Yesterday I went through a drawer that I haven't looked inside for years, and threw out a whole black bin bag full of old, boxed BBC Micro and Spectrum games on cassette tape, and other random bits and pieces from the 8-bit era.
It needed to be done. Not only had I not touched these tapes since my BBC Micro was last set up, I hadn't even used them since I got a 5¼ inch disc drive for the Beeb -- about 15 years ago. There was no chance I was ever going to want to load those tapes again, even if by some fluke the data on them had not degraded to uselessness. And I considered putting some of the stuff on eBay, but I doubt any of it is worth more than pennies.
Still, I felt strangely guilty about consigning them to the dump. When the 8-bit computer revolution took off in the early 1980s with affordable machines for the home, I was old enough to learn how to use them, and young enough that I could still get really excited about them. I wrote dozens of simple games and programs. My bedtime reading was Acorn User magazine (and Micro User, its inferior rival). I typed in long listings by hand from the programming pages. I never learned 6502 assembly language, which I regret because I know now that it would have made me a better programmer, but I was one of the best BBC BASIC coders in my school.
Looking through the junk brought back a lot of memories. A thick book about programming the Acorn Electron, which started me on coding. A paper cassette inlay for Chuckie Egg (but no tape). A book called 'Advanced Spectrum Machine Language', apparently unread, dated 1984. A copy of 'Revs', with manuals and fold-out Silverstone map. The plastic box for the BBC disc version of 'Exile'.
Whatever these things originally cost, whatever memories are brought back by looking at them, doesn't change the fact that I'll never use them again. And something that doesn't get used is just taking up space. I threw it all in the bag, tied the top, and struggled to take it out to the dustbin without tearing it.
Throwing this stuff out hasn't made me feel bad -- actually, I feel quite good about reclaiming some storage space -- it's just made me nostalgic. Hence this entry full of reminiscence.
I did save the empty 'Exile' box, by the way. What, you thought I'd throw away a prize like that?
i used to spend hours typing in the programs from the magazines and not one of them ever worked for me. was never sure if it was me or the magazine who got it wrong. my brothers taught me some basic, only enough to make different colours and flashing things but it kept me happy. my bbc is under our bed. i can't bring myself to get rid of it when the possibility of playing arcadians, repton 3, gunsmoke etc is still there.