I have done public-speaking in all kinds of places over the last ten or so years. Obviously most of these have been in church buildings of one kind or another, but there has also been a restaurant, a student union, and a park thrown in along the way too. Friday night was an experience that will live long in my memory, however. I was due to speak at a church men's night, following a meal in a local hotel. The hotel managers assured the guys organising it that the venue was entirely suitable - that the doors to the room would be closed for the talk and that it was ideal for our purposes. As, no doubt, you have already guessed - their confidence was ill founded! The reality was that it was like preaching uphill into a strong headwind!
The room proved to be not just a room - but also the corridor through which people gained access from the bar to the gardens. On a hot Spring Friday night, this was naturally a very popular route! The people coming through were making their way immediately behind me! What's worse was that as some of them had clearly been making use of the services of the bar (!) one or two decided to join in. One woman in particular made a helpful contribution to the talk, despite the fact that she was just slightly slurred-0f-speech and wobbly of leg! As if this wasn't bad enough - it also turned out that the music couldn't be switched off in our room! That meant that while people in the bar enjoyed the strains of 80s Rod Stewart - I was having to shout over him in order to be heard!
Can you imagine?!
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