I had plenty of time to consider the passage of time as I waited for a friend to join me for our
weekly coffee this morning - she was very late!
I pondered the changes which had taken place in the last ten years. Ten years ago , the now uber-
cool sophisicated coffee shop was the offices of The Dundalk Democrat, the paper where
I got my first job straight out of college. I never intended to work there as it was a particularly
old-fashioned and backward thinking paper but fate took a hand and I needed a job near home.
It was a higgledy-piggledy office, with manuel type-writers and one phone between five reporters
and the printing was done on old hot-metal linotype machines. Many people thought it 'quaint'
but in reality it was an uncomfortable place to work, cold in the winter and a fire trap.
The Democrat's front page was entirely devoted to advertisements with all news stories inside.
The owner/editor was an eccentric character who seemed to have walked out of 'Dad's Army', complete
with moustache and menacing roar. While it wasn't the most challenging place to work, there was never a
dull moment, with dramas which wouldn't be out of place in a soap opera. Maybe I'll write a book about it some
time but I don't think anyone would believe my stories!
This week ten years ago I moved to the opposition. Shortly afterwards, the editior of The Democrat died, the paper was
bought by a Scottish group and the building sold. So, I now drink coffee where I once worked.