Dad has passed on the very sad news about Mike this week.  I know that they had been very close friends and Mike was my godfather.  Unfortunately, family moves to South Africa and Australia took us away from the UK and friendships that may have grown with time became more fond memories.  Nevertheless, I thought I should pass on a story you may not have heard from 1987.  

I was in my penultimate year studying medicine and on my way to an elective period of study in the Maldives of all places.  A stop in London was arranged to see family and Dad had suggested that I try to meet up with Mike.  In the previous years our opportunities for international travel from Australia had been very limited, so these rare visits were concentrations of friendship renewals. It was also the era before mobile phones and so an arrangement was made over a land line to meet in Leicester Square for a drink one evening.  It was a January, and cold and dark, and our rendezvous didn't happen as scheduled.  Disappointed, I was about to leave when a man in a long, tan overcoat rushed up through the busy crowds and introduced himself.  Work had kept him late.   We went for a pint at a pretty up market pub and then Mike produced two tickets to see Cats.  I had never been to the Theatre in London so it was a big treat.  After the show, Mike had also booked a late dinner at a lovely restaurant where we ate steaks and drank a bottle of French wine.  For a poor university student it was a bit of a 'wow' evening and made me feel very adult!  More importantly, the evening flew by in a comfortable buzz of discussion about life and futures.  It was all very memorable and I felt quite special.

I don't really know why we didn't stay in touch after that.  I guess busy lives and many distractions make that hard.  Several years later, now married and with two young children, I spent several years in Oxford.  Mike visited us in our little semi-detached house on the Cowley Road, I recall during one of mum and dad's visits to the UK.  Again, it was a lovely, easy catch up.  We left Oxford in 1998 and re-settled in Australia, bringing up a family of 5 children, now all adults (the youngest is 17).  Two boys are now back in Europe, one in London and one in Spain.  

I have sometimes pondered how our lives criss-cross with others, and how we let some relationships drift. Technology makes it easier to stay in contact now, and perhaps the events of recent weeks will reinforce to all of us how those friendships are so important. 

from Kevin, Teresa, Daniel, Laura, Matthew, Elena and Soohie