A shock to the system hit as I opened the front door to a new week of newspaper delivery in around Durham. The car dash read 3℃, Brrrrrr, the first early morning sign that summer has passed and autumn has arrived. It won't be long before the winter coat is my regular morning attire, fortunately the powers that be delivered milder weather as the week progressed.

After Sundays battle between 1 inch thick Sunday Times newspapers and Durham's Victorian and Georgian letterboxes, Monday ran pretty much to schedule, the wholesaler's newspaper delivery to us was 15 mins late but an adrenalin rush fuelled by a can of Monster ensured the newspaper delivery rounds were packed and sorted in delivery order and the drivers on the road by 5-15am with all newspapers delivered by 7-30am, pretty much on time. 

Tuesday, what the hell happened? the drivers were away in good time but there was a significant increase in traffic that affected the latter part of all the newspaper delivery rounds. it was if someone had turned a tap on full, from Whitesmocks through to the Cock of the north roundabout and South Road and in the Shincliffe & Bowburn area, traffic was queuing from top of Shincliffe bank all the way into Durham and also backed up to Sherburn House beyond the motorway bridge. all I can think is either Durham University staff returned to work en mass or maybe an incident on the A1(M) had caused drivers to find alternative routes. The knock on effect of having to queue on numerous occassions to rejoin the main roads meant the newspaper delivery rounds took 20 - 30 minutes longer to complete, however all newspapers were still delivered by 8am.

The middle of the week I was dreading but prepared for, In the good old heydays of newspaper distribution, the majority of national newspapers were printed on Fleet Street in London or its counterpart in Manchester and first editions hot off the presses rushed to the various London termini or Manchester Victoria so as not to miss the dedicated newspaper train departure time, then with staff on board sorting the newspapers into bundles and affixing address labels during the journey, the newspapers were delivered by rail to the provincial towns and villages rail stations and collected by the newspaper wholesalers for delivery to the newsagents. A very streamlined and fast paced supply chain that worked for the newsagents, their newspaper delivery time was practically guaranteed.

As mentioned above the newspaper publishers' policy at that time was to print first editions at approximately 9pm for dispatch to the waiting newspaper trains and onward delivery to the provinces. Oh how things have changed in this so called improved modern world. In their wisdom, the newspaper publishers and wholesalers ceased newspaper distribution by train and opted to solely distribute by road, as part of overall cost cutting measures.

Those first editions did not contain late breaking news or more to the point of this blog, the evenings final football results, should they have kicked off late or in the case of cup matches, gone to extra time, when a half-time report possibly would have been printed. During this era, the availability to watch live football matches on TV was practically non existent, we had highlight programmes like Match of The Day on Saturday nights or the ITV equivalent 'Shoot' on Sunday afternoons. 

I have been a lover and follower of football all my life, for my sins I am a Newcastle fan and endure the pantomime that comes with that position, every season. In my younger years I was very fanatical and staunch in my support for my beloved team, never missing attending a match, home or away, enthusiastically joining in the raucous chants of Westwood out!! (the chap with the eyepatch) and sack the board!! from what I see and read the only thing that has changed since those days is the main stakeholder. I recall as a 15 year old together with a friend from next door (also 15) catching the midnight train to London to watch our beloved team play Manchester City  in the League Cup Final at Wembley, oh how the tears flowed when Dennis Tueart scored and again when the final whistle blew and we had been defeated 2-1. I can't imagine many 15 year olds embarking on or being allowed to experience a similar trip in this day and age, with current society having drifted into a more violant and hostile one and the subsequent development of the Nanny State to protect the young today.