


I've not got all that many friends, and it seems that I've neglected some
over the years even though I care about them. Most of them are Computery
type people, but some of them have lives. This is mostly my chance to
acknowledge the people I know and give them a bit of fame and to make sure
that they realise how much that they have influenced my life.
These are just a few of the interesting people I know :
Essex people
-
Chris Johns
(CMJ)
Fellow Acorn user at the University
of Essex and someone I'm very proud to call a friend. When I had problems he
was there for me, and I hope I was and will be there for him. He's just
moved up to York to start a new job.
-
Alistair Galbraith
One of the madder people doing computer
science, if that is possible. Alistair is probably the person I know from
Essex who'll go furthest. I've not spoken to him in a while and I probably
should.
-
Jason Gordon
(Jiggy)
A flatmate from first year, and very
enthusiastic about everything.
-
David Gamble
(QSUndel)
Have you ever met anyone with
boundless energy ? Or a constantly inquisitive mind ? Or who is just too
darned clever for his own good. David is one of those people. You've got to
hate him for it. It's the law. Nobody should be like that and able to roam
the streets. One minute he'd be trying to work out how to create a graphic
equaliser without using complex maths, and the next he'd be taking apart
atoms just to see what makes them tick. You see the problem ?
RISC OS people
-
Dave Thomas
(Spanners)
Dave seems to be one of the few
people who is willing to accept challenges, however mad they may seem.
Liking Loretta is one challenge I think even he will give up on, though. I
worked with Dave at RISCOS Ltd. He's been up in Glasgow with Picsel for the
last 5 years.
-
Matthew Godbolt
(TheMoog)
Another of those people who
is likely to be totally knackered by the time he's thirty. Where he gets the
energy from I'll never know. He's now running his own company writing
software for programmers.
-
Phil Norman
(Forrey)
Phil is someone only met late in the
time at University, but in that time he's been a continual source of delight
as he pulls out bizarre programs. I believe he's still working for a Swiss
company.
-
Nicholas Clark
(N)
If I knew half as much about anything
as Nick knows about Perl, or programming in general I'd be very happy. Always
a source of something interesting and one of my favourite people to ask
questions of.
-
Peter Naulls
(Chocky)
Peter is to Java what Nick is Perl.
If I ever need a guru it will be to one of these two that I come. And I don't
need to look far for a shoulder to cry on.
-
Thomas Olsson
(Zappo)
Every so often I find a program that is
very cool. Once in a while I find real gems. Of these gems I think
that Thomas has produced about half. It scares me when I suddenly discover
that something I always liked to use was written by him.
-
Robin Watts
Robin has always been in the RISC OS world, it
seems. Whilst I was at uni, Robin was someone I looked up to, and now that we
work together (some of the time) it's nice to know that he's someone people
should look up to.
-
Matthew Bullock
Matthew is clever. Cleverer than me, anyhow.
We worked together at RISCOS Ltd, doing silly things. I'm not sure where he is now and I really should catch up.
-
Dave Ward
(Dave upstairs)
Dave's an oddity. He
worked upstairs from us at RISCOS Ltd, and some might say that he's a major
reason that RISCOS Ltd started. Some might. Whatever the tale, he's a mate
and has a gorgeous girlfriend so we have to be friends
<grin>.
-
Alex MacFarlane Smith
(Aardvark)
Alex is a clever guy
who's helped me out when I've needed things doing that I couldn't do. He's
more 'together' than I and I really admire that
-
Joseph Heenan
(Jogu)
Jogu takes on far more things than
I ever have done. And he makes remote controls for sky boxes in his spare
time. Like most of my friends, he's far cleverer than I, too.
-
Ian Jeffray
As with some of the other friends here, Ian's
very driven. He doesn't suffer fools gladly. Why he puts up with me around
I don't know, but I appreciate it though I may not show it sometimes. I
look at his dedication and attitude and whilst caustic at time, I only
wish that I could have that kind of energy.
