CSC Annual Technology and Business Solutions Conference - Baltimore

Baltimore 1993 (? Tbc).

Introduction: there was a time before social media! Can you believe it? I used to work for a large American corporation and managed to swing an invite to their annual technology conference in the states. 

Part of the deal was that I had to write a visit report for my UK colleagues. A written report is pretty dull so I thought I would do a photo journal. Bought myself a cheap disposable camera with 24 shots and documented my visit. 

How to share it with my colleagues? These were the early days of websites and I had created one handcrafted using notepad to write the raw HTML. So I scanned in the developed photos and did a kind of slideshow. It was very clunky. I was reminded of it recently going through some old photos and decided to re-create that journal using blogger. So here it is: version 2.0.

What is the ATBSC?

CSC as a learning organisation is the main theme.. Nearly 800 CSC'ers from around the globe attended the 8th Annual Technology and Business Solutions Conference (ATBSC). The main theme was CSC as a learning organisation. There were two days of parallel sessions on a number of themes such as:

• Organisational change
• Knowledge Asset Management
• Awards for Technological Excellence
• Case studies
• etc...

In addition there were presentations from various Strategic Alliance Partners, a key note speech and a final plenary session with prize draw.

Baltimore - location for the ATBSC.

Baltimore Inner Harbour. A sunny day at the Inner Harbour. Baltimore seem like a very pleasant town. Like any city near a body of water it seems to derive a certain bustle from its historic trade links.

Registration - People queuing to register

Queuing for a "goody bag". On arrival at the conference delegate register and receive a CSC shoulder bag. In it go a CD-ROM containing all the presentations, a delegate list, session descriptions, pen, lecturers wand, name tag and a small puzzle.

First coffee break.

First caffeine fix of the day. Coffee breaks are all too short as we rush from one session to another. The whole conference is very tightly time-tabled. It is an opportunity to talk to complete strangers and marvel at the breadth of CSC's collective experience.

Shopping Mall Atrium.

View from "the Gods". The hotel is a part of a combined building that includes a shopping mall. The general conference area outside the meeting rooms is, in fact, the top floor of the mall. At break times we could look down on the shoppers.

Booths.

Legacy Management Business Solution. Around the coffee area were a number of booths about various aspects of CSC sources and the Knowledge Management initiatives. They are focussed on Business Solutions:

• Enterprise, Program, and Project Management
• Systems Architecture
• Legacy Systems
• Large Complex Systems
• Package Based Development
• Transition Management
• Continuous Infrastructure Services
• Component Based (CSC Lynx) Solutions

This is Yvonne Decker manning the Legacy booth and on the right is Don Henn.

Networking.

Break times are any opportunity to talk to friends and colleagues. This is Pauline Gardner Martin talking to X and Y (who?).

Dr. Pascal Gambardella.

Pascal Gambardella heads up the team that is coordinating work on incorporating DSDM into Catalyst. He is flanked by Elizabeth Buie (left) and Sue Stuven (right).

Dinner table.

Here are Elizabeth Buie, Pauline Gardener Martin (Catalyst and Sources, UK), Terry Martin, Diane Kropiewnicki, Dennis O'Neal (Systems Consulting, UK), Eddie Coombes (Data Warehousing) and Allan Andrews.

Technical Excellence Award Winners.

The technical excellence award winners received a trophy plus a certificate for CSC Share options - worth real money. The award winners were:

• ISD: Automated Enterprise Management System
• CSC Benelux: Automatische Traject Controle Systeem (ATCS)
• SSD: Autonomous Satellite Navigation Using GPS Technology
• SED: Hydra Security Tool Set
• CSC Benelux: Implementation of a customer care & billing system for Belgacom
• CSC Consulting / CSC UK: MCI, Integrated Product & Supply Chain Introduction

To learn more see the Lotus Notes database: technlgy\Award for Technical Excellence.

Keynote Speaker: Peter Cochran.

Professer Cochhrane gave a very entertaining speech on some possible futures. To learn more about his views visit the BT Labs web site.

Knowledge Asset Management.

Carol Bothwell explains the CSC Corporate Knowledge Program. The lady in the front row (back of head) is Sara Vose, Communications Manager for the Knowledge Program.

Artie Kalemeris and Email room.

Artie is the organising genius behind the ATBSC and deserves the big round of applause he gets for the incredible smooth running of this event year after year.

Baltimore Aquarium.

