A "Class A" guy...

This is from Joanna Lee Morrison.

My memories of Max are from WAY back - he was in my class at
Salusbury School. He was always one of the big kids, so I was kind of
in awe of him, but I still always liked him - he was a bit crazy and
was always fooling around, making stupid faces in our class photos
and generally making himself known! It's funny, in the last few days
I've been thinking about Max a lot and one little story keeps coming
to mind - Max had this t-shirt, it was yellow and it had Fred
Flintstone on it. One day I was in Brent Cross with my mum and I saw
it in a shop - I just had to have it! I can't even remember what went
through my mind, firstly, it was CLEARLY a boy's shirt and secondly,
to be honest, it was pretty garish, but Max had it, so I wanted it
too. I wore that t-shirt so much much that Max used to make tease
me. I don't know why that's what comes to mind when I think of Max,
but that's how I remember him - with so much fondness, as the big kid
who I wanted to be like.

Our paths crossed again, much later when suddenly the age gap didn't
mean anything anymore and he was still the same, still a bit crazy -
except this time I was grown up so he had time to talk to me! He
claimed to remember me - I THINK he was probably telling the truth!
Besides, it didn't really matter, he was so friendly and he made a
point of talking to me. I think the last time I really saw him was at
Victoria's 60th, where he rolled me cigarettes, even though I didn't
smoke in front of my parents and got me horribly drunk on champagne,
even though Victoria was paying me to waitress!

We didn't know each other very well, but Max was part of my life,
one of the Salusbury kids and part of my background, but that aside,
he was just a great guy, with so much charisma and so much to give
and his passing has affected me so much more than I ever thought it
would. Victoria, Seamus and Rachel, I am so terribly sorry for your
loss.