Everyone's best friend

My name is Zac Mendelsohn and I have known max since I was 11, so about 12 years.

I can't remember when we first met, but I know we met at Hampstead, probably in the playground getting nutmeged by him no doubt.This is no doubt the hardest thing I have ever had to write about because there ar so many good stories to tell. There weren't many bad times with max and I have been thinking over the past weeks of all the good times we had together, so i'll just write about a few that stick in my head.

I feel special and privileged that I got to spend the time I did with him. He had a knack of making you feel like you were special and always made an effort with you no matter what. I would always find it so amazing how he managed to connect with people, that on the surface of it all, he had nothing in common with.

I also remember a night where me and him went to Fabric, just me and him. There were some big DJ's playing that night and I was getting down to some Breaks DJ, proper enjoying myself and Max says to me "I'm just going for a little stroll". And I'm thinking, what do you mean "a little stroll", this is just warming up! Anyway, max just said, "you stay here, it's cool, i'll go on my own". So I let him get on with it and carried on with the music. When I had been dancing for about half an hour on my own with no return from Max, I decided to go and find him. When I finally did, I remember he was with some random Scottish guy and Max came up to me and said with immense enthusiasm, "this is jonny (or some Scottish name, not that jonny is Scottish), he came all the way from Scotland to come Fabric". I don't think I was quite on the same level as max at that point of the night and didn't quite share the same excitement as him with Mr. Jonny. Anyway, that was max for you. Always interested in new things and people, excited, intrigued and passionate about life. Never a dull day with Mr O'Connell.

Him going to Spain was the best thing to happen to our friendship I think. It made it special when ever he was back in town because I knew he would be flying off again soon. When he went off for the last time, we made sure this was a proper good bye and we spent some real quality time together. On one night, he came to my house and we got a Chinese. My brother started talking to him about what he was going to do after Uni and that he should be thinking about these things. That got Max really paranoid and he was saying to me "why's your brother talking about that shit to me man, it's got me well paranoid" I think it went something like that. Max used to have moments like that when the penny would drop as such. He would say something like "Shit, what have I done" about really petty things, like saying the wrong thing to a girl or something that seemed really petty. It always seemed really out of character because if the shoe was on the other foot, he would be telling you to shut up and stop worrying about such small things. Anyway, the next day he missed his flight, so we hooked up again. I remember the last conversation we had together in my car. I had to leave to get up for work the next day and max was getting a CD from my car. We started chatting and before I knew it is was about 12:30. When i was driving home, I remember feeling really good that we got to have one of those conversations and it had been a while since I had one with Max. Now I feel very lucky that I was given that time and every day with him will never be forgotten.

Max was a complexed character. He was always up for a laugh and good time, but he also had a sensitive and very open side to him that i'm sure allot people got to experience. He would always be one of the first people I would call if I had something I needed to get off my chest and he would always be there to listen, no matter what. There was always something he could say to make you feel a bit better. Always an experience he would have had that he would try and relate yours too, that made you feel like, maybe your not the only one who goes through the thoughts and feelings you were going through at that time.

I did allot of growing up with Max and will miss him to no end. He was a true friend.

I'll leave you with a really loving email he sent to me:

yes yes beeyatch, 2 things: u smell like off kippers, and u left ur richard prior dvd at my house. i left it next to my tv for u to pick up. go have a wash, laters