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0:36

Hello listeners, welcome back to Luke's

0:38

English Podcast. Here is yet another

0:40

episode for you. That's right, another

0:42

one this month. I've

0:45

just thrown like

0:47

tons of episodes at you this month, haven't

0:49

I? I really have. I wonder if everyone's

0:51

able to keep up. I expect that in

0:53

fact a lot of people are

0:56

probably far too busy to be

0:58

listening to podcasts at this time of year.

1:00

There is a thing actually in podcasting called

1:03

the December Dip which

1:06

unless you're in podcasts you probably don't

1:08

know about that. But that's basically because

1:12

most podcasters notice that their listening numbers drop a

1:14

little bit at this time of year because everyone

1:16

out there in the world, or at least not

1:18

everyone but a lot of people in the world

1:21

are at this time of year rushing around trying

1:23

to get Christmas presents, trying

1:25

to book train tickets and

1:28

wrapping presents and going to Christmas parties

1:30

and going to carol singing

1:32

events at school or whatever it is.

1:35

Now obviously not everyone listening to this

1:37

podcast celebrates Christmas in the same way

1:41

and a lot of you out there for you, Christmas

1:43

is not such a big deal which is you know

1:45

totally fine. I guess it means your December is a

1:47

little bit quieter. Obviously

1:50

I'm from England and in my

1:53

country Christmas is a traditional

1:55

thing. You

1:57

know it's arguably it's a Christian

1:59

festival. I mean, I'm not particularly

2:01

religious person really, although I do

2:03

come from a Christian background, you

2:05

know, the UK. Christianity

2:08

is the predominant religion, although I would

2:11

actually say that people

2:14

are not that religious these days. I

2:16

think probably most people aren't,

2:19

like most people don't really go to church

2:21

or, you know,

2:24

follow Christianity

2:27

that closely really. But

2:30

nevertheless, Christmas is still a big celebration.

2:32

For some people it's definitely a Christian

2:34

thing and it's time to go to

2:36

church and do all those things. But

2:39

I think for a lot of people, Christmas

2:41

is essentially like this sort of mid-winter

2:44

festival. And it's really a time

2:46

of spending, you know,

2:48

days with your family, celebrating,

2:51

giving gifts. It's peace and

2:53

love, basically. It's a time of peace and love and

2:55

it's the season of goodwill. That's

2:58

the idea. Season

3:00

of being friendly and generous and

3:02

basically wishing peace and love for

3:05

everyone, you know. And

3:07

that's nice, isn't it? And that's the spirit

3:09

with which I am providing you with yet

3:12

another episode. Peace and love in the world.

3:15

And I hope that, you know, you

3:17

are managing to have a

3:19

reasonable time this year, basically. So

3:22

new episode. And in this one I'm going to tell

3:25

you a story and I'm going to tell you the

3:27

story soon, okay? I'm going

3:29

to get into that as soon as possible, but, you

3:31

know, I need to lead you into the story a

3:33

little bit. So

3:35

this is the second kind of Christmas-related episode

3:37

I've done. The other one was a rambling

3:39

episode, which I uploaded a few days ago.

3:42

And if you're watching the video version of this

3:44

episode, then you might notice that I've made a

3:46

little bit of an effort in this

3:48

one in the sense that I've

3:50

got – I do have at least one sort

3:53

of poor excuse, admittedly a poor excuse

3:55

for a Christmas decoration. If you're just

3:58

listening to the audio version which I

4:00

think most people are, then you can't actually

4:02

see this, but I'll describe it to you.

4:04

So I was on my way to my

4:06

pod room this morning thinking, right, I'm going

4:09

to record another kind of Christmasy episode, and

4:11

I still don't have any Christmas decorations in

4:13

my podcasting room at all. It's really not

4:15

very festive in here. So I was on

4:17

the way down after dropping off my, took

4:21

my daughter to school, took my son to

4:23

his, his creche, and then on my way

4:25

back here, I thought, right, I'll get something,

4:27

I'll get like a little Christmas tree or

4:29

maybe some fancy lights or something like

4:31

that. And literally everywhere I went, I

4:33

couldn't find anything that was good enough.

4:36

And the best thing I could get

4:38

was in my local supermarket was a

4:40

chocolate Father Christmas, a chocolate Santa. It's

4:43

a chocolate Santa wrapped up in shiny, sort

4:47

of shiny tin foil, aluminium foil

4:49

with a picture of Santa on

4:51

it. And he's, you know, he's

4:54

a very happy looking Father Christmas with a

4:56

big smile on his face, big bushy white

4:58

beard. He's holding a candle and some gifts.

5:01

And standing at his feet are two

5:03

very happy looking children. And

5:07

if I unwrap this, it'll be chocolate,

5:09

right? It's made of chocolate. It's kind

5:11

of like a hollow plastic Father Christmas.

5:14

Chocolate, I mean, a hollow chocolate Father

5:17

Christmas, not a hollow plastic one. You can't

5:19

eat plastic. Well, you could eat plastic, but

5:21

you shouldn't. Anyway, it's a hollow chocolate Father

5:23

Christmas. So Merry Christmas, everyone. This is

5:25

the effort that I've made. And

5:29

yeah, so I'm just going to, I mean, I'm, will

5:31

I eat this later? I don't know. I

5:34

might do. Although I'm not sure this is the best

5:36

quality chocolate. Although having said that on the back of

5:38

the, on the back of this Father

5:40

Christmas, it does say this

5:43

is superior milk, superior milk chocolate. Now

5:45

this is in French because obviously I

5:47

live in France. So this

5:50

is all written in French. Chocolat

5:52

superior, Olay. So this is superior

5:54

milk chocolate. I wonder, I

5:56

doubt that. I doubt, I mean, what does

5:58

superior mean? to what? Superior to

6:01

like the worst chocolate, which is

6:03

that chocolate that you get from

6:05

advent calendars or the chocolate that you

6:07

get in chocolate money, which is like

6:09

borderline chocolate. It's not even, you know,

6:11

I'm not even sure you could

6:13

legally, you could probably legally call it chocolate, but

6:15

I don't know if it

6:17

really tastes like chocolate. But anyway,

6:19

this is apparently superior milk chocolate.

6:21

But what are the ingredients? Well,

6:23

the first ingredient is what? Sugar.

6:26

Yeah. First ingredient is sugar. And

6:30

then they've got cacao

6:33

butter, cocoa butter, bird

6:35

cacao, cocoa butter. So

6:38

anyway, there you go. I might eat it later. I

6:41

might give it to my daughter, although I'm

6:43

sure that she's going to have plenty of

6:45

chocolate to eat, or I might give it

6:47

away to someone. I might

6:49

give it away to someone who actually will want to

6:51

eat it. But anyway, I'm going to let Father

6:53

Christmas sit there on my table.

6:56

He's just going to, he's

6:58

going to stand there on the table and

7:00

he can watch me record an episode.

7:03

He's just going to stand there

7:05

watching me, judging me. Like,

7:08

come on, Luke, get on with it. That's what

7:10

Santa's saying. Just get on with it. All right.

7:12

So, so, so let's get started properly. And I'm

7:14

going to start reading from text on

7:17

a PDF here. Okay. There's a

7:19

PDF for this episode. So let

7:21

me just get stuck into this

7:23

episode. All

7:25

right, then Merry Christmas, everyone. This

7:28

time I'm going to read you

7:30

a classic Christmas ghost story. Woo.

7:33

Written by Charles Dickens called a

7:35

Christmas Carol. Now I

7:37

have read this story on the podcast before in

7:40

episode 320 back in 2015. Okay. Some of you

7:42

might remember that longterm listeners, but

7:49

I expect a lot of you listening

7:51

haven't heard that episode. So I thought

7:53

I would read it again here. Also,

7:55

I just love reading this story. I

7:57

like the spirit of the story. I

7:59

mean. the message, right? It

8:03

has a good message for us all to

8:05

remember and I just love telling stories and

8:07

acting out the characters so I'm going to

8:09

enjoy this and I hope you do too.

8:12

Also there's a video version this time, episode

8:15

320 was audio only and it's not going to be exactly

8:19

the same as before. I've adapted the story

8:21

a little bit more than I did last

8:24

time to modernise the English slightly. The original

8:26

text was written in 1843 and naturally the

8:30

English is a bit old fashioned by

8:32

today's standards so I've gone through the

8:34

story and adapted it slightly to make

8:36

the English a bit more up to

8:38

date and hopefully a little bit

8:41

more appropriate for learners of English hoping to

8:43

learn the kind of English that everyone

8:45

uses today so I have adapted it

8:47

slightly. I said slightly, it's

8:50

still very similar to the original version

8:52

to be honest although I've tried to

8:54

modernise it a bit it's

8:56

hard to rewrite the work of Charles

8:58

Dickens and so much of the text is

9:01

still the same. So this

9:03

is slightly modernised but still

9:05

quite old fashioned English. But

9:08

that's interesting to explore and it's

9:11

a lovely story, very well written story.

9:13

Now although this is described as a short

9:15

story it will probably take about 45 minutes

9:18

for me to read you the whole thing. Right?

9:21

For me to read the whole thing to you. So

9:24

I'm not going to explain all

9:26

the vocabulary like I do in

9:28

some episodes. The

9:30

story is just, the story

9:33

is too long for me to do that. If

9:35

I explained all the vocabulary the episode would end

9:37

up being way too long. So I'm just going

9:39

to read the story to you, I'm going to

9:41

try to make it entertaining and clear and

9:44

I'll pause at certain moments to

9:46

sum up what has happened in

9:48

order to help you understand the

9:51

main storyline. However if you really

9:53

feel that you need to understand

9:55

certain vocabulary that you notice just

9:57

use one of the many online

9:59

di- dictionaries that are available,

10:01

including the ones that I

10:04

usually recommend, the Oxford Advanced

10:06

Learners Dictionary, dictionary.cambridge.org, collinsdictionary.com, the

10:09

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English

10:11

Online, all great dictionaries and

10:14

you can just use them

10:16

freely, find a

10:18

word, if you notice a word that you don't know,

10:21

you can just copy and paste

10:23

it into one of those dictionaries to kind

10:25

of do some research and get to know

10:28

the vocabulary, okay, or

10:30

you could even use chat GPT

10:32

which can also be a useful

10:34

tool for exploring vocabulary definitions and

10:36

examples, especially examples. But for

10:38

this episode, all you have to do is listen

10:40

and enjoy this classic ghost story in English and

10:42

Father Christmas is going, come on Luke, get on

10:44

with it, if you don't hurry up then I'm

10:46

not going to give you any presents this year.

