Oh, I'm Dan and joining me today is Katherine.

Hi, Catherine, I don and Hello, everybody.

So what's the story today?

Story is about electrical problems.

Okay, let's hear more about this from this World Service bulletin.

South Africans are facing 1/4 day off severe power cuts.

The troubled state run firms Eskom has appeals to customers to turn off all nonessential lights and appliances.

The power cuts have caused transport problems in Johannesburg, with many traffic lights switched off.

South Africa's aging network has suffered from years of mismanagement, so electrical shortages in South Africa, now the state run electrical supplier, a company called ESC um, is asking people to switch things off in order to save power.

The power cuts are include traffic lights so the traffic lights aren't working.

This is causing transport problems, economic knock on problems as a result of this on, and it's causing lots of difficulties all round.

Okay, so we've been looking at three words and expressions that you can use to talk about this story.

Catherine, what do we go for?

Everyone?

We have blackouts.

Double whammy on light at the end of the tunnel.

Blackouts, Double whammy and light at the end of the tunnel.

OK, let's have the first headline then, please.

So we're going to the Financial Times.

First chaos across South Africa as a blackouts roll into third day.

The blackouts times of no light or electricity.

Okay, so we've got blackout.

One big word there.

But I can see two smaller words.

What's going on?

Your very observing this morning, Dan.

Blackout is a compound word made of two smaller words.

Black Onda.

I was now compound words are brilliant in English that you put two words together to show you to make 1/3 word with a kind of specialist or related meaning like post office.

You go to an office to post a letter.

That place is called a post office.

Black is what you see when there's no power at night out.

Kind of has the idea of completely on the lights going out.

So you put it together.

You've got a blackout.

It means there's no electricity.

OK, But you can have like a voluntary blackout as well.

Right?

People often use things like blackout curtains.

Yes, parents.

New parents will be familiar with blackout curtains they meet.

They are very thick material that you put across a window to make the room black so that your baby will sleep so blackouts can be voluntary or they can be caused by damage they could, because you could be required to turn out all your lights.

For whatever reason.

I see and a person can black out as well.

Can't make yes if you lose consciousness.

Or sometimes if you lose your memory or you really don't know what you're doing as a result of illness or an accident, or those of you who enjoy a party overindulge, you can have a blackout caused by drinking too much for enough.

And finally, media blackout.

What's that about media blackout?

Again?

It's this absence off something light isn't exactly what's happening, but it's the absence of information this time.

So often, the police might ask the media not to report a particular story of a crime because they're about to catch the criminal, and they don't want the criminal to know what they know.

So they say to the media, the newspapers and the radio on the TV don't publish this story.

Immediate blackouts can also happen as a result of government, second or courts or lots of different reasons.

I see.

But obviously, in South Africa's case, we're only talking about the electrical failure.

One.

This is this.

Stories related to electrical failure in the absence of Power way.

Have a look at our next headline, then please this citizen load shedding Double whammy costs Joburg hundreds of million's Joburg, meaning Johannesburg Double whammy to bad things happening at the same time.

Wham, wham, wham e That's right.

You love you like a comic book, don't you?

Down or three or four?

Yeah, I love comics.

You like the fighting in the comic book company facing That's right, when when when Spider Man hits a bad guy or Batman or Superman or anybody, for that matter, hit book hero you like like a big balloon over the over the villains head That's it.

Swam or Bacho or power or something like that.

So it's quite on a matter peak.

The idea of WAM means hit.

Okay, impact.

It's a sound like Yeah, and we change this toe.

Wami in this expression and a double whammy means to impacts two hits too often in this case, bad things happening.

A double whammy.

It means to bad things happen at the same time or quickly, one after another.

Didn't you have a double whammy the other day?

I had a shocking double whammy.

So I looked in my handbag and I discovered not only had I left my keys at home, I also left my bus pass home.

So you couldn't You couldn't even you couldn't get a work because you don't have your bus bus.

And you couldn't even go home to get your bus pass.

It was a nightmare work.

Terrible double whammy.

Okay, now double being too.

Yeah.

Is it possible to go hook and we have a triple Women?

If I'd also left my phone at home, that would have been a triple whammy.

Okay?

And I'm tempted to ask about a quadruple around me, but I have a funny feeling that it will get silly after a point.

Yeah, exactly.

It's not a common phrase, but you could have a, you know, multiple want me.

Let's hope not.

Okay, well, after that double whammy of information, let's move on to our third headline, please.

Okay, so, Whiton, no light at the end of tunnel as esque.

Um, battles to generate power light at the end of the tunnel.

Sign that a difficult situation will improve or And now I've heard this before.

It is quite a common expression, isn't it?

Is.

It's a very common expression on.

Basically means there's hope.

Okay, looking at the origins of it.

Have you ever bean in a tunnel down?

Uh, well, I mean, if you mean a foot tunnel.

What?

I was walking.

Yes, actually, there was this.

They used to be this really big tunnel that you would have to take to get from the student university bar to where I was staying.

My dormitory You lead under a roads, obviously don't want across the road, you go by the foot tunnel.

OK, so yeah.

And under this tunnel in the middle of the night.

Yes, it was it dark.

It was really dark, but it's scary.

Yeah, he often sometimes you could creep yourself out a little bit when you're walking in there by yourself.

You look over your shoulder and think through what's coming alone.

Scared?

Yes.

Yeah, it makes you feel better.

Well, so when you turned the last corner and you can see the exit to the tunnel and the lamppost there shining a nice bright light, anything I'm safe because you so the light hold the light at the end of the tunnel.

The light at the end of the tunnel is, and it's a way of saying you can see a solution to a problem.

You realize things will get better.

So back to now.

And you're not in eternal, but you've got financial problems and then you get a pay rise.

Anything.

Now I know my financial problems will improve.

You can see the later the end of the tunnel.

So a solution to a problem.

Okay, but they haven't finished immediately that point.

No, it's just the hope of things to come, you know, or you hope, or you believe that the situation is going to improve.

You can see a light at the end of the tongue.

Yes, fix phrase.

We don't change it.

They took one of those out in the headline, but it's a very, very fixed phrase.

We don't change it way.

Please recap the vocabulary.

Most definitely.

We had blackouts.

Times of no light or electricity.

Double one.

Me.

Too bad things happening at the same time.

Light at the end of the tunnel.

Sign that a difficult situation will improve or end.

Thank you very much.

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