Chas Chas Chas - what to say ?
The man was nuts !
I been working away from home but got the sad news promptly direct from Clive which led to much contemplation during the intervening weeks between then and now .
I'm sat at home now even though the 80 failed to get me here because Clive unbidden and completely at random pulled me out of a very deep hole , which got me wondering at the nature of our friendship and the pivotal roll Chas played in forming it .
My very first expedition abroad we were all strangers off to visit a stranger in Romania . I had seen Chas before at my very first Lincomb where I was warned by several strangers not to follow him because he breaks something on his truck every time and simply doesn't care .
Gets off the ferry in France only to discover my navigation doesn't work . Ram who was with us in his 80 didn't even have navigation , but no worries Chas has been everywhere so we just follow him .
What followed was a few thousand mile game of cat chase mouse which constantly cycled through every human emotion you can imagine on a minute by minute basis , terror , joy , hilarity , rage . The only other time i seen the mrs cry was when her mother died . And yet shes kept in touch with him via facebook ever since which says something that is difficult to put into words .
4 or 5 times over the years we again hooked up with Chas to do the same trip and his passing has me wishing i'd kept a diary which might have been titled "what Chas did today" .
let's have a picnic - don't go over there Chas its deep - one minute later we had to rescue the Titanic
When he scared the living daylights out of an oncoming 18 wheeler by veering into its path before swerving to miss it with perhaps only an inch to spare at 70 or 80mph I called him up saying Chas we have to stop . I didn't finish the sentence because he instantly stood on the brakes to do an emergency stop in the middle of the road , how i never rammed into him or jackknifed the trailer i will never know . I guess he taught me to be prepared for such illogical events lol .
Then there was the traffic jam , over the radio "I need to go" in reply "won't be long" after a pause "too late"
Childish hilarity will not be denied but i and i think others understood that the incident was brought about by the tragedy of his failing health which he refused to give in to . Might have been crushingly embarrassing for some but Chas just gave a stoical shrug and carried on .
I must have a 100 campfires stories relating to Chas if i search my memory and every one of them makes me laugh in hindsight . I guess it was a mutual exasperated amused tolerance and care of Chas and his eccentricities that had Clive and me click as lasting friends on the same wavelength .
Beggars belief that Chas must have been near 70 years old when i was lucky enough to meet the errant teenager that he was .
We will all have traded our trucks for hoverboards before your forgotten mate so rest in peace or failing that give em hell .
A poorly written epitaph from someone who is glad to have known you
