May the sun forever be at your back, your bearing true, the slopes gentle and views glorious

I promised to be honest, I don't do much sugar coating... to some I can appear cold as only those who can see deep in my soul see the pain, and that the coldness isn't ice but the pure heat of plasma as my emotions are contained by my ability to put a magnetic field around them stonger than any at the large hadron collider...

A friend has died, a friend I saw yesterday, he wasn't well but yesterday we nattered about gadgets, the finer points of GUCH PA and the walks we would do together when he'd been let out.

Charlie was the heart of the GUCH Walking Club, the one who always tried, was always ready to help out someone else even if he was tired himself. He was only one of the GWC who I could trust to wield the mighty spoon of stirring as he rustled up his variant of our infamous Bean Surprise...

Almost exactly a year ago we walked 110km together, from Windsor along the Thames to Greenwich and the Thames barrier. His commonsense and determination were a joy to see, and was walk leader I always knew there was someone else I could rely on to keep an eye on others in the gorup, or intervene when if I said something it would be seen as a bollocking...

He was made up when the GWC made it in TGO Magazine, he was in a walking magazine, and he deserved to be far more than many who send in daft pictures and make the funnies page.

I can't keep the promise I made yesterday to take him up a hill we both have been intrgued by, but that hill will be walked. That I do promise...

So, Charlie, I need to go and let some of this energy out but walk well my friend, your humour and humanity will be missed by all. May the sun forever be at your back, your bearing true, the slopes gentle and views glorious.

Paul

Comments

  1. Penny Green15 July 2010 at 19:57

    Somehow I missed this sad news when you posted it Paul so it came as a shock to hear it today.

    I didn't know Charlie well, only met him a few times, but he was one of those people it was incredibly easy to get on with. Full of fun, ready to crack a joke (particularly at your expense) and coming from the same geographical area he and I had a fair bit to chat about.

    I remember that he was one of the first to put his hand in his pocket to sponsor me for my trip to Nigeria last year and was full of encouragement when I feared I wouldn't raise the necessary funds.

    Truly a loss to the world but another star shines brightly in the heavens.

    ReplyDelete

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