Remembering Ken

Sad day for the funeral of my old school friend Ken who died a couple of weeks ago. He had been ill for a while and in and out of hospital but it was still a shock to hear he had died. Someone from my class at school. There were a fair few familiar faces, and some less familiar, at the Crematorium and then afterwards at ‘The Swallow’ at the end of the Kingsway. They try to say it’s The Landmark Hotel but for people our age I suspect it will always be The Swallow. Interesting to catch up with people, albeit for a sad reason. D read the eulogy, with lots of different memories of Ken - his jokes, his love of cars, curling, early morning social media posts from the Highlands when he had gone off on one of his day trips and was in Glencoe before I’d even had breakfast. Although not mentioned, for me Ken was also the organiser of our fantasy football league and I have set up one this season to remember him. Chatting with G, perhaps our most famous classmate as a current member of Deacon Blue, I said we lived in Portobello. Oh, I don’t suppose you know G? I do indeed, although we know his sister, the politician, much better. Turns out they are cousins of G. I don’t think I ever knew that. Small world. We said at the end as people went their separate ways that we should try harder to arrange another class reunion like Ken (and P, working together) did for us all ten years ago. Maybe no better tribute to a lovely guy.