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Monday July 22 was a big day for me. Bit of a celebration in fact. It was my sister’s birthday. I won’t disclose her age but she’s three years older than me and I’m no spring chicken.
Her name’s Alexandra. Got a nice ring to it hasn’t it? Bit of a royal ring to it, you might say. When I called to wish her many happy returns, the news had broken that you-know-who was in the early stages of labour. If she were to give birth to a girl, Alexandra was a favoured name. I mentioned it to my sister. "I’m not interested," she sniffed. "I know," I said (and believe me I did know – you couldn’t meet anyone less interested). "I’m just telling you."
Boringly, the baby was a boy and well, you know the rest. I haven’t watched that much of the rolling news. I’ve been in front of a computer trying to get work (reasonable rates: please email me). Still, I did switch on while eating lunch yesterday, only to be tickled by BBC journalist Simon McCoy’s inability to pretend standing outside a hospital door, clamped resolutely shut, was News. What can you say? Woman had baby 24 hours ago and er, that’s it.
I bought a few papers on Tuesday. Not really for the baby coverage, but because I’m trying to get work and see where to pitch (discounted rates for the right publication: please call me). I was bemused by the amount of ink devoted to this two-line story. 'Baby born; future king; bit of a chunker; mum and baby doing well.' It got me thinking. Maybe I could charge £1, no £2 a word for MY story. The highs and lows, the joys and tears, of being related to someone who shares such an auspicious birth date. I mean it sounds ridiculous, but after what I’ve read – 'Did the full moon send Kate into labour?', 'Where will he spend his first Christmas?', I think I can match that.
PS I'm a teacher, author, journalist. I know you know that. I've just got to keep these words in my posts for SEO reasons. SEO you say? Ask a youngster.
Comments (2)
Wendy:
Jul 25, 2013 at 12:03 PM
An aside:
Bod, as a one-time resident, you may be intrigued by the surprising levels of interest in the princeling here in the Republic of Emerald. On Tuesday the auld wans in our neighbouring office had the royal family tree from Ethelstan onwards out and were predicting names; I was asked if I thought it had been a "very controlled labour" (like I have Carole on speed dial) and whether I would have camped outside the palace: set face to extreme disdain. They were practically knitting bootees. My colleague posted congrats on Facebook, as if the pair would be reading it later.
Who knew? Actually I did: the frothing over the royal wedding here was 1000 times worse.
Kate Bohdanowicz:
Jul 25, 2013 at 12:23 PM
Ha ha - have you thought about commenting on all things royal with great British authority and charging good money for your faux inside knowledge? That's what the journalists do!
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