10:48

Okay, I will, I promise, we're going

10:51

to get there very soon. PDF, there's a

10:53

PDF available, you'll

10:55

find the full text for this story on

10:57

the page for this episode and there'll

11:00

be a link in the description for

11:02

it, the PDF link is in the

11:04

description, you can just download it directly

11:06

in that description, also you'll find the

11:08

PDF on the page for this episode

11:10

on my website. With the PDF you

11:12

can take your time and

11:14

read the story at your own pace if you

11:16

like and you can copy and

11:18

paste words or phrases into an online dictionary,

11:20

okay, so if you want to do your

11:22

studying, there you go. To help

11:25

you understand what you're about to hear, let

11:27

me give you a very quick overview of

11:29

the story and the main characters. This is

11:31

important because I don't want you

11:33

to get lost in the story, okay.

11:36

So the story, A Christmas Carol, that's

11:38

the name of the story, a Carol is

11:41

actually a type

11:43

of song, okay. A

11:45

Christmas Carol is about a horrible

11:48

man called Ebenezer Scrooge who

11:50

only cares about money and is

11:53

very mean and rude with everyone

11:55

including the people who work for

11:57

him and indeed members of his

11:59

family. Well,

12:01

there's only one member of his family left.

12:04

He's rude to everyone. At

12:06

Christmas, Scrooge is

12:09

visited by ghosts that

12:11

show him visions of the past,

12:13

the present and the future. The

12:15

ghosts show Scrooge the

12:17

truth about himself and he learns

12:19

the real meaning of Christmas. He

12:22

goes through a sort of transformation.

12:25

The main character

12:28

is Ebenezer Scrooge. What a great name.

12:31

Ebenezer Scrooge. He's

12:33

cruel, mean, selfish, tight-fisted,

12:37

which means he keeps his money

12:40

to himself. He's stingy, which is

12:42

another word for tight-fisted. I mean,

12:44

he's not generous. He likes to

12:46

keep his own money. He only

12:48

cares about money. He mainly just

12:50

works on his business, a small

12:52

money-lending company. His business is

12:54

to lend money to people. People

12:57

who need money, they come to him. They

13:00

borrow money from him. And

13:02

then obviously they have to pay money back to him

13:04

with interest. We

13:08

all have to borrow money sometimes and

13:10

it seems so unfair to have to

13:13

give it back with so much interest

13:15

added, but that's his business. That's

13:18

Scrooge. Then you've got

13:20

Scrooge's nephew, Fred. Fred

13:23

is Scrooge's only remaining family, the only

13:26

family he has left in the world.

13:28

That's Fred, his nephew. Then

13:30

there's Jacob Marley. Jacob

13:32

Marley was

13:36

Scrooge's business partner. So Marley is

13:38

Scrooge's former business partner. He used

13:41

to be his business partner, but

13:43

he died seven years earlier. Bob

13:48

Cratchit is Scrooge's

13:50

clerk. That's his employee.

13:53

Someone who works for Scrooge. Bob

13:56

Cratchit does office work for Scrooge.

14:00

Crude pays him the minimum possible

14:02

wage so he doesn't pay very

14:04

much money. By. The

14:06

Way or Clark is an office

14:08

worker, an accountant, someone who does

14:11

basic office admin rights. And.

14:14

Yes, I screwed doesn't pay very much

14:16

money. He makes him work really hard

14:18

all the time and makes him work

14:20

in a very cold office with a

14:22

very small fire. Yes,

14:25

Bob Cratchit has a very large

14:27

family and they're living on the

14:29

poverty line. right? So

14:32

they were pretty much almost living in

14:34

poverty. They don't have enough money, And

14:36

Edina his children a sort of

14:38

suffering as a result. Bob's.

14:41

Youngest son is cool tiny Tim.

14:44

Tiny Tim is sick and disabled. He has

14:46

a problem with his legs, are one of

14:48

his legs and he has to walk with

14:51

a crutch. A crutch or wooden thing that

14:53

you hold on to your arms that helps

14:55

you to walk. Or case,

14:57

Bob has hardly any money,

14:59

but his family's is close

15:01

and loving. Then

15:03

there are the three ghosts. In fact,

15:05

there were four ghosts in this story

15:07

that I'm going to tell you about.

15:10

Three of those ghosts now. So Screwed

15:12

is visited by three ghosts and they

15:14

are called the Ghost of Christmas Past,

15:16

the Ghost of Christmas Present, and the

15:18

Ghost of Christmas Feature. And they so

15:20

scrooge. Christmases, From

15:22

the past the presence in the future. Then

15:26

as the phrase bah humbug.

15:28

Bah humbug. Since.

15:30

Is just a final things. You.

15:33

Will notice that Scrooge often says

15:35

bar some bugs. And. You

15:37

might wonder what that means. So the

15:39

buck part of it is just an

15:41

expression of disdain or contempt is kind

15:44

of a noise that Scrooge makes to

15:46

so that he dislikes something like ah,

15:49

ok it's some bugs mrs an old fashioned

15:51

word which screwed uses to say that he

15:54

thinks christmas is all just a big to

15:56

solve a big joke is a sham it's

15:58

a load of nonsense doesn't believe in

16:00

it. So it's all

16:02

humbug, like all just nonsense

16:04

really. He doesn't believe in

16:06

the whole idea of Christmas. So

16:09

when someone mentions it, when he says

16:11

Merry Christmas he goes, bah humbug, it's

16:13

all a humbug, it's all a load of nonsense. These

16:17

days bah humbug is

16:19

an expression which people do actually

16:21

use at Christmas. It has become

16:23

an expression which is associated with

16:26

someone not enjoying Christmas. But

16:28

it's a negative expression. It means,

16:30

so if someone says bah humbug to

16:32

you, it means that

16:34

you're being grumpy and you're not enjoying the

16:37

festive season. Like, do you want to come

16:39

to the Christmas party? Nah, nah, it's all

16:41

a load of nonsense, isn't it Christmas? Or

16:44

bloody Christmas? Oh, bah humbug. You

16:46

know, it's an expression that is

16:49

used to refer to someone not enjoying

16:51

Christmas or someone being grumpy. It

16:53

can be used as a criticism of someone or

16:56

an expression of your dislike of the Christmas period.

16:58

So if you say, bah humbug,

17:01

you know that you're being grumpy but

17:03

you're saying it's an expression of your

17:05

dislike of the Christmas period. All

17:08

right then, that's that. Let's get into the

17:10

story, okay? Here we go. A Christmas

17:13

Carol by Charles Dickens. And

17:15

first we have the preface by Charles

17:17

Dickens, a little paragraph that he wrote

17:21

just at the beginning of the story. So these

17:24

are Charles Dickens' words. I've

17:26

tried in this ghostly little book to

17:28

raise the ghost of an idea which

17:31

will not put my readers in a bad

17:34

mood in any way. I

17:36

hope it haunts their houses pleasantly

17:39

and that no one wishes to put it down.

17:42

Their faithful friend and servant,

17:44

Charles Dickens, December 1843.

17:47

Okay, so

17:49

here we go. After 18 minutes,

17:51

sorry for the wait everyone, after

17:54

about 18 minutes or so, let's

17:56

begin the story. Are you ready? Are you

17:58

sitting comfortably? Okay, begin. Part

18:01

1, Marley's Ghost. Marley

18:04

was dead to begin with. This

18:07

must be understood or this story

18:09

will mean nothing to anybody. So

18:12

we start with the fact that

18:14

Scrooge's business partner Marley had died

18:17

and Scrooge now carried on the money

18:19

lending business alone. He

18:21

never removed old Marley's name from the

18:24

door of the office even though his

18:26

old partner was definitely dead. The

18:29

company was known still as Scrooge

18:31

and Marley. Sometimes

18:34

people called Scrooge Scrooge and

18:36

sometimes they got his name wrong and

18:39

called him Marley but he answered

18:41

to both names. It was all the same

18:43

to him. Oh Scrooge

18:45

was a selfish old git. He

18:48

was as cold as a freezing winter

18:50

night and he didn't thaw one degree

18:52

at Christmas. He hated Christmas

18:54

and everything it stood for. No season

18:57

of goodwill for him. It was

18:59

just another excuse to grumble and

19:01

moan and stay at home counting

19:04

his money. One

19:07

dark Christmas Eve, old Scrooge

19:09

sat busy in his counting

19:11

house counting out his money.

19:14

It was freezing foggy weather

19:16

outside. Scrooge had

19:18

a very small fire in his

19:20

office but next door in his

19:22

clerk's office the poor fire was

19:25

even smaller and hardly even warm

19:27

at all. His poor

19:29

clerk called Bob Cratchit had worked

19:31

for Scrooge for years and yet

19:34

had never once received a pay

19:36

rise. Merry

19:38

Christmas uncle said Scrooge's nephew

19:40

Fred coming into the room.

19:42

Bah! said Scrooge. Humbug! Christmas

19:45

a humbug uncle he said. You don't

19:48

mean that do you? If

19:50

it was up to me said Scrooge

19:53

indignantly every idiot who goes

19:55

about with Merry Christmas on his lips

19:57

should be boiled with his own pudding

19:59

and buried with a stake of

20:01

holly through his heart. The

20:04

nephew answered, don't be angry uncle, come

20:06

to our place for Christmas tomorrow. Bah

20:10

humbug, Christmas don't talk

20:12

to me about Christmas, it's all just

20:14

a big jumped up shopping spree invented

20:16

by the Americans. The whole thing is

20:18

just a scam to get the money

20:21

out of your pocket. Well

20:23

not mine, I'm keeping mine. You

20:26

do Christmas your way and I'll do it

20:28

my way here on my own, just like

20:30

every other day, thank you very much. Suit

20:34

yourself uncle but we'll miss you this year

20:36

again. Said Scrooge's nephew.

