Yes, I came back, for a couple of weeks at least.
I got an email from Journal Editor Wendy Coomber in early July asking if I was getting tired of retirement yet. She was planning to take some holidays and was having difficulty finding a replacement to give her some time off.
She had been trying but to no avail, she said, even called another former editor, Barry Tait, who apparently said very quickly, no way. Smart Barry!
She asked me to think about it and let her know asap in order to give her time to continue her search. I thought about it, and decided I could do it. After all, I had done it before and even though there have been many changes in the way The Journal is produced since the days that I was involved, I still thought it couldn’t be all that difficult!
So I said, yes and, dear Journal readers, you will get what you get and even I don’t know at this point just what the outcome will be.
The first indication that I was just supposed to quietly slide in the back door came when there was no big announcement that this former editor was returning to take over for Wendy’s two week break. Maybe she was hoping nobody would notice she was gone!
But we editor’s have style, we have our very own style and there would have been several indications that would make everyone realize Wendy was missing.
First of all, even though I went in a couple of times for a crash course on her way of doing things on her MAC computer, the instructions didn’t set in too well on my old brain.
I spent most of the first day on the job, trying to find my way around the desktop and files, with emotions ranging all the way from frustration to panic. What have I gotten myself into?
The last words that Wendy had said to me were, you can always call me if you need me. But I am a stubborn Scots/Irishman and I cannae admit to anyone that I can’t do the job!
In my reporting assignments, there were two council meetings on the same night at the same time.
Both Ashcroft and Cache Creek were holding their July meeting on July 25th.
Now that’s a dilemma.
Then, since I am a member of the Cache Creek council, would I be sitting at the meeting as a councillor or a reporter?
Would that be considered a conflict of interest?
Well you just never know, in the world of politics, how these things can be looked at!
But then, a challenge would have given me something to write about.
In my newspaper days, the biggest nightmare I faced was in the possibility of not finding that all important front page story.
However, somehow it always worked out and I never ever did, in my whole career, produce a newspaper with a blank front page. And as luck would have it (all depending on your point of view of course) the landfill story broke and at the same time, Cache Creek was preparing to turn on the water at the new Treatment Plant.
Now I had an editor type dilemma, since there was only room for one story on the front page, which one would it be, the good news one or the bad news one.
At this point I am still trying to make up my mind, and hopefully I will have the dilemma resolved in time for the August 2nd edition to go to press!
Have a good long weekend everyone, enjoy the good weather and stay safe.
