My friend Geoffrey

I had a feeling that something was wrong with my friend Geoffrey. I had had no news from him during the whole year and the last time we were in touch was last Christmas when I only received a Christmas card from him with some short sentences and the usual printed good wishes.
I received a letter today, and just before I tore the envelope open, I knew it was bad news. The name and address were correct but I didn't recognize the handwriting.
It was Alison's handwriting. She said that Geoffrey, her husband, my friend, had died in April after a long illness.
I am sad. I appreciated him a lot. We started being colleagues and we ended up being good friends.  He and his wife were always very nice with me when I stayed with them during the exchanges our two schools used to organize.  He would come to Granada and spend a week or two at home or with other teachers of English from my school and when I went to Great Britain  I would stay at the boarding school where he was a teacher of Spanish or on other occasions I would stay at his house.  
He had a great sense of humor, he was patient and he was also a teacher with me. He corrected my mistakes gently and he always discovered me new expressions to make my English less formal, less bookish!
I will always remember him, I will especially remember the time I spent with him and Alison a couple of months after my father died. I was still really upset and they both were a great comfort to me.
I still keep this box of biscuits that he brought me once.  It will be always remind me of this good friend.
Alison and Geoffrey paid us a visit in the summer of 2011. I told you about them.
In the extra a pic of Geoffrey and me in Salobreña in 1995. We used to take our students on several visits in or near Granada when they came to stay with us. We both were much younger then!