I too have deleted most of my old messages but, be sure, they were filled with Bill's homilies and outrageous humour all jumbled up together. Sometimes there was real wisdom in his words. I regarded his short missives as my own “letter from America”. If I’m honest, I probably assumed he sounded a little like Alistair Cook who did the BBC radio programme for years, it’s funny that I have no idea what Bill sounded like.
I don't think I ever thought of him as a curmudgeon, although I was aware of the ripples that appeared on the board from time to time as he got into battle mode. We never had a cross word, he was always utterly charming and a tad flirtatious with me. Perhaps he was ever thus with the ladies?
Reading his news made me feel very tearful – it’s funny how many times over the years we’ve communicated the ability of people we have never met to touch us. I knew that Bill’s faculties were failing and that communication had become difficult. As has been said before, there was a wonderful intellect and real human being trapped in a rather dark world.
Life has intervened for me and I haven't been around much but I’ve always had a sense of, for me, a kindly person in the background. Here's one of the messages that Bill sent me back in 2003 when I think that there had been a thread about the number of posts that he had made. He manages to be both self-deprecating and encouraging at the same time.
I never managed to match his energy and couldn’t make the commitment to the board that he did. I admired the way that, at times when life was a bit tough, he was able to set aside a little pride and let others in on that. It’s sad that the pacemaker has left the race.
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Dear jmh: I am so glad to see you posting again, and read your kind words. The number of my posts is a bit of an embarrassment, which I can justify only by its being my only form of recreation, because of my poor vision and deafness.
I hope you will be able to give us the benefit and pleasure of your participation more often. Love, Bill
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