Well, I went back to University over the weekend just gone. No, not to study - but to run a First Aid course for the staff and students there. :)

The idea was good - I was told I would be in the Alan Mitchell building, and that I would be upstairs on the mezzanine level. I was also told there would be a class downstairs, but that they would try and not be TOO noisy, and so hopefully that wouldn't disturb us. No real problem so far - how loud could a class of University students be, I figured?

You see, those kind of assumptions just get you into trouble. 'Coz when you don't have all the facts, you get yourself into some trouble. It seems the Alan Mitchell building is a Gymnasium, and the mezzanine level (which is upstairs), has a balcony type part that is open to the main part of the Gym, and so noise carries quite well. It also appears that apart from just a "class" downstairs (which turned out to be a fitness class, with loud music and all), the Gym was open to the students and public. So we also had a couple of basketball groups practising, a Kickboxing class going on, and all sorts of other things. Oh, plus the airconditioning - while being very good - was quite strong, and a couple of my participants kinda got a bit chilly...

So for the first four hours of the day on Saturday, I had to raise my voice a lot so that my class could hear me. Now, those of you who know me know my voice is quite loud enough to drown out most other noises when I need it to be, but to keep that up for four hours was a bit of an ask. I managed, but my participants were a bit upset at the need for it.

We survived the course, Sunday was much better as there were only some workmen assembling tables downstairs for some upcoming supplementary exams. Everyone quite enjoyed themselves, and we even managed to get out of there a few minutes early, so what started out as a nightmare course actually finished not too badly.

Just a story from the Life of Matt. Now you can go back to your Gaming worlds...