Eamonn

I'm not one for public displays of emotion, but I thought writing down a few words here would help get things straight in my head.

Eamonn passed away on the 16th of July 2010. I met him for the first time 10 years ago, during the Summer of 2000 when I first moved to Lanzarote.

The first time I saw him he was striding outside the Craic towards the steps that lead down to Freddies. He had his arms out in front of him--as they always seemed to be. Thinking back now over the 10 years I've known him--through working with him, drinking with him and generally being in his company--he always seemed to have his arms out in front of him, never by his side. Neither did he ever stoll or amble, he always walked with purpose. Everything he did, he did with meaning. This probably reflected his attitude towards life - t'was never enough to just live life, you had to enjoy instead.

The pictures and the comments on the facebook page are nice - there's little doubt that Eamonn would have detested such niceness and would not have been shy about, ahem, voicing his grumpy displeasure at such sentimentality. The pictures of you though give the game away Eamonn and you couldn't fool those who really knew you - you weren't that grumpy and you weren't that crazy. Your big smiley head in those pictures shows the real Eamonn: happy and content, with a personality so large it filled the entire Old Town. (And from what I hear, it filled Ballyduff in Co. Waterford too.)

Your like will never again be seen. And for anyone who ever met you, Lanzarote changed forever on July 16th, 2010.

Bye bye big fella.