A bit of elephantine nostalgia

With my departure only a week away now, I'm starting to grow a little nostalgic about my time with the Leader.

I've been spending more and more time casting my mind back two years ago to the day I came in here as a naive, wide-eyed college graduate, eager as a beaver on speed, and a sponge for knowledge.

And then think about myself today, a naive wide-eyed worker, lackadaisical as a tranquilized hippo and an utter repellant for new information seen as the knowledge tank filled up within a week of my arrival in 2007.

It was during one such nostalgia dawdle that I came across these pictures which were taken on the day that I achieved my very first front page story.

The gist of it was that this circus out in Castletroy was keeping two elephants in a field in the middle of a housing estate. I had suggested it as a potential story, more for the fact that an elephant next to a house in Limerick would make for a great photo than it would a Pullitzer-winning article.

After arriving out there though, it did become a story as the elephants escaped from the field within minutes of our getting there.

Now I know what you're thinking and the answer is a resounding no. No. No. No. A thousand times no. I did not release the elephants on to the road for the sake of my first front page. We were just lucky enough to be there to get the pictures when they did make their break.

And just to prove that I didn't risk the lives of Castletroy's children in the name of a good scoop, I've included a pic of one of them actually stepping out over the fence while the wide-eyed naive reporter stands gawping!