Unit 9 Visitors and travellers
9.1 Did you have a good journey?
9.1 B
Sandra: Hello, are...are you Mr Brown?
Mr Brown: Yeah.
Sandra: Oh, I'm Sanda Ellis.
Mr Brown: Hi, Sandra.
Sandra: I...er...welcome to Manchester.
Mr Brown: Well, I'm sorry I'm so late.
You see, there was fog at Amsterdam and we were delayed there.
Sandra: No, no, it's OK. I was able to catch up on some of my notes.
Mr Brown: Oh, good.
Sandra: Well, it's a great pleasure to meet you, Mr Brown.
Mr Brown: Yeah, I've been looking forward to meeting you too, Sandra.
Sandra: How was your flight?
Mr Brown: Well, not too had, thanks.
Sandra: Oh, good, well I think the best thing is we'll go to your hotel first if that's OK.
My car's just outside.
Mr Brown: Terrific.
Sandra: Can I take one of your bags?
Mr Brown: Oh thanks, yeah, here you are Sandra.
Sandra: Right now, is there anything you'd like to do before we set off?
Mr Brown: Well, I'd just like to make a quick phone call, if...er...that's all right.
Sandra: Yes, sure. Look, there are some phone booths over there.
Um...would you like to have a drink or something to eat before we go into town or...?
Mr Brown: Well, er...maybe just a coffee if we've got time.
And that is the end 9.1 B.
9.2 Hotels and accommodation
9.2 A
Receptionist: Hotel Concorde.
Vera Miiller: Good morning. My name's Vera Miiler.
I'd like to book some accommodation for tomorrow for five nights.
Receptionist: April 1st to 5th. Just one monent, madam.
We are rather full at the moment,
because of the trade fair.
What kind of rooms would you like?
Vera Miiller: I'd like three single rooms, all on the same floor.
Receptionist: I have three double rooms but not three singles available, sorry.
Vera Miiller: What's the difference in price?
Receptionist: Single rooms are 400 francs, doubles are 700 francs.
Vera Miiller: I see, um...what kind of rooms are the double rooms?
Receptionist: Very nice rooms, madam.
I can give you three doubles on the sixth floor overlooking the city.
They have balconies and bathrooms.
Vera Miiller: Now, one of the guests is in a wheelchair.
Are these rooms accessible by wheelchair?
Receptionist: Ah, no, madam. The lift goes to the fifth floor only.
In this case you could have three rooms on the ground floor,
one single and two doubles.
No view of the city, but close to the garden.
Vera Miiller: And do you have a small conference room I can reserve for April 3rd all day?
Er...yes,we have a nice quiet room that will take about 12 people,would that be suitable?
Vera Miiller: Yes, that will be fine.
And...um...are the public rooms all accessible without having to go up or down steps?
Receptionist: Yes, madam. The restaurant is on the first floor - there's a lift.
Otherwise everything, including the conference room is on the ground floor.
Vera Miiller: All right, fine.
Um...then I'd like to book the three rooms on the ground floor for Acme International.
The guests' names are: Mr H.Meier, Miss A. Schwarz and Mr D. Negri.
Receptionist: Thank you, so that's three rooms on the groung floor arriving on April 1st and departing on April 6th.
And the conference room all day on April 3rd.
Vera Miiller: Right.
Receptionist: OK. Can I have your telephone number, please?
Vera Miiller: Yes, it's 41 (that's Swizerland) 22 34 89 23. And I'm Vera Miiller.
receptionist: Fine, thank you, Mr Miillar. Goodbye.
Vera Miiller: Goodbye. ...It's OK, Mr Meier. I've booked the rooms in Tolouse.
Mr Meier: Great. Thanks, Vera.
And that is the end 9.2 A.
9.3 Local knowledge: You are the expert!
9.3 A
Man: Um, can you tell me how to get to the restaurant for the meal tonight?
Woman: Well, it's a bit complicated...um...I'd better show you on the map.
It'll take about 20 minutes on foot.
Man: Oh, that's OK, I've got enough time and it's a lovely evening.
