Verbal High Fives

There are certain words that can strike fear into the hearts of the most courageous adult. Words like recession, war, Tsunami, cellulite, paisley, and telephone pole. I used to live in a world that did not include any strong feelings regarding telephone poles but then something happened on a sunny Saturday afternoon in Shropshire and I now seem incapable of restoring a state of mind in which I can walk down the road, look at a telephone pole and not fearfully crumble into the foetal position. It all happened on a weekend work retreat that included team-building activities. If you haven’t been traumatized by these before, they are basically random scenarios designed to help you “face your fears” by subjecting you to bizarre situations that you could never realistically expect to encounter in your normal, everyday life without being a professional stunt person. The first thing we had to do was put on a crash helmet in order to protect our brains from the inconvenience of being ...