“I can’t believe the news today
Oh, I can’t close my eyes and make it go away”
Sunday Bloody Sunday, U2
It was a phone call that I wouldn’t have wished on my worst enemy.
Struggling to find the energy to wake up following the previous evening’s fund raising activity in aid of Lifecycle, I hear my mobile phone ringing in the distance. Eyes closed I reach out for my phone. With one eye closed, and the other trying to make out who the caller is I realise its Liz from Lifecycle. What on earth is Liz calling me for at 730am? Not usual for her to call at such a time, but seeing that we are leaving in a week’s time something urgent must have cropped up.
The details are still sketchy but the news is what it is.
I keep thinking of our last conversation, which took place yesterday. A friend of mine asked me for help to teach her eleven year old to cycle. Cliff came to mind. I called him. Without hesitation he accepted to help, giving me a date, time and place and promptly offering to provide a suitable bicycle for my friends’ daughter.
Whenever when we cycled together, Cliff was always willing to share his expertise, giving us tips that will make us better cyclists. Being an inexperienced cyclist I always paid attention to what he had to say. Only last Sunday, we were cycling in Gozo together. Tired after cycling up Nadur hill for the umpteenth time, he stopped to cycle with me, literally pushing me up the hill, and giving me tips on how to conserve energy. He could have easily joined the ‘fast boys’ but he chose to stay with me. Such was Cliff.
Cliff, you taught me so much in the few months that we knew each other. We have lost a real gentleman, a talented cyclist but most of all a good friend.
Rest in Peace Cliff. Lifecycle 2009 will not be the same without you.
In circumstances where an untimely event is still fresh in everybody's mind, it's hard to express in writing the experience of receiving such tragic news. Thanks Mar for summing it up appropriately, including what Clifford stood for.
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts are with his family and the rest of the Lifecycle 2009 team. May he rest in peace.