I recently discovered a friend had passed away. This is my history with this wonderful man.
I
first met James in a competitive hockey game at the age of ~15. He
played goalie, a position that required a disguise. I was
left-back, not close enough to get a good look until we shook hands at
the end of the game. I remember the game, so did James when we met three or four years later. It was away for me in south London. It was a home game for James.
Next
time we met was at Cottam Side. We were both starting our second year of University and needed somewhere to live. He was studying Math and a language (may be Italian?). He introduced me to the super nintendo and Yoshie's Island. He brought a guitar and music to the house. He
introduced me to the Meters. We
smoked and drank together along with the others in the house. It was a busy house with lots of folks visiting. There were Mario Kart tournaments with players bring their own controller. He was an accomplished gamer. At one point the TV pitched forward and crushed the cartridge into the top of the Nintendo. The console survived but the game didn't.
James was part of the group I hung out with for the duration of my time at University. With the release of the N64 and Goldeneye, he garnered the nick name Dr Shit because of his unwavering choice of character. He was a scientist, wearing a brown suit. I have searched thought the characters but can't find it now. The year after the N64 was released, the PlayStation was released. We chipped ours and played FF VII on one TV while watching the test match on the other. James had cultivated kapoera expertise at this point and would arrive out our house in MHP through the window.
A year or two after parted ways at university, he
came an played hockey with me at St Francis on a weekend. He played in
goal and didn't let anything through. That evening, Laura invited
me and James to a party in Brighton. It was fancy dress. I dress as an
African King and James as something else (I don't remember). But I do remember he suggested that if he had a superman costume, he could borrow a wheelchair from his mum to make it complete. This was, and still is, a very funny and inappropriate image to me.
My girlfriend and I visited him for an evening in Surburburtan. He put us up for the night. We were on our way for a day at Kew Gardens. We met his girlfriend at the time, and played games and drank together. This was the era of the xbox. Outrun is the game I remember best.
I saw James last on the occasion at party immediately before my wedding. We were on a canal boat and on the Saturday evening James managed to locate us and appeared as if by magic. We hung out for a few hours before heading off. I needed to be reminded of this by my friend when we talked about James last weekend. The last correspondence I shared with him was in 2010. He wrote to me explaining his tardiness in replying to my previous message because his daughter Maisie had been born.
He is a great friend for me and I feel said to think that he is not somewhere on this world, doing something, waiting for a chance encounter to reconnect me with him.
