Balloon Flight – vocabulary

a sun-lounger / patio chair / (American = a lawn chair) powerlines / power cables / an electricity pylon

serene – adj – peaceful and calm; untroubled by anything
up in the air – a) high in the air; b) informal for uncertain sometimes because other details have to be decided first:
eg Our trip to the seaside is a bit up in the air at the moment – we need to check the weather forecast.
undeniable – certainly true – undeniably = adverb
in two camps – in two opposite main groups
to get into trouble – to encounter problems or difficulties
"You’re off!" – you can go at once / straight away
one at a time = one by one
Note: Lawrence Walters is also known as Lawn Chair Larry. A lawn chair is American for what British English would call a patio chair. The shortened form of ‘also known as’ is aka.
a folk hero – someone who is popular with and respected by ordinary people
overnight i) adjective, & ii) adverb meaning 1) for or during the night:
eg i) an overnight stay in Baghdad / an overnight bag (i.e. containing what you need for a short stay)
ii) We stayed with them overnight.
2) suddenly and unexpectedly:
eg With that gold medal he became famous overnight.
The song was an overnight success.
an overnight folk hero – someone (perhaps formally totally unknown) who becomes very suddenly recognised by, popular with and respected by ordinary people
a feat – an achievement
to christen – to name
adrift – usually used of a boat meaning it is loose, not tied or fixed, and moving on the water uncontrolled by anyone because of a problem:
The boat is floating out there somewhere, adrift.
If a person is adrift, they do not have a clear purpose in life and do not know what they want to do:
She seems a bit adrift, and rather unhappy.
startle – verb – do something unexpected which surprises and worries
He snared a power line = he got caught in / on an (electricity) power cable
a blackout – a) a time when all lights must be hidden by law, or b) when there is no light or power because of an electricity failure c) the action taken to make certain that information about something is not reported to the public, for instance a news blackout
get away with sth – phrasal verb – succeed in avoiding punishment for something or the consequences of something:
eg It’s easy to think you can get away with not working for your exams, but in the end it catches up with you.
He can’t get away with stealing money from the till – he’ll get caught out.
It catches up with you – at a later stage you are faced with the consequences.
in the long run.
to be caught out – to be discovered, to be found out.
A balloon can also be used as a verb meaning a) to get bigger and rounder, or b) to quickly increase in size, weight or importance:
What started as a joke ballooned into a full-scale scandal.
If the balloon goes up, a situation suddenly becomes very serious or unpleasant:
eg The balloon went up last Friday when the boss realised how much money the finance department had lost.
To pop a balloon = to burst a balloon