......a Soul man......

My friend Geoff left us today at 3.50 p.m......just as we, his colleagues, were odering the first drinks at the Friday "meeting" after a long and difficult week.

This was Geoff's type of music, although he had really wide and varied tastes.

He'll be missed by staff and pupils for all sorts of reasons.

There's a hundred stories to tell about Geoff and thousands of words to be written, but let me tell you one of my memories of The Man.

During 2009, when my Mum was slowly fading from us, and I was travelling up to the North East and back most weekends, every Monday at 11.00, Geoff sought me out to ask how things were going. he didn't do this out of duty, he didn't do it because he had to, he didn't do it out of morbid curiosity, he did it because he cared. He cared, not for my Mum, because he never met her, (although in a way he did care about her), he cared for me, he wanted to be sure that I was ok with the travelling, the tiredness, the stress, the sheer draining effect of watching a loved one slip away.

That was Geoff.

Now it's time to raise a glass to him.

I think my vodka will be much depleted by tomorrow.

Nas drovya Geoff, das vidanya.