Allans funeral service will be held on Monday 19th March at 1.30pm at William T Fraser & Son, Culduthel Rd, Inverness, & thereafter move onto Inverness Crematorium.

Man........that's sad fuckin news. Never knew the man but every death sends out a ripple across a community. He sounds like he was a star and you talked about him positively more than once Si. I hope his family remember the man and his life more than his questionabe exit. My sincere condolences.

Finn MacGill

Did you go to the wake Si?

Well...bit of a shocker that one to say the least. No I didn't hit the wake, simply becuase I didn't want to end up in a brawl with other climbers who may of attended...through irrelevant pish. I guess some of them have left me with little social confidence in that respect. Re-read those late forum unpleasantries before they try to admonish themselves from any blame...The funny thing is, Dave Mac texted me a month back, & I've still never read it simply becuase I can't trust it won't be an underhand comment, although to be fair to Dave, that's generally not his style....re the wake: I'll drop by quietly in my own time...the man would get a good rant in there as well.

Well...I got back to Skye after looking after H through her surgical delights of a full on cancer scare, nipping a few routes inbetween her surgery until she was thankfully given the all clear... Arch came round the corner of they house in a black suit, rubbered & scootin'. I'd seen a few suits in the village on my way out & I'd decided there was a wake but thought to avoid having any foot in it. It turns out, Billy the Beard had died 2 days before I got back. He'd been out, drinking shed loads as usual, got home up Stormy Hill & lost his balance, clattered his head off the doorstep...& that was that. They couldn't get him back despite trying on the lawn for an hour.

Yesterday I picked up steri-strips & wrappers from the grass & took his keys out the door where he'd left them clanking. The English tourist who hit him in the head a few hours before - we are trying to find. Personally, I feel it's simply a tragic accident. Billy was an artist, 55 years old, with sparkling eyes, a wicked sense of humour & yes, he carried a burdened penchant for the dram, but he never hurt anyone. He would never see anyone go without. He was also a good friend, quietly wise, who spent many an hour over an open fire with me, despite our contrasts, as you know, ya Lak. Last time I saw him I walked him home wi the dog, after finding him at 1am, locked in furious battle with a large shrub. He won't get