Hey Ms Nomad, So, what’s with this “emigrating” early? Surely you weren’t getting restless again! Remember that initial “Who the hell are you?” I guess it didn’t take too long to find out! Your inspiration, dogged determination and influence clearly developed to further define you. So often, albeit unknowingly, you continued to inspire and influence aspects of my life over the past three and a half decades…… We were young, carefree; naïve in so many respects and with an adventurous aura of invincibility which, alas, we discover inevitably doesn’t always sustain us……. Three abiding anecdotal memories, in particular of you, for some reason stick: Chicken Liver Pate – One of a number of discoveries that you taught the unskilled bachelor to learn to produce from scratch. Perhaps you’ll have forgotten my 1st batch falling afoul of a loose fitting 1970s liquidiser lid! But in your true unflappable fashion the resultant mess was cleaned up and over the months beyond as the odd remnant continually appeared around the kitchen….. Ramekin Dishes – Something that as a 22 year old bachelor I had never heard of and which you found incredulous! Needless to say they remain indelibly etched in my mind to this day after packing me off in search of a pair, and not from any old kitchen shop for they had to be Royal Worcester! Dulux White Emulsion – Not to be left out of the DIY loop our 1st proper home required a modicum of redecoration and you were determined to develop paint rolling skills. With a usual standard of excellence the painting went well until that slow motion moment which I will never forget. My vocal chords freezing, I couldn’t even yell out “STOP”, as you descended the ladder in front of me and with absolute precision placed your left foot into a half full pot of paint! Again, organised calm prevailed, not one word of anger, and not one drop was spilled in the slightly arduous journey from the lounge to the bath…………… It’s so silly and strange the little things that we remember, eh? And so we journeyed into the mid 80s and the divergence of two evolving persona’s followed by our agreeable but sad parting of the ways. It was 1985 and the emergent era of a small band called Simple Minds, CD’s of which you presented me with as we bade ourselves farewell…….. To this day “Once Upon A Time”, “All The Things She Said”, “Come A Long Way” and “Don’t You Forget About Me” along with a few other Simple Minds songs, for me, make for the abiding playlist epitome of you, Jackie Caspary. Oh Jackie, why o’ why couldn’t you have just lifted the foot off the pedal, for once? People aren’t supposed to be missing you right now! But be happy in your heaven, albeit too early and undeserved…….(Oh yes, and should you see ‘Missy’ get her to give you a paw from me….) Yours forever fondly, Martin Caspary xx