English Addict Ep 363 -🔴LIVE stream / Sunday 4th May 2025 / Join the LIVE Chat & Learn English

Welcome to today's livestream.

I hope you are feeling well.

Hello.

Hello, dear viewers.

My name is Mr Steve,

and you'll probably wondering what's going on, but welcome to English Addict live on a Sunday.

It's 2 p.m.

English time, and it's great to have you all here.

Now, you're probably wondering why is Mr. Steve here first?

I'm not normally here until 230, but I need to explain to you before I introduce you to Mr.

Duncan that he's he's not feeling too well.

In fact, we've discovered as you some of you may know, I was ill last weekend, and I was on here.

Mr. Duncan has been very ill this week.

On Thursday, he suddenly became very ill. And yesterday I thought.

Something strange going on here.

He's got a temperature of a 102 Fahrenheit, which is, I think.

I can't remember what that is.

39 degrees.

And, I'd lost my sense of taste,

and I thought I'm going to do some tests.

Guess what? Turned out we both had Covid.

Yes, Covid.

We thought that had gone, but it's come back, so I wasn't that ill with it.

Last weekend. I had about 3 or 4 days and I felt under the weather.

I didn't have a temperature, but Mr.

Duncan's been hit quite hard with it, so prepare yourselves for a hideous sight.

I'm joking.

Mr. Duncan is here. We're only going to do an hour today because he can barely stand.

I'm not.

It sounds like I'm joking, but I'm not.

He's been in bed for two days, and I've been, of course, looking after him, tending to his every need, cleaning and washing him, feeding him.

Oh. It's been a nightmare.

Anyway.

Are you ready, Mr. Duncan?

For me to introduce you to your wonderful viewers from across the globe?

We've got many people watching, and we've got a few things to talk about.

There's always something to talk about.

We're never short of words. We're never short of something to do.

Okay, but let me introduce you to the man of the moment, the man that has climbed out of his sick bed to be with you today.

Oh, here he is, the one and only Mr.

Duncan.

Very, very good.

Well, all I can say is I wish I'd done that myself.

Hi, everybody.

This is what is left of Mr. Duncan in England. How are you today?

Are you okay?

I hope so. Are you happy?

I hope you are feeling good today.

Oh, dear. As Mr. Steve so badly explained,

I. Thanks.

I'm.

I'm not that great.

I was ill and I'm still ill.

My illness has not disappeared at all. I feel absolutely dreadful.

The only reason why I look good on camera is because I've had a shave.

After Mr.

Steve was nagging me, he was. Say, are you going to have a shave or are you going to have a shave?

Are you going to have a shave?

So just four minutes ago, I was in the bathroom trying to shave myself without cutting my throat, which

for various reasons was very tempting.

But that's all I'm going to say for that anyway.

It is myself, Mr. Duncan. I'm full of Covid.

I have coronavirus for the second time and Mr.

Steve gave it to me. Isn't that just wonderful? I know that people say you should.

You should share your things with other people.

You should share. You should be equal. But I'm not sure if

sharing your stinky, horrible illnesses is is actually a very good idea.

I'm always bringing bugs back into the house because I'm the one that's going out and about working.

Yes, and going to musical societies and things, and people have these bugs, and I wish they wouldn't go out if they're not very well.

I, I sometimes went to where Mr.

Steve actually does go, where he actually puts his body because he seems just people he is he brings back some horrible, horrible illnesses.

It was quite a shock to do a Covid test and see those two big lines.

And but anyway, it's still around. Mr. Duncan, who survived?

You said that my Covid test lit up like a Christmas tree.

It did.

You know, normally you do a Covid test and it takes a while for the red lines to come up.

I did Mr.

Duncan's first and then bang, it was there straight away. It lit up.

It was like a Christmas tree. Mine was a lot weaker. But, you've had it a lot worse than me.

But anyway, I'm sure you've had enough of that.

Well, who? Who, me or the audience? The audience.

Oh, I see.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

You're not going to get away from it for the next hour. So we are just here for an hour.

And to be honest with you, if I was really honest, I.

I'm not sure if I will even survive for this hour.

To be honest. I'm using all my energy just to stand up here at my desk.

I was going to sit down, but it meant adjusting the camera and the table and the chair and everything,

and I just thought it was much easier just to stand up, even though it might actually kill me.

Here we go. Then.

Thank you for introducing today's live stream, Mr.

Steve. That's very kind of you.

I suppose the first thing we should mention, besides my terrible, terrible illness, which has kept me in bed

and all I can say is I've never sweated so much, I woke up.

I think it was not last night, the night before I woke up. And I was just soaking wet.

I had a temperature of 102, which I think is not good, 39°C.

So what is that? What's the really bad temperature? Steve?

If it gets to 40 or 100 and for like, oh, Fahrenheit, that's when you, have to go to the, you have to call a doctor.

Then I go to the hospital.

Yeah, the the sick people house.

So you got close, but not close enough.

I was going to say you sound disappointed.

I was ready with the the ice buckets. Mr. Duncan.

I was going to plunge you into cold ice baths, to cool you down if it became too serious.

