small talk without blowing my cover

[madbaker]

Or, the benefits of a liberal-arts degree.

The conference had its opening night "luau" on the beach tonight. It's pretty much the same thing they usually do. I usually end up having dinner with my sales guy from the host organization, because he's one of the few people I've spoken to before. Or else with a former cow-orker, for the same reason.

Tonight, while having the initial glass of wine (and chatting with my boss and a former cow-orker) an older Englishman and his wife inserted themselves into our conversation. He's one of the panelists tomorrow - a former member of the Bank of England and current Warden of one of the Oxbridge colleges. He turned out to be a very interesting person to talk to, and so was his wife. She and I had a long conversation about the frustrations of being "Mrs. X", which I have not experienced firsthand but I've been exposed to. Also, I was able to indulge my not-so-inner Anglophile without mentioning a certain historical re-enactment group and make wide-ranging conversation for three hours with these folks.

I happened to say that the wife and I are tentatively planning to make a trip to England next year. I'm supposed to drop them a line if we're going.

Dinner with an Oxbridge Warden? Realistically, they'll probably be busy... but it certainly wouldn't suck.

Comments

Oxford warden

[dame-cordelia.livejournal.com]

Those nice folks might be persuaded to let you see some bits of the campus that is normally not available to tourists.

Oxford

[thelbk.livejournal.com]

For some as yet to be determined reason, by daughter has become obsessed with going to Oxford.
She's in the 6th grade, so I'm trying not to take it to seriously, but now my ears perk up at the word "Oxford"