It'll Never Catch on

How extraordinary it is to think that one person invented the computer mouse. Something that is so commonplace in work, schools and homes and something we take so much for granted. Yet the computer mouse hasn't been around for that long. I remember with fondness joining Churchill Insurance in 1989 and working my way into the IT department. There were certainly computers then and Churchill pioneered the use of IT back then which drives much of UK industry today. The computers back then were all text based, running UNIX and what we now refer to as 'green screen' terminals.
I recall one particular day when we were all asked to attend an IT department meeting. We were told that some people from a company called 'Microsoft' were visiting to showcase a new computer system they were calling 'Windows'. I think we saw it as yet another company trying to jump on the Churchill bandwagon, given that Churchill was at that time the UK's fastest growing company.

I remember a projector and a computer set up in a meeting room and the now familiar Windows desktop. On the desk was a standard looking keyboard and another device attached to the computer by a long thin cable. We were shown by the very excited representatives of Microsoft how the pointer on the screen responded to movements of the device on the desk. They called it a 'mouse' and it became clear why given its appearance. They demonstrated how programs were executed by double clicking an icon on the desktop and how it was possible to grab an item and move it to a desired location. Dropping an item in the recycle bin caused the computer to make a paper scrunching sound. The people demonstrating the system were clearly very excited by it, but were we? Well the answer is no. In fact our head of IT at the time stated to his assembled team that 'it'll never catch on'. We all agreed and so things remained the same for a couple more months.

Then slowly, things began to change. Managers began to have their computers replaced. One by one, computers running the Windows 3.1 operating system by Microsoft began appearing all over the company. Someone had clearly been impressed by what they had seen, though it is more likely that our biggest rival Direct Line, just down the road in Croydon, had begun installing them. The preference throughout my time there was to wait for Direct Line to do something, give it a few months to make sure it didn't flop, then do it ourselves, only ten times better.
Excel seemed to be the favorite application at the time though it didn't take long before staff had found Solitaire. The star field screensaver was also popular as was the Marquee screensaver which allowed staff to type their own message to scroll across the screen whenever they left their desks, messages such as 'Mel's Computer', 'Back in 5 minutes' and 'Don't even think about it'. For those witnessing the coming of Windows, these were exciting times.
So I find myself giving thanks to Doug Englebart. For his invention changed forever the way we interact with computers. If Windows hadn't been invented by Microsoft, maybe we would never have known about the mouse, for it was really Windows that exploited its full potential and made it an essential aid to using Windows 3.1 way back then. Long may we continue to point and click.

Looking Back

I've kept a number of my diaries and from time to time, I look through them. Most of them I used when I was working and as I leaf through the pages, I see to do lists, meetings and appointments and post-it notes full of reminders to call people I once knew. My, wasn't I busy then... Where I've written notes, I am able to rekindle events in my mind such as when I was particularly busy at work, on-call and earning ridiculous amounts of money. I recall meetings with friends and girlfriends, long before I became married and a father. I remember with fondness days when I could do anything, buy anything and not worry about putting petrol in the car. I would drive for miles simply for the hell of it and not think twice about spending another £30 or £40 on a tank of fuel. My diaries speak of a different age and a different life, though scarily not that long ago.

