Good morning, and welcome. My name is Declan Hoare and this is Second Act Ledger, a show about careers that ended and what came next. For the first episode I am not interviewing anyone. I am going to tell you about the Tuesday in 2019 when the newspaper I had worked at for 19 years closed its doors, and the eight months after that when I sent out 112 applications and heard back from three. I want to be honest about the silence, because nobody warned me about it. Then I will tell you about the school gate conversation that changed the direction of my life, and why I now think a direction matters far more than a plan. Pour the tea, settle in, and let us start at the end. You are listening on Witspeak Podcasts.