Day 1

 

The Age

 

I have been in Melbourne for a week now working on my boat, giving her some much needed TLC after being abandoned and neglected for 10 months.  I also needed to fill my apartment with supplies.  Oddly, the relative chill of Melbourne is at once comforting and confronting.  The cold, wind and rain are a a bit of a shock having enjoyed a warm, sunny Brisbane winter for most of the year. In the mornings at my favorite cafe in Rathdowne street, Carlton I am enjoying the aroma and taste of really good coffee. The same satisfying quality as the under the covered terraces of Turin or the squares in Parma.

 

As we are under strict instructions for epistolary effusions on the blog I thought I would post one after the first day.

 

I was settled into a desk and an IT guy went over the software with me. There was some problem with the password at first. Then I went to the editor’s meeting at 10am, after the ringing of a bell where they discussed the news of the day. Very interesting.

 

I went to the sports desk and introduced myself to the editor and presented an idea about interviewing the youth coach that had worked with Sam Stosur. She came over to my desk 15 minutes later and gave me a press release to attend a press conference at Tennis Australia. I was given a pass for the tram and I was out on my first story. Free lunch and 200 staff at Tennis Australia all toasted Sam’s win with champayne.  I interviewed one of Stosur’s youth coaches and  Scott Draper who had won the mixed doubles with her at the Australian Open in 2005. The story will probably be in the paper tomorrow I hope. Then in the afternoon there was another editor’s meeting at 3pm where all the stories that would go in the paper tomorrow were listed on a sheet and discussed. Very impressive meetings. Brief, to the point and total professionalism.

 

So all in all it was a successful day except that the HR guy told me they had over 600 applications for five trainee places starting work in November. I could not apply because entries finished in August. It seems like it is very, very hard to get a start.