Traveling by Car

Have you ever run out of petrol?

Do you speed up if someone is driving close behind you?

Do you usually slow down in bad weather?

Do you wait until your car is nearly empty before you fill it up?

If you were following a friend and she or he was driving too fast, would you try to catch up her/him?

Are you good at map reading or do you always have to ask for directions?

Have you ever stopped to give someone a lift? Where did he or she want to go ?

Have you ever got lost in a town that you don’t know very well ?

What do you do if you get stuck in a traffic jam ?

Have you ever been asked to pull over by a police officer?

If you were in a hurry, would you take a short cut if you weren’t  sure which way to go ?

Do other cars often overtake you ?

Take someone where they want to go in a car : give someone a lift

Put petrol in car: fill up

Not be able to move forward or make progress: get stuck

Follow a quicker or shorter way to get somewhere: take a short cut

Pass another car because it is going more slowly than you: overtake

Understand a map: map-read

Go faster: speed up

Go slower: slow down

Not know where you are: get lost

Use all of something so there is nothing left: run out of

Reach someone who is in front of you: catch up with

Stop at the side of the road: pull over.

Last Saturday it was my mum’s 70^th birthday, so we went on a family trip to Paris for the weekend.

My wife Viv and I and the kids, of course – set off early for the airport, with my parents driving in front in their own car.

Soon I realized we were going to run out of petrol, so I phoned them on their mobile and explained that we would fill up at the next garage.

When we left the garage, we speeded up to catch up with mum and dad, but suddenly a police car overtook us and I had to slow down and pull over.

Luckily the police officer only give me a warning, so I apologized and we set off again.

By now, the traffic was terrible, so we decided to take a short cut.

Unfortunately, we got lost and didn’t know where we are.

We stopped a young man to ask the way and because he was going in the same direction, we gave him a lift.

He was able to map-read so we got to the airport in time, but there was no-sign of my mum and my dad.

They got stuck in a traffic jam after we lost them, so we all had to catch a later flight .

Although it was a difficult getting to Paris, we still had a great weekend.