Open all hours
An interesting open day at a law firm yesterday. I didn't realise it until I arrived, but the firm in question was founded in 1701 and occupies a former mansion off Lincoln's Inn Fields. All very pleasant, and certain parts of it made me feel as if I was back in Oxford.
In addition to the usual tours, talks and so on, there was a rather fun group exercise. Divided into teams, we had half an hour to think up and then film an advert for any product of our choice, fictional or not. These were then played back to everyone and a winner selected. (My particular role involved coming on with a hammer and violently assaulting the camera with it.) Luckily enough, our team won, which meant a bottle of champagne each. I know what you're thinking - "I hate to raise this, Ed, but you don't actually drink champagne." True...but it's the principle of the thing. I'm sure I can find someone who drinks it.
The chief puzzle of the day, however, lay in trying to work out the identity of a girl in my group. I was sure I'd seen her somewhere before. According to the list of attendees, she'd done History at Oxford, so it seemed feasible that we'd met - but where? I caught her looking at me in a thoughtful way as well, so I asked her if by any chance she'd done any Ancient History options - perhaps we'd seen each other at a seminar. No, she hadn't, but she thought she recognised me from somewhere too. Had I been a member of the History Society? I hadn't, so that wasn't it. Had she been a G&S attendee? She'd been to a few shows, but that couldn't be it. Well, she was from Merton - did she know Marc Stoneham? Yes, she did. Had he dragged her along to any OUCA events? Yes...but somehow that wasn't it either. Well, Marc Stoneham had been at Chris & Laura's wedding - had she? Perhaps I'd seen her there. No, but she'd seen pictures of it. Well, that was no good - she might have seen me, but I wouldn't have seen her. A pause. One last try. Weren't there any more societies she'd attended? She hesitated. "Well...there was also Scottish Dancing."
Mystery solved! We remembered each other because we'd probably danced together at some point. It's a small world, which is something that never ceases to surprise me no matter how often it's proved to be the case.
In addition to the usual tours, talks and so on, there was a rather fun group exercise. Divided into teams, we had half an hour to think up and then film an advert for any product of our choice, fictional or not. These were then played back to everyone and a winner selected. (My particular role involved coming on with a hammer and violently assaulting the camera with it.) Luckily enough, our team won, which meant a bottle of champagne each. I know what you're thinking - "I hate to raise this, Ed, but you don't actually drink champagne." True...but it's the principle of the thing. I'm sure I can find someone who drinks it.
The chief puzzle of the day, however, lay in trying to work out the identity of a girl in my group. I was sure I'd seen her somewhere before. According to the list of attendees, she'd done History at Oxford, so it seemed feasible that we'd met - but where? I caught her looking at me in a thoughtful way as well, so I asked her if by any chance she'd done any Ancient History options - perhaps we'd seen each other at a seminar. No, she hadn't, but she thought she recognised me from somewhere too. Had I been a member of the History Society? I hadn't, so that wasn't it. Had she been a G&S attendee? She'd been to a few shows, but that couldn't be it. Well, she was from Merton - did she know Marc Stoneham? Yes, she did. Had he dragged her along to any OUCA events? Yes...but somehow that wasn't it either. Well, Marc Stoneham had been at Chris & Laura's wedding - had she? Perhaps I'd seen her there. No, but she'd seen pictures of it. Well, that was no good - she might have seen me, but I wouldn't have seen her. A pause. One last try. Weren't there any more societies she'd attended? She hesitated. "Well...there was also Scottish Dancing."
Mystery solved! We remembered each other because we'd probably danced together at some point. It's a small world, which is something that never ceases to surprise me no matter how often it's proved to be the case.