I have just been reading blog posts by an old friend, Phillip Bruce, an ex-next door neighbour of ours from a time when we lived in adjacent houses just off Worthing's eastern sea front. He was a fine writer having cut his teeth on journalism and PR. Phillip would come home to England 3 or 4 times each year from HongKong where latterly he had handled the public relations element for the then 'New' Hong Kong Airport. When he returned to England full time after the airport's opening and probably, more to the point, after Hong Kong reverted to Chinese control, it was not long before he knocked on our door... In his hand he had a bucket half full of mussels. In all my adult years of living in Worthing it had never occurred to me to collect mussels from Worthing's seashore. It just wouldn't have seemed right. But, as only a relatively rare visitor... we hadn't socialised too much either - but there he was bucket in hand saying "How about Mussels and Mash round at ours tonight...about eight?" That evening we had a great time. Worthing's and Phillip's Moules & Mash was terrific, finishing off with a bottle of Pimm's he had 'found' that was too good to pass up. Thirty years old he told us, made when Pimm's was rather special and, boy, was he right. I'm not sure what he was adding to it but Micki had to leave to go to bed at about 11 O'clock. I couldn't move (not that I was desperate to) and stayed rooted to the spot until around 1am. I'm not sure how I got home but I don't think anyone was with me at the table on their verandah when I managed to gain re-control of my legs.
About a year after this excellent episode he and his family took off for a finca in rural Spain where he and Sharon, his wife, enjoyed the job of feature writing for an English language newspaper, 'The Round Town News', which I'm sure many Costa Blanca residents still read with more fervour than any of the UK red-tops - or broadsheets come to that! Phillip and Sharon would travel around visiting local businesses, towns... artisan bakeries, glass works and restaurants... Sharon would dictate her experiences and Phillip would craft their joint copy ready for each deadline.
Phillip had spent many years in PR in China and was fluent in Mandarin, Cantonese and the various dialect offshoots... He rubbed shoulders with the great and the good in a land steeped in mystique and mystery. Not surprisingly he was an expert on the culture and the history... not something which was lost on his Chinese contemporaries. Latterly he was an interpreter and guide for visiting politicians to the country... An admirable job which he handled extremely well.
Phillip and I would do the time honoured 'pen pal' thing... He just probably rattling off his prose as he would any other piece and I, in return, would agonise over tone, vocabulary and punctuation to try and match him. We came close to meeting again after he and Sharon had to return to the UK as Sharon had suffered a brain haemorrhage and had the misfortune to continue in the loss of her sight. They settled in Wigtown in Dumfries and Galloway just north of the England/Scottish border where he continued with his beloved writings... By now technology had caught up with Phillip's skills and allowed him to publish on-line blogs. Not only was he into educating the world about the delights of southern Scotland but also doing Sharon's bidding with blogs about 'Sharon's Kitchen' exploits - well worth a read.
We almost got to meet again when we travelled back from a scoot around Ireland and visited Sharon and her mum and sister at the hotel her sister ran with her husband. Phillip sadly was away on one of his last assignments in China where he was escorting a group of American tourists & students. Whilst we were in Wigtown one of Phillip's daily e-mails came through and Sharon's carer read it to us. He had lost none of his spark and even an e-mail to the folks back home was worthy of international publication. Not long after this Phillip contracted Cancer of the Oesophagus which in his spirited way he dealt with and documented as if it were a news story writing blogs of his waiting room and treatment experiences.
I miss his wit and his precise efforts to describe all of his escapades and outings. He was a lovely man and I doubt I shall ever meet someone with his superb command of the language... As I raise a glass of Pimm's to Phillip and Sharon - have a shufty at some of Phillip's excellent blog posts... He never wasted a word!
Note: I looked hard for a photograph of Phillip... but could only find a cover from the book 'Second to None' which he wrote documenting the history of the Hong Kong Volunteers.
http://scotlandssecretsouth.blogspot.co.uk/
http://sharonskitchenworld.blogspot.co.uk/
http://www.wigtownhousehotel.co.uk/
https://www.amazon.com/Second-None-Story-Hong-Volunteers/dp/0195855183?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0
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