The mosquito coast; Task 1

Dearest ****,

Hello! It’s me Charlie. How is it going? I hope you’re better than me, since I’m emotional really down at the moment.

It all began a while ago, when my father decided to leave the US for the reason that people lived to modern, unhealthy (including being fat) and he was afraid, that a war might destroy the US.

When we finally reached our destination, I was kind of happy, but felt a bit tired though. My first impression about the people who lived there was that they were really strange. They barely wore clothes, the children were naked anyway.

Everyday was a day of sweat and heat. We had to work all day long. While my father built up the “fat boy” the other “villagers” were busy holding a “farm” (that means to hold chickens and a few plants).

After a while the “fat boy” finally reached his whole clarity. With this machine we were able to make ice out of fire.

My father wanted to be like god for the natives, so he planed to carry huge ice blocks in each native village so they could admire his creation.

After a long march we finally reached a village. Too late we realized that the huge ice block had turned into a small ice cube.

When father proudly wanted to present the natives the ice, it melted in a split of a second. What we also found in that village were some white men, who got told from us, that they could come to our village whenever they wanted to, there they’d be save.

Some days after that, the men arrived and each men was carrying a gun. It didn’t take long, that father recognized that there was something wrong with those men and locked them away in the “fat boy” (in the hope they will freeze to death).

Deep in the night, I could suddenly here some shots, those men shot at the “fat boy”, my father just yelled “run” and we rushed away. Behind us there was suddenly a big, dark cloud growing in the sky. The ground was shattered by the bang of the explosion.

We found another place where we could stay and father built up a boat-house (which was even waterproof) from a few parts of old broken ships .

But when the flood came our house changed into a boat and we just drove down the river.

As we passed a village in the night, my father was shocked to see electricity in the jungle.

In the night when everyone slept, my father sneaked off the boat to emblaze the church.

When he tried to get on the “house-boat” again he got shot in his neck. The shot awaked everyone of our family and we were able to help our father on board again.

Finally we reached a beach. I rushed past to get help for my wounded dad. But when I came back, there was no sign of live from my dad any more.

I’m still depressed. I’ve got nightmares all the nights now. There’s no way to discribe, how it feels when your father dies. With him I lost a great fellow on the path of life.

Maybe we could meet soon, since I live in the US again. Some distraction would help me for sure. Hope to get an answer from your side very brief.

Best regards

~Charlie

The mosquito coast; Task 2

Cop: First of all I need your particulars.

Me: My name is Charlie Fox and I used to live in Hatfield, but now I’ve got no real home any more.

Cop: Ermm… Tell me, why did your father want to leave the US?

Me: I don’t really know his reasons, but I assume that he just found the way the modern people lived was too unhealthy and egoistic. He wanted to live just like natives, I don’t understand that, even now, after his death I don’t.

Cop: Could you describe me, what you were doing before that tragedy?

Me: We built up our own village, without TV, without phones and even without electricity. It was really horrible for me the first few days. We worked all day long in that terrible heat.

Cop: Alright… And what could be the reason that your dad got shot?

Me: I exactly know why. He inflamed a church of a village. When he tried to get onto the boat again he got shot in his neck.

Cop: Did you see the alleged criminal?

Me: It was deepest night. It was that dark I could barely see my feet, because there was no light (not even moonlight). Even a bat couldn’t see that I guess.

Cop: Okay we are done for now, I need to thank you for your help and wish you good luck in your further life.

Me: Thank you

blablabla

Fawlty Towers

Basil Fawlty left the tower for the reason of going to a holiday. He ordered some workmen to do some work on his hotel. He left Polly in charge to have at the look at the incompetent workmen. Polly became tired and went to bed, she instructed Manuel to wake her up when the workmen came. A bit later the workmen came, but as Manuel saw the sleeping Polly he wasn’t able to do so. When the phone rang and Manuel called the person on the other end an idiot, he didn’t realize that it was Mr Basil Fawlty who called him. He told him to ask one of the workers to talk with him.

At the next morning, Basil came to check if everything went well the day before but what he found was a wrong blocked up door, the door to the dining room. First he panicked, but then it seemed he just needed someone to dumb his wrath. He shouted at Polly and Manuel but then he accepted that this wouldn’t solve his problem. So he called O’Reilly the builder to fix everything till his wife would arrive.

No sooner said, than done, everything was fixed again.

When his wife arrived she was firstly astonished that O’Reilly was able to do such a good job, but when a competent builder had a look at the wall he said that it was completely wrong made and everything could collapse in any second.

His wife was right after all. Always call competent not cheap workers.

My own opinion:

I really enjoy any film/series in English, because it improves my English a lot. You can learn so much by just watching English films. The series “Fawtly Towers” is funny, inventive and simply a combination of cool jokes and slogans. Though I need to say that I think it’s kind of a back number since I read it’s from 1975. I also think that not all got the jokes.

I am done at this point.