Quick: in two minutes or less, explain and defend your home province. Easy enough, right? But what if you were asked, on the spot, to explain a different province? Maybe one that you’re not that familiar with or, gulp, never visited.

That was the ingenious Table Topics theme hatched this week by club past-president Susan. Ingenious because it’s the kind of thing that could well happen out in the real world. Say you find yourself having dinner with a gentleman from Toulouse whose nephew is planning to study in Charlottetown.

“Dis province of yours, L’Isle Prince Edward. What is it like?”

You: “P.E.I.? Oh, well, it’s … you know. Very pretty. Lots and lots of cows. And historic. A famous document was signed there by number of Founding Fathers and, um, one woman, named Anne of Green Gables.”

Susan’s lively table-topics session anchored a fantastic meeting in which every chair in the room was filled. (Good veteran-to-newbie ratio, too: 13 members and three guests.) Tai did his Ice-Breaker on his life philosophy, which is strongly influenced by his Buddhist philosophy. And everybody gave relative newcomer Ray Horan big props for representing Vancore in last week’s area contest, in a field of seasoned pros, and placing third.

Vancore president Connie is now away till the end of February. Cory steps up as club leader.