I could have sworn I just left this party.

I've spent the past two weeks carrying my Moleskine around with me jotting down notes for this occasion, trying to work out what on earth to say about Barry, and  it isn't out of a lack of things to say about him, but instead out of not even knowing where to start. So you can probably expect this to be very disjointed and muddled. Picture the scene right now as I type this out: sat at the breakfast bar in the office at 2 in the morning, where Barry and I have spent the better part of the past 3 years either sharing a chippy dinner in the evening, sometimes with Sonic if he was still around the office at that hour, or handing over our respective shift's work in the morning over a cup of tea as the office fills up with people giving us bewildered looks, as if to wonder if we ever left the breakfast bar the night before.

Part of me is expecting him to walk in through the door, sit down in front of me, and say something like "You know this speech you've been working on? Well I've been giving it some thought, and I might just have the angle you're looking for", as was so often the case. Whether it was the drainage in my garden, the slow loading times of my computer, or an annoying "donk donk donk" sound coming from my car, as if I'd left something down the back, he was never short of an idea or two, and would come back days later if he thought of something. ...click to continue...

Expect the following to be disjointed and muddled...

A man of unsurpassed kindness, incredible intelligence, humour and talent, is no longer with us in body, but always will be in spirit. "... where he's headed, the epic of Mahabharat does not tell..." Chris "Sonic" Fenton, a friend here at SpinVox, passed away this week.

I'm left contemplating on the fact that our jobs are always demanding us to rush along at 100 mph, and too many times this meant our conversations would have to end sooner than we'd like because we had to get back to work. But even in spite of this, Chris always had time to take out of his schedule to have a chat, work related or not, and always was a fountain of knowledge and thoughtfulness, willing to explain things an eighth time if I really didn't get them at all.

I have fond memories of two Christmases ago, when him and Jimbo brought in their guitars to work, and were jamming downstairs in one of the meeting rooms, since there was no one around in the office. I dropped in and we hung out for a while. It was only until I mentioned to Chris that the action on his guitar looked a bit high that he said "you bastard, you never said you can play too, and here's us making ourselves look silly messing around," or words to that effect, all with his characteristic smile and light-hearted manner. I'll miss the chance to jam with him more often. ...click to continue...