20:39

Merry Christmas uncle, good afternoon.

20:42

Said Scrooge. His

20:45

nephew even stopped to wish Merry Christmas

20:47

to the clerk. The

20:49

poor cold clerk Bob Cratchit managed

20:52

a thin smile and

20:55

a weak Merry Christmas in return

20:57

as Scrooge's nephew left. As

21:00

he left, Fred let two other

21:02

people in. They entered

21:04

and bowed to Scrooge. Mr.

21:07

Scrooge or Mr. Marley? Said one

21:09

of the gentlemen. Mr.

21:11

Marley? Scrooge replied, died

21:14

seven years ago this very night.

21:17

Oh sorry for your loss, said one of the

21:19

men. What do you want? Snapped

21:22

Scrooge. Mr.

21:24

Scrooge said the gentlemen. It looks like it's

21:26

going to be an especially freezing winter

21:28

this year. A few of us

21:31

are going to buy some meat and drink for

21:33

the poor and some blankets to keep them warm

21:35

this Christmas. What would you like to give?

21:38

Nothing. Said Scrooge. If

21:41

they've got no money they can borrow

21:43

it or failing that go to the

21:45

debtor's prisons. Many

21:47

would rather die than do that. If

21:50

they would rather die, said Scrooge, they'd better

21:52

do it and decrease

21:54

the surplus population. Good afternoon

21:57

gentlemen. Scrooge

21:59

went back to the debtor's prisons. to his work. Meanwhile,

22:02

it got even foggier, darker

22:05

and colder outside. Some

22:07

carol singers walked by Scrooge's

22:10

office. One cold young

22:12

boy stooped down at

22:14

Scrooge's keyhole to sing a

22:16

Christmas carol. God bless you

22:18

merry gentlemen, may nothing you

22:20

dismay. As soon as he heard it,

22:23

Scrooge jumped up so

22:26

that the singer fled in terror, leaving

22:28

the keyhole to the fog. Eventually

22:31

closing time arrived. Scrooge

22:34

nodded to the clerk, Mr. Cratchit, who

22:37

instantly snuffed his candle out and put

22:39

on his hat. You'll

22:42

want all day off tomorrow, I

22:44

suppose, said Scrooge. Yes,

22:47

please, Mr. Scrooge. Christmas day, you

22:49

know. It's only once a year after all.

22:51

A poor excuse

22:53

for picking a man's pocket every

22:55

25th of December, said Scrooge.

22:58

No day off for you. I expect

23:01

you to be here extra early

23:03

next morning. Cratchit

23:06

just looked at him. Scrooge

23:09

went home to his gloomy

23:11

house. The yard

23:13

outside was dark and the fog

23:16

and frost hung about the place.

23:20

As he approached his door, something

23:23

strange happened. Now,

23:26

the knocker on

23:28

his door was very

23:30

large and ordinary, but

23:33

tonight it looked like, well,

23:36

it looked like Marley's face. Marley's

23:39

face. The eyes

23:42

were wide open and

23:44

its grayish colour made it horrible

23:47

in the half light. As

23:51

Scrooge looked more closely, it became a

23:53

knocker again. He

23:57

did look carefully, but The knocker was

23:59

Still a knocker. Load of

24:01

old nonsense said screwed to himself.

24:05

Closed his door and double locked

24:07

himself in. He. Walked

24:09

through his room's to see that everything

24:11

was alright and then sat by the

24:14

fire. Somebody he said,

24:16

stupid Christmas I'll be glad when

24:18

it's all over, the people start

24:20

acting normally again. And.

24:23

Then he heard it. A

24:26

cleansing noise from the center.

24:28

As if some persons were dragging

24:31

a says he chain. Sounded.

24:33

Kind of. Screwed.

24:42

Try to ignore it. And

24:44

opened his paper. says.

24:50

You need a plenty of chains. And

24:53

the son of scraping sounds. Swiss

24:58

Scrooged here. He tried to ignore

25:00

it and opened his paper. Then

25:04

he heard the sound again. The

25:07

noise of heavy chains being dragged in,

25:10

a faint sound of moaning, Screw.

25:14

Suddenly set up in his chair,

25:16

the noise was real and it

25:18

was getting louder. Suddenly

25:21

the cellar door flew open with

25:24

a booming sounds and then he

25:26

heard the noise coming up the

25:28

stairs than straight towards his door.

25:32

Quickly it came on through the heavy

25:34

door and passed into the room's right

25:36

in front of his eyes. It

25:39

was Jacob Marley back from the Dead.

25:42

But. Shane Marley. Pools was

25:44

lungs and made of

25:46

cash boxes, keys, padlocks

25:48

and purses. His body

25:51

was transparent so that Scrooge could

25:53

see the buttons on his coat

25:55

hanging on the door behind. forty

25:59

one with me Said Scrooge, who

26:01

are you? In

26:03

life I was your partner Jacob

26:05

Marley. Humbug I

26:07

tell you humbug. At

26:10

this the spirit rised a frightful cry

26:13

Rrrrrr! And shook its chain.

26:16

Scrooge fell upon his knees. The

26:20

ghost asked, do you believe in

26:22

me or not? I do

26:24

said Scrooge. I do but why do spirits

26:26

walk the earth and why do they

26:28

come to me? It

26:31

is required of every man, the

26:33

ghost returned, that the spirit within

26:36

him should walk abroad among his

26:38

fellow men. And if

26:40

that spirit does not go forth

26:42

in life, it is condemned to

26:44

do so after death. What?

26:48

What do you mean? said Scrooge,

26:51

failing to understand. Your

26:53

spirit, it does not walk

26:55

with his fellow men and

26:57

will be condemned to walk the earth.

27:00

After your death, do you understand

27:02

Scrooge? Scrooge just continued

27:05

to stare, trembling. But

27:09

but you are chained, he said. Tell me

27:11

why. I wear

27:13

the chain I forged in life

27:15

and by the very work I

27:17

did with you. Replied

27:20

the ghost. I made it

27:22

link by link and yard by yard

27:24

and of my own free will I

27:26

wore it. Scrooge

27:28

trembled more and more.

27:33

Do you know, pursued the

27:35

ghost, your chain was as heavy

27:37

as this seven Christmas

27:39

Eves ago. You

27:41

have made it longer since then. But

27:45

you were always a good man of business, Jacob,

27:48

faulted Scrooge. Business, cried

27:50

the ghost, wringing its hands. Mankind

27:55

was my business. Greed was

27:58

my business. Spent

28:00

my life on this earth, obsessing

28:02

over money and mistreating the poor

28:05

and a needy to fill my

28:07

pockets. Old Scrooge. I am condemned

28:09

to walk the earth for eternity,

28:12

never to find rest all piece.

28:15

I am here tonight to warn

28:17

you. Continue. To ghost

28:19

you will be haunted by

28:21

three spirits are I think

28:24

I'd rather not said screwed.

28:27

They will come to teach you a lesson. Expects

28:30

the first tomorrow said

28:32

the ghost. When the

28:34

bell tolls one. Expects

28:37

the second on the next night of

28:39

the same our the third upon the

28:41

next night at the last spoke of

28:44

twelve. When. It had

28:46

said these words. The spectre slopes

28:48

it out upon the bleak Dark

28:50

knight. The

28:57

air was filled with and

28:59

Phantoms and every one of

29:01

them more chains like Marlies

29:04

ghost. They

29:07

say did away. Screw

29:09

to close the window and examined

29:12

the door by which the ghost

29:14

had entered. it was still double

29:16

locks. As he'd done with

29:18

his own hands, he tried to say hundred.

29:25

And he went straight to bed. And

29:27

fell asleep instantly. Okay,

29:30

As. Part One More scary stuff.

29:34

I. thought i wonder funny to explain

29:36

much really and i think this

29:39

necessary to explain a loss except

29:41

to say that so screwed m

29:43

is obviously a very grumpy and

29:45

very rude person he's me when

29:48

his nephew wishes him happy christmas

29:50

he just said says is a

29:52

humbug and some other nonsense he

29:55

demands that is poor clark or

29:57

precious comes first thing in the

29:59

morning He demands that he comes

30:01

to the office first thing in the morning,

30:03

even though tomorrow it's Christmas Day. Normally,

30:07

that should be a public holiday, but he demands

30:09

that he comes. I

30:11

mean, these days, that's a public holiday. It's

30:14

illegal for an employer to actually make someone

30:16

work on that day. But many

30:18

years ago, that was not illegal. And employers

30:20

like Scrooge could just do whatever they wanted.

30:22

They could force their staff to come to

30:25

work even on a day like Christmas Day.

30:28

Unless they were a very

30:31

kind-hearted boss, they were able to do

30:33

that. Some

30:38

charity workers come to visit Scrooge,

30:43

and they ask him to give money to charity

30:45

because they're going to give money to the poor.

30:48

They're going to help the poor, give them food and

30:50

shelter. And Scrooge basically says, no. If

30:53

they need money, they can borrow it. Right.

30:56

So it's not very nice, is it? And

30:58

Scrooge goes home, and when

31:01

he approaches his door, he notices that

31:03

the knocker on the door, so a

31:05

knocker is a metal thing which is

31:08

used to knock the door, right? Instead

31:11

of, you know, these days, obviously, we have doorbells,

31:14

ding-dong, but in those days

31:16

it was a metal knocker, knock, knock, knock

31:19

on the door. He notices that the metal

31:21

knocker looks strange, and for a moment it

31:23

looks like the face of his old partner,

31:25

Jacob Marley, right? Which

31:27

is disturbing, but he kind of ignores it

31:29

and carries on, and he goes into his

31:31

home, locks the door, you know, double locks

31:33

the door, and then the ghost visits him.

