Pull my Strings - 'Control' words & phrases / English Addict 236 - 🚨LIVE CHAT🚨 Sun 12th Feb 2023

Here we are again

It is another live stream just for you.

Coming to you live and direct from the birthplace

of the English language, which just happens to be.

Oh my goodness, it's England.

do do enjoy that.

Oh, there you are.

Wow. It's so nice to see you here again.

And we are feeling quite good today.

Myself and Mr.

Steve, we are with you once more.

And I hope you are feeling good today. Hi, everybody.

This is Mr. Duncan in England.

How are you today? Are you okay?

I hope so.

Are you happy?

I really hope you're happy.

My voice is very strange today.

I don't know what's happening to my voice, but I think I'm going.

I'm going to go to the doctors and find out what it is.

I think so.

You know what it's like, man, we are not very good

at looking after all health men.

I think men are worse than women in that particular respect.

I think so.

That's what I think.

Anyway, I don't know why my music didn't play.

Why didn't it play at the beginning?

I'm going to find out why. Come on.

I'm sure.

I'm sure I can work it out.

Oh, I know. Now I know why it didn't work.

Oh, I see.

Yes, it's very interesting.

Hmm. Shall we try that again?

Okay, then.

Hi, everybody.

Oh, that's much better.

I like that very much.

Oh, that's better. Hi, everybody.

We are back together again, and

Okay, that's better.

I like to get things right.

You see, that's why I do these things.

I like to get them right.

So now you know what it's all about.

It's all about English.

It's all about learning English, you say.

And it's not just me here today.

We also have Mr. Steve as well.

He will be here with us at around about 2:30,

finding out what is happening in the world of Mr.

Steve.

And also, of course, this week, for those who know

next week it's Mr.

Steve's birthday.

His birthday is coming on Thursday.

We will not be here on Thursday, but

we will be celebrating Mr.

Steve's birthday on Wednesday, the day before Steve's birthday.

So, yes, it is his birthday.

I wonder if he's going to tell us how old he will be.

I wonder if Steve is going to tell us.

We will find out a little bit later on because Steve will be with us.

By the way, if you want to get in touch, you can.

There are many ways you can use email.

A lot of people asking Mr.

Duncan, what is your email address?

Well, there it is now on the screen

for those who want to know what it is.

There it is right under my face.

Also, you can follow me on Facebook as well.

Don't forget, also to use the capital letters

that Facebook, lots of people follow me on Facebook as well

because, well, you will find out

what is happening with my English lessons.

And of course, if you would like to support my work here on YouTube,

you can also send a donation to me

and it will help all of this to carry on.

It will help it to continue for as long as possible.

So today we have lots of things to talk about.

We are talking about control.

So I think it's a very interesting word

and one that lots of people mention a lot

because we often think of control

when we think of the place where we live.

Maybe you have some local authority

telling you how to do things or where to put things.

Maybe there are

lots of local rules that you have to follow.

So that is one of the things that might be connected to the word control.

Of course, your whole country will be controlled

in some way by a government.

So you can have a government, you can have a local authority.

You might have someone who owns your house,

you might have a landlord

who owns the property in which you live.

And then again, there are rules that you have to follow.

And you might say that your landlord,

the person who owns the house that you are renting,

will control that the price of the rent.

Maybe there are lots of conditions that you have to stick to

or keep too, so you can stay at that property.

So yes, there are lots of

things that can be connected to the word control.

We are looking at that a little bit later on.

We are having a very strange day with the weather.

The weather is not great, even though

having said that, it is very warm.

It's around about what's around

ten degrees today.

Very nice.

So we have ten degrees and it's mild.

No snow, no rain.

It's very dry, but it doesn't look very nice outside.

We also have the live chat.

Of course, it would not be the live chat

without you here with me.

Hello to the live chat.

I wonder who was first today.

Let's have a look, shall we?

Oh, the champion is still there.

We have Vitesse.

Congratulations, Vitesse.

You are first once again on today's live chat.

Sometimes I press the buttons and they work.

And sometimes I press the buttons and they don't work.

I have lots of controls

here, things that I have to press, things

that I have to move, things that I have to control.

So there is another use of the word control.

We will look at that later on.

We also have a sure shed here today.

Paolo Hello, Paolo.

I believe that you are still trying to send me one of your songs.

Unfortunately, I haven't received any links

to anything that you're trying to send me, so I'm not sure how you are doing it.

So I'm trying now to to work out

a way of you sending your song to me, so I will try to work them out.

I'm sure we can come to some sort of solution.

As I always say, every problem

is a solution waiting to happen.

I think so.

We also have Palmira.

We also have double sash, not one sash but two.

Tomek is here as well.

You will be pleased to hear that we will be playing

Fill in the blank today.

We will be doing that hopefully later on.

We also have Beatrix.

Oh, hello to

He's here again.

Luis Mendez is here today.

Hello, Louis.

How is everything going with your vacation?

Is it going well? I hope so.

Tomek is here.

We also have a Zoran.

Hello, Zoran and Zoran.

Let's see.

Nice to see you here as well.

Lots of people joining in.

We also have who else is here most and many of my regular viewers.

And of course you are the reason.

You are the reason why I do this. You are

quite possibly my reason for living

beside Mr. Steve.

Of course, we also have Olga.

Hello, Olga Hassan.

Hello, Assan Hassan.

Hi, Mr. Duncan. I am Mr.

George.

It's teachers or the teachers.

Student So you shared, of course has a class

and lots of students in the classroom

and you are one of them.

Okay, then you are one of the students.

Hello, Hassan.

Nice to see you here as well.

We also have Francesc.

Did I see Claudia on the live chat?

I'm not sure if I did.

Did I see Claudia today?

I hope your father is doing well.

I know last week he wasn't very well, but I hope he's feeling

much better today.

So the live chat, very busy.

And if you want to get in touch, you can you can write anything,

you can say anything.

It doesn't mean I'm going to read it out, especially if it's naughty or rude.

But there you go.

That is the risk.

You take some times Alessandra is here.

Fee Ra Hello.

Fee Ra watching in Azerbaijan.

Nice to see you here as well.

A lot of people joining in with the live chat.

So it is Mr.

Steve's birthday next week.

But of course there is also another day, another special day next week

because it is Valentine's Day.

Next Tuesday.

Is it Tuesday?

Yes, next Tuesday.

It is Valentine's Day.

It is the day when all those people

who are in love looking for love, maybe you have someone

that you are watching from afar and maybe someone you

you have some sort of feeling for something romantic

maybe that you want to happen with another person.

So it is a good opportunity for people

to allow others to know

they are loved.

Valentine's Day is here on Tuesday.

Some people like it, some people don't.

Some people like to get involved with it

and some people don't.

I think maybe I might receive

at least one Valentine's card on Tuesday.

I don't know.

Maybe.

Maybe want maybe to.

Who knows? We will have to find out.

So a busy week next week, Valentine's Day and also Mr.

Steve's birthday, which will be on Thursday.

Valentine's Day. On Tuesday.

I will be with you on Wednesday, by the way, next week.

So we might be talking about Valentine's Day and also Mr.

Steve's birthday next week.

We will see again what happens with that.

Steve will be here in around about 12 minutes from now.

A lot of people want to say hello to Steve.

He he has a big fan club.

In fact, sometimes I think maybe

maybe Steve has more fans than I do.

Maybe, maybe not.

We will see what happens today.

We have something to show you as well.

We are going to find out what colour Mr.

Steve's crazy plant actually

is because the flower has now come out.

So later on we will reveal the flower.

We will show you what colour the flower is.

And you know that Mr.

Steve received this gift at Christmas time

and the flower has grown very quickly.

So later on we will be revealing the colour.

And of course Mr.

Steve was, was complaining about the gift because he said,

I hope it's not white.

So what colour will the flower be?

Will it be red or white?

Find out later on.

Isn't it exciting?

Oh, another thing to mention, Steve

has been very busy this morning in the kitchen.

What has Mr. Steve been up to?

I will show you.

Well, there he is in the kitchen.

Earlier on, Mr.

Steve, What are you doing, Steve?

Oh, it looks as if Mr.

Steve is cutting some onions, so I'm just wondering,

what is Steve cooking?

What are you cooking, Mr. Steve?

In your part,

what delicious meal

is Steve preparing for me and himself later on?

I don't know what it is, so I'm sure Steve will tell us

what is cooking in his pocket later on today.

Yes, very nice.

Very nice indeed.

Louis says.

I think the flower will be white.

We will find out later on.

So when Steve joins us, we will reveal the colour of Mr.

Steve's plant.

Who else is here today? Oh, Reza.

Hello, Reza.

Norma Mohammadi.

Hello to you and nice to see you here today.

Don't forget, if it is your first time on the live chat, please let me know.

Please tell me if it is your first time here.

Hello, Angel.

Oh. Oh, Angel has arrived.

Angel est or Angel is here as well.

Nice to see you back.

Also, Francisca asks, Was Mr.

Steve crying when he was cutting the onions?

He was a little bit, but I'm not sure if it was because of the onions.

I think it was because I was filming whilst Mr.

Steve was trying to prepare the meal.

And I think Steve was getting a little bit annoyed.

So maybe his tears were actually tears of anger.

Not because of the onions, but yes, you are right.

Sometimes when you cut onions it can make you cry quite a lot.

