Good To Talk

I was really pleasantly surprised to receive a phone call from Alexis in Torquay last night while I was at work. I don't speak to him nearly enough and I really miss sharing a house with him as I used to do when I lived in Torquay 10 years ago (I can't believe it is 10 years that I moved out!). He even said that he had been talking to other friends of mine in Torquay and said that I should never have left, which, after my last disasterous year, I am inclined to agree with!
He was mainly phoning to tell me that my employers have written to him AGAIN for another reference (how useless are they) and he was wondering why. I couldn't enliten him unfortunately. He also said that he would buy me a pair of shoes! This was in response to my email to him (and others) explaining why I hadn't attended the second interview that I could have gone to last Wednesday. I was really touched, he is the second person to offer me money to help me out, the other being my sister Maxine. I did explain though that it had just come at the wrong time of the month (just before payday).
Alexis also gave me news on his familly and a couple of friend of ours. His mother has a cold and he is hoping that it is just that and nothing more serious, but being in her 80's illness is always a worry. His brother is in hospital sufering from a brain tumor, which my father died from, apparently he is only expected to last a couple more weeks. He reminded me that 2 friends of ours are both suffering from Huntington's Disease at the moment and the symptoms are getting worse. That's Alexis, as always acting as the Grim Reaper.
Alexis had much the same way of dealing with illness and death as I do, we do grieve and feel for others, when they are ill or grieving themselves, but we joke about it as a way of dealing with a process that everyone has to go through at some point. We have both known many people who have died suddenly or through illness and so have found that this is the best way of dealing with it for us.
An example of how this works, and how many of our friends feel the same way, was when a very close friend of mine, Craig Armet, a local minor celebrity, died a few years ago. I can honestly say that his funeral was the best funeral I have ever been to, a strange thing to say I know. But this is because it was performed as a celebration of Craig's life and, althought there were some tears, most people, and there were over 100 people there, were laughing and smiling.
I was in a really good mood after talking to Alexis, despite the bad news and it helped the 13 hour shift go a bit faster. Thanks Alexis.