4 years ago
Azzy
Donga. Good evening! (this is how we would start every conversation, no matter the time of day and how long it had been since we last spoke).
I should say that words fail me, but i know once i start this i will struggle to stop as another memory will pop into my head.
My earliest memory is of you digging with your trusted stick, flinging dirt all around you whilst happily humming a tune. You would be wearing the shortest of shorts showing off the hairiest of hairy legs for a teenager or even an adult come to think of it. We would hear the unforgettable sound (did-ily-dur) followed by the disturbing sight as you adopt the 'spider position' and start to scurry along, traversing the floor around us leaving us rolling about laughing.
As i went through my difficult high school years, suffering bullying, you became my best friend and i thought of you as the older brother that i needed to get me through some tough times. We would sneak off to the woods to have our 'chats' and i could talk to you about anything and everything. To this day i have not found that replacement. We would spend many hours of our so-called, misspent youth playing pool in the Cross Foxes (not a second was misspent). We shared a sense of humour, laughing at the same things (the taxi driver who said "okay lads, it's the end of the road" which we still spoke about some 15 years later).
We had some fun times working together too, firstly at Strix (say no more about that!) but then working the night-shift at Toys R Us which is still my favourite job to this day. We would stack our shelves, we would destroy each other's shelves, we would re-stack our shelves and then go and hide some 'lollies'. Unfortunately life rolled by and we lost touch, you went to university, i ran away to sea. You were supportive of me getting married when i did even when others were not. You came to see my daughter after she was born and then signed her photo so she could gain her first passport.
We did meet up again a few summer's ago for a brief catch-up in Suffolk which will be the last time we spoke. However, i never forgot you and I even thought about you as recently as June 8th whilst at a Muse concert, a band i have followed forever and you could never understand what i saw in them. Whilst i was at that concert on-stage came the warm-up act, Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine. I learned at that moment that Tom Morello was a guitar hero for the lead singer of Muse and as they jammed the stage later in the evening together i realised that our music tastes were more aligned than we first thought. I should have made contact with you then to tell you and this may become my biggest regret.
You were a confidant, you were a role model, you are the reason i went into the teaching profession. I will truly miss you my brother. God bless you and Good Evening!
Love, Azzy
£51.00 (+ £12.75 Gift Aid)