Hello. Also to eat it.

He did. Is he?

Nice to see you here as well.

It feels like a long time since you were here.

Hello. Eat it.

I also think that the flower on Mr.

Steve's plant is quite. Hmm.

We will find out later on when Steve joins us.

We are going to reveal

the colour of Mr.

Steve's crazy plant.

We will do that later.

Rosa is here as well.

Nice to see you here as well.

Other things we might be talking about if we have time, things

that you always lose or things that you can never find.

And you know what I mean?

You have something that you need to do, maybe a task that you have to carry out.

But unfortunately, you need a certain thing to do it with,

but you can't find it.

Why? Why is that the case?

Why is it so so a question that I'm going to ask first before Mr.

Steve joins us is

what are the things that you cannot find when you need them?

Things we often can't find when we need them?

Can you think of any things in your house?

So normally these are things in the house that you can't find when you need them.

Can you think of something

that you often look for in the house?

Something you need

but you can't find?

I will give you some examples right now.

So here are the things that I often

can't find in the house.

The first one,

well, I'm sure everyone will agree with this.

Teaspoons.

There it is.

There is one right there on the screen.

Teaspoons.

A teaspoon is a very small spoon

normally used for serving sugar

or sometimes, as you might use one, to eat

a certain type of fruit, grapefruit or maybe an orange.

You can use a teaspoon, a small spoon

normally used for serving sugar,

or I think you can use it for coffee as well.

If you use dried coffee.

So one of the things I can never find, and I don't know why

I always seem to have difficulty

finding teaspoons.

Do you have the same problem?

Is there something in your house

that you can never find when you need it?

And I don't know why, but there never seems to be enough teaspoons

in the house when I need them.

If you have the same problem, please let me know on the live chat.

Another thing that I can't find,

even though I know the house is full of them

pens, there never seems to be

a pen nearby when you need one.

Maybe you need to write something down in a hurry

and you can never find a pen,

even though you probably have millions of them in the house.

But you can't find them.

So you're looking everywhere, trying to find a pen.

And you know what it's like.

Even when you go out, someone might want some details, maybe a phone number

or something that you have to write down and you never have a pen

on you.

What is it? Why?

And I am sure here in my house, I'm sure there must be

thousands of pens in the house.

I think so.

So quite often I can never find a pen when I need one.

Even in the house where I know

I have loads, lots, lots and lots of pens.

Another thing

and this is something that is specific for here in the UK

maybe, and you can see here this is a plug in electric plug

and this is what it looks like when you open it up.

And you can see there there is a large object and that is a fuse.

It is something that helps to control the voltage.

So maybe if the voltage going through

your electrical device is too high or too strong,

that fuse will blow.

However, afterwards you have to replace it.

However, you can never find a replacement fuse.

So that is another thing that I can never find when I need one.

So maybe if I am, I don't know, watching television

and suddenly my TV stops working, it goes off quite often.

I will have to replace the fuse.

However, I can never find them.

I can never find a fuse.

Sometimes what I have to do, I have to find another plug

and I take the fuse out of that one

and I put it in the one that I want to replace.

But then, of course, later, when you want to use

that other device, there isn't a fuse in there.

So I never seem able to actually find

fuses and I don't know why.

Réussir Oh, that's interesting.

Research says I can never find my glasses.

Yes, if you are a person who uses your glasses

for reading, maybe

then yes, you might use your glasses

for reading the newspaper or maybe reading a book.

So something you can't find when you are looking for it.

The most common ones that I have difficulty

with are teaspoons,

pens and also the fuse in my plug.

When I want to replace it.

Unfortunately, I can't find one.

Yes, I think glasses.

If you if you wear glasses for reading,

I think it's very easy to put them down

and then you forget where you've put them.

I think so.

Mr. Steve will be here in a few moments.

Hello, Derek.

Derek says the fuse will control the current, not the voltage.

Yes, of course.

The force of the electric current.

You are right.

Thank you very much for saying that, sir.

Also has the same problem with glasses as well.

Another problem

that can often

arise when you can't find your glasses.

I think you're right. Yes.

I don't have that problem, of course, because I wear my glasses all the time.

The only time that I might lose my glasses is in the morning when I wake up

and maybe I can't find them.

And the problem is, if you wear glasses all the time,

quite often, you won't be able to find your glasses

because you don't have your glasses on and everything is out of focus.

I think so.

Anyway, we are taking a little break.

I hope you are enjoying today's live stream.

So far.

We do have Mr.

Steve coming up in a few moments talking about his birthday

and also Valentine's Day.

Both of those things are happening next week.

Don't go away.

There is a reason why I played that.

There is a definite reason why I did that,

and I will explain what it's all about in a few moments.

Time he is here.

He's back by popular demand

to keep him off the streets.

Mr. Steve is on his way now.

Oh, is that new? I think it is.

I think it is something that's new.

He is.

Hello? Hello, Mr. Duncan. Hello.

Wonderful viewers from across the world.

It's nice to be here again.

I just noticed your dimples.

It's nice to be here again on a Sunday afternoon,

but it is at least Sunday afternoon here in the UK.

I'm Well, I've had a busy weekend, Mr.

Duncan. A busy few days. Yes. It's.

Well, first of all, you went, you went on a train.

I went on a train. Mr. Duncan.

It's not so exciting.

I haven't been on a train for about 20 years. Yes.

And it was quite exciting.

Yes, There I was, buying tickets, going on a train.

I was actually with the rest of the public. Yes.

And it was I felt quite excited.

It was like a day out. A day out. Mr.

Duncan, as I said the other day, something that's missing at the moment

from our lives, and I don't mind admitting it.

It's not a personal thing, but One thing missing is adventure, excitement.

We haven't had much adventure.

No, we haven't. Which is why we're going to Paris.

Yeah, well, can I just say at the moment,

his me?

Can I just say at the moment Paris is on fire.

Is it. Yes.

By riots.

Riots? Yes. Really? Yes,

there always is.

It's almost every other day now. So.

So I'm starting to wonder if we should change

the location of our meeting because there might not be anything left of it.

Oh, what what are the protests about?

I have no idea anymore.

Is. Is Louis here?

Louis can tell us what's going on. Well, I race well.

Louis isn't even there. He's in Brittany at the moment.

He's on his own.

Yes, but he's in Brittany.

I know, but you know. You know what?

Probably know what's going on.

You know, Britain is still sort of you know, France. Yes.

Well, well, or we could just look at the Internet and find out.

Well, I never just thought I'd ask.

We've got some new people on Mr.

Duncan today. A lot of new people. Hello.

Hello to all of you.

DNA is new.

Welcome and sharp from Iraq.

I'm not sure whether you knew, but it's nice to to know where people are

from far flung countries like Iraq.

It's amazing.

And we also have apparently Pedro's

twin brother.

I didn't realise that Pedro Belmont has a twin brother.

Well, it's what is declared here on the live chat to Mr.

Duncan. I saw it earlier.

So what is Pedro's twin brother? What?

What is his name? Well, it just says Pedro,

so it doesn't actually say.

Pedro hasn't said what he said.

Well, I think it's a joke.

But if it is true, Pedro, if you are here with your twin brother, let us know.

It sounds suspicious. There might be a clone.

Thomas said, Let's go to Amsterdam.

Well, we would do, but they're closing the red light districts and we can't get drugs

on the streets anymore.

That's what we've heard in the news.

Well, the strange thing is they.

Oh, but this is true, isn't it, that they're cleaning up the cleaning up and stadium.

And of course, a lot of people go to Amsterdam to enjoy the daffodils,

the canals, but also for the more naughty things as well.

But apparently they are they're going to start controlling more

of the drug

and the the other things the ladies

of the night and all of that as well.

They have men of the night as well.

It's just ladies, I'm sure they do. Right. Okay.

From the Middle East, also, we have I don't know

if I'm going to pronounce your name correctly, Clutterbuck.

Clutterbuck.

Al Al-Arian, also from the Middle East.

So, yes, we've got people from all over.

Yes. According to Christina, it's Pedro.

One and Pedro two.

Yeah,

I do.

I would be careful there.

I think someone might be trying to have fun.

US, Cameroon.

We've got video of readiness from Cameroon,

but blimey.

Yes, all over the place.

Cameroon? Is that Africa?

Sure. It's Africa, isn't it?

Apologies if I've got that wrong.

We've got Middle East, Africa, South America, Europe.

Your span is global, Mr.

Dominica.

Which we know anyway. Yes.

Well, can I just say hello to India and India?

Yes, India. Because.

And the reason why I showed the cows earlier on

for a very special reason.

Because in India, the cow is is sacred.

It is an animal that is it is almost worshipped

and is it's seen is is an animal that's very special.

But we have been advised this week by people in India,

instead of having Valentine's Day

and sending cards and chocolate, what we should actually do

and maybe it is also a good way of relieving

your stress, is to go into a field and hug a cow,

give a cow a lovely hug.

But will it let you? I've tried that before.

They don't like you.

Get in too close.

Well, that is that is one thing, isn't it? Yes.

The problem with cows is sometimes they

they're not very friendly, but I think it is a nice sentiment.

And of course, we love cows very much because quite often

at the back of the house we have the cows.

We do have them.

Talking of the back of the house, I noticed this morning the the Mr.

Duncan fanclub was going by.

