In my previous occupation, working for a major UK telecommunications company (bless 'em), I was more than happy to play with computers during office hours only. More and more of my colleagues were buying PCs for home use, talking clock speeds and CD-Roms. I wasn't even tempted.

Then I switched employers and employment status, moving to a work environment with no access to the Internet or external email. Bummer. Solution: nip out one lunchtime a week to the central library and take advantage of a free (!) hour-long web session. They even suggested I get a Hotmail address, which proved a good investment. That was free, too. Fab places, libraries.

Browsing the web midweek, taking furtive mouthfuls of my corn-beef sarnie, I saw mention of a new machine being released by Apple, to be called the iMac. Famous for the original Macintosh, this home computer appeared to be radically different:

• it sported odd connectors called USB,
• there was no floppy drive,
• and, most obvious of all, it was a single, smooth, curvaceous, blue unit!

I had to have one!

Actually getting hold of one was trickier than I thought. Such a machine was unlikely to be in the window at Dixon's. As the UK release date approached, I'd decided to take a trip to an Apple retailer somewhere in London on the big day. But then fortune stepped in. Gail returned from the in-laws with a leaflet from a firm called Avocet Consulting, who happened to be based in the same village. Advertised on the flier was "a computer for your future, Apple iMac G3-233, only £849 + VAT". I ordered one that evening, and picked it up from Simon, Mr Avocet, about a week later.

I'm telling you all this now 'cos that was September 1998, exactly three years ago. Everything's still going strong. That funny keyboard with the weird Apple symbols is in front of me, attached through its USB connector to the odd pebble-like mouse with its single button. And the bondi blue casing remains as strokable as ever. Nice.

Be seeing you!

Ed