31:37

And he hears the sound of chains

31:40

being dragged in the distance, and the sound

31:42

gets closer and closer, and suddenly the ghost

31:44

is there in the room with him, and

31:46

it's the ghost of his old business partner,

31:48

Jacob Marley, and Scrooge

31:50

is frightened, and Marley tells him

31:53

that he is essentially condemned

31:55

to walk the earth, meaning that

31:57

he, as a sort of

31:59

punishment... He has to

32:02

haunt the earth, walk the earth as a ghost,

32:04

so he's kind of stuck in limbo. And

32:09

because he was selfish in his

32:11

life, because he, you

32:13

know, was mean-spirited with

32:15

other people and only

32:19

did business with other people for his own

32:21

selfish reasons.

32:25

And so because of that, he was

32:27

condemned to haunt

32:29

the earth as a ghost and warn

32:31

other people not to do the

32:34

same thing. So that's why he's there to tell Scrooge,

32:37

be careful, because if you carry on like

32:39

this, then you'll

32:41

end up like me. And

32:44

it's been, you know, seven years

32:46

ago, your chains were

32:48

as long as mine, and you've

32:50

added seven more years since then.

32:54

So change your ways or you

32:56

will end up like me, a spirit

33:00

stuck in limbo, haunting,

33:03

you know, haunting

33:05

the earth, never able to rest and,

33:07

you know, carrying these chains. Okay,

33:11

so the spirit

33:13

also says that Scrooge is going to be visited

33:16

by three, the three spirits who are going to

33:19

show him different visions. Okay,

33:21

all right. So let's carry on

33:23

then. All right, so here we go with part two. The

33:27

first of the spirits. When

33:30

Scrooge woke up, it was dark. The

33:32

chimes of a neighboring church

33:34

struck the hour with a

33:36

single deep melancholy note. Light

33:42

flashed up in the room and the

33:44

curtains of his bed were drawn aside

33:46

by a hand and Scrooge

33:48

found himself face to face with

33:51

the unearthly visitor who drew them

33:53

right in front of his face.

33:56

It was a strange figure, Like a

33:58

child or an old man. It's

34:00

white hair hung about its neck and

34:03

down. It's best and yet the face

34:05

had no wrinkles in is a tool.

34:07

It's legs and feet would bear.

34:10

It wore a white tunic with

34:12

assigning belt. It held

34:14

a branch of fresh green holly's

34:16

in his hand and had it's

34:19

dress trimmed with some of flowers.

34:21

Are you the spirits who's coming

34:23

was foretold to me asked Scrooge.

34:26

The voice was soft and gentle.

34:28

Or. In the Ghost of Christmas Past.

34:31

Long. Past. Inquired.

34:33

Scrooge Know. Your

34:36

past. It

34:38

put out it's strong hand and

34:41

close to him gently by the

34:43

arm. Rise and walk with me.

34:47

They. Passed through the walls, And

34:49

stood on an open country

34:52

road now. It. Was a

34:54

clear, cold winter day with snow

34:57

on the ground. Good

34:59

Heavens said Scrooge recognizing the

35:01

place where they were standing.

35:03

I was a boy in

35:05

this place. He. Wiped

35:07

to tear. And begged

35:09

the ghost to lead him. You.

35:12

Remember the way. Inquired. The

35:14

spirit remember it cried Scrooge.

35:16

I could walk it blindfolded,

35:20

They. Walked along the road, Scrooge.

35:22

Recognizing every gate and tree,

35:25

Until a little town appeared in the

35:27

distance. Some. Shaggy ponies

35:30

trotted towards them with boys

35:32

upon their backs. All.

35:35

These boys shouted to each other

35:37

merrily. Scrooge new them

35:39

all. Day where

35:41

his old school. He

35:44

called out to them by name, but

35:46

the boys didn't respond. To.

35:48

These are but shadows of the things

35:51

that have been. Said. The ghost.

35:53

They. Do Not See us. Scrooge.

35:56

was filled with happiness when he heard

35:59

them tell each Merry Christmas as

36:01

they parted. But why? What

36:04

was Merry Christmas to Scrooge? What

36:07

good had it ever done to him? The

36:12

school is not quite deserted, said

36:15

the ghost. A lonely child,

36:17

neglected and ignored by his

36:19

friends, is there still. Scrooge

36:23

said he knew it, and he cried.

36:27

They soon approached a large house,

36:30

its windows broken and the

36:32

many rooms cold with no food in

36:34

them. They went, the

36:37

ghost and Scrooge, to the back of the

36:39

house, to a room with desks. At

36:42

one of these a lonely boy was

36:44

reading near a feeble little fire, and

36:47

Scrooge sat down beside his

36:49

poor forgotten self. As

36:52

he used to be. He said,

36:55

poor boy, and cried

36:57

again. I

36:59

wish, Scrooge muttered, after

37:01

drying his eyes with his cuff. I

37:05

wish, but it's too late now. What

37:08

is the matter? asked the spirit. Nothing,

37:11

said Scrooge, nothing. There

37:14

was a boy singing a Christmas carol at

37:16

my door last night. I

37:18

should have given him something, that's all. The

37:22

ghost smiled thoughtfully and

37:25

waved its hand, saying as it did so,

37:27

let us see another Christmas. And

37:32

there he was, alone again, when all

37:34

the other boys had gone home for the holidays. The

37:37

door opened, a little girl rushed

37:39

in and put her arms around his neck.

37:44

I've come to bring you home, dear brother,

37:46

said the child. We're going to be together

37:48

all Christmas long and have the best time

37:50

in the world. Your

37:52

sister, said the ghost, always

37:55

a delicate creature, but

37:57

she had a large heart. she

38:00

had," cried Scrooge, "'Your right

38:02

spirit.'" "'She died

38:04

when she was a woman,' said

38:06

the Ghost, "'and had, I think, one

38:09

child, your nephew.'" Scrooge

38:12

answered sadly, "'Yes.' Suddenly

38:16

they were in a busy city. Here

38:19

too it was Christmas time again, but

38:21

it was evening, and the streets were

38:23

decorated with Christmas lights. The

38:26

Ghost stopped at a warehouse door and

38:28

asked Scrooge if he knew it. "'Know

38:31

it,' said Scrooge, "'I was apprenticed here.

38:33

This is where I did my training.'"

38:37

When he saw an old gentleman

38:39

behind a high desk, Scrooge cried

38:41

in great excitement, "'Look, it's Fezziwig

38:43

alive again, my old boss.'" Scrooge's

38:48

former self, now a young

38:50

man, came in beside his

38:52

fellow apprentice, a young man called

38:54

Dick. Old Fezziwig

38:56

laid down his pen and

38:59

looked up at the clock. He rubbed

39:01

his hands and called out in

39:03

a rich voice, "'No more work tonight,

39:05

my boys,' said Fezziwig. "'Christmas

39:08

Eve, Dick! Christmas

39:10

Ebenezer! Clear everything away, lads.'" It

39:14

was done in a minute. The floor was

39:16

swept, the tables were cleared away,

39:18

fuel was heaped onto the fire,

39:21

and the warehouse became a snug,

39:23

warm and bright ballroom. In

39:26

came a fiddler with a music

39:28

book, in came Mrs.

39:30

Fezziwig and the three Miss

39:32

Fezziwigs. In came all the

39:34

young men and women employed in the business,

39:37

the housemaid, the baker, the cook, the

39:39

milkman, and the party started. There

39:43

were dances and games, there was cake

39:45

and roast beef and mince pies and

39:47

plenty of ale. During

39:51

all this time, Scrooge had acted

39:53

like a man out of his

39:55

mind. He enjoyed everything. Now

39:58

that he remembered the ghost. He

40:00

became conscious that it was looking. Full.

40:03

Upon him. A

40:06

small matter said the ghost for

40:08

fuzzy week to make these silly

40:10

folks so sort of gratitude and

40:12

happiness. Small. Echoed

40:15

Screws. It isn't that spirits. He has

40:18

the power to make our work a

40:20

pleasure or pain. The happiness he gives

40:22

it's it's so big. Because

40:24

if it cost a fortune and. He

40:27

stopped. What?

40:29

Is the matter fast? The Ghost

40:31

mom. Nothing. In particular

40:34

said Scrooge something I

40:36

think. The ghost

40:38

insisted. On Nov said

40:40

screws. Know it? It's just that I would

40:42

like to be able to say a word

40:45

or two to my clock just now that's

40:47

old. Scrooge

40:49

and the Ghost again stood in the

40:51

open air. I'm running

40:54

out of time observed the spirit.

40:56

Quick. Again, screwed

40:58

saw himself. He was older now.

41:01

He was not alone. But. Sat next

41:03

to a pretty young girl. In

41:06

her eyes there were tears. It

41:09

matters little to you. She said

41:11

some sleep. Another idols a

41:14

state my place. It is the love

41:16

of money. Could

41:18

buy. May. You be happy

41:20

in the life you have chosen. Spirits.

41:24

Pride screwed so Me: no more. I

41:27

cannot bear it. Leave me Take me back

41:29

for me no longer. He

41:33

was conscious of being exhausted. And

41:35

of being in his own bedroom. He

41:37

had barely time to fall on to bed.

41:40

Before. He sank into a heavy

41:42

sleep. Tired

41:46

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for details. Okay,

42:39

All right. so what happened in

42:41

part to the spirit of Christmas

42:44

past past and businesses him to

42:46

strain spirit who's kind of otherworldly

42:48

and is both very old and

42:50

very young at the same time?

42:53

This kind of weird, timeless, creepy.

42:56

Skyn spirit with this smooth

42:58

voice. Bring

43:00

takes Scrooge to. And

43:03

she is take screws and shows him

43:05

or different moments from his past. the

43:07

first one is. Some.

