At the last minute

At the last minute

Today’s lesson is a little long, so we’ll do a quick and easy expression. That is, “at the last minute.” When you do something at the last minute, you do it very close to a deadline. Often, in fact , almost always—it’s not literally the last minute. It all depends on the situation.

In today’s lesson, I said that Qatar changed its alcohol policy at the last minute. Previously, alcohol would be served in special hospitality tents—designated areas—around the stadiums, so fans could buy beer outside the stadiums.

Two days before the first game, Qatar changed the policy. Now remember, I said they did this at the last minute.

I am saying they changed the policy very close to the last possible time to do it. Two days before the tournament started—that was a very late time to be making policy changes around food and beverage near the stadiums. They won the rights to the tournament twelve years ago; only two days before the tournament, they were still changing their minds about alcohol, something that should have been easy to plan for.

Have you ever had to change your flight at the last minute? It’s not a lot of fun, you usually have to pay a lot to change it at the last minute. If you have to change a flight a day or two in advance, then that’s changing it at the last minute.

What about getting to the airport? Have you ever rushed to get to the airport at the last minute? I sure have! What does that look like? If you pull up to the airport 35 or 45 minutes before your flight is scheduled to leave—that’s the last minute. That’s about as late as you can arrive and still get on the plane.

Here’s a great example. You request a ride from Uber or another app. It connects you with a driver. The driver is, let’s say, eight minutes away. You wait patiently. Six minutes away, then five. You look away from your phone. A few minutes go by, and then guess what? The driver canceled at the last minute. The driver canceled right when he should have been picking you up. This has happened to me multiple times. The driver cancels at the last minute, the latest possible time.

JR’s song of the week

Elton John performed his last-ever concert in the U.S. in November of last year. He’s been performing for 52 years. He’s 75 years old now and he’s doing his final tour; he’s in Australia and New Zealand this month. He’ll be performing in the U.K. and Europe in the first half of this year, and that will be all for a remarkable career of performing live.

So today’s song of the week is an Elton John song, “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.” It’s about someone who leaves behind the chaotic life of wealth and fame and takes control of his time again.

“Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” by Elton John is the song of the week today.

See you next time!

And that brings us to the end of Plain English for today, Thursday, January 12, 2023. Congratulations on making it to the end of another lesson. I’d love to know what you thought about this World Cup, so head into the Facebook group and leave a comment under today’s lesson. If you haven’t joined us on there, then you can join just by visiting PlainEnglish.com/Facebook.

We’ll be back on Monday with a new lesson. See you then!