Reaching my fifties:
Having reached my fifties, with both children grown and left home, but not far away. And enjoying the daily challenges that my job entailed. Then trying to master the new dial up internet,and the online poker sites etc. While thinking not much bothers me apart from praying the phone line behaves, while involved in a poker hand, that looked good for me.
Life felt that it was going quite smoothly, no stress, no worries. But life has a funny way of saying “Hey you, life is not meant to be a free ride”. And as my mum use to say “it’s all sent to try us”. Boy was i about to be tried. After twenty five years nearly to the day, my marriage broke down. And as anyone knows if it happens it does it unexpectedly, it can knock one for six, as i did to me. All i could do, after putting all of my wife’s clothes into the back garden, was to call my brother Graham and told him what i had done. Then decided to do a bit of Karate (Wado Rue style) with my right hand, taking the kitchen cupboard door off its hinges. Big mistake unless you have a cheap carpenter at hand. Then i told my wife to leave the house.
The next hour was very blurry, but remember my daughter Louise coming over to calm me down, i think. Then my son Robert, having driven down with his mum in the car, and being told by me to take her away, he knew i meant it, and drove her away. The next thing i remember is my brother Graham with his wife Dianne coming into my house, asking how i was and said ” Come on bruv your coming with us, get your things”. And that is what i did.
Still not a hundred percent, but back to work, and with the help of so many great friends, sadly some not with us anymore. One being Ellen the daughter of my good friend Ken, who i was writing the Roulette book with, until his sad death. She had a next door neighbour, whom i became friends with, after my marriage broke down, and at the time worked in Westminster. which becomes important later in my future experience, or one could say lesson i still use to today. and i pass it around to people who are a little naive with the internet.
The experience was probably the best lesson, one could have on the internet, and the birth of what is now called Social media. Not Twitter of Facebook or even the earlier MySpace. It was Yahoo who was years ahead of those three mediums, and i think still today. Without Yahoo i doubt that Twitter and Facebook would be what they are today.
When my marriage was over, i use to play online poker, as well as at the casinos. The site was called Paradise Poker, and i still have a online friend today Shells from this site, whom i tried to teach her to play poker, while i say teach her, she was a real teacher herself in Arizona. Can you imagine me teaching a teacher, the mind boggles. Both Shells and i also made friends on there with two American University Graduates i think they were called, i still remember one of their names, Wayne or Wayno as i use to call him. We had some great laughs playing together, none of us played to break the bank balances of the others, it was mainly fun along with a great education.
Then my eldest niece Pauline, once again sadly not with us anymore, but was like a second mother to me, even though i was five years older than her. Always trying to feed me because i’ve always been slim and athletic. And whom i use to visit regularly along with her husband Tony and my three great nieces, Samantha, Melissa and Carlene who was also my god daughter, and great nephew Terry. Pauline said ” Uncle Col” as they all did and still do most of the time, ” why don’t you go on Yahoo chat, we have rooms where to can chat with people from all over the world”. The main favourite room we used was room ten, yes i still remember, it was a very friendly room. And yes i could write another essay on just that room alone. But not on this post. So having joined Yahoo, and still have the best email ever from there. I got chatting to a lady , well i assumed was a lady at the time, who went by the name of Lara Croft, yes i never knew anything about anyone who was called that back then from any tv shows etc.
Nothing really happened out of the ordinary for a while. But i found myself running out of hours of the day, just like back in the sixties, you slept or had a nap, when you had a spare moment. Then one Saturday lunchtime, having just got home from a mornings overtime. I switched the Pc on, they were mostly large towers then, to either check my email or go on yahoo chat as one does on today on say Facebook. But a lot slower, being on dial up through a telephone line. And like Facebook you had dings or other noises to tell you have a email, message or something. Yahoo chat had a noise of it’s own if a friend came online.
And me being me, i talk to anyone, even it’s just a good morning to strangers in the street. Back then we were brought up to have manners, and people spoke to each other, not like today, when you can sit in a doctors surgery or waiting rooms, and people are happy to just stare at the blank walls. Not me, some of the best conversations i have ever had has been with strangers in train carriages or even a bus. Once again i digress, back to my Saturday lunchtime. The Pc had finally warmed up and started, Ding!! the lessons on the internet and life was about to really begin. The loud ding was the yahoo chat friend Lara Croft or who i thought was, still being a little naive with the internet, coming online. I clicked her highlighted name, and typed ‘good afternoon Lara’ and instead of the normal reply, she disappeared as quick as she came on. So i thought she could be having trouble with her dial up connection. So i thought no more about it, and decided to go play a small poker game.
Then after the game and a cuppa, once again Lara came online, and i thought i would ask her if she is having trouble with her connection. I clicked on her name again to ask her, and once again she went straight off. Now i started to think have i said or done something to upset her, and is she just avoiding me. Something i rarely do or did back in those days, having been brought up from a child to always reply if spoken to. But today in general it’s not expected, so i don’t let it bother me much anymore, if one did; you could find yourself in some psychiatric hospital somewhere.
