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Jackie: For this week's podcastsinenglish.com we're talking about living in the country. Richard and I have recently moved to the country and it's the first time that we're not living in a town or city. It's very different Richard, isn't it?
Richard: [laughs] Yes, yes, there are many, many differences um… to living here.
Jackie: Well, first of all there are fewer shops.
Richard: Well, there are no shops.
Jackie: Yes, no shops.
Richard: No shops in er… in this village where we live.
Jackie: But we can get food delivered, can't we?
Richard: Yes. There's a lady who comes in the bread van, the bread van every day. Erm… also there's another lady in a van and she delivers fish.
Jackie: Once a week.
Richard: Once a week.
Jackie: And I think there's a frozen food van a much bigger frozen food van
as well, isn't there?
Richard: Yes. But delivering food [is] not a problem for us because we have a huge garden and we grow all our own vegetables anyway which we um… don't do in the city.
Jackie: Yes, that's… that’s true. A lot less noise than the city, Richard.
Richard: Yes. No traffic.
Jackie: Yes. Which is wonderful. However, you can hear the dogs. There is quite a lot of dogs barking especially at night, aren't there?
Richard: And the cocks, the chickens, [laughs] you can hear them crowing in the morning. Cock-a-doodle-doo!!
Jackie: But at night, ok we can hear the dogs, but it's so much darker, isn't it?
Richard: Yes. You can see all the stars which is great.
Jackie: Hmm, I really like that, erm…
Richard: And of course the other noise in the garden, we've got a very large garden, lots of birds.
Jackie: Yes, I mean, obviously if you’re living in the countryside you have much more nature around you, don't you?
Richard: Yes. We spend a lot of time outside in the garden.
Jackie: I think for me that's one of the things that I like the most about living here: is just being… just being outside all the time.
Richard: Fresh air.
Jackie: [laughs] And in many ways although the village is very small and there aren't many people here, it's actually easier to meet the neighbours.
Richard: Yes. And I think people in the country have more time.
Jackie: Mmm
Richard: So more time to speak, to chat to each other.
Jackie: Yes, to stop and chat. Often, if someone one's walking past the house and they see us in the garden they stop and they chat so I think they… they seem friendlier. I don't think they are friendlier but I think it's easier to meet them and talk.
Richard: But of course living in the country at nighttime it's very quiet and there are *less things to do.
Jackie: Richard, there's nothing to do.
Richard: I suppose that's true. Watching the TV, that’s the same as the city.
*Grammatically, ‘less’ should be followed by an uncountable noun (less money) and ‘fewer’ by a countable noun (fewer dollars) but many native speakers use ‘less’ for both. In the supermarket the sign above the fast checkout says ‘10 items or less’ but should read ‘10 items or fewer’.
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