Not just an ordinary job

WELL hello there once again.It’s been an interesting day in Chad land today from a personal point of view…a day, it’s fair to say, of emotional ups and downs.A day which began in mind-knumbingly boring fashion….9.05am, ”oh god I’m bored”, 9.10am, ”I cant take this much more,” and 9.15am, ”What the hell am I doing in this job?” But thankfully that is where the fascinating world of journalism differes from the normal 9am-5pm office job, for us reporters you never know what is around the corner. And true to form the tedium, which had been circling with increasing menace as the clock ticked ever slowly towards 10am, was yanked away with the welcome relief of a phone call asking me to go cover an inquest in Nottingham. Personally, I am one of those reporters who is much happier when I am on the job, when I am doing work, writing stories, getting out and about and, in short, actually working hard rather than passing the entire day away catching up with my facebook chums ( not that I have any) The inquest provided the welcome chance to get out of the office, enjoy the sunshine ( and just where was it when we needed it in the summer ) and kill the boredom once and for all. An unfortunate part of the job, as you will know, is newspapers cover sad stories, reporting on death and destruction, both literal destruction and the metophorical destruction such as a family following the death of a loved one. The inquest of Terry Lindley, who sadly died after taking his own life, was another such example. And although as a hardened reporter you get used to tales of misery and woe, I did leave the inquest with a dulled heart and a sense of sadness at such a tragic loss. But in this job, as with the world in general, time moves on and as I sat there contemplating a return to boredom the emotional rollercoaster once again took a dramatic swing upwards, with the suprising news that I am to appear on the BBC’s political show. I will have the pleasure (if pleasure is the word) of providing an independent viewpoint on the workings of the new Liberal Democrat regime at Ashfield District Council….not a bad end to a day that seemingly promised very little. And that is perhaps the great joy of being a reporter….you never know what might happen when you next answer the phone. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to depart for a spot of revision on all things Ashfield District Council.