In My View by Ken Watkins
Well, that's it then. Yesterday afternoon I put the Free Press sports pages to bed for the last time, handed in my office keys, and said au revoir to my colleagues.
When you read this I will enjoying the first day of my retirement... no doubt in close proximity to Hamish, who instinctively knows when I'm not going into the office and looks longingly at his lead.
Mind you, seven days a week will probably confuse him at first. But he'll just think it's Christmas.
If somebody had told me, at the start of 2000, that I would spend the last eight and a half years of my career back full-time in sport, and return to the Free Press, my response would have been fairly predictable. It was a totally unexpected bonus.
It's been great. I've loved every minute of it... well most of the minutes. The joy of this job is meeting people, and that's why I have always greeted weekends with a smile, because they have taken me away from the tyranny of the office computer and out and about.
In the 43 years that I have practised the profession of journalism – still practising, still learning – many things have changed. The downside of progress in the print industry has been technology chaining us to our desks more and more.
We have become increasingly dependent on complex, but inherently fragile, computer systems, designed more for IT departments than the people who actually produce the newspapers.
Of course this house of cards, which produces system crashes and slow running among other challenges, is not exclusive to this industry.
But the process has gone hand in hand with a gradual and continuing reduction in staffing levels, and the days of sending a reporter out to each job have long gone. Now, sadly, we are almost totally dependent on getting stories by phone, instead of face to face.
But, by and large, I've thoroughly enjoyed my time in journalism. I've met a lot of good people, worked with a lot of good people and, when the computers are running smoothly, had a lot of fun.
I'm not vanishing. Most Saturdays will find me on a touchline or a boundary rope somewhere. And there will be contributions to In My View – no doubt Babergh and the health authorities will continue to provide ammunition, although at times it's a bit like shooting fish in a barrel.
As it's the season of goodwill I'll refrain from commenting on the farce that is Babergh's car park tickets policy, and the latest suggestion from the health authorities that, after all, Walnuttree Hospital is the best place for Sudbury's new health centre.
So, for the moment, that's it. It's been a privilege, and a joy. Thanks.
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Weather for Sudbury
Saturday 04 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: -2 C to 0 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Light sleet showers
Temperature: 0 C to 2 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: West
