Career Day - Guess who didn't have a gun!

Spring has finally sprung.  I have planted seeds in my new mini greenhouse - happy days!  Amy, from the Community Garden (translation - Allotment) has been in touch - we can go onsite from 10th May....I am very excited but if I am honest I actually have no idea where it is.  North about 6K but more than that - not sure.  Mental note - work out where it is this week.  As it goes I am doing a charity walk on that day - just 10K fundraising for the local Hospice which survives just on donations.  There was a huge banner about it accross Highway 50, which was in itself a huge feat of bravery.  As I believe that we see stuff for a reason I thought "yup, i'll do that, do some good and get to see the countryside".  The forecast is for 23 degrees so I may actually be grumbling about the heat 3 weeks after seeing off the snow.

The snow - that was on the ground, by my reckoning, for 22 weeks.  I am told that that is unusual - but I've seen every episode of Ice Road Truckers so I suspect folks are confused.

Last Friday I went into small persons school to give three career talks to Grade 5  (not 5th graders, I was corrected there) kids.  First group, pre lunch were fab, post lunch groups were mostly fab all be it a tough gig straight after lunch.  Third group, last lesson on a Friday, were still fab but exhausting.  I expect my memory of 40 years ago is missing data but I don't recall talking amongst ourselves and over other people.  In those days board rubbers (don't panic foreign people, that is an eraser, nothing more) were thrown and threats of being damned to hell kept us in place.  And you wonder why I have issues with organised religion.

So, what to tell them.  I work in Human Resources which is like saying I work in Spain - it could mean a million things.  So I focussed on what I do the most, which is project management and I sold it to them as "find something you enjoy/love and get a job where you can do that every day".  For the record I am at enjoy rather than love - but then no one explained careers to me when I was young beyond a careerday about "being an actuary, restocking cheese at Sainsbury's or being a nurse".  Terrifyingly that must have has an impact as I worked for 7 years within Sainsburys, although I never stacked cheese and today I work in a firm that employees about 3,000 acturies.  Nurse - never gonna happen, too squeamish and my people skills, although much improved, wouldn't cut it.

After telling them how the world turns based on project plans - I got a scream when I told them One Direction have a planner who directs their schedule.  It was like saying Bros in 1979! - they each planned a mini project.  It went well - every teacher told me that they don't learn this at school which is a huge miss in my view. 

Then we got to questions:

• How much do you earn?  I gave them a ball park and their jaws dropped.  "is that a lot then?" I asked - "yes" gulped the teacher.  Interesting as the ball park that I gave them was on the lower side.  Hopefully those that love planning and organising can now see a future beyond working in local food retailers.
• "Why do you say you are from Britain, we say England" - because I'm Scottish.
• "Does it rain every day in England?" - I lied and said no.
• "Does it snow in England?" - yes for 5 days every other year.
• "Do you play Baseball in England?" - Not really - Met with disbelief.
• "Do you play football?" - we call it soccer.  "No, football"  ah, you mean Rugby, yes but no padding and helmets.
• "Do you play ice hockey?" Nah!  Eyes like owls at this point.

I should have said earlier that there were three parents giving talks to each class, in rotation.  Me, a uniformed Police Officer who had his gun with him (not sure that was right but he didn't draw it); and a plain clothes police detective who was like Lara Croft.  I like to think my talk was the most fun - yeah right!.

What did I learn?  Rapters is a sports team, not an amphibian zoo in Vaughan; uniformed police use a Smith & Western whilst plain clothes folks prefer the plastic Gluck; they source femail officers guns from USA as you can get smaller lady versions there; At least one person will punch the air and say "yeah!" whenever you mention the Canadian hockey team, mens or womens; at least 6 girls in 10 scream a little bit when you mention One Direction; and apparently asking folks to "chat amongst themselves" for the group work required translation!  Encouragingly, I think, these guys did a great job defining roles within their teams; focussed on costs and profit alongside logistics and when it came to detail their ability to plan out the snacks was awesome.  Good Job!  as they say down here.