Wednesday… snow – what snow?
Oct 29th 2008PeterGetting My Life Back!
Well it was certainly snowing on the M1 last night as we made our way back from Bletchley Park, home of the wartime code and cypher breakers. A really fascinating and enjoyable day out although it was bitterly cold. We spent the day there, but still lots to see, so we will have to make another trip. The photographs show the front and back of the reconstructed ‘Bombe’ – the large electromechanical calculator that enabled the initial settings of the enigma machine to be determined – by trial and error! What is now termed a ‘brute force’ attack.
We also saw the re-constructed Colossus machine – really the first ‘proper’ computer used to break some of the other codes. This was in the museum of computing, which also held many examples of early computers, ranging from main frames, through to the famous DEC PDP series to the PC – including the Sinclair spectrum!
The journey back was pretty grim, lots of snow and heavy traffic, so it took nearly 90 minutes longer than expected, but just in time to watch “Spooks” – entertaining (but not very plausible) – but far removed from Bletchley Park!
On a sadder note, I got back to find an e-mail saying that my Godfather had died in New Zealand. He won’t be known to any of you, but a very kind and good humoured man that I remember clearly from childhood. He, together with my father, were probably the influences that got me interested in electronics and electrical engineering, so he had a significant effect on my life. He and his wife Eileen (and son Richard) emigrated to New Zealand when I was about ten, but he came back to visit in 1994 – coincidentally during a period when I was confirmed, and I was delighted that he could attend the confirmation service which pleased him greatly. He had been ill for sometime, but still very sad news.
I heard from Guy’s this morning – slightly alarming as it was the haemotology department, but it was only to tell me that the clinic days have changed, so my next visit is now on Tuesday, not Thursday!
So Onwards and Upwards!
6 Responses to “Wednesday… snow – what snow?”
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Richard on 30 Oct 2008 at 8:35 am #
Tuesday? The first Tuesday following the first Monday eh? Lots to look out for on that day.
Fingers etc crossed again.
I wonder if in a few years current kit will look as quaint as this stuff, not if MS/Google etc get their way with clouds we all will be hanging on the end of a wire or fibre with all the switches in their hands……..
Richard
Peter on 30 Oct 2008 at 9:55 am #
And therein lies my problem with cloud computing – control of MY data is taken away from me – and what happens if the application that created it is arbitarily removed from the cloud so my data becomes unreadable (or not easily readable)? Lots of questions!
Richard on 30 Oct 2008 at 2:02 pm #
Ah but it is the answers we need,,,,, crossing up now
Peter on 30 Oct 2008 at 2:54 pm #
Thank you!
Liz on 04 Nov 2008 at 10:26 pm #
Sorry, I haven’t been in touch, but I have been over in Manchester where Dad had back surgery last week- a difficult time, but we’re hoping that he’s passed the most difficult stage now.
I was sorry to hear about your Godfather. Even if people are far away, it doesn’t mean to say that they’re not close in mind.
On a happier note, I’m glad you enjoyed Bletchley – a place I have yet to visit.
Hope the trip to Guy’s goes well.
Lots of love,
Liz
Peter on 05 Nov 2008 at 10:32 am #
KLiz, sorry to hear about your father – plaese pass on my best wishes.