Let's Have a Picnic

Picnics are popular with women and children and some men who know how to make a fire. Children are fond of picnics chiefly because, as a rule, there are no tablesat picnics and consequently no table manners and because they have an exceller opportunity to eat things that do not agree with them, since picnic lunches are alway just about the same and therefore require little imagination, women do not have trouble about thinking up a meal.

Much depends, of course, upon the day. Typical picnic weather is of three kinds. Either it is dark and threatening with occasional showers in the morning clearing in the afternoon or it is hot and clear in the morning, with thunder showers ir I the afternoon; or there is a steady drizzle all day long. But as most of the lunch is I prepared ahead of time, nothing much can be done about it. After all, there is not much choice between eating a picnic lunch that has waited a day or two and getting a soaking. Picnic grounds are usually situated n a body of water at some high, altitude. On of these features is essential, for no picnic can be a success unless the children have something to fall into, or fall off. Also, a body of water naturally suggests taking fishing tackles along. No fish was ever known to have been caught on a picnic, but fishing serves as an excellent excuse for getting out of the way while the heavy work f is being done.

Quite the most important feature of the picnic is the lunch. Fried chicken is always popular ... Then there should be hard-boiled eggs. Almost everything else that comes in a can or a paper bag is good for a picnic lunch. These containers are very important as, after the contents have been eaten, they are strewn about and identify the picnic ground. Ginger ale, too, should be brought along to remind you that you left the bottle-opener at home. However, there is always at least one person present who knows how to open a bottle on a rock.

As soon as the food and other equipment have been unpacked it is in order to start a fire. Collecting wood provides occupation for people who do not know how to amuse themselves.

After the lunch has been eaten a picnic is mostly anticlimax. But there is always the possibility of someone nearly getting drowned or running into a hornets' nest or twisting an ankle. However, you must remain until well into afternoon, or you may not appear to have had a good time. To make matters worse, someone will suggest singing.

Class Which do you prefer to do at the weekend: to have a picnic or

Discussion to spend a quiet evening at home? Why?

Writing Describe one of the weekends that went wrong.

A lot of people prefer gardening at the weekend. How do you find the idea? Your parents? Is gardening popular in your country?

Gardening

Much leisure time is spent in individualistic pursuits, of which the most popular is gardening. Most English people love gardens, their own above all, and this is probably one reason why so many people prefer to live in houses rather than flats. Particularly in suburban areas it is possible to pass now after row of ordinary small houses, each one with its neatly-kept patch of grass surrounded by a great variety of flowers and shrubs. Many people who have no gardens of their own have patches of land or "allotments" in specially reserved areas - though a group of allotment gardens, with its mixed-up collection of sheds for keeping the tools and the dull arrangement of the rectangular sections of land, is usually not a thing of beauty. Although the task of keeping a garden is so essentially individual, for many people gardening is the foundation of social and competitive relationships, Flower-shows and vegetable-shows, with prizes for the best exhibits, are immensely popular, and to many gardeners the process of growing the plants seems more important than the merely aesthetic pleasure of looking at the flowers or the prospects of eating the vegetables. In many places a competitive gardener's ambition is to grow the biggest cabbages or leeks or carrots, and the plain fact that the merits of most vegetables on the table are in inverse ration to their size seems often to be forgotten.

Peter Bromhead

Class Communication

Task 1. A husband and a wife are discussing their plans for the weekend. One is fond of working in the garden, the other feels like going on a day trip to Vilnius.

Task 2. Discuss your plans for the weekend with your friend taking into consideration the weather.

Writing

Make up stories under the following titles:

1. It was on a fine summer day.

2. What a dull day in October it was.

3. We were caught in a thunderstorm.

4. The weather in April is changeable.