Scott McCallum, the 38th person I’ve met on my quest to have lunch with 500 strangers, is doing retirement the right way.

Scott retired from his university job in early 2019, after spending the previous 30 years teaching computing at Macquarie University – and the previous 25 in the same office!

Despite officially leaving the workforce, Scott is still teaching from time to time, so he’s continuing to draw on his skills and experience. He’s done some travelling, making his first trip to Uluru last month. And, of course, there’s been some socialising too.

It’s a nice blend of intellectual, social and physical activity.

Most of the people I’ve met on my #500lunches journey have been active businesspeople, so it was a nice change to meet someone who’s left the workforce and who comes from an academic rather than a corporate background.

We had a wonderful time discussing teaching standards, career paths and the delicate balance universities need to strike between sharing knowledge and raising revenue.

You might say my meeting with Scott came 20 years too late: I was a student at Macquarie University in the late 1990s, but we never crossed paths.