Unit 1, 1.1 Exercise 2
Speaker 1
I've had a really fantastic year. It all started last November, when I was dragged along to a party by a friend. I was in a terrible mood, I remember, and nearly didn't go. Anyway, I was wearing an outfit I'd made myself — in soft black leather and antique lace, quite an unusual combination! Kelly Johns, the presenter of a big daytime TV show, was there and my little number caught her eye. We got chatting and she asked whether I could come up with something original for her to wear on the show. I jumped at the opportunity. That was a real turning point for me and I was soon able to quit my dayjob and concentrate on the clothes side full time. Through Kelly's show, I've had lots of orders. I've just finished an exclusive range for a top designer and I've even taken on an assistant to help me. Just think if I'd stayed at home that night!
Speaker 2 People often ask me how I got to be where I am today, with sell-out concerts in big stadiums around the world, thinking that I've spent years playing in local clubs, but the truth is, I'm literally an overnight sensation! I don't mean that arrogantly. It was just one lucky break, all down to being in the right place at the right time. There I was, an absolute nobody, hanging around backstage with Arrowhead, when their lead guitarist tripped over a pile of speakers and broke his arm, five minutes before they were due on. I'd been telling them about my awesome guitar style, so naturally, they all turned to me and said ‘Kid, help us out here and I did. The place was packed and I can still feel my hands shaking as I played that very first solo. It went OK though, and the rest is history. Speaker 3 I was in Milan visiting friends, trying to cheer myself up after a dismal few months — my long-term boyfriend and I had broken up, plus I'd left a job without another to go to. My money was running out and I was planning to leave a few days later. Anyway, my friends suggested that I should take a look at Verona before going back home and told me what time train I could get from Milan. Well, for some reason, I ended up on a slow train going south, without realising my mistake — both trains had left at the same time. I fell asleep in the compartment and woke just as the train arrived in Bologna! I had a wander round and fell in love with the place, and knew it was where I wanted to be. Everything just fell into place — I found a teaching job, took a room in a beautiful flat and settled in immediately. I lived there for six years and I go back regularly. Speaker 4 It's funny how you can hit a run of bad luck: one moment, things are moving along quite normally in your life and then, bam, something comes out of the blue and knocks you sideways and then, wham, something else. I'm OK now, but I've had a difficult couple of years. My problem was quite simply that I'd been living beyond my means for a long time and some debts finally caught up with me. Even then, I thought Id be OK; I arranged to pay them off little by little from my salary, monthly, you know. But then, the place where I was working cut back on its workforce, and they let me go. Well, that was it, I suppose I panicked, I wasn't thinking straight, you know. So I just packed a bag, got on a coach and left town for London, where my life went downhill fast. I got in with a bad crowd, and one thing led to another. It's a miracle my brother ever tracked me down, but he's got me back and sorted, with a roof over my head and a new job on the cards. Speaker 5 It could be a story in True Romance, but it really happened just like this. Almost twenty years ago to the day, I was waiting for a bus after another mind-numbingly awful day at work, no bus in sight, of course. I was in a rut, my job was going nowhere. Anyway, there I was, staring gloomily at my reflection in a puddle, feeling utterly sorry for myself and thinking: is this really all there is to life? Then I saw two things in that puddle, one imperceptibly after the other. The first was no surprise, huge splashes of rain, as the heavens opened yet again, but then, this enormous red umbrella, appearing behind my head as if by magic! A gorgeous gravelly voice to my left said did I mind, it was big enough for two and he didn't want my hair to get wet. Very fortunately, it was another fifteen minutes before the bus finally turned up and hooray, it didn't stop raining! His name was Terence, though he's been Terry to me ever since — and Dad to our three wonderful children.
