Dear List Members, Before the band got a record deal I was working in a Petrochemical Co in Paddington..CJB in Eastbourne terrace. My headmaster had pulled me over the coals in his office and said " Smyth pull up your socks or you will find yourself being asked to leave the school. I looked him in the eye and told him ( as I felt I had been working harder recently so as to get into the sixth form) that no problem I would leave now and enjoyed the look of shock on his face as I walked out of that office and the school for the last time. My Father was an engineer and had had a long career in Petrochemicals around the world for some years. He gave me some background on the Petrochemical Industry and got me comfortable with six terms which would show at least enough knowledge to blag my way through my first every job interview. He then took me to Burtons high street mens clothes shop..pulled a reasonably priced blue pinstripe suit of the ready to wear rack, got a shirt and some boring shoes and when three days after departing the school I had secured my first interview he sent me off by saying now Son, shake his hand with a firm grip,whilst looking him in the eye and speak clearly. I could'nt believe at the end of the interview I was offered a position in the company and I had got the job..It was as a time analysis clerk and w transpired when I met my english teacher a week later on Tottenham Court Rd I was now earning more weekly than my teachers. Stick that in your pipe mate! To cut a long story short....every morning I joined the rush hour tube commotion, and journeyed each morning for an hour from Muswell Hill by bus to Highgate tube, to Paddington Station via a change over in the middlefrom the Northern Line to the Circle line.. you know every one avoiding eye contact etc...when one morning a guy in a suit like mine in i guess his late forties early fifties was dragged off the tube train with what was obviously a heart attack he was lying on the platform and two staff members of the underground station endeavoured to give him mouth to mouth....I stayed watching saying some prayer's till it was apparent that he was dead..most were walking past him and avoiding looking at the situation. At this time in my life and I think I was 16 I had seen my Father have a heart attack, mild yes but a heart attack none the less. The first occured when I was thirteen and his job had taken us to Iran. Pretty frightening for a teenager. For the record my Father passed away on the 22 of June in 1995 and a year later on the 22 of June 1996 I played a song " Your're Wonderful" which I dedicated to his memory and which was about being in the band and missing those who had passed from this mortal coil..... in particular Cathal Patrick Smyth my Dada. I miss him dearly and confronted the fact that I dont have that Man in my life who gave me so much of my charachter and always a good ear and sound advice. That is why I wanted You're Wonderful on the Album Wonderful. I hope this has cleared up this topic Absent friends... And in his immortal words " There are those of us who are and those of us who are'nt and those of us who are must stick together" I often repeat these words and in me and in my son Cathal Caspar Smyth my Father lives on ....... By us by the way he meant those with " Charachter " good night all and travel well Mr Smash. - ______________________________________________________________ Visit the Total Madness Mailing List website for: latest news, madmeet info, list charter, games, and more ... http://members.xoom.com/totalmadmail/ Contact the TMML Moderators at: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe, send an e-mail to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] and in the message body put: unsubscribe total-madness
