GOODBYE GERRY - REST IN PEACE...

                                           Oh remember when we thought we had forever,

                                           didn't it make you feel secure?

                                           We used to think that we had forever,

                                           now I'm not so sure.

So begins the theme song at the end of the 1976 Likely Lads movie, based on the hit BBC TV comedy series.  There's a time in our lives when we feel, without ever really thinking about it, that we're immortal.  Time, alas, eventually disabuses us of the notion, and I was reminded of that today when I learned one of my friends, Gerry Whyte, died on the 11th of this month.  After 5 years of illness and pain, he learned he had stage 4 cancer throughout his body, and he was earmarked for treatment to see if his tumours could be shrunk by chemotherapy once the NHS could pencil him in for it.  Unfortunately, time was not on his side.

For 5 years his doctors had dismissed his illness as being caused by 'really bad piles' - which just goes to show how deficient doctors can sometimes be.  Gerry's situation resembles that of my late pal Moonmando - Matt Caldwell - who died back in 2023 of inoperable liver and bowel cancer, initially missed by doctors when he first approached them to see why he was ravaged by pain.  They gave him several weeks off work then sent him back when they found no reason for his condition, and when he went back to them not too long after, it was too late to do anything.  I'd known Matt for around 50 years, and knew Gerry getting on for 35 years or so.

Gerry, fearing he might not have long, came to visit me around 3 weeks ago and we spent an hour or two talking about this and that, and nothing in particular.  He'd hoped he would see me again, but unfortunately it wasn't to be.  We sat in my back garden for a while (and also my living room), and when he left he embraced me and kissed me on the cheek, just in case that was the last we saw of each other.  I'm not a very tactile person, but I hugged him back, wished him well, and hoped against hope he might come through his ordeal.  At least he got to attend his daughter's wedding a month or two before, which I know was important to him.

Anyway, I couldn't let his passing go without mentioning it, even though you Crivvies didn't know him.  So here's to Gerry, long may he live on in the hearts and minds of his family and friends.  Rest In Peace, old friend.  I'll see you again, and I know you'll know what I mean when I say I hope it isn't for a good long while.  (It'll pass quick enough, however long it may be.)  Oh, and Happy Birthday - you'd have been 62 today (Monday), so I'll buy a wee pineapple tart tomorrow and pretend it's a piece of your birthday cake as I scoff it.