In my first Blog I said I would give a proper introduction to some of the supporting cast members in this musical fantasy that is my life. I do so as a homage to them as they are all a huge influence on me and all deserve to be named and shamed.
No order exits to the list and I include those with minor walk on parts as well as those with larger more significant roles, those that do not get a mention either should feel that they received a lucky escape or that buying a round might help.
CLAIRE.
Claire and I have been married for 20 years and until the day comes that she sees the lawyer or I pop my clogs she will remain the light and heart of my life. We support and look after each other with her doing the majority of the hospital visiting.
If most good men have a good woman behind them, I have to say that a good man somewhere has been searching for their lost woman for over 20 years.
She works part time as an occupational therapist, choosing to look after elderly and delinquent dogs when not doing the same for humans. Recently she has had a run in with irritable bowel syndrome, she is generally better but takes “not complaining” to an art form. Then again she seems to be very similar to other women that I both love and admire in terms of being strong and self contained.
Malkie P
I have known Malkie P for a huge number of years almost an embarrassingly long time. We remain friends probably because at our age any thought of moving on to make new friends seems like more trouble than it’s worth, we are knocking on so we don’t know if time enough exists to start training a new friend.
Malkie was the posh kid who had a “dinning room” as opposed to a kitchen table, he lived in a proper house not a maisonette or a flat, and best of all he had a computer that by today’s standards would hardly power a wrist watch but kept me captivated for hours. If all this sounds like envy then your right I was. However we spent lots of time talking about ourselves and each other, hopes dreams, football, politics, and life. For 2 disabled kids I think some of this was a help in shaping our world view. Sharing laughs and experiences that we still refer to, there is nobody that can talk shite like we do.
Malkie is also one of my heroes for he trail blazed a path despite his physical impairment through further and higher education. This path I was able to use in terms of “seeing” myself do the same as him, and not be confined either by my physical limitations or my own imposed limitations.
I still envy him in some ways, in particular the energy and enthusiasm he puts in to his life. I know though that he envies things that I have in my life so the balance if not even is at least another reason we have to be friends.
Alan W.
I first met Alan W when we both were volunteers at Gorgie Dalry Citizens Advice bureau back in the early 90’s
We share lots of interests, sci fi, music, history, science, computer games, single malt whiskey from Islay, and people. As with the others on this list Alan and I have found ways to support each other through some tricky times, probably by doing no more than just listening or asking questions that need reflection in order to respond to. Honest and with out a political bone in his black jumper Alan and I will be sitting in pubs till time is called for us still debating and laughing being friends.
KORS A.
People often talk about opposites attracting in terms of their life partners in a way this is also true of Kors and I. Like Alan I met Kors through the C.A.B and also like Alan Kors and I have found ourselves at various periods in time offering support and friendship to each other. The support though is often about being a “touchstone” someone who we trust both to listen and empathise, but also to challenge and question in order to fully explore what we are thinking and saying.
I am privileged to know both M and A who make up the rest of Kors’s immediate family, both are Kors’s heart and soul as Claire is with me. He and I share with each other our joy at having these people in our lives as well as the responsibilities that they place upon us. We also share our wonderment and often bewilderment of local, national, and international political events.
Rachel
Rachel and I met whilst we were both engaged in academic research, unfortunately we were the subjects of the research rather than either performing or analysing the experiments.
Possibly as a result of being the two people out of a group of 15 that were on the outer fringes of the “mainstream” we spent the three days of the research chatting and laughing between ourselves and the rest of the group. One of the things that we discovered is our mutual interest in football, this was used against her by me as I quickly got her involved in a literacy project that used football as a focus.
Just thinking about all the different things that she has been involved in that in some way Claire and myself have been part of is quite astounding.
o Trips to Sky
o Seeing her graduate
o The whole punk band thing.
o Photography/eBay/relationships/moving 3 times/ supporting her even when we knew she was wrong (Selling Mars bars was just never going to work)/car sales/ and many more schemes and escapades.
This will be the Rachel who has moved to India, although any expectation that I and Claire can look forward to some peace and quiet will I am certain be misplaced. Or at least we both very much hope so, she has only been gone a week and we are missing her already.
