W Bro Billy Bond
05/11/11 14:37
Dear
Brn All,
Very sorry to hear this sad news; I never got to know Mrs Bond.
Re her husband- of course, many Brn of Crayford will not know of W Bro
'Billy' Bond; tall and somewhat cadaverous, suiting precisely his
undertaker's profession, but nevertheless with a huge sense of humour. He
willingly participated in the 'passing to higher service' of a computer back
in the 70s.
In those days computers were indeed very far from ubiquitous, but where I
was teaching at the time - The Polytechnic, Regent Street, there was an ICL
1903A computer, which, finally having done sterling academic duty, had to
go. Such was the 'affection' for this set of massive grey boxes housed in a
very large open-plan and air-conditioned room and which included a
32M(6-bit)byte disk unit(!), tapes drives(4), a massive printer, etc., etc.,
that there was a great turnout, including the Vice Chancellor (of the
Polytechnic), for its formal switching off and symbolic disembowelling of
its PCBs (for re-cycling the gold), into Billy's loaned but very real
temporary cadaver transporter. Yes, some of the staff in the Mathematics
dept even managed to find, or make, black top hats and add black crepe paper
streamers. The last program was run, the power switch thrown to 'Off', the
electrician uncoupled the huge cables from the mains, the VC formally
declare the machine 'dead' and opened the CPU cabinet. He removed a PCB
followed by others doing the same, with these then being ceremoniously
placed into the waiting coffin. When all the boards had been removed the
loaded coffin was lifted shoulder high and carried out of the computer room
and laid to rest somewhere I have completely forgotten - awaiting the gold
seekers. (They simply snipped off the gold tabs like clipping finger nails,
so leaving the boards with the chips still attached for further disposal.)
I remember going back into the computer room, breaking open bubbly and
having a very good 'wake'.
We couldn't have had all this fun without the willing support of WBro Billy,
who lent me the coffin. I had to collect it from his emporium in the
Dartford area, transport it to Regent St and back, in my Vauxhall Cavalier
hatchback. Well secured, it stuck out from the rear of the car rather
prominently! It was closed. No, we didn't get pulled in by the police!
Much fun was had by all.
Were 'those the days'? Hmmm!
S&f,
Peter.
Very sorry to hear this sad news; I never got to know Mrs Bond.
Re her husband- of course, many Brn of Crayford will not know of W Bro
'Billy' Bond; tall and somewhat cadaverous, suiting precisely his
undertaker's profession, but nevertheless with a huge sense of humour. He
willingly participated in the 'passing to higher service' of a computer back
in the 70s.
In those days computers were indeed very far from ubiquitous, but where I
was teaching at the time - The Polytechnic, Regent Street, there was an ICL
1903A computer, which, finally having done sterling academic duty, had to
go. Such was the 'affection' for this set of massive grey boxes housed in a
very large open-plan and air-conditioned room and which included a
32M(6-bit)byte disk unit(!), tapes drives(4), a massive printer, etc., etc.,
that there was a great turnout, including the Vice Chancellor (of the
Polytechnic), for its formal switching off and symbolic disembowelling of
its PCBs (for re-cycling the gold), into Billy's loaned but very real
temporary cadaver transporter. Yes, some of the staff in the Mathematics
dept even managed to find, or make, black top hats and add black crepe paper
streamers. The last program was run, the power switch thrown to 'Off', the
electrician uncoupled the huge cables from the mains, the VC formally
declare the machine 'dead' and opened the CPU cabinet. He removed a PCB
followed by others doing the same, with these then being ceremoniously
placed into the waiting coffin. When all the boards had been removed the
loaded coffin was lifted shoulder high and carried out of the computer room
and laid to rest somewhere I have completely forgotten - awaiting the gold
seekers. (They simply snipped off the gold tabs like clipping finger nails,
so leaving the boards with the chips still attached for further disposal.)
I remember going back into the computer room, breaking open bubbly and
having a very good 'wake'.
We couldn't have had all this fun without the willing support of WBro Billy,
who lent me the coffin. I had to collect it from his emporium in the
Dartford area, transport it to Regent St and back, in my Vauxhall Cavalier
hatchback. Well secured, it stuck out from the rear of the car rather
prominently! It was closed. No, we didn't get pulled in by the police!
Much fun was had by all.
Were 'those the days'? Hmmm!
S&f,
Peter.