But thankfully, your immune system has fought it off.

But, yeah, beware. Covid is still out there. Yes.

And, it's there waiting to catch you.

Yeah. If you, if, you know, the trouble is, now, you don't have to test anymore.

You don't have to stay indoors if you've got it. Well, no.

But so people think that they've got a bad cold, which is what I thought I had last weekend.

Turned out it was Covid, and, the telltale sign was I had lost my sense of taste it this.

But anyway, enough of that.

Is this before or after you'd been to loads and loads of different places?

Is that. Say that again, Mr. Duncan?

Is that before or after you decided to go to lots of different places?

But no, I've probably infected lots of other people. Yeah, but you know, this.

So Mr. Steve now is a super spreader.

Yes. Although most people, who are vulnerable, are being vaccinated.

So you would hope that if somebody was particularly vulnerable, they would have got themselves a vaccine.

To protect themselves. But,

beyond that, what else can you do in life as normal?

Well, I suppose one of the things is if you become ill, you stay away from other people. Just just to make sure.

Because we normally complain ourselves, don't we, about other people who go out when they've got colds and they spread them.

And there was Mr. Steve doing exactly well. My symptoms had gone.

Yeah, I, I had Monday off work, didn't feel very well on Monday, but I went back to work on Tuesday.

But in retrospect retrospect.

So that means when you you when, when looking back.

Yeah.

After the event probably, should have tested myself earlier and I could have had a week of work.

I could have said, oh I'm sorry, I can't go out, I've got Covid.

Look at you.

That's, that's actually thinking about it now, Mr. Duncan, I could have had a whole week of work with that.

Yeah, you blew that.

I blew that one. Mr. Duncan, I wish I could say the same thing.

I can't even have a day off. I've still got to come here and do this today.

So I'm standing. I'm literally the walking dead at the moment.

And I'm not even exaggerating.

My voice is just about to stop working.

I can already feel it starting to break down.

What to do in the next 45 minutes.

Mr. Duncan, why do you keep telling me the English?

Don't keep reminding me of how long we've gone.

Because that's to at the moment, 45 minutes to me is like a couple of weeks.

Well, you see, if you start to falter. Falter? Oh, there's another word.

If you start to falter, if somebody falters, it means they can't do what they're planned to do.

Well, they start making mistakes.

Yes, I start to make mistakes.

I can come in with all sorts of things that have been going on in the news.

Mr. Duncan.

Well, such as local election results and and Prince Harry. Yes.

Two of your favourite subjects everyone's talking about.

Yes. I'm looking forward to watching my viewing figures limit.

Well, that's. You see, I said that to try and keep you motivated.

Oh, I said, because you will think in the back of your mind you would think, I've got to keep going.

I've got to keep going, because Mr. Duncan's going to talk about Prince Harry and local elections.

Oh, my God, I wish I had half of your energy today.

It's amazing that the, I'm the least energetic between us today.

I'm normally the one bouncing off the ceiling. You will be better by Wednesday.

Wednesday's live stream.

I will care for you, Mr. Duncan.

And fortunately, we have a public holiday tomorrow.

We do?

We've got chicken tonight. I'm doing some chicken for Mr. Duncan.

Build him back up. Okay.

That's chicken. Supposed to be good.

If you've got a fever, it's not going to do the chicken much good.

So, Claudia, if you can get something couriered to us.

So a nice meal that Mr.. Isn't that a type? Is that cooking style? Is it? Steve?

Is that a cooking style? Currying

Thai again?

Oh, my God, I can't hear you, Mr.

T, my eyes are a bit blocked.

I am, I'm definitely to repeat silver play. Oh.

This is not a normal live stream, Steve.

I'm really having to use all my concentration here, right? Do you want me to come in with Prince Harry?

No. Oh, okay.

I can't even imagine what you'd say anyway.

Oh, dear.

Oh, I'm not sure if I should have probably done this on my own.

I'm starting to realise, though. I probably should have done this by myself.

This is more stressful doing it with Steve than with active

without him.

By the way, you may have,

heard over the past few weeks, I've been talking about Mr.

Steve's habit of killing animals by accident.

Whether it is

on the road with pheasants

or deer

or the occasional pedestrian. I can kill the deer.

No way. You nearly did nearly it.

Okay, just.

Just don't ruin my bit. This is a bit. Steve.

Yep. Keep going. This is a bit.

You see that? Not now.

The pace of this bit has been ruined. He's a bit tetchy.

Energy tetchy. I just wish you.

What's the word?

There's this this this is.

This is A2A2 word sentence.

And the second word is up.

There we just.

Oh. Oh dear.

So it my attention span is like a goldfish today

I. Yes.

Mr. Steve has the life all rhythms gone? No.

You were talking about me.

Yeah.

Mr. Steve has had many occasions where in his car, his hit animals not always killed them.

But let's just say he's not nature's best friend.

Right down to the small insects that he sometimes rescues but ends up pulling the limbs off.

As he puts them outside with his big giant hands.

Well, yesterday, I think yesterday.

