Well, the printer did it again. I got yet another price for doing the June issue. (That sentence sure looks familiar.)
I also got all the QZX money back after the savings and loan organization it was in collapsed. After it was closed, it was announced that people could start getting their money back at noon on a Sunday. People started lining up at 6:30 AM. In the afternoon there was a line three hours long. I waited until Tuesday morning. There was no line. It took me less than 10 minutes to sign a paper, show some identification, and pick up a preprinted check for QZX. A very efficient operation. I can imagine the difficulties if there had not been deposit insurance.
Obviously I have returned from Guatemala. I had planned to just give a few lectures about power supplies there, but fifteen minutes after the course started I was told that I was in charge of everything. Thus I was kept pretty busy, particularly the first night when I had to produce an outline for the whole three weeks. I did not get to sleep until 5AM.
I did not get to investigate the computer situation very completely either. In Guatemala City there was a large computer store which at one time sold Sinclair computers. Now it concentrates on Commodore. I saw a store selling Epson computers (and printers). I saw a new school which was teaching the operation of IBM PC’s, and the lab I was at had two IBM clones, one a 386 machine. I had hoped to find some of the Sinclair clones which at one time were made in Mexico, but no such luck.
Sinclair computers still get an occasional mention in the mainstream computer magazines here. In the last issue of Byte the columnist, Jerry Pournelle, mentioned how much he likes and uses the Z88 on his many trips.
One day after this issue is mailed, I leave for El Salvador. There I will be setting up an instrument repair facility, which I hope will have access to at least one PC. I will see if I can find any traces of Sinclair there. I will be gone for a month, so the next issue of QZX will be delayed a bit because I will have to print it after I come back; but it will be out in August.