Professional

My talk went pretty well on Wednesday – once I got past the slight issue of being told by the IT chap that there was nothing on the disc that was supposed to have my PowerPoint presentation on it, the presentation I was relying on so that I wasn’t speaking from notes. I tried to look totally unphased, like the professional I am, the professional who had failed to copy their presentation on to the disc.

Fortunately my lack of efficiency also meant that I had left the disc with the presentation from last week in my work bag, so I found that and used it instead. Always pretend to have a back up plan so that inefficiency looks like super-efficiency and then you can bluff your way through most situations.

I am, however, more fortunate than one of the other speakers. He set off in plenty of time for the conference but only arrived at 3.30pm – 20 minutes after he was due to speak. They did actually still give him the chance to talk but he had to rather cut it short. The train he was on had broken down at some backwater station and so he decided the only viable alternative was to get a taxi. What he hoped was a relatively short journey turned out to take an hour and a half with a taxi driver who seemed never to have ventured beyond the small town in which he normally worked. Still he must have made a good bit of money from his journey, particularly as he seemed to need financial incentive to drive above his normal 25 miles per hour.

Whilst an arduous journey for him, it was perhaps safer than mine to and from the station. I was later informed that the driver had recovered well from his recent stroke and could see reasonably well out of his one eye that still had vision. But I am living testament to the value of kerbstones and rumble strips. No wonder a couple of people shook my hand warmly and wished me well before I set off for the station.