(I = Interviewer; M = Mum; D = Dad; A = Andy; S = Sarah)

 

Part 1 (00:55–02:38)

Sarah’s parents

I: So, you’re going to meet Sarah’s boyfriend tomorrow.

M&D: That’s right.

I: How do you feel about that?

M: Well, we’re looking forward to meeting Andy at last – we’ve heard a lot about him, because Sarah’s been going out with him for a while now. Several weeks, I believe.

I: Does Sarah usually bring her boyfriends home to meet you?

D: Well, it’s difficult to know with Sarah really – she changes boyfriends like other people change their socks. We’ve met some of them.

M: Yes, I’d say we’ve met ... half a dozen over the years.

I: Have you liked most of her boyfriends?

M: No, not really. I’m always amazed at how awful they are. She goes for very strange types. There was just one we liked, wasn’t there?

D: Oh, yes – you mean Jeremy. Lovely chap. We were impressed with him.

M: But he didn’t last long. As soon as we told her we liked him, she dropped him.

I: What sort of person would you like Sarah to go out with?

M: Well, I think it’s essential for him to come from the same kind of background.

D: Yes, and it’s very important for him to have some kind of qualifications – you know, some ambition.

M: He needs to be a strong character to stand up to Sarah – she’d soon go off somebody who lets her do what she wants all the time.

D: Anyway, we’re not going to take it too seriously. She’s far too young to get married or engaged or anything like that. And the poor chap is unlikely to last very long.

 

Andy

I: How do you feel about meeting Sarah’s parents?

A: A bit nervous. I’m worried about making a bad impression because I’m quite shy. So I find it difficult to get on with people straight away.

I: But you’re a DJ, aren’t you?

A: Yeah, but it’s easy for me to hide behind my music decks at work. I’m not very good at making conversation, specially with older people.

I: What are you most nervous about?

A: Well, I gave up studying to become a DJ, and I don’t think Sarah’s parents will be very impressed with that. Also, I ... I dyed my hair last week, and they’ll probably be a bit shocked by that.

I: How are you going to try and make a good impression?

A: Well, I’m going to wear clean clothes – not a suit or anything. I haven’t got one. And I’ll take her mum some flowers.

I: Why are you going to meet Sarah’s parents?

A: Because Sarah fancies going to London for the day, and she feels like having Sunday lunch at home. And I always do what she wants.

 

Part 2 (02:39–05:26)

Andy and Sarah

S: Hello!

A: Hiya. The door’s open!

S: Here, I remembered to bring you that CD.

A: Oh, cheers – that’s great.

S: How’s it going?

A: All right. I’m totally shattered.

S: Why? What’ve you been up to?

A: Nothing – it’s just that I didn’t finish work until five o’clock this morning.

S: Oh right. Well, you’d better just chill out this evening. Do you want to watch telly, or shall I go and get a video?

A: Whatever.

S: Do you know what’s on telly tonight?

A: Oh, no idea. Rubbish as usual, I should think.

S: Oh dear, you are in a bad mood. You’re not nervous about meeting my parents, are you?

A: No – why should I be? But I am a bit worried about the long drive – my car’s on its last legs.

S: Oh well, let’s worry about that tomorrow. Come on – make me a nice cup of tea.

 

Andy meets Sarah’s parents

M: Hello. Welcome. Do come in.

S: Mum, Dad, this is Andy.

M&D: Nice to meet you.

A: Nice to meet you. These are for you – Sarah says they’re your favourites.

M: Oh, thank you – that’s very kind of you. And how are you, darling?

S: I’m absolutely exhausted, actually.

M: Oh dear. What’s the matter? Have you been working too hard?

S: Oh no, nothing like that – it’s just a long drive, isn’t it?

M: Yes, of course. You must sit down and relax, both of you. Would you prefer coffee or tea, Andy?

A: Oh, I don’t mind. Whatever’s easiest.

D: How many miles is it exactly?

A: Oh, I’m afraid I don’t know. The journey’s taken us five and a half hours, but my car is rather old.

       

(B = Becky; K = Kevin; JS = James; S = Sarah; J = John; A = Amanda)

Part 1 (00:00–02:15)

1 Do you do any sport?

B: Yes I do lots of sport, I do yoga and swimming and aerobics to keep fit, erm, at weekends and on holidays I like to go walking or cycling and sometimes surfing.

K: No, none at all – it’s far too much like hard work.

JS: Yes, I play football every Monday, er, five-a-side, er, but I go in goal because I’m not very fit and I don’t like running around so much.

S: Oh as little as possible, because I find it really hard to fit it into my daily life, I’m very busy and I just can’t find the time.

J: Erm, actually I don’t no, erm, I should do some sport but the thing is I’ve never been very good at it, erm, particularly team sports so I realise that I’m not in very good shape at the moment and I need to find some way of doing exercise.

 

2 What advice would you give to someone who wants to get fit?

B: I’d say that you need to choose something that you’ll enjoy doing because there’s no point trying to do something if you don’t enjoy it – you’ll give up very soon, erm, and it has to be something that’s convenient for your lifestyle so, for example, choose a gym close to your office or something like that.