43:10

First they visit replace were screwed. Was

43:12

a little boy and it sounds like

43:14

it seems like Scrooge. this was an

43:17

orphan or something. There's no sign of

43:19

his parents so maybe he was an

43:21

orphan. He lived in an orphanage it

43:23

seems and that with the other boys

43:25

there who he was delighted to see

43:28

but apparently the other boys for went

43:30

home at the gym for the holidays

43:32

the Christmas holidays but poor little Scrooge

43:34

had a staged in this house own

43:37

on his own and it was very

43:39

cold. So clearly screwed

43:41

Started a nice for very

43:44

poor and on his own

43:46

sad story. To

43:50

then what happens Then we see

43:52

here that we see screwed City

43:54

has a sister. And. his

43:56

sisters of see very very lovely and

43:58

she has it because But the

44:01

ghost says that the sister, she was

44:03

delicate. So now

44:06

it seems that the sister, she died at some

44:08

point, but she did have a child. And

44:12

you know, the point here is that this is the

44:15

only person who showed any warmth

44:17

to Scrooge was his lovely sister.

44:20

Sadly, she died, but she did leave

44:23

a nephew. So this

44:25

is, you know, Scrooge's only family, probably the

44:27

only person who again shows him any sense

44:29

of emotional warmth or care. But

44:31

as we noticed at the beginning of the story,

44:33

Scrooge is just rude and dismissive to him and

44:36

refuses to accept his invitation to spend Christmas

44:38

with him. And

44:41

then the ghost shows

44:44

Scrooge another scene. And

44:47

this is Scrooge later in life with

44:49

a girl, a girl who probably maybe

44:51

he was engaged to be married to her

44:54

or he was, you know, possibly going to

44:56

get married to this girl, you know, his

44:58

girlfriend or something, I suppose. But

45:01

the girl is basically saying goodbye

45:03

to him. So they're splitting up because

45:06

she has decided that, you know, he

45:09

only cares about money. So

45:12

he's Scrooge is alone because

45:15

maybe there was a

45:17

girl who he could

45:19

have been in love with, who he

45:21

could have married, but the relationship didn't

45:24

work because apparently Scrooge was

45:27

emotionally cold and only

45:29

cared about money. And this shows you

45:31

the direction that his life took where

45:34

he became a cold, emotionless,

45:37

greedy person focused on money and

45:40

it was at the cost of a

45:43

loving relationship with a

45:45

woman. Scrooge is

45:48

very upset to see all these things and

45:50

he's feeling a lot of regret. He wishes

45:52

that he could have gone back to the

45:54

carol singer who visited his

45:56

door the night before. He wished

45:58

that he could. say some nice

46:01

things to his His Clark.

46:03

Oh, yeah, the other thing he also visits

46:06

a place where he used

46:08

to work as an apprentice So where

46:10

he did his professional training With

46:13

his old boss called Fezziwig and

46:15

Fezziwig apparently was a great boss

46:18

Someone who was generous with his staff

46:20

and his trainees and his family at

46:22

Christmas time and someone who was a

46:25

boss who was warm and generous generous

46:27

enough to put on a big party

46:30

at Christmas time and Scrooge noticed that

46:32

his boss had this power this responsibility

46:35

to make the lives of his staff a

46:38

Wonderful or terrible by his you

46:40

know with his decisions. So

46:43

again, this makes Scrooge reflect on how

46:45

he treats his His

46:47

staff namely Bob Cratchit Okay

46:51

The spirit takes Scrooge back his

46:53

bed Scrooge falls asleep again. So

46:56

we continue part three Okay,

46:58

so here we go part three the

47:01

second of the three spirits Scrooge

47:04

waited again lying in his bed in

47:06

the darkness Now when

47:09

the bell struck one he saw

47:11

a ghostly light coming from the next

47:13

room he shuffled to the

47:15

door a Strange

47:17

voice called him by his name and told

47:20

him to enter The

47:22

room was hung with Holly and

47:24

mistletoe and a huge fire went

47:26

roaring up the chimney Heaped

47:29

up like a throne were

47:32

geese pies plum puddings chestnuts

47:35

oranges pears cakes and

47:37

punch Upon

47:39

this food couch there sat a

47:41

jolly giant Who

47:44

held a glowing torch high up to

47:46

shed its light on Scrooge? Come

47:49

in exclaimed the ghost and know

47:51

me better man Scrooge

47:54

entered timidly and hung his head.

47:57

I am the ghost of Christmas present said

48:00

the spirit, look upon me.

48:04

Scrooge reverently did so. The

48:07

ghost was wearing a green robe

48:09

bordered with white fur. Its

48:12

feet were bare and on its head

48:14

it wore a holly wreath set

48:17

here and there with shining

48:19

icicles. You've

48:21

never seen the like of me

48:23

before, exclaimed the spirit.

48:27

It said, Scrooge, take me

48:29

where you want. I went out last

48:32

night and I learnt a lesson which is

48:34

working now. Tonight

48:36

if you have anything to teach me, let me

48:38

profit by it. Here,

48:40

touch my robe. Feast,

48:44

fire, room all vanished instantly

48:47

and they stood in the

48:49

city streets on a

48:51

snowy Christmas morning. The

48:53

sky was gloomy and yet there

48:55

was an air of cheerfulness like

48:58

a summer day. Soon

49:01

the bells called the people to church and

49:04

out they came flocking through the

49:06

streets in their best clothes and

49:08

with their happiest faces. The

49:11

good spirit led him straight to

49:13

Scrooge's clerk's house, Bob Cratchit's

49:15

house, and at the door the

49:18

spirit smiled and stopped

49:20

to bless Bob Cratchit's dwelling.

49:24

Think of that, Bob had

49:26

only fifty pounds a week himself and

49:28

yet the ghost of Christmas present blessed

49:30

his little house. Then

49:34

up rose Mrs Cratchit dressed

49:36

poorly in a worn out dress. Where's

49:39

your precious father then? said

49:41

Mrs Cratchit to the little Cratchit and

49:43

your brother Tiny Tim. In

49:47

came Bob the father in his

49:50

worn out clothes and Tiny Tim

49:52

upon his shoulder. Sadly

49:54

Tiny Tim held a little crutch

49:57

which he needed to help him walk. And

50:01

how did little Tim behave? asked

50:03

Mrs Cratchit. As good

50:05

as gold, said Bob. At

50:08

last the dishes were set on the table

50:11

and grace was said. Bob

50:13

said he didn't believe that a

50:15

better goose had ever been cooked.

50:19

Mrs Cratchit brought in the pudding like

50:21

a speckled cannon ball blazing with

50:24

brandy and with Christmas holly stuck

50:26

into the top, a wonderful pudding.

50:29

Bob proposed a toast. A

50:32

merry Christmas to us all, my dears. God

50:34

bless us. God

50:37

bless us, everyone, said tiny

50:39

Tim, the last of all. He

50:43

sat very close to his father's

50:45

side upon his little stool. Bob

50:47

held his withered little hand in his

50:50

as he loved the child

50:52

and wished to keep him by his side

50:55

and dreaded that he might be taken from him.

50:59

He said, said Scrooge, with an

51:01

interest he'd never felt before. Tell

51:04

me if tiny Tim will live. I

51:08

see a vacant seat, replied

51:11

the ghost, in the corner and

51:14

a crutch without an owner. If

51:17

these shadows remain unaltered by

51:20

the future, the

51:22

child will die. No,

51:24

no, said Scrooge. Oh,

51:27

no, kind spirits say that he will be spared.

51:31

If these shadows remain unaltered

51:34

by the future, he will

51:36

die this year, repeated

51:38

the ghost. And

51:42

and decrease the surplus population, Scrooge

51:46

hung his head ashamed to

51:48

hear his own words. Man,

51:52

said the ghost, are you the one to

51:54

decide who should live and who

51:56

should die? It may be

51:59

that in the sight of Heaven, you are

52:01

more worthless and less fit

52:03

to live than millions like

52:05

this poor man's child." But

52:08

now Scrooge heard his own name. "'Mr.

52:11

Scrooge,' toasted Bob, "'I'll give you

52:13

Mr. Scrooge, the founder of the

52:16

feast.' "'The

52:18

founder of the feast, indeed,'

52:20

cried Mrs. Cratchit, reddening. "'My

52:24

dear,' was Bob's mild answer,

52:26

"'Christmas day.' "'I'll

52:29

drink to his health for your sake,

52:31

and the day's,' said Mrs. Cratchit, "'long

52:34

life to him. A merry

52:36

Christmas and a happy New Year.' The

52:39

children drank the toast after her, but

52:41

they didn't care for it. Scrooge

52:44

was the ogre of the family.

52:47

Monster, the mention of his name,

52:49

cast a dark shadow on the

52:51

party. By and

52:53

by they had a song from Tiny

52:55

Tim, who had a sweet little voice, and

52:57

sang it very well indeed. They

53:00

were not a handsome family. They

53:03

were not well dressed, but they were

53:05

happy, grateful, pleased

53:07

with one another, and contented with the time

53:09

that they had. Scrooge

53:12

watched them, and especially Tiny Tim,

53:15

until the end. "'And

53:18

now they traveled through

53:20

coal miners' homes, past ships

53:22

on the dark sea, and

53:25

everywhere they went, no matter

53:27

how poor, every person hummed

53:29

a Christmas tune, or

53:32

had a Christmas thought, and every person, good

53:34

or bad, had a kind word for another

53:36

on that day.' Scrooge

53:40

heard a hearty laugh, and

53:42

recognised it as his own nephews. He

53:45

found himself in a bright, gleaming

53:47

room, with the spirit standing, smiling

53:49

by his side. Laughter,

53:52

laughed Scrooge's nephew. He said that Christmas

53:55

was a humbug, a load of nonsense,

53:57

and he believed it too. More

54:00

shame for him, Fred, said

54:02

Scrooge's niece indignantly. He's

54:05

a comical old fellow, said

54:07

Scrooge's nephew, and not as

54:09

pleasant as he could be. However,

54:12

his offences carry their own punishment,

54:14

and I'm sorry for him. Who

54:17

is it that suffers from his ill temper? Himself

54:20

always. They

54:23

had some music and played some games,

54:25

because it's good to be children sometimes,

54:27

and never better than at Christmas. They

54:30

all played and sang, and so did

54:32

Scrooge, singing quite loud. He

54:35

begged like a boy to be allowed to

54:37

stay until the guests departed. But

54:39

this, the spirit said, could

54:42

not be done. They

54:44

saw many things and went to many

54:47

places, and everywhere the spirit went he

54:49

left his blessing. It was a

54:51

long night, and Scrooge noticed that

54:53

the ghost grew older, and he noticed

54:55

that its hair was grey. Our

54:59

spirit's life so short, asked Scrooge.

