A week in the life

Any blogger or columnist will tell you that there are times when the words just flow from the brain.

 Then, there are times when you sit for hours staring at the computer, trying to dredge up a new topic or put a new twist on something you wrote about three weeks previously.

 Then, there are weeks when so much is going on that trying to put a structure to it all seems pointless.... such as the week your blogger is having.

 Here then, are a few random thoughts from six days in the life of a hard-working, positive- (and negative-) thinking, freelance journalist full of hope for the future, looking for a break and realising that the world is either a bitch or full of good, caring, people - depending on the moment.

Sunday - Thank the Lord for James Dyson, inventor of the eponymous vacuum cleaner. Pre-Dyson, seeing a nine-inch piece of string disappear through the front of the machine and up into the mechanism meant taking the machine apart to extract the string and hoping it all fitted together again thereafter. Post-Dyson, even I can unscrew a couple of fasteners, unclip the front, remove the offending item and resume vacuuming within 15 minutes.

 Monday - a thought, please, for a previous subject of this blog. In September, I wrote about the talking book group I attend and, in particular, the indefatigable 85-year-old lady who is a crucial part of the social glue which holds it together. As I write, she is making a 40-mile round trip to hospital for daily radiography sessions and, from all accounts, feeling extremely fed up about it. Some people deserve the prayers of all of us. She is one.

Tuesday - with two weeks to get the remaining contents of the winter edition of British Naturism to the typesetter, I suddenly remember the Radcliffe and Maconie show. Once a crucial part of my evenings when on Radio 2, it has somehow escaped me since decamping to the afternoons on Radio 6. Seeking a lift during my journalistic labours, I turn  on the digital radio - and find Craig b****** Charles filling in while they are on holiday.

 Wednesday - meet up with three former colleagues for a (very expensive and not very good) pint at one of our local hostelries. There is more than 100 years of journalistic experience around the table and I am the youngest of the quartet by a few years. For two hours, we have a laugh, share memories, talk about the collapse of the regional newspaper business..and ponder on the irony of rumours that our former employer is considering moving back into the city centre from which it decamped, with nary a thought for its’ staff, not much more than three years ago.

 Leave there for a meeting with the Tamworth FC Heritage Project Committee and the vice-chairman of Tamworth FC. We’re discussing how the mass of detail about the club’s history which we gathered can be used for the benefit of the next generation of TFC supporters. 

 For a few days after the Hall of Fame evening (discussed here in September), we were all exhausted by our labours - now, it seems that our enthusiasm has been refuelled.

 Thursday - A meeting of the Tamworth and District Tourism Association, a body designed to promote the interests of Tamworth and its’ businesses and draw more visitors into the town. We’ve just finished building a website which, if I may say so, is probably one of the best tourism websites around (but which I can’t tell you more about just yet!)

 A two-hour meeting leaves me enthused about the many good things Tamworth has to offer, yet infuriated that too many local businesses and people don’t seem equally inspired. From now, I will spend one day a week touring the town and promoting this website.

And today? Work on the magazine this morning, then a meeting this afternoon with a fascinating lady I met at my business breakfast group. She’s one of those sparky people who lights up a room just by walking in (being Irish probably has something to do with it!).

 I’m hoping she’ll help me continue the positive vibe I’ve felt for much of this week. I’m sure my friend from the book group wouldn’t want it any other way.