Down Memory Lane

[Arthur Little]

50 years ago ... on this date, at the tender age of 16 1/2 [imagine ... Half A Century since!] - "armed" with no more than a smattering of the French language picked up at school - yours truly started work as a junior clerk in the Foreign Department of a Worldwide Insurance Organisation that had its Headquarters in Perth.

... must be getting old!

[grahamw48]

Thanks for making me feel young Arthur.

I was still in short pants.

[Englishman2010]

Thanks for making me feel young Arthur.

I was still in short pants.

I wasn't even born

[Dedworth]

What insurance outfit was that Arthur ? - I suppose they've been merged, taken over, changed their company name to something stupid that has no connection with insurance etc

[stevie c]

I wasn't even born

me neither

[Doc Alan]

I was studying for "O Level" exams, including Latin, thought when I left school I would become a weather forecaster .
But instead, encouraged by my parents, went on to study, and later to teach, medicine at Glasgow University When the university "lent" me to Universiti Malaya over 30 years ago there started a lifelong interest in Malaysia and the Philippines.
Interesting for us all to look back from time to time and think how we reached our present situation. I for one could not have predicted it. How often must we each have said "If I knew then what I know now" ...
If you have reasonable health and happiness, count your blessings

[sars_notd_virus]

I wasn't even born

me too ....
My parents was still enjoying their teenage life that time and wasn't sure if they will make me or not

[Englishman2010]

Thinking about this, 50 years ago, my Dad was a British soldier based in Libya trying to keep the peace between the various tribes there. 50 years on and it looks like the British (UN) peace keeping forces will have to go back and do the same thing...some things don't change after 50 years

[Arthur Little]

... *must be getting old!

I was still in short pants.

I wasn't even born

me neither

me too ....

... You see! Each of those replies backs up *my earlier statement! Indeed, my second - and present - wife herself, was but a "babe in arms" in March 1961!

[Arthur Little]

What insurance outfit was that Arthur ? - I suppose they've been merged, taken over, changed their company name to something stupid that has no connection with insurance etc

'General Accident, Fire & Life Assurance Corporation, Ltd' ... later plc ... now non-existent ... having first, merged with Commercial Union - in the early 1990s (I think!) - then both companies taken over by Norwich Union ... and, ultimately ... the whole conglomeration being absorbed into Insurance Giant 'Aviva' - not without significant, correspondingly resultant redundancies along the way.

[Arthur Little]

Needless to say, I was long-gone from the scene ... decades before the "wheeler-dealers" moved in. But - with hindsight - I occasionally find myself wondering whether I might've fared better financially, had I been content to stay with GAFLAC (as it was referred to locally) ... especially after hearing about some of the "golden handshakes" distributed in the aftermath of each successful takeover bid.

Who knows?

[Arthur Little]

I was studying for "O Level" exams, including Latin, thought when I left school I would become a weather forecaster .
But instead, encouraged by my parents, went on to study, and later to teach, medicine at Glasgow University When the university "lent" me to Universiti Malaya over 30 years ago there started a lifelong interest in Malaysia and the Philippines.
Interesting for us all to look back from time to time and think how we reached our present situation. I for one could not have predicted it. How often must we each have said "If I knew then what I know now" ...
If you have reasonable health and happiness, count your blessings

So ... Alan ... either way - whichever of the two career paths you'd decided to follow - each, in it's own right, specialised in dealing with 'cause and effect' ... am I correct?

[Dedworth]

'General Accident, Fire & Life Assurance Corporation, Ltd' ... later plc ... now non-existent ... having first, merged with Commercial Union - in the early 1990s (I think!) - then both companies taken over by Norwich Union ... and, ultimately ... the whole conglomeration being absorbed into Insurance Giant 'Aviva' - not without significant, correspondingly resultant redundancies along the way.

And ending up with the stupid puerile name

[grahamw48]

AND they took over Yorkshire Insurance in York.

[Arthur Little]

Thinking about this, 50 years ago, my Dad was a British soldier based in Libya trying to keep the peace between the various tribes there. 50 years on and it looks like the British (UN) peace keeping forces will have to go back and do the same thing...some things don't change after 50 years

You're absolutely spot-on Ian; ... history has a habit of repeating itself!

[Arthur Little]

Thanks for making me feel young Arthur.

... pleased to've been of service, Graham.

[Arthur Little]

AND they took over Yorkshire Insurance in York.

...'GA' took over the Yorkshire Insurance Company in 1967 ... the year I left!

[Arthur Little]

And ending up with the stupid puerile name

And last year, I finally got totally ed-off with the lot of them ... and decided to take my business elsewhere.

[scott&ligaya]

wow I am still young Arthur and to think I got a bit nostalgic when I received an invitation from the alumni of my old university to attend the 25th anniversary of our graduation back in 2009!!! 50 years!!! only another 23 years for me to work to match that... arrrgggg I will be 71.

[fred]

[Doc Alan]

So ... Alan ... either way - whichever of the two career paths you'd decided to follow - each, in it's own right, specialised in dealing with 'cause and effect' ... am I correct?

Correct Arthur ! Either involve careful observation and predicting the future, and both can be wrong even with "experts" . Remember Michael Fish, who got the blame for "scotching" rumours of a hurricane in the south of England in October 1987 ? (It was actually a severe storm, with winds reaching hurricane force on the Beaufort scale, but not a true hurricane, which is a tropical cyclone). Then there were the doctors (one a cancer expert, another the prison doctor) who gave the Libyan bomber less than 3 months to live with prostate cancer. (He's still alive many months later, as far as we know).
I've met both Michael Fish and the cancer expert and respect them both, just as I respect you Arthur .

[aposhark]

I was studying for "O Level" exams, including Latin, thought when I left school I would become a weather forecaster .
But instead, encouraged by my parents, went on to study, and later to teach, medicine at Glasgow University When the university "lent" me to Universiti Malaya over 30 years ago there started a lifelong interest in Malaysia and the Philippines.
Interesting for us all to look back from time to time and think how we reached our present situation. I for one could not have predicted it. How often must we each have said "If I knew then what I know now" ...
If you have reasonable health and happiness, count your blessings

Arthur ... must be getting old!
Yes it is inevitable but getting older has its advantages like being calmer and being able to see the bigger picture

Yes Doc Alan,

"reasonable health and happiness" is so important and we should feel very happy if we have these two