Links in the chain
Last modified:
Sunday, 14 August, 2016
Sometimes in life, several simple incidents combine to invoke an end result
of far greater significance than the simple sum of the individual events.
And so it was for Lisa and me: looking back on how we got together,
I see a clear chain of events without which we would have passed like ships
in
the night. On 1st February,
1994 we "met" in IRC channel # Ecto. So much had to be in place
for a mature PhD student in neurobiology from Brooklyn, working in Storrs
Connecticut USA to hook up with a telecom
systems engineer from Strood, working in Harlow Essex UK that it's tempting
to feel that fate played a hand.
Fated or not,
I'm especially grateful to the people who, in retrospect, I see as links
in the chain that brought
Lisa and I together. What happened once we'd met was down to us but it
was the chain of interventions that brought us into initial contact which
gave our innate compatibility the chance to assert itself.
On Lisa's side
there was a similar chain of connections that led her to that fateful
meeting but, for myself, I'm particularly delighted to acknowledge
that
I owe extra
special thanks to the following
people
who,
mostly unknowingly, intervened
in my
life
significantly
in
such a
way as
to directly lead me towards encountering my other
half:
Jane Fletcher
While we were both living at the Harlow YWCA, Jane introduced me to the music of Kate Bush. Or, to be more accurate, I should say that Jane demonstrated (by playing me the track "Breathing" from Kate's "Never for Ever" album) that there was a lot more to Kate than a squeaky voice and a string of hit singles. This would have been some time in 1981.
For the wonderful music that your championing of Kate led me to, Jane, I owe you grateful thanks. For setting in train the whole stream of events that led me to Lisa, I am forever in your debt!
Gary Nebbett
In 1984, while working with me at STL, Gary introduced me to the Usenet and even mentioned in passing that there was a newsgroup dedicated to Kate Bush (rec.music.gaffa).
Maybe I'd have found my way into Usenet soon enough in any case but as it happens, Gary, you were the one who did the deed: so take a bow!
Vickie Mapes
Among the many, many things I owe Vickie thanks for, the most important to the tale of how Steve met Lisa is that it was Vickie's championing of the music of Happy Rhodes on rec.music.gaffa from January 1989 onwards which led directly to the founding of the Ecto mailing list in June 1991. Vickie's personal friendship was a key factor in my joining the list and being interested in the #Ecto IRC channel.
Of all the people I've met through the net, Vickie, you have had the greatest impact on my life. Your friendship, online and in person, has meant so much to me. You are a wonderful person, and it's a pleasure and a privilege to have known you!
Yngve Hauge
At the end of December, 1993, Yngve sent a message on the Ecto mailing list in which he explained how it was possible to access IRC using Telnet and without needing an IRC client. This enabled me to join in the activities of the #Ecto channel. On Tuesday, 1st February, 1994 Lisa wandered into the channel while I was online. The rest, as they say, is history...
You were the last link in the chain, Yngve, without you it would not have happened the way it did!
Without the interventions of these
people, Lisa and I may never have come together. As with some other folks
I'd like to get back in touch with, I no longer know where all these people
are but, wherever they may be, I owe all of them an enormous debt of gratitude.
From the bottom of my heart...
Thank you all!
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