No order exits to the list and I include those with minor walk on parts as well as those with larger more significant roles, those that do not get a mention either should feel that they received a lucky escape or that buying a round might help.
CLAIRE.
Claire and I have been married for 20 years and until the day comes that she sees the lawyer or I pop my clogs she will remain the light and heart of my life. We support and look after each other with her doing the majority of the hospital visiting.
If most good men have a good woman behind them, I have to say that a good man somewhere has been searching for their lost woman for over 20 years.
She works part time as an occupational therapist, choosing to look after elderly and delinquent dogs when not doing the same for humans. Recently she has had a run in with irritable bowel syndrome, she is generally better but takes “not complaining” to an art form. Then again she seems to be very similar to other women that I both love and admire in terms of being strong and self contained.
Malkie P
I have known Malkie P for a huge number of years almost an embarrassingly long time. We remain friends probably because at our age any thought of moving on to make new friends seems like more trouble than it’s worth, we are knocking on so we don’t know if time enough exists to start training a new friend.
Malkie was the posh kid who had a “dinning room” as opposed to a kitchen table, he lived in a proper house not a maisonette or a flat, and best of all he had a computer that by today’s standards would hardly power a wrist watch but kept me captivated for hours. If all this sounds like envy then your right I was. However we spent lots of time talking about ourselves and each other, hopes dreams, football, politics, and life. For 2 disabled kids I think some of this was a help in shaping our world view. Sharing laughs and experiences that we still refer to, there is nobody that can talk shite like we do.
Malkie is also one of my heroes for he trail blazed a path despite his physical impairment through further and higher education. This path I was able to use in terms of “seeing” myself do the same as him, and not be confined either by my physical limitations or my own imposed limitations.
I still envy him in some ways, in particular the energy and enthusiasm he puts in to his life. I know though that he envies things that I have in my life so the balance if not even is at least another reason we have to be friends.
Alan W.
I first met Alan W when we both were volunteers at Gorgie Dalry Citizens Advice bureau back in the early 90’s
We share lots of interests, sci fi, music, history, science, computer games, single malt whiskey from Islay, and people. As with the others on this list Alan and I have found ways to support each other through some tricky times, probably by doing no more than just listening or asking questions that need reflection in order to respond to. Honest and with out a political bone in his black jumper Alan and I will be sitting in pubs till time is called for us still debating and laughing being friends.
KORS A.
People often talk about opposites attracting in terms of their life partners in a way this is also true of Kors and I. Like Alan I met Kors through the C.A.B and also like Alan Kors and I have found ourselves at various periods in time offering support and friendship to each other. The support though is often about being a “touchstone” someone who we trust both to listen and empathise, but also to challenge and question in order to fully explore what we are thinking and saying.
I am privileged to know both M and A who make up the rest of Kors’s immediate family, both are Kors’s heart and soul as Claire is with me. He and I share with each other our joy at having these people in our lives as well as the responsibilities that they place upon us. We also share our wonderment and often bewilderment of local, national, and international political events.
Rachel
Rachel and I met whilst we were both engaged in academic research, unfortunately we were the subjects of the research rather than either performing or analysing the experiments.
Possibly as a result of being the two people out of a group of 15 that were on the outer fringes of the “mainstream” we spent the three days of the research chatting and laughing between ourselves and the rest of the group. One of the things that we discovered is our mutual interest in football, this was used against her by me as I quickly got her involved in a literacy project that used football as a focus.
Just thinking about all the different things that she has been involved in that in some way Claire and myself have been part of is quite astounding.
o Trips to Sky
o Seeing her graduate
o The whole punk band thing.
o Photography/eBay/relationships/moving 3 times/ supporting her even when we knew she was wrong (Selling Mars bars was just never going to work)/car sales/ and many more schemes and escapades.
This will be the Rachel who has moved to India, although any expectation that I and Claire can look forward to some peace and quiet will I am certain be misplaced. Or at least we both very much hope so, she has only been gone a week and we are missing her already.
Hazel
Matt
Alison
Should all feel relieved that I have run out of time and energy for this task, but perhaps retain a certain nervousness that I might yet get round to them at a later date.
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