Almost 25 years ago, I was left mortified on the first day in my very first full paid journalism job when the biggest bunch of flowers turned up for me in the newsroom.

It was a good luck and well-done gesture from my parents for bagging a trainee position straight out of university. Sure, it was super kind and thoughtful… blah blah blah… but my plan to just blend into a newsroom which was wall-to-wall grown-ups was thwarted by the Interflora delivery that was squeezed onto my desk in between the mounds of press releases and notebooks.

It’s hard to blend in and hide when that’s the first impression. Love my folks… but my gosh I can still feel the mortification now that I felt then!

But I needn’t have worried because it was a local newsroom full of heart, kindness and warmth – with a

See Full Page