55:02

My life upon this globe is

55:04

very brief, replied the

55:07

ghost. It ends tonight at

55:09

midnight. Listen! The time

55:11

is drawing near. The

55:14

bell struck twelve, and

55:16

the spirit disappeared. As

55:18

the last stroke ceased to vibrate,

55:21

he remembered the prediction of old

55:23

Jacob Marley, and lifting up his

55:25

eyes, he beheld a

55:27

solemn phantom draped and

55:30

hooded, coming like a mist along

55:32

the ground towards him. Okay,

55:35

so that's the end of part three. What's

55:38

happened there? Basically, the ghost of

55:40

Christmas present is showing him Christmases

55:44

that are happening today, right? Including

55:47

the home of Bob Cratchit, who

55:49

is Scrooge's clerk, who he doesn't

55:51

pay very much money, and so on. And

55:57

Cratchit's family are very poor, but they're

55:59

happy. It's a loving family. The

56:01

little boy, the youngest of the family,

56:03

tiny Tim, he's sick. And

56:07

his parents adore him

56:09

and they

56:12

want to protect him. Basically

56:15

they're poor, but they're happy and they love each

56:17

other and they're happy with what they've got. And

56:20

even though Scrooge is such a nasty,

56:23

horrible, mean boss, they

56:25

even raise a toast. They

56:27

even raise their glasses to him, to his

56:29

name at

56:32

Christmas. You know,

56:34

they're good people, you know, basically.

56:37

And the spirit shows Scrooge other Christmases

56:39

all over the place and people are

56:41

also having a similar time, except

56:44

Scrooge himself. Okay,

56:46

right, let's move on. Part four, the last

56:48

of the spirits. The

56:51

phantom approached in deep

56:53

black robes, which left

56:55

nothing of it visible except for

56:57

one bony hand. So this

56:59

spirit is like some kind of skeleton

57:01

or something, but it's covered in dark

57:03

robes, like a dementor or something from

57:05

Harry Potter, you know, in

57:08

dark robes with a bony

57:10

hand. Am

57:13

I in the presence of the ghost of Christmas yet

57:15

to come? Said Scrooge. You

57:18

are about to show me shadows of the things

57:20

that will happen. Is that so, spirit? Scrooge's

57:24

legs trembled beneath him. Ghost

57:27

of the future, he exclaimed. I

57:29

fear you more than any spectre I have seen.

57:33

But I know your purpose is to do me good. And

57:36

I'm prepared to bear your company and do it

57:38

with a thankful heart. Will you

57:40

not speak to me? It

57:43

gave him no reply. The hand

57:45

was pointed straight ahead. Lead

57:49

on, said Scrooge. Lead on. The

57:51

night is precious to me. I know. Spirit,

57:55

the phantom moved away. They

57:57

were in the heart of the city. amongst

58:00

the merchants, who hurried up and

58:02

down and chinked the money in

58:04

their pockets, as Scrooge had

58:07

often seen them do. The

58:09

spirit stopped beside one little knot

58:11

of businessmen, a group of businessmen,

58:14

pointing to them. Scrooge

58:16

advanced to listen to their

58:18

talk. �No,� said

58:20

one of the men. �I don�t know much about

58:23

it. I only know he�s dead.� �When

58:25

did he die?� inquired another. �Last

58:27

night, I believe.� �What�s

58:30

he done with all his money?� �I

58:33

haven�t heard,� said the first man, yawning. �It�s

58:37

likely to be a very cheap funeral. I

58:39

don�t know anybody who would go to it.�

58:42

�I don�t mind going if a lunch is provided,�

58:45

laughed one gentleman. Scrooge

58:48

knew the men and looked towards the

58:51

spirit for an explanation. Scrooge

58:54

felt that the unseen eyes of the ghost

58:56

were looking at him closely. It

58:59

made him shudder and feel

59:01

very cold. They

59:03

went into a dirty part of

59:05

town where the shops and houses

59:08

reeked with filth and misery. There

59:10

was a shop where greasy old junk

59:13

was bought. Scrooge

59:15

and the phantom came into this shop, called

59:18

Old Joe�s, just as

59:20

two women and a man carried

59:22

in several bags of stuff laughing.

59:26

The man produced his takings first.

59:29

A pencil case and a brooch were all

59:31

he had. Old Joe

59:33

added up his prices upon the wall.

59:37

�I know these things,� said Scrooge.

59:39

�They�re just like mine, and

59:42

they�re worth much more money than this man is paying.�

59:45

�Who�s next?� said Joe. Mrs

59:49

Dilber was next. Sheets

59:51

and towels. Two old-fashioned

59:53

silver teaspoons. A

59:55

pair of sugar tongs and a few

59:57

boots. Her account was

1:00:00

stated on the wall in the same manner. I

1:00:03

paid two shillings ten for teaspoons

1:00:05

just like those Scrooge objected. And

1:00:10

now open up my bag Joe said the next

1:00:12

woman. Joe dragged out

1:00:15

a large and heavy roll of

1:00:17

some dark stuff, the

1:00:19

same fabric and colour as

1:00:21

Scrooge's bed curtains. Bed

1:00:24

curtains said Joe, you don't mean

1:00:26

to say you took them down,

1:00:28

rings and all, with him lying there

1:00:30

dead? Yes

1:00:33

I do replied the woman. Why not?

1:00:36

What his blankets too? Whose

1:00:39

else do you think replied the woman? And

1:00:41

that's the best shirt he had and a

1:00:43

fine one too. They'd have wasted it

1:00:46

if it hadn't been for me. Putting

1:00:48

it on him to be buried in they were. She

1:00:51

laughed but I took it off again. Scrooge

1:00:54

looked at a shirt, just

1:00:57

like his own shirt and listened

1:00:59

in horror. Ha

1:01:02

ha ha! laughed the same woman when

1:01:04

old Joe paid out the money in

1:01:06

return for the shirt and the other

1:01:08

things. This

1:01:13

is the end of it you see, he frightened

1:01:15

everyone away from him when he was alive, to

1:01:18

profit us when he was dead. Spirit

1:01:21

said Scrooge, shuddering

1:01:23

from head to foot, I see, I see

1:01:25

the case of this unhappy man, might

1:01:28

be my own, merciful heaven what

1:01:30

is this? He

1:01:32

recoiled in terror, for

1:01:35

the scene had changed and now he

1:01:37

almost touched a bed, a

1:01:40

bare uncurtained bed on

1:01:43

which beneath a ragged sheet there

1:01:45

lay the body of this man.

1:01:48

He lay in the dark empty house

1:01:51

with no one to tell his story

1:01:53

or mourn his death. Spirit!

1:01:56

Scrooge said, this is a

1:01:58

fearful place let us go. The

1:02:02

ghost led him to poor Bob

1:02:04

Cratchit's house, and found the

1:02:06

mother and the children seated around the fire. Very

1:02:10

quiet, the little Cratchits were

1:02:13

as still as statues in one

1:02:15

corner, with Peter who had a

1:02:17

book in front of him. The mother

1:02:19

and her daughters were sewing, but

1:02:21

certainly they were very quiet. The

1:02:25

mother laid her work upon the

1:02:27

table and put her hand up

1:02:29

to her face. "'Your father should

1:02:31

have been home by now,' she said."

1:02:34

Peter said, shutting up his book.

1:02:37

"'But I think he's walked a little slower

1:02:39

than he used to,' these last

1:02:41

few evenings, mother." At

1:02:44

last, she said, "'He used to walk

1:02:47

with Tiny Tim upon his shoulder, very

1:02:49

fast indeed. But he

1:02:51

was very light to carry. And his father

1:02:53

loved him so. Ah, there's your father

1:02:55

at the door.' She

1:02:58

hurried out to meet him. Bob

1:03:00

broke down all at once and cried.

1:03:03

He couldn't help it. They

1:03:05

gathered in front of the fire and talked.

1:03:08

Bob told them of the extraordinary kindness

1:03:11

of Mr. Scrooge's nephew, whom

1:03:13

he had scarcely seen but once. "'I'm

1:03:17

terribly sorry about this, Mr. Cratchit,' Fred

1:03:20

had said. "'And sorry for your good

1:03:22

wife. I'm sure that none of us

1:03:24

will forget poor Tiny Tim, shall we?' "'Never,

1:03:29

father,' they all cried. "'Spectre,'

1:03:32

said Scrooge. "'Tell me

1:03:34

what man that was whom we saw

1:03:36

lying dead.' "'The

1:03:40

Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come' did not answer,

1:03:42

but led him straight on until they reached an

1:03:44

iron gate, a churchyard. Here, then, the wretched man

1:03:46

whose name he had now to learn

1:03:51

lay underneath the ground. "'Answer me

1:03:53

one question,' said Scrooge. Are

1:04:02

these the shadows of the things that

1:04:04

will be, or are they

1:04:06

shadows of things that may be only?

1:04:10

The spirit stood among the

1:04:12

graves and pointed down to one

1:04:14

of them. Scrooge

1:04:18

followed the finger and read

1:04:20

upon the stone of the grave his

1:04:22

own name, Ebenezer Scrooge.

1:04:26

The finger pointed from the grave to

1:04:29

him and back again.

