Shaneoid

I visited a friends house this month for the first time since I met him in 1998, a significant visit for a few reasons. My friend was heading for his late 80s and had travelled the world. He had picked up all kinds of curios on his journeys, I had been told his house was more like a museum. I was expecting much clutter upon seeing his home, but it was surprisingly tidy and much of what he had collected seemed to be from his time in Japan. Such items like persian decanters, tapestries of epic Indian battles and a random photo of Jean Paul Sartre (?) filled up his large collection, however what stood out most what his love for Daruma, a sage who apparently had 'travelled from India to Japan on a banana boat', so I was told. There were several dozen of these Daruma about his house, each possessing it's own character, which appealled to me greatly, being such a fan of character. However it was apparent that my friend had been ill for some time, he had lost weight and ad a cold, which had worried his close friends, as he lives a while away from them. Being now nearly 80 and quite frail, there was worry for the worst, however a handful of people from the local gay men's group had agreed to travel up and visit him more often, which is nice to see community spirit within the gay sphere of activity, a sphere so often associated with hedomism and plastic-ness. It was strange giving my friend a hug goodbye after a wander in to town for dinner, which took a while as Alnwick seems to stop serving food after 2pm! Usually a broad chap, he had lost some weight and now his strapping shoulders felt sunken. I made a quiet wish that this spell of ill health was temporary, before my friend slips from this mortal coil I want him to write a book about his adventures! On a side note, I saw the most bizarre thing in Alnwick, the town had been done up with Christmas deco, as every town is right now. However on one building we had the illiminations of a giant spider crawling down from its web... hmm, yes Alnwick, Christmas spiders, this makes sense...



On the subject of local gay men's group, which I had associated myself with for a short time over the last few years, mainly to get some confidence, the logo I had designed for them had been of late transferred on to some commemorative mugs. It came out rather well, I think. I had a lot of faith in the group a while ago, considering it important as an 'alternative to the commercial gay scene', and I had tried to work on things to incorporate the group from its insular feel to more interactivity with the larger community with a more bold logo, developing a website and working on some art projects. This all, however, fell on deaf ears and I decided to spend my time elsewhere, which is a pity. I'm happy with the mug though.