This happened a few more times over the weekend. So seeing my niece Pauline, had introduced me to the then new social media, which was Yahoo chat. I thought i would visit her on my way home from work Monday evening, which i use to do a lot in those days, to tell her what had happened over the weekend. So after the first cuppa, which was like a automatic welcome when i use to visit her and any of her side of the family. I tried to explain the best i could, about what had occurred over the weekend. Pauline said ” why don’t you follow her” as if i knew what that meant. Then she explained, ” click on her name” etc and i made some notes how to do that. So i went home with my notes in hand, hoping i can remember everything.
As soon as i got home i went online to play some poker with Yahoo chat in the background, just in case Lara came online. But like watching a kettle boil, Lara never appeared, so i concentrated on my poker. And sods law Lara Croft never appeared all week, well the time i was online anyway.
Saturday arrived and i was not working that weekend, and i was playing poker until about lunchtime, so i could take a visit to the bookies with my regular television racing bet. Then Ding! Lara Crofts name lit up. So this time i didn’t say anything to her, and she never went offline straight away, like she did the previous weekend. I got my notes and followed the directions. What followed was one of the most scary situations i have felt for a very long time,and probably since, being someone who does not scare easy.
And within two minutes, having followed the directions to the letter, i found myself in a room, similar to all of the rooms on Yahoo. And i didn’t take any notice of the rooms name, and what people were saying to each other. then i saw Lara Crofts name as she typed something in the room. And without thinking my manners, came into effect. I typed ” Hello Lara are you ok?”. Bad move, she disappeared out of the room, and then offline. Quite stunned i just sat there looking around the room, only to see the rooms name, i can’t remember the name exactly today, but it had Nazi in it.
So being the inquisitive person i am, i started reading the typing, only to see words like murder and a lot worse, accompanied with the normal foul language that follows these sort of discussions. Then it hit me, and my heart started to race, this was well before my heart troubles, i could not get out of there quick enough. My heart seemed to race for ages after i was out.
Playing poker was out of the question after that experience, the only thing i could think of, was getting down to Pauline and Tony’s and letting them know what i have just done. So straight after the televised horse racing, i made my way down to their house. After telling Pauline everything, she said ” what name did you use”, which sort of confused me a little, i replied ” my name of course Colin Baker” , which brought a few smiles, and i think a bit of mickey taking from Tony, which was quite common between us, even today.
Pauline then gave me my second Yahoo chat lesson, She said you can have up to six names at a time on Yahoo chat. Which in the future i had some fun with, once even knighted myself and became Sir Colin of Rushmoor for a while, would you believe. But i always told everyone after iv’e had a little fun with it or any other name i’ve had, and even for a long time after yahoo friends kept calling me sir, it sort of stuck. Back to the reason for this, i did what Pauline told me, i got another name, which i cannot remember what it was now.
And i only had to wait a few days until Lara was back online. Then i just repeated my previous actions, with my new name. Bingo the page opened, and there she was, but this time it was a different room. And its room name was in short, very anti-semitic, once again i cannot remember the title. But could never forget what it stood for. So this time i just sat there reading the comments, and yes Lara Croft was really into the chat, the hate and the threats were even hard to stay and read. Nobody seem to notice me, or at least that i noticed.
I stayed there for about ten minutes, then came out of the room. I’m sure i phoned Pauline straight away, and told her what i’ve seen. She told me people can make their own rooms like that. And for that reason to this day, i don’t like cliques or joining groups. If i do join groups, how mild they might be, i rarely stay long, because most seem to end up the same; attacking someone or something, and yes racism many times raises it’s ugly head. I think most people who really know me here on facebook, know my strong views on racism, and why the majority of people i’ve unfriended over the years, are mainly racists, who have crossed a certain line. And also because of my views which do not please everyone to say the least, are mine and mine alone, i live and die by them, and in the process that is why i detest lynch mobs, whether i agree with them or not.
Once again i digress, after Pauline had told me about these secret rooms, it was then i thought this cannot be allowed to carry on surely. And what can i do about it. So it’s now i thought i should ask my lady friend who worked in Westminster with her possible connections for advice. It was her that told me to phone either MI5 or 6 about it maybe. And she got me the phone numbers. And i duly called MI6 the following day. And if anyone has ever done that before, you will know the many questions, they ask you before you even mention, why you phoned in the first place. Nearly down to you inside leg measurement. But it’s very understandable.
I told them everything i did, why and what had happened. Their response was very good, and very pleased with the information i gave them. And that they will pass it on, i assumed maybe MI5 or people who deal with this sort of thing. And one must remember this was in the early days of the internet. And from that day my approach to the internet is probably a lot different to most people, i question nearly everything i see or read on it. And even more the media outlets that use it, for their own propagandist agendas………Colin H Baker. Finally at last on record as i promised myself i would do 20 years later.
Colin H Baker 