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From : "GarthRandall" <garth@penn2.fsnet.co.uk>
To : <mikecurley@bigfoot.com>
Subject : Voice from the past
Date : Tue, 7 May 2002 21:26:51 +0200
Got your e mail and hope this reaches you OK.
42 years is a long time and I remember very little of Ealing Tech but the names you quote jogged the memory. I remember you, Alan Britt, Keith Rossiter, Mick Burrell and a few others and I recall a couple of the teachers. What about the Pakistani maths teacher who we used to torment and he would say "now bloody hell will you get out of this class" and we used to go over to Wallpole Park during the lesson time.I enjoyed the Tech on the whole but it was a long way each day from Uxbridge. I certainly did not work hard and only got 4 GCEs. I regretted this a couple of years later and went to evening classes to get a few more which enabled me to get into a Bank. I then did the Bank exams and finished up a manager at Harrow branch and retired at 50 thank God as it was getting hard work. I was married but divorced many years ago and led a very hedonistic lifestyle but meeting my partner Eileen some years ago and we are quite happy here in Chesham with an 11 year old girl. Ray remembers you well and sends his regards in fact he remembers more about the Tech than I do. He is living in Brentford with his partner although he has three grown up children from his marriage. He had a big C scare a couple of years ago and I had heart surgery 12 months ago which was traumatic but then we are all getting older . Eileen, Megan and I have just returned from living in Spain for 3 years which was wonderful and I miss certain aspects of it very much. But Megan was not getting on well at school and we thought it best to return where she is much happier. We may go back one day. UK is getting overcrowded and aggressive to live in though we are in a nice part of the Chilterns.Life must be interesting in Singapore - you must fill me in with some details and look forward to hearing from you.
Do you have any e mail addresses of Alan Britt or Mick Burrell ?
Best wishes from Garth.
Garth,
Thanks for your email? you?re right ? 42 years of memories is too much for the heads we?ve been equipped with.
Mr Handa ? Andy! Was the Maths teacher ? now what about the lady who taught typing, and what about the evil gent (headmaster) who used to lurk around and we?d dread his ?yiiieeeewww boy ? come here?. All such questions are answered at mikecurley.simoncjwalker.net/mjc ? at the Ealing Tech pages ? go have a look ? there?s even a picture of me and another of Martin Cocker, and lots more? memories, emails from Cocker, Britt, Tucker, Burrell, Giblin etc.. If you don?t have the time ? here are all the emails addresses I know so far:
Martin Cocker - cocker@hinet.net.au
Mike Curley - mikecurley@bigfoot.com
Paul Tucker - ptt44@yahoo.com
Clive Giblin - cjg@samuk.net
Alan Britt - alan.britt@ogc.gsi.gov.uk
Mary Britt (nee Draper) - MaryB@marshall-tufflex.com
Mick Burrell - mick_burrell@hotmail.com
Giblin never replies, but all the rest do?. Cocker is in Australia, Tucker is Fleet Hampshire, Britts are St Leonards and Burrell is West Drayton.
Like you ? I only came away with a handful of O-Levels, but luckily I fell into computer software, where everybody was fairly equal, so qualifications didn?t matter too much.
Retired at 50, AND an 11 year old daughter ? well done!! She?ll keep you from aging too much ? and what with the easy life for the last 7/8 years ? you?ll survive to 100. Sorry to hear about Ray?s C scare ? also your surgery ? hopefully they?re all in the past.
Living in Spain sounds great (shame you had to return) ? I lived in Penn (not far from Chesham), for years, and our next door neighbour built himself a house in Spain, he and I used to go there ostensibly to check on building progress, but we had to come clean when it was completed ? we really only went to have a few days of ?the boys on holiday?.
As for me.. left Ealing Tech with my handful of O levels ? joined The Times newspaper in the City ? used to travel on the Central line with Tucker, after 2 years left that and joined ICT/ICL (computers) at Putney ? then Harrow, then a Software House in the City after 2+ years there I transferred with them to South Africa, 4 years there, got married to a German lady, returned to the UK ? living in Tylers Green and Penn, had 2 super daughters (now 26 and 28) went contracting (basically self-employed), contracts in Scotland, Arabia and USA, split from the lady wife (still not divorced), she returned to Germany ? I went to my mum?s old house in Denham, daughter number 1 came to stay with me, number 2 went to Germany with her mum ? no great pulling and pushing ? they just went where they wanted, when they wanted?.I tried to retire in 1992 (but after 6 months I could see the expenses were still too high), then in 1993 I got a contract in Hong Kong, within a month had met Janet (Filippina) ? stayed working there for 7 years, then retired again, and just 7 months ago, Janet got transferred from HK to Singapore ? so I came along as baggage! Daughter number 1 is living/working in deepest Somerset, got fed up with the London crowds/rat race etc..still single, number 2 (also single) is out this way, having been in Oz and NZ for the last 15 months, stopped off here, and has just done Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, currently in Laos ? all backpacking ? before she returns here on 16th of this month, then returns to UK to earn some money ? I hope!!
Singapore life is easy.. 32 degrees every day, very clean, very safe place ? enjoyed Hong Kong more ? more of a fun/singles place ? Singapore is for families. We live right on the beach (30 storey condo), can see Indonesia across the water 5 miles away, and out the back across Singapore we can nearly see Malaysia. We?ve traveled around Asia quite a lot (all documented at my web-site) and indeed Janet is currently spending 4 weeks in the USA ? with her 20 year old daughter - family wedding then touring around.
That?ll do for now ? do check out my web-site ? I?ll put your details and email up there ? for the boys to see ? alas you cannot leave messages at the site (you have to email me) ? its free to me ? and they don?t provide that facility to non-payers.
All the best,
MC