Writing a tribute to Spike has been hard,  very hard.  There is too much to say and whenever I start to think about what I might write it never sounds enough and I have to start again. 

I first met Spike when we were new parents and he was with Maisie at a friend's for coffee.  It was unusual to meet a bloke in a leather jacket at a baby group, but it was the beginning of our family’s friendship with Spike and Mel’s.

Over the years Spike and Mel have tried to meet up with us when we are sailing; a few years ago we took our boat to Scotland and they were holidaying on the west coast near Oban.  A plan was hatched for us all to meet up somewhere, but we weren’t sure where.  So that they could keep track of our movements it was suggested we all use What3words.  Ned and I were anchored in remote loch swimming and trying to fix a faulty dinghy valve when  Spike sent a message saying they were at ‘yarn, evenly, relax’ asking where we were.  Given they were on their holiday, the 3 words seemed too good to be true and Spike had made them up, but it turns out they were real and they were in 226 Gallery in the Barras, Glasgow.  However, thinking it was a joke, I replied ‘valve.seaweed.swim’.  A very confused message came back from Spike – ‘Are you sure? Valve.seaweed.swim is in Columbia’. 

The point of the story is that it got me thinking about what three words would I use to describe Spike. I thought back to all the parties, the pubs, the dinners, the music, the walks,  the friendship and the laughter, a LOT of laughter and I have realised that three words are just not enough to describe our wonderful, lovely, kind, generous, talented friend Spike. 

We all love and miss you terribly Spike.

Kate x