created by ICS
was the fact that it was hugely used
it was running several hospitals --- the system was a mess
they hadn't ever done anything with AREV
my LIMS system I had ripped AREV apart - it didn't even look like AREV
anymore
I had made the system completely secure

at one stage I had been taken into one of the big hospitals southern
general I think it was
by the manager there
I was looking at rows and rows of machines -- all running CLINICS
(they called it)
not at all successfully
I tried to fix something on the hoof and I was shifting data around --
then I thought - no leave it
don't touch this -- the system was completely unstable

and incredibly slow
the problem in that situation as in many jobs I was not given the
power to do anything
completely myself it was all obviously about "teamwork"

ICS got more money out of glasgow for some software to speed their
crap up
we couldn't even put it onto one of the big hospital networks there
were many PCS
it didn't work -- it started giving problems

the question from them then I remember
at that particular place

"why is the disk going permanently"
"it's indexing"
it was a flawed setup -- it was wearing out disks
what a joke what an absolute mess

CSC took over the lot - I ended up being employed by them
they didn't achieve anything at all -- it hit the press around that
time
pretty much a scandal

I never met anyone from CSC

I left glasgow pretty soon after that
beaten up very badly in a bar with a pool cue
knocked out - lost teeth and skull fracture
I can't even remember getting out of glasgow
I had girlfriends then -- was dumped
had this crappy car a fiesta (which was a bad buy)
I slammed the tailgate down in anger when leaving and the window fell
in it was so rusty

i had to laugh (I suppose)
that car kept catching fire on the motorway - seriously
i think i was overfilling it with oil - I hadn't ever had such a small
engined car
I really preferred to walk
I got rid of that car right after - bought a viable white vauxhall
cavalier in liverpool

what a mess ICS engendered in glasgow

......

the boss there wasn't even trying to be competent - he wasn't even
trying to work
whenever I went in to see him he was working on his own private hobby
some shitty little programming language
for some kind of a club

because I felt that I wasn't getting anywhere at all and had nothing
really to do
some programs here or there - shoring the garbage up - shifting data
around
I spent weeks just documenting everything (because it had never been
documented)
I made a report of the whole lot with the help of someone who knew the
data - the system
had been built up in terms of dictionary entries -- everything had to
be identified

so I wrote up the report really it was just that
reporting what was on the crud

I presented that to the hospital manager (where we worked at stobb
hill)
she seemed indifferent

I felt - well I bothered (whatever)
what a garbage contract that was

but hell it was around £700 a week - my first contract
we were stuck in roofspace (stobb hill) it was unbelieveably hot in
the summer crazily hot -- used to go to the bathroom run cold water
over my wrists

and cold in the winter .... lots of time sitting around waiting for
the garbage to break down somewhere and then get a taxi out

it was so cold that winter the clyde froze over -- I only just made it
to work one morning because coolant in the car had frozen up --- it
was -15