"Good day at the office, dear?" – exercise 2 – answers and notes

1 1) Early in her working life by illustrating children’s books. Now by working 2) as a freelance artist, and also as a 3) circus aerial specialist, 4) an acrobat, and 5) by running a North-East aerial dance group called Hang, a performance and training company which she co-founded. You could also have added that she works 6) as a trapeze artist.
2 She painted murals in museums and public buildings.
3 The fact that she discovered she could make more of a circus career in the north-east than she had thought.
Trapeze and corde lisse are two of various disciplines within aerial dance.
4 It creates works of art for street performances, and also trains people to become aerialists. It also teaches trapeze to adults & children, for instance in workshops after performances.
5 1) That it is a partnership Helen runs with her husband and 2) that you don’t run away with the circus – the circus comes to join you, and 3) it integrates science education with circus skills.
6 Juggling her domestic roles.
7 1) Having a very large range of responsibilities within the business. Helen manages the accounts, risk management, and also has to find opportunities for marketing & promotion.
2) Staying ahead of (or just with) the field
8 1) That it is not exactly a hotspot of circus art 2) that they are relatively isolated in the north-east of England, and 3) that Hang is a big fish in a small pond.

9 Since 1988.
10 She wondered if she had to re-invent herself.
11 That of becoming a lawyer, or a barrister.
12 The fact that she is good at negotiating and following logic and what have you (and so on / etc), and that you can be a freelance lawyer.

Vocabulary and notes
The equivalent of the phrase "Good day at the office, dear?" (shortened from "Have you had a good day …..?") must be used all over the world to people returning home from work. In English it is sometimes used humorously either to parody boring lifestyles, or to be ironic, when a working day has gone very badly. ("Talk about a good day at the office!" = "I’ve / We’ve /They’ve had a dreadful day at work or it could mean you have had a wonderful day at work!"
"Can you take us through …?" = can you explain in detail …?
freelance – adjective, adverb, noun – describes doing particular pieces of work for different organizations, rather than working all the time for a single organization:
He works freelance / He is a freelance translator / He is a freelance.
Eg It’s cheaper to employ a few freelances than to employ full-time researchers.
freelance – verb – eg Now they’ve moved to the Lake District they can freelance from home.
a hot spot = a place with a lot of significant activity (or danger)
to be a big fish in a small pond – to have a lot of influence only over a small area
to re-invent yourself means creating a new approach in your life or career.
A barrister usually works in the higher courts of a country, as opposed to a solicitor who works in the lower courts – dealing with property transactions, wills etc.

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