Just wait my friend; it'll happen to you one day too!
As it happens, yes, I was at Abbey Road from time to time, although I was never actually employed there. I knew EMI's Technical Director quite well and he very kindly sponsored my membership of the AES. But there came a time when the music business turned from being a bunch of lads and lasses who enjoyed making music, and became a business run by accountants instead. I was sitting one day with a cutting engineer named George Peckham. We were chatting away while one of my tapes was going on to vinyl, and we both agreed that having to deal with accountants all day wasn't as much fun as well...., <er, cough> "sex and drugs and rock 'n roll". That was the day I decided to gently wander away from the music business and find something else to do. I ended up writing software for a living, and I'm glad to say I have enjoyed that immensely.
But you're right about B&Ws at Abbey Road. The lads generally liked the B&W sound, and I believe the later 800s were standard equipment in there for a while. Sadly John Bowers is no longer with us, but I was glad to have the opportunity one day to tell him how much pleasure his DM3s and DM70s had given me. He smiled and replied "That makes it all worth while". He was one of the good guys.
Now for the first time in years I'm shopping for a sound system again, and I shall probably visit the show on Friday. I'm sure the whole scene has changed and I won't know anybody there now, but you never know. Perhaps I'll bump into George Peckham again, and we can swap stories about Zimmer frames.
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