This was an evening that didn't quite go according to plan..... A touch of diary amnesia meant that Ryoko was still on Campus in the middle of Birmingham when I checked to see if she was nearly at Warwick Parkway railway station! I really must learn to be a little more specific with my messages as an attempt to save as much time as possible and head into Birmimgham to collect her by car resulted in Ryoko travelling to Birmingham New Street station, while I waited at Selly Oak.... Needless to say, when we eventually met up and headed over to the meeting venue of Henley-in-Arden Rotary Club, the food had been consumed and the plates cleared away.
At least it was worth the journeying around the District though as Ryoko gave one of her best talks - to a group composed of members of the Henley-in-Arden Rotary Club, several visitors from Coventry Jubilee Rotary and others. She gave some excellent answers to some quite complex questions and was clearly very well received by everyone there. I was then asked to explain the Rotary Foundation briefly and it was very much one of those "here's one I prepared earlier" moments as I extracted a few slides from a recent talk to use as a visual aid.
While our visit was shortened, the hospitality of the Club was wonderful and very much appreciated. Ryoko even experienced a promotion!
Just to add insult to injury though, my return journey coincided nicely with closures of the Aston Expressway and a fair amount of the M6 motorway - adding at least 20 minute to the journey time. Not the best evening's travel, but still a worthwhile trip.