To Diane and Family: I offer my sincere condolences… I’m so terribly sad and sorry for you all… as Nick may have put it in football jargon, “ you was robbed”. I think back to the good old days at Liverpool Polytechnic… Nick and I used to study together after lectures to try and make sense of what we had just heard… all aided by a few beers of course which didn’t exactly sharpen our minds. As you know we picked different study and career paths ... Nick, oceanography with all that tricky math (which eluded me) and he pursuing a career in marine survey… I did a commercial course and ended up running a shipping line and a railroad company. Thanks to you and Cecilia we were able keep in touch over the years through the annual exchange of Christmas cards… it’s such a pity that we were unable to meet up… Cecilia and I always enjoyed your company and always had a good old laugh at what were in retrospect “simpler times”. I spoke to Nick a couple times in more recent years, but he never let on that he had been battling cancer… it must have part of that stoic Liverpudlian mindset (which he must have acquired since I see he was born in in the Downham Market) of “don’t let the bastards grind you down… carry on” All of the above brings me round to saying that as time just flies by, the only really important thing in life is to focus on are family and friends… it’s a comfort to know that you have Matt and Amy and grand kids to help you through a period of grieving and adjustment. All my very best... and Nick... rest in peace Michael