This is a simple letter to my brother, Nicholas which I would like to share with you! Dear Nick, So you are leaving us and going away on a new journey! I hope you don’t mind if I remind you to keep your sense of humour. You know it will stand you in good stead! I hear that your friends, Toe and Carruthers, are going with you too and its good to know that you are sharing your journey with old friends. So before you leave I want to remind you of some of our times together. Do you remember the uncontrollable fit of giggles which we suffered when, as two very junior choirboys at Canterbury Cathedral, we watched, with astonishment and delight, as the choir filled with what seemed to be hundreds of clergymen all dressed in gowns and so on. We thought they looked very funny and then, horror of horrors, they started to sit in our pew and we had to fight down fits of laughter and pretend to be very serious and respectful – completely impossible! You will also remember that we sailed to the Isle of Sheppey for the first time, on our own, at the age of twelve and at sixteen we sailed a thirty foot cruiser from Rochester Bridge to Whitstable Harbour, in the middle of the night, despite promising Mum not to leave before the morning! We also sailed out to the pirate radio stations on the forts in our little 12 foot dinghy called “Baby Bubbly” – those were simple days when Whitstable was not trendy. There were still steam trains to London and although there was not a much money in the town, there were certainties like the “Toffee Apple Man” on the beach, ice creams from the Red Spider and a sense of safety -- life was good then. In the early seventies, you moved away from Mum and Dad’s home for the first time and lived in a bungalow called “Hillbilly” in Chestfield. I remember all the good parties you held there and on one occasion at the end of a long night, you persuaded the entire party to help push start a car belonging to one of your friends. Its probably grown in my memory but the car was huge, it was a 1950’s American job with enormous tail fins that seemed to be at least 30 feet long and weighed tons. To add to our problems you insisted that we should take off our shoes to avoid waking your neighbours! After pushing it for about a quarter of a mile, it was clear that the car was not going to start and everyone dissolved into giggles when it was discovered that the car was an automatic and could not have been push started --- no matter how hard we tried! Looking back, it seems that the script for much of your life at that time could easily have found a place in the film ‘Withnail and I” - with the exception that the carrots all came from Whitstable and not Camberwell. This was also the time when we tried running our own business together called “Nicholas James” - what a disaster that was! - I have thought about why we did not make millions and I have put it all down to the Whitstable carrots. Mercifully, it became necessary to close it down and we both found other more successful ways to make a living. Well Nick, I know that you are going on a wonderful journey and you will meet up with many old friends and family members and I am sure that they will make you welcome and take good care of you. We will miss you terribly. So before you leave, I would like to say that you are my greatest friend, a wonderful man with a huge sense of duty and care, always willing to help and give good advice. You have left us two clever and gifted children Christopher and Emma. Also what a very lucky man to be grandfather to Harry, Jack and Annabelle. -- I am sure there will be more! So Nick, take great care and god speed. With all my love Jimbo P.S. David and Julia, also want me to say how much they love you and of course, Mum sends you a huge kiss and hug and a reminder to be good and always wash behind your ears!