Hello Jude, I was lucky enough to meet your Dad in 1992, in our first job after University. We joined BOC and were posted to Glasgow, and your Dad and I shared a flat together.
Your Dad was amazing, we got on instantly, and his beaming smile never left his face. He worked really hard, but always made time for his family and friends, treated every single person with kindness, was full of daft jokes and included those of us he had just met in his fun without a second’s thought.
Weekends were always epic – he was either double booked, charging up and down the M6 to see friends or his parents, or we would have a big night out in Glasgow… Nights in Glasgow always followed a similar pattern – a flowery shirt, a few cheeky ones at the flat waiting for the likes of ‘Maccy’Ian McNally and others to arrive, lots of silliness out on the town (usually involving Maccy’s dancing and including at least one Taxi booked in the name of someone in Neighbours!) and back to our flat to crash out. Sunday’s always involved a Full English Breakfast (the English bit was extra important because we were in Scotland) giggling like school kids over the previous night’s fun.
Your Dad was super generous in every way, always helping out anyone he could. I remember one day he announced we would be having some students we had never met from your grandparents school / college to stay – they were backpacking in Scotland and your Dad wanted to save them some money!
I only saw your Dad every so often for a few years after he moved to Leuven in Belgium, (bumping into each other in supermarket car parks!) but in about 2005 we met up in Singapore and it was like we hadn’t seen each other for a week, rather than a few years! He hadn’t changed at all, he just had tons of new hilarious stories about his escapades!
Facebook has been a brilliant way to stay in touch over the last few years and seeing the pictures of him with you and your Mum showed him having the time of his life being your Dad, especially when dressed up as super hero!