³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio Scotland Spokes-Men Heading For A Fall
If you want to see one of our top journalists falling off his bike in this bad weather, then head for Glasgow Green tomorrow morning. Phil Wells, the Editor of Good Morning Scotland, has twice come a cropper on his way into work...both times at exactly the same place.
You'd think he'd learn from his mistakes, wouldn't you? But he's not alone. I'm told that Stephen Hollywood, who runs the MacAulay & Co show, has also taken a tumble from the saddle.
And a few weeks ago Bryan Burnett also went over his handlebars while biking in Bearsden. He got taken to hospital to be patched up and the docs told him to put his bike away until the springtime. He has.
I tell you this because I've received a few e-mails from curious and concerned listeners wondering how our production teams and presenters are managing to get into the studios to report on the weather problems across Scotland.
Phil tells me that most of the Good Morning Scotland team are getting up at half past two in the morning so they can pull on their wellies and scrape their cars. (or, in his case, snap on his bicycle clips) Those who don't live in Glasgow have been spending nights in hotels around Pacific Quay.
"No one's moaning." he tells me, which might be because situations like this create a spirit of camaraderie...or else people are just glad to be avoiding Christmas shopping.
Either way, I really ought to be sending messages of thanks and encouragement to the radio staff. But I'm not. Instead I've been annoying the news and travel presenters with my annual moan about the excessive use of the word "treacherous" to describe the road conditions.
Honestly, you can play "treacherous bingo" by counting the number of times you're hearing that word on TV and radio these days. Mostly it comes from the official statements released by the police and other emergency services.
All alternatives gratefully received. Or else it's time for a new thesaurus.
POSTSCRIPT AT 15.15
I knew I'd get intoi trouble for this blog post. Now I have other programme teams e-mailing to tell me about the struggles they had in getting to work today. This from Carolyn Beckett who runs our Cafe programmes from Edinburgh.
"It's not just the news and travel presenters braving the elements to get in. Today, with Janice off sick, Chris Kane has managed to get to Edinburgh from Stirling, producer Bronwen Tulloch braved it through the 'treacherous' snowdrifts in East Lothian and the rest of us gave up on Lothian Buses and walked!"
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