So every year, every month you might not realise this, but there is a mr.

Duncan fan club and today was the day when they went past the house. So.

So there they are.

So the local Mr.

Duncan fan club, they like to come past.

They like to see where all the magic happens.

Yes, it's funny.

They don't seem to want to see me.

It's just you there after.

So if I go out there, they say, Where's Mr. Duncan? Yes.

And they're just not interested in seeing me for some strange reason that will elderly.

We're not quite sure why.

Well, there's no problem with nothing wrong with that.

I know what you think.

A fan club.

You'd have people of all different ages. Yes, well,

by the way, if.

Oh, okay, then stick.

I kind of just carry. Do me carry on. Yes.

And some of them are taking photos, so it might be the paparazzi as well, you see.

But they all look, they're all coming down and they want to have a look.

They want to see where the magic happens

on the live stream.

How exciting. Yes. Really?

That actually held you up from getting ready today because you have to sign all the autographs.

I know they came down to the house and I had to spend spend

45 minutes talking to them all, signing autographs.

It took me a very long time to do that.

By the way, Vitus apparently also has a dimple,

so you're not alone in having dimples

be tested.

Say, I think I didn't say which cheek it was on.

If you meet up.

If you meet up, by the way, you.

I will let you I will let you touch my dimple

for a fee.

For a fee. Well, of course for a fee.

Say, yes, of course.

So Vitus is. Dimple is on his right cheek.

No, I have two.

You have one on each, but one's bigger than the other.

And the dimples? Yes.

For some reason, Pedro said you were born with a golden spoon in your mouth.

Maybe more like a more like a wooden spoon.

I would say no, there was no spoon.

It was just the. It was just my mum's finger.

Irene MAXINE says Happy birthday to me,

but will also say Happy birthday to you because yours is on the 14th.

Oh, Valentine's Day and Valentine's Day birthday.

Yes. What? How did you get two presents?

I hope you get one from your partner and also one for your birthday as well.

Nice.

Yes. Sorry. No, it's

warm in the house today.

It's warm outside, which is why we've gone

for short sleeved and the heating isn't even on.

It's actually too warm outside to put the heating on.

Yeah.

And anyway, with all Mr.

Duncan's studio lights gets very hot in here. Yes.

So that's why I've gone for short sleeves today.

And spring is on the way.

We're feeding happy, We're feeding adventure tourists.

We're feeling positive. What are you talking about?

I'm just saying it's on the vine.

But Steve was having an adventure last week.

It felt like it.

Yes. So?

So you went to see your sister.

You went to have a singing lesson.

You had some work done on your car, and then you took a train to where where your sister lives.

And then you got the train back and then you collected your car.

And it was a long, long day.

I had to get up at 6:00 in the morning and I wasn't there.

I was here working hard, doing something.

I had to get up at 6:00, drive all the way to Leamington Spa,

leave my car, get a train to Banbury, and then

with my sister.

Okay.

I wasn't going to say where it was, but never mind why you know, that's where my mum used to live, you say.

But anyway, there you go.

That's what I had to do.

And it was fun to do something exciting rather than just stay round here in the house

and go for go for walks and feed robins.

Yeah, which is nice, but you don't want to do that all the time.

Well, I think. I think I have excitement. Yes.

Just something different.

The adventure doesn't have to be a big thing.

It can just be maybe a change of scenery.

You just go to a different place and suddenly the world is more exciting.

But we haven't done that.

We haven't had a holiday for a long time, so we're hoping to put that right this year by hopefully meeting up

in in Paris if

if there is still anything left of Paris.

Well, hopefully somebody can tell us what's going on in Paris.

We have two people from Iraq, Mr.

Duncan.

Now we've got some sorry, we've got somebody from Iran that must get those two countries mixed up.

Shahab is from Iraq.

Yeah, they were just a joke.

Joe Biden always gets them confused as well.

But Reza

is in Tehran, in Iran.

So no fighting, please.

But it's great to have you here.

Hilarious. Great to have you here.

Okay. Stay.

Yes, Lewis is here.

Is he telling us what's going on in Paris?

Is it to do with the return?

Are people getting annoyed because of

the retirement age maybe coming down?

Is that what it's to do with.

Yes, maybe increasing it to 67?

Macron is not what it's about.

Lewis.

Is that what the riots are all about in Paris?

Somehow I know less now than they did before.

Well, Lewis had mentioned something about retirement age, so that's probably.

Why would you imagine, Steve,

would you imagine that avocados

could be something that people would would rob

or in some cases kill? Yes.

You just said that.

You said avocados.

No, avocados.

Would you

why do I bother preparing all of this?

Would you say would you say that avocados are things that people might rob or kill each other for?

Well, guess what? The answer is, yes.

There are avocado wars taking place.

I was watching a report last night on the news

about apparently during certain times of the year,

the the the amount of avocados

that are harvested is absolutely huge.

And the demand for them is also great.

We are talking about Mexico.

In Mexico, the avocado is incredibly popular,

apparently makes billions

a year guacamole off of profit.

But this time of year, avocados are suddenly really popular again.

And there is a reason for that because in the United States

it is, of course, Super Bowl season.

Super Bowl, of course, refers to

is it football?

Is it basketball?

American football, right? Yes.

So the Super Bowl is taking place and apparently Americans love to sit down

in front of the television and, watch the Super Bowl

with a big bowl of guacamole.

Oh, right.

The guacamole, of course, is made from avocado O's, which you're allergic to.

I am.

And they come from Mexico.

But apparently there is such a demand.

I'm going to cough here.

I'm sure. I'm sure I'm dying.

Well, no, you know, it's and of course, it's very popular.

Avocados are very popular here.

It's a very popular

snack. Something to put in a salad.

They've become very popular When we grew up, when I was growing up in the 1970s,

you didn't eat avocados.

Maybe if you went to a restaurant or something.

I don't think I've even heard of them till I was older.

Anyway, back to everybody.

Back to my story. I thought you finished. No, I hadn't.

So this. So.

So what's happening now in Mexico?

Because avocados have become so valuable.

The transport of avocados

are now being affected by by robbers.

So they're being held up at gunpoint and robbed.

And some people have been injured as well during these robberies.

And now they have to have armed escorts.

The police have to escort the avocados

when they're being transported like me.

So they've got problems with the drug trade in Mexico. Now.

They've got problems with the avocado

harvesting.

It's not safe. Not very safe in Mexico, is it?

If you if you've got some commodity that you want to sell,

the gangs are out there trying to get their little share of the profits.

Okay, Steve.

Well, hello to anyone watching in Mexico.

Well, I'm sure they probably agree

that there Well, we know it's all over the news.

We know about problems with that sort of drug gangs in Mexico generally. Yes.

But I think everybody knows about that.

But yes, guacamole. Yes.

Catarina says I haven't heard of that.

Yes. It's sort of mashed up avocados with

they think they might put onions in.

So it's basically mashed up avocados, isn't it?

It's just spicy.

It's just avocados. Slightly spicy.

I think it is a mexican dish. Hmm.

I think they put a bit of olive oil in olive oil,

but a bit of spice may be a bit of

something.

Paprika or.

Or a chilli or something like that just to spice it up.

And then you can have it with sort of bread.

Your pita bread or crackers is quite popular with on crackers

right here.

Okay.

Guacamole, guacamole made from avocados.

But they

who would have thought that people would be holding each other

at gunpoint over avocados?

It's incredible, isn't it?

So very valuable.

Like talking of eating, I can smell tonight's meal, Mr.

Duncan.

Yes, Well, we were I was going to ask about that because, Steve, you were in the kitchen today.

There was Mr.

Steve busily working away.

It looks as if Steve is chopping up some onions

and making me cry, Mr.

Duncan, because they're very a pungent, pungent

onion. So they've got a lot of

you how onions,

when you peel them, they make you cry, that they make your eyes water.

These are very strong ones. It looks very dangerous.

I'm just admiring your your technique of cutting the onions.

They're very good.

Well, some of them.

But somebody would say there's an easier way to cut

to cut onions than that.

There are sort of devices.

I found one in my mum's kitchen for chopping up onions that you can do in a fraction of a of a minute.

But yes, we're having guess what we're having, we're having

well, you know what?

We're having dinner instead of having chilli con carne

tonight.

I've put it in, I put it on early, I've just added the carrots which you like,

not too much spice, mince minced beef.

You shouldn't say that.

We've just been talking about cows.

Unfortunately, we do eat them in the UK,

so never gave it a bit of

minced up cow with some spice, onions,

lots of tomatoes and tomato

puree,

a stock cube to give it a bit of flavour and some salt.

And later we will have it with probably mashed potatoes,

but we may well have it with rice and sweet potatoes

and some broccoli because that is healthy.

Green vegetable.

So all in all, we're going to have a healthy meal later.

Mr. Duncan Good.

I like the scenes.

I like the sound of that.

So Mr. Steve's birthday is next week.

We have Valentine's Day.

I wonder I wonder if are you looking forward to your birthday next week?

I mean, I was looking forward to it.

If I knew that somebody was going to buy me

a Ford Mustang, I would be looking forward to it.

So I wouldn't say looking forward to it.

You know, when you get to a certain age, you don't really look forward to birthdays.

If we were, say, going somewhere, going on holiday somewhere to celebrate

that we're going out for a curry.