Friday night was a trip to the Baltimore Aquarium to see the dolphin show. Followed by an opportunity to see round the aquarium itself. A very impressive aquarium well worth the visit (better than the Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans).

Steel Band.

Before the show we dined to the music of a steel band. When I say "dined" it was really a buffet, overlooking the harbour.

Beer.

The essential social lubricant of a beer or two. Personally I avoided the boring Bud and Miller; instead I went for local breweries wherever possible. The US has an increasing number of micro-breweries (aka brew pubs) which produce tastier beers.

Food.

The food was interesting with the option to go round twice and a number of people did. I liked the corn bread.

Bob Carlsen.

Bob's taste in Hawaiian shirts rivals his choice of cartoon socks. He tells me this really is from Hawaii, bought there on his last vacation.

Elizabeth Buie.

Elizabeth is the chair of the SIG on HCI (Human Computer Interaction) and works for SSD.

Elizabeth and Antonio Vallone.

Elizabeth and Antonio very kindly acted as my host as the hotel was fully booked by the time I got confirmation of my attendance.

Packing up the booths.

Charlie Wainwright and Tanya Lazar pack up the booths at the end of the conference.

Taking the "Red Eye".

That overnight flight is a killer. My preferred option is to eat before the flight and then settle down for the night even before we take off. If you ever fly business class keep the eyeshades because they are better than the nasty plastic ones you get in coach class. Also I use an inflatable travel pillow. Not only are they good for the flight but I use them on the beach as well.

Home at last.

Good old National Express coaches go direct from LHR to Ringwood just 2.5 miles from home. Note hand luggage only for a week in the USA - it is the only way to fly.

The End.

Footnote: Original clunky version.

Inforem Infocus June 88 Issue 1

Penrith, Cumbria. Saturday 16-April-2022.

Zooming with ex-colleagues and reminiscing about the "good old days" I was reminded that in my archives I had this old in-house magazine featuring many familiar names. I promised them a scan so here it is: 

Inforem Infocus Issue 01 [pdf, opens in new window].

The front page mentions Inforem being signed up by Bradford and Bingley. I was assigned to that project just after I had adopted a kitten so relocated up north for the duration to avoid having to transport 8 week old Cleopatra back and forth every week. It was a workaholic environment with people working 12-hour days but I was immune to peer pressure. I would leave at 5pm prompt saying "You wouldn't want the kitten to starve!"

I lived in a rented house in Cottingley, home to the Cottingley Fairies. It was being posted up there that led me to buy my first ever pair of walking boots (see My Life in ... Shoes).

Shortly after I joined the company relocated from urban Ealing to leafy Weybridge. Here the "gang of four", our directors, are standing in front of our shiny new offices: Sohail Amer, Athar Shareef, Mojtaba Ghassemian, and Ali Athar. The editor of this newsletter was Michael Gray who joined Inforem around the same time I did.

PC based retail systems contributed to a fair amount of Inforem's business using PAGE which was able to handle exotic peripherals like tills and petrol pumps. Becoming an IBM Systems Centre meant that Inforem could sell the hardware to run the systems on as well. The warehouse shifted a lot of boxes.

It was my knowledge of structured methods for systems development that got me head hunted into inforem by Chris Collins with whom I had worked as BIS (Applied Systems). Anything you want to know about data modelling I'm yer man!

Jon Yerrell lead a small team of full time trainers but a number of us consultants also presented the courses.  The first course I did jointly with Chris Collins, the second I was left to present the whole 4-day course on my own. Very much a baptism of fire - thanks Chris!

PAGE was later to evolve into CASEwise Corporate Modeller and contributed to much of my later career. 

There was a short lived and ill fated foray into expert systems.

The Texas retail systems rollout included a substantial amount of new hardware being shipped out of the warehouse to stores all over the country. Some of my colleagues were doing more mileage in a month than I did in a year.

My. boss, Bob Carlsen, and I lifted this magnificent trophy the size of an egg-cup for beating a team from Coutts & Co. at Trivial Pursuit.

Ah! Those were the days my friend!

History of CASEwise Corporate Modeler

“But what I do have are very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career.” - Liam Neeson, "Taken".

A question I am often asked is, “Do you miss work?” My answer is “I miss having my expertise used.”

Normally when people ask me what I used to do for a living I do NOT reply “I was mainly involved in systems development methodologies“. It is too hard to try and explain about Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) and project management frameworks (PRINCE2, DSDM, etc) and Computer Aided Software Engineering (CASE) tools.

