WEBVTT 0 00:00:02.487 --> 00:00:06.487 Welcome to off the cuff. Brought to you by Bloglish, our 1 00:00:06.550 --> 00:00:08.087 English learning blog. 2 00:00:10.312 --> 00:00:11.277 Hi, Claire. 3 00:00:11.382 --> 00:00:12.252 Hi, Annie. 4 00:00:12.357 --> 00:00:14.412 And welcome to off the Cuff. 5 00:00:14.487 --> 00:00:16.012 Yes, it's great being back here. 6 00:00:16.075 --> 00:00:16.297 Yeah. 7 00:00:16.330 --> 00:00:17.542 We've had a little break. 8 00:00:17.665 --> 00:00:18.442 Yes. 9 00:00:18.640 --> 00:00:23.347 We started this podcast in pandemic time, thinking, oh, we got to talk 10 00:00:23.380 --> 00:00:24.637 about what's going on in the world. 11 00:00:24.700 --> 00:00:29.647 And then it blew up. Like the pandemic now 12 00:00:29.680 --> 00:00:37.212 looks like the nice time. I miss the pandemic. It's just the whole world has gone nuts. 13 00:00:37.287 --> 00:00:38.152 in a way. 14 00:00:38.320 --> 00:00:38.692 Yes. 15 00:00:38.740 --> 00:00:40.972 Today, sitting down, what topic are we going to talk about? 16 00:00:41.005 --> 00:00:42.747 It's more like what misery 17 00:00:42.792 --> 00:00:47.037 are we going to talk about? Doom and gloom, you know we're looking for something, I don't 18 00:00:47.037 --> 00:00:48.950 know, lighthearted or something. 19 00:00:49.687 --> 00:00:53.122 We can't even talk about this amazing long summer we've had 20 00:00:53.155 --> 00:00:54.787 because it's all due to climate change. Oh true! 21 00:00:54.850 --> 00:01:00.500 Yes, that would have been a good thing to talk about. 22 00:01:00.937 --> 00:01:04.767 But no, it's a bad thing. We had some lovely sunny 23 00:01:04.827 --> 00:01:05.532 weekends. 24 00:01:05.697 --> 00:01:07.602 Oh, no, we're not even allowed to talk about the weather. 25 00:01:07.632 --> 00:01:08.825 Oh god, the weather has been so good. 26 00:01:10.837 --> 00:01:12.412 It's only going to get better. 27 00:01:12.550 --> 00:01:14.572 Yeah, right. 28 00:01:14.755 --> 00:01:15.862 That's not a good thing. 29 00:01:15.925 --> 00:01:17.257 That's not a good thing either. 30 00:01:17.335 --> 00:01:23.182 Even the weather. And now we have the big F word coming up. 31 00:01:23.335 --> 00:01:24.187 That's right. 32 00:01:24.325 --> 00:01:27.200 And I mean, I don't even know how I feel about it. 33 00:01:28.387 --> 00:01:31.492 I'm not a football fan at all. Me neither. 34 00:01:31.540 --> 00:01:35.247 But I used to like World Cup because it was, you know, bringing 35 00:01:35.292 --> 00:01:39.597 countries together and it was, you know, if you didn't like football, 36 00:01:39.642 --> 00:01:40.767 you'd watch the World Cup. 37 00:01:40.827 --> 00:01:41.317 That's right. 38 00:01:41.365 --> 00:01:44.067 Well, the same with like, the Olympics, things like that, bringing 39 00:01:44.127 --> 00:01:45.200 countries together. 40 00:01:46.087 --> 00:01:48.982 All right, so what happened here? 41 00:01:49.135 --> 00:01:49.927 Well, I don't know. 42 00:01:49.945 --> 00:01:52.957 I mean, it's a bit late now to be talking about to be honest. It's a 43 00:01:52.960 --> 00:01:56.647 bit late now to be complaining about it and seeing the reality of it. 44 00:01:56.830 --> 00:02:01.152 The whole world has to succumb to a country where human rights 45 00:02:01.182 --> 00:02:04.392 aren't recognized, not to mention women's rights, homosexual rights 46 00:02:04.452 --> 00:02:04.822 And what? 47 00:02:04.855 --> 00:02:08.007 We all have to sit back and go keep quiet for three weeks because it's 48 00:02:08.022 --> 00:02:10.102 football and because it means a lot of money. 