I enrolled in a two day storytelling workshop and have just got home..it was a great course run by two theater people from Chicago and the course was intense and I was out of my comfort zone for most of it but the final product I think is quite good.....the story has to be true and about myself and take about 7 minutes to tell...if you look back in my posts from a few days ago you can read the original story I wrote.
Below is the finished product and I performed it for the group and had good reviews from all.
Now I just need to hone the voice control and gestures and of course memorize it as no notes are allowed.
I perform on Wednesday in a local restaurant and if selected will perform again on Friday night in the big auditorium.....
It makes a change from all the physical stuff that I do most days to do this type of activity..I do not suffer from stage fright and I look forward to the event....
Wednesday is my English class night so I have invited my students to attend ..I will pay their admission and I think they may enjoy hearing 8 or 9 different storytellers...
Shattered
dreams and a cup of tea!!!!
Like
most young boys growing up in the working class area of the big steel
city of Sheffield in central England I wanted to become a
professional soccer player
I
was a pretty good player but at 16 years of age I was told abruptly
I would never achieve my goal of marching out on the hallowed turf of
Wembley Stadium and playing for England...
So
I had to decide where my future would take me and what adventures
along the way and at the ripe old age of 16 years I decided to become
a Police Cadet I passed all the examinations and in September of 1964
was accepted as a Police Cadet with the
Sheffield
City Police force.
The
training was rigorous but fun and for 3 years I learned the ropes
until at the age of 19 to complete the training I went away to an old
Royal air force base where for 4 months we were treated like a
recruits at a Navy Seal boot camp...one of my highlights was having
3 hair cuts in one day!!!!
The
training was very physical and also learning the laws and procedures
was a long and painstaking process we had classes that taught us to
try to delve into the criminal mind.
After
graduating from the Academy we were posted to various Police stations
around Sheffield.
So
here I was 19 years of age a raw recruit setting off for my first day
as a Police officer.....My parents had gifted me with a 50 cc Honda
scooter as a graduation gift and I was very proud of this
machine........It was a chilly rainy morning when I reported to the
Police Box, like the one you would have seen in the movie Dr.
Who...it was 7am and I really did not want to leave my scooter in the
open so across from the police box were rows of houses each house
having a small covered alleyway leading to the rear entrance of the
house and that is where I parked my scooter and went and did my first
job directing rush hour traffic for an hour.
It
was still raining so after the traffic control I came back to the box
and decided I'd better go and tell the folks in the house across from
the box that it was my scooter.
Picture
this....here I am so proud in my uniform, bobby helmet, creases in my
pants and shirt striding down the alley and at the corner I see the
door to the back of the house is slightly ajar.....
I
knock on the door and after a few seconds a man about 35 years of age
appears and says hello to me.......I tell him that this is my very
first day on the job and it is my scooter parked in his alleyway and
is it OK..... he smiles and tells me sure any time you want to leave
it there no problem...... and then he asks me if I want to come in
for a cup of tea.......
We
English folks are renown for our love of a good cuppa char,
tea......the offer was tempting but as I told the man in the house
thanks very much but not to today as I did not want to get into
trouble.
He
smiled again shook my hand and told me any time I was welcome for tea
and I could always leave my scooter in his alleyway .
I
continued the morning of my foot patrol chatting to shop keepers
smiling at the kids crossing the roads and just generally feeling
like I had finally arrived in this world with thoughts of playing
football for England a distant memory.....
Now
the police boxes are also where the patrol policeman has his lunch
and later that midday I was in the box eating my sandwich and pork
pie when there was a knock on the door.....
I
opened it to see a middle aged lady obviously in distress crying and
sobbing and telling me she had been robbed!!!!
OM
Goodness not even 5 hours into my first day and I was about to handle
a robbery...do this right I thought and instant promotion to the
Detective division was on the cards...
I
managed to calm the lady down a tad and asked where she lived and
what had happened...she took me across the street down the alley
where my scooter was parked and into the house where I had been
invited for tea only a few hours earlier.....
She
explained she had left home around 8am that morning and had just
got back and found her door had been forced open and some money,
jewellery and her radio stolen.....
I
asked if her husband had been in at all during the morning but she
told me he had died 4 years ago and that she lived alone.
I
am sure my mouth dropped open and the look on my face was completely
horrifying.....it quickly dawned on me that as a fledgling Policeman
I had been duped by a very charming robber
and
had even been invited in for tea........ I shuddered to think what
might have happened had I accepted his offer........
I
took all the distressed ladies details and informed her that I
would do all in my power to try to catch this nasty man....she
smiled.......... and said ….........dear would you like a cup of
tea????
Yashi Kochi!!!
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