So a volunteer organisation that I belong to (the ESOL Home Tutor Group) needed to send someone to the annual conference today and the Chair couldn't go. Neither could a whole lot of other people. I, the n00b committee member was picked to go instead, with Lorraine Vincent the co-ordinator. I'm not sure how much of the content of the conference was supposed to be confidential, so I'll keep mum on the meat of the trip, and discuss merely the spices and other flavours.
I lost my breakfast on the way there. Lorraine, who was driving herself, me, and her daughter there was rather concerned to see me retching on the soggy grass by the high-way. Little does she know how easily I can vomit on cross-country trips... Alas, when we got to the conference centre/motel, I realised to my horror that lunch wasn't until half past one. This isn't too bad, unless you've been up since twenty past six and lost every scrap of nutrient you imbibed at that time. Also, the place didn't have any of those chocolate bar/chippy machines, and the dairy was too far away to get to before it started. I mainlined coffee for the milk and sugar, and inhaled muffins when they came my way.
It was a good morning - I got to ask intelligent questions, make insightful suggestions, and take notes industriously. Everyone there was very friendly, and I felt that we were there
doing something useful instead of just marking time.
At lunchtime, the food was terribly sweet, with odd sprinklings of curry powder - enough to mask the natural flavours of the other ingredients, but not enough to be interesting in itself. I've been complaining about that wretched food ad nauseam ever since... Still, I took twenty minutes of free time and dashed into the wet, wild, and woolly Botanical Gardens, just across the road. There's a Giant Ear Trumpet on top of one of the hills! I'm not kidding, it isn't just a giant funnel standing there artistically - the thing (the narrow end was wide enough I could stand inside comfortably) was mounted on swivels so that you could aim it at different areas of the sky!
After lunch a guest speaker squeezed a week's management seminar into one and a half hours. It was utterly fascinating; I learned some things.
Then we went home. I didn't lose my lunch on the way back.
The End.
