Talking about the weather

Hello and welcome back to the second episode of my Simple English podcast. The podcast in slow and understandable English. that will help you learn the language as we discuss interesting topics. I hope interesting topics. And today's topic... is so interesting that us English people like to talk about it every day, all day, every day. And that topic is, of course, the weather.

How are you doing today? I hope you're doing well. How is the weather where you are? Where I am, it's actually quite grey here in Shrewsbury, where I live in England. um but that is very normal at this time of year we are in october now so i can't expect beautiful sunny days but if you have ever been to england you will surely have remarked if you are from another country of course that us english people like to talk about the weather a lot whenever we meet someone

It is very common to hear, hi, how are you? How are you doing? Lovely weather we're having. Oh, nice day, isn't it? Often, when it isn't a nice day, we will still say things like, oh, lovely weather when it is raining, which of course is sarcastic, it is ironic. Because, yes, I know even for Americans, they find it strange how much we in England, we talk about the weather.

especially when our weather isn't very good it does rain a lot here it is very cold and people like to complain about this but whenever we get a sunny day people love to talk about it as well as for why this is I don't think us English people have some special affinity with the weather. We aren't more affected by the weather than other cultures. I think it is just part of the British

culture, the English culture of small talk. If you have ever been to England, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. We call small talk these little everyday polite conversations that we make just to fill the silence to make sure there is not an awkward silence an awkward pause we love to discuss

Everyday, meaningless things. Especially the weather. Living in England, one of the... disadvantages i suppose one of the worst parts about living in england is the weather so it is normal that we complain about it a lot as well although we do like to complain about lots of things as well. But yes, I think it is more this culture of small talk and being polite which makes us talk a lot about the weather.

Tell me, in your culture, where you live, is it normal to talk about the weather? Is it normal to make small talk? Is it okay to have... silences and pauses or perhaps perhaps your culture is more open and people will talk about real things, meaningful things in their lives, instead of just talking about the weather. Let me know, I'm curious.

Leave a comment or a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or whatever podcast platform you're using to listen. And let me know. I find that very interesting. the cultural differences in that area i know i had a friend from america once who when he visited england he said to me yo man why are you always talking about the weather all the time he couldn't understand sorry for my terrible american accent but it was new to him at least in the state where he was from in north carolina

It was a new concept to him, a new idea. Talking so much about the weather, he found it very strange.

Still, I would like you to think, what is your favourite type of weather? What is your favourite season? The seasons, of course, spring, summer, which is sunny. autumn, or also known as fall in America, autumn and fall are the same thing, and winter when it is cold. Which of those four is your favourite? For me? No, it is summer. I hesitated, I wasn't sure because I like spring as well. But...

In England especially, spring is too cold. Summer is the only time when it will be warm enough for me. I like to wear t-shirts and shorts and so even in spring or autumn when we have a sunny day when the sun is out and it is nice it is still usually too cold at least for me to wear shorts and t-shirt but tell me what what is your favourite season have a think because i know some people don't like the sun

They don't like warm weather for lots of reasons. I think if you live in a very sunny country, It maybe gets boring. And if it is very hot, it can be quite uncomfortable and certainly hard to work in. Definitely it is hard to go to work or to study when it is too hot, when it's very hot. That is not a problem that we have in England. It is never too hot. Not in my opinion, anyway. I don't think so. So I loved the sun.

Makes me feel good. Of course, there are benefits. There are good positive effects of sunlight and the sun. I'm sure you've heard. It helps your body produce vitamin D. Vitamin D, a micronutrient that is very helpful for lots of things in our body. including our hormones so it can make you feel good definitely for me the sunlight helps Helps me feel happy. And it helps me to sleep at night as well. It is linked, of course, with our circadian rhythm.

