Menory Lane; Alba 3...side-tracking

Little did I know, such naivete, that the darned things were going to have a kind of control over me.  (What things did you ask?  PCs.... go back to yesterday if you missed it!)

Life ticked along nicely.  Outside of work there were some other memorable moments. One was the holiday in St Lucia.  I just recalled that at the top of the 'wish list' was the desire to be stranded on a tropical island.  Well in a way I have been.  Not stranded perhaps.  Certainly have enjoyed the experience of living on one for 10 days though and I knew then that it suits me rather well.

1984 brought the Great Oz Trip.  Remember that?  If you weren't here for that terrific tale, click that link now.  Just on the matter of that trip, I did mention at the time of writing the big bucket list that I was waiting to access photographs from the never-unpacked boxes.  One notable item being the look of me after the unfortunate Uluru undertaking.  Here it is, just to keep records straight.

Fortune has seen to it that I have visited the rock three times. This was the first.  I shall share scenes of the other two in due course as they relate to when I was finally a resident.

By the end of this first trip I had made up my mind I wanted to be in Australia.  I asked around different business men and one or two 'in the know' what was required.  First and foremost was to ensure that one's "desirable vocations" points were high.  Top of the list for OZ entry at that time?

Computer programmers and systems analysts.

Hmmmmmm.

As previously mentioned, I didn't just go at it 'hell for leather'.  I opted to take a six-month working visa and experience life down under.  I found a bedsit in North Sydney and walked across the bridge every day to work in what was then the QANTAS building near the quay.  On the 37th floor mark you.  (Did you read that story about the rock...???)  I had to make special request for an inside desk as they had thought it was doing a favour for the tourist to put her next to the glass wall.  The one with the expansive views over the opera house and water and.............DOWN-ness.

Yeeech.

I was number-crunching for Citibank.  Earning four times what I did in Edinburgh.  That and lots, lots else made up my mind.  I had to be there.

I returned to Edinburgh.  ESCA, from whom I had resigned to take the trip, welcomed me back. A great honour.  I had to work for a few months till I got a course sorted out.  I needed to become a programmer/analyst!