Conversations with Complete Strangers

I'm sitting here from the comfort of my living room watching a new Channel 4 documentary on the atrocities that have occured in Sri Lanka since 2008, there has been a civil war going on there, many people have been killed and the war crimes are terrible. I'm learning all this thanks to the guy in the petrol station. I struck up conversation with him at the end of my pizza delivery shift. After telling him all about what it is like to work at Dominoes, as I thought that was what he was asking (my ability to understand English is pretty poor), he eventually got through to me that this documentary was on tonight. I would be in bed now if I hadn't asked "how are you?"


My first interesting visit of the evening was to Exxon. Yes the big blue chip fuel/oil company. Turns out they have a huge great big base tucked away and hidden by trees in a rather residential location. Quite literally it is at the end of s residential road. I was blown away by how well Exxon appeared to look after its employees. Everyone seemed happy and relaxed, the building was very impressive and vast. The two guys I spoke to said I should apply for a job there, and that I shall do.


I next delivered to a place called Cargills. Hidden behind security enforced gates in the heart of wealthy Cobham, was a place I initially thought was a five star hotel - until I spotted "visitor parking". There was golf course, and fields and forests to walk through. There was even a lake with fecking geese and swans in it! The place was beyond excessive. Eventually I found my way in through the front door and delivered my goods to the security guard. I asked him what goes on here. "Investment", he replied. I didn't get a tip.

Just do it

I built my first computer when I was 13. At the time I was an avid reader of PC Gamer, at an exciting time of game development. The PC Magazine was in its hay-day, and new monthly developments excited me. I can credit PC Gamer to getting me into a tough secondary grammar school through the cunning use of the word “atmospheric” in my interview; a word no eleven year old should conjure up on the spot when describing a random work of art. A couple of years after somehow beating the very well spoken (and well rehearsed) young lad sat next to me at the interview – I built my own PC.

I can also credit PC Gamer to a fine article on building your own gaming computer. At the time I had never considered the option, surely building one’s own computer is for goons (school lingo for geek) and techno-boffins, of which I was about as far from either as you could possibly be. Apparently this was not the case, according to PC Gamer. I began to carry around this magazine, I would like to say to all the exciting things I did (not do) at the time, but alas to school and home again. At the time the internet was like a mythical dragon to me, rumours of its power had spread. My sole guidance was literature, in the form of PC Gamer.

My gaming PC at home, once a monster to be revered and feared, was rapidly aging. Four-hundred megahertz of sheer power (your modern smartphone has over a thousand) and onboard graphics. Between the early 90s and mid noughties there was a computer renaissance. Processing power was increasing exponentially, and the technology going into the games was ever changing and evolving. I was a master of the old school, simply because I had no option. However I was a couch expert of the new school. PC Gamer told me to build my own gaming monster, on a budget, and that I did.

I was going to write a review of my PC, but no words can do it justice. Seven years of honourable service and not a step misplaced. If you want to do something right, do it yourself, or innocently follow the guidance of a magazine related to your hobby. I have recently built a mountain bike from scratch, but that’s another story; although I can say it kicks butt in so many ways. If you’re thinking of building something yourself, just do it. What’s the worst that can happen?