Last month I had the great pleasure to visit Hagersville, Ontario and speak at the new Haldimand Abilities Centre. The centre is a cooperative effort among three groups, the Canadian Institute for the Blind, the Brain Injury Association and the Alzheimer's Society.
The group invited me to sign some copies of "Travels in a Blue Chair" and to speak about some of my adventures and reactions to my travels. I arrived and was greeted by a wonderful group preparing the hall and most importantly, they found me a nice cup of coffee!
As people drifted in for lunch, I had many great conversations with all the attendees and I always asked whether they were travellers or not? If they weren't, I urged them to try out some travelling and if they were, I compared destinations!
After lunch it was time for my speech, scheduled for 1 hour. I always worry that I won't fill up the time or that I will be a huge bore. There was no clock on the wall and as a result, I lost all track of time. I ended up speaking for 1 3/4 hours! In the end, I had to conclude as some people had to meet their wheelchair transit vans home.
Everyone was so interested and I felt really bad that I had spoken for so long, but happily the audience assured me that they had enjoyed my talk. I was really unhappy that I had not left time for questions and answers.
Next time, I will.
Many thanks to all the great folks in Haldimand-Norfolk and to Janice, Katherine, Kit, Erica and everyone else at the Abilities Centre for making me feel so welcome!
I look forward to returning again in the near future.
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