What’s the right word?

What’s the word for the name you give someone who helps the new kid at school?

I’ve been trying to remember the word all week, and everyone keeps saying, “buddy”. Indeed, that was the first word I thought of, too. But “buddy” seems overly American and I don’t think we would have used that word when I was a child. Maybe we didn’t have a word back then?

Either way, it’s the word for what I’ll be doing on Monday and Tuesday, for the new Manager of ABC Radio Sydney. “My job is to show him where the toilets are, and where to get his little lunch from”, I’ve joked.

For the last three weeks I’ve been back at the station, covering the period between when the previous manager, Melanie, finished up and when the new manager, Andrew starts.

For me, it’s been a lovely trip down memory lane, as I used to work at the station.

“It’s been great to get my hands dirty with daily radio”, I’ve told a few people. There’s great joy in seeing gifted content people connecting with the audience. There have also been difficult moments, including dealing with some work, health and safety issues, and then on Friday, thunderstorms and hail hit Sydney, just as we were about to head off for our Christmas lunch

One of the highlights was the farewell function for Wendy and Robbie.