Woman: Right then. Now let's see, um...well, first of all you go to the right as you leave this building, OK?
And then you turn left when you get to the town hall.
Man: Right.
Woman: Mm, then you keep straight on and you just cross the river.
Er...oh, you'll see the railway station on your right, got it?
Man: Yeah.
Woman: OK, now you continue along that road for about three blocks till you come to a church.
Um...and opposite the church there's a big square.
Now, the restaurant is down a little back street on the other side of the square.
It's called the Black Bear - it's just there on the map.
Man: Oh, I see. Yes.
Woman: Do you see?
Man: Yes, that's fine, no problem. Thanks very much.
Woman: You're very welcome. Enjoy your evening.
Man: Thanks.
Woman: Can you tell me how to get to the restaurant where the lunch is being held?
Man: Oh, yes sure.
Well, er...you can take a taxi or you can take the train, that's the best idea, yes.
Woman: Oh, wow, yeah!
Man: It's the number 89 which says'Zoo' on the front.
Woman: 89-'Zoo'. Mmm.
Man: Right, you'll need to get a ticket from the machine before you get on.
Right now, at the fifth stop you get off,
cross the road, walk on about 100 metres.
Woman: OK.
Man: OK, now...now, the restaurant on the left.
And you can't miss it because it's called the Black Eagle.
Woman: Black Eagle. OK fine, thanks very much.
Man: That's all right, not at all. Enjoy your lunch!
Woman:Thanks.
Woman: Can you tell me how to get to the restaurant where we're meeting tomorrow?
Man: Certainly. When you come out of the car park, turn left, OK?
Woman: Left. Right, fine.
Man: Drive straight on until you see the blue signs that say 'City'.
Now, follow these signs as far as the lake and then turn right
and drive along the lake for about five kilometres.
Now, the restaurant is on the right just after the first village,
you can't miss it. It's called the White Swan.
Woman: Oh, fine. OK, I'll see you there tomorrow at about 11 then.At 11, fine.
And that is the end 9.3 A.
9.4 Eating, socializing and telling stories
9.4 A
Man: Mmm, that was delicious!
Woman: Mmm, would you like a dessert?
Man: Yes, please. Can you...um...help me with the menu?
Woman: Yes, certainly. These are starters, and these are main courses and these are desserts. See?
Man: Ah, yes, um...hmm, can you tell me what Boston Indian Pudding is?
Woman: Yes, it's a specialty of this region.
It's a sort of...mm...dark cake which contains dried fruit soaked in tea.
Man: Tea?
Woman: It's hot and you have it with ice cream. Very nice.
Man: I see. And...um...what's Hot Fudge Sundae?
Woman: That's something rather special.
It's a kind of ice cream with a hot sticky sauce over the top - very sweet and fattening?
Man: I don't really like the sound of that. What about Zabaglione?
Woman: Well, that's difficult to explain, it's a bit like a warm mousse.
It's made of egg yolks, sugar and Marsala wine. It's an Italian specialty.
Man: That sounds very nice, I'll have that, please.
Waitress: Are you ready to order your desserts?
Woman: Yes, John?
Man: I'd like to have the Zabaglione and a large black coffee, please.
Woman: Just and ice tea for me, please.
And that is the end 9.4 A.
9.4 C
Man: ...anyway, I felt pretty upset, I can tell you!
Woman: Haha, Well, something even worse happened to some friends of a colleague of mine in New York.
The husband was on...on an extended business trip and the idea was that his wife would come over in the middle of it to spend a long weekend with him.
He was flying in from Boston,
and the wife from Europe and they were going to meet up on the Friday evening and stay the weekend together at one of those very big hotels near Central Park.
Well, the hotel computer had got the first letter of their name wrong
with a B (I think it was Berry) but it was spelt on the computer with a P.
So the wife arrived at the hotel,
gave her name and asked 'Has my husband arrived yet?' and the reception clerk looked her up on the computer and said 'No, not yet' and so she said she'd wait in their room and she was shown to the room.
