The Oric has a new interface and it's a doozy - LOCI is here

As Andy etc knows, I've shared my stories of the day, quite a few times. All I'll say is that I've been very lucky, I've been in the right place at the right time. I was asked to write an Atari book, but turned it down for various reasons. Personally, I don't know that much about the running of Atari, the company. I've been more around the individual devs and companies. I got games published, wrote reviews, coded a little and even got to know a lot of the big names.

Let's just say, I've been around

 

You certainly have, Paul. You are one of the most eligible people I know who can sincerely say - been there, got the t-shirt etc and yet your anecdotes are always brutally honest, never seek to embellish, exaggerate or make out that you're some star-seeker or celebrity wannabe etc - you just tell it like it is/was in your old sweet way and because of that your stories of the great British micro years feel as fresh and alive today as the moment you first bumped into these "back bedroom millionaires" who brought us all so much joy back in our "yoof" with their coding, development and stunning software achievements which brought our machines to life. Too many faces to mention but I know Paul's had some lively and fun encounters with the great and the good incl Archer Maclean, Paul Daniels and Jeff Minter to name but 3. I'm reet there, aint I Paul??!! Gawd, with my dodgy memory chips I've maybe got 1-2 parity errors in there somewhere Hope this sodding rain sods orf any maybe we can get oot for a stroll and a wee bit of fresh air at some point today as folks now start putting oop their trees and lights with gusto. Have you ERECTED yours yit?!

 

No tree up here, and probably may not last if it goes up, as thumbs is a superfast cat of destruction. Every morning, the front room is a mess of knocked over gear. We have to make sure any water bottles, fizzy pop bottles are 100% sealed, as they get scattered with the rest

And she's now a big old lump, but she just melts your heart when she jumps on your lap and stares in to your eye's

And thank you for your kind words.

We all have met our heroes at the shows, I was just lucky to have worked with the odd one or two.(beta testing stuff). 90% of the stories are based on pure chance, plus selling the gear put me right in the front line. Also, being a nosey git helped a bit , I got to see dev stuff before release in a lot of cases.

Right place, right time..Just like how I became a reviewer for Atari User, the chief editor was ringing around all the Maplin shops looking for an official Hardware manual, we were the only shop with one. He drove all the way from Stockport to buy it. As said, being nosey, I asked why the big drive and we got chatting. He just asked if I fancied reviewing, as it was obvious I knew the gear.. See, pure chance..

ZX81 loading, the number of times mine got near the end of the program and just reset itself...Grrrr

 

We're acquiring a cat here next week, folks - Sailor, apparently.
He's come from a home where the poor wee lass cannot cope with the 4-5 cats n dogs presently in there (she lost her partner and the pets belonged to them).
So, we'll no doubt have Thumbs 2 running around ere causing chaos before long and so we brace ourselves too for destruction, furniture claw scratching and the odd "wee accident" but that's why we love em - full of character and affection (sometimes!).
Yep, great days, guys and gals and you were very much part of the scene as you were one of them, Paul - definitely in there at the right place, right time - the right guy.

 

A new cat, great news..As they say, everyone loves a sailor...

oo-er....

Went all Larry Grayson there...

 

Well, it would be great if you could collect some of these little stories and have them published on RetroMagazine World, in the next few issues. I'd be more than interested in helping you with this, if necessary. And I'm sure that readers would have a lot of fun reading them and somehow go back to those years of magic home computing.

 

That's very kind of you, but my memory isn't stunning these days due to stress and the one thing I always say is that none of it's made up. I'd just hate to miss-remember out of stress to remember. A couple of years ago, I'd have been over the moon to do it.

 

Ok, Paul. No problem at all. If you ever wanted to tell your stories in the future, just know that our doors are always open. Thank you so much.

 

Thanks, as most folk know, I suffer from severe depression, it's only the meds that keep it at bay, but due to the high level of meds I suffer some side effects. One of them is memory problems. Some things going back years are clear as day, but some stuff is bitty. All the stories are 100% true, but I just don't want to make a mistake, it would make it seem like I wasn't sure.

Maybe in the future..

Paul..