49 00:02:10.270 --> 00:02:11.002 Yeah. 50 00:02:11.170 --> 00:02:16.092 And I think that's the problem with football is that all these politics 51 00:02:16.152 --> 00:02:18.412 that go around with it. The money. Yeah. The power. 52 00:02:18.475 --> 00:02:21.967 The money that just takes priority over everything else. 53 00:02:22.015 --> 00:02:22.312 Right. 54 00:02:22.375 --> 00:02:23.000 Yeah. 55 00:02:23.662 --> 00:02:27.137 As long as there's money involved, as long as there's football involved, 56 00:02:28.162 --> 00:02:31.025 who really is going to benefit at the end of the day? 57 00:02:32.062 --> 00:02:33.622 Yeah, that's a good question. 58 00:02:33.730 --> 00:02:35.502 I doubt it's the Qatarians. 59 00:02:35.607 --> 00:02:37.002 And who's going to suffer? 60 00:02:37.182 --> 00:02:38.277 Or who has suffered? 61 00:02:38.307 --> 00:02:40.897 And will we ever actually know what goes on? 62 00:02:40.930 --> 00:02:45.202 I mean, they're going to respect to a certain extent, they're not going 63 00:02:45.220 --> 00:02:49.252 to arrest people of the same gender holding hands. 64 00:02:49.270 --> 00:02:51.997 They're not going to arrest them during the World Cup. And then 65 00:02:52.030 --> 00:02:53.075 afterward, yes. 66 00:02:53.587 --> 00:02:55.407 And then everything goes back to normal. 67 00:02:55.497 --> 00:02:56.107 Yeah. 68 00:02:56.260 --> 00:02:58.552 I mean, some people even said, oh, this might change their 69 00:02:58.570 --> 00:02:59.187 mentality. 70 00:02:59.262 --> 00:02:59.900 Really? I highly doubt it. 71 00:03:02.362 --> 00:03:05.912 To think that? No, i mean, who knows? 72 00:03:06.337 --> 00:03:14.762 We see what's going on as well in Iran with like, the female protests... 73 00:03:15.487 --> 00:03:15.847 Yeah. 74 00:03:15.880 --> 00:03:17.292 And that seems to be getting bigger. 75 00:03:17.352 --> 00:03:19.107 So who knows? 76 00:03:19.197 --> 00:03:23.032 Maybe there is a... light somewhere no?. 77 00:03:23.110 --> 00:03:23.932 Maybe there is. 78 00:03:24.010 --> 00:03:24.292 Yeah. 79 00:03:24.340 --> 00:03:26.722 Maybe there's a silver lining behind this cloud. 80 00:03:26.905 --> 00:03:34.222 No, maybe afterward... I saw that it was allowed to carry LGBTQ flags in the 81 00:03:34.255 --> 00:03:37.175 stadium. Maybe afterwards. Would you, though? 82 00:03:38.962 --> 00:03:40.477 Yes, I think people will. 83 00:03:40.570 --> 00:03:43.932 I think people really will, because it's allowed. 84 00:03:44.097 --> 00:03:49.107 And so maybe after it's allowed, maybe there'll be some Qatarians 85 00:03:49.122 --> 00:03:52.107 who say, okay, I want to keep using this flag. 86 00:03:52.197 --> 00:03:53.237 Who knows? 87 00:03:53.887 --> 00:03:54.862 I'd like to think so. 88 00:03:54.925 --> 00:03:59.587 Maybe I'm a bit too... especially with the news today that Trump is... No! 89 00:03:59.650 --> 00:04:00.877 No, no, no, we can't go there. 90 00:04:00.895 --> 00:04:01.702 We can't go there. 91 00:04:01.795 --> 00:04:02.802 Change topic, Claire. 92 00:04:02.832 --> 00:04:03.587 I can't. 93 00:04:05.437 --> 00:04:06.367 I'm sorry. 94 00:04:06.490 --> 00:04:08.767 Yeah, that's another thing happening in the world. 