In 1997 I returned from a year in Australia and visited my brother Jonathan at Plymouth Uni. It was there that I met Al and the rest of his gang of merry men. There was Ali, Alec, Tall Paul, and J (my baby bro) as well at a long list of chancers, flashers and heavy drinkers. Since I met a girl they allowed me to hang around on weekends and pretend to do uni for the second time. I would love to say I offered big brotherly advice but frankly I'd be lying. Following Uni Al came to London and crashed with me in Tooting while he shopped his wares around the Big Smoke to get his start in advertising. Years later when I moved over here to Aus , Al was the guy who ably took my job onto to new a greater heights at Total Media - so Kate, you're welcome! So many great memories, but here are a few that come to mind immediately:
CIGARS - I don't know if it was just a phase but there was definitely a period of time where going out in Plymouth with Al meant having a cigar. We'd smoke them 'in da club'.... I think at the time I thought this was cool. Looking back I'm fairly certain that it wasn't!
SUPERMODELS NIGHT - In the late 90's Al, J and I went to Gran Canaria on holiday. 10 days of drinking, cigars, one Snoop dog CD and foam parties. One thing that helped us stand up from the rest of the knuckle draggers was our willingness to dance - on the night in question that meant we were the only guys on a dancefloor full of women. Unsurprisingly this was not a regular occurrence for any of us. Many photos were taken that night of us and the 'supermodels'. One even featured Ali raising his top to reveal the closest thing any of us had seen to a six pack. Since this was the 90's we had to wait on return home for the photos to be developed ....sufficed to say that things weren't quite how we'd remembered and the term 'supermodel's' took an ironic meaning.
THE LYRIC - The Lyric is a boozer just off Piccadilly and was introduced to me by Den Perks, also a mate of Al's, it wasn't a big place but it was our place. We spent many a day drinking Guinness and watching footie in that place. I miss that.
2019 - In my last visit to the UK for work I was struggling a lot with anxiety and met up with Al and Alec for lunch. Whilst it was a heavy subject the fact that three male friends were able to get together and speak honesty about their feeling meant a lot to me and Ali was incredibly supportive that day and in the months that followed. It was on that trip that I met Kate and the big man Felix for the first time. Ali could be a private guy so it was amazing to see how proud and in love he was.
I could go on and on really as I'm sure we all could. Al was one of the great ones - he always seemed just that bit more mature than the rest of us even though I was his senior by 3 or so years. I'm devastated that he's gone. just hollow with it. Gone far far too soon my brother. I love you.