Peter, IS a friend of mine.  Our time was London of the 80’s. Me fresh from the country, him an import from the Home Counties.

Both of us into a new career that would last the remainder of our working lives and the same new employer that provided plenty of cash to burn, well we thought it was plenty.  And we spent it on wine, women and song.  Well; beer, the occasional bird if we were lucky and neither of us could sing for toffee.  We used to go and watch others do the singing in venues through the city. 

Lex, for that is whom we worked for, introduced us to hard work (or was that “hardly” work?) and hard(ish) drinking; both at lunchtime and after we finished up for the evening.  In Peter I found a real ale buddy, and so it was that beer sort of underpinned the remainder of our friendship.

I will never forget our Thursday “Boys Night Out” at the Three Kings on North End Rd.  And whilst we welcomed guests like Tim, Nick, Ron and ‘Aggis, you (Peter) and I were the core team.  Friday morning was always a struggle.  

For a while every few Sunday lunchtimes, once we ran out of clean undies and shirts, were spent round the corner from my place at The Barons Court. Why there?  There was a laundrette right opposite.  So it was; put the washing on and into the pub for a couple of beers, put the washing in the dryer, back to the pub for a couple more beers.  Walk, rarely in a straight line, back to my place where you had already dropped your iron and ironing board.  There we were in my living room with two ironing boards set up, sharing a bottle of Bourbon, trying to put straight creases in shirtsleeves without leaving scorch marks - challenging under the circumstances especially whilst singing “You spin me right round” at the top of our voices.  I still have the 12inch remix which has an especially deep groove in it due to all the times we hit the replay button.

And so it continued for a few short years.  

Then Judy and Louise came into our lives, we both left Lex and I moved to Australia and then onto New Zealand and thus our friendship evolved.  

Louise and I married and while many memories of the day fade, one that hasn’t is of you on that day.  You realised that the ridiculously narrow dead end lane the church was on would cause an M25 style jam, so there you were with a fluoro jacket you had acquired over the top of your top hat and tails directing traffic.  We still have the photo of you doing this (see photos section in this site) and laugh every time it surfaces.

For many years after, I was lucky enough to have to come back to Europe for work twice a year.  Spending a few hours with you in your local filling up my real ale bucket was a real treat.  Old mates and proper beer are sadly lacking here on the other side of the world. Judy was always the hero, picking us up and either having dinner ready or driving us all for a curry.  

Having retired 3/4 years back, sadly those regular trips stopped and it has been too long since we shared a decent beer.  And now………

Cheers Peter and thanks for being a mate.