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A page given over to the wonder that was Matt. A few stories can be found herein, beginning with....
...the time we went to his mate's 21st birthday party. I'd never met the guy before, but Matt was an old friend, and the drinks were soon flowing as we toasted this guy's (Tony, maybe) coming of age and all that. As usually happens when two guys get outside of too much Jack Daniels, myself and Matt got rather introspective, and started going over the year that was about to end. Being as how it was December, and how it had been a full and active year, this took a long time. Imagine our surprise when we looked up and realised we'd drawn a crowd who had, it seemed, spent the last twenty minutes listening to us ramble on about life, love, work and all that stuff. Of course, that was only the very beginning of the night, but that's a story for another time...
Matt: The Man...
The man who attacked friends viciously. With cushions...
...who would go to any lengths to get in a photo...
...and who couldn't take anything much seriously
...and that included going to the gym. The very first time myself and Matt ventured gymwards, we took a look at all the equipment, and decided it would be a very good idea to go and have lunch in the pub next door. Then Matt decided it would be an excellent idea for us to walk home from Southgate to Enfield. And buy chocolate chip cookies. After that, it was only a matter of playing Goldeneye, desperately trying to get the time cheats/not die pathetically until it was time for him to walk still further, back across the railway crossing, and home to bed.
This is also the day where I presented Matt with the near-mythical 'Who Farted?' poster
And also the day that I missed one of my first-year exams at uni. Still, it all turned out alright in the end.
The man who could make friends with anyone...
...who liked to have fun...
...and, at one point, had some strange ideas about what fun was...
... and who was quite the lady killer at B&Q, though he never took advantage of it
Speaking of B&Q, it's well documented that I didn't like Matt at all the first time I met him. Understandably, given some of the people I went to school with, I mistook Matt's general friendliness, the whole 'how you doing' bit for cocky arrogance. He really did seem like the sort of total gimp who was only interested in the sound of his own voice. When he decided to give me some 'extra training' one day, I really, really wanted to tell him exactly where he could stick his un-priced can of paint.
It was a big can, too. It would have *hurt*
Eventually, we sorted it out. But it was a close run thing. Scary to think how it all could have turned out if things had been different...
The man who liked to have a joke with his friends...
...and would bend over double -or more- to please them...
...who would always pay off his debts...
...even if full scale naval warfare was sometimes the only way to get his attention
The man who for the longest time was at his happiest when asleep...
...but who would go on to find true happiness...
...which led to his engagement, and, of course, the engagement party. Three things to note at the party: One, Di wore a dress. A never before-or-since repeated experience. Two, I played a certain song that nearly made Di kill me. Three, while it was never in doubt who Matt would choose to be his best man -Jason- I was deeply honoured to be asked to be an usher.
Okay, so it was all down to my being experienced at the whole greeting- and-sorting routine from my time working at B&Q, but still, it was nice to be asked...
...with his true love, Diana.
My favourite Matt story happened the weekend he got together with Di. I mean, it's not like it wasn't obvious or anything. Everyone else knew for, oh, a month or so before it happened. Except Matt and Di. I guess these things take time to develop, and along the way, there were all kinds of groovy things that went on between them, like religion and so on. Which was good.
Anyway, roughly speaking, the weekend went:
Friday night: Pub with lots of people. Myself, Jon, Matt and Di return to Jon's. Myself and Jon make ourselves scarce when we relaise -probably not very quickly- that Matt and Di are sharing a moment. We leave, Matt asks Di out, Di says yes.
Saturday: Bliss type situation for the happy couple.
Sunday afternoon: Myself and Matt speak. I pass comment on how happy Matt seems. Matt says something along the lines of "Yeah, well, you know, just lying here on the sofa, Jon's just brought me a mug of tea... It's all pretty good." No mention of anything else at this point.
Monday morning: Matt rings me. "Did I tell you me and Di are going out?"
Dopey sod...
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