I often hear journalists, broadcasters and individuals begin a broadcast, an anecdote or sharing a intimate blog with ‘So’; “So. It’s night now……”, “So. I am making…..”. “So what!”, as if ‘So’ invests what is being said with gravity and importance. It doesn’t  and I loathe the use of it in this way.  Of course, it isn’t grammatically incorrect to use a conjunction at the start of a sentence but I think it is lazy and implies that listener is engaged in what has been going before, if anything.

I am about to embark on  journey around the world and in the spirit of the ‘age of narcissism’ I want to share my experience of my travels with whoever might be interested. With my prejudices regarding ‘So’ I needed to find a way of communicating my activities without resorting to cliches and what better way than creating ones own.  Back in 1991 I appeared as Touchstone in an open air production of ‘As You Like It’ in Queens Park, Brighton. The Stage reviewed the production and after less than kind words regarding the performance of the actor playing Orlando finished the sentence with: ‘but ‘Nicholas Quirke was’…… And there the review ended. Was what?  ‘was brilliant’, ‘was worse’, ‘was catastrophic’ or maybe the reviewer could not find the words to describe my performance and I just was. A big, messy indescribable, philosophical ‘WAS’

There is no knowledge or understanding of what the reviewer intended but his words have provided me with a handle on which to hang the detritus; words, videos, recordings,that I will share of my odyssey. enjoy Nicholas Quirke was.