Speech – “Ice-Breaking Journeys”

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Speech – “Ice-breaking Journeys” Good evening all. As this is my Ice Breaker speech, I thought before I started on it, I’d look up the origins of the term Ice Breaker. Was it something to do with drinks? Well, for those that didn’t know, it harks back to the Northern Hemisphere roots of the language. In winter, rivers often freeze over. So, before a ship could travel down to the trading port, a special ship went into the river and broke the ice for it. Hence an “ice breaker” is needed in order to, literally, “get down to business”. You can imagine the frozen river screeching and cracking as the ice breaker travelled through it. The image appeals to me, as does the metaphor, as I have begun a journey with Toastmasters. I’m looking forward to this journey, and I decided to reflect on three previous journeys that I have taken, all different, so that you may learn a little about who I am. I’ll begin with a journey across the country, continue with a journey across the world, but finish with a tale of my journey across the city. I was born in Perth, Western Australia. The oldest of three brothers, I faced numerous hardships to keep my younger brothers in line. All eldest siblings will know what I mean. Perth is a nice city, a great city. But it is known as the most isolated capital city in the world, and after Uni, with a freshly minted degree in Computer Science in my hand, I found the local high-tech jobs thin on the ground. So, not only did I move out of home, but I moved across the country to Melbourne, starting work for Telstra at their Research Labs. The best sort of move to make is one where someone else pays. Moving to Melbourne was made very easy by the fact that Telstra paid for someone else to pack up all my things and ship them over here together with my car. I’ve never had it that good again. I chose

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