Clyde passed away on Monday. He was at Sobell House and the care given in his last days made a bad situation less bad.
Clyde was a good mate. Not many would have happily given up successive weekends to "assist" me on the torque bar renovation (see our article on the subject.). Well, he and Jo did get a dinner out of it!
In the 10 years of our friendship the "big C" has never been absent. Clyde must have been a good patient in the sense that he applied himself to understanding the thing with the same diligence that he applied to everything else. Faced with an operation, he'd happily draw a diagram to explain which bits of plumbing were coming out and how he could get on fine without whatever it was. Right up to the last couple of months, he was optimistic that the thing could be zapped.
According to the staff at the hospital, he was one of their best patients in another sense. There are a lot of depressed people in cancer units but Clyde could be relied on to chivvy up the most miserable. How he could keep so cheerful was extraordinary.
This time last year he'd seemingly made a full recovery after his stomach was removed. I introduced him to Real Tennis and he was making great strides. Then, he felt pain and later it became clear that the kidney had been attacked.
What a shame he didn't complete the 406 project (which is now in my garage). After his family, this was his great passion.
Jo has been great through this but one's heart goes out to her and the two children.
Peter
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