I think it's from the Latin word circadian circa dia around a day meaning that we have this rhythm this daily rhythm roughly every 24 hours, roughly every day that at certain times in that day we want to go to sleep and at certain times we want to get up and go out and definitely getting sunlight helps to regulate and helps to it will help you to have a more normal circadian rhythm it will help you to feel awake during the day

and sleepy during the night so I like sun I actually get a little bit unhappy sometimes when there is no sunlight when it is grey and cloudy and overcast for many many days many days in a row

We can say that means many days without a break, without a pause. It makes me feel a bit sad. I think this has a name. We sometimes call it... SAD in English, Seasonal Affective Disorder. Affective meaning it affects your emotions. A disorder because it is not a good thing. And seasonal because it changes with the seasons. In summer, people with SAD.

might feel happy and in winter they might feel a bit more sad a bit more gloomy i might make a future episode of the podcast on this topic because it does interest me a lot, but I think for now I've talked enough about that. Of course, some people prefer winter and prefer colder weather because they can wear more clothes they can layer their clothes wear lots of layers which

Some people like... I think these people have a good fashion sense. They like clothes, they like fashion, they know how to make good outfits, how to have a good... fashion style and maybe that's why they like wearing lots of their clothes for me this is not the case at all I am not a very fashionable person. I try. I have some clothes that maybe could be quite nice.

But I really don't know. I really don't know. I don't keep up with the latest fashion. I don't know what is the new style or anything like that. I sound like an old person. I am only 19 years old, but as you will learn if you listen to more episodes of this podcast, I... I am quite an old person in my personality on a lot of subjects.

I think, yeah, that is another reason why some people actually like cold weather. I remember one time, actually, where it was too hot for me. I normally like to say that I am never too hot, that I like heat, I like the sun, and that I am always too cold. You know those people who are always too cold. I am one of those. I'm sure you know somebody as well who is always too cold. But there was one time...

where I was definitely not too cold. I went on holiday to Turkey, to the country, Turkey, not the animal. I know that is quite funny for some people in English. We use the same word for turkey. I was going to do an impression of a turkey. I think they go, although that's maybe more a chicken. Oh no, turkeys, I think they go gobble gobble or something, I don't know. Anyway, I'm not an expert on turkeys, but turkey is an animal that is, it's a bird.

Quite a large bird, big bird, traditionally eaten, often eaten around Christmas time or on Christmas Day. Turkey, the country... is what I'll be talking about though, not Turkey the animal. And I went on holiday to Turkey in the summer of 2016, I think. Or it might have been 2017, 2017. I don't remember. But I went there on holiday with my family and it was 42 degrees.

degrees Celsius that is we use Celsius not Fahrenheit in England 42 degrees Celsius which was really very hot I know some places it gets even higher maybe in Dubai or in places near the equator, in the centre of the planet, it can be...

I don't know, 50 degrees Celsius or even more, but 42 was enough for me. It was actually too hot. I remember to walk from the... sun lounger where you lie lie down and relax in the shade to walk from there to the swimming pool it was actually too hot to walk on the On the floor, your feet would hurt on the floor. It would be painful because the floor, the ground was so hot. and even the swimming pool the water was very warm

Which wasn't good. I actually ended up catching an illness, a disease, in that swimming pool. And I think it's because it was too hot. But that is a different story. That's another story, let's say.

To finish this episode, I would like to talk about rain. It rains a lot in England. You will often hear that it is raining if you watch the weather forecast. on TV, on television, on the news. It rains a lot here. We even have an expression for that. We sometimes say that it is raining cats and dogs.

raining cats and dogs of course this doesn't literally mean that cats and dogs are falling from the sky but it is that the rain is so heavy so strong that it is as if cats and dogs are falling from the sky when they are in fact just big raindrops but i know a lot of people like rain maybe they don't like being outside in rain but they like the sound of rain it can be quite relaxing what do you think

I know a lot of people fall asleep to the sounds of rain. If you go on YouTube, there are videos of rain noises, the sound of rain. for eight hours where people listen to the rain and it helps them get to sleep or it helps them to relax. I find that quite interesting. I wonder... Sort of, what is the science behind that? Why do we find rain relaxing, I suppose? When it's raining outside, it is a signal. It is a message to us.

telling us that we we should go inside that there is nothing nice outside it is raining and it is horrible and wet and cold so we should go in and relax and i think that's why it can help people to to relax. Do you like rain? Does it rain often where you live? Does it rain cats and dogs? Might be interesting. Well, that is the end of this episode. I want to thank you for listening to it right up until the end.

I hope it has been interesting for you. I hope you have learnt a little bit of vocabulary related to the weather. Maybe now you can talk about the weather in English. Maybe you know a little more about why English people talk about the weather so much, so that you can be prepared for that if you visit England. I would like to thank you once again and I hope you have an excellent day or an excellent evening whenever you're listening to this. And I will see you in the next episode. Bye bye.