“You’ve got troubles, I’ve got ’em too
There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for you
We stick together, we can see it through
‘Cause you’ve got a friend in me
Yeah, you’ve got a friend in me”
Randy Newman
My Soulmate and I spent last weekend in Edinburgh and we got to go on the tram, met our Robyn and Dundalk John, had an iced kombucha, didn’t buy an Ancient Robot Games tee, saw The Wee Leith Shop, marveled at the King’s Wark, chickened out of having a Tarot reading in Portal Leith, ran in the 10k, shouted ‘Wheeee!’ going downhill for the last mile, got a medal , sat upstairs on a double decker bus, saw a Monaghan Champion Milk sticker on the Fish ‘n’ Ships sculpture at Commercial Quay, ( Yes, I put it there !), bought a North Sea Monkeys tee, had a drink in the MoonWake brewery, visited The Wee Museum of Memory, chatted to some Eider ducks, didn’t watch any television, and saw a legless pigeon…who may have just been sitting down now that I think about it.
The best thing of all was that we got to meet many of their friends.
We met Ellie, Josh, Caoimhe, Ross, Sarah, Charlotte, Ella, Alice, Cal, and Jude. I can’t say who was my favourite. It’s not that I don’t know per se, it’s just that I haven’t finally decided between Ellie , or Ross.
There is a saying ( isn’t there always ) :
“A qui encaxa bien el refran, dixo Sancho, de dime, con quien andas, dezirte he quien eres. . .”
Which you may know better in English :
“Here, quoth Sancho, the proverb hits right, Tell me your company, and I will tell you what you are.”
It’s from Miguel de Cervantes classic ‘Don Quixote’, although he said himself that it was already a widely known proverb, he’s just associated with it because he was the first one to write it down. Which reminds me that I wrote about him before …..
I’m woken roughly by a kick. It takes me a moment or two to realise where I am , not exactly where I am, I know I’m in an old library, but I don’t know which one. There are rows and rows of wooden shelves laden with leather bound books and scrolls. There is a dusty dawn light shining gently and it feels like heaven…
I get kicked again.
I look up to see a man wearing knee length riding boots, chain mail, a fantastic feathered hat, and pointing a sword at my chest.
“My name is Vasco da Fornalutx, , brave soldier, master of the plains, and loyal servant of Don Quixote.”
I’m about to introduce myself , but he continues “ Quiet ! I know who you are. You are the writer.” And he spits on the floor beside me. “I am here to stop you making a terrible mistake. You are about to condemn a great hero , who should live for eternity in the minds and imaginations of generations to come in that awful novel you are writing, to oblivion …like me.” ( For dramatic effect I should point out that Vasco is speaking to me in the voice of Antonio Banderas )
I try to ask what he means, but before I say a word he carries on “I , Vasco da Fornalutx, , brave soldier, master of the plains, and loyal servant of Don Quixote, was in the original first draft of perhaps the greatest book ever written, Senor Miguel de Cervantes ‘Don Quixote’. You, of course have never heard of me because I was replaced in the second draft by…I can hardly say the words..I, Vasco da Fornalutx, , brave soldier, master of the plains, and loyal servant of Don Quixote, was replaced by…Sancho F***ing Panza !” the last words are literally spat at me.
There is the sound of muffled laughter coming from somewhere behind me.
“Quiet you two !” Vasco shouts, and then starts to laugh with them. ”Come meet the ’great’ writer.”
Two people come past me on either side and then sit beside Vasco. One is very short, and wears a hood, the other is tall, bearded and wears a tunic.
“May I introduce my fellow lost souls, Horny, the Eighth Dwarf, cruelly dropped from the Snow White story by Walt…” the three of them spit on the floor “…Disney.” The small figure bows to me in greeting.
“ And my dear friend Judas who’s fate is perhaps even worse than Horny and I’s, because he is remembered , but in the opposite way to the original. In Mark’s ….” And again the three spit on the mention of the author’s name “….glorious original, Peter was the villain , the betrayer, and Judas was the rock.”
This time I’m determined to say something and….get a nudge from my Soulmate, “You’re dreaming, it’s OK.”
While we were away for the weekend I had messages from some of my best friends, Gareth, Brenda, Ray, Milo, Dominic, Micky, Paula, Karl, Ciara, Georgie, and Ronan either wishing us well, or commenting on how well Eileen looked and who was that haggard old man with her in all the photos. Some have been friends since our school days, some have become lifelong friends through my sheer random good fortune. I’d be lost without all of them. And I know that they’ve each , in their turn, and their own unique way, helped me when I needed it most. Usually without them even knowing.
I posted a photo on our last day in Edinburgh of Robyn and I. She was wearing an old tee of mine by ‘A Bathing Ape’. My friend Ronan messaged me when he saw it and said that he’d bought for me in Tokyo in January 2004, when Robyn was two and a half.
My Soulmate and I left Edinburgh , tired and happy after four wonderful days spent in the company of Robyn , Dundalk John, and their wonderful friends.
Tell me your company, and I will tell you what you are ?
You are amazing !
Toodles,
Paul
P.S This is for you