He goes on holiday to celebrate a birthday

or you could be on holiday or something that well, somebody that's, you know,

wants to treat their partner whose birthday it is and they want to get them something.

Well, well, well.

That would be me. Well, it's

unfortunately, I'm a I'm a YouTube publisher,

so there is no money, basically.

Anyway.

Yes, I'm 62 by the way, Tomek, but thank you.

I obviously only look 61, so Mr.

Steve will be 62 next Thursday.

We won't be here on Thursday, but we are here on Wednesday,

so we might have a little bit of Valentines and also a little bit of Mr.

Steve's birthday on Wednesday.

But we are doing something special for Mr. Steve's birth.

We'll be unwrapping all the presents that Mr.

Duncan has has brought for me and it's going to be it actually will be exciting just for that reason.

As Pedro, I did promise to read some books.

I haven't read anything yet.

I'm afraid.

Do you know what I'm going to do?

I'm going to stop my subscription to a newspaper online subscription

because it's £25 a month and I'm not really used to it.

A newspaper. A newspaper, £25 a month.

Yeah, I'm going to stop it because I'm sick to death of reading endless news stories.

So how is the newspaper?

The Telegraph?

Oh, goodness. £25 a month.

I know it's too much just for the newspaper,

and I'm not really taking advantage of it, so I'm going to stop that.

It's a conservative newspaper as well.

I know it is, but it's I sort of trust the information in it more than I would others.

But anyway, I'm going to forget about that because I've discovered that they're just as they're

just as they put all these stories in that

are designed to get you to click on them just in the same way as everybody does.

Oh, yeah.

That's, that's, that's why they're, they're, they, they want, they want advertisers to pay them.

What happened was you see for the first six months it was only £12 a month

or £6 a month and now it's gone up.

So I'm going to cancel my subscription,

wait two months, and then I can get it again for £6 a month for six months.

And I'm not doing it.

I still can't believe you're reading the telegraph Right wing.

Who would thought Mr.

Steve would be a right winger?

Well, I don't know what other papers to trust.

I don't want the guardian.

That's too left wing, maybe the Independent.

But people.

I did look up all the newspapers.

Which newspaper is not biased one way or the other.

Politically, the answer is none of them. No. Well, that's it.

I don't know what you had and how you get unbiased news.

Well, what you do is you read two or three newspapers.

So most people nowadays have have more than one newspaper to read.

So they get a little bit of news from their and a little bit of news from there.

So you don't just watch one news channel

and you don't subscribe just to one newspaper.

So that that is one way of doing it, you see.

Yes, but I haven't got time to read several newspapers, so I think I'm going to abandon looking at the news.

One, it winds me up, makes me angry, and I keep writing comments too.

It's just taking up a lot of my time.

I need to get on with life and do something else, Thomas says, I only look 57.

Thanks. Shift.

Is that is that a compliment? I'm not sure.

Oh, by the way, we're going to have a look now at Mr.

Steve Plant. If you remember, Mr.

Steve had a plant given to him at Christmas time by one of our neighbours.

And today we get

well today, today we're

going to look at the colour of the plant.

So here it is.

Here is the plant.

The amaryllis. Just wait. Don't say anything, Steve.

I'm not going say anything now. So here it is.

So I'm going to stop the video just as

the flower is revealed

any second now.

So stop the video. Yes.

So what is the colour of the flower?

So Steve was a bit worried because you didn't

want it to be white.

You said if it's white, it's boring.

But if it's red, he will be happy.

So let's have a look.

Let's reveal the colour of Mr.

Steve's flower, because I think it's pretty exciting.

We've been watching this flower emerge much over the past few days

and the colour is here.

It is.

It's red.

Well, crimson.

It's not fully out yet. Of course it's on the way.

So buying it by Wednesday or certainly by next Sunday we will be able to reveal the amaryllis.

Yeah. In all its glory.

So. So it isn't white, so you must be quite happy about that, Steve.

And it's not yellow or yellow would have been better, but that colour is lovely.

No, it's lovely.

I'm quite pleased with that. Yes.

Yeah, that looks, that looks very good indeed.

I think. I can't wait to see that fully out.

Three people have said that.

Dario says Steve is conservative.

I knew it.

Well.

The thing is I don't actually, I probably am if I was God, to define something.

If you had to put a label on me, I probably would be.

But the thing is, I take views from all sides and then decide which ones.

I think I agree with or not.

And sometimes they're from Labour, sometimes they're conservative.

And this is what annoys me in politics that people stick

rigidly to their they pick a side

and then they will agree to everything that that side does.

Well, that's how you vote your government, though, isn't it?

I know even though you don't agree with a lot of those things,

I want to be sort of flexible to be able to accept, which is difficult when it comes to to vote.

And then you have to, of course,

take a balanced view of which party overall you think is going to be better these days.

These days,

there is no there is no

extreme politics that is acceptable.

So everything tends to be in the middle nowadays.

So so even if you say that you are conservative,

you might be conservative, but still in the middle.

So you don't have strong views either way.

You're not on the right or the left.

You have middle politics.

So it's so it is more complicated than it used to be.

You used to have your your view that was conservative or your views.

It was more towards the left with with the Labour Party.

And then quite often you would have other parties as well.

But they are normally much smaller. Much smaller, Yes.

All get all the points out that it's blooming for my birthday.

Yeah.

I think it will be out fully out I think by Thursday.

So that's my birthday present. Really.

Pedro, I've answered your question as yet.

I'm not reading any books, so that's what I'm going to find a nice book like War and Peace.

I have got

something about Las Vegas I can't remember.

It's called Now.

There's a book that somebody gave me ages ago

and I never read it and it's a famous book,

blah, blah, blah. Something. Las Vegas.

Oh, that's a good can't remember what it's called.

It's a good time, but it's a famous somebody.

Somebody who's who's who's who's into literature.

Well, no, something something.

Las Vegas is in the title, but I can't remember what it's called.

And I'm going to read that because he's actually died now,

the person that gave me the book, well he gave it to me.

Then he had a nasty accident.

And of course, I've never returned it. So

there we go.

I get the feeling you want me returning it now.

It's. It's got a long title.

Something. Something, something. Las Vegas.

But I think it's Las Vegas, but I can't remember.

It's called this is very Loathing in Las Vegas.

That's it. Yeah.

There was also a famous movie as well with

I think I want to say I want to say

Nicolas Cage.

Am I right?

No idea what it's about.

So what do you think of that, Pedro?

Is that a good book to read?

It looks like quite a short book.

It's not very thick unless I've got the the version

for idiots or something.

So maybe I won't read that so.

Well, don't Comic literary expert.

Have you read it?

Has anybody read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas?

It's a famous book, isn't it? It is.

And it's also a movie as well.

So maybe you could just watch the movie and then pretend that you read the book.

Like, like most people do.

Most people do buy books,

but they never read them.

It's a well-known fact that if you go to anyone's house, you will see books

on a bookcase or maybe on a table

and they're only doing it just to show off.

But they never read the books.

And I think it's quite common that that happens.

It's a bit it's a big book.

John Donnelly, Johnny Depp.

That's I thought it was it was either Nicolas Cage or Johnny Depp.

And it's Johnny Depp.

I always remember because it has a very distinctive cover

on the on the actual movie poster.

So on the movie poster, it's a very interesting looking image.

I don't think it's science fiction.

It normally I would only read science fiction because that's what I was used to read when I was younger.

But, you

know, I'll give it a go because it's a classic, as they say.

And then when I've warmed up on that, I'll go on to war and peace,

and that should keep me going for the rest of the year.

Reading the classics, Pedro did suggest some books

for me to read, actually, and I did write them down.

But what I've done with that, I don't know is it could be anywhere.

Yes. As Beatrice says, the book is probably very different to the film.

So I read it says it was Nicolas Cage in the film. Oh,

and Benny Cage.

Del Toro. Yes.

Maybe they're both in it. Yes, I did.

I did. I did. Remember

No Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

Is that the one

where the gun died?

You know, I did.

Can I just say there is zero chance of Mr.

Steve reading that book? Oh, la la la la.

And is that the guy that goes to Las Vegas to actually kill himself?

Is that the one? La la?

Oh, yeah.

That's really annoying, Steve.

Well, I don't want to know what it's about.

Mind you, having said, that could probably spoiler it.

Give me a spoiler. Anyway, so

lots of people have read that

Francesca was reading Colin Dexter.

Inspector Morse Oh, very interesting.

Yes, Yes, of course.

There was also a sequel to that with his the Chief Inspector,

the inspector who was always with Morse

and he got his own TV show as well.

This end of the film called Leaving Las Vegas.

That's the one.

I think that's the one where the guy is at the end of his of his life.

He's suffering from ill health and he goes to Las Vegas to actually

just do all of the things that are bad for him.

So. So he will actually die.

When is there while he's there?

I think that's the one that was the Nicolas Cage one.

Apparently.

But you can see why there would be some confusion, because they're both set in Las Vegas.

Maybe I'm

right, Mr. Duncan. Oh, okay.

I love it when you do that.

Right, Mr.

Duncan, I've run out of things to say, and I'm sure you've got something else to talk here.

I've got so many things today that I've planned.

Oh, here's a good one.

Here's a good one

I want to vote on.

On a subject.

Are you ready, Mr. Steve?

Yes. This is to do with food.

