Tube Strikes and TV News

40 Hogarth is quiet. This almost never happens, so I can’t pass up the chance to blog a bit until my flatmates get home, the Tube strike ends, or I get too sleepy…and one or all of those things are going to happen within the hour. Once the girls start trickling in I will be too excited hear stories about Mr. Inkpen, obscure errands and realizations that in 12 short months we won’t just be pretending to be in the real world. As for the Tube, it will start up again in about 45 minutes and it is conveniently located 20 yards from our window, which shakes every time the train speeds by. If neither of those things happen, I will probably just fall asleep as I type since I’ve woke up at 5 and haven’t slept much this week.

It’s a beautiful day here. The sun is shining...kind of like a reward for putting up with twice-as-long commutes and grumpy bus drivers. The city is on its second day of a 48-hour Tube strike. (The Tube is London’s underground rail system…it’s quite brilliant.) The well-paid workers want more money and more days off. Apparently the 50 vacation days they get now are just not quite enough. Yesterday I would have called my hour and a half on the bus to work annoying, but today, thanks to the sunshine, it was more like a free riding tour of London…even if I was uncomfortably wedged between an unnaturally hairy chest and a smudged window...

I just got back from work, and I one of my favorite things is the feeling I get when it’s time to leave and I don’t want to. I think that’s a great problem to have. Today one of the producers said, “Emily, why don’t you leave…there’s nothing to do!” I just have this (incredibly nerdy) feeling like I want to stay and absorb as much information and experience as possible. If I learn nothing else this summer, it’s okay because now I know for sure that I love TV news. I’ve always had a hard time explaining why exactly I have a passion for journalism, but I feel it more than ever when I’m at 10 Fleet Place.  In class last week my professor mentioned the famous phrase describing journalism as the ‘first draft of history’. I like that, even if it is a little dramatic. Last week I sat in on the daily anchor/producer meeting as they outlined the big news of the day. They decided what was important to tell people and that is just so cool to me! Because really, in a sense it doesn’t matter if Obama makes a speech in Cairo or the banks get to repay the TARP money. It only matters because people know about it and they only know about it because of…journalism! I’ll step off the soapbox now, even though I could say much more about this.

Two of five girls just walked in, so I guess I’m done for now. The Inkpen stories have begun…I love London. :)