I'm so glad I that wrote so many notes. I would moan about the hotel I stayed in, for I stayed in hotels for three months during my move from London to Peterborough in 2001/2. I would write about the food I'd eaten, the places I had been to and the people I had met. I would record when people I knew had died and I would note important world events.
Looking through my 2001 diary, I reach the page marked 11th September and see that I was busy building computers for use at my new Peterborough site. I see that I have written 'WTC bombing' and highlighted it in bright red. I'm surprised I didn't write more, but what could I write? I was in shock, we all were. The event was too big for words. On that day, everything stopped for a while and I joined the rest of my Churchill IT colleagues to watch live coverage. In the days after, life went on. The pages for the rest of the week show meetings, appointments and things to do with work that I needed to remember.
The pages from my diaries speak of a time when my life was dominated by work, by responsibility and of money. It all feels so alien to me now and I feel when I read the diaries as if I am reading about the life of somebody else, rather than me.
As I look through the pages of my 2001 diary, I find the day when my budgerigar 'Rubick' died - Tuesday 29th May. I see also the day my mate and colleague 'Blob' returned to work with us after a stint running his own company. I see that on the 23rd April I won £359, though I've no idea how or why. I also find the week when my Nan died and recall how left work early and drove like a maniac to get to the hospital in time.
Most of the pages in my diaries haven't been opened since the day they were written. Little did I know then just how valuable they would be to me in the future. Of course they are personal to me and most of what I've written will be meaningless to most people. Many of the entries made carry with them their own particular memories and recollections - some good and some bad and that I'd rather forget. There are things I've written which I don't understand such as on Monday 25th May 1998 were I've written the words 'Suffolk' and 'Dump'.
Amongst all the scribbles, the arrows and hundreds of phone numbers is a record of my professional past. It was a different world back then. Of course, it wasn't perfect but I lived for the day and didn't need to worry about the future. My diaries are a window on the past, my past and the way I used to live and work. They are the only link to who I used to be and the people I used to know... I'm glad I've kept them.

Employment Past

I had a sift through my VHS tapes earlier today. I used to have hundreds, literally and they covered every wall. Now I probably have a little under a hundred. I found some very old tapes, some more than 20 years old. There were certainly some gems amongst the recordings - holidays when I was young, parties and weddings. There was video of people loved then and loved now who have sadly passed on. They all brought back memories. One tape in particular contained a recording I made in 1990 at one of the company's first summer parties. Back then I was quite the amateur videographer and often travelled with my video camera recording all that I could. Back then in 1990, I was a new member of staff at a fledgling company called Churchill Insurance. Not long before, the company had been known as Meridian Insurance but this was changed in favor of the new brand. There was no dog back then, it was just the word 'Churchill' with a red line underneath and the words 'online to serve you'. Churchill's success in its early days was attributed to its technology, which was second to none. Its systems, its daring use of Kray servers, were the heart of the company and were nursed day and night by a small team of developers and operations staff.
Back to the video and it was good to see so many former colleagues, many of which were there at Churchill's birth. They literally formed the foundations and the pillars of the company and little did they know back then just how great it would become. I have fond memories of my time there. I was with the company from 1989 to 2005, forced out by redundancy thanks to the nasty man that is Fred The Shred and his evil RBS empire. RBS had bought Churchill a couple of years before, netting Martin Long (Churchill's Chief Exec) around £60 million.
My fondest memories are of the times I would have to literally retrieve our network engineer Richard Cauldwell from a nearby hotel at 10 in the morning escort him to Churchill House to fix a problem. He'd normally be drunk or hung-over from a session the night before. I recall also the day Alan Bowers, then the head of IT, was killed in a car crash. I remember hearing the cries from his loyal development team through the thin partition wall separating them and the computer 'bunker' I was in at the time. I recall with sadness hearing the news not long after that Richard Cauldwell had been killed in a snorkeling accident while on holiday. Those early days of rocketing success were certainly marked with tragedy.
It would be just a few years until Churchill became Bromley's largest employer. Bromley was and still is Churchill's home. A ball would be held each year in June for all staff. The venues would grow in size each year to accommodate the growing numbers and a regular event would be the 'blowing-up' of a mock Direct Line telephone, much to everyone's enjoyment. Yes, they were good days and days I look back on with deep fondness.
Good days indeed and how different things are now. Back then, I had no worries about putting petrol in the car or just going for an afternoon drive. I would buy things I didn't need and know that the bank account was looking after itself. That's what it was like. I was in a good job with no worries. Back to reality and with my memories, anyone would think I'm at retirement age. I'm not, I'm only 38...
I found a load more videos today... I'll write about what I discovered soon.