Alan Gonzalez, from A to z
A is for Alan obviously, but also for his love of Australia and his friends who live out there. A is for Archery,when Mich and I were growing up there was a bloody great big long-bow hanging on the wall in the front room that he has made and strung himself, and he used to fletch his own arrows too!!! And finally, A is for the James Cameron film – Avatar!!
B is for Bees, the quiet joy he got from his bees this last few years has been wonderful to see, thank you Mark for taking care of them for him and thank you too, to Keith and the bee keeping community in Surrey for teaching him and providing him support and guidance while he was learning. B is also for Books!! Not all for reading, some for gifting, and I’m sure some he forgot he even had!! B is for Bargain (see Charity Shops later) and B is for Bait – a whole fridge dedicated to it at the height of his fishing!! And to conclude the B's we have Bluebell II, the little boat he had moored at Reading marina, when Mich and I spent some time with him that summer holiday boating along the Thames, through locks and walking for miles, it was a good summer - i think that was the first summer I might have accidentally nearly killed my sister but she's sitting here today so don't panic folks.
C is for Croissants, he always looked forward to real French croissants when he went on his fishing trips to France with his friends :) it’s also for Cheese!! He ALWAYS had some stinky cheese sitting in his fridge and would tell me about the various bits he’d picked up from the clearance section of Morrisons – a whole wheel of some mega strong cheddar wrapped in black wax was the last one I remember. C is for Charity Shops where he found many a bargain usually in the form of the aforementioned books – 4 copies of Tim Peakes Biography might have been a bit much though. And lastly C is for his favourite swear word, Cunt.
D is Dillon, his first Grandson who turns 21 later this year, and David Bowie; or Dave Jones as he knew him when they were at school together. Thanks to Dad, you are all 2 degrees of separation away from Ziggy Stardust!!
E is for our Electrical Engineer Ella, his only granddaughter, and also his mum Eileen Gonzalez where he definitely got his independent spirit from.
F is for Facebook... did anyone else know there is a maximum number of friends you can have on Facebook? No? Me neither!!! Dad did though, he hit the limit, its 5,000. F is also for Fishing, he loved fishing, and he loved his Friends too and I’m delighted to see so many of you here today. He was a great cook, so F is also for Food, and finally his other favourite swear word Fuck If you need a hand knowing how to use it in a sentence Dad would have helped you – but I can also recommend looking up Billy Connolly talking about it too.
G is for Gardening, and all those bloody Games on Facebook!! Who else had conversations with him interrupted by the alarms he had set on his phone (that he couldn’t here going off) to remind him he needed to collect a life on some pool game or share some tokens on another game!!!? Just me then?
H is for Hornets and Honey. H is also for The Hobbit which he read to me when i was little enough to climb on his lap and listen to him tell me about Bilbos adventures and Smaug the dragon. H was also for the hearing aids he never wore!! and Hot Lips Houlahan from the TV show M*A*S*H.
I is for his Intelligence and his ability to create something out of nothing!! From when Mich and I were kids and he made fancy dress costumes for the Charles and Di Wedding Day parade we had in Croydon, to the bench I made with him after seeing it on the internet. We didn’t have a design for it or anything – he created the blue prints himself and then we built it ourselves over the course of a couple of weekends
J is for Jokes – especially fart jokes, and Judzia Dax from Star Trek DS9.
K is for Keeping food for waaaaaaaay beyond its use by date – BBE were only the merest of suggestions for Dad, I have no idea how listeria or botulism didn't take him out well before now!!
L is for The Lord of the Rings, Dad and I went to watch all of these at the cinema when they first came out!
M is for Michelle his youngest daughter, who shared his talent for Trampolining and reading books that are intimidatingly long with the large complex world's and casts... give me the movies any day!! and M is also for Marilyn Monroe and the TV series and film M*A*S*H
N is for The joy he found in Nature, latterly in his garden, but over the years that was defiantly part of what he loved about fishing, sitting quietly and watching the wildlife busy itself around him. N is also for and Native American culture/philosophy, and his love and respect for the NHS and the nursing staff there in.
O is for Orange Juice, with Bits, of course!!
P is for Pedro Gonzalez (his Dad), P is also for Politics – we didn’t agree on much but we did agree on the Billy Connolly observation that anyone who shows a desire to be in charge – shouldn’t be. P is for Phone Calls... I don't think I ever had a phone call with dad that was less than 45mins long, but I know I frequently had phone calls over an hour. P is also for Photography and Sir Terry Pratchett.
Q is for The rock group Queen – he has a lot of their stuff on vinyl, which was new news to me as we’ve been sorting through his flat.
R is for Roofing is longest profession, his younger brother Robin, and his work wife Ron.
S is for Me (Sam), the slow worms we used to find under the compost heap when Mich and I were little, Spaghetti Bolognese – my favourite of his home cooked dishes, Star Trek (all series), Seven of 9 from Star Trek Voyager and of course Speedy.
T is for Too Old to Die Young – the Billy Connolly tour we went to see together, and a tattoo I never quite managed to talk him into to getting. T is for Territorial Army; he was in the Artillery. It’s also for Trampolining where he met my mum all those years ago, and of course Tea - strong AND Milky.
U is for Useless bits of Trivia!! It's a trait or skill perhaps that both Mich and I have inherited.
V is for Volvo, a battered blue Volvo estate that he would let me change gears in when I was old enough sit in the front passenger seat.
W is for the (empty) Wasps nests he used to bring home from roofing jobs.
X is for The X Files
Y is for The Big Yin himself, Billy Connolly
And finally Z if for Zac, his youngest Grandson.
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