Mr. Steve, you you outdid yourself with the sheer carnage

that took place in the garden yesterday.

Know I've seen many horror films in my life, especially in the 1980s.

There were lots of horror films that were around in the 1980s, very horribly violent and gory

and what happened yesterday in our garden was very similar to something like that.

Now, I'm almost risking Mr.

Steve explaining the story, but I know that it will be the worst explanation ever that any event ever taking place.

So you were you were in the garden yesterday. What were you doing yesterday?

I was cutting the grass, Mr. Duncan.

He was a nice, fine day. I thought, I'll go and cut the grass. I'm feeling better.

And, then I was cutting the grass,

and, Do you want me to carry on explaining? Yes.

Yeah. And, anyway, I, you go up and down, don't you?

And then you turn around and go the other way.

And, I came back

after one pass

and I saw this long black object on the lawn,

and, when I got close to it, I noticed it was a giant rat.

A rat.

I said, by the way, when he says giant rats, it was a rat.

A it was that long, Mr. Dog. It was not that long.

It was with the tail. It was that long. You exaggerating?

Well, you didn't even see it.

Look, I know, I know, in my years of being on this planet, I've never seen a rat that is nearly four feet long.

Well, that's not four feet that way.

If you've shortened it.

No. Oh, four feet.

Is that.

Anyway, it was a big rat, and it was in the middle of the lawn.

And what did I think it happened is it was it couldn't move.

It was sort of dying.

And it had been injured and I couldn't figure out why.

And then I suddenly realised it must have

been frightened by the lawnmower.

Come out of some bushes.

Yeah.

And, it must have gone under the lawn mower when I didn't, and I didn't notice when you say it went under the lawn mower.

Do you mean you ran over the rat with a lawn mower?

Well, that must have.

What? Must have what had happened, Mr. Douglas? It was obviously Mr.. But it happened. Yeah.

And but it's not my fault. I didn't, you know, the rat.

I don't know where this rat had come from, or what it was doing in the garden, probably eating all the bird food

that we put out because bird food attracts railings. Mr..

But anyway. Yeah, let me finish. Sorry.

It isn't us attracting rats, by the way, because I always clean the garden and everyone around nearby us, all the other idiots live near us.

They also have bird feeders. So it's not just us, it's other people as well.

Anyway, there are rats around and it was somewhere near the house and it must have.

When I got close to some bushes, it must have been hiding in there.

It was frightened by the noise. Noise of the lawn mower. It must have shot out and I didn't notice.

And it went right under the lawnmower.

And I think I went over it with the wheels of the lawn mower.

I think it's safe to say you went over the rat with your lawn mower. Yes, yes.

I don't think the blades hit it, but I think anyway, I it died while I was there looking at it.

Okay. And I had to, Did you did you hold it in your arms, Steve?

Did you hold the little racket in your arms? Oh, what was left of him?

It was quite distressing because it was quite a beautiful creature, I tell you.

You know, it was pretty distressing for the rat.

It was actually quite. I've never been that close to a rat before. Really?

That actually quite.

They've got quite nice faces, you know, people keep them as pets. A lovely coat, so long tail.

So I, I had to, put some gloves on, and, remove it.

Yeah, into a safe place.

Sadly, it died Safe place while

It’s a bit late to put it in a safe place, and I've put it somewhere...Steve should place...

Recycle it. Steve, for God's sake, can’t you hear me talking? I'm talking.

You just calm down, Mr. Duncan.

The safe place. Would it be you not being in the garden with the lawnmower?

That's just,

the safe place. It was too late, Steve, for the safe place.

The safe place was no longer safe.

I've put it somewhere a long way from our house, where nature will not recycle it.

And, you know.

But anyway, that's.

What can I do?

It was an accident.

I didn't know there was a rat there.

Yeah, probably just as well.

He didn't know there was a rat there. There must be a nest somewhere in the garden.

I'm going to have to find out, and put some poison down.

Yeah. It's, because we don't want rats coming into the house, Mr. Duncan, it's a bit too much information.

Yes, I'm sure my neighbours that are watching now are all putting their house up on the market as we speak,

moving away from our rat infested house.

But of course, if you live in the country, well know, if you live in the country, you get to live in the town, you get rats.

Yeah, we live in the countryside, by the way.

We're surrounded by nature, surrounded by nature.

But if you live in, Birmingham at the moment.

Okay. Well, why Birmingham in the West Midlands and, Birmingham.

They've got the bin men. Oh, yeah. Refuse collectors.

I've had a strike around strike and have been on strike for the last while, several months now, since before Christmas.

And there has been no refuse collecting in Birmingham, the second biggest city in the UK for many months.

And, there have been many news reports of, the increase in the number of rats

because waste in plastic bags is piling up in the streets.

Yeah, in Birmingham.

And they've had to send the army in to help to remove it because I think they're still on strike.

I think Mr.

Dent, the army, the Army haven't gone in, by the way, that was actually, a lie invented by one of those right wing nut jobs.

So, no, there's no army involvement whatsoever.

That was all food. I mean, they were helping to coordinate something, but they weren't going in collecting the rubbish.

