Hail Ceasar

Last night I went to my public speaking club - Toastmasters - where you are able to practice giving short speeches and learn how to speak off the cuff. It is also a good social group with a wide variety of people.

Well last night I gave what was my sixth speech - where the way I used words was the target. Rather than give a conventional speech I told the story of a Roman auxiliary - that's in the Roman Empire - that's in the first century AD.

I gave the story of one of the survivors of the Vasius defeat by the German tribes. Travelling - staggering - through the woods and a short brutal fight with a local tribe. Although outnumbered our side win as we had a group of slingers - those that use sling shot - a new weapon to the tribesman.

Interesting quite a few people in the audience did not get the reference when I used the Roman greeting 'Ave'. So when i was talking about Germanic tribes some assumed I was talking about one of the World Wars.

On the whole the performance went OK. Although I missed a great punch line - 'We entered the clearing a rabble and came out the a fighting unit.' But in a performance like that you are bound to miss something.

The other two speeches were good - one using gestures - had a discussion with two imaginary people - one always negative and one always positive - the other on Roosevelt's New Deal. Then there were the short one minute speeches - there was a great one on London being the most expensive capital city and a great one - should people who do stupid things - like row boats across the Pacific - be rescued - the answer was yes - but the fee should be negotiated - before they are picked up.