On the laboratory bench were three small jars, opaque, with tightly sealed lids. Taking a pair of tongs and opening the first, took a small grey lump of metal and then cut it with a scalpel! To me, metal had always meant steel, or maybe aluminium or even gold - never something soft and yet this small hunk of lithium was sliced so easily, and then began to tarnish the moment its shining, freshly cut surface was revealed. His eyes shielded behind a thick pair of safety goggles, dropped the metal into a beaker of water. Of course, it began fizzing and buzzing around the container before exploding with a small “pop”. I was enthralled, even more so when demonstrated the effect with sodium and then potassium. That night I asked my father what might become of rubidium, caesium and even francium. I wanted to see more, to know more, to be a chemist.