Old dogs, new tricks and friends ...

[Tender Face]

[Jan weaned me off using my Access card to pay my Barclaycard....]

AAAAAaggggghhhh ..... the flexible friend that paid for everything you ever wanted from HMV then bit you on the bum when the statement arrived ........

Brucie, are you aware APACs are planning to withdraw cheques within 18 years? ... There will be no more writing one out three days before pay-day knowing there is clearance time to ‘rob Peter to pay Paul’ ... and no hope for me ever happily punching out numbers again on an MICR encoder????

BTW, folks, love how this thread has drifted!!!!

Kaz, x

 

[Vonny]

BTW, folks, love how this thread has drifted!!!!

Except we are all showing our age

 

[Brucie]

love your pic of the machine room Bruce. We rarely saw ours,

Ah well, as an operator, and working shifts for 5-6 years, I saw all too much of the computer suites.

Mind you, my Jan and Nina [and Nina's husband Geoff] were working in Input/Output at the place so things were magic. The people in computing in those days were an amazing lot - Merchant Navy, Nurses, and a lot more.

Prior to entering the industry, as a 17 year old schoolboy, I was given programming aptitude tests by the likes of IBM, ICT [later renamed ICL then later still, Fujitsu], Burroughs and NCR.

Both IBM and ICT recommended that I forget about a career in computing as I was so dire on the tests.

39 years later I officially left the business, so I guess I had the last laugh - I outlived ICT!

we'd stay the night

our systems had to run 24/7 but the University of London Atlas was part owned [and operated] by BP. They ran hours long linear modelling programs all night but we operators had to be there in case they finished early. That was how I learned to play Canasta!