Plan ahead
Today’s expression is to “plan ahead.” To plan ahead is to plan, to make arrangements, for something a long time in advance.
When you plan something, you simply intend to do it, typically at a specific time. I plan to see someone for coffee in two days. I plan to watch NFL football this Sunday. I plan to go to the gym this evening. These are things that don’t require a lot of thought; they don’t require a large commitment; they don’t require me to think about them a long time before they happen. So because of that, we just use the word “plan.”
However, in those cases where we do have to think longer in advance, where there is more preparation necessary, or where we have to coordinate with other people, then we use “plan ahead.”
If I ever want to take a week off, I have to plan ahead. I create content for all of you every week, 52 weeks a year. So I do sometimes take time off. But if I do that, I have to plan ahead. I have to write and record two additional lessons the week before. This requires some effort, some advance planning, and I have to get JR’s permission before I do this. We both have to plan ahead.
You might have to do that at your job, too. Back when I was working in consulting, I couldn’t just take a week off whenever I felt like it. I didn’t need to ask permission, but I did need to plan ahead. It was my responsibility to look at my calendar, think about my clients, my projects, reschedule my meetings, prepare my team to work without me for a week, all those things. I was lucky in that I didn’t need to ask permission. But it was my responsibility to plan ahead. I had to make sure my projects got done and my clients were still happy even though I was away.
Traveling internationally is easier now than it was a year ago. A year ago, actually about 15 months ago, I went to Europe on vacation . I went to Vienna and Budapest. It feels like forever ago, but believe it or not that was before the Omicron variant came out.
At that time, you had to plan ahead for any international travel. You had to research the vaccination and testing rules. You had to get a test within , I think, 48 hours of flying. That means researching where you could get a test, make an appointment, get the test, print the test results. Then you needed to fill out an entry form, print that (!), and have your proof of vaccination ready.
And that was just leaving. If you wanted to come home—I didn’t, but I had to!—if you wanted to come home, you needed to do the whole thing in reverse, but with a whole other set of rules, and you had to find a test in a foreign country. To get this all done, you had to plan ahead. You had to think about it in advance, do the research, and make a plan.
In today’s lesson, I told you about the Guinness museum and tour . It’s at St. James’s Gate, Dublin, Ireland. That’s where Arthur Guinness first started his brewery. They have been brewing Guinness beer there for a long time, since 1759.
When you start a business, especially a manufacturing business, you want to make sure you control the land and building for a long time. It takes a lot of money to install the machinery you need. You can’t just move like you move to another house, so you want to control that land for a long time.
When he first opened the brewery, Arthur Guinness signed a lease for 9,000 years. And I made a joke, I said, this is a man who liked to plan ahead! The lease is no longer in place because Guinness later bought the property. However, 9,000 years was, I believe, the longest lease ever signed. It’s a joke, it’s ridiculous. Nothing lasts 9,000 years. Nine thousand years ago, for reference, England and Ireland were attached to continental Europe! So that’s why the joke is funny—to plan ahead means to make arrangements long in advance, to be prepared, to coordinate, whatever. And that describes Arthur Guinness when he signed the longest lease ever.
JR’s Song of the Week
Every Thursday, JR picks a song in English for us to listen to. It’s a good way for me to get over my musical paralysis. And for you, it’s a great way to get some more exposure to English. Because listen, you don’t want to hear me sing!
Today you can listen to Stephen Sanchez sing, because the song of the week is “Until I Found You” by Stephen Sanchez. He’s twenty years old! If you listen to this song, you can see he is really showing some good promise. He got his start on TikTok and eventually signed with a record label, after another singer spotted him on there. Wow. Good for him—and it’s a good song, too, “Until I Found You” by Stephen Sanchez.
See you next time!
And that’s all for today’s Plain English! This was lesson number 539, so you can find the full lesson at PlainEnglish.com/539.
If you enjoyed today’s lesson, then we invite you to check out Plain English Plus+, which is the best way to get the most out of every Plain English lesson. With a Plus+ membership, you can upgrade your speaking, listening, writing, and reading skills. We’ve got videos, exercises, live conversation calls, and more—all to help you upgrade your skills in English. Check that out at PlainEnglish.com/Plus.
We’ll be back with a new lesson on Monday. See you then!
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