1:04:32

No, spirit, no, oh no, no. The

1:04:36

finger was still there. Spirit,

1:04:38

he cried, tightly clutching at its robe,

1:04:41

hear me, I am not the man

1:04:43

I was, I've changed. Why

1:04:45

show me this if I am past all hope?

1:04:49

For the first time the hand appeared to

1:04:51

shake. Good

1:04:53

spirit, he pursued, I will honour Christmas

1:04:55

in my heart and try

1:04:57

to keep it all the year. I will live

1:04:59

in the past, the present and the future. The

1:05:03

spirits of all three shall strive within me.

1:05:05

I will not shut out the lessons that

1:05:07

they have taught me. Oh, tell

1:05:09

me I can remove the writing on this stone.

1:05:14

In his agony he caught the

1:05:16

spectral hand. The

1:05:18

phantom's hood and dress shrunk,

1:05:21

collapsed and dwindled down into

1:05:23

a bedpost. Okay,

1:05:26

that's the end of part four. What

1:05:29

happened? Gosh, what actually happened?

1:05:31

I can't quite remember. I was a bit too

1:05:33

involved in the story there. Is

1:05:36

the spirit of Christmas yet to come? So this

1:05:38

is the spirit of the future, okay?

1:05:41

And okay, so basically what

1:05:43

Scrooge is seeing, what

1:05:45

this spirit is showing him is that

1:05:47

Scrooge has

1:05:49

died and people

1:05:55

are talking about him. People

1:05:57

don't care that he died. People

1:05:59

only... wondering about his belongings,

1:06:01

about his money, who's going to get the

1:06:03

money, who's going to get his stuff. No

1:06:06

one actually cares about him. His body is

1:06:08

left lying on the bed, then his body

1:06:11

is buried in the cemetery. No one is

1:06:13

there to mourn his death. Even

1:06:18

people are bringing his belongings, like

1:06:20

his clothes and his silver spoons

1:06:22

and stuff from his kitchen, the

1:06:24

curtains from the wall. Even

1:06:27

the shirt that he was wearing has been removed

1:06:29

from his dead body. This

1:06:31

is being sold in

1:06:34

some terrible, horrible shop in

1:06:36

a bad part of town.

1:06:39

All his belongings are being sold

1:06:41

there by people who don't care about

1:06:43

him. This

1:06:46

is tragic stuff, right? This is really, really

1:06:49

tragic stuff. Scrooge can't bear to see it.

1:06:51

He can't bear the idea that he's

1:06:54

just lying there dead with

1:06:58

people just taking his belongings. This is his legacy,

1:07:02

right? Okay.

1:07:05

So then let's move on to part five

1:07:07

then. So here we are. Part five, the end of it.

1:07:10

Yes. So at the end, the spirit, he's

1:07:14

imploring the spirit, like

1:07:16

asking the spirit to

1:07:20

give him a chance because he's learned

1:07:22

his lesson and he's going to change

1:07:24

his ways. And he's desperate for the

1:07:26

spirit to understand that he's definitely going

1:07:28

to be different. He's going to live

1:07:31

with the spirit of Christmas in his heart, right?

1:07:33

He's going to change his ways. And

1:07:35

he grabs the hand of the spirit,

1:07:37

the bony hand, and as he does

1:07:40

so, the spirit sort of disappears. And

1:07:42

instead, there's a bedpost, the

1:07:44

wooden post of one

1:07:47

of the wooden posts of his bed is

1:07:49

just there in front of him. So

1:07:52

part five, the end of it. Yes.

1:07:54

And the bedpost was his own. The

1:07:57

bed was his own. The room was his

1:08:00

Best and happiest of all, the

1:08:02

time before him was his

1:08:04

own, time to make

1:08:06

amends, to make changes, to fix

1:08:08

things. I

1:08:10

will live in the past, the present, and the future,

1:08:13

Scrooge repeated as he scrambled

1:08:15

out of bed. The

1:08:17

spirits of all three shall strive within

1:08:19

me. O Jacob Marley, Christmas time be

1:08:22

praised for this. I say it

1:08:24

on my knees, O Jacob, on

1:08:26

my knees. His

1:08:28

face was wet with tears. They

1:08:31

are not torn down, cried

1:08:33

Scrooge, folding one of his bed curtains

1:08:35

in his arms. They are not torn

1:08:37

down, rings and all. They are here.

1:08:40

I am here. The shadows of the

1:08:43

things that would have been may be

1:08:45

dispelled. They will be. I know

1:08:47

they will. I can change the future. I

1:08:50

don't know what to do, cried Scrooge, laughing

1:08:52

and crying in the same breath. I

1:08:55

am as light as a feather. I

1:08:57

am as happy as an angel. I am

1:08:59

as merry as a schoolboy. I am as

1:09:02

giddy as a drunken man. A

1:09:04

merry Christmas to everybody, a happy new year

1:09:06

to all the world. He

1:09:09

had hurried into the sitting room and

1:09:11

was now standing there. There

1:09:14

is the door by which the ghost

1:09:17

of Jacob Marley entered, cried Scrooge, starting

1:09:19

off again and going around the fireplace.

1:09:21

There is the corner where the ghost

1:09:23

of Christmas present sat. There

1:09:25

is the window where I saw the wandering spirits.

1:09:28

It's all right. It's all true. It

1:09:31

all happened. Really,

1:09:33

for a man who had been out of

1:09:36

practice for so many years, it was a

1:09:38

splendid laugh. I

1:09:41

don't know what day of the month it is, cried

1:09:43

Scrooge. I don't know how long I have been

1:09:45

among the spirits. I don't know anything. Never

1:09:48

mind. I don't care. The

1:09:51

churches began ringing out louder

1:09:53

and clearer than he'd ever

1:09:55

heard. Clash, clang, hammer, ding

1:09:57

dong, bell. sound.

1:10:01

Running to the window, he opened it and

1:10:03

put out his head. No

1:10:06

fog, no mist, just clear,

1:10:08

bright, cold, golden sunlight. Heavenly

1:10:11

sky, sweet,

1:10:14

fresh air, merry

1:10:16

bells, what a

1:10:18

glorious, glorious day.

1:10:20

What day is it today?

1:10:22

cried Scrooge, calling downward to a

1:10:24

boy in Sunday clothes. Eh?

1:10:28

returned the boy. What day

1:10:30

is it, my fine fellow? said

1:10:32

Scrooge. Today? replied

1:10:35

the boy. Why, it's Christmas day, sir.

1:10:39

It's Christmas day, said Scrooge

1:10:41

to himself. I haven't missed it. The

1:10:43

spirits have done it all in one night. They

1:10:46

can do anything they like. Of course they

1:10:48

can. Of course they

1:10:51

can. Hello, my fine fellow.

1:10:53

Hello. returned the boy. Do

1:10:57

you know the butcher's shop in the next

1:10:59

street at the corner? Scrooge

1:11:01

inquired. I certainly do.

1:11:04

replied the lad. An intelligent boy,

1:11:06

said Scrooge. A remarkable

1:11:08

boy. Do you know

1:11:10

whether they've sold the prized turkey that

1:11:12

was hanging up there, not the little

1:11:15

turkey, the big one? What?

1:11:19

The one as big as me? returned

1:11:21

the boy. What a delightful

1:11:23

boy, said Scrooge. Yes, yes. Well,

1:11:26

it's hanging there now, replied the boy.

1:11:29

Is it, said Scrooge. Go and buy it. What?

1:11:34

exclaimed the boy. Seriously, said

1:11:36

Scrooge. Go and tell them to bring it

1:11:38

here so that I can give them the

1:11:40

directions where to take it. Come

1:11:42

back with the man and I'll give you a

1:11:44

tenner. Come back with him in

1:11:46

less than five minutes and I'll give you twenty. The

1:11:49

boy was off like a shot. I'll

1:11:53

send it to Bob Cratchits. Whispered

1:11:55

Scrooge, rubbing his hands, laughing.

1:12:00

know who sent it. It's twice the

1:12:02

size of Tidy Tim." He

1:12:06

wrote down the address somehow and

1:12:09

went downstairs to open the

1:12:11

street door, ready for the coming of

1:12:13

the butcher's man. As

1:12:16

he stood there waiting for him to arrive, the door

1:12:19

knocker caught his eye, the

1:12:21

one that had appeared to him as the

1:12:23

face of old Jacob Marley the night before.

1:12:27

"'I

1:12:30

shall love it as long as I live,' cried

1:12:33

Scrooge, passing it with his hand. It's

1:12:35

a wonderful knocker. "'Ah,

1:12:38

here's the turkey. Hello again. Merry

1:12:40

Christmas.' It was a turkey. "'Why,

1:12:43

it's impossible to carry that to Camden

1:12:45

Town,' said Scrooge. "'I'll get you a

1:12:47

cab.' The

1:12:51

chuckle with which he said this, and

1:12:53

the chuckle with which he paid for

1:12:55

the turkey, and the chuckle with which

1:12:57

he paid for the cab, and the

1:12:59

chuckle—' little laugh—which he

1:13:01

paid the boy, were only

1:13:04

to be exceeded by the chuckle with which

1:13:06

he sat down, breathless

1:13:10

in his chair again, and

1:13:12

chuckled until he cried. He

1:13:16

dressed himself up in his best clothes, and

1:13:19

at last got out into the streets.

1:13:22

The people were by this time all pouring

1:13:24

out of their homes, as

1:13:26

he'd seen them with the ghost of

1:13:28

Christmas present, and Scrooge looked at every

1:13:30

one of them with a delighted smile.

1:13:33

Three or four good-humoured people said, "'Good

1:13:36

morning, sir. Merry Christmas to you.' And

1:13:39

Scrooge said, often afterwards, that of

1:13:41

all the happy sounds he'd ever

1:13:43

heard, those were the happiest in

1:13:45

his ears. He'd not

1:13:47

gone far. When coming towards him,

1:13:50

he saw the gentleman who'd walked

1:13:53

into his counting-house the day before,

1:13:55

which sent a pang across his heart, to

1:13:58

think how this old gentleman would have been. would look upon

1:14:00

him when they met. But he

1:14:02

knew what path lay straight before him, and

1:14:05

he took it. "'Excuse

1:14:07

me,' said Scrooge, quickening his pace, and

1:14:09

putting his hand on the gentleman's shoulder.

