I met Doug 25 years ago when he a surfie. He says that when we met I had this Kenwood Jumbo system with the biggest speakers he had seen and I was playing
a Bachman-Turner Overdrive song. He knew he would like me. Back then he was known as the "nose of the north", but not anymore thanks to the wonders of modern surgery. So now its the "mouth of the south".
We have been there for each other through the good times and bad times, the ups and downs, the ins and outs. It was Doug who talked me, who had never jogged more than 2 miles, into doing Round the Bays in 1979.
I can't go for a walk, but Doug is now doing half-marathons.
I talked Doug into playing basketball way back in the mid-70's. He still plays something closely resembling the game. It was our love for Radio Hauraki that drew us together in the early days.
Doug has spoon-fed me reggae while I have tried to educate him on the finer points of Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath.
When we moved to the States in 1980, Doug "I'll-never-fly-anywhere-that-costs-MONEY" and Pat came to visit and Doug was blown away by the all-oldies station we had.
And as a precursor to his current habit of hounding The Warehouse CD sale bins, we used to hit the shops for used LPs on a regular basis.
I reckon that things even out; so as I slowly grind to halt with CFS/ME, Doug is revving up and kicking into overdrive.
I am lucky to get out of bed and Doug can't get into bed - up all night downloading mp3s (over 1350 downloaded songs and videos when he did his last download).
He is up and out running or mountain biking at all hours. Add to that his daily workout at the gym, yoga and ballroom dancing.
I am suspicious that one too many bricks fell onto his head while he was a boy working in the family brickworks down there in Christchurch.
Maybe it was when the homemade acetyline torch he and his Greek friend exploded upon ignition..
I try to calm him down for a few hours each Thursday when he comes over for our Rock 'n Roll evening.
We play an assortment of music trivia games while listening to music. The winner being awarded "The Wide Yellow Duke".
We began doing this back in the 70's when we listened to my 45s.
From '93 until just a few months ago we went through my LPs (alphabetically, of course) then we are doing Doug's rather scratchy LPs as they are unearthed.
But now he has to play me his "favorite" Napstered songs.
He has an amazing ability to recall the lyrics to almost any song and he can also quote Monty Python verbatim.
Mention a celebrity, preferably dead, and Doug will fill you in on all the sleeze.
That memory extends to remembering every person he has ever met and for most of us that also includes the very contours of our cuspids and molars.
He harkens back to the days when he was in a band and his greatest ambition is to get enough nerve to busk.
For everyone's sake, let's hope that he never finds the courage.
In 2004, before his death, he did busk on Queen Street for a few minutes, borrowing a busker's guitar. |
