A Rocker in a previous life.
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Beginners. "Oh, no!" you say, "she's going to talk about New Zealand again." Well, in a way I am. This part of today's podcast is about a perfect day in Christchurch. A day when I experienced many of the things I like most: good company, historic buildings, great music, quiche, gardens, and tea! Ah, what a dreamy day. It was one of my last days in New Zealand, my brother didn't have to work, so we decided to hang out in the center of town and enjoy ourselves. We walked around quite a bit, went back to visit the Botanical gardens again, and window shopped. I got hungry after a while, so we found a cafe just a couple of streets away from the main square. I ordered a quiche, a juice, and a pot of tea, and we chose a table outside. The weather was perfect, sunny, a slight breeze, and joyfully bright. We sat there and watched the world go by. Then a lady with very red hair who was standing on the sidewalk*started to sing. She sang jazz. Wow, she was good. She sang many songs that we recognized. She stopped often and played the saxophone. It was wonderful to sit and be entertained. " Just think," said my brother, "if you had a voice like that, you could travel the world and make the money you need by just singing." Grammar notes.  Preterite: walk-walked, go-went, get-got, find-found, watch-watched, is-was, start-started, have-had. Exs: She walked down the street, went into a shop and found a dark corner to hide in. She watched to see if the man was following her. He was. She started to panic. She had to find a way to escape unnoticed.

• Sidewalk (Americanism) = pavement (British). Advanced. While my brother and I were listening to the talented, red headed jazz singer outside the cafe in Christchurch, I remembered something. A chapter of my youth came to mind, and I was reminded of something I did in my teens. I must have been only 19 years old, and in college. I joined a rock band. One evening, in the college bar, I had met a very friendly group of German students. We chatted for a while, and then they told me that they were looking for a backing vocalist for their group. "I'll do it!" I said, not knowing  at all just how much work was involved. Well, I tried out for the position, and they said that I would do. It was very exciting. I had never done anything like that before. I had an idea of fame, and lots of record contracts. Well, one of the young men on the group had met a music manager who said that he had been one of the managers for the famous Ozzie Ozborne. Mmm, I don't know if that was a good thing, but, at least it was a connection to the music world. He arranged for us to have three performances in different pubs around London.We actually got paid for it. I don't even remember what our group was called, but I do remember that we would dress in black, and look very cool. Our sound was not so cool, thanks, in part, to me. It wasn't until we played in my own college, in front of my friends and other students, that I realized that being a famous singer was not for me. It was very embarrassing. One of the electric guitar strings broke half way through the concert; I sang a very corny, romantic song that I had written, which sounded terrible. And, afterwards, when we listened to the recording, we laughed so hard that we cried. You could say that it was our final debut. There is no substitute for talent. So, we decided to stick to studying, and leave the singing to the naturally talented. Grammar notes. Preterite continued: remember-remembered, remind-reminded, join-joined, chat-chatted, pay-paid, realize-realized, try-tried. Exs: My friend reminded me to go to the acting audition. I remembered to practice my lines. I joined the line of other actors and we chatted nervously. Many had paid a lot to travel here. I realized that I just had to relax. I tried my best and got the part! Related vocabulary: vocalist, backing vocalist, recording, contract, manager, debut, encore, performance, concert.