Kua hinga te totara nui o te wao nui a tane!

This evening while I was cooking dinner, the phone rang. Annette answered it, and because she was on the phone for a while and she’s politer than me, I thought it was a research call. They always ring during dinner.

But it was worse than that. Jean up the road called to say that her husband, our neighbour and friend Ron Chapman, died this morning. He was 76, or thereabouts.

When we lived in Ngaio, we were referred to Ron by another builder. We needed some internal modifications done to our house. Ron came around and did a fantastic job. He’s an old-school builder - everything done by the book, and beautifully executed.

A year or so later we moved to Crofton Downs and coincidentally moved three houses down the road from Ron and Jean. The unspoken arrangement was that I would look after their computer and Ron would look after our house. As an added inducement, Jean provided us with pickles, chutneys and biscuits. And Ron and I enjoyed our whisky.

Ron hasn’t been that well over the last couple of years. He has had a low-grade leukaemia, and I know his dicky ticker has caused him problems. But I never expected him to go so quickly. He got really tired over the weekend, and died in hospital this morning.

I’m sad. You’re a good bloke, Ron.

Hey LaurieF, 

my sincerest condolences.  Death sucks!  God bless your friend.  We also have a friend that is slowly dying from cancer.  My wife is part of a friendship group that alternates cooking meals for the family and, last year, our friend was so sure that he was going to beat his cancer but, he’s going down hard fighting.  Damn, sometimes I don’t know what to say…

Live Game! Die Game!