And I'm going to show you two sandwiches

to, types of sandwich, and you have to tell me

which one is the worst of the two.

You mean the one that I would least like to eat?

And of out there?

You can do the same thing if you want.

I'm going to show you two sandwiches.

So what is the worst sandwich in the world?

And I've chosen two because I think both of these sandwiches are really, really awful.

Is it a

egg mayonnaise or is it B

salmon and cucumber?

They're both pretty awful sandwiches.

So out of those two,

because whenever you go to buy sandwiches from a shop,

there's always lots of egg mayonnaise left.

No one wants them.

And also there is normally lots of salmon and cucumber left.

And the reason for that is because they always go soggy.

They get wet because of all of the

all of the cucumber, because cucumber is a very wet vegetable.

So which is the worst one?

Is it egg mayonnaise, which I don't like.

I don't like it.

Or salmon and cucumber.

What do you think, Steve.

Well, that's easy because I don't I quite like egg mayonnaise sandwiches.

I don't mind them, so but I absolutely despise

salmon and cucumber sandwiches because they're just revolting.

But by the time you buy them, the salmon's gone all wet and soggy.

Sorry, the the cucumber has gone

all pale and soggy and it's cold and wet.

And as you say, the bread often gets soaked in the juices from the

from the salmon, and it ends up being a revolting, smelly sandwich.

It's just disgusting.

A tuna is the same. A tuna sandwich.

Tuna and sweetcorn isn't too bad, but

tuna and mayonnaise.

Tuna is not as bad, but salmon for me in a sandwich.

Revolting. Yes.

Cucumber sandwich is the worst they have to be.

Because.

Because everything goes wet and all of the bread

falls to pieces and it's all disgusting.

And of course, if you ever go to a shop to sandwiches,

there are always lots of egg

mayonnaise sandwiches because people don't like it's the taste.

You see the taste, the taste of egg

and egg white together in a sandwich.

It's it's it's quite revolting.

And the tuna, of course, is is going to be tinned tuna.

And you have to check the dates of sandwiches, don't you.

Because do you find that when you go to a supermarket

like it's I used to do this when I was working

and would get my lunch from a supermarket,

I would look for the sandwich with the longest date on it,

because you can be normally a sandwich in a supermarket.

It's probably got one, two or three days

shelf life on it last very long.

No, but you know, if you see a Sam, I always go to the back of the fridge

because the ones that the fresher ones are at the back

everyone that they have you ever gone to a shop and you buy milk or bread

and instead of taking the bread or the milk from the front,

you reach right in to the back and you take the one from the back.

Because you think in your mind that that thing at the back is better.

It's fresher because it might last longer than the things at the front.

So yeah, you're right.

Everyone does that to make the sandwich.

So at the end of the day, all it's left in the sandwich shop

are egg mayonnaise sandwiches because no one wants to buy them.

And, and as you say, the salmon and cucumber,

if I'm sure, if it's freshly made, it would be acceptable.

But when it's been made and left to soak in all its juices, it's horrible.

You want something that's dry.

A beef sandwich is quite nice.

That seemed to keep it quite raw.

Chicken, chicken sandwich that keeps quite well.

But I don't like chicken salad sandwiches because again,

the salad, by the time you get the sandwich, the salads all gone.

Horrible.

The lettuce has gone soggy.

And then of course, tomato is another world.

Tomatoes are all full of water.

So anything, anything like tomato

or cucumber on a sandwich, you have to eat it straight away.

Don't keep it because the bread will go all wet. Oof!

Not very nice Stomach says that. I will. I will.

If I enjoy the book, then

he's going to get me some space cake.

And that's a hint about what the book is about.

That would explain.

No, I'm going to say space cake, I'm

guessing, is, you know, something that'll make me a little high.

Okay.

Well, I'm hoping it is,

which is probably be more likely

to get that in Amsterdam than in Paris.

Is it legal to travel from Amsterdam?

Oh, from the Netherlands to France

with space cake in your luggage?

Is that legal or will you be stopped?

I don't mean that it. Will you?

I don't know.

Do they do checks on people from Europe going from one European country to another?

Don't think so.

Oh, apparently now, by the way, when we go through customs,

I was asking a friend of mine because since we've obviously left the EU

when we're

going through customs, when we're returning back to our own country,

then we would normally go on to the EU side and been able to go through

quite quickly through customs that of course since Brexit we've had two people from the UK

have had to go in with everybody else from all the other countries and have a big long queue.

But apparently now it's UK and EU.

They've combined the two so we won't have to.

We can go still go through the Euro channel now. Okay.

In terms of having our passport, I think this is only interesting to us though, isn't it?

It's just making the trip a little bit more pleasant.

For when we come back. Maybe amazing.

It's a little off topic, but apparently the worst there were.

A lot of people don't seem to like salmon and cucumber.

It's I don't really know why they make them.

Not because nobody likes them.

Let's be honest.

Most sandwiches that you buy in a shop,

especially if they come in a plastic box, they might be

not. Not very good quality.

Let's say you can't go wrong with while

Rosa has said if it's beef in it or chicken, that's normally all right.

The other one are always safe with it goes is cheese.

Oh cheese sandwich

they seem to keep for a long time.

They seem to keep in a supermarket.

And you have a cheese sandwich That used to be my favourite.

A cheese sandwich with a packet of cheese and onion crisps.

That was a popular snack.

Popular dinner for me when I was working because I like and onion

and a cheese and onion sandwich with cheese and onion crisps or just cheese on its own.

Just a cheese sandwich, no lettuce, nothing, because the lettuce

and the tomatoes all go horrible in a sandwich, just not very nice.

So I think that's it.

The verdict is in.

A lot of people seem to dislike the salmon

and cucumber sandwich and

I think I might actually with you there.

Chicken and avocado. That's a good sandwich that one key.

But again this the avocado can soak into the bread and make the bread go soggy.

And then it's oh, I tell you the other thing you don't want to pick up.

Sorry if any of you are gluten intolerance,

Some people can't eat the gluten in bread

because it upsets the digestive system.

But they do sell gluten free sandwiches, don't they, in supermarkets?

And what you've got to be careful and they that

they're revolting gluten gluten free bread

for somebody that's used to normal bread I'm sure you get used to it if you have to eat gluten

free bread.

But if you accidentally pick up, if you're in a rush, which I've done before, Mr.

Duncan in a rush, got to get to an appointment sandwich.

Oh, there we are. Chicken sandwich. Pick it out.

And then you get into the car and realise it's

a gluten free sandwich.

Revolting So would it be fair to say

that things that are gluten free have had most of the nice things taken out of them?

Well, the gluten is what gives bread its its texture and it's flavour.

And if you are gluten intolerant, I'm sure you get used to gluten free bread,

But if you suddenly eat it and you know a person that doesn't have that problem, I couldn't eat it.

I had to throw it away. It was disgusting.

So I feel for anybody there

who has a gluten intolerance problem

because it must be very difficult to find something to eat at lunchtime.

Maybe sushi, gluten free chocolate brownies.

They're quite nice, but not a sandwich.

Not for me anyway.

Well, I think we've really, really covered that one quite well.

By the way, on Tuesday, a special day for those who are looking for love.

Or maybe you are in love.

Of course, Valentine's Day is coming on Tuesday.

It's the time when lots of people fall in love or hopefully

they find a love of their life.

Oh, Oh, look at that.

Oh, my lovely live pigeon.

Oh, they are in love.

Those pigeons are definitely in love.

I think it's safe to say,

Oh, Duncan.

Oh, isn't that lovely?

That's lovely. That is. Yes.

I'm in the mood for love now.

Definitely.

Right. Mr.

Duncan Rosa said that he'd never heard about gluten allergy, lactose.

Yes, that is true.

No, lactose is definitely no

gluten intolerance, as they call it isn't a fad.

It's a real thing.

Because I've got several friends that have this

and they eat bread

and something happens to the structure of your intestines.

It's like, I think it's an autoimmune disease.

Somebody knows something about it and you literally can't

break down the gluten, which is the protein in wheat.

So what happens?

Does it all just solidify in your gut?

I think you just get lots of cramping, very painful.

And even one little amount is enough to set people off.

There is a test you can have.

They take it, they take a biopsy,

a little piece out, and then they look at it under a microscope

and the little villi that absorb

all the nutrients in the inside of your

intestines,

sort of they're shrunk down or that or they've gone completely horrible.

But yes, it's a horrible thing to have.

And there are the supermarkets now

have big aisles with all gluten free products and gluten free pasta,

bread, cakes, cereals.

And and as you said earlier, it's the worst food

imaginable because all of the all of the loveliness has been sucked out.

And of course, there's lactose.

Yeah, that's where you just eat dairy

or things that have lots of milk

or things and things like that.

And apparently immediately you poop your pants.

Immediately, immediately.

Well, a short time afterwards you will poop your pants.

Either way. You made a promise last week.

I don't like I don't like the sound of that.

You made a promise last week in person

that we would do a certain game.

Take no notice of that this week.

I hope you kept your promise, Mr..

He should know by now.

Promises from me are not worth anything.

That's true.

I should know. Yeah.

Think he's right anyway?

I don't know.

Mr. Duncan's not revealing.

We are talking about a subject today.

Something interesting.

I hope we're looking at control

words and phrases connected to control.

Being in control or using something to control

a vehicle, a piece of machinery.

