28 KPH

As I was driving Maxime to crèche this morning I made a conscious effort to respect the speed limit near the school building. The speed counter flashed up with 28 in bright green letters and I felt particularly virtuous. I think it was the first time that I’ve ever respected the speed limit on that hill despite having lived in Biarritz for 10 years.

Why did I make the effort this time? Well because I’ve now got a child. It is funny how having experienced something first hand (having a child), your perception of, and attitudes to, different things (speed limits) changes. Sandie said a similar thing to me this week – she told me that lying in a hospital bed worrying about the health of two young foetuses has helped her put a lot of things into perspective.

I suspect the upshot of these two musings is (1) now I understand why you can’t be CEO straight after graduating – you just haven’t had enough first hand experiences, (2) that reading, and in particular reading the accounts of first hand experiences of others, is probably the next best way to get additional experience (even if it is only second hand), and (3) I am hopeful that this means that Sandie will be even easier to live with when she gets out of hospital.