A lot of my friends will get a dedicated entry about things we have done together and what they have meant to me in life. It is kind of embarrassing, but it is the truth.
When we went on holiday in 1991 Dave Francis led the way. He had been abroad more than the rest of us and knew a lot more about it than anyone apart from Neil. Neil does not organise holidays. He goes on them, but does not organise them. Even now Dave is our leader. Kos 1991 was complicated – booking leave from work had lots of rules for different people in different organisations. Neil could only get two weeks going from weekend to weekend – so no midweek flights. Dave did the work to find out which destinations were possible and recommend where we should go.
Our flight our was delayed by a malfunctioning toilet. After waiting for a couple of hours it flew with one toilet closed. You jump two hours forwards going to the Greek islands, so it was evening by the time we landed. It was my first experience of the Mediterranean and I thought it was bloody hot. We got the tour operator bus to Kos Town and it was dark by the time we got there. It was 8.30pm local time (though only 6.30pm UK time). I assumed that we would unpack, get some food and have an early night to be up and about early.
We were in two apartments – Dave and Andy on the second floor, John, Neil and me on the first. The hotel was over a grocers. Two minutes after we got in Dave dropped off some wine and told us it was 15 minutes and then we were going out. I was under no impression that out only meant a quiet meal….
(Me, Dave, Neil, Andy and John, Captain Louis’s Taverna, Kos Town 1991).
About seven hours later Neil and I drunkenly found our way back to our apartment and could not open the door. We were formulating a mad plan to scale the balcony from outside when John arrived to show us you had to turn the key 720 degrees. Andy and Dave had been left dancing topless on a bar in the centre of town.
One night in the holiday Dave, Andy and John went to the Kalua club that I skipped (at 2am) as we were taking out motorbikes. Kalua was dull but it did have a swimming pool where Andy went swimming. Not some small pool but a proper large swimming pool.
When they got out Andy realised that he had lost Dave and his apartment key in the pool. They decided to go back to the apartment to get the snorkling gear. Their bathroom had a window that opened onto a vertical shaft that ran up the centre of the building (at least their bathroom had a window, ours did not). It was only just over a metre across, but someone would have to climb across. As Andy had lost the key he had to do it – ending up in the toilet. His first idea was to abandon the key and unlock the door from inside – until he realised it was the type of door that needed a key whichever side you were on.
Andy climbed back out and they all walked the 20 minutes back to Kalua, stopping only to blag free entry passes from one of the kamackis still outside Club 69. Dave donned the snorkel and goggles and combed the pool. He found it – Dave had been an international class swimmer until illness cut short his career. They danced a bit in wet clothes until the bouncers threw them out.
Dave has a “what the fuck” attitude and tries things whereas I am cautious. I have tried to learn from him to be less worried and more ambitious. At the end of the holiday Andy told me that he thought that I was going to be a “boring bastard, but I wasn’t.” For me that was a complement. I changed in those two weeks watching how Dave lived.
The man has been my bridge partner for 37 years and I we have been great together. He is also the best punter I have ever seen – Cambridge resident or outsider. If you have a problem he is the man who is there for you.
(John, Dave, Neil and at me at the Acropolis, Falaraki 2018)
I am very lucky to have a man as good as this in my life and to be able to call him my friend. This song was huge when we were out there.
(I Wanna) Give You Devotion
Five Miles Out 