My pal Bazza.

Getting on for a scary 24 years ago I made it to University. I had a place on a degree course I thoroughly enjoyed (in time bagging a 2:1 in politics), and I went off to a place in halls of residence for my first year away.

Back in 1991 the internet existed on the IT sections of campuses and certainly not on phones, desktop PCs or watches, thus the thing to do for entertainment on our floor (after the pub) was to chip in 50p each per month and rent a tv and a VCR. This was cutting edge stuff but one fella alone made pretty extensive use out of this magic cooperative scheme. My pal Mark watched videos. A lot. So much so in fact that we called him Bazza because there wasn't a movie he hadn't seen and he was as wise on movies as Barry Norman himself. It stuck. Mark was Mark in week one but Bazza for the next two decades. Bazza, movies, HRG and a load of beers and laughs. 

Alas those decades ran out last Saturday and Bazza passed away after a long and hard struggle with the big C. Now this may sound cliched but I never knew Bazza to show anything but cheerfulness and generosity to everyone else at all times in his hard final year. He was a top fella and I'm going to miss him. 43 is just no age to go.

Miss you dude but thanks for all the foolishness over the years.