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So let’s begin with the phrase turn of events – what does that mean? This phrase is commonly used to express some kind of change in a situation. So we can say, for example, that there was an unexpected turn of events – that’s quite common. Or, an unfortunate turn of events – a situation took a turn for the worse.
That’s not the case for the story I’m gonna tell you, though. It happened just yesterday, and it was certainly an unexpected turn of events, but it was a fortunate one. So what happened was – I just moved into a new place and had to buy a desk and an office chair for my new place. They were supposed to deliver the chair yesterday during work hours, but I didn’t want to stay in all day waiting for the delivery – so I provided instructions to the delivery company: “Please leave the package in the parking lot at the back of the building.”
So I left home in the morning, as I usually do, sat down at a coffee shop and started some work. A couple of hours later I got a text message from the delivery company saying they had made the delivery – and someone at my building had received it and signed for it. The name of the person didn’t really ring a bell – it looked like it had been abbreviated. I thought “Great. I told them to just leave the package at the parking lot, and now someone’s signed for it.” I got immediately suspicious – I don’t know why, but I did. I just could not understand why they needed someone’s signature. I was now fearing that my chair had been stolen and I was gonna have to call up the company and make a complain and all that.
So I decided I’d head over to my place right then since I was a bit worried anyway. When I got there, I thought I’d check the parking lot right away. I’ll admit I feared I’d find no packages whatsoever awaiting. Well, that was my first pleasant surprise: there was a big package right where I had instructed them to leave it. I tried to lift it off the floor but it was too heavy, so I just dragged it along the pavement around my building until I reached the front door.
Now, I live in a building with no elevators – on the first floor, but still… It wasn’t going to be too easy to carry that package over to my place. And that’s when the second unexpected turn of events happened: this nice lady who lives in my building, who I’d never seen before, was just coming out the front door and offered to help me with the package.
It took us about thirty seconds to get to my door. She introduced herself and said that if I needed anything, to just give her a call. So, yeah… what started out as a bit of a worrisome situation for me turned out pretty nicely. That was a nice and unexpected turn of events… At least the events I had running in my head!
Please tell us in the comments about the last time you had an unexpected turn of events in your life, and talk to you next time!
Key expressions
a turn of events
Vocabulary
a situation took a turn for the worse = uma situação piorou, de repente algo ruim aconteceu
Ana criou um blog de dicas de inglês em 2006, e depois de muito pesquisar o que faz alguém ganhar fluência numa segunda língua, criou seu primeiro curso de inglês em 2009.