I sit here now, toasty by the fireplace, dog asleep at my feet, typing about one of the most extraordinary, and seemingly, shortest weeks of my life.

Day Five over.  More press releases and story ideas given to me.  More given right back after being researched, cut, slabbed, and pasted.  Another sports team, another community report, and a newspaper meeting I attended concerning the sure issue of the seasonal soon-to-arrive bushfires.

I’m almost sorry my internship is over.  It really was too short.  Smiles, handshakes, and email details all around as I packed up and left with my forms.  I was advised there was nothing left for me to do since Friday was a lazy day and the deadline wasn’t until after the weekend.  So I left early at 2 with the thanks of the news editor.

The Express Advocate was an interesting paper.  With so many people living in such a quiet area, it made sense that it wasn’t going to be so much about hard news as it was reporting for their people and for their benefit.  As the editor put it: the people really own the paper, not the other way around.