from yeah me too just the late -stage capitalism going on here I know I know yeah but some bicycles are really expensive and people who enjoy cycling
they kind of invest in bicycle parts would you call them bicycle parts a little like thing is yeah bike parts bike parts accessories you know like bike bottles bike clothes it's pretty much like yoga to do yoga you need some special a special pillow a special mats clothes you know whole this stuff the same
was cycling yeah it really doesn't have anything Roy do you have a bicycle now no I what did I do with my bike I don't even remember sweet thank you very much for listening now think just Google gold bike okay one million dollars just just Google gold bike and then describe that to your examiner I'm
sure they wouldn't have any questions about that yeah you can say like oh actually I have a golden a good not it's not golden it's like made from gold gold like solid gold bike well I'd like to have one and then the exam goes like what does it exist you go like yeah you see yeah that's right just shock
the examiner to on your way to bank nine yeah it's good yeah actually it's good because the examiner will remember you and remember this crazy piece of information and this could kind of affect your score in a positive way jailous or just describe a regular bike I'm sure they'll be fine bye did you
have a bike when you were young I did indeed I remember it vividly actually it had blue and black patterns on it and the word big shot was stenciled on the frame do you have a bike now no I get around on foot these days and rarely in that much of a rush and if I am I can just hail a cab so having a bike
is sort of pointless for me do you often ride a bike now I honestly can't remember the last time I rode one to be honest it must have been when I lived further north and the transport options were more limited a bicycle popular in your country I can't say to be honest you certainly see more of them
these days but that's in the cities and I'm not well versed in how things are in the countryside these days when was the last time you used a bicycle well like I said it was probably when I lived in the countryside so we're talking about three years ago oh wow that was a long time ago is it difficult
to learn to ride a bicycle I think at first it is yeah because well I mean for example children need stabilizers and I was no exception in this pattern so I think it's difficult at first but then you get the hang of it and you can balance yourself I don't know what the rate of progress is but at least
in my case I don't think I was practicing for more than a few months