Today we are looking at control.

Who is pulling the strings?

Do you like that light? Yes. You like what I did there?

Here we go then.

So we have the word control.

I'm sure most people are aware of what that word means.

The word control

can be used to decide the position

or the direction of something.

So you control where something is.

You control where something is going or

where it is in relation to other things.

So control is a word that is often used

when are talking about giving instructions, or maybe the person

who is making those decisions

they are in control.

We also have some phrases coming up as well.

I don't know what happening to my throat today.

Excuse me, control freak.

Have you got that one coming up? Mr. Duncan?

We've got one from Tomek, who is the shots?

Somebody that's in control.

That may be coming up later.

I'm not sure Mr. Duncan might have that one.

So if a person is in control, we can say that they have complete

authority or power.

So we often think of people maybe in work you might have a

a boss who who is in control.

You might also have a local government or a local

a local council.

So that's what we have here.

Even in the UK, we have councils,

so each area is divided.

Those areas are overseen or controlled by small groups of people.

So to have authority or power to control

and of course countries, whole countries as well

will have some sort of authority

or maybe government and they control what happens.

You can say that Kim Jong un has complete

power, complete control over what goes on in North Korea.

You could probably say the same for Putin in Russia

and other states like that.

But does Rishi Sunak,

our prime minister, have complete authority?

We would probably say no because of the

you know, it's democracy.

And he really can't do anything on his own unless he gets

agreement from his cabinet ministers or they might revolt against him.

That's it.

So there are different levels of power and different levels of control in a country level. Yes.

So you might have one individual who says what happens or you might have a government.

Quite often in democracies you will have a government, a group of people

who come to decisions together normally through the system of voting.

So we're just talking here about

one particular meaning of control in terms of power.

So there are other meanings.

So it's not just to do with politics.

This is just one aspect of it.

Yes, we're looking at all of the we're looking at all of the looking at all of them.

So this is the first one.

So if you carry on watching, you'll you'll see what happens next.

So to be in a position of responsibility.

So maybe at work, maybe in your job, you have a position of authority.

Maybe you have to watch all the other people working there

and you have to make sure that they are working hard

or they're doing the job that they should be.

And You are in control.

You have control over the office, or

maybe you are a supervisor or manager

so you can be at the controls.

I think that's an interesting phrase at the controls.

A person who is at the controls, maybe person who is in charge

of a certain piece of machinery,

maybe a car, maybe you are steering a ship,

flying a plane, you are at the controls

controlling.

So you are looking at something that is being done in a certain way by certain people.

They are controlling that thing.

We might use the word domineering.

I like that word, by the way, domineering

to control, to dominate.

So maybe one person is telling other people what to do.

I mean, like a controlling person. Hmm.

Yes. Yeah.

So they are a controlling person.

Or you can say that they are controlling things.

So that person who is in authority

is telling other people what to do.

Of course, you can do it in a very forceful way.

You can say bossy.

Someone who's bossy is a person who is always telling people what to do.

Maybe they are being forceful.

So these words are often used negatively.

And of course, as I mentioned earlier, the word dominant as well.

That person is controlling quite often in relationships.

You might have someone in the relationship who is controlling the other

hand because you just

Yes, somebody that somebody that's got a controlling nature

is somebody that likes to make decisions about everything, don't they?

I think so. You like to be the one.

They like to take responsibility, but it's also a bit about.

Yeah, it's also they just for some reason like to have control.

It's like it's almost like an ego thing.

They cannot or they just cannot let other people take charge of things

because they think it might go wrong or they think that other people

aren't good enough to make the decisions.

We all know what controlling people are like. Hmm.

Another phrase we can use to hold in check.

So you might be watching something to make sure that it is being done

correctly to hold in check.

Or maybe stop something from happening as well.

So control can also be used to to mean prevent.

So you are holding something back or you are stopping

something from happening to have control over something.

For example, maybe a horse maybe you are riding a horse along the street.

You have to have control.

You hold that thing in check.

You are making sure that the horse doesn't go crazy

and run around and throw you off.

And also maybe a bicycle.

Bicycle you have to control that.

You will always in control a car.

Yes. A nuclear power station. Yes.

Yes. So that's different to being.

It's quite complicated, isn't it, in a way, because to how you can have control of it.

You've got control today over the live stream

your your organise in what needs to be done.

I don't have any control over it at all

that your role is to control it.

But that doesn't mean you're being controlling

because I wouldn't do it anyway.

When you're just in control of something like in control of a car that doesn't involve other people.

It's just you in control of a bike, in control of a

piece of equipment at work, in a factory, maybe,

But someone that's controlling is somebody that likes to boss

everybody else around and take charge and make decisions about it.

I think quite often in authority you find people enjoy,

they enjoy having that control.

So you might say that I am controlling today's live stream.

So am controlling it.

I am operating the equipment.

I'm making sure that everything is okay, so I am controlling it.

So in that sense it isn't negative.

It just means I am operating the equipment.

Yes, I have control and I'm using the controls to.

Control the live stream.

Oh, now this is a good one.

This is referring back to what you said earlier about Amsterdam.

The space cake.

Yes. The space cake and everything else connected to it.

To restrict something can also mean control

yes, if you restrict something, you are

making sure something doesn't happen or maybe you are making sure

or you are preventing something from being sold,

obtained, grown.

So there are many ways of using the word control

when you are restricting something is a good one.

Going back to you, controlling the live stream, the word oversee you oversee it.

That's almost like a synonym, isn't it? Mm hmm.

So that's a good one from Tommy.

That's a good one.

Oversee the live stream, control it so you might restrict

perhaps a controlled substance.

So maybe drugs, illegal drugs.

We often describe them as controlled substances.

So something that is not allowed to be used or grown

or bought or supplied a controlled substance.

And of course, maybe you are trying to lose weight or maybe you have to eat

certain types of food for your health.

You might have a controlled diet.

So that means you have to follow certain rules

when you are eating food.

A Steve said earlier, people who have gluten

intolerance or lactose intolerance

and they have to have a control diet, there are certain things that you have to avoid.

I suppose another one is diabetes as well.

If you are diabetic, you have to have very controlled diet.

There are many things that you can't eat, you have to avoid.

And even if you were, say, going on a diet, you wanted to lose,

you could use the phrase, Yeah, I need to control my diet.

I knew what you mean is you want to control them.

The amount of calories that you're taking.

So you might not eat certain fattening foods

like chocolate or crisps or something

like that to try and control your diets,

you just need to keep a check on what you do instead of

just doing whatever you like

to be at the controls.

Very similar to what we mentioned earlier, to be in control

of something, to be at the controls, to steer

or navigate the vehicle.

So you are at the controls.

You are the person who is operating that thing.

I suppose another thing you could say is is responsibility.

So a person who has responsibility for something,

especially if they are in control of a vehicle

or as you said earlier, Steve, maybe a car,

a lorry, a ship, an aeroplane,

you you don't just have control, but also you have the responsibility as well.

So quite often with control comes responsibility

to steer or navigate something.

You are at the controls.

It's a good one to from anarchy to have control over one's own life.

Oh, yes, that's a good one. Yes.

Do you have control over your own life?

Do you are you steering your own course in life,

deciding on a career path what

relationship when you go out, when do you do things?

Do you.

Yes. Exhibit a certain amount of control or do you just do whatever you are, whatever comes into your head?

And a lot of people would say that you need to have control

if you want to achieve anything in life.

Four things Discipline.

Six Successful people often say that one of the secrets is to

is to have control, maybe control over your own

way of thinking.

And this is the one this is this is where a lot of the problems start with most people.

It's up here in the old brain box.

So having control over your thoughts or your feelings

or maybe to give yourself more motivation to do something.

So quite often when we talk about mental health

control is often in there.

It's often part of that process because sometimes you have to take control

over what you're thinking or how you behave.

So I think controlling in many ways

can can be refer

to all sorts of aspects and parts of your daily life

there.

She asks, Do I take control of anything in the studio?

Well, the only thing I'm really sort of in control of is the live chat.

I'm sort of in control of that.

Yes. In the fact that you're just looking at what's on there, I'm looking at it.

But I don't control any of the equipment

or the content, really,

apart from what I'm just saying.

Mr. Hopkins controlling all the equipment,

setting up the computer, the lights, all that sort of thing.

I don't do anything in the studio as such

ground control to Major Tom says Terry is

out there.

We are this exists.

I think you've got a camera there. Mr. Dunlop.

A lot of people ask about behind the scenes so that you can see

what it looks like when we're on doing our live stream.

This is what this is what the studio looks like.

And all of it.

All of it is under my control.

That's all I'm going to say about that. Definitely.

I wouldn't be able to have any part of that whatsoever.

Control freak.

Oh, yes, Yes.

Well, you can explain that. Tomek put that up earlier.

He's since retracted it, but it was too late because I've written it down.

Okay, Control freak.

Yeah, that's somebody going back to when we discussed

about somebody having control and somebody being a being

always taking charge.

And it was making decisions all the time and not letting other people make up their own minds.

A control freak is somebody that literally wants

to micromanage is another phrase.

So they want it.

They want to be in control of everything, every aspect of team

relationships that she used.

Oh, he or she is a control freak.

So they want to decide.

They want you where maybe where everybody

when you go out somewhere, they want to decide where where they're going to go.

