Always Stay on your Best Skule™ Behaviour
By Professor Kim Pressnail

Although most of us would like to think that we are always on “our best behaviour”, I was recently reminded of a story that illustrates why it’s a wise practice to always act my best, even in an informal setting!

A few years ago, I was on a canoe trip with a friend in the interior of Algonquin Provincial Park. We were returning to our campsite from an adjacent lake where we had been fishing, perhaps a little too late into the evening. By the time we arrived at the 1 km portage that would lead us back to our lake, it was completely dark.

Only flashes of lightning from a brewing storm illuminated the trail that was before us. Any rational canoeist would have long since pulled into camp, turned in and waited out the storm, so we were a little more than startled when three-quarters of the way along the portage, the silhouette of a weary paddler seated beside his canoe appeared before us.

Not wanting to startle the traveler, I called out into the darkness. “Don’t worry, we’re friendly.” The silhouette replied, “Professor Pressnail?” It was one of my former students, Terry, and he recognized my voice! He was on the same portage, in the same predicament--and yes, thankfully, we were both on our best Skule™ behaviour.

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