It’s Wednesday and I’m back on the blog – nice to be with you again.I’ll tell you why I have chosen today’s title in a moment, but I thought I might start by having a closer look at some of your English as one or two of you have specifically requested some more English language help.First, quite a few of you are using an informal way of writing English. For example not using full stops, capital letters, many full stops in a row, and shortened and slang words. Now what you are doing is absolutely right! I’m not criticising you at all. However do remember where you are using this sort of written English. This is the sort of English you see on webpages, social networking sites, and blogs like this one. We are all chatting together, and often we write quite quickly. Because it’s an informal space, our written English more closely resembles the way we speak. But remember, if you are writing a formal letter, applying for a job, or writing to open a bank account, if you are in an English speaking country, then you should use much more formal English. When you send me your comments next time, let’s try to use more formal English. Don’t worry, let’s only do this once! It is just an experiment, and a chance to practise your written English without smiley faces  and with capital letters, full stops and commas used in the right places. Let’s try! Just one thing about some of the words you have been using recently. One of you described the Chinese New Year celebrations as “frisky”. It’s a nice word, but there are better words you could use. Frisky means “full of high spirits, happiness, and playfulness.” However, most people associate the word with the playfulness of dogs when they jump up and want to play with you. So to describe the New Year celebrations as “frisky” isn’t quite right. Try joyful, full of fun, great, exciting, thrilling. Just a few suggestions for you. Anyway, why is the blog today called “The Daily Grind”. This is a term we use in English to express our daily routine in life. It is normally associated with work, and expresses the feeling of a repeated day to day schedule which gets boring! I’m not bored of my job at all, it is a privilege and pleasure to be able to chat with you all, as this is part of my job. However, I do have a daily routine which I thought I would tell you about, and it would be nice to get an idea of what your daily schedule is. So, this is my day to day schedule when I’m working. 0700 The alarm clock goes off. 0800 My friend arrives at my house, and we cycle to work together. 0840 We have a cup of tea or coffee at a cafe near to the end of our cycling route. 0900 Start work. 1845 Leave work, and cycle home. So there you have a summary of my day to day routine. Not very exciting is it! Some might say “life is a bit of grind” when they talk about their routine, they get bored and tired of repeating the same thing many times over. However, I quite like routine. My friend and I vary the cycle route we take to work quite often, and change the places where we have our tea, so there’s always something interesting to see. Here are some pictures of the cycling conditions in London.  Picture: Copyright BBC NewsMost of the time you have to share the road with cars and lorries.  Picture: Copyright BBC NewsSometimes the pollution is quite bad, and many cyclists wear masks to filter out the pollution.  Picture: Copyright BBC News Cycling is becoming more popular, with plans to make cars pay more money to drive into London, and to make the air cleaner. Many politicians have promoted cycling in Britain including the old Prime Minister Tony Blair. He doesn’t look too confident riding that bicycle! Let me know about your daily journey to work or college. How do you keep going and stay positive? Do you cycle, or take the bus? I know lots of people used to cycle in China, but now the car is more popular, but is that a good thing? Before I go, it’s Valentines Day on Thursday 14th. What romantic things will you be doing, are you taking your boyfriend or girlfriend out for a special treat? Will you be giving flowers to them, or perhaps you don’t believe in romance! Tell me what you will be doing. Bye for now. John.
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