Time Flies

What were you doing 17 years ago today?

Me, I was starting a new job as a reporter at The Bristol Press.

Former Press Editor Frank Keegan hired me all those years ago and I had the pleasure of working for him for a year before he moved on. I still miss Frank, and our former Publisher Joe Zerbey. They both know and love newspapers and they also knew and loved Bristol. They were also a hoot, but that's another story.

My first day on the job, I wrote a story about some guy catching a big fish in the Pequabuck River, behind Tinty's.

I didn't know how to pronounce Pequabuck, or what Tinty's was and I had no idea why just catching a fish was such a big deal.

Now I know that in 1993, a big fish did indeed show that the river was alive -- something a lot of people doubted back then after so many years of it being a polluted mess. I learned how to pronounce and spell Pequabuck, a river I'm still writing about.

Since then, I've written about people, places and events in the community or of interest to it. I've told stories both joyously happy and deeply sad, some outrageous, others ridiculous. I've met and gotten to know a lot of wonderful, kind, committed and generous people in the Mum City over the years. To all of them, I'd like to say thank you.