Hello and welcome to the English Like A Native podcast.
My name is Anna and you're listening to week 43, day five of Your English Five A Day the second season.
Today is Friday, and that means I'm going to bring together all the vocabulary that we've looked at this week in one big story, because learning vocabulary in context, learning anything in context, is so much more useful and effective than learning lists.
So if you've been listening this week, Fantastic.
You're going to have your learning reinforced with this story.
But if you're jumping in here and you haven't managed to listen to the earlier episodes from this week, don't worry.
Stick around because listening in general is useful, especially when it's an entertaining story.
So, without further ado, I'm going to introduce my story, The Pond That Refused to Die.
For years, at the bottom of my garden, there has been a pond.
When I first built it, I imagined a peaceful little oasis.
I pictured golden fish gliding gracefully beneath the surface, lily pads floating gently on top, dragonflies hovering in the sunshine.
But the reality was very different.
The fish. were much harder to keep alive than we had been led to believe.
Some of them didn't survive more than a few weeks.
Others vanished mysteriously.
We later deduced that they had ended up as breakfast for a heron, perhaps the neighbour's cat, or maybe a very hungry fox.
And then there was the weed.
Pond weed. thick, green, slimy strands that grew faster than I could ever pull them out.
It was my nemesis, my arch enemy.
I swear it was laughing at me as it engulfed the water, suffocated the fish and strangled my plants.
Three years on the trot, I said to myself.
This is the year the pond will thrive.
And every summer, without fail, I would be standing knee-deep in murky water pulling out weeds by the bucketful, sighing and swearing under my breath.
After years of struggle, I finally gave up.
Enough was enough.
I decided the pond's time had come.
I would fill it in with soil, plant it up with flowers and reclaim my time.
No more pond weed, no more dead fish, no more endless hard work.
So one Saturday morning, armed with a wheelbarrow full of soil, I stood at the edge of the pond, ready to begin.
I raised my spade, ready to throw in the first heavy load, as if in an act of defiance, proudly stood a creature I had never seen before.
I bent down, squinting, and there he was.
A newt!
Not a fish, not a frog, but a smooth little amphibian with delicate legs, shiny skin and a tail that swished like a miniature dragon.
He lifted his head and looked at me almost as if to say, Excuse me, what do you think you're doing?
I froze.
I had never laid eyes on a newt before.
Perhaps I was mistaken.
Maybe this was a lizard.
Of course, I did what any curious human in the 21st century would do.
I asked ChatGPT to confirm what I was looking at.
And what I discovered changed everything.
Apparently, according to ChatGPT, newts are protected by law.
You are not allowed to harm them, disturb them or destroy their habitat.
And here he was, right in the middle of the pond I was about to bury.
It felt like fate.
The pond that had caused me years of frustration had suddenly become something precious.
A safe home for wildlife.
I couldn't possibly fill it in now.
So instead of a wheelbarrow full of soil, I brought out a notebook and made a plan.
My mum taught me that if you can't beat them, join them.
So, if I couldn't get rid of the pond, then I would change it.
No more fish pond.
From now on, it will be a wildlife pond, a sanctuary, a place where nature could look after itself without me interfering too much.
So instead of tearing down, I had to build up.
I began to research.
Did you know that newts like shallow ledges, where they can crawl in and out easily?
They prefer a pond without fish because fish eat their eggs.
They need plants but not choking weeds, gentle native plants that give them shelter.
They like a little mud, some stones and even a pile of logs nearby where they can hide in the winter.
Slowly my anger at the pond turned into curiosity.
I started to see it not as a failure, but as an opportunity.
Maybe my fish had suffered, but the newt had survived.
Maybe the pond wasn't meant for me after all.
It was meant for creatures I had hardly noticed.
Now, every time I go outside, I find myself peering into the water to see what's happening.
I've spotted water beetles, pond skaters and once even a dragonfly laying her eggs.
The pond, which had once been a burden, is now alive with movement.
And the newt, he's still there.
Sometimes I catch a glimpse of him darting through the weeds or resting on the stone, half hidden in the shadows.
I've named him Sir Isaac Newt.
A little nod to the great scientist and to the fact that this small creature has taught me that there are always other options, different ways to solve a problem.
It just takes patience and a fresh perspective.
It's funny, isn't it?
For years I battled with the pond, trying to bend it to my will.
I wanted ornamental fish, clear water and perfect control.
But in the end, nature had other plans.
The pond refused to die.
It insisted on being something else.
Now, a year on, my garden has a wildlife pond.
It's messy unpredictable, buzzing with life, and every time I see Sir Isaac swimming there, I feel glad that I never managed to throw in that first spadeful of soil.
Sometimes, when you stop trying to control everything, you are rewarded with something far better than you imagined.
And that brings us to the end of today's episode.
I do hope you found it useful and entertaining.
It also brings us to the end of week 43.
Thank you so much for lending me your ears this week and I hope you'll join me again next week for some more English.
Five a Day.
Until then, take very good care of yourself and goodbye.
