My two brothers have been great to me and they really have been a positive influence on my life. Ian (the eldest) came out to see me for a couple of weeks and we had the best of times.
 
This poem is about that trip but really it is a thank you to Ian for being Ian, one of life's truly good guys.
 
Sad Song
 
Didn't we have fun ?
Didn't we have a ball ?
But it was all over,
In no time at all.
 
So many places,
We never even seen,
But no use dwelling,
On what might have been.
 
We'd been looking forward to this,
For months and months on end,
And now it has past,
My emptiness on the mend.
 
As the clocks have gone back,
And October's turned to November,
There's nothing left,
But to sit back and remember.
 
The day you landed
You were nearly blown away,
It was the biggest gale,
But we were happy anyway.
 
You were greyer,
But looked Mr. Cool,
Still good looking,
And nobody's fool.
 
We went bush the day after,
And climbed the roughest track,
There was a time I thought,
You'd have a heart attack.
 
You swam in the sea,
And didn't know it was wrong,
For all the beaches were shut,
Because the surf was so strong.
 
We walked over the bridge,
Didn't see Clive there,
So we climbed to the top,
But he wasn't anywhere.
 
We went to the Casino,
And would have had to walk back,
But you picked the number,
That's twenty nine black.
 
I borrowed a quick fifty,
Gee you're a good bloke,
Get me near a poker machine,
And I'll always end up broke.
 
We went on the train,
The world's steepest, in fact,
We bought a return ticket,
Didn't fancy the climb back.
 
We played our daily snooker,
The cheapest game around,
But they only had one set of balls,
Was Hitler in town ?
 
We had the room to ourselves,
I'd swear it's close to heaven,
Near every frame to the black,
And it finished twelve-eleven.
 
You sat out the back,
And strummed a borrowed guitar,
And the kids only regret,
Is that you live so very very far.
 
And as I get older with,
My memories down the track,
I'll only have one thought,
Ian, please hurry back.

A recent photo of Ian (he's the one on your right) after he spent 24 hours playing snooker to raise money for Children In Need. Good on ya!