up close and personal

I have spent the last 10 days trying to communicate with machines and call centre people in the far flung corners of the globe about the malfunctions of computers and broadbands, without arriving at any meaningful solutions!
All of whom seem impossibly distant , uncomprehending and devoid of any vestige of humour!
Ending of tethers has attained a new significance!

All of which highlights the enormity of what I have recently lost.
On Sunday night a very good friend of 45 years lost his fight for life after a 30 day stroke induced coma.
Willie Pirritt.....known by his many friends as Wee Willie ;as he was just 5' 2".......was the absolute opposite of those faceless call centres! Warm, generous,VERY funny,and willing to pass the time of day with anybody!: and being from Glasgow completely unfazed by rank or status!
And he was completely unaware of invasion of personal space and would deliver his many and delightful anecdotes 2" from your ear( or navel,if you were 6' 6"!)
Up close and personal!
And no one minded.....because it was Willie!
He will be sorely missed ...by all of us climbing pals ,and by all of the small Highland community in which he lived.
And I post this here so that all of you may have some small part of your heart touched by Willie ,as surely as my heart has been massively touched by him!
If the history books were filled with the Willies of this World ,rather than Genghis Khan,Napoleon or Caesar ,I firmly believe we would live in a better place!