JS: Er ... you would have to do something you enjoy, erm, personally I would do swimming or cycling – something that I could do with a friend. Preferably cycling, you know, go on long rides in the country – that’s nice.

J: Well I’m not exactly an expert on the subject but I have been thinking about how, erm, I could get fitter myself and I think probably the best thing to do, er, would be to do gentle exercise and to ... to gradually increase that ... erm, from what I understand of what doctors say these days it’s best to do prolonged periods of gentle exercise rather than short spurts of really strenuous exercise.

A: Find something that you enjoy doing – that you’re going to keep at because if you ... if you don’t enjoy doing it, or you get bored with it, you’re not going to keep it up, so you’re not going to get fit.

 

Part 2 (02:16–04:53)

3 What kind of food do you eat?

B: I try to eat healthily, I eat a lot of fruit and vegetables, erm, but I do have a sweet tooth so I have to eat chocolate occasionally.

K: Er ... I don’t make any special effort to eat healthily, er, I eat what I like, erm, I don’t eat a lot of red meat but because it’s expensive, er, and I like vegetables and ... and fruit but I don’t think I eat particularly healthily, no.

J: I would say I do eat healthily, yes, I try and eat a balanced diet, erm, not too much meat, er, lots of fresh fruit and vegetables. Erm ... I probably eat a little bit too much, particularly between meals, I’ve got quite a sweet tooth and er ... and that’s not good; I can see the signs of er ... an expanding waistband now so er ... JS: Er ... during the week, er, at lunchtime I have a very good lunch at work erm ... but in the evenings, because I live away from home, er, it tends to be takeaways, fast food, microwave dishes – not very good stuff, really.

 

4 Have you ever dieted?

 

B: I’ve dieted several times erm ... the only diet that worked was one where it’s an organised diet and you go along to a meeting every week and get weighed and there’s a list of foods you can eat and foods you can’t eat. Erm ... I think the best way to diet is following a flexible diet like that that you can fit to your lifestyle because there are lots of stupid diets around like Cabbage Soup Diet and things where you eat strange foods all the time and it’s not something that you can do, erm ... on a long-term basis.

K: Erm ... no my problem is putting on weight, I’m the same weight now as I was when I was eighteen and I have to eat a lot of potatoes and things like this to try and put on weight but it just doesn’t work.

S: Oh yes, yes I’ve dieted and it worked beautifully ... for a while.

J: Erm ... no I haven’t ever been on a diet no, erm, I think it’s important to think about the way you eat in general erm ... I don’t believe in ... in dieting or crash dieting particularly, er, it’s bad for the metabolism and ... and doesn’t actually work, I don’t think, so, er, the most effective way of ... of losing weight is to change your eating habits in general; think long-term rather than I mustn’t eat much for the next few weeks.

A: All the time. I’m prone to putting on weight, so I’m always very careful about what I eat and I try to stick to a low-fat diet.

 

Part 3 (04:54–07:17)

5 How do you feel about smoking?

B: I hate smoking, I hate the smell of it and I hate when you walk into a room and you leave the room smelling of smoke, erm ... er I think it’s a disgusting habit.

K: Erm ... I don’t like the smell, er, smoking makes you smelly, I don’t like that really erm ... I do quite like the idea of sneaking out from work and having a quiet ten minutes by myself while everybody else is still working; I like that about it.

A: I’m very anti. Er ... I used to smoke, a long time ago. I’m one of those horrible er ... reformed smokers. I’m now very anti it. I ... I won’t allow people to smoke in my house, and, erm, I think it’s just a ... a very anti-social habit and ... don’t want to have anything to do with it.

J: I find it quite unpleasant ... erm ... if I’m in a room where there are a lot of smokers it affects my eyes quite a lot and my chest too, erm ... I’m an asthmatic so I ... I find it very unpleasant.

JS: Er ... I am a smoker actually, er ... I smoke about twenty a day. Er ... it’s not really something that I enjoy, to be honest, er, it’s just a habit and, er, an addiction, really.

 

6 What advice would you give to someone who wants to give up smoking?

B: It’s very difficult for me to give advice to someone who wants to give up smoking because I’ve never smoked so I don’t know how difficult it would be but I would just say, ‘Imagine how you taste when someone kisses you.’

S: You’ve got to really want to give up for your own reasons not because they tell you, somebody tells you, but you should find a good reason for yourself.

J: It’s hard to say, not having been a smoker myself, erm, but perhaps something for a smoker to bear in mind would be the effect it has on other people who don’t smoke.

JS: You would need a tremendous amount of willpower, er, a tremendous incentive. Er ... my personal incentive would be the amount of money it costs me. Forty pounds a week just going up in smoke.

A: Just keep trying – try anything that ... that will, erm, bring success, basically. Er ... any ... any of the ... hypnosis, acupuncture, whatever it takes to ... to do it, but ... do it!