Yeah, but, I don't know what's happening.

I haven't seen anything on the news for a week or so, but that is striking because they want more pay.

Yeah, well, I would imagine it was something to do with money,

but what about the bird feeders?

I've.

They've been I've been told that they can't have bird feeders in their garden anymore because of all the rats that,

that they're probably grouping together all the rats and actually

pulling the, the bird feeders out of the ground and carrying them away.

And how do the rats know where to go?

So I think they must be all travelling from other places, because I don't know how rats suddenly appear somewhere.

How do they know?

What is this, some sort of email connection between them?

Do they all send it to the text messages?

It says all as a nice pile of rubbish here in Holborn.

I think they've got a very good sense of smell, have they? Yes.

Right now I'm going to guess the hearing isn't very good because they can't hear lawnmowers.

I think it panicked.

I panicked and, ran.

It must have been, it must have come very close to my feet.

Yeah. Actually. So.

But anyway, that's enough of that, Mr. Duncan. I'm not sure who I feel more sorry for. You or the rat.

I'm starting to sympathise more with the rat.

I didn't know, Mr. Duncan. I thought it would be too distressing for him, to be honest with you.

There are normally rats in Birmingham anyway, so I don't think it's actually an unusual thing.

I think rats are everywhere. I think you can't get rid of rats. They're everywhere.

There's probably a rat in the studio, probably until it's probably running around somewhere underneath my desk.

There's a rat probably sleeping.

Sometimes at night I hear sort of gnawing sounds, dreaming of bird feeders, snoring sounds,

and I sometimes wonder if there's a rat that's just me grinding my teeth.

Yes, I was about to say that.

Then I suddenly realise it's Mr. Duncan grinding his teeth.

Oh. Good.

But yeah, you can't get rid of rats.

You can't get rid of rats? No.

Although you could, you could, you could always move and let the rats move

into your house and then, you know, do a kind of exchange so that cockroaches, you can't get rid of cockroaches.

Rats. They'll be here long after the human race has gone. Rats.

Do you think so?

Yes. You think rats will be here after humans have gone?

Because where will they?

They eat? There.

There'll be no dustbins or rubbish left in black bags because humans will be gone.

Well, they were around long before we came.

Oh, I see, so what did they do then? Well, they'll just do what they used to do.

Whatever it was they just. They're scavengers that eat anything.

We don't seem to sure, do we?

While they were around before humans. So, I'm sure they're live long after us.

They'll figure it out.

Once, we've worked out how to blow ourselves up.

Yeah, well, I think we've already done that, haven't we?

That we've already managed to figure it out.

Have I ever seen a movie match point by Woody Allen? Says Pedro?

Have I seen that film, Mr. Duncan?

I don't think so. I'm not sure. Woody Allen. Steve, I don't live in your memory.

I don't exist inside your memory, by the way.

So I don't know everything that you've ever done in your life.

Yes. Match point was a very good film by Woody Allen, one of his later films.

Some people said his later films were not very good. I, I'm a big fan

of Woody Allen.

I have to say.

I do like his early films Annie Hall classic Wonderful Manhattan, another one he loved filming around New York.

He, he a lot of his films are set in New York because he loves that place very much.

But I I've heard of Match Point, but I've never actually seen it.

I think it's now it might actually revolve around Wimbledon or one of the tennis tournaments in the US.

So but as usual with Woody Allen, his films are normally romantic and also, uncovering the foibles

and idiosyncrasies of human behaviour and relationships, which I think pretty much sums up the movies of Woody Allen.

But I haven't seen that one. I've seen all the rest. Bananas. Have you ever seen bananas?

It is so funny and.

I'm not a fan.

You're not, are you?

Now, I've watched a few of his movies, but for some reason I can't find them interesting.

It's dry play, clever humour.

What are you saying, Mr. Duncan?

That I'm not clever enough to understand his movies?

No, no, that's not what I said.

That's not what I said to do this.

Okay? I'm joking, Mr. Duncan.

You you know, you need to, realise sometimes.

Yes. Bananas is a very good film. Bananas.

The the he he accidentally becomes a dictator.

Is very, very good.

I'm just thinking about it now. I went to watch it. And also sleeper.

Now. Sleeper.

If you've never seen sleeper by Woody Allen, it is a brilliant movie set in the future.

A man who goes to sleep is cryogenically frozen by accident, and he wakes up and it's around about 100 years later and everything's changed.

And he wakes up

and it is about as hilarious as it sounds from my rather choked up

Covid explanation that I'm all rats in Paris than, than people.

Yeah, you've got lovely big sewers to walk around in.

That's it.

So, we'll we'll go down the sewers when we go to Paris.

Mr. Duncan, and, and have a look, see if we can find some. That's worth.

That's worth the trip.

Exactly. Let's go.

Let's go down the sewers.

You know what I want to do?

I would love to visit Paris.

Would you like to go along the chandeliers?

A no.

Would you like to go up to the Eiffel Tower and enjoy the vista of Paris? No.

Would you like to see the wonderful tribute to the fallen soldiers of the French Revolution? No.

