Rob the Bastard:
I received some sad
news on Thursday evening just gone. My friend, of approximately
fourteen years, Rob the Bastard, had had a heart attack that
morning and passed away. The last time I had seen him was
roughly a month before Yule. To use a local expression. He
looked as fit as a lop. I'd like to talk a bit about him and in
the process me, I guess.
Rob and I met
through a mmorpg called 'Everquest' and for whatever reason we
ended up becoming friends. Not the kind that's round your house
every day or that you go out drinking with every weekend, but the kind where you might not see
each other for a year then bump into each other and it's as if
no time has passed at all and you just pick things up from where
you left off.
His death came as a
total shock. He had been living and working in Spain then
popping back to do the odd week here and there in his shop back
home. I had been due to go in next month, (March 2013), to get a
quote for my next tattoo and catch up properly with him. Unless
he decides to come back and haunt the shop that won't be
happening.
His moniker "Rob the Bastard,"
is not me being disrespectful. Rob has a certificate up on the
wall in the shop, (It's still up, I
checked when I popped a sympathy card in for his partner,
Caroline, on Monday), from a
Japanese tattoo society issued to "Rob
the Bastard." He told me he'd
picked that because he thought all of his ex-wives, (Four at the
final count), thought he was one. But that was Rob, a wicked sense of humour, a strong
sense of who he was, and a take-no-shit attitude. I have a very small
list of men I respect and trust,
and Rob was one of them.
Normally, people
trot out lots of trite platitudes at this sort of time. Well at
least it was quick, they're in a better place etc. etc. I just
wish he was still here and we were going to be sorting out my
third tattoo next month.
Always going to miss
you Rob, as will everyone else whose life you touched. You were never a bastard to me.
That is all...
He was never a bastard to me either, just a good friend going back a long time. I remember taking Georgia to his studios when she was first born and i got my first tattoo off him. I was terrified lol, he had my life for it, and when he started and i said 'is that it?' he laughed and said women always take tattoo pain better than men and proceeded to take the piss out of my ex hubby who was stood there whining it hurt.
ReplyDeleteGood memories, and yeah, i wish he was sorting out my next one too..
oh and well done on the blog, it made me laugh in a few places.. :)
Glad you like it :) I've spoken to a few friends and others who were tattooed by Rob and they all have humorous anecdotes about him. I said to a friend the other day he's probably in Valhalla tattooing Valkyrie as we speak and making them laugh too!
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