max-a-million

This is from Lisa Philson

I first met Max in my first year, he was in my film class and a stroke of luck (and the fact our surnames were beside one another!) put us in a little presentation group together. I was very pleased mostly because in seminars Max often filled those awkward, ‘avoid eye contact with the lecturer at all costs’ moments with some enlightened idea or a least another question to change the topic - he was gonna be useful! He opened our first ever conversation by informing me of his fear of northern Irish girls! It was a surprisingly good conversation starter and after about 20 minutes of supposedly discussing the ins and outs of ‘la haine’, I knew all about his travelling, his house parties, his mates and his varying musical tastes whilst I had told him about my life-so-far, romantic entanglements, my admiration for our lecturer Phil and my views on the state of Northern Irish politics! I even remember getting out a set of photos to give him visual representations of the people I was talking about! The next few meetings moved further and further away from the actual presentation and me and Max became mates. For the presentation itself I managed to secure the role of official handout giver-outer, while I watched Max and Rach try to compose themselves whilst giggling at the podium. Now, in reflection I can say that I have never been so glad that I neglected my work; if I’d taken it more seriously I may never have gotten to know him.

A few weeks later it emerged that Max and I were gonna be neighbours the following year, and it was during that year on Shortridge Terrace that I really got to know him. We had nights out, deep conversations about religion and travelling on the way home from uni, silly chats over a cuppa or dene’s deli. He’d become an integral part of my uni life and even my mates who were not so familiar with him felt his friendly magnetism. For the last few weeks I’ve been flooded with memories of him - I remember waving to him from my window whilst he casually strolled past in his mad max t-shirt, having a break from working in the OAC only to lie on the grass in the quadrangle for the rest of the afternoon, him informing me the day after a particularly messy St Paddy’s day that we had made a pact to marry and have Irish named kids, my constant questioning of how he actually knew by name 70% of the Newcastle student population!

I still can’t believe that I’m not gonna hear him say ‘leeesssaaa’ in the way only he did, that our numerous, silly plans for his return to the toon will never be fulfilled, that I can’t fill him in on the latest episode in the Lisa saga and hear about his latest exploits! But since reading all the tributes to him on the blog, I’ve been feeling lucky that I knew him, that he knew me, that I shared moments with this amazing person, that I know he enjoyed everything he did and his life was full. I adored Max in a way that doesn’t happen very often, and that is how he will remain with me.

Lisa