I have found that in life you gain a close friend in each of the stages you go through, from childhood to (hopefully) the "senior" years, before you pass on to the next.

Such a friend I had when I was a young boy - Peter, just up the road from our house in Liverpool, who went on, I think, to become a caretaker - and then at grammar school (soon to become comprehensive), Jacey who went on to become a professor at Edinburgh University - and then my time at University of East Anglia, Chaz, who went on to become a computer whiz in the early years of Silicone Valley and is still there.

And then when I started my "career" as it were, in advertising, at Ogilvy Benson & Mather in London in 1972, there was a young, slim David, my supervisor who became my friend, who went on to become...well, David, only more middle-aged and somewhat heavier....and then eventually more and more middle-aged, and finally the David we will all know now. The same smile, laugh, bad jokes, love of Morecambe and Wise, the same scarcity of hair only more so, and the same love of life.

In London we worked reasonably hard (he actually taught me a lot of stuff), laughed a lot, had a drink now and again (honestly, your honour) and enjoyed the fruits of our labours. Unlike my earlier friends, David and I stayed close, even though I moved to Canada in 1974, where I still live, (and where I made another friend for the era). Obviously, we didn't see a lot of each other, but we stayed close. I had been introduced to Somerset while we still both lived in London when he got the first (Lupin) cottage in Hinton, and carried on visiting from afar when the big move to Dinnington was made. Along the way there were many evenings and afternoons in the Poulet Arms and then The Docks, with the likes of DC and Graham always welcoming me. Children were born, and I visited with my son Stuart who ran around the village with Lou, my God Daughter (I was there at the Christening), and Maggs one weekend.

It never ocurred to me that would all change. Who does? I can't complain, really, given the number of people I know who have gone before, but I do think we parted company on this Earth a little too early, don't you? He was a remarkable man, a joy to be with, and a great dad. No wonder he became a friend of nearly 50 years standing. He broke the record.

Stephen