The early part of the morning followed the usual pattern. Maybe the only variation was that I dressed up a little more than usual... and dug out my school Alumni tie (which I didn't end up wearing). We walked across to Zoe's and collected Ellie for the walk to school.
Once home (there was no walk today), I gathered my things and climbed into the car for the drive up to St Albans, and my old school. The roads were wonderfully benign, and there were no delays as I cruised along the A27, A3, and even the M25. Trips like that can lull you into a false sense of euphoria. I arrived at St Columba's College at 11:00. It had taken me 2 hours for the 100-mile trip. As I walked out of the car park, passing one of the technology blocks, I was greeted by the head of the sixth form and taken in to meet some of the 47 other speakers, grab a Danish, and a cup of coffee.
We had been invited to speak at an "Inspiration Day" for the sixth form students. We represented a wide spectrum of careers and industries, and the students could pick and choose. Some sessions had 10 attendees, others only a single interested student. I had two students in my session, "At the Codeface", which talked about the trajectory that my career took and what was interesting and stimulating about such a career. I also touched on the impact of AI, containerisation, outsourcing, and cloud computing.
It seemed to go down well, but the time flew by. After the talk, there was a buffet lunch for the speakers and students, and I got the opportunity to chat with a number of students who hadn't been at my talk. The questions they asked were insightful and made me think about changes I would make to the presentation should I have to deliver it again.
I said my goodbyes and got back on the road at 14:00. This morning's travel euphoria soon wore off as Google announced various delays... 19 minutes, 9 minutes, 6 minutes, and so it continued. This morning's 2 hours turned into 3 hours by the time I approached home. A glass of rum and a glass of Doom Bar were the perfect antidote.
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