David, the English eccentric.

I couldn’t have wished for a better father.

He was very loving and doted on my brother and I. He was playful, hands-on and always present, we were always up to something different, some kind of adventure…he made life fun and i remember us building go-karts and mending bikes together but NOT his insistence on the ritualised trauma of saturday morning rugby.

He was very fair, equitable and quite moral without needing to be preachy or moralistic and, like me, had a low tolerance for the injustices in the world around us.

He led by example and was hugely consistent, there was no conflict, no hypocrisy …. and any child would have easily spotted this ….which quickly and naturally gained my respect ….he never wavered!

He was my hero.

His default mode was being funny and entertaining and often deployed his spirit animal, John Cleese, at any given innappropriate moment.. he loved comedy and humor and helped me develop my own funny bones…. Now, humor isn’t just about cracking jokes, for me it’s a positive and healthy philosophical attribute to help one navigate life’s ups and downs.

It does bear emphasising, that my father was different, he was an outsider, a maverick, fiercely independent, an individualist and a non-conformist …in my book these are all admirable attributes and I count myself as very very lucky to have had him as a father…. and in the final account of his life, it dawned on me (well, all of us) where i got my Autism and ADHD from and for that, i am enternally grateful for that gift.