Yesterday I had the great joy of presenting on a panel at Manning Bar in the beautiful Sydney university. As part of the verge arts festival and the regular Tuesday talks program the topic was Too Rude? Nudity, art and adolescence. I was honored to be invited and delighted when they offered to fly me out for the event! this was my first time flying since the accident and I was nervous to be out and about without my carer and husband not to mention being away from my little girl! I am also Not a Morning Person so you can imagine my trepidation going forward.

I have to say, everyone was delightful. From Virgin Australia and their meet and greet program for special needs passengers, to Tui at the university, Joanne and Amy the other panelists, the wonderful cabby who raced to try to get me to my flight on time, the wonderful woman at virgin who did not charge me for a whole new ticket but only a small fee (the guy in front of me was not so lucky, he was being rude, I think that makes all the difference!) and Liam and Erica for being very patient with me though the whole thing!

I generally have a great fear of public speaking so I kept expecting the fear to set in. but it never did! I was prepared but not over prepared and I knew my subject backward and forward as I’ve been writing about it for years! I felt good about the way I spoke, I didn’t stutter and only let a couple of tiny ums out. the only unfortunate thing (apart from missing my flight..) was that it was a magnificently sunny day and so the crowd was much less than expected. That’s a shame, but I can’t be too sorry as I really did enjoy myself immensely!

I will edit my speech and put it up for reading next week.