Today is the 35th wedding anniversary of my brother Graham and his lovely wife Sally. On that day, 35 years ago, I was their best man. It was a slightly nerve wracking experience giving the speech. How to get the tone right, remember the jokes, make sure they were not too racy or rude, entertain but not bore the very mixed audience and do the right thing. I think that I more or less succeeded.
I was the elder brother and I had just found my first permanent job at a prestigious school in Scotland (Morrison's Academy). My parents, and in particular my father, were happy. At last, there was a chance that I would settle down. I had passed my probation and finished my second year. My younger brother had just finished his 5th year, so he was a bit ahead of me (although I had worked in France and in Italy for a year each), but I was about to leave my secure job.
Yesterday, in another key event, my brother had his retirement ceilidh and dinner. He had completed 40 years at the same school.
But wind back to June 28th 1980; the previous November 19th, on my birthday, I had seen a programme on television. It wasn't really religious, but it was called "In The Light of Experience" and the guest was Ted Simon, who was relating his adventure of going round the world on his Norton motorbike for 3 years and the book he wrote; Jupiter's Travels".
Back in my shared house in Crieff, I had a mountain of marking. Many of the pupils had sun tans even though it was winter and they lived in places I had never heard of or was unlikely ever to visit. I had a realisation. I was leaving. In the Times Educational Supplement, there was an advertisement; "Lektors wanted for posts in the Soviet Union". I applied, got an interview, took the sleeper train down to London, passed the interview and handed in my resignation. My serious travels were about to begin and I was headed for Tbilisi in the Soviet Socialist Republic of Georgia.
Link to Rory's Travel Journals on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B00NLVSQ6A
I was the elder brother and I had just found my first permanent job at a prestigious school in Scotland (Morrison's Academy). My parents, and in particular my father, were happy. At last, there was a chance that I would settle down. I had passed my probation and finished my second year. My younger brother had just finished his 5th year, so he was a bit ahead of me (although I had worked in France and in Italy for a year each), but I was about to leave my secure job.
Yesterday, in another key event, my brother had his retirement ceilidh and dinner. He had completed 40 years at the same school.
But wind back to June 28th 1980; the previous November 19th, on my birthday, I had seen a programme on television. It wasn't really religious, but it was called "In The Light of Experience" and the guest was Ted Simon, who was relating his adventure of going round the world on his Norton motorbike for 3 years and the book he wrote; Jupiter's Travels".
Back in my shared house in Crieff, I had a mountain of marking. Many of the pupils had sun tans even though it was winter and they lived in places I had never heard of or was unlikely ever to visit. I had a realisation. I was leaving. In the Times Educational Supplement, there was an advertisement; "Lektors wanted for posts in the Soviet Union". I applied, got an interview, took the sleeper train down to London, passed the interview and handed in my resignation. My serious travels were about to begin and I was headed for Tbilisi in the Soviet Socialist Republic of Georgia.
Link to Rory's Travel Journals on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B00NLVSQ6A
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