Over the last few days, I have spent many hours on this site, reading the warm and loving tributes to our friend, laughing at the stories and remembering through the photographs, how Nigel has changed over the years. We have grown older together, so every time we got to see each other, at Christmas and in the summer, we really didnt dwell on each others; new wrinkles, grey hairs or in Nigels case, lack of grey hairs! or indeed hair! I have been telling him for years, to shave it off and grow a goatee beard, suggesting that he might resemble Jack Nicholson. Its not that I didnt realize that we were gradually changing over the years, but when we ever got together, in a way we hadnt changed from the two little boys that have been friends all our lives, it was just that we had learned more about life, but in Nigels case, that hadnt tainted him in any way. As a lot of messages have said, he had the soul of a child, I understand that to mean, that from childhood, he remained pure of heart, and that is very true, he never took on any sort of prejudices, he has always been kind and would take every body at face value, he never had or learned to have a malicious bone in his body, he was his own man and a brilliant one at that. I have been showing the photos to my daughters, who have grown up knowing Nigel, as Uncle Nigel, to prove what I have been telling them for years, Once upon a time, Uncle Nigel was very slim, had loads of blond hair and girls thought him very hansom, armed with that evidence, I also tried to convince them that when younger, that I wasnt that bad, but they are demanding photographic proof !! The Fan Club has given thousands of people, an outlet for; grief, affection, love and reassurance, that there can be good things and people in the world, I can not thank Tony Harris enough for setting up this site. Nigel and I knew how each other thought, we were confidants, the comments and massive number of posts, would not have humbled Nigel as he was already a humble man, he had no airs and graces and if anything, he would have been embarassed and would have apologised for causing such a fuss. From this site, I have learned only two new things about my oldest friend, that I didnt already know; That he was funny, no I have always known that, That he was loyal, Ive known that from an early age, That he was my best friend, Ive always known that, That he was a brilliant teacher, from when he first started teaching, That his students respected him and loved him, the same time, Kind and generous, always, apart from the time that he told me that me drinking larger and him drinking bitter, meant that his rounds were more expensive than mine, A good joke teller, well thats a 50/50 decision, A gentle giant, from the day he became a giant. A good son and brother, from the day he was born, A legend in his own life time, he has always been a legend,clumsy, from the day I first knew what the word clumsy meant, I first read the word in the Oxford English dictionary, Clumsy, definition; see Nigel!!. Missed, every time he went back to Sicily, and from now, until I see him again. No, the things I didnt realise about Nigel are; firstly that Nigel was a true Ambassador to the UK, far more effective, than any that have been officially appointed! The second is, and this saddens me, that although Nigel has obviously disclosed this secret, to his many Sicilian friends, that he couldnt bring himself to tell his oldest friend and confidant, that he must have been massively embarassed or even sickened, at the prospect of having to tell me, and this has shocked me to the core, that he has not only possessed, but has actually been seen in public, wearing a suit!!!!! What a shock!! and if somebody tells me that he didnt wear cowboy boots with it, I think that I will faint! But didnt he look good?!!!! From me personally, I thank everybody for their warm and loving comments about OUR GREAT FRIEND. God bless him and everybody that loved him.
Posted on: Thu, 22 Jan 2015 00:48:07 +0000
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