Pub Portrait - Foil

The third in an irregular series of portraits of my Friday night pub pals sees another of the old uns.

They simply don't notice you are taking their picture whereas the young uns are more tech savvy....

This time it's

John
JC [Jay Zee occasionally for irony points]
Chaddy
Foil

Having treated us all to tea with his first state pension one Friday recently there's not too much to dislike about the guy.

That doesn't really do him justice though as I have a complex relationship with John. Firstly, a  friend of over 35 years and secondly he's one of my 'recruitment agencies' as his 4th child works for me. Finally, he is also now and has been for the last 3 or 4 years a customer too.

I thought this last bit may pose us both a problem but we seem to find keeping it separate easy. In fact it kind of makes me laugh how we can finish talking shop, then back to the arrangements for who's picking who up later.

We've both been running businesses for a long time, mine my own, his a printing company, that has been bought and sold, amalgamated, integrated with a group by various owners and venture capitalists. Though all that, which I've always found interesting, I've learnt a lot from him, his experiences, though our friday night discussions and glad I own my own!

JC was the route planner, the organiser, when in the 90s we used to regularly go on walking weekends in the Lakes, Dales and North Wales. This culminated in the 3 Peaks in 24 hours [Ben Nevis, Scafell, Snowdon] and then it all stopped. 

A game of pitch and putt at Llandudno the day after Snowdon meant Golf suddenly became a thing and John became the 'Competition Secretary' on the weekends where a good walk was spoiled instead....

That came to an end when folk realised 10 years or so in, no one was getting much better. We still have the odd weekend away but more a once a year thing for most of us now.

John sports terrific white hair not cos he's fairing badly but because he was blonde so had a head start on the rest of us. But that's not why he's called Foil, it's not some slight on his barnet, but what does he print? Mainly yoghurt pot lids..

You may have just rolled one back now...


https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/2918794515215028219 - The Lengthsman

https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/2920839404505269595 - Fidbo