After dancing on the edge of retro gaming, I have in recent months dived headfirst into the deep end. I’m buying stuff like there’s no tomorrow and getting to retro events when I can.
I finally made it to The Centre For Computing History in Cambridge for a shindig they were hosting and had a whale of a time. The most recent event was Crash Live!, a do about 90 minutes away from me that was primarily celebrating the Spectrum in all its heavenly glory. I never had a Speccy but have always been a fan of them, and I just felt like wandering around some old computers and, let’s be honest, some old people. There’s definitely a look amongst male retro fans. Generally bald and with a thick beard. I salute you all and I hope my thick mane doesn’t disturb you. I got good genes (thank you dad – RIP).
Despite being a gobby git on the telly and radio back in the day, I am inherently shy and overwhelmed by large groups of people. Noisy rooms physically hurt me. I put this down primarily to my ADHD. I’ve started wearing ear defendertype things to reduce that pain of noise. Great name for a band, you can have that one for free. However, when I go to these events, I am often stopped by people who used to watch The 11 O’Clock Show as kids (thanks for making me feel old), or they’ve seen one of my gaming TV shows. Some people are even fans of this nonsense I write every month. Oh, that reminds me, shout out to the chap that wanted me to write about the Amiga. There you go, I did it! When these people recognise me, they often come up for a handshake and a chat. And I absolutely love this. Firstly, it’s always heart-warming to hear people say nice things about work I did 20 years ago, and secondly, I’ve m