I want to go down the sewers and smell the French poop.

We could do that here. In London. I could do it here in Much Wenlock. Just open the window.

Good.

Mr. Steve, is the live chat still happening? By the way?

Do we still have people watching? Because I. We do, yes we do. I've been talking.

I thought it was, that's why I mentioned, Woody Allen. Because Pedro put a question on there.

Oh, good. But, yeah.

So is there anything specific you want to cover today? Mr. Duncan?

Anything I would like to cover? I would love to cover.

I want to find out more about rats and their habits.

Because now, because of your your heinous crime yesterday, you'll your murder.

I'm going to call it murder. I think it was. And maybe not premeditated.

I'm sure you didn't plan on jumping aggressive underneath your lawnmower.

I'm sure it was completely accidental, but yeah, I would love to live to know what it was doing and where it was going.

Talking of animals, by the way, little pheasant who was visiting us has vanished.

He's he's disappeared into thin air, as Shakespeare once said.

He's vanished. He's gone. He is no more.

We don't think he's dead.

I'm not sure now, though.

I'm not sure if Mr. Steve may have have run the car over him.

You know, I'm just assuming now that any animal that we suddenly stop seeing that maybe Mr..

Steve

is somehow killed

with either his car or his lawnmower or his rake.

That's the trouble.

When you've got a car, you do end up killing lots of animals. It is true.

I mean, frogs have killed frog frogs. Yeah, I've found squashed frogs.

There's no answer to that.

That must have been, underneath the wheel of my car that was parked at night.

Oh, dear.

Hedgehogs.

Hedgehogs, hedgehogs. Yes. I run over a hedgehog not so long ago.

Yeah, at night.

And that was just in the driveway. No, it wasn't. It was on the road.

Yeah, that was a joke.

I haven't run a deer over. I don't want to do that because it would damage the car.

But that that came to visitors did run over a deer.

Could you run over a deer, though, when you think about it, because they are quite big.

Well, run into just I think it would just bounce across the front of your car.

It would cause damage. It would.

A friend of ours came to visit us one night, went home, and, he hit a deer.

Yeah.

And it, it broke his, front light on his car.

Could have been worse.

We know people in the village where we live, who have hit deer, and it's written off the car. Go.

When I say written off what we say here, car that is written off is a car that is damaged beyond the point of repair.

Economic repair.

So the they hit the car and it causes so much damage,

like when you have an accident that the insurance companies say, well, that's going to cost more to repair than we're prepared to pay you.

So, we're not going to repair it. It's written off. So basically, the car is

is finished.

That's it.

I mean, you can get it repaired, but what the insurance company is basically saying is going to pay for that growth.

Yeah. Yes. That's it. And

so yes, hit a deer.

I mean they're big objects. They are big object, very heavy.

And if you've got a small car, they're caused a lot of damage.

And if your car is old then it won't be worth repairing it.

No. So. Yes.

And we've hit all sorts of things.

It's not very nice, is it, when you hit animals on the road? No, especially when you drive.

Especially when when they won't stop for you. You're trying to chase them. And the.

They just don't slow down for you. Yeah, it's the noise.

It takes a while to actually get them. In the end.

And of course, when you think of how many flies I've killed on my windscreen

over many years, flies on your windscreen? Yeah.

How many of those do you kill, I wonder, by driving along, if you.

It must be millions.

Millions, if not billions.

Billions, I would think billions. Yes, but on one journey.

No. Over the years.

Oh, it's, if you were to add up the number and I'm just six flies. Yes.

I'm just having we we're just having this vision of billions of flies on your windscreen.

Just this, this huge sort of pile of of dead insects as you're driving along and you can't even see through the front of your car.

Yes, Christina. That's what we say here.

If your car is, being damaged so much that the insurance company,

say it's not worth repairing because it would cost more than the value of the car to fix it, to put it right.

Then they say it is.

It is written off.

It's a write off.

In business trade, you often write things off.

Yeah.

So I remember years ago I was working in a certain type of shop, selling a certain type of product,

and that product sometimes would get damaged or maybe something was wrong with, or maybe they did not match up.

And so these things became unsellable.

I bit like myself.

After a while, I became unsellable.

I went past my sell by date. So you would write these things off.

That meant you would destroy the product, you destroy it, and then you also take it off your stock inventory as well.

So it is all part of the what they call shrinkage.

Shrinkage.

It does sound like something that happens to men when they get out of a very cold swimming pool,

but it is also something that happens in business when you have to make reductions or maybe natural losses that occur.

So if you are running a shop, one of the most common types of shrinkage is, of course, theft.

People stealing things from your shop or your business.

So that also is a type of shrinkage.

It is something that has to occur naturally in your business.

And of course you write off your things because they are unsellable.

Sometimes debt debt is written off.

And they've done that for people.

If somebody is in a lot of debt and they can't repay it, sometimes if you're lucky,

the bank or the, the, organisation lending the money will write it off.

I will write off the debt. They will say, okay, you don't have to pay this back.

And they write it off.

They they literally take it off their books.

Well, that happened to be a few years ago.