So she turned on the TV and, you know, started waiting.
Well, Then about half an hour later the husband arrived and gave his name
and spelt it out very carefully to the reception clerk
and asked 'Has my wife arrived yet?'
and she looked up the name on the computer and said 'No, not yet',
so he said he'd wait in the room and the cleck promised to send his wife up to him when she arrived and he was shown up to a different room.
So he turned on the TV and started waiting.
Well, they both waited for a couple of hours and then the wife called reception,
was told her husband still hadn't arrived so she went down to the restaurant and had a meal and then,
being tired, you know, she went to bed.
The husband was now quite hungry so,
after calling reception and being told his wife still hadn't arrived,
he went down to have his dinner, and ten went to bed.
Well, the next day, they narrowly missed each other at breakfast,
so they decided there was no point in sitting around waiting so they both went out shopping or sightseeing,
missed each other again that evening and didn't finally meet up again till the next afternoon.
By this time the husband had to fly off to Washington for a meeting first thing on Monday!
Man: Oh, that's amazing!
It's always strange in a new city.
I...I remember once I was going to a conference in Norway.
I landed at Oslo Airport and as I didn't know the city I picked up a whole lot of leaflets and a street map at the airport before catching the bus into town.
Well, one of the leaflets was quite fat,
about 100 pages long and it was called 'Where to eat in Oslo', so I started looking at it to find a nice restarant to go to that evening - I always prefer to eat out rather than in my hotel.
And I soon realized that the same restaurant was being described again,
I looked all the way through the leaflet and every page was a description of the same restaurant!
There were no others in there!
100 pages all about the same restaurant.
Woman: What was the name of the restaurant?
Man: I can't remember!
Woman: Haha! Oh, that reminds me.
Ha! A colleague of mine was in Sweden.
He was at the end of a tough series of meetings in Stockholm and about to fly back home to London.
Well, he checked his suitcase in and went through to the departure lounge,
had a drink and caught his plane back to Heathrow.
unfortunately, the check-in clerk had put the wrong label on his case
and it had the tag for a different flight on it...
Man: So he he went to London and his luggage went somewhere else?
Woman: No, no, no, no, worse than that.
They did a security check on all the luggage that was being loaded onto the other flight and found that there was no passenger name with that manifesto to match the particular suitcase.
So they very carefully took the case off to the far corner of the airport and security police blew it up!
Haha. Lucky it only contained dirty clothes and a toothbrush and stuff like that.
And he got fully compensated by the airline.
Man: I remember my boss telling me about something that happened a few years ago.
There was a long delay at the airport,
which apparently was quite common then,
and then there came an annoncement over the loudspeaker:'We are sorry but the plane is sick,
we will find a new one.' So they all settled down for a long wait,
feeling reassured that they weren't having to fly in a falty plane.
Two hours later there was another annoncement:'We have found a new plane.
But the new plane is more sick than the first one,
so we will take the first one.'
And they were all escorted to the first plane and it took off but they all felt
very nervous and everyone started knocking back the gin and the whisky.
Anyway eventually they arrived at their desination and by this time everyone
had managed to forget that the plane was 'sick' but instead of landing
the plane kept circling round and round and round.
Everyone started to get worried again.
Mhm. And then a man in uniform came out of the little door leading to the flight deck with a screwdriver.
He walked half way down the aisle, stopped and lifted up the carpet.
Then he raised a metal flap and reached inside with the screwdriver.
There was a loud click and then they heard the landing gear going down.
The man in uniform went back to the flight deck.
The plane all came down the steps he said you could literally see everyone still shaking with fear.
And that is the end 9.4 C.
9.5 Organizing a conference
March 30
Speaker: Er...this is Madeleine Tennant.
Um...I'm calling about the conference in May.
Um...I'd like to have my expenses paid in cash in dollars,
not by cheque in your currency.
Um...I haven't had time to book a flight yet so I don't know how much the tickets'll cost,
but...um...I'll let you know the amount when I arrive for the conference.
And that is the end 9.5.