95 00:04:08.890 --> 00:04:09.427 Where are we going? 96 00:04:09.445 --> 00:04:09.877 We're going back. 97 00:04:09.895 --> 00:04:10.402 We're going forward. 98 00:04:10.420 --> 00:04:10.852 We're going back. 99 00:04:10.870 --> 00:04:12.517 Where are we going? 100 00:04:12.715 --> 00:04:14.872 Okay, so there's all this craziness going on. 101 00:04:14.905 --> 00:04:17.797 We don't know which way we're going, which way is north, which 102 00:04:17.830 --> 00:04:18.737 way is south. 103 00:04:19.237 --> 00:04:24.397 And how do you personally deal with all this chaos in the world? 104 00:04:24.580 --> 00:04:30.942 Well, I mean, well, I'd like to say, but ignoring it sounds terrible. 105 00:04:31.002 --> 00:04:37.222 But I think the less I read and the less doom and gloom stories I see, 106 00:04:37.405 --> 00:04:39.277 then obviously it doesn't affect you as much. 107 00:04:39.295 --> 00:04:42.232 It doesn't mean that you're not aware of what's going around. 108 00:04:42.385 --> 00:04:47.107 But I tend to focus more maybe on my day to day, meeting people, 109 00:04:47.185 --> 00:04:51.382 talking to people, getting on with your day, getting through the day, 110 00:04:51.535 --> 00:04:53.097 Enjoying your little bubble. 111 00:04:53.142 --> 00:04:54.522 Enjoying your little bubble, I suppose. 112 00:04:54.567 --> 00:04:57.567 Yeah, because, I mean, Pandemic did teach us a lot about bubbles. 113 00:04:57.702 --> 00:04:58.267 That's right. 114 00:04:58.315 --> 00:04:59.152 That's right. 115 00:04:59.320 --> 00:05:04.057 And to be honest, I think before the idea of, oh, they live in a 116 00:05:04.060 --> 00:05:07.072 bubble, it was a negative connotation to it. 117 00:05:07.105 --> 00:05:08.812 Had a negative connotation to it. 118 00:05:08.875 --> 00:05:10.797 But now it's almost a survival tactic. 119 00:05:10.842 --> 00:05:12.007 Yes, I think so. 120 00:05:12.160 --> 00:05:17.977 I think we need a little bubble to give us some sanity and to try and 121 00:05:17.995 --> 00:05:22.557 find some comfort in what's going on outside the bubble. 122 00:05:22.647 --> 00:05:23.525 That's right. 123 00:05:23.962 --> 00:05:27.950 Well, it's November, so I've got Thanksgiving coming up, and 124 00:05:30.337 --> 00:05:34.807 sometimes it's hard looking for all the positive things going on in the 125 00:05:34.810 --> 00:05:38.952 world to be thankful for. But what are you going to be thankful? 126 00:05:38.982 --> 00:05:40.175 What have you come up with? 127 00:05:41.287 --> 00:05:42.402 I've come to my bubble. 128 00:05:42.432 --> 00:05:44.900 I'm healthy, I'm happy, I'm working. 129 00:05:45.412 --> 00:05:48.125 My family is healthy and happy. 130 00:05:50.212 --> 00:05:53.947 The basic little things that we should have... The simple things in life 131 00:05:53.980 --> 00:05:55.072 that we have to be grateful for. 132 00:05:55.105 --> 00:05:56.802 That's right. 133 00:05:56.907 --> 00:05:57.892 That's right. 134 00:05:58.090 --> 00:06:01.357 Well, I mean, we probably will have another off the cuff, maybe after 135 00:06:01.435 --> 00:06:01.977 Thanksgiving. 136 00:06:02.007 --> 00:06:05.632 So if I don't see or hear from you before then, I hope you have a 137 00:06:05.710 --> 00:06:06.987 really nice Thanksgiving. 138 00:06:07.062 --> 00:06:07.925 Thank you. 139 00:06:09.037 --> 00:06:09.832 See you soon. 140 00:06:09.910 --> 00:06:10.152 Bye. Bye, Bye.