People sometimes say to me 'What else is on your list for Project 60?' and I have to say to them I don't know. I mean I do know some of the things I want to do, because obviously some of it is bucket list stuff, and some of it is things that I've always said I'll try and do 'one day' but equally some of it is just being open to suggestions that come up. So recently, when someone at UHI asked if I would be willing to chair a session at the St Magnus Conference in April, I said yes. I was quite proud of myself. I didn't say No I couldn't possibly. I didn't say Well, I don't think I would be any good at that. I didn't even think Gosh they must be scraping the bottom of a barrel if they're asking me. I just agreed.
Since I was chairing a bit of it I decided I might as well go along to the whole lot and I'm very glad I did as it was very enjoyable and I even met up with a couple of people who I have met at other conferences and there were a lot of people from the Centre for Nordic studies which, for mad inexplicable reasons is where I am technically based to do my Ph D on a Scottish Gaelic speaking poet....So I knew lots of people already and I met lots more.
My session included speakers from Orkney, the US (Indiana) and Brazil, and I managed to chair it OK. It wasn't perfect, and next time I will do it slightly differently, but it was fine.
Photo is of the Conference Dinner which was a lovely buffet (and that's not two words I put together very often!) I may even venture to the next one, although that will be on Shetland and not until 2018.
Excellent! I have always tended to say yes when asked to do something, which is probably why I married unsuitable men on two different occasions (well, one each time!), but it's also why I learned how to help my friend bug her flat, to get proof that her boyfriend was cheating on her when she was away seeing her children....
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