Drowning

I've just finished the BBC Journalism Foundation training week in London which included having a go at creative writing. It's the first time in years I've written anything that was not news-related. I wrote about a family holiday in France when my then three year old brother Pascal nearly drowned. I ended up writing it through his eyes...

I was curled up like a foetus. Still. Silent. But surrounded by water. Drowing...drowning...drowning.

A minute earlier just playing on the steps of the pool, too young to join the splashing, giggling games of my three older brothers.

Too young? I'm not too young. I want to play in the swimming pool. One, two, three steps towards them and I'm in, in, in too deep but so close. Metres from my brothers' games, the laughter, the splashes. Surrounded by water. Too deep to stand. Lips turning blue. Curled up like a foetus. Drowning...drowning...drowning.

Whoosh (cough) I'm out. Philip, my big brother raises me in his arms, from the dead. Alive again with my three brothers. And I'm cuddled in mum's arms, never to forget the day I nearly drowned.

If you're a journalist I'd highly recommend the BBC College of Journalism website. A lot of the training week I've just finished is on there: http://www.bbc.co.uk/journalism/

A particular favourite of mine was the talk by Michael Blastland who warned us to scrutinise more closely statistics. It may sound dull but it's incredibly important to ensure the stories we tell our audiences are accurate.

Back Where I Was Stuck

Today I went back to Hulland Ward near Ashbourne, where I was stuck in the snow with the BBC Radio Derby radio car two weeks ago. As you can see in this photo compared with those in my blog post below, the snow has since melted away. However, the white stuff is scheduled to fall there this weekend. I went back to interview the Coxon family who looked after me when I was stuck there for four hours. I asked them how they're preparing for the impending below zero temperatures.

Stuck in the Snow

Today instead of covering the story, I became it after being stuck in the snow for four hours. I left the newsroom prepared for the cold weather (see left) and headed to Hulland Ward near Ashbourne to do a radio car story for the breakfast show. I parked the vehicle in a drive off the main road and after doing the interview decided to head to Ashbourne to report live on the effect of the snow there. What I didn't realise was that from where I'd parked - on a gradient - and despite desperate attempts by myself and the friendly people who lived there, I was going nowhere.

This did nonetheless provide me with the opportunity to report live on the my predicament. After all, I was planning to report on how the snow was impacting on people!

Snow report 1:

Powered by Podbean.com
Snow report 2:

Powered by Podbean.com

It also allowed me the chance to Tweet my goings on and include some snaps of what happened on the BBC Radio Derby Breakfast Show Facebook page.

After a couple of hours I was no closer to leaving but was cheered by the sight of a gritter from the council in my wing mirror. However not only did they fail to clear the snow and spread salt to allow the residents access to drive, they quickly became stuck in the snow just as I was. Their efforts to escape were captured on the phone of by Tom Coxon, a 16 year old who lives there. His video is well worth a watch, it's featured on the BBC Derby website.

Tom provided me with cups of tea and excellent interviews for my live updates. I ended up recording a story for Wednesday's breakfast show on how he and his step dad snowbaord down the hill behind his garden whenever it snows.

Eventually, at 1 in the afternoon the RAC man managed to get the radio car out with the use of a rapidly dwindling supply of grit and a shovel I borrowed from one of the neighbours. So it was back to the newsroom having made new friends and with plenty of tales to tell my amused colleagues.