329 days ago, a woman called Jeanette slipped me a fiver as we chatted in the freezer aisle of Asda and told me to go and buy a coffee.
If bizarre little moments like that interest you, keep your eyes peeled for The Diary of Cwmbran Life – 365 days of trying (and sometimes failing) to run a local news site for the town.
The day after she gave me the cash and told me to buy myself a coffee, I started keeping daily notes.
Since then, I’ve stood on the touchline in the rain with grassroots football coaches, climbed into a boxing ring with a world champion, interviewed my favourite comedian, attended funerals of people I’d never met to write tribute stories, written articles while on holiday, come close to crying more than once, nearly spilt a beer over my laptop in a pub, celebrated with people starting their first business, done a BBC TV interview about fake AI news, and held a glass of champagne in Buckingham Palace – playing it cool while hoping King Charles or Queen Camilla might wander over and ask me about the best town in the UK. They didn’t, but Prince Richard, the Duke of Gloucester, did ask me if my news site was written in Welsh.
And there have been plenty of low points and random moments that make me think: “Why am I doing this?” My wife, who’s from Essex, regularly reminds me: “We can’t leave Cwmbran, can we?”
Sometime in March or April, I’ll be clicking “publish” and spilling the beans on what really goes on behind the scenes.
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I’m going to pack the diary with as many names as possible (and where it’s necessary to protect some people, without… well, you’ll see).
Thanks again for your support.