Anniversary

I know, the picture (I took a picture of this today) is faded, quality poor but the memory is still fresh in my mind. This picture was taken in early October 1990. The place was a hilltop taverna overlooking Alikes Bay, Zakynthos. A beautiful island, small, so easily explored from a motorbike. The sun shone all week and I remember on the last night, sitting in a taverna in Zakynthos town, feeling really sad and tearful that our week was almost over and we would be heading home the next day.

The person in the picture, Pavlos, died in a plane crash 2 weeks later. Today, as I looked through the album of old pictures from that holiday, I can still remember how much we enjoyed it and all the places we visited, the fun and laughter as we rode the bike all over the island. I recall one trip when he dived off a boat into the water for a swim and when we got back to the shore again, he realised that the key for the bike had fallen out of his shorts into the sea! The boatman took him to a garage where miraculously they had a key which fitted the bike.

It's now exactly 20 years since the awful day when I thought my world had come to an end. It ltook a long time to get over his death, helped by my daughter who was nine at the time and my family, friends and Bonnie (the dog). Also, his family, who lived in Cyprus were so good to us and Laura and I had many summers when we would go and stay with them, and talk of Pavlos, and they would show us round their beautiful island.

So today, remembering this free spirit who died too young and precious memories of the love we shared.