Remembering – 2018

I can’t quite believe its been 12 years. Twelve years ago today, I rode my motorbike from the Marie Curie Hospice, where my beloved friend Sarah was dying, to drive back some others who wanted to be there at the last. I was too late, but I didn’t know it at the time. As I rode, the wind seemed to dance around the back of my bike, I heard her laughing, felt her close – and I imagined this was the last ride we’d take together. Every year since, I’ve made sure it isn’t. I take my motorbike up to the hospice gate, and ride most of the same route. Sometimes I have a clear feeling she’s with me, sometimes I just feel an empty space I wish she filled. But she’s always remembered.

The promise I made to her in the hospice, was that she’d never be forgotten. It’s an easy promise to keep.

This is the first year I’ve done the ride on a bike Sarah never saw. Last year, I predicted my TDM900 wouldn’t see another January, and I was right. The spirit of my motorcycle lives on though, but now in the form of an Indian Scout.

I think Sarah would have loved this bike. I think she’d have been sceptical at first – custom bikes are usually slow, and she liked fast. But the Scout isn’t slow, and I think she’d have loved how it moves, as well as how it looks.

This year, I definitely felt her with me. I had a strong feeling that I should, when its warmer, do a roadtrip – to some places we visited together. Just me, Blufhofi, and those swirling memories of Sarah. I think I will.

Sarah also loved whisky. The oldest whisky I have, and one I think she’d like.

That night, after she was gone, a small group of family and her closest friends gathered in her flat, and we shared some whisky and memories. So, tonight, some whisky, and more memories. I have so many wonderful memories of her, and I’ll be reliving many of them as I finish this glass.