They won't accept your suggestions that they might say, Oh, you going to wear that shirt with those trousers?

I think you should put a different shirt on or

B or the shoes.

You're going to wash your shoes or you're going to clean your shoes before you go out

or everything you do.

So we have to control the controlling person there.

Things on the screen, an overbearing person,

maybe a person who is bullying or domineering.

I don't know about us.

I think I think with this sometimes, sometimes you're more dominant and sometimes am.

It's I think it really depends what we're doing at the time. Yes.

But yes, a control freak you can have

you can have a boss that's a control freak that always micromanaging everything you do.

Micromanage means that they everything that you do, they will look at.

So, for example, I could I used to be in sales,

so I might be given a sales target.

And then the boss might say, well, how are you going to achieve it?

And I say, Well, I'm going to see these customers.

Okay, so what are you going to say when you go into those customers?

Yeah, everything down to

the smallest detail, a micromanager.

And there's nothing worse than having a micromanager as a boss, particularly

if you've been doing that job a long time.

Yeah, it shows a certain amount of people

that a control freaks is basically probably quite insecure people

because they don't trust you to just to get on and do it yourself.

Or maybe they, they have little confidence in their in their employees as well.

So it kind of happens sometimes.

I've worked for people in the past who have been in a position of management,

but they always feel as if they have to keep asserting

or showing they are the manager or the boss.

So quite often they will they will start to be too much in control,

or maybe they start to try and control.

But I think the secret of managing the secret of being a manager

is sometimes to take a step back

and see what people are doing and how

well they they can do those things instead of constantly telling people

what they should be doing and how they should be doing.

So in relationships, you might have a controlling person.

We can use something as well.

Currently we can use a device or a button.

I have something here. I've never showed this before.

I'm going to show you now.

There it is, like that.

So that is what I use.

One of the things I use to control the live stream

and it's very useful device.

So that is a control.

It is something that I can use to operate

some of the equipment here in the studio.

So it can be a device, maybe a button that you press.

I know you love this, don't you?

You love that you love devices

and buttons and things and things. Yes.

Yes. I'm being sarcastic. Oh, yeah.

I was going to say, I don't really know, but I don't like

modern controls in cars where it's all touchscreen. Yes.

Because you remember when cars used to be mechanical and that was it.

Well, buttons with buttons on the dashboard.

Yes But I mean, now it's all computerised.

Now cars have microchips and processors.

But when, when you were driving a car, it was basically open the door, turn the key,

and then you go off you go.

But by letters.

But now sometimes it's lots of things you have to remember or think about before

you can actually drive off.

You can have the wheel of a car, the thing that actually steers the car or controls it.

And then there is Joyce Stick.

So we're talking about a control. Yes.

Something that you would call a control. That's it.

So this thing is a noun, you know, using it to name something in particular.

So the device is the thing,

the button, the wheel, the joystick, joystick.

They have a joystick normally in an aeroplane

or if you play computer games or TV remote,

the most annoying thing that exists in the house is the remote control.

You you either can't find it or it's everywhere.

You have this habit, don't you, Steve?

Steve has a habit of leaving

the remote control for the TV

on the seat where I sit and every time I come in to sit down,

I have to move the remote control because Steve has left it there.

Yes. So the steering on the car controls

the steering, the accelerator controls

the speed of the car, the brakes control the braking,

the brake pedal controls, deceleration in the car.

Yes, There are, as you say, TV, remote control,

lots of things you can call a control,

something that when you do something to it, it

something happens to the bit of equipment that it's on.

Could be controlling speed or anything.

Moving on,

we can have phrases, for example,

you can say that someone is in the driver's seat.

If a person is in the driver's seat, it means they are in control.

They are in the position of being in control.

That person is in the driver's seat.

So it doesn't necessarily have to be in a car or a vehicle.

It can be anything, anything that you are in control of.

Is that an idiom?

Then it can be used as a yes.

It's a phrase, phrase or idiom.

So you are using it figuratively

to mean that that person has responsibility or maybe they have control.

They are in the driver's seat is another one,

or you can have a back street, a backseat driver, can't you?

That would be another

somebody who's a

bit of a control freak, a backseat driver, because that's a

somebody that sits in the back of the car and tells you how to drive the car,

what speed to go, where to turn everything that there annoying.

So that's a bit of a synonym as well of of a control freak back street,

a back seat driver.

And we all know people that sit in the back of car and

or even in the passenger seat and tell you that you're not going fast enough.

You're going too fast.

Your mother used to do that. Well, she wasn't too bad.

Yeah.

Another phrase to be at the helm.

You are in control.

We often think of the helm when when we're talking about ships

or a boat, You're steering the boat.

You are controlling a boat.

I've never tried.

I've never actually controlled a boat, ever.

I've never tried to control or steer about.

I think it's actually quite hard to do so.

To be at the helm means.

That person is in a position of control, usually

like a CEO at a company that when you refer to somebody

at the helm of a company, that's usually somebody the most important person

like a CEO, senior

director, the main person that's in charge

of the company would be described at the helm

is another one.

Oh, no, I like this one.

Hold the fort if you hold the fort,

it means you are in control for a short time.

Maybe you are a substitute.

Maybe you are standing or taking over from someone else for a short time.

So maybe you are in control, but only temporarily for a short time.

You hold the fort, so maybe the manager goes out and he.

He says, Mr.

Duncan, can you hold the fort?

Can you can you take control?

Whilst I'm away, you might say to me,

I need to go to the toilet.

Can you hold the fort until I come back?

And that would mean that Mr.

Duncan wants me to carry on with the live stream.

Yes, but only for a short period of time.

Because he knows that I wouldn't be able to do it for long.

That's true.

Here's another one in science.

And this is this is right at Mr. Steve Street.

This is because you used to do all this, used to do all of this stuff.

Scientific control, a thing, used to compare

or prove the FC efficacy.

That's a great word, by the way.

Efficacy of something as a control is

it tests you're equipment.

So you have a range of particularly I used to use it when I worked in the hospital labs.

We used controls which were say you were measuring something in some somebody in some blood,

like an

electrolyte, for example, sodium, potassium levels.

To make sure your equipment was working, you have to test it with these control samples

that have carefully measured exact amounts of substance you want to measure in them.

So it will say on it exactly what

the concentration of that reagent is.

And then you you measure it on the machine

and you can adjust the machine if it's just not giving you the right result.

And then when you put your actual sample in

from somebody you know, then that it's accurate.

So it's a control.

It's something that tells you that your equipment is accurate.

Another time, of course, is when you're testing drugs or a new medicine,

you will have a control that is normally given to a certain group of people

because you want to prove that the actual medicine

that's being produced works.

So you give a certain group of people something that that isn't

the medicine it's quite often referred to as a placebo placebo, and that is the control. So

you are seeing whether the medicine or the new medicine

vaccine or whatever actually makes any difference.

And so we often refer to that as a control.

Here's a good one.

Oh, in fact, I have just said that, yes, testing medicine.

So when you're testing medicine, you might have a control group. Yes.

Yes. You might have a control group.

Yeah, exactly.

They might be a whole range of things.

I won't go into that. But yeah,

yes, normally it's used to test

that your hypothesis is actually right.

It'll be a group of people that, as you say, probably won't have the,

the drug that you're trying to test a control group and then you can see

if there's any difference between that group of people and the people you give given the drug to.

That's it.

And by that, you can prove that the medicine actually works.

Efficacy.

I love this word, by the way, Tomek just said I that word efficacy.

It's not an easy word to say.

As you noticed when I tried to say it just I got it wrong

first time and then I got it right.

Efficacy because there's two CS and quite often when you see

that you might be tempted to pronounce those letters differently.

Sees me efficacy.

Yeah.

Efficacy means does the thing, does the drug actually work?

Is it actually producing the effect that you want?

So with a vaccine, for example, say a flu vaccine,

you give a flu vaccine and you

you have to test that vaccine to see.

But it could be any drug could be a hard drug as well.

Does that drug actually work and how well does it work?

You usually put a measurement against efficacy and it could be a percentage

or a certain reduction in, say, a blood pressure tablet.

What's its efficacy?

So in other words, how much does it reduce your blood pressure by at a certain dosage?

Or if you give a vaccine, what how many people

will be protected against that vaccine

if they were exposed to the flu?

And you might put a measurement on that 70%, for example.

Anyway, moving on.

So efficacy, it might be a word that you've heard before and it's also used.

It can be used in another way terms that Duncan as well

I never go on.

No go into. Right. Mr. Duncan Carrier okay.

I go into them synonyms of control there are quite a few and they're all used in different ways.

Synonyms of control include steer,

manoeuvre, kerb, organise, run,

drive, rule.

In that sense it means you are controlling a nation

or government or finally order.

So control quite often can mean order.

So everything is operating or moving or

everything is happening the way it should.

It is all under control.

And then of course, the opposite of control is chaos.

So you have control where everything is running smoothly

and the opposite is chaos, where everything is

not going well.

It's chaos in this workplace.

Who's in control?

Some people say that there is no control in the world at.

The moment there is a lot of chaos around.

And that is our list of words and phrases connected to control.

I hope that was helpful and useful.

And of course, you can watch this again many, many times If you if you want to

look at something again, you can watch this live stream

as many times as you want.

I will quickly put it my email address.

A few people have asked, There is my email address

if you want to get in touch, you can.

