The golden rules of reporting explained

Interviews ranged from memorably feisty pensioners and heroic dinner ladies to frequently monosyllabic and occasionally angry politicians and slightly rude celebrities whose names I have instantly forgotten.

The great thing about the job is the variety and although it was often difficult work and long hours and involves constantly evolving technology, I would not change a thing.

How many people can say they have waded through floods, interviewed murderers and crime victims, reported and visited Parliament and 10 Downing Street, not to mention flying in a microlight with the army in Cyprus and staying in a Soviet tank barracks in Latvia with UN forces?

Memorably (and this one impresses my nieces the most) I was allowed to sit in the cab of a fire engine at the scene of a blaze when local yobs starting lobbing glass bottles at both the emergency services and the press.

Safe to say it’s varied and ensures a reporters’ reunion is always a fascinating night of anecdotal oneupmanship at the pub.

Stories rarely include the hours of heads-down typing stories, endlessly chasing comments, arguing with press offices and editing and checking facts and legalities.

These days I’m more likely to find myself at a meeting than the scene of a murder (I was a crime reporter) so I live vicariously through the editing of reporters who exist on the adrenaline of getting to the bottom of a what’s going on - the pressures of which remain the same if not the channels and ways in which the story is shared.

As a result finding the story often involves legwork, usually - as one reporter found this week - at a crime scene in pouring and freezing rain when unsuitably dressed for the occasion.

Safe to say most reporters quickly learn the golden rule of always keeping a towel, a pair of wellies, a change of clothes and a big warm waterproof in the car boot - and that pretty summer dresses with bare legs are not advisable in February unless you want to go blue.