In this podcast, we’re travelling through time to the future and to the past. Come with us on our journey as we experience life as we have never known it and you’ll learn some vocabulary and improve your listening skills along the way.

This week’s epidode is sponsored by ITALKI
Sign up for free and book your first class!
Use the promotional code “INGLES” when you pay for your first lesson and you’ll get a €5 discount on your first class of at least €10. Use this link: https://go.italki.com/inglespodcast

Voice message from Augustin from Cartagena

Blood sports https://inglespodcast.com/591

Augustin added this comment in a follow-up email: “I found it quite interesting that in that episode (as far as I remember) you didn’t use the word “torero” when referring to the bullfighter. In fact, that word is much more common in the bullfighting world than “matador,” which to most of us sounds a bit stronger.”
Even if you haven’t actually meet (met)
thousand(s) or tens of thousand(s)

Where would you go in a time machine?

Travelling Back into the Past – the year is 1968

There are cars, buses, motorbikes and bicycles as well as pedestrians moving around the town, but not that many. People seem to be walking about more slowly than in 2025 – they look a bit less stressed and more alert to what is happening around them. Nobody is carrying a mobile phone or any other digital device. I notice how much more eye contact there is.
Some men, young and old, have short well-combed hair, are clean-shaven and are dressed smartly, several wearing slim suits and shiny shoes. Other younger men, on the other hand, have long hair, look kind of scruffy, are wearing clothes of bright colours and bold patterns and many have beards and/or bushy moustaches. Older women are dressed in plain-coloured clothes, with skirts and dresses down to their knees or ankles and a lot of them are wearing hats. Younger women are wearing much brighter, sexier clothes, including mini-skirts that end well above the knee.
A lot of people are smoking in the streets and also in the cafés, bars and restaurants, some of them flicking through that day’s newspaper. I see a large group of young people in the park, standing and sitting on the grass. They’re chanting something like “End the war”. Some of them are passing round a joint, and some are stopping passers-by and offering them small flowers and pamphlets.I notice a few swaying around, then pick up the sound of a few people playing acoustic guitar and singing a bit further away. They’re singing about peace.
I see that some older people are observing the younger ones in the park from a distance, scowling, looking bemused and muttering their disapproval. I approach the younger crowd in the park and quickly some woman with long hair and a bandana comes over to me and hands me a flower, saying: “Heh man, peace to one and all!” She’s smoking something and I think she’s a bit high. But she looks happy and smiles at me, swaying around to the distant music. She doesn’t bother me. Quite the reverse – I feel a certain chilled optimism in the air.

Travelling 50 Years into the Future – the year is 2075

As I step out of my time machine, the first thing I notice is how completely the world has changed. I’m struck by the silence. People aren’t talking and the vehicles are humming but there’s hardly any traffic noise. Small drones fly quickly through the air like metal birds. The streets are clean and quiet, with cars that drive themselves. There are no drivers behind the steering wheels. Some people travel in small flying vehicles, while others walk through bright green parks where the trees give off a soft light at night.
Everywhere I look, technology and nature seem to live together in balance. Robots walk beside people, helping with shopping or carrying heavy bags. Robots are picking up rubbish in the streets and cleaning the windows of huge buildings that are covered in green plants. Colourful holograms appear suddenly in the air around me advertising products and services instead of normal LED screens. Most people don’t use phones anymore; they speak through small devices in their ears or even by thinking. I feel excited but also a bit nervous about how many machines and automation are part of daily life.
The air feels fresh and cool, with the smell of plants and clean energy. The food I see in cafés looks strange but beautiful — maybe grown in a lab, but still healthy. Travel has become incredibly fast; I can cross continents in only a few minutes using super-fast transport systems. It’s exciting, but I sometimes miss the slower, more natural pace of life in the past.
Emotionally, I feel curious but also nostalgic. Humanity seems to have solved many problems — pollution, hunger, and disease (everyone looks so fit and healthy) — but something feels missing. People still create art and music, but everything seems controlled by technology. As I look at the shining skyline, I start to wonder if we have lost something important that I can’t quite put my finger on.

…and now it’s your turn to practise your English. Where would you go in a time machine? We challenge you, as Augustin challenged us, to describe a world in the future or the past. Send us your message and we’ll include it in a future episode.

Send us a voice message. https://www.speakpipe.com/inglespodcast
Send us an email with a comment or question to [email protected] or [email protected]

If you’re a Spanish speaker and you want to improve your English with free and paid resources, visit the mansioningles website at mansioningles.com and for paid products you can browse the online store at https://store.mansioningles.net/

Thank you to our Patreon supporters. Join our Patreon program and you get instant access to the transcriptions of this podcast and live Zoom chats so that you can practice speaking. https://www.patreon.com/inglespodcast

Welcome to our new Patreon supporters who have joined us this month:
Gerardo
Paco Morillas
Esther
Alicia Criado
Lola

In next week’s episode: Life expectancy and blue zones

If you enjoyed this podcast, please tell your friends.

The music in this podcast is by Pitx. The track is called ‘See You Later’