Night Out

Well yesterday was all about getting ready for a night out.

I had an idea of what I was going to wear and had to change it as it just did not suit me since the op.  It looks like a new wardrobe is in the offing.  Still I had a relaxing bath and the usual ablutions.  I even went to the time and trouble to put make up on.

My chauffeur picked me up bang on time and we then made our way into Manchester.  Orators (Toastmasters) meet at the Rainbar, (if you want to come they meet on the 2nd and 4th Thursday of the month) in the boardroom on the top floor.  The one thing I was worried about was the stairs to the top, which taken slowly were no problem at all.

Fellow members were surprised and happy to see me, one even saying that I looked better now than I did before the operation and treatment so far.  What were they getting at?  (Answers on a postcard please...).

I took part in the Table Topics, extemporaneous speaking of up to 2 minutes.  The theme of the evening was Community and I had to talk about what virtual community I would invent on the internet.  As I have started this blog and got into the swing of using FB and other networking sites I wanted to leave it as it was and use what was already there with the community set up with fellow bloggers etc. We have the ability to comment on blogs and share ideas through the words we type and the feedback we get from other likeminded people.  I have "virtually" met so many people through my blog and FB that I come to see that the world is such a small place.  Well words to that affect.

We had two good speeches an Icebreaker (first speech) and a final speech.  All very well executed and enjoyable showing how people can develop using the workbook within Toastmasters.  All the speakers, including the other five topic takers, were evaluated by other members.  Another learning experience for all, one to see if you agree with the evaluator and two to see if you spotted some of the same things.

At the end of the evening there is usually a vote for best Topic Taker, best Speaker (if more than two speakers so was not done last night), and best Evaluator.  To my shock and horror I won best Topic and my chauffeur won best Evaluator.  After years of not being very good at Topics I have now won best Topic two meetings on the trot.

The meeting finished early and managed to get home before 22:00.  I have had a slow morning but not feeling too bad today.

So far today I have watched the last episode of a series on Sacred Music by BBC Four.  All about one of my favourite composers J S Bach.  I recorded it a few weeks past and only just got round to watching it, along with the three previous episodes about the development of Sacred Music.  What a way to wake up in the morning!