No, really, you shouldn't have...


Mark, just about to check if the hamster fill fit through his toilet roll.

After 36 long years, Mark Bainbridge has finally taken the hint and decided to put an end to our torment by turning off his Avril Lavigne CD and getting someone else to order the stationery.

Starting his job in the test department in 1969 (when he was 17), after a few years of poking about with a 'scope probe, he got the opportunity to move into shipping, and so prevent the company from plummeting into bankruptcy by sending out any more equipment with his signature on a sticker inside.

He carved a niche in his cubby hole office, sharing half an air conditioner with Sue Hele, and becoming synonymous with cries of "UPS will be here in 10 minutes!" and "I could send that cheaper if I swam over with it in my mouth!"

Outside of work, Mark likes nothing better than playing video games, even though he is now an adult, of sorts, and has been studying for a qualification in something or other that escapes me now, but is quite good ;)

We all hope he has left XTA with many happy memories, as he'll be missed here, always being someone to be depended on for a sunny outlook and an uncanny ability to mishear people's names when answering the phone and passing calls on.

He's gone to start a job in IT security, and we all wish him well and hope he'll come back now and again to ship some stuff, or customers will start ringing up...

He was delighted with his commemorative hamster, and what he gets up to with the toilet rolls is his own business. Enjoy the PS3 Mark and good luck!