Second day at Learning @Schools, being held across several venues in Rotorua, but largely here at the Energy Events Centre. Alongside the learning, this conference is all about networking, and making connections.
After 5 years of relative anonymity in Auckland I had two 'small world' moments today.
The first came with having retained the same 'memorable' surname all my life. Fothergill is not often forgotten, especially when you hail from a rural community.
Seems a woman I met today has reviled the Fothergill name since childhood! We had mutual family friends, and apparently we once provided her family with a pet lamb (she said 'baby sheep'), which was returned to us on the farm once fully grown. Her family was then informed by the mutual friends that we had eaten their pet sheep! Bloody carnivorous farmers, we have driven this poor woman to vegetarianism! I doubt that we DID eat the pet, and imagine the mutual friends would have facilitated this 'urban myth'. But I will check with my family, who knows?
The second came with geography - she was from Whakatane, I was from Matata, her relatives lived in Otamarakau, I went to school there, did I know so-and-so, did she know so-and-so....
Not the explicit sort of networking that we are meant to be facilitating here, but kinda nice all the same. It's good to be back in the BOP. I miss my 'hood!
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