If you want to follow me on Facebook, you can do that as well.

There is the address and of course I have my PayPal.

If you want to make a donation, you can please

and everything you donate will go towards all of this to keep it going

because it takes a lot of time and effort to do this,

said Mr. Duncan.

Have you got have we got the sentence game today or anything resembling that?

Fill in the blank. Fill in the blank we have, yes.

Well I was going to apologise to Tom because I didn't think Mr.

Duncan had it.

Thomas said he was going to take control and put up the the sentence game.

I did actually.

I did say at the start of today's live stream that there would be fill in the blank.

So this is slightly different in the fact that there only one answer.

So instead of giving different answers,

there is only one answer that I'm going to to accept.

So here is the first one very quickly, because we only have 9 minutes left.

Yeah, okay. Yeah.

So here it is.

Fill in the blank.

Fill in the blank.

I Oh, go on.

Well, you can just write.

You go on.

So. So take control, Mr.

Duncan. I'm trying to.

I can't figure out something

gave me this gift.

I can't figure out something.

Gave me this gift.

So We are looking at a certain word,

and it's got to be grammatically, it's a bit easy.

This so, Mr. Duncan?

Well, there could be lots of different answers switched there.

Steve. Easy for you.

It's easy for you.

But we have lots of people out there who it might not be easy, fool.

So we're not doing it for you.

We're doing it doing it in a Yeah, I can.

I can, you know, assess the level of ability of the people that watches Mr.

Duncan.

But yes, it must be grammatically correct.

Gives me

yes, it must be

grammatically correct.

Pedro's having a cup of coffee.

Is that with your twin brother? Yeah.

Are you both having a cup of coffee?

Anyway, if you had to make to how you are playing, fill the blank.

I mean, I was just giving people time too.

So we've got some suggestions. Thomas says who?

Alessandra says who?

I mean, that's a suggestion for.

The word I can't figure out who gave me this gift, which is what I'll be saying on Thursday.

So you kind of have to or whom?

So there is a choice there, but only one of them is correct.

Oh, right.

Nobody's home but everyone's put who.

So are they Correct.

Why isn't correct?

Can't figure out why.

You'd have to say why someone gave me this gift

for that to be grammatically correct or they

I can't figure out why

they gave me this gift to use. Why?

You've got to put another word in for it to be grammatically correct.

Yeah, that's two words, Dorothy.

Which figure gave me this gift?

Well, it would work, but that's two words.

It can put two words.

My not.

So I'll give it the answer because we'll have another one after this.

Oh, I've missed the cockerel.

It's been a while since I've.

No, I'm not going to say that.

There were Carmen's in Mexico.

Okay.

So are you.

Are you fighting for avocadoes?

We discussed that earlier about the avocado wars. Yes.

In Mexico, avocados.

Apparently, they are as valuable as gold.

So the the gangs are taking control of the avocado.

Here we go. Here's the answer, Steve. Who?

I can't figure out who

gave me this gift.

You might say that on Thursday because it's your birthday.

So Mr. Steve might say that on Thursday.

I can't figure out who gave me this gift.

By the way.

Figure out means to to come to a conclusion.

You are figuring something out.

You are working out the results.

You are trying to come to a conclusion.

You figure out something.

So in this sentence they are actually saying, I don't know,

I'm trying to guess work it out.

I'm trying to work out who gave me.

So what about whom? Mr. Duncan?

Well, you don't use whom in that particular sentence.

You often use whom.

If you are directly talking to someone.

So quite often to whom am I speaking during a telephone call?

But you don't know who the person is.

Although nowadays a lot of people just say who.

But that is the the basic rule there is that formal English you use whom?

Yes, that's what lyricist said.

Okay. Steve said, Subject to use who?

An object to use whom. Is that right? Yes.

If it's a person, if it's the person you don't know, know them.

They are.

They are not there.

So you are you are speculating.

You don't know who it is.

To whom am I speaking? You see.

So I've just literally said what the adjective would probably wouldn't use.

Whom you don't have to use, whom do you.

You can just use who. Yes.

Now and nowadays everyone uses nobody uses whom.

It sounds too pretentious. Yes.

So there is there is a rule, but you don't have to really use it.

You can just use who?

Yes, certainly that that's a good indication of how English has changed over the years.

Thank you, Christina.

Here we go.

Dogs can get lonely when something owners aren't home.

Dogs can get lonely when

something owners aren't home.

Well, Francesca's very quick

and said there

THG I

so you'll have a choice at the bottom

we have two spellings of a word that sounds the same.

They're all there.

One is relating to a situation

or a place in the distance, maybe a direction that you want to go

or something that is possessive as well.

So one of those words is possessive

and the other one is working out direction

or position of something,

but which one is which?

Oh, Claudia.

Thank you, Claudia Oh, by the way, it's nice to hear that your father is back home.

That's good news.

So? So I'm really pleased to hear that.

Well, that's Darrius.

He's come up with a word which I think fits it.

It's. Can you put it in there?

Dogs can get lonely when it's.

Well, no, because owners is plural.

Oh, I suppose you could.

Yes. Dogs can get lonely when it's owners.

I suppose you could do that.

Yes. Yes. It's.

And that would of course be not the contraction.

You would use the possessive form.

So yes, you could actually use.

The possessive form of it.

Yes. Dogs can get lonely when it's.

But I think in that case you would have to

change that to singular.

So a dog.

It would have to be. Yes.

Dogs is plural so you can't use

it's there because that's singular.

So that's the reason why we use that instead.

We use there because we are using more than one thing.

Dogs in the sentence is plural.

Dogs can get lonely.

They're if it was one dog, you could say its owner,

one dog, its owner,

dogs, plural, their owner.

That certainly would be more correct. English.

More than one male single.

Correct. English. Yes.

So the comes to it is referring referring

to more than one as well isn't it about anyway. Yep.

Okay. Haven't given the answer yet. The answer is

the answer is

there. Yeah.

Possessive.

Something that belongs to a person.

You are saying that that thing belongs to them.

It is theirs.

There it is.

Their dog or their car, their house.

It belongs to that person.

And of course, I made a rather interesting English lesson

last week all about that subject as well.

All the different all the differences between those those different words

that a.h e r e. Yes.

Which of course refers to places isn't it.

That's this position or place.

If you are pointing out something over there

or over there or maybe up there Anyway, there is a lesson.

If you want to find out more about that, guess what, Steve?

It's 4:00.

It's 4:00. So we've done a short

fill in the blank today.

I'm sure it's made to make happy and hopefully other people as well.

Hmm. Yes.

Common. A dog can get lonely when it's own isn't home.

Yeah, not that yet. Good. Thank you for that.

That's it.

So it's been nice being here.

Maybe we could do some more next week. Mr. would have.

Shall we promise to do more?

Fill in the blanks next week?

We will do. Fill in the blanks.

And I will give you.

I will give you the opportunity next week to.

To put your own suggestions.

So we will do it the way we used to before.

It's time to say

thank you very much, Mr. Steve.

Thank you.

Nice to be here.

And I hope that you found this useful today.

Quite been quite a few people watching today, which is always very encouraging.

So please give us feedback.

You'll see us both here again on Wednesday.

Wednesday.

Don't forget, it's the day after, Valentine's Day,

but it's the day before Mr.

Steve's birthday.

Oh, so we will see what happens.

We might be covered in hickeys all over my neck.

Do you think I'm on Wednesday? Hickeys?

What do you mean?

Well, when somebody kisses you very aggressively on your neck.

Oh, I see.

Like a love bite to get a love by a hickey, as they call it.

And I always remember once

going out with my boss,

coming out with me for the day.

It's nice to recall moments in the past when you've had a passionate night with somebody.

And my boss came out with me and I had a hickey on my neck

and I thought I had discovered it, disguised it, but she noticed it.

Can I can I just ask you a question? Yes.

Where did you get the hickey from?

Well, Mr. Duncan, it's time to go and put the kettle on.

It was before we met.

Our expect.

Okay. Who?

Well, but I expect to see lots of hickeys on Wednesday.

What is dramatic way to end today's livestream?

I'd say people like as a bit bit of gossip.

Now I want to find out where Mr.

Steve got the love bite from and why I didn't notice it.

I think you were in China at the time anyway.

Okay, well, in that case, I think I had a few love bites as well, but not on my neck.

I hope that

I hope

many of you get lots love bites or hickeys, as we call them.

Yeah. On on on Tuesday.

And maybe you can send us pictures and we can show them.

Okay. It would be nice, right?

I'm going to put the kettle on and I'm hungry.

So see you on on Wednesday.

Oh, it's almost time.

It's almost time.

It's almost time.

It's almost time to say good bye.

It's almost time to say goodbye.

Thank you very much for your company today.

I hope you've enjoyed the live stream.

I hope my voice is better on Wednesday.

I have no idea what is happening at the moment to my throat.

I hope it's nothing serious.

That's all I can say.

I will see you on Wednesday 2 p.m.

UK time is when I'm back with you.

And of course, until the next time we meet here,

I hope you enjoy the rest of your day

and have a good Valentine's Day

as well, wherever you are in the world.

This is Mr.

Duncan saying keep.

Wednesday is when we are back.

You can watch this live stream all over again as well.

And of course, until the next time we join here

as live is live can be.

You know what's coming next. Yes, you do

ta ta for now.