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From : "George Smith" <george@acs-europe.com>
Subject : Re: Contact from Friends Reunited - Michael Curley
Date : Tue, 28 May 2002 08:03:43 +0100
Hi Mike,
Nice to hear from you.... This Friends Reunited website is proving interesting in contacting old mates (also some that you don't want to contact...).
Glad to hear you're in Singapore - I do business with Singapore companies on a day-by-day basis, and often visit. I run a small company here involved in computer parts, and also exporting cars to Singapore (Eden Autos in Sin Ming Road are my customers).
Still married to the same girl as when I was at 1900 - now nearly 37 years..... 4 kids, and 9 grandchildren....
Still living in Essex, although had spells in USA, Germany and Belgium.
What's your news?
Best wishes, G.
George,
Congrats on the many years invested in the marriage ? SHE must have put up with a lot!! Also the many offspring therefrom ? I have 2 daughters ? 29 and 27 ? both single.
Yes ? the FriendsReunited site is good ? I?d used it for a year or so tracing school buddies ? but with the new ?Companies? area ? we?ll be able to find everybody ? bad news!
I went off to South Africa when you and I were sharing an office in Euston ? not so?? You?d had your run in with the Grim Reaper (car crash) ? and were mending nicely as I remember ? by the time I returned to the UK (1973) 1900 was gone and I only had contacts with Bassy and Jim Davis.
I?d gone freelancing in Jo?burg for 6 months (after ICL took it over and called it Dataskil) ? didn?t earn a cent ? so returned to London. Basically Freelancing from that time onwards ( 6 years in Dalkeith, Scotland (Bassy was a Data General OEM Dealer then ? and I wrote software for his clients) 1 year in Saudi Arabia, but mostly in the City of London ? UBS, PAribas, Philipp/Salomon Brothers etc..) ? lived around Bucks mostly, 2 daughters Britta 29, Inga 28 ? separated from German wife (Almuth) ? who I?d met in South Africa and married within 6 weeks of meeting, 10+ years ago ? she went back to Germland ? and shortly thereafter I got a contract in Hong Kong (via Mike Waller would you believe ? he and I have crossed paths a lot ? he?s in Kuala Lumpur currently ? about to retire to France/UK) ? lasted 8 years ? decided to retire and have done nothing for the last 2 years. Living with Janet - a Filippina who travels all over the world and gets a very nice flat etc? provided ? she had to move from HK to Singapore 6+ months ago ? so I just came along as baggage!
Rather than bore you with all the 1900 reprobates I?ve managed to contact ? have a look at my website ? lots of Contact details there ? also I emailed with Ken Johnston for nearly 2 years ? he?s landlord of a pub in Suffolk now ? but the emails are great fun. Have managed to contact Len Gore (made the mistake of reminding him we called him Nellie Grope ? he?s very sensitive about that), Brian Stoate (never lost track of him ? we email every day ? and he came through here a few weeks back on a trip to New Zealand), am awaiting a mail from Chiswell (he?s still in SA), Bassy is in Monte Carlo and we mail about 3 times per year.
Don?t know Eden Motors ? there again owning a car here is the equivalent of owning a house elsewhere ? so I rely on Taxis ? we?ll meet up if you come here again ? I?ve just heard from Ron Gould (who?s in Hong Kong) that he may be here in a month or so ? so a mini-reunion (Asian) is perhaps underway.
?Scuse the delay in replying ? I?ve got all the time in the world ? by Stoatey says I reply too quickly ? and that puts pressure on people?. Trying to be considerate ? George lets hear what happened to you and the 1900 Fallout!!
MC
From : "George Smith" <george@acs-europe.com>
Subject : Lots of news....
Date : Thu, 30 May 2002 11:47:47 +0100
Hi Mike, Smithy returning notes (you were the only person ever to call me Smithy!!! - I guess others thought that it was likely to create a mass stampede, so they used other names...).
Well, you have kept in touch with the guys. I lost contact with everyone at 1900, although the guys at ISIS/Mills Associates (my previous company) do have regular reunions. Everyone seems to be retired! Why am I still trying to rake the ground to get a crust??? Where did I go wrong??
After 1900's demise, I re-joined ICL (where else??), and stayed there too long, ending up as Divisional Director. Then they tried to move me to Reading (!!!!). I refused, and so I took redundancy (probably the best for both parties....). However, before my redundancy ran out, I was headhunted by a USA company, National Advanced Systems. I managed to keep this secret from ICL, so that I was able to get a massive payout, and keep the company car for 6 months, when I got a BMW from NAS.... I stayed there for 5 years, doing the IBM-compatible thing, and was Director of Distributor ops., which meant that I got to travel everywhere.
Then I and a partner bought a company out of bankruptcy in USA (Salt Lake City), and for 2 years, I redeveloped that, but got stuffed by the partner (bastard!!), and so I stuffed him back, by arranging the company be sold to some French geezers. I then worked for them as a director of sales, but they turned out to be crooks....... So at the end of the day, everyone lost everything, and the Frogs were lucky not to go to jail.
I then used my "world contacts" to play the International Trading Game (it is a game, because you don't make much money at it), and I learned all about international crookery - you may say that I already knew enough from previous days.... Then, along came Hitachi, where one of the guys I worked with in USA with NAS was General Manager, and he needed someone to run the European components business, which I did for 3 years, making a lot of contacts, which I use today in my current business. Then I joined up with a couple of Belgians, and for a year ran the forerunner of the current business in Antwerp (nice city), until the two silly buggers had a punch-up in the office (blood on the floor and all that!), and then the loser went to jail for VAT swindles in a previous business, so I hot-footed it back to Blighty, taking everything I could with me, and sacking the lot of them. Not easy, as there are laws in Europe about that sort of thing, and so the last few years have been spent additionally in cleaning up the mess, which I am pleased to say was finally completed last year.
In between all of this, Pam has still stayed firmly by my side with hand in money pocket, and the kids have grown up, married and realised the Smith ambition of keeping the Name the most popular in the world! Fortunately, none of them followed me into the quagmire of the computer world, and are all doing very nicely, so there is hope for my old age, yet.
The Friends website has been responsible for contact with some people that I would rather not have bothered with, but there have been a few which it is good to be back in touch with (no need to ask which category you are in!).
Nice to know the old guys are still around, you can give my e-mail address to them if you wish. I heard something about Colin Smith dying, but I do not know for sure. Do you??
I must get out to Suffolk to see KRJ at his pub, as Suffolk is less than a hours drive away. Can you let me have his address?
Must go now - finished business for today (nothing!), and so it is time to mow the lawns.
Kind regards, G.