So, we've been here four days and we're all still good friends. Some of us had met before, a few knew each other pretty well and others had never met face to face. But several years of emailing and chatting online with the occasional Skype conversation means that we already knew one another, regardless.
Nevertheless, there was the ever-so-small fear that perhaps - just maybe - spending so much time together would provoke a bit of rivalry, a minor irritation might grow into something more and possibly worst of all, one of us would feel less than comfortable in the group.
We needn't have worried. We are all still rubbing along together pretty well and no-one has been sent packing yet!
This morning a group of conference delegates joined us for breakfast and I spotted a familiar face amongst them. Not having the confidence to introduce myself without checking first, a quick look at the cast list on reception confirmed the name of a colleague from the first school I taught in, some thirty years ago. Lovely to see her again, to share a couple of memories from the old days at Kitbridge Middle School on the Isle of Wight. Of course, she'd not changed a bit!
