brompton park

Before I set out on the walk I had gotten an invitation from Arthur Reynolds to fly to London and discuss working for him. I told him of the planned walk and promised to contact him when the adventure ended. After staying on the Greyhound nonstop from Pennsylvania to Seattle, I settled in at Robert's house in the suburbs, sent a note to Arthur, and waited for his reply. He was having a temporary cash flow problem so suggested I amuse myself for a month and sent enough money, or what should have been enough money, to play until the trip to London was arranged.

I bought one of those 30-day passes on Trailways and wandered around the USA, ending up broke in New Orleans. Arthur sent some more money and a New York-London air ticket. At one time I had permanent resident status in the UK but stayed out of the country for more than two consecutive years and lost it. Thus it was a major mistake at the airport to mention the possible job as a reason for my visit. It took the intervention of a member of the House of Lords to get me into the country, with the understanding that I would have to leave again until a work permit was arranged. After talking with Arthur about the proposed job, I accepted the offer and flew back to New York, got another 30-day Trailways pass and set out to amuse myself until the paperwork had been sorted out in London.

I had exchanged letters with my jailhouse buddies, Gilbert and Joe, after leaving BCCF. Gilbert was still inside and Arthur hired an attorney on his behalf after hearing his story. Joe was out and living at home, so I stopped by to visit him and spent a few nights there. He wanted to leave home and move to another part of the country, so I suggested he join me and try Seattle. We stayed at Robert's house but the two of them didn't get on well at all, so I helped Joe find a room in a communal house in the university district. It very nearly happened that he went to London with me as well, but the passport office refused to issue a passport since he was already in violation of his parole status. So he stayed in Seattle and I had not been in London for more than a couple of weeks when I got a call from his landlord saying Joe was creating a lot of trouble in the house and asking for my help in getting him to leave. Once Joe left there, I never heard anything further from or about him.

Arthur was operating as a private investment banker and the first task I had was to select and purchase the equipment to computerize his office and set up communication links between it and his two houses, one in Chelsea and one in the country. Originally we shared an office in a West End building, but once I found and rented a two bedroom apartment in a new complex at Brompton Park, my part of the business functions was moved into the larger of the two bedrooms there. This was, of course, a mistake.

The apartment was wonderful, one of the most luxurious places I have lived in. There were two balconies overlooking the Chelsea Football grounds, a large main room which very soon had an extraordinary sound and video system, even a separate laundry room with washer and dryer. The office had two PC's, including a then state-of-the-art IBM model, and eventually an Atari ST was added just so we could play "Gauntlet".

At a Christmas party in the building where we had worked, his mother talked to me about the trouble her middle son, Jonathan, was having finding work. I told her to send him to me the following week, that I could use a combination house boy/data entry clerk. Jonathan arrived early, we talked for awhile about what the job would involve, then I mentioned what I was willing to pay him. His mouth fell open, he jumped up from the chair and said "give me a minute to think about it". After somewhat less than a minute in the other room, he came back and accepted the job. That was certainly an hour that was to change both of our lives for many years.

Another event that holiday season which greatly changed my life was setting out to achieve the other part of my main task, establishing online communication between the various locations and to Arthur's clients and contacts globally. I had no experience at all with modems, was trying to find some way to test the initial set-up and noticed a small advertisement about an on-line game called MUD2 which had a local number. I called it, got on the first try, and spent many, many hours in there, not only during that two-year job but throughout the years, including now. When I first logged into the game, it asked me to give a name for my character. Arthur's wife had given me a cigarette lighter in the shape of a panther's head and it was sitting on the computer, so I chose the name Panther.

There is much more that could be written about that time, old friendships resumed and new ones formed, including many which came about as a result of MUD2. It was the most extended time in my life when I never had to worry about money, could afford to buy almost anything I wanted including a huge audio and video library, excellent smoking materials, and all the latest high tech toys. It was too luxurious, and having the office in the apartment provided too much temptation. I didn't do half as good a job for Arthur as I should have, even if everything continued to function as needed and he never had any cause to complain.

Two years was the maximum permit the UK government would grant. As the expiration neared, I decided to show Jonathan something of the world and thus together we embarked on the Second Journey to the East.

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