Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Well, I'm back in Sheffield. I'm writing this from that wonderful building called the Information Commons, since there is no internet working at the house at the minute. Which is grim. Oh and the phone has a fucking restriction on it- thank you Talktalk! For reasons unknown (I'm guessing the floods) but I look outside the window and all I see is sunshine- so pull the other one- we have paid the bills- give us our bloody phone back so we can call our loved ones! :( Arseholes. We have no service from them at the minute and so, we are forcing ourselves to put a brave face on it. I shouldn't be so angry- but I am. They've messed us around so much it's unbelievable. So we're definitely going to switch as they've been nothing but PATHETIC.

Anyway *sigh* that little rant over...I can get on with talking about my first day at my work placement. I got up super early (6am!) and showered, got ready etc, which took a while but I had to beat my housemate to the shower! haha before I left the house at 8.15am and walked up to the Sheffield Star's offices. I thought I'd bribe them with a packet of digestive biscuits, haha so I got some from the Spar. Then I had to find the reception- I wasn't sure where it was exactly, but I found it eventually and met up with Becky Lawly who took me upstairs and sat me down on a computer and showed me the works of the Star's office system. I was told to read the newspapers and see if there were any local stories within the nationals that could be written up- but there weren't. Much to my relief I was saved when the local crime correspondent came and told me there was an inquest into a guy who blew his brains out at 10am. Nice. I went along with her.

We got to the Coroners Court in good time and I was amazed by how much of a story was actually there- plus I got the whole thing down pretty much, in shorthand! Which goes to show how much I was concentrating, hehe. The story was tragic- an old guy who was mentally ill, blew his brains out after being released from a mental hospital too early by doctors. It was grim to hear and to see the family so upset. I mean the widow broke down crying as well as the sons. The widow was more angry to be honest though. Also we had to talk to the family at the end of it, which was really difficult- especially the part where we had to ask for a photo, they declined however. Which was to be expected I guess, but I guess we got our hopes up there- as something like that will easily make the front page news, since it's not every day someone kills themself with a rifle, in Sheffield.

The crime correspondent (forget her name now), said it would definitely be front page material- since the story is quite unique here...so maybe I can look forward to showcasing that story sometime over the week :) I'll let you know.

I had about a 45 minute lunch break, in which time I wrote the introduction to the story up. Before I went back to the office from about 1.30-4.30pm and wrote it all into the system and saved it- I will still have the chance to edit it tomorrow and since me and the crime correspodent have worked together today, we will be finishing it off tomorrow. Then I guess I'll be working on something new. Going to Court perhaps? Or something of the like. I'll keep you posted!

Tonight, I'm going to try and finish 'Seeds of Yesterday' - the fourth book in the Dollanganger saga, which has kept me so riveted for months! and then start 'Garden of Shadows' if I have the time, since I want to try and finish all of those before Saturday when the final and brand spanking new Harry Potter book comes out! Yep siree.

Right- more to come soon.

Watch this space.

xxx

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