Mark, Lawson.

If you are a regular reader here you will know that my good pal Bazza passed last month. He and I met in 1991 at University, sharing a floor in a Hall of Residence. Bazza was called Mark in reality, but became Bazza after his delight in watching movies on our rented video recorder in Halls in that first happy year. Man, he worked hard at that, but he also worked hard at being a good man and a sci-fi spod.

I attended his funeral last week, and of course it was hard, but that's an indulgence when I think that his parents were there too and lowered his coffin into the ground. Easy for me in comparison to that task and I said my prayers quietly in my noggin throughout proceedings.

What was really very, very difficult about it was that Bazza was one of identical twins. Now I know identical is a binary thing - you either are or you are not, but Bazza and Lawson were *really* identical. Thus, I attended a funeral of a man I had met hundreds of times, but here in attendance was an in-every-way-identical man I had met maybe 8 times. Every nuance, look,  laugh and mannerism was there, and the voice was identical.  That was surreal. It was Mark, but of course it was not.

Lawson was 12 minutes older then Mark but now that gap will grow and grow and grow as the years roll on. Lawson was a stand-up  guy, leading things for his family and remembering the life of his brother.

Hard days.

I was glad to know you Bazza and I did not recall until funeral reminiscences that I  had kicked off your affectionate nickname.