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I have been really affected by
the untimely death of Gareth Richards. Our paths crossed a couple of times, though I didn’t know him well, but by absolutely all accounts he was a terrific guy and a fine comedian. The other day I showed the kids
his fridge song and they loved it and insisted on watching it again. The comedy community has been hit very hard by it, not just because everyone liked him. It’s such a brutal and horrific way to die and I know that we’re all thinking about his young family and our own families. But we also all know that this could have been any of us - we’ve all done the late night drives home so we can be with our kids in the morning or just to save the money on a hotel and we’ve all had close calls. It’s just so devastating that one of us has paid the ultimate price whilst just doing his job. Especially when the job is just being silly and trying to make people laugh. RIP Gareth - the tributes can only be a small comfort, but they are remarkable and heartfelt.
Ironically the blog is mainly about the difficulties of travelling home to a young family.
We had a late flight home which meant we sort of got a bonus day at the resort, but the weather was overcast and we had to pack, so we mainly stayed in the room watching TV (which was loads of fun) before having lunch and playing ping pong and eating ice cream.
We’d just got to a point where we were nicely relaxed before then having to navigate a busy airport and a five hour flight and another late night drive home. With the time difference it essentially meant we were awake for 20 hours before getting home at 2am (4am in Cyprus money). And yes driving late at night, feeling quite tired did take on an extra resonance, especially with my entire family in that bubble with me. I got confused at the airport and ended up having to go through the car park twice - I initially thought I could reverse out of the problem, but realised that that wasn’t possible and luckily there weren’t too many cars around. I took a new ticket and mercifully it let me out without charging me again.
We also had a moment of horror as Ernie had been riding on my suitcase and I parked him up as I went to pick up the car keys and his weight shifted and we saw him and the suitcase plummeting to the floor. Catie managed to jump in and half catch him so that his face didn’t slam into concrete.
A trip to A and E would just have been the cherry on the cake, but luckily the injuries were minimal.
Bad parenting? Oh yes, for sure. We got lucky.
Then, just like that, we’re home and the holiday was just another dream, like all of the past. Did it even happen? Maybe not. If only I had documented it somehow.
