My weekend started on Saturday afternoon only, and Sunday wasn’t all free either, since I had to do a lot of learning in many subjects. I spent half the day reading numerous pages in literature, writing essays or learning physics and chemistry. So Saturday afternoon was really the best time for rest and entertainment. I usually came home from school at half past eleven and was always happy to get home earlier than usual and sit peacefully in front of the TV set or with a book on the sofa. I enjoyed my Saturday evenings most of all. I never knew about boredom even when I spent the evening on my own listening to music or watching a film. Often my best friend came over for a chat and we had great fun together. Yet once or twice a month, especially in winter, I went to the theatre or to a party. In spring and in autumn, when the weather was nice, my friend and I just strolled along the streets and talked about all kinds of things: music, books, films, our future prospects, the problems we might have at school or at home and other things.
Sunday was the only day when I could sleep later than usual which was a well-deserved reward for the six days of hard work and early rising. It was the only day, when I could take my time over various things not rushing anywhere and not being in a hurry. Honestly, I hardly did any work about the house. But on Sunday I sometimes did a few things like cleaning my room, placing books on the shelves, which were piled up in different places or I helped mother with cooking.
I know that a Sunday at home is not a day off you will remember as a special one. An ideal weekend for most young people is going for a picnic somewhere in the country or in the forest with your friends, sitting around the fire and singing songs. That’s the kind of weekend we used to have in spring when we were in the ninth and tenth forms. I don’t mean to say that I have never enjoyed weekends like these. But I think I would very soon get bored of them. Of course, the final year at school left little time for entertainment. In future when I have more time and, hopefully, more money, then I’ll have other preferences and choices of rest and relaxation.
ТОПИК 2
In my opinion an ideal day off is the time you spend with your friends or relatives, generally speaking with the people who are very close to you and whose company you always enjoy. You can also enjoy your day off alone when you are tired and exhausted and haven’t got any desire to talk to anybody and need privacy. But in general I am for active rest. There are many places you can go to like cinemas, theatres, museums, cafes, parties. You can also go out of town. A day off for me is a nice possibility to escape from the daily school routine. At school I had a six-days working week. And every day off came like a reward and like ail nice things it flashed by very quickly.
In fact I had only one full day off, Sunday, because on Saturday we had lessons at school. One of the advantages of Saturday was a shorter school day which was over at about one o’clock instead of three o’clock on the other week days.
I hated staying at home at the weekend. I was happy that I could devote the whole Saturday afternoon to going out with my friends. In good warm weather we took long walks in the park or strolled along the streets. Then we could talk for hours about our favourite teams, pop singers or rock groups. I was allowed to stay out later than usual on Saturday nights. But I never went to bed later than midnight.
Unlike many of my friends I was not in the habit of getting up late on Sundays. Sunday usually started with a little of homework, after that I went to the school sports ground to play a game of football or basketball which are my favourite sports. Each time after the game I always felt fit and was ready to face another week of studies. On Sunday afternoons I usually took the dog for a walk. Occasionally I helped mother about the house vacuum-cleaning or taking the rubbish out. Though I enjoyed doing different things on Sundays, nevertheless the remaining part of the day had to be spent on my homework. Sometimes when I went away with my family to the countryside, I got down to work as late as six o’clock in the evening. But having spent the whole day in the open air I felt rested and fit for work.
Of course, my weekends were different depending on the season. Summer weekends were more enjoyable while long weekend winter evenings were somewhat boring. I dream about the time when I can go for a drive to different places here in Russia and take up sports seriously.
