Bouy am I lucky!

I visited an old and very dear friend yesterday ( old as in longtime, not age ) it was his 73rd birthday and he was on his own. During the years that I have known him, His wife has become long term ill, now permanently bedridden and living in a care home ( for about 12 years so far), his eldest son, died aged about 29 of an incorrectly diagnosed brain "tuma" (growth) and his, only other, youngest son ( having motorcycled around the world twice, once with his wife riding pillion, eat your heart out "Long way down") who moved to New Zealand about 15 years ago, was killed in a motorcycle accident this year aged 40 (not his fault, as if that matters, there was an oil spillage on the road).

He himself has also survived Kindey Cancer (major surgery) and more recently has had nine eye operations ( four unsuccessfull) for macular degeneration and Cataracts , the last one giving him back some/most of his sight .

We enjoyed the simple pleasures of life, a basic lunch at the local greasy spoon, enjoying a pleasant couple of hours in each others company. We talked of many things, putting the world to rights, but never of his great misfortunes in life. I hope he enjoyed my company as much as I do his? and we arranged to meet again soon (which more usually seems to coincide with when I need something of an engineering nature done or similar advice ) sure we talk on the phone but I don`t visit him as often as I feel I should, for which I feel very bad about, (he probably doesn`t feel the same).

One of his few great pleasures in life is being a keen motorcyclist (BMW`s) he has for the last 30 years,without fail, religously attended the Isle of Man TT races, on the same 1950s concours motorcycle and sidecar and next year, I believe he is to recieve an award for this achievement, this will mean so much to him as he will be the first person in the history of the races to have done this, on the same motorcycle.

I am deeply honoured and very fortunate to know this gentleman for so many years. His cheerful uncomplaining attitude to life and dedication to his motorcycle collection (he has in excess of fifteen BMW morotcycles in warious stages of rebuilding and concours condition) is a joy to behold. He is always the first to offer his assistance to me when needed (and sometimes when not) but will never allow my feet to leave the ground for whatever reason, he is an example to me of how to be unselfish in life in the face of great adversity and one that I am extremely lucky to have and am indeed very grateful for.

The opinionated old "Sausage", however, doesn`t like boats and continually "takes the mickey out of " (makes fun of) my incompitences :o)) as well as his own too. This gentleman has never owned a passport and doesn`t have a birth certificate, I found this out when I tried to check if his parents were actually married, as all the indicaters were that they were not, ;o)) Bless you my friend!