I, I, it rather silly a very long time ago, in my stupid youth.

And let's face it, when we're young, we do stupid things.

Some of us actually survive those things and carry on living.

Others, of course, do not. They are not so lucky.

And that happened to be. I had a bit of debts. They they got so.

Clever. Mr.

Duncan was.

He is not. Well.

He's not well taken.

Have you got a sip of water there, Mr. Duncan?

I have. Good.

They got so tired of waiting for me to pay the debt that they

agreed

to forget about a large part of it,

so they only wanted a small amount back.

They were able to write the debt off.

Who I feel I feel is a maybe. Mr. Steve.

I might be written off today. Oh, never. Mr..

I might be put on the scrapheap.

Well, Mr.

Duncan, it's time to talk about Prince Harry.

Well, well, Mr. Duncan's recovery.

Yeah.

And actually, two very interesting things happened in the news this week in the UK.

Do you want me to carry on or not? So I'm back now,

Steve.

Sorry about that. Sorry for interrupting.

Mr. Steve's, a prelude to his diatribe, but,

fortunately, I'm still alive.

As long as this is beating and there is wind coming in and out of this pipe,

I will be here. I will be here. Whatever it takes.

I deserve some sort of special award from YouTube for actually coming on when I'm half dead.

I still don't know why they don't give an award.

You're a trooper, Mr..

I've got my gold award.

You see, I've got my gold button now I need one that's that's like a big red cross.

And it's got the YouTube logo in the middle.

And it says for services to YouTube above and beyond the call of online duty.

You're a trooper Mr. Duncan I trooper I think it's a good word.

I've been drinking

too much water.

A trooper is somebody who carries on doing something despite difficulty.

Obvious difficulty. A trooper. Yes.

A bit like maybe somebody who's in the army or something like that.

They, they were basically the cannon fodder in the Army.

That's it. Yeah.

So if you're having problems, if you go to work despite the fact that you're not feeling very well, you turn up to work and, you carry on.

You're not.

Well, but they're the cause of work is is important to you.

And you carry on and your boss notices and everybody notices.

They might say, oh, you're a trooper.

A person that carries on despite difficulty, illness, ill health, not feeling well.

You might have words written in your country.

A trooper I think in my language it might be also, idiot as well.

I might be a fool for doing this because I'm probably damaging my body more and more by it's a.

So come on YouTube with my special award.

It is a fine line. Of course you don't want to.

A trooper is somebody that carries on despite difficulties, but you don't want to make yourself worse by doing it.

So there is a fine line between carrying on when you're not very well

and carrying on and making yourself feel even worse or impacting your health.

So a trooper isn't going to make themselves worse.

They could risk that. But it's it's a fine line.

They you they're carrying on, they're getting better, but they're still really not well enough to be at work.

But they're just carrying on anyway.

But the implication is they're going to be better the next day.

Yes. The basically marches, they march.

That's it.

They do all the horrible footwork

and you might get some respect for that at work or.

If you tell people you're on YouTube, they will often look at you with a look of what's the word disdain.

They are they often look quite horrified that you are one of those horrible little leeches that lives on the internet.

So if I tell people that I'm a YouTuber, immediately, my whole reputation, my character goes down quite a lot.

Well, I don't think it's as bad as we used to be. Mr. Duncan, are you what?

Have you seen YouTube recently,

anyway?

Then that's very helpful.

Some people, of course, if they've got their own business,

they need to carry on.

Even if they're not very well, they might not have the protection.

That you get from work sickness benefit being paid when you're still sick.

If you've got your own business,

then quite often, if you're not working, you're not earning.

And so for a lot of self-employed people, they have to carry on working anyway, I would imagine Louis, for example, when he was

if he worked for himself, then he would have had to carry on.

Maybe if he caught a bad cold. Didn't feel too well.

Because if you're not working, you're not earning.

So there is the pressure sometimes from people who run their own businesses that they've got to carry on working even if they're ill.

Yes, exactly.

But well, my, my existence is what I would describe as precarious because I'm not really employed by anyone.

So I'm doing this.

But YouTube doesn't actually owe me anything.

They could they could cut off my YouTube channel tomorrow if they wanted to, and there would be nothing I could do about it.

They could say, no, we've just decided we don't want you around anymore.

We have been trying for the past ten years to get rid of you,

but you haven't taken the hint so they could suddenly decide to just cut off Mr.

Duncan from YouTube completely.

I would vanish.

And the worst part is, you would never know that's what had happened.

Because then it would be very difficult to re-establish that connection with all, all of you out there in YouTube land.

It is a horrible feeling. I sometimes have nightmares

in the deep of darkness, the deep of night.

I will wake up sweating,

not with Covid but with the anxiety of thinking, oh my goodness,

imagine that one day if I woke up and it says your YouTube channel no longer exists.

So long sucker!

It's a bit depressing, Mr. Duncan.

I'm not sure we should have come on today. Well, obviously it's not really depressing.

It's funny, but you've been around for 18 years.

Unless you say something or do something, very, very bad.

It's unlikely that that would happen.

