Chapter One in Use

TELEPHONE CONVERSATION BETWEEN TWO FRIENDS:

Jane: Hi Anne, it's Jane.

Anne: Hello, it's been ages since I last heard from you. How are you?

Jane: Not too well, actually. I've had the flu for about a month. I take after my mum; she's always ill.

Anne: Hadn't you better call the doctor?

Jane: I'm rather reluctant to do that, and anyway there's no point. He can't help me.

Anne: Yes, but you may as well see him. You could go on your day off.

Jane: I suppose so. I don't think I could cope with another month like the last one. I think you are much better at handling illness than I am… Anyway, what's been going on in your life?

Anne: I've just found a new flat. Actually, it's in a very posh street.

Jane: Show off! I bet it's lovely.

Anne: Well, you know how choosy I am, and I'm much better off than I was a few years ago, so I can afford to live in such an area. You'll have to come round when I've got the place done up.

Jane: I'd love to. Incidentally, did your cat turn up? I asked round everyone at work but no-one had seen it.

Anne: Oh yes. He soon came back. He missed being made a fuss of and was fed up having to survive on stale food.

Jane: What a turn up for the books! I thought he was gone forever…… I'm just going to turn down the television. Hold on a second!

Anne: OK.

Jane: Did you know, Manuel's parents are coming over from Spain next month? I'm quite looking forward to it. I'd like to ask you over; they'd love to meet you. It will be very handy having his mum here. She's a wonderful cook.

Anne: Great! Unfortunately, if it's next month, I'll have to turn you down. I'm going off to France for a few weeks. Peter has a flat in the South and I thought instead of increasing my overdraft by going to the Caribbean, I might as well go to France again, even though I've been there quite a bit this year.

Jane: You lucky thing!….. I've just remembered; I still haven't got my own back on you for going on to my Mum about how I've gone off her cooking. You shouldn't have told her.

Anne: Oh stop making a fuss! She asked me why you always go on to a Chinese restaurant directly after eating her dinner. I thought: what's the point in lying? I'm sorry if I came over as being rather rude.

Jane: Don't worry. I was going to own up to her anyway. Would you like to come over tomorrow night, or are you busy?

Anne: I have a few letters which must go off by Friday but I'd love to see you. What time shall I turn up?

Jane: Well, if you've got nothing better to do, you may as well come over to my place at about seven.

Anne: Lovely. See you tomorrow at seven.

DIRECTORS' MEETING:

1st Dir: Before we discuss the fall in this year's turnover, there are a couple of points I'd like to go over. Firstly, I must thank John for fixing the computer system when it suddenly went off last week. His in-depth knowledge of computers has really come in handy. However, we can't afford to let this happen again.

2nd Dir: I didn't hear about this. What's been going on?

1st Dir: We can't afford the time to go into details now, but I think some of the staff were all having an off-day at the same time and all I'm saying is that we can't go on like this.

3rd Dir: I think we'd be better off without a few of them. I know it's not always good policy to increase the turnover of staff, but if we want to reverse the downturn in trade we've been experiencing, we have to improve the quality of our staff.

2nd Dir: I wish somebody would tell me what all the fuss is about.

3rd Dir: Well, if you had turned up to our last three meetings, you'd have been aware of the stalemate we've reached.

2nd Dir: What on earth has come over you?

1st Dir: Now calm down!….. Wait a minute. I can hear the fire alarm going off.
We'd better go over to the other office.

CONVERSATION BETWEEN MOTHER AND CHILD:

Child: Mum, have you heard about John?

Mother: No, what happened to him?

Child: Well, he was going off to night school when he saw a firework lying in the road. Not thinking that it was alive, he trod on it and the thing went off and burnt his leg. He was taken to hospital, where they told him it might be quite a while before he can walk properly again.

Mother: You see, I've been telling you for ages how dangerous fireworks are. Have you come round to my way of thinking now?

Child: Not really, it was his fault for treading on the firework……. Oh yes, Mum?

Mother: What, my dear?

Child: That cheese you gave me for lunch yesterday had gone off.

Mother: Really?

Child: Either that or the bread was stale.

Mother: Impossible! You're just too fussy…….Oh, by the way: have you seen the handy camera your dad has just bought?

Child: Wow! He must have quite a number of them by now.

Mother: At least 5.

Child: Can I go out and play football with Peter now?

Mother: Only if you do your shoelaces up.

Child: OK. Bye.