(originally published 6/5/18)
FAQ
Q: Is this a blatant effort to guilt everyone who knew Corky into donating?
A: Definitely. But, also anyone else whose lives have been touched by these diseases,
Q: So, what's this all about?
A: Amy learned to row with Team in Training last year, subsequently got hooked on the sport, and now gets up at 4am three times a week to train (video of Amy's team at a recent race). I've had to listen to "rowing, rowing, rowing" for the past year, so I thought I'd give it a go, and dedicate my fund raising to Corky.
Q: Who was Corky?
A: A good friend and colleague. See the photos and eulogy below.
Q: How come you're the only guy on the team?
A: Clean living?
+++ A Eulogy for Colin "Corky" Corbridge (1957 - 2017) , Feb 2017 +++
Corky and I shared an upstairs office in an old house on University Road in Southampton for 6 years as we worked on our PhDs together. At first, I hid my insecurities with bravado, and he hid his with shyness. But as we experienced each other’s successes and failures, slips and recoveries, loves and heartbreaks, social osmosis permeated the membrane of British reserve, and we became close friends.
We’d play this game (Nothing ventured nothing gained), where one person would say a proverb (Silence is golden), and the other person would have to respond with another proverb (A penny saved is a penny earned). The objective being to have the last word. (A picture is worth a thousand words).
So, I’d be concentrating on a draft of something (written in pencil, then typed by a secretary), the Flatley clothes dryer in one corner wafting the aroma of bicycle grease and running shorts, the soft murmur of Ambridge accents drifting through the half-open window as the gardeners stowed their tools in the shed at the end of their day. Downstairs, the flapping of the letter slot on the front door announced that one of the dozen of us had nipped out to Jock's for a mid-afternoon packet of McVities Ginger Nuts. And suddenly my concentration would be broken with "A stitch in time saves nine", to which I had seconds to respond.
The secret to winning was distraction. Wait until the other guy was about to rush out the house for a 1-on-1 meeting with our supervisor, or a meeting with a sponsor, or to attend a class, and hit him with "Two wrongs don’t make a right", betting that he hadn't the mental capacity to respond.
“I know what you're doing”, I'd mutter, flustered as I gathered my papers and tried to switch my mind from my progress report to a suitable retort.
"If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it", I'd counter, as I dashed down the stairs, now late for my meeting with Mike.
Pre internet, with no Wikipedia to arbitrate, we’d have long arguments to determine what was and wasn’t allowed. We had standards, and no mercy.
“Aphorism! Aphorisms don’t count” he'd insist.
"Only the good die young", I shouted from the parking lot behind the house.
“That’s a Billy Joel song lyric you bonehead!” He whooped through the window.
Occasionally I’d slip in a Jamaican proverb (When rat belly full, potato have skin), or make up something (A long walk before a fall), hoping to bluff my way past a memory blank. But (Like a dog with a bone), Colin would challenge me to define the meaning, and I’d have to confess (Truth will out).
I learned so much from you old friend: adages, aphorisms, clichés, epigrams, idioms, mottos, proverbs, puns, quips, sayings, saws, slogans. But more importantly, the meaning of friendship, and the value of revealing who we are, and of persistence, and an appreciation of your give-the-shirt-off-your-back, Bakewell-raised kindness and humility.
It wasn't meant to be this way. I was supposed to be at your wedding, like you were at mine. We were meant to drink more beers together and laugh about the good times, and the bike rides, and the fun runs. I apologize for not being there in person to deliver this, but I know Merrick and Tony and Harry and rest of the HFRU crew will see you off right.
"Tell me who your friends are, and I’ll tell who you are". There. It’s your turn. I know you’ll have a zinger waiting for me when we meet again.
++++
Please join me in supporting The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) by making a donation to this fundraising campaign. Your support will help fund the therapies and treatments and help save lives today.
LLS's continued advancements over the years, are responsible for the blood cancer survival rate doubling and tripling; in some cases, the survival rate has even quadrupled.
Human Factors Research Unt, Herriot Watt University, Edinburgh, 1984
(L to R) Max Wells, Erico Calado, Chris Lewis, Henrieta Stewart, Jackie Grifin, Mike Griffin (our supervisor), ?? (Japanese visiting scholar), Ron McCleod, Rob Hayward, Colin Corbridge, Merrick Moseley, Terry Simpson, Tony Lawther, Chris Nelson, Harry Woodruff, Gurmail Paden, Tom Fairley
Engineers Club, Dayton, OH, 1989
At ADB's country estate, Southamption, ~ 1995
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