The uncertainty principle

Sunday 8th March 2009

The driving snow was battering the windscreen. The road from Edinburgh to the motorway south was a ribbon of white. The warmth of the radio changed to a chill as the news of the shooting of two soldiers in Northern Ireland came on. I was driving south to catch a ‘plane to go to Belfast to drive to Ballymena to broadcast a live workout with GMTV’s Mr Motivator. 

“How’s that news going to change things?”, I thought.

I did not need to wait for long. I got a couple of calls as I emerged from the blizzard into clear skies and dry roads. The Motivator broadcast was off, but I was still to go the Belfast to cover the story for Monday morning. GMTV was going to go quite big on it. John Stapleton, one of the main Presenters was being sent over to front part of the programme either from Belfast or the scene. The exact location was still to be decided. I carried on driving south. 

The joys of driving!

About four hours later I got a call to say that things had changed and I may not be going to Belfast after all. I was told to hang around the Midlands because I may have to go to Corby. I found a Motorway Service area and got myself a coffee expecting a bit of a wait until decisions were made in London.

It was my lucky day. A decision had been made and I was told before I overdosed on caffeine. I would be going to Corby because that was where the Motivator broadcast had been moved to. I headed to the hotel, got a quick bite to eat and went to bed. The rest of the team did not arrive until a little later because there had been a lot of organising to be done in the office when Ballymena location had been dropped. The new location had to be found with willing participants in a short space of time and the logistics of getting the technical things there along with the people taking part.