Back to the Grind

Having just led a family safari through the Sunburned Neon Hell that is Myrtle Beach, all I wanted from my first day back at work was a little peace and quiet. For once, the News Gods agreed, assigning me a couple of shoots that required no more critical thinking than delivering a few cartons of milk. Normally, such errand boy endeavors fill me with spite, but today I was more than happy to tackle the lack of intrigue at hand. As I piloted my news skiff down a rainy Randolph County road, I rolled down the window and let the ensuing spray soak my hand. The cool droplets of the foothills were a welcome change from the blistering stupor of the South Carolina boardwalk. Settling back in the driver’s seat, I put on some Mellencamp, watched the wipers dance and thought about the promise of Fall in the Piedmont.


Even before moving west of Raleigh eight years ago, I adored Autumn. Who wouldn’t, when the insufferable humidity of a Carolina August fades away, leaving crisp evenings and chilly mornings and renewed appreciation for good coffee? Couple that with the haunting colors of hardwood leaves in their final death throes, and you have the making of a truly spectacular season. Of course, today’s gray haze was less than photogenic and we still have more than a few dog days left, but can you blame an aging camera caddy for getting giddy when the weather pretends to break? If you can, you really should get out of the office more. It’s often the only place I can get my head straight...

Like today. With every mile I put between me and the station, the clearer the horizon appeared through the windshield. For a while, anyway. Squinting in the distance, I noticed the station’s tower looming over a far-flung treeline, it’s strong signal penetrating my thick skull. Suddenly crumpled papers and scribbled dates appeared on the worn screen inside my head, flashing scenes of future gigs and annual sojourns: In two weeks I’ll travel to Memphis for a whirlwind tour of the American Idol audition madness. Such a trek into the drama queen psyche comes with many twisted vistas, and I look forward to blogging it as it happens. After that comes Furniture Market, the GGCC, and of course the prerequisite mad dash eastward for continuing team smotherage of whatever hurricane chooses to crash our coast. These hallmarks of the Fall are familiar ground to yours truly, and I look forward to the taking my half dozen readers along for what always promises to be a damn bumpy ride.

For now, though I’ll keep cruising the backwaters of my rainy Thursday - knowing that, in this business, the occasional quiet shift is usually interrupted by a great thundering clatter of crisis and chaos. I’m as used to it as an absent-mined bookworm can be, but YOU, ladies and gentlemen, might do well to buckle up...