Scargill

For the first time in what I reckon must be 14 years I’ve turned off work email so I can have a proper break! I say 14 years because surely there was no proper Windows email much before Windows 98?

Hard to imagine that the SMTP protocol we use today didn’t appear until around 1982. I recall running a “bulletin board” to send other people’s emails back and forth using something called a “midnight line” which was basically BT ripping everyone off. Only one person at a time could use the BBS as they had to dial into my system using a modem then every night someone would ring into my BBS, collect up and deposit mail for everyone and they would then use this BT concession to send mail down to London and even overseas.

I’m thinking however I probably didn’t start using email seriously for business until the mid-90s.  I do still have somewhere an Outlook file for 1999 on CD. It suddenly occurred to me that I’ve never stopped reading this stuff since then!

It’s going to feel strange! I’m on the plane early this afternoon to Spain to catch the very last of the sun over the there. The weather looks like clear blue skies for at least a week, but temperatures are unlikely to get over 20C, a far cry from the summer when we hit peaks of 40C… but nice painting weather!