Instead I would normally say, “I worked in IT, but more on the project management side. Or sometimes “My clients were mainly the IT departments of large companies who wanted to do a better job of developing systems “.

The core pillars my discipline were the trilogy of methods, tools and techniques. Every area of endeavour had its own software packages to support what they do and IT is no different hence CASE tools.

This one product, CASEwise Corporate Modeler, has been involved through a large part of my professional career providing me with gainful employment both on the payroll and as a freelancer. Prompted by a contact from a ex-colleague and the emergence of a historic document I feel compelled to tell the full story of this money earner.

The other parts of the trilogy - methods (Inforem method, CSC Catalyst, Novartis Crystal) and techniques (data modelling and process dynamics modelling) - probably deserve their own posts but here is not the place.

Prequel - pre 1989.

1982: Inforem founded by Ali Arthur, Sohail Amer and Mojtaba Ghassamian

1985: TAF (The Analysts Friend) This product supported recording entities, attributes and a simple functional / process hierarchy. Written in Pascal by some chap who was even older than us. He had grey hair! George Keeling thinks he was called Tim but has forgotten his surname. It had a text based interface. Database underlying it not known.

1986: Mark joins Inforem.

1988: PAGE (professional application generation environment). TAF was rewritten to run on Datafit’s DP4 database with a GEM front end.

1989: PAGEfit. Athar Sharif and Nalin Goonewardene conceive the idea of PAGEFit. An interface to generate a DP4 database schema from the entity relationship diagram. You could then build application screens using QAB (Quick Application Builder) using the generated database.

1989: Inforem start work on a new version of CASEwise that supports version control and uses the fledgling Windows 1.0. The project starts to overrun both timescales and budget.

1990: CSC (Computer Sciences Corporation) go on a global spending spree acquiring a number of companies around the world. It acquires Inforem and divests itself of CASEwise:

• Inforem employees become CSC employees in early 1990.
• George Keeling leaves CSC to set up CASEwise
• CSC transfers CASEwise IPR to George
• George abandons the ambitious spec for the product and writes a simpler, better version
• Mark McLellan becomes product manager ably supported by Steve Jarvis, Simon Curtis, and a woman whose name I cannot remember.
• George continued to refine and improve the product over the following years
• After Casewise was started, John Christian, who had worked at Inforem and was recommended by Bob Carlsen, was a vital programmer because he understood Windows and GEM, which George didn't. His work was vital for the transition from GEM to Windows.

1992: CASEwise has grown sufficiently to employ a help desk person. Mark hands over support and breathes a sigh of relief. He continues with CSC for another eight years.

Official History (1989-2000)

<quote>

The history of the CASEwise Corporate Modeler

The CASEwise Corporate Modeler was originally developed by the English consulting and methods company Inforem Plc in the middle 1980's.  The tool was known originally call "PAGE", then "PAGEFIT".  Inforem Plc was acquired by Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) between 1989 and 1990.  They sold the rights to the tool to George Keeling, the founder and Chief Executive of CASEwise.

During the first year CASEwise continued to support existing customers until it's first product I-CASEware was launched as version 2.  This release, and versions 2.1 and 2.2 employed the Digital Research GEM graphics environment and employed the Datafit DP4 relational database.  Version 2.3 was offered in both  GEM and Microsoft Windows.

The name CASEwise as first used with version 3 in 1992 when the product became the CASEwise Modeler.  Direct access to the integrated repository was first offered in 1994 with version 4 along with simulation support for Dynamics diagrams and Microsoft Word reporting tools.  Version 4.1 was launched in 1995 with additional functionality.

CASEwise revised the model database repository structure when version 5 was released in 1996 providing support for controlling diagram appearance and style.  In 1997 CASEwise launched version 6 as the CASEwise Corporate Modeler 97 and CASEwise Corporate Modeler 98 was launched in 1998 with an internal version of 6.1.  Corporate Modeler 99 was made commercially available in quarter 2 of 1999.

The background of CASEwise

CASEwise Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of CASEwise Systems Limited.  CASEwise Limited performs the sales, marketing, support and services function for none American business.  CASEwise Systems Limited performs the research and development function of CASEwise products.

