Portmanteau? Portmanteau?....Well it used to mean a big folding suitcase of a type often used by theatricals but now more commonly refers in a less literal sense to a carrier of a variety of objects : in this instance one or two things in my possession which are rather too good to throw away as they just might be of absorbing interest to the right viewer. Individual interests, musings, pontifications and hobby horses. Those sort of things. And this is a good place in which to try them out on the public, although not the public at large, the expectation being that those finding their way here will have done so deliberately via Google et al and thus will have at least a casual glance at what is on offer.

For starters, the heavy stuff. Information from a technical viewpoint is provided regarding the way in which large scale commercial accounting could be accomplished (by largely mechanical machinery) in the pre-computer era, the author holding the belief that the current generation has little inkling that such methods ever existed, let alone that punched card data processing was an entire industry in itself. This will be achieved by relating the author's own experience in that environment. The following eventually will be described :-

1) The Post Office MATS Units. These were centres for producing Post Office telephone bills during the nineteen sixties which used the above mentioned machines together with two additional unique machines designed jointly by Powers Samas and the Post Office. Information regarding these forty column Mark Scanners and High Speed Summarisers is most unlikely to be found elsewhere.

2) The BTM/ICT 542 and 550 slotted hole calculators. These are probably already well documented but the author believes he may have unique material displayed here.

And then other perhaps less boring things :-

Such as the tribute to my late elder brother. In the form of a complete book, a whimsical and rare volume about pre-war Wireless which you are privileged to have this chance to read.

But if even that is still too technical for you, we have :-

Songs Just a few rarely heard ones which continue to amuse me and which I hope will amuse you too. Oh! And for good measure a couple of poems too.

You will surely find that a few words of essential Slovenian will come in useful and an account of a week's personal inspection of a rather esoteric part of that little republic is just about complete. The Queen is planning to visit Slovenia in October.

And to provide a different flavour to the site, we have :-

Recipes. Just a couple for now, first The World's Best Christmas Pudding, to put it quite modestly, and also Apple & Date Rock Buns. which are easy to make and very tasty. Possibly, if I can be bothered, in due course there might be a few other offerings from my wife's well tried collection.

Would a stroll up Snowdon be of interest? Here are twenty two pictures recorded during such an undertaking. (n.b. no thumbnails so it's an 8MB file). But go on, the views are worth a bit of a wait and the effort of a click or two.

And just to give you a laugh here is my experience of owning an AC Petite three wheeler.

And another interest is The Cyclaid.

And finally a photo of an old wreck (not me!)

Some of this above work is rather open-ended and will be carried out during the coming years, but possibly not in the order listed. The author is well aware that such incompleteness from the outset is a sure recipe for the deterrence of his readership. But there we have it : what is on offer is very much on a take it or leave it basis isn't it? If I do indeed amuse and interest but a single reader for a short while then I will be well satisfied. If you should click off elsewhere immediately then I quite understand and am equally happy for I should hate to have bored you.

Don Adams
Isle of Wight
England