Razors, trains and Blackpool - not a dull week, then.

When I left my previous working life behind six weeks ago, I knew I was looking for new and interesting things to happen. It's fair to say that these six weeks have hardly been dull but Wednesday morning of this week was exactly what I meant.
Having risen painfully early to be at 7am Mass for Ash Wednesday, I was hunched over the laptop at just after 9.30, working on the magazine when my inbox pinged.
It was an email from Nick Lunn, commercial manager of Tamworth FC. One of the jobs I've picked up in the last six weeks is as part-time press officer for the Lambs and Nick wanted to know if I'd like to interview Neil Ruddock.
What, the Neil Ruddock; the 'legendary former Liverpool, Tottenham and England hardman' as the tabloids would have it?
"Yes, that Neil Ruddock; he's doing a sportsman's dinner in Tamworth for us next week and we want to promote it."
Now having lived behind the scenes as a newspaper sub for years, I haven't interviewed a 'serious' footballer since I gave up covering matches for The Birmingham Post in the late-1990s. I've mocked their cliche-speak and the willingness of desperate sportswriters to mindlessly regurgitate it all; I've despaired of them ever saying something interesting - but picked up a pen and a notebook and done it myself? No.
I couldn't wait. I got the necessary phone number, put in the call and had a thoroughly enjoyable five minutes. You expect someone who now makes a living as an after-dinner speaker to be interesting, but it isn't always the case - this was.
He gave me the perfect local angle for the interview, pithy and interesting comment on the football issues of the day (He's backing John Terry, by the way) and was a thoroughly pleasant person to speak to, unlike some interviewees who make it rather too obvious that the whole thing's a chore.
So I'd like to thank 'Razor' for making my week; you can read the interview at www.thelambs.co.uk.
The week began with two days in Blackpool. Blackpool? In February? Yes, it was an event I was attending as part of my duties for the magazine and it was great fun. We met some lovely people, had a couple of romantic sunkissed strolls along the seafront (yes, this was Blackpool in February), won a furry lion toy who now proudly sits on the dashboard of our car and we spent three hours of Saturday evening splashing around in the Sandcastle, Britain's biggest indoor waterpark.
Well, I did say I wanted to have some new experiences this year.
However, here's a great big 'yah boo' to Virgin Trains. Never high on any traveller's Christmas card list, they decided to put on a four-car train, rather than the usual five-car, between the West Midlands and Scotland....on a Friday afternoon....on the first day of half-term.
It's a good job that Mrs W, who is practiced at this kind of thing as a daily commuter from Tamworth to Birmingham, has sharp elbows and a fiercely determined expression.

So where did those three weeks go?

Nothing can be more dispiriting for an enthusiastic new blogger than to craft what you hope is a really interesting post, press 'Publish' and come back two days later to find that it hasn't published at all, but vanished into the ether.
That's what happened here two weeks ago tonight. I was all fired up to tell you about how the pace was stepping up on the magazine, how I'd just been announced as a new press officer of Tamworth Football Club, how I was working on plans for a new PR project and how life was really interesting.
Happily, all those things are still true so I can reprise them now. The magazine is now less than a fortnight away from the final proofing stage and must print in the first week of March, page proofs are starting to arrive (and look great - and as for the redesigned front page....) and interest is still high.
The Lambs are playing great football (I don't think it's down to me) and everyone I speak to about the PR project thinks it's a winner.
We're off to Blackpool for the weekend to be at an event to do with the magazine and after what has been a rather tough day today, I'm really looking forward to it.
The only downer is that my makeshift office chair is starting to give me a really bad back. Does anyone know where I might find some proper office chairs going cheap?