CASEwise began trading as "CASEware Limited" during 1989/1990 after purchasing the intellectual property and source code from Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) following its acquisition of the English consulting and methods company Inforem Plc during 1989/1990.  CASEware became CASEwise Systems Limited a couple of years later when it was discovered that CASEware was being used by other legitimate businesses in some national markets, including the US.

In 1993, CASEwise opened a sales, support and service subsidiary in the US, located in Boston, Massachusetts.  The Boston office is now supported by satellite offices spread across the US.

CASEwise Limited, and CASEwise Systems Limited, are British companies located at and trading from offices in Swiss Cottage, London.

CASEwise vision on describing and analysing of processes

The CASEwise mission statement clearly presents its vision for Process:

"CASEwise believes that understanding business processes lies at the heart of effective management. For this reason we develop tools for large and mid-sized enterprises to model business processes and use the resulting intelligence to increase efficiency and effectiveness.

Success will happen for CASEwise because we believe in:

• Striving for exceptional quality in product and service;
• Working very closely with customers to meet their needs;
• Respecting our colleagues with a view to sharing increased wealth, job security, self esteem and quality of work-life.

We believe this will result in increased shareholder value."

CASEwise, in 1990, was the first tool provider to offer support for Process Dynamics and has gained an enviable knowledge of that technique.  Process Dynamics is a Business Process Modelling technique and notation originally used decades ago by Organisation and Methods Analysts that predates Computers.  Testimony to this knowledge is CASEwise support for simulation and the support CASEwise provides its customers in learning to apply Process Dynamics to support Business Concept Modelling, Business System Design (Process Mapping) and Clerical Procedure (Work Instruction) production.

Scope and Market of CASEwise Corporate Modeler

The CASEwise Corporate Modeler is a Business Modelling tool supporting the study of Process, Organisation, Location, Data, Application and Technology.  The tool has a high bias towards Process and Data with mapping to the other four domains of study.

CASEwise has a philosophy of tool co-existence and consciously remains in the Business Modelling domain, preferring to link to best of breed lower CASE, IT Systems Design and Construction, tools.  This philosophy places the CASEwise Corporate Modeler 98 in a dominant position in the Business Modelling marketplace attracting business from consulting organisations, large organisations and government bodies world-wide.

CASEwise is committed to delivering Business Modelling related tools to support its customers.  To this end new and improved features are as a direct result of what our customers have asked us to do.  Important features and important customers receive a high priority within CASEwise often with rapid deployment.

The Generic Diagrammer, new in Corporate Modeler 98, was the CASEwise response to customers who wished to draw diagrams using their own notation and paradigm.  All the major modelling objects can be depicted using individual symbols.  This combines the integration of a repository with the flexibility offered by graphics tools.  The full impact of the Generic Diagrammer will be realised with the Corporate Modeler 2000 feature of user defined object types to provide complete user diagramming flexibility.

A key objective for CASEwise in the near future is to acquire the "Designed for Windows" logo accreditation from Microsoft Corporation. CASEwise plans two major version releases of the Corporate Modeler in the next two years: Corporate Modeler 99, with an internal version 6.2; and Corporate Modeler 2000, with an internal version 7.0.  Release of new features may occur outside of these versions. The important feature enhancements are described below:

Corporate Modeler 99

• A Shape Palette and Object Tree for easier diagramming.
• Combine Corporate Publisher and Corporate Publisher HTML into a single HTML offering complete customisation and report publication flexibility.
• Improved links to other tools.
• Greater support for ERP system reference modelling, e.g. SAP.

Corporate Modeler 2000

• Revised repository model database structure.
• Complete support for OLE and OLE Automation.
• Complete user definition of Menus, Dialog text, Objects, Associations and Properties.  The allows for methods and language customisation from a single application.
• New product paradigm with Repository Explorer offering Object outlining with a Tree control on the left and customisable workspace on the right.  Time-scales permitting the Repository Explorer and Diagram drawing space will be supported by a single workspace.

<end quote>

Postscript 1999-present.

1999: Mark takes voluntary redundancy from CSC and begins a new life as a freelance contractor. He names the company M&M Enterprises after Milo Minderbinder in Catch 22. His first two contracts are with Novartis Pharmaceuticals and then SwissRe - both keen methodology and CASEwise users. Other work includes three months acting as CASEwise's training department, installing the software on clients' sites and then training their staff.