Yeah, it's

Super Trouper and ABBA song.

Yes it is. I'm not sure what that song is about.

I'm sure Mr.

Duncan would know a Super Trouper is a it's a type of beam in a show.

You know, the, you know, the lamp that comes down the lamplight that follows a person around

on a stage as they're performing?

Oh, is that what that's about?

What?

It's about being on show, performing, putting on a show for other people, having to be something that you're not.

You're having to perform a lot of ABBA's songs.

Talking of depressing things, you may have noticed, if you listen carefully to all

ABBA songs, they are all completely miserable.

It's strange, isn't it,

that knowing me, knowing you, it's all about break ups of relationships.

They just can't stand each other anymore.

I hate you, I hate you as well. I really can't stand you.

What are you doing?

Oh, why do you go? Why?

It's great.

And yet they have these lovely, jolly, happy tunes

and they're just that what they're actually doing is having a big fight whilst writing them. So

it's a very

good way of getting all of that in a anxiety of your relationships out into the open.

You just write songs about it, Steve.

Well, that's it.

You know, make money from, from tragedy.

Why not just be another song? Steve, that was the Bee Gees.

All right. Anyway, anyone watching from Australia?

Anyone watching from Canada?

Why? If so, let us know. Probably not from Canada.

Well, because of the time difference.

Well, they've had elections, Mr. Duncan.

They've had, elections for a new prime minister in Canada and in Australia.

Yeah.

And, quite significantly, they voted to keep in, sort of left leaning governments as a protest against,

what's going on in America.

So, because it looked like they were going to get conservative governments, but now they're not,

because of what's been happening or that's what is being interpreted is what's happening.

So are you watching in Australia? Are you watching in Canada?

Are you pleased with how the election results have gone?

Have we ever had anybody watching from Australia, Mr. Duncan?

I don't remember ever seeing anybody on the live chat we used to have.

We used to have 1 or 2 people watching in Australia.

There was, there was one guy I'm sure his name was, was Kiwi guy or something like that, which,

which probably means he was in New Zealand, but he was a regular viewer.

But that's going back way back

to the early days when everything was small and the screen was shaped like a square instead of lovely and wide.

So yeah.

Yes, yes.

We used to have people watching in Australia and lots of different parts of the world as well.

So yeah.

Christine has friends in Canada.

Yeah. Let us know what you think. Yeah. Are you pleased with what's happened?

Or are you slightly concerned that, that your economies might be going down the tube?

If you say that's not really a question.

No. Is it?

Something is going down the tube, Steve, that you're not asking the question there.

You're you're you're putting a statement forward.

Yes. I was just explaining the phrase going down the tube.

Which means that things are going to go wrong if you say it's going how it's gone down the tube, it means it's, it's going wrong.

Yeah. It's, it's gone down the tubes.

Mr. Duncan's YouTube channel is going down the tube.

It's not, but if you were to say that, it would mean it's going not doing as well as it was before, but it's not.

It's going up the tube. Although there isn't a phrase that says go up the tube.

But if something is going down the tubes or going down the tube, it means it's not doing very well.

Something is not doing something is not going very well.

My job is going down the tube.

It means your job is not going very well.

Isn't that right, Mr. Duncan?

It is right. Yes.

We will be going down the tube in a moment. Fortunately, we've got at least five minutes.

Five minutes left, and then I can pull the plug out from the wall in here. You.

I bet you've never thought about what happens after the live stream finishes.

What happens? What do you do, Mr. Duncan?

What goes on in that room that you're standing in after the live stream finishes?

Well, I have to turn everything off one by one.

I have to turn all the lights off and the cameras have to be disconnected.

And then I have to readjust everything.

I have to sit down, and then I have to see if I can get the live stream recording and whether or not it has been processed.

Normally, it hasn't.

And yeah, there's a lot of work.

Normally I'm still working for a couple of hours after the live stream has finished.

Have you got any of your idioms, Mr. Duncan?

I haven't got any.

Have you got any idioms that we can show?

Picture idiom, picture idioms.

You know, I haven't got the energy to do that.

I haven't got the energy. Steve.

I just thought you might have had some ready to, ready to go.

I just haven't got the enthusiasm to start jumping around and say, what do you think this idiom is?

Do you think this idiom is something else? Or do you think this idiom is,

please let me know

now instead.

Instead, I want to go to bed and sleep for a while. Yes, yes.

So my body, my lovely white blood cells, who have been absolutely amazing.

A round of applause, by the way.

For who?

A round of applause to my white blood cells who've been doing such an amazing job.

And all my, my lovely and viral

cells going around the body.

The immune, my immunity.

They're saying a Covid.

Get out! Get out of here.

You're not welcome inside this body.

Not on our watch.

Although they still have a little way to go.

Because I absolutely feel awful today.

And yet I'm here.

So, YouTube, as I said earlier, I can I have another award for services above and beyond

for standing here.

Thank you, Mr.

Steve, for joining us today.

You have been.

Here.

I was thinking of some compliments, but, I couldn't think of any.

Mr.. Steve, you have been a rock.

