A Pistol in Bristol

I created a 15-slide deck for my presentation today at Triodos Bank in Bristol. Triodos is a Dutch bank specialising in social impact investing (think renewable energy cooperatives, organic farms, and charities working to reduce prison populations). During yesterday’s practice sessions, I was a little shaky. But today, in the conference room, when it mattered, I was ON. So much of it turns on the people interviewing me. They were friendly, polite, low key. Not intimidating, humourless, demanding (i.e. really hard questions), which was more the case with PRI. So I left with my head held high. No guarantee I’ll get the job, but a huge relief that I at least put my best foot forward. They will be interviewing more candidates over the next week, so I won’t hear anything soon.

So here’s Bristol University and the Bristol Museum:

The university from downhill (note the Boston Tea Party on the left):

Bristol Cathedral.

Today was Charter Day--hundreds of students from Bristol Grammar streamed into the Cathedral while I was hanging out. Charter Day celebrates the day in 1532 when King Henry VIII granted the charter for the grammar school. That is some SERIOUS history.

I took an 8:30 a.m. flight to Bristol then a bus to the city, arriving at 10:30 a.m. The flight was jammed with men going to the horse races at Cheltenham. A week of races, seven every day, apparently the biggest racing event in Britain. There’s a big English-Irish rivalry and more than 20,000 people fly over for the race during the week to cheer on Irish horses.

My interview wasn’t until 3 pm, so I had plenty of time to explore the city, which has a good vibe--lots of people on bikes, lots of vintage clothing shops, lots of organic, locally grown food. I am not any good at all at hairstyling. Since I left home at 7 am and interviewed at 3 pm, I decided professional help was needed. I went into five salons before I found someone willing to fit me in (a heavily tattooed man at a salon called Mack Daddy). It was a bit expensive, but, as L’Oreal says, I'm worth it. Interviews are tough. You are being judged on your likability, intelligence, quick wittedness, appearance, experience, etc. Having my hair styled gave me a confidence boost and I’ll take whatever I can get.

My flight back was at 7 pm (more horse racing fans). I flew out of Belfast but flew back to Dublin to get the cheapest fare. That meant a two-hour bus ride to Belfast. It was a very loooong day (home around 11 pm). It was also St. Patrick’s Day. I flew EasyJet to London and AerLingus back. I was disappointed that the entire AerLingus crew was French or Eastern European. As my friends later pointed out--any self respecting Irishman or woman had the day off. Fair point.
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