Post #2183005

2026-05-04 22:51 UTC

37 years ago I flew to London with a work visa arranged through the British Universities North America Club, walked into a temp agency in Vic station to do a typing test and was immediately employed as a typist. They were overjoyed that I knew how to use a Mac and various other computers. &quot;You know Macintosh!&quot; I became their guy to dispatch to the places with strange or ancient computers, like the DECwriter with 8&quot; floppy drives that was already a dinosaur. Anyway, I needed office garb, so I went to Camden Market and bought this very threadbare woolen overcoat. Inside the pocket is the maker&#39;s label, J. K. Chung, made in Brooklyn, NY in 1928. I think it might have been £5 and nothing was cheaper. I bought two shirts, two ties, two pair of trousers, and a Melton jacket to use every day for as long as I was there.

Replies (2)

@pws@social.coop 2026-05-04 23:30

After cycling through a variety of short assignments, including stacking tea crates and working reception at the Royal National Institute of the Blind ("the elevator is on your left") I was placed at Ernst & Whinney on the 10th floor with an eye level view of the clock tower on the north side of the river. This was before the surveillance state so it was no problem to blow through the term of a work visa until I decamped to Yugoslavia for a cycling trip down the coast from Trieste, Italy to Dubrovnik. The Yugoslav inflation rate was around 2500% that year, so they had just started printing the 50,000 Dinar note when I arrived. They started printing the 100,000 Dinar note about 3 weeks later. A barkeep told us that 25,000 Dinars was "good pay for a month's work 10 years ago and now it's 2 beers". (Unconfirmed but good story!) Shops handed out candy in lieu of small change when making a purchase.

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@philipncohen.com@bsky.brid.gy 2026-05-04 22:56

I love this

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