‘Efficiency’ isn’t always the right metric.
An impromptu tour of Belfast with a veteran journalist.
Browsing Spillers record shop in Cardiff.
An energising coffee in Manchester’s The Refuge.
When I toured the UK running a series of storytelling workshops for The BBC, I had a rule: always leave space around the edges. When planning my trip, I’d allow a morning or afternoon off to explore; I’d try not to dash out of the door to the train station or airport as soon as I was done.
On the face of it, it wasn’t the most efficient way of using my time. But whilst I couldn’t invoice for those afternoons and mornings, they were sacred time to me. They gave me the opportunity for urban wanders, random encounters, and just noticing the city with my outsider eyes. Inevitably I’d first hunt out the independent coffee shops, a mission that took me down the interesting side streets away from the obvious sights.
One Thursday evening in February, having wrapped up a second day of workshops at BBC Northern Ireland in Belfast, one of the journalists on my course asked if I had to rush off to the airport. When I said no I didn’t, Seamus invited me into his car for a sixty minute tour of his home city. Seamus, a renowned veteran journalist who began his reporting career in Belfast in 1988, showed me the Falls Road, the Shankill Road, the Peace Line. It was an eye-opening experience I would have missed out on had I dashed off home.
‘Efficiency’ isn’t always the right metric. I’m glad I always leave space around the edges
