All change

3:27pm Wednesday 5th November 2008

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I have crossed over to the Dark Side.

That is to say, I'm moving to Wanstead at the weekend and (shock! Horror!) will therefore be leaving Waltham Forest - or at least I will be if I can get my paperwork sorted out anyway. Rest assured, however, that my loyalties will still lie with good old Waltham Forest and I am only just over the border from Leytonstone.

Having taken three (much needed) days off last week, I'm somewhat out of the loop with regards to news in Waltham Forest at the moment. Only somewhat, mind you, and I am catching up but things change very quickly in the world of news.

All kinds of developments and updates and moves forward have taken place over the last few days. For example, I am on the point of organising a field trip with the Kier street sweepers on November 10 (at 6am. Hooray. All in the name of a story...) and the cause of death for a man who died after being restrained by police is about to be revealed.

What's more, the reporters from the Epping Forest Guardian have now joined us in the Highams Park office and the new assistant editors have both been chosen.

This means that we're at the beginning of a new regime in the newsroom and, more importantly, it means it's time for a new nickname or two. Therefore, the editor formerly known as EOE will now be known as EAE (that's Esteemed Assistant Editor - imaginative, I know) and since FCR is at the end of his secondment, that means he is now FFCR - that is, Fearless Former Chief Reporter.

That aside, today is a momentous day - a day on which mentioning something non-Waltham Forest-related might just get by the-editor-formerly-known-as-EOE-and-now-known-as-EAE. Today, America elected Barack Obama as its 44th president. The 47-year-old senator from Illinois is now the President Elect in what will undoubtedly become a landmark in history. He is the first ever black man to take the Whitehouse and the first Democrat for eight years.

Whatever happens during his time as president, American, and indeed global, politics will never be the same again. Amid the tears of joy and disappointment, there must naturally be the feeling of the dawning of a new era. One can only hope that Obama will bring about the change he has promised and use his power to make real progress.

That, and it's also Guy Fawkes' Day, EAE's birthday and FFCR's birthday today.