Later release versions after CM2000 are as follows (as best we can recall):

• 2002: CM8e (2002)
• 2004-2005: CM9.0 - 9.3
• 2004-2006: CM10.0 - 10.2
• 2006-2007: CM10.3 - 10.3e, the first Oracle/SQL Server only release.
• 2008: CM2008
• 2009: CM2009
• 2011: CM2011
• ... and more

Significant components worthy of mention are:

• Corporate Publisher: generates reports from the repository in Word, HTML and Help file format
• Automodeler: imports and exports repository data in a variety of formats
• ITAA: A web portal to published models that required no licensing for web site users.
• Evolve: A web portal giving direct, live, access to models or users.  In recent years Corporate Modeler was rebranded as Evolve - causing much confusion as to what was Evolve!

The company CASEwise undergoes a number of transformations:

• 2011: CASEwise Asia Pacific Pty Ltd in Australia was dissolved.
• 2016: erwin acquire CASEwise including assimilating the US office and continue to develop the product. Corporate Modeler now rebadged as Evolve. CASEwise, the UK company, no longer exists.
• 2020: erwin acquired by Quest software.
• 2021: CASEwise South Africa Pty still exists and is a Quest / Erwin partner.

2015: Mark retires and says goodbye to the world of work.

Here endeth the nostalgia-fest. I am grateful to all those who contributed to the methodology ecosystem that created Corporate Modeller and kept me off the streets for many years!

CSC Alumni at The Crusting Pipe April 2014

Covent Garden, London, UK. Wednesday 23-April-2014

cscalumni is a unofficial Yahoo group Anne and I set up for past employees of CSC (primarily in the UK) who wish to keep in touch - many of whom worked for Inforem which was acquired by CSC. We also use it for organising occasional drinks.

To say these gatherings are held erratically is an understatement - see previous cscalumni posts. They are also usually small gatherings as we are scattered to all parts of the planet.

Valter, Bob, Simon, Anne

Many of the previous gathering have been on a Thursday which clashes with Simon's Barbershop choir evenings so this time I chose a Wednesday especially for him.

Simon, Anne

We caught up on our latest news and reminisced about old times and "Whatever happened to ...?"

Nostalgia is all very well but it's not what it used to be.

CSC alumni at The Crusting Pipe 2013

I was prompted to organise a cscalumni gathering by a couple of LinkedIn requests from ex-CSC colleagues. I arranged meet up with Roy and Anne and sent out an APB in the hope that some others might be free to join us.

It is several years since the last gathering (June 2010) and, despite many apologies, only a hard core turned up. But that was fine: we drank, we ate, we chatted, we went home.

Anne Carter, Farrakh Siddiqui

A special mention, and commiserations, go to Valter Johansson (formerly of Index) who came but could not find us hidden in a booth thanks to the poor cellular coverage.

Roy Thompson, Mark McLellan (me)

One of the apologies was from Nalin Goonewardene who will be visiting the UK in September and October so I'll propose another gathering then - and not on a Thursday so Simon Hargrave can attend. Let's see who can make it next time with a little more notice.

cscalumni Drinks Tue 29-Jun-10

A beautiful summer's evening made The George near London Bridge a fine choice of venue. A small but select group made it for a number of beers including a welcome newcomer - Valter Johansson, formerly of CSC Index.

Anthony Bodle, John Patient, Valter Johansson

The pub had a good range of beers but unfortunately they were short staffed behind the bar - which may have been a good thing in slowing our consumption. After the usual chat and catch-up on news we dispersed - what more can I say :-)

Present: Bob Carlsen, John Patient, Anthony Bodle, Steve Jarvis, Valter Johansson
Apologies: Elizabeth Buie, Tony Korn, Jeanne Coates, Julie Irving, Tony Czarnecki, Carolyn MacDowell, Nalin Goonewardene

CSC Alumni: Drinks: Tue 29-Jun-10 18:00 The George, 77 Borough High St, SE1 1NH

There is a Yahoo group for UK based CSC alumni: Past employees of CSC (primarily in the UK) who wish to keep in touch, exchange news, provide mutual support and share information on possible job opportunities. http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/cscalumni/

We meet occasionally for socialising and networking.

The last couple of sessions there have been requests for somewhere that sells beer, not on a Thursday, not on a Wednesday and not while Bob Carlsen is on holiday so here we have it :-)

Date: Tuesday 29 June 2010
Time: from 18:00
Where: The George, 77 Borough High St, London, SE1 1NH
Web: http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/43/434/George/London_Bridge

It is down an alley on the left as you head south from London Bridge.