Well, it's nice to have been here, even though stopped for very long.

And, I'm going to make a cup of tea.

You have a piece of cake and sit out in the lovely sunshine.

Oh, boost my vitamin D levels.

Yes. Cover my face so I don't age.

And, hopefully we'll see you all again next Sunday.

Mr. Duncan will be here on Wednesday. Hopefully.

If he's well enough, I'm sure he will be. Well, if I'm. If I'm still alive.

I think that's a bit of an exaggeration.

I think you'd have, you'd have gone by now if it, if it was going to happen, Mr. Duncan.

So, yes, we'll see you all next Sunday.

And meanwhile, Mr.

Duncan will be putting on other lessons during the week.

I think Steve will be in the garden just looking for his next victim.

Which animal can I.

Horrific. Lee kill next?

Who will it be?

Will it be a vole, a mao?

So maybe a bird or just walking around but always killing insect?

Yeah, just walking around.

But nobody really cares about insects, do they? Well,

they've all got souls. Really, I don't know, I'm not sure.

What about fleas?

Is is there a flea? Heaven?

Is. Is there a heaven with lots of little angel fleas or floating around?

I'm an also I can.

It sounds like a horrible place.

That sounds like hell in itself.

Maybe hell is actually flea heaven.

Yeah, you have to live in flea heaven for eternity.

Lots of flying fleas all around you.

What? It's 3:00, Mr. Steve.

And that means it's almost time to say goodbye on this glorious day.

We haven't even mentioned the weather, because once again, look at this.

We have the most amazing weather outside, and I am not able to go outside and enjoy it, which is really sad.

It's really sad.

Unfortunately. Anyway, I'm going.

I'm going to have a lie down. I'm going to take some.

What is it you've been giving me, Mr. Steve?

Yes. Paracetamol. Paracetamol.

Standard treatment for for this type of fever.

What does it do? Sorry. What does it do?

Well, paracetamol.

It's just a pain reliever. And, And of course it does.

Lower your temperature a bit if you've got a raised temperature.

It's the it's very common, isn't it? Paracetamol. Everyone takes paracetamol.

Long as you don't overdose. It's perfectly safe.

But yes, don't take more than eight tablets a day or you'll damage your liver. Yes.

Some people, some people take an overdose.

I don't know, it's, It's not a good way to kill yourself.

No. Sensible.

Don't do that.

It's very it's quite safe, but it becomes very toxic very suddenly.

If you go just a little bit over the the eight tablets a day, it's big, like aspirin as well, isn't it?

Aspirin?

If you take too many aspirin, all your blood starts leaking through your skin.

Yes. Not very nice, but yeah, paracetamol.

Is it relatively safe?

But, once you get to, over eight tablets, a day becomes rapidly very toxic.

It's quite strange. It's sort of not toxic.

Not toxic, not toxic.

Suddenly very toxic.

There's no this.

You would think that as you gradually increase it.

But once you go over eight tablets, it it's very bad for your liver.

It's a bit like inviting Mr. Steve to your party, if for a while it's not toxic.

But then suddenly it is

the whole atmosphere.

Anyway, anyway, it's gone 3:00, Mr. Duncan.

It has.

I already feel as if I'm doing overtime here.

Thank you. Steve. From the bottom.

Of my heart, thank you very much for joining me today, Mr..

Steve. You've you've helped me along.

You've given me the encouragement to come on.

And you been there?

For me.

And also, he made some lovely scrambled eggs yesterday with croissants.

That really got me in the mood for our big rendezvous if I'm still alive.

That is taking place on the 1st of June.

We will be doing that on the 1st of June.

And, I have a lot of work to do in preparation for that as well.

Thank you. Steve, we're going now. Are you with us next Sunday?

Yes, I am, but when it comes into June, I won't be here for a lot of Sundays in June.

June? Yeah.

But, for now, I am here on some days. Yeah.

So have a good week, everyone. Enjoy learning English on on English. Addict. Mr. Duncan's channel.

And I look forward to seeing you again next Sunday.

Thank you, Mr. Steve. Bye bye.

Oh, that was amazing.

Now, when I say amazing, I don't mean it in a state of fantastic and incredible.

I mean, amazing that I was able to stay standing up for the past hour.

Thank you very much for your company.

I hope that I am going to be back with you on next Sunday.

Next Sunday I will be here.

I'm pretty sure of it. Wednesday I'm not too sure at the moment.

Fortunately, I also have a lesson that I recorded last week

that is ready to be published on YouTube, so that is ready to go.

Aziz Aziz, which accent is close to Australian, British or American?

Well, I would say neither because they are all unique accents.

They all have their own sound.

So I would say that none of the accents are close.

However, with spelling and some pronunciation, it is very similar to British because that's what they were.

You see British lots of convicts were sent over there because they had been very naughty.

Thank you for your company.

I will see you soon.

This is Mr.

Duncan in the birthplace of English saying. See you later. Take care.

And of course, until next time.

The next time we meet here, I'm running out of air in my lungs.

Take care of yourselves.

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday.

And of course.

Ta ta for now, take care of yourselves,

please.