By Simon Wright – Follow me on Twitter
@Siwri88
IN this
annual piece 12 months ago, I came up with this final sentence.
“I do hope 2013 is a
little bit less dramatic and a bit quieter though!”
Wishful
thinking then as it has been another action-packed 12 months for me. However as
the festive season gathers pace, I can finally say I’m settled, secure and
happy for the first time in ages. It was a year where I had to deal with
personal tragedy, knockbacks in job searching and changes in both technological devices and friendships but when I think about my 2013 – I feel satisfied that the hard
work has paid off.
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| The closest I will probably ever get to Sebastian Vettel! |
That wasn’t
the case at the start of the year. An underwhelming trip to the Autosport
International Show started 2013 off but I will back in attendance next month.
Any plan I came up with unravelled pretty quickly. A lack of funding opportunities
put paid to the option of going back to University to enhance my qualifications
and although there was freelance work, it was low pay. The radio venture with
BeeVocal ended due to their high-risk strategy which meant payment couldn’t be
guaranteed. That was a shame as I really enjoyed hosting radio shows at the
backend of 2012. I did write short news articles for football website A
Different League but 25p per article isn’t proper payment if you ask me. One
new aspect that kept me going as winter turned to spring was some work as a
travel writer for Holiday-Weather.com. I had a brilliant mentor, the pay was good and the work was something completely different and
out of my comfort zone. I wrote travel guides for Auckland in New Zealand, the
Costa del Sol and the Costa Blanca and I really enjoyed researching and writing
those pieces. The work sadly dried up by mid-May but it offered me more skills
and gave me more confidence in writing for different target audiences.
The nights
began to draw out but my frustrations in the job market continued in regards to
finding something permanently. In February, I did have the experience of my
first interview for a graduate position – a junior content editor role with
Mohsen – a digital-based company based in Lancaster for mobile phone
applications in their sports department. I narrowly missed out on this position
due to a lack of office experience but I did well considering it was my first
crack after hundreds of failed applications. Further interviews followed with
two positions in Northampton and another in London but I was turned down for
all roles. I seeked career guidance in May and made radical changes to covering
letters and CVs. It still didn’t lead to much. By June, I was desperate and even tried to return to my former retail position at Clarks. This also ended as
a dead end. I was unhappy, frightened with the lack of options and also
suffering from low self-esteem. At the end of June, I decided to give it one
more month before giving up and going travelling for 18 months to find my feet
and possibly a future in another country. Then the opportunity arose with my
current position.
Amidst the
desperate tactics saw me advertising my services on Gumtree. A senior member of
the team at Topps Europe Ltd saw my advert and offered me an interview for a role as a
picture researcher and production assistant. The interview itself I felt wasn’t
my best but I clearly did enough to impress the team. Less than 24 hours after
seeing them for the interview on 2 July, I was offered the job. Unsurprisingly,
I took it despite having another two interviews scheduled, one at the Phones4U
Head Office in Newcastle-Upon-Lyme. I had done it finally after 14 months of
sheer frustration, constant rejections and regular knockbacks.
The Topps
experience started in mid-July and I went past the five-month mark last week.
Working on the sports team, my role is to liaise with picture agencies, create
database lists, write short content and sub-edit a subscription magazine on a variety
of the licenses we have. There have been tough days but also very good days and
it feels great when a project I work on comes out in the various markets. My
contract was initially for three months and was extended to the end of
April at the start of October. Two months later, I signed a permanent contract
which I am absolutely thrilled about. Writing is my passion and always will be.
Ultimately that is the job I want to do in the future when it comes to longer
term ambitions but I am very happy where I am in the short term and hope to
have a long and successful stint with Topps.
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| It was hello to the Sony Xperia Z for me this year |
Of course my
year wasn’t all about work and finding a position in the first place. It was a
year of technology change. May saw the end for my Toshiba laptop as it went
into sleep mode and never woke up! Its replacement is a HP with Windows 8.1 and
I’m very happy with the choice I made. That is only the third laptop I’ve had
in seven years but my mobile phone devices are now well into double figures.
The BlackBerry broke again, got a replacement and then eventually traded it in
well before the end of my contract. The sorriest excuse for a smartphone has
been replaced by the slick Sony Xperia Z (pictured). Again this was a wise choice. The
battery life isn’t brilliant but you’d be hard pushed to find a smartphone that
lasts more than 2/3 days before it needs a charge nowadays.