Hope to see some new ex-colleagues there :-)

CSC Alumni at the Crusting Pipe

A small but select number from the UK CSC Alumni list met for a drink on Wednesday in the Crusting Pipe. It is 10 years since most of us left CSC but we still like to meet up every now and again to catch up on the news.

Present: Myself, Carolyn MacDowell, Anne Carter, Farrakh Siddiqui, Anthony Bodle and Simon Hargrave.

Apologies: Tony Czarnecki, Tony Korn, Jim West, Andrew Hollick, John Patient, Nalin Goonewardene, Barry Wilton, Bob Taylor, Bob Carlsen.

Given the number who replied and were not able to make it I will arrange another in a couple of months time - not on a Wednesday and somewhere that sells beer as well as wine.

CSC Alumni meet in the Crusting Pipe

Thursday, January 18, 2007.

Another CSC alumni gathering. Like last time in the congenial surroundings of The Crusting Pipe in Covent Garden.

Much the usual band of suspects, again: there was me, Tony Korn, Simon Hargrave, John Warren, David Pelta, John Patient, Carolyn MacDowell, Tony Hazel, Roy Thompson, Barry Wilton and Anne Carter. Apologies from David Martin and Paul Toledo (not yet on the mailing list). A good turnout - thanks chaps.

I learnt from the last time and got my food order in early, I just can't take drinking on an empty stomach like I could in my youth. I remember in my mid twenties when I worked at Coopers & Lybrand (as they were then) how a crowd of us went drinking regularly after work. I always used to tip the lemon from the previous Gin and Tonic into the next so I knew how many I'd had by counting the slices. At least in those days many city pubs shut early (sometimes as early as 7:30pm) which probably saved our livers.

By the end of last night transport demands has whittled the crowd down to a hard core half dozen all of whom worked for Inforem which was subsequently acquired by CSC. We got all nostalgic for those glory days and it set me thinking.

When I look at the friends I have made and kept in contact with they come mostly from specific groups. For example I am not in touch with friends from school, nor college, nor my first two jobs. But I am from my time at BIS Applied Systems and my time at Inforem. Something about working with a set of similarly educated, trained and dedicated professionals. We were good at what we did (I think I can say that), we enjoyed it and worked hard at it. There was a real sense of camaraderie and that is why we are still in touch.

That reminds me I must given the BIS crowd a call...

Also, in a piece of brazen and shameless self-promotion, I promised a link to our holiday home - now available for rent. http://www.trulli-puglia.com/ (no longer active).

Previous gatherings:

• No really it's networking not drinking!
• CSC alumni meet in All-Bar-One

No really it's networking not drinking!

Another CSC alumni meeting. This time in the far more congenial surroundings of The Crusting Pipe in Covent Garden.

Much the usual band of suspects: there was me, Tony Korn, Simon Hargrave, Chris Howard, John Warren, David Pelta, John Patient, Rob Heyfron, Carolyn MacDowell, Tony Czarnecki, Tony Hazel and Anne Carter. Apologies from David Martin and Anthony Bodle. A good turnout - thanks chaps.

We drank, we nibbled, we talked.

Several peeled off about 8:30 lured by the siren call of South West Trains. Mary joined us after an intensive handbag hunt in the Wild West End and came in clutching her Louis Vuitton trophy. Then we stragglers (M&M, CM, DAP, SH and TH) dined in the restaurant part (perfectly acceptable food) and staggered wandered off about 11:00.

CSC alumni meet in All-Bar-One

A select band of CSC alumni met in All-Bar-One, Waterloo last night. There was me, Tony Korn, Simon Hargrave, Anthony Bodle, Chris Howard, Peter Gray and John Warren. There were apologies from David Pelta, John Patient, Rob Heyfron, David Martin, Carolyn MacDowell and Anne Carter.

We managed to get a table which was a miracle given how packed it was. I am inclined to agree with a number of reviews I have read on the All-Bar-One chain. Too packed, noisy, smokey and soulless. The first one I encountered was the All Bar One, Cambridge Circus with Mary after work when her company was based in Shaftsbury Avenue. That one was OK but not so the others; I think we need to investigate alternative venues for the next gathering.

Of course it is the company that counts. It was good to see the old familiar faces and catch up on the news. I stayed for a couple of hours then headed for the 20:30 to Southampton airport parkway, supper was a caffe latte and a ham&cheese bagette from the concourse and I was home by 23:00.