Explain first to the non-initiated what a bond is, how it is different than, say, a stock/share and perhaps how they are tied together (I still don't know whether they are!!).

I did some basic reading during J's diary to get a sense about what he was talking.

I haphazardly compared to it currency: when the South African Rand is weakening compared to the Euro, it means that it will take me longer to pay off my study loan in Euro because my yield (in Euro) goes down. Whether that analogy is correct of course begs the question...