-
Andrew Hill
Andrew's a doctor. He does computer things. It's
strange. He has more enthusiasm than most, possibly only matched by David
Gamble.
-
Matt Edgar
Matt Edgar's someone I met through work. Let's say
he's cleverer than I and leave it at that. He's been another good friend to
talk to.
-
Chris Williams
(Drobe)
I've known Chris for quite a few
years now and it's surprising how similar to my brother he is. When Simon's
not around to talk to, Chris makes a good substitute. He's in his final year
of Uni, getting ready for exams.
Amazing people
-
Angela Rayner
Very few people have
rung me out of the blue, but I'm pleased to say that Angela was one of the
few, not least because it is partly through her that I met...
-
Helen Rayner
(ThisHell)
It is odd how you know people in one way and yet it is only when you know
them in another that you realise who they are. I knew Helen from my days on Fidonet, and yet it wasn't until I
went to university that I became somewhat obsessed with her. Such is life, I
guess. She's in Oxford now, working as a psychiatric nursing assistant.
-
Sue Robinson
I met Sue at Downham, through Caroline. When
times were hard, she was a very good friend. One day I hope that I can repay
the service, 'cos she was someone I could really talk to and helped me a
lot. Thanks Sue!
-
Caroline Webster
It's time to have an
entry for Caroline, I think. In Caroline I found someone with whom I wanted to spend the rest of
my life. Things didn't work out.
-
Vanessa Illingworth
I met Vanessa through David Gamble.
Vanessa is someone I can talk to; it's quite strange, but I can get along
with her quite well and haven't known her long.
-
Catherine
Catherine is
interesting. She's Dave's girlfriend. She's gorgeous. She helped us move,
she hung around with us when we had noone else to be with and she's
generally great. And she said she'd get nasty if I didn't write something
about her <smile>.
Family
-
Julian Fletcher
Julian's my middle brother, currently
doing his PhD at The University of Surrey in theoretical physics (which I
would explain but it honestly goes straight over my head). I do wonder
what he wants to do when he's finished with Education.
-
Simon Fletcher
Simon's my youngest brother. He's living in
Reading, working for a company that does reports on media appearences of
companies (it sounds rather interesting). He seems to know what he wants
out of life, which I really would like to know how to do.
-
Hannah Jackson
Simon's girlfriend. Hannah's comfortable
to be around. I don't know if she works hard to make us comfortable or
if it just comes naturally. She and Simon are great together; I hope they
realise how lucky they are.
-
Claire Dunnett
A life long friend and misplaced sister of
mine. Seperated at birth by being born into a different family, Claire
has been one of my longest and best friends. Just because we're not related
doesn't mean we can't be brother and sister. She's married to Justin now
and they're having a baby this year.
School people
-
Philip Tordoff
I forget how I met Phil; it just seems that
whenever I think of Doncaster, Phil was always there. Maybe it's just because
he made me laugh, or something else. Whatever it was, he's one of my oldest
friends. He's still in Doncaster, and got married a few years ago to one of
his school friends.
-
Angela Beardsmore
In the same way that Phil was always there
in Doncaster, Angela had always been in Newark. She always was one for
getting what she wanted, and through everything she's still kept a smile
and cheered me up. She's in Kent now, finishing her PhD.
Other people
-
Julia Naulls
(Speckles)
Julia is a wonderful woman, and
gives a great balance for Peter. She's a fun little American who has chosen
the cold and rain of England, to live with her husband. They love one another
dearly. It's so wonderful.
Apologies
Of course, I'm bound to have missed some people, so I'll apologise right now
for that. If you drop me a line to say that you thought you were a friend of
mine, and you'll never speak to me again unless you get added, then I'll see
what I can do. That doesn't guarentee that I'll add you though !
This page is maintained by
Justin Fletcher
(gerph@gerph.org).
Last modified on 27 January, 2008.