1:14:12

How do you do? I hope you

1:14:14

succeeded yesterday. It was very

1:14:16

kind of you to collect things for the poor.

1:14:19

Merry Christmas to you, sir. Allow

1:14:21

me to ask your pardon, and will you

1:14:24

have the goodness to allow me to give you—" Here

1:14:27

Scrooge whispered in his ear. "'Goodness

1:14:31

me,' cried the gentleman, as if his

1:14:33

breath were taken away. "'My

1:14:36

dear Mr. Scrooge, are you serious?' "'If

1:14:39

you please,' said Scrooge, not a

1:14:41

penny less. A

1:14:43

great many back payments are included in it,

1:14:45

I assure you. Will you do

1:14:47

me that favour?' "'My

1:14:49

dear sir,' said the other, shaking hands with

1:14:51

him. "'I don't know what to say. Don't

1:14:54

say anything, please,' retorted Scrooge. "'Will

1:14:57

you come and see me? I will,' cried the

1:14:59

old gentleman, and it was clear he meant to

1:15:02

do it. "'Thank you,' said

1:15:04

Scrooge. "'I am much obliged to you. I

1:15:06

thank you so much, and God bless you.'

1:15:10

He went to church, and walked about the

1:15:12

streets, and watched the people hurrying to and

1:15:14

fro, and patted children on

1:15:16

the head, and found that everything gave him

1:15:19

pleasure. He'd never

1:15:21

dreamed that anything could give him so

1:15:23

much happiness. In the

1:15:25

afternoon he turned his steps towards his

1:15:27

nephew's house. He

1:15:29

passed the door a dozen times, before

1:15:31

he had the courage to go up and knock, but

1:15:34

he made a dash, and he did it. Knock,

1:15:37

knock, knock. "'Is your master

1:15:39

at home, my dear?' said Scrooge to the girl.

1:15:42

"'Yes, sir.' "'Where is he,

1:15:44

my love?' said Scrooge.

1:15:46

"'He's in the dining room, sir, along with

1:15:48

his sister. "'I'll show you

1:15:50

up-stairs, if you'd like.' "'He

1:15:53

knows me. They both do,' said Scrooge,

1:15:56

with his hand already on the dining-room lock. in

1:16:00

here myself, my dear." "'Fred,'

1:16:03

said Scrooge, "'Why, bless my

1:16:05

soul,' cried Fred. Who's that?"

1:16:09

"'It's me. It's your Uncle Scrooge. I've

1:16:11

come to dinner. Will you let me in,

1:16:13

Fred?'" "'Let him

1:16:15

in.' His lucky Fred didn't shake

1:16:18

his arm off. He

1:16:20

was made to feel welcome and at home in

1:16:22

five minutes. Everything could

1:16:25

be heartier, wonderful party,

1:16:27

wonderful games, wonderful happiness.

1:16:31

But he was early at the office the next morning.

1:16:34

If he could only be there first

1:16:37

and catch Bob Cratchit coming late, that

1:16:40

was the thing he had set his

1:16:42

heart upon. And he

1:16:44

did it. Yes, he did. The

1:16:46

clock struck nine. No Bob. A

1:16:49

quarter passed. No Bob. He

1:16:52

was a full eighteen and a half minutes late.

1:16:55

Scrooge sat with his door wide

1:16:57

open so he could see him come

1:16:59

into the office. His

1:17:02

hat was off before he opened the door.

1:17:04

He was on his stool in a jiffy,

1:17:06

working away with his pen as if he

1:17:08

were trying to make up for his lateness.

1:17:14

"'Hello,' growled Scrooge in

1:17:17

his accustomed voice, as

1:17:19

near as he could fain it. "'What do you mean

1:17:21

by coming in here at this time of day?' "'I'm

1:17:25

very sorry sir,' said Bob. "'I'm

1:17:28

late, I know.' "'You

1:17:30

are,' repeated Scrooge. "'Yes, I think

1:17:32

you are. Step this way sir,

1:17:34

if you please.' "'It's

1:17:37

only once a year, sir,' pleaded

1:17:39

Bob. "'I won't do it again.

1:17:42

We had a bit of a party yesterday sir. I've

1:17:44

got a bit of a hangover to be

1:17:47

honest. But I'm good for work, I

1:17:49

promise.' "'Now,

1:17:52

I'll tell you what, my friend,' said

1:17:55

Scrooge. "'I'm not going to stand this

1:17:57

sort of thing any longer. And therefore,'

1:17:59

said Bob. He continued, and

1:18:02

therefore I am about to raise

1:18:04

your salary. Bob

1:18:06

trembled. He

1:18:09

had a momentary idea of knocking Scrooge

1:18:12

down, holding him and calling to the

1:18:14

people in the hospital for help and

1:18:16

a straitjacket. Like, there's

1:18:18

something wrong with him. A

1:18:21

Merry Christmas Bob, said Scrooge,

1:18:24

with an earnestness that could not be

1:18:26

mistaken, as he clapped him on the

1:18:28

back. A Merry Christmas

1:18:31

Bob, my good fellow, that

1:18:33

I have given you for many a year. I'll

1:18:36

raise your salary and

1:18:38

try to help your struggling family, and

1:18:40

we will discuss your affairs this very afternoon,

1:18:42

Bob. Come on, let's

1:18:44

get a good warm fire going in

1:18:46

the fireplace. Scrooge

1:18:50

was better than his word. He did it

1:18:52

all, and infinitely more. And

1:18:54

to Tiny Tim, who did not die,

1:18:57

he was like a second father. He

1:19:00

became as good a friend, as good

1:19:02

a master, as good a man, as

1:19:04

the good old city knew, or any

1:19:06

other good old city, town, or borough

1:19:08

in the good old world. Some

1:19:11

people laughed to see the change in him, but

1:19:13

he let them laugh. His

1:19:16

own heart laughed, and that was quite enough

1:19:18

for him. He

1:19:21

had no further meetings with spirits ever again,

1:19:24

and people always said about him that

1:19:27

he knew how to do Christmas properly, if

1:19:29

any man alive possessed the knowledge. May

1:19:33

that be truly said of us, and

1:19:36

all of us, and so, as

1:19:38

Tiny Tim observed, God bless us, everyone.

1:19:46

So there you go, that is the end of

1:19:48

the story. I really hope you enjoyed that. It's

1:19:50

a good story, isn't it? Don't you think? It

1:19:52

is a good story. It's got a good message,

1:19:54

and so on. I think you understood that at the end

1:19:56

of the story, Scrooge was a reformed

1:19:59

man. a changed man and he goes

1:20:01

out and is super generous with everyone

1:20:04

and he reconnects with his nephew Fred

1:20:06

and they have a wonderful dinner together

1:20:08

and then he's kind to Bob Cratchit

1:20:10

and he raises his salary and in

1:20:12

fact looks after him

1:20:14

and his family and becomes

1:20:16

the good boss like Mr.

1:20:18

Fezziwig was to him previously.

1:20:20

So a heartwarming story at

1:20:22

the end. So a

1:20:25

bit scary, a bit chilling at

1:20:28

some moments that story but ultimately it's

1:20:30

a heartwarming tale and I hope

1:20:32

you enjoyed it. Okay what do you think supermarket

1:20:35

Santa? What do you think? Oh

1:20:37

oh oh oh I really enjoyed

1:20:39

it Luke. Oh Merry Christmas. Wow

1:20:42

what a sort of jolly supermarket

1:20:45

Santa you really are and

1:20:48

listeners I don't know if you could hear

1:20:50

the noises in the corridor outside my room

1:20:53

you may have been able to hear banging

1:20:55

and crashing sounds that's not a

1:20:57

ghost as far as I know hopefully not I

1:20:59

don't think I'm being haunted by any kind

1:21:02

of spirits but there is a guy

1:21:04

who's doing work in the corridor

1:21:06

and hopefully that didn't disturb your

1:21:09

enjoyment of the story. I

1:21:12

think that he probably overheard a

1:21:15

lot of those a lot of he

1:21:17

probably overheard me telling that story

1:21:19

he's probably wondering to himself what is going

1:21:21

on in that room what

1:21:23

is this guy doing in there being

1:21:26

haunted by spirits and stuff I don't know what

1:21:28

he thinks. Well

1:21:30

I leave to go and have my lunch in

1:21:33

a minute I'll just to be like bonjour but

1:21:35

that as he'll be like bonjour hmm

1:21:38

anyway maybe he listens

1:21:40

to Luke's English podcast who knows well he does

1:21:42

now he did today anyway without even realizing it

1:21:44

thank you very much for listening to this episode

1:21:46

I really hope you've enjoyed it Merry

1:21:49

Christmas Happy New Year, season's greetings

1:21:51

if you don't celebrate Christmas just

1:21:53

you know happy happy

1:21:56

time I

1:21:58

guess thank you People

1:22:00

listening to my podcast. Yeah,

1:22:03

there's gonna be like one more double episode

1:22:05

before the end of the year. Or.

1:22:08

Case so that will come soon

1:22:10

and then while I'm going to

1:22:12

be on holidays and I'll be

1:22:14

back during podcasts again in the

1:22:16

New Year. Okay everyone so until

1:22:18

then, until next time Anyway, I

1:22:21

will now wish you a very

1:22:23

very very festive could buy wherever

1:22:25

you are in the world whatever

1:22:27

you're doing weather is morning, afternoon,

1:22:29

evening or night. Thank you, take

1:22:31

care, be good to each other

1:22:34

and good bye bye bye. Thanks

1:22:40

for listening to Leaks

1:22:43

English podcast. Some more

1:22:45

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