Summary: Today's show I share with you an experience where I lost my rag - where I got angry about something. Upper intermediate English listening practise. PDF transcript and vocabulary list available. Q1) Why do the dogs bark? Q2) What noise wakes me up? Q3) How loud was the noise ? Q4) How should I have reacted to the loud noise (answers at the bottom of the post) ------------- Anger is an ugly emotion. I am sorry to say that today I got angry. I behaved ungraciously, I was not pleasant, calm or polite in the way I reacted to a problem. Experience has taught me that anger rarely makes a situation better. All my anger did was waste my energy. And there was no resolution, the problem is still there, and will continue to be there. Here's what happened. Where I live in Dubai it is very noisy. There is always some banging or hammering going on. bang, bang. clang. drrrrrrrr. On top of that there is the constant traffic noise. I use ear plugs, I put things in my ears to stop the noise, when it is very bad. Next door there is a dog grooming parlour. It is a place people take their dogs to get a haircut. Their shop sign says they also sell 'dog fashion'. Anyway, people pay to leave their dogs there when they go to work. The dogs are very noisy in the afternoon - it is because they are hot and bothered from being in the sun for hours. They know that it is time for them to go home soon, so they start barking whenever somebody walks by on the street. The barking dogs is something I have to put up with. When you put up with something, you accept it even though you don't like it. The dog grooming parlour makes money from leaving dogs in the hot sun; people pay for this service. Fine. Be patient, I tell myself. Adapt and accept the noise. To be irritated is a waste of energy. In the early morning when it is still dark somebody at the dog grooming parlour cleans the floor. It can't be a nice job. Imagine all those dogs in the hot sun -- you know -- on plastic grass. This unfortunate person cleans the floor with a broom. A broom is something you hold in your hand and use in the garden to put all the dirt in one place so you can remove it. He sweeps the plastic grass with a broom for about an hour. It wakes me up every time. Fine. Be patient, I tell myself. He's just doing his job. To be frustrated is a waste of energy. But today I ran out of patience. I exploded in irritation and frustration. I was at the end of my tether with the noise, I could take no more. While I was on a conference call talking on Skype a loud, industrial noise started. It was the loudest noise I have ever heard here in Dubai. I asked my client to wait while I investigated the origin of the noise. Surprise, surprise. It was from the dog grooming parlour. Someone was using a leaf blower - this is a machine that is used to collect leaves from the ground. They use this machine because it is quicker than doing it the old fashioned way. It is quicker than sweeping the floor with a broom. It's also much noisier than a broom - a dangerously loud 75-90 decibels (-a decibel is a measurement of sound). I went out of my house and over to the dog grooming parlour. I explained that the noise was extremely loud. I explained that I was working in the house next door. I explained I was on the telephone, and said that I would be finished in thirty minutes. I requested that they did not use the leaf blower machine for thirty minutes. I was irritated by the pointless noise of the leaf blower but I was not yet angry. Keep your cool, don't be angry, I told myself. However... As soon as I got back and started my conference call again, the leaf blower resumed. What can you do in a situation like this? The angry little person inside me was furious. My complaint had been ignored. How dare they not listen to me! To cut a long story short, I stormed over there to complain again. When you storm over somewhere, you go there with an angry,
