Dave is a bank clerk in London. He thinks his job is boring – but the salary is good. He lives in a small village and goes to work by train and then the underground. It’s a long journey – he leaves home at half past seven – and people ask him why he doesn’t move nearer to London, but Dave prefers to live in his village.

 He doesn’t like crowds, smog and traffic and he loves going for long bike rides or walks in the country when the weather is fine. He also has a lot of friends in the village and he doesn’t want to lose them. H

e arrives at the bank at nine and usually finishes at half past five. He gets home at about seven o’clock. He has an hour for lunch, at one o’clock. When the weather is good, he often buys sandwiches and eats them in the park near his bank. When it’s raining, or cold, he goes to a small café for lunch.

 Dave’s girlfriend, Liz, is a student at Reading University and lives in a small flat near her university with three other students. Dave and Liz met two years ago when they were both in Spain on holiday. Dave would like to marry her when she finishes university next year, but Liz prefers to wait for two or three years before getting married. They don’t meet during the week because Liz is busy with her studies, but they usually spend the weekends together.

 It’s half past eleven on a beautiful Saturday morning and Dave and Liz are in Dave’s car. They want to go to the seaside for the day, but a lot of people seem to have the same idea, and traffic on the motor- way is very slow. It is also very hot!

 Dave says, “This is a stupid way of spending Saturday! Why don’t we leave the motorway and have lunch in a pub? We can go to the seaside another day.”

 “Yes!” says Liz, “I’m hot, bored and hungry. Look, we can leave the motorway here.”

 They leave the motorway and look for an interesting place to have lunch. They find an old pub by a river and decide to eat outside. They can see the river from their table. Their lunch is very good and not expensive. They decide that leaving the motorway and the traffic was a very good idea!