Sea Wall Sunburst

Early this afternoon I headed to The Sea Wall, Nash, Newport as the sun was out and I fancied a short walk with some views. I haven't been there for a while, and in some ways it holds sad memories for me.

In 1978, I became really good friends with a garage owner, Angelo Italiano, whom I met when I was working. We went out socialising. In the early 1980's he got married and then bought a plot of land next to the Sea Wall, where he built a large bungalow and detached garage. I gave him a hand. I called in the one day and he told me to look in the garage and there was a gleaming red Ferrari sports car. Soon after they had a son. Life was looking good. We even went to each others houses for meals.

Shortly after, Angelo was working in his garage underneath a VW camper van that was up on the ramps. Angelo was a big lump of a fellow and was struggling to undo a tight nut on the camper. He turned to Derrick, his sidekick, and said he didn't feel well and was going to lay down in the camper. That was really unusual for Angelo as he was a work-a-holic.

At the end of the day, Angelo drove home to his Sea Wall bungalow and whilst in the shower, collapsed, and was rushed to hospital where he didn't recover. It turned out it was a brain haemorrage, probably brought on by the strain of that tight nut.

His bungalow, called Sea Wall, is now someone elses house, and that garage that once held a gleaming red Ferrari is a cafe.

The blip picture is taken a couple of hundred metres from his house. It was a beautiful day and the sun and views over The Bristol Channel were awesome. One day it'll be good to see him again. Not too soon I hope!