I've had about three weeks at Reuters so far, and it's a lot of fun.
It's strange being an intern again and feeling like you have to ask permission before doing anything, but I've been getting out and about to some interesting stories, including stalking Richard Branson at a conference at a very strange and modern innovation hub in a muddy field on the outskirts of Moscow, and trying to track down a suitably nationalistic new Russian-made limo design for President Putin.
My editor has asked to cover the transport news beat, which I feel laughably unqualified for, given that my first question about any car would normally be about the colour. I'm learning a lot though, and it turns out that business journalism isn't as impenetrable as I feared once you learn lots of jargon like 'capex' (capital expenditure) and 'LNG' (liquid natural gas) and 'leverage' (still not sure about that one).
Outside, the weather is getting very dark and cold. We had our first big snowstorm yesterday, and there’s piles of muddy slush on the streets, though I think the next batch may stick properly and it’s getting down into minus numbers consistently.
President Putin has also decided that he is going to stick with Medvedev’s somewhat controversial decision to remain in perpetual summer time, which he put in place when he was president, so we’re now four hours out of step with London, and it’s dark when I get up and when I leave work. I’m beginning to really understand some of those gloomy, ice-bound short stories by Russian authors.
Still, just eight weeks ‘til Christmas!
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