Intimations of mortality.
This week I learned that an old mate of mine died some while ago. I don't know the circumstances of how he died. I'll probably learn more in a few days time.
None of you blokes (and ladies) would have known him - he was a mate from the old country.
We first met when we were 11 years old and going to the same high school. Over the years we became good mates. We had a few blues and belted the crap out of each other on more than one occasion but, as the Irish say, you only fight your friends and treat those you don't like or respect with scorn.
He was the life and soul of every party. He became a marine engineer. Every time he hit home port he would ring around all the old crowd and set up what always turned out to be a big night. (This was when we were all single, of course). He was only a short@rsed little bugger but he had the chat - girls loved him. And - as is frequently the case with the blokes who are successful with the girls - when he decided to settle down he made a bad choice. She treated him badly and they had a messy divorce. He later re-met and subsequently married a lovely girl whom we all had known from schooldays.
We lost touch. I started wandering around the world and he came ashore and settled down. Every now and then I'd get news of him through old friends or family members but I hadn't seen him in about thirty years.
And then I learned this week that he's gone.
I am more saddened than I would have imagined. Part of it, I'm sure, is that his passing - the first of my old mates - signals my own mortality. A selfish reaction, I know. But the greater part is just a deep sadness that someone who was a significant part of my childhood, adolescence and early adulthood is no longer around.
I think about you blokes on these forums as my mates and I hope you'll allow me to use the forums to pay a small tribute to a bloke who was my mate when I was younger - even though you didn't know him. Thanks.
Gray - I'll miss you, mate.
Col
