Categories: uncategorized
Date: 12 April 2008 17:50:47
So, I arrived at Richard's to find the party in full swing but the man himself nowhere to be seen, apparently on the phone to someone. So I headed to the kitchen to deposit my beer and check out the selection of fine fancy dress outfits assembled (I went as "man who hasn't had time to find a costume", an outfit consisting of jeans and a black shirt). Just as I was getting chatting to a schoolgirl, Mick Jagger walked in. Well, it was a good job he had an inflatable microphone and guitar with him, as the mask actually made him look more like Maradona. Mick started to make conversation, but we couldn't understand a word he was saying, so he took his head off, and I recognised him immediately; it was Pat, another old friend from school who looks exactly the same as he did when we were 16, aside from having rather less hair.
After a while mingling with a ladybird, a posh pirate and Marilyn Monroe, the karaoke machine was produced and Pat found himself volunteered to start proceedings with a (possibly intentionally) hilarious massacre of MC Hammer's U Can't Touch This. Midway through proccedings, shortly after an ironically chosen rendition of I Believe I Can Fly courtesy of Superman, Richard finally appeared, in full Adam West-style Batman suit. He's not looking well - between the cancer and the chemo he's got very patchy clumps of hair and he's looking very skinny apart from a bloated stomach as a result of his condition, which he said was causing him to walk like a pregnant woman and thus giving him a bad back - but he seems to be coping really well with it all, or at least putting a very brave face on it. Obviously there were lots of people there who wanted to talk to him, but we had a chance to catch up a little and share a few laughs.
Once the enthusiasm for the karaoke had died down, I found myself being talked into having my face painted by the ladybird, so that I would at least have had some element of fancy dress with which to fit in. It's quite unnerving to have someone draw something on your face while you can't see it - especially when a passer-by has just suggested to your face painter that it would be very funny to draw genitalia on the unsuspecting victim - but I was pleased with the end result, a rather sad looking clown who appeared to have hit on hard times (well, I hadn't shaved, so I was clearly an out-of-work clown).
And then it was time for me to go. I found Richard again, said my goodbyes and told Richard that if he was up to it, we could try to arrange to meet up the next time I'm down this neck of the woods. I really really hope we can do it. And in the meantime, we'll keep in touch and I'll keep praying.