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| Pictured with the world's greatest cup competition; The FA Cup |
May also took
me to the home of English football, though it wasn’t to see a match. I
had purchased tickets to take a VIP tour of Wembley Stadium in an access all
areas afternoon of one of football’s greatest arenas. I got my picture taken
with the FA Cup (pictured), led a team out onto the touchline, visited the UEFA museum
integrated for the Champions League final and gained access to the media rooms and
England team dressing rooms. The weather was rubbish but the rest of the day
was brilliant.
Friendships
went through their usual course of either getting distant or staying in touch.
I’m still in touch with many of my coursemates from University and that’s a
nice feeling. I
did learn later in the year that some people who you trust and thought were
always going to be there for you no matter what, weren’t. There comes a point
where you have to say enough is enough. Making effort to stay in touch shouldn’t
work one-way and if it does, then you have to question the point of
communication. Many people sent me messages of support when in October;
the sad news came through of a passing of one of my family relatives. It was a
sad time and one where I had to keep things together and not show in public
that I was struggling. It wasn’t easy, far from it but by working hard
throughout the weeks that followed, it was the best thing I could do to help
the grief. As mentioned, I did get some lovely messages but some who I thought
I could count on were not there and that hurt. Best thing to do was move on and
I have.
One person
who I do want to mention is Victoria Chapelow who has become one of my closest
and most reliable friends of the past 12-18 months. Victoria is kind, caring, very friendly and always has been there for me. We have developed a strong bond and I’m
delighted to know that I can talk to her about almost anything. We’ve seen each
other a few times this year which is nice too and I hope to see more of her in
2014. Friendships are largely in a strong place then but the chances of romance
have all but gone. With no experience of relationships whatsoever, I have come
to the acceptance at my age now that I will never find the special one. There have
been the inevitable crushes and occasionally, I have developed feelings but
nothing worked out. It is sad for me to admit but there isn’t any point in
pining about it. Like dying friendships, it is best to move on and not reflect
on these elements too much. There will be areas where being single probably
has its advantages too!
There was no
foreign holiday for the second year running despite all that travel guide work
at the start of the year. That drought is likely to end with a summer holiday
in 2014 to somewhere hot. Saying that, you couldn’t complain too much about the
British summer this year – we had a nice one for a change. In November, I went
to my first football match in six years when Milton Keynes Dons met Coventry
City in a League One encounter at Stadium MK. The atmosphere was very good and
the stadium facilities brilliant. The local Dons team lost 3-1 but it was a
good occasion to be at, especially with the Sky Blues bringing a record crowd
down to MK for a League One match.
The New Year
resolutions set at the start of the year ended with a mixed bag. Limited use of
Facebook was stuck to, as was the paranoia effect I had – others like
exercising didn’t work unless you can count walking to work on a regular basis.
I was delighted that with my job, I can now support two charities with regular
monthly contributions in the British Heart Foundation and Teenage Cancer Trust –
two causes I value in their fantastic work. Another foundation who
deserves a mention is The Big Issue and Centrepoint regarding finding homes for
the homeless. The Skins actress Kathryn Prescott put on her first major
photography exhibition called ‘What Makes Us Care’ in the autumn and I went to
see it in September. It was a tremendous gallery of photos from a multi-talented
individual and the two causes at the heart of this raised a magnificent amount
of money. As time goes on, I hope to be able to donate more to other charities
as I feel this is both important for my career but also because I like to help
others. I also began writing a book in the summer called ‘The Premier League –
Changing History.’ Progress on this halted after getting my full-time job but
this is something I will start to spend more time on in the New Year and beyond.
That meant the difficult but right decision to stop updating my football
website last week due to the lack of available time I have.
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| Merry Christmas everyone! |
Looking ahead
to 2014 and I am settled, happier and content for the first time in ages. No predictions this time on the amount of drama but I don't think I'll need to worry about insecurity in the next 12 months. The
journey to the golden sky continues.
I would also
like to take the opportunity to wish all my readers and in fact everyone a
Merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous New Year. This is my last piece of
2013 but Viewing Perspectives will continue into next year. There also might be
a new look to this website in the future.
Thank you,
Merry Christmas and you’ll hear from me soon again
Simon
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