SOUTH FOR THE WINTER - FIRST PART

A partir de ahora, "ANGJO" (nuestro avatar) se dedicará a leernos cuentos cortos. Esto será muy util para mejorar nuestro "LISTENING" (comprensión auditiva) y nuestra PRONUNCIACIÓN. CADA MES APARECERÁ AQUI UN NUEVO CAPITULO O CUENTO,
INSTRUCCIONES : 1) Traducir este texto con la ayuda de un diccionario (en la parte inferior de este blog tenemos un diccionario muy bueno). 2)Buscar a la derecha de este blog el reproductor "ENGLISH AUDIOS" 3)Buscar alli el audio que corresponda con el titulo de este post. 4)Hacer click sobre el audio y seguir con la vista el texto mientras lo oimos. 5)Podemos (haciendo click sobre el audio) repetir las partes dificiles 6)Repetir el audio hasta su completa comprensión y dominio auditivo, incluso podemos intentar leer el texto a dúo con ANGJO.
I never stay in one country for a long time. It gets boring.

I like to move on, see new places, meet different people.

It´s a good life, most of the time.

When I need money, I get a job.

I can do most things. Hotel and restaurant work, building work, picking fruit.

In Europe, you can pick fruit most of the year.

You need to be in the right country, at the right time, of course.

It´s not easy work, but the money`s not bad.

I like to go south in the winter.

Life is easier in the sun, and northern Europe, can get very cold in the winter.

Last year, 1989 it was, I was in Venice for October.

I did some work in a hotel, for three weeks, then I began slowly, to move south.

I always go by train, when I can. I like trains.

You can walk about, on a train, and you meet a lot of people.

I left Venice, and I went on to Trieste.

There I got a cheap ticket, for the slow train to Sofia, in Bulgaria.

This train goes all down, through Yugoslavia, and takes a long time, a day and a half.

But that didn´t matter to me.

The train left Trieste, at nine o´clock on a Thursday morning.

There weren´t many people on it, at first, but at Zagreb, more people got on.

Two girls went along the corridor, past my carriage.

They looked through the door, but they didn´t come in.

Then an old woman came in, sat down, and went to sleep.

The two girls came back along the corridor, and looked into the carriage again.

The train left Zagreb, and I looked out of the window, for about ten minutes, then, I went to sleep too.

When I opened my eyes again, the two girls were in the carriage.

They looked friendly, so I said, Hullo. Hi, they said.

You´re American, I said, or Canadian. Right?

American, the taller girl said. She smiled.

And you´re twenty three, your name´s Tom Walsh.

And you´ve got blue eyes, and your mum lives in Burham on sea, U.K. right?

How did you know all that, I asked.

The second girl laughed.

She looked at your passport. It´s in your coat pocket.

Oh, right. My coat was on the seat, next to me.

I took my passport, out of my pocket, and put it back in my bag.

Who are you then? I asked. They told me.

Melanie and Carol from Los Angeles, U.S.A.

They liked Europe, they said.

They knew a lot of places. Britain. Holland. Denmark. Germany. France. Spain. Italy. Yugoslavia. Bulgaria. Greece...

I am going to Bulgaria now, I said, for about a month.

Then I am going south for the winter.

Cyprus, or perhaps North Africa.

Oh yes? They said. We love Bulgaria. Sofia´s a great town. Wonderful.

What do you do about money? I asked.

Well, you know. Carol smiled. Sometimes we get a little job.

This and that. But what about you?

Yeah, come on. Melanie said. Tell us about you.

Tom Walsh, with the blue eyes, and the mum in Burham on Sea.

What are you doing for your life, hey?

So I told them. They were nice girls. They were older than me.

Perhaps twenty seven, or twenty eight, but I liked them.

We talked, and laughed for hours. I told them, a lot of stories about my life. Some of the stories, were true, some weren´t.

But the girls laughed, and say I was a great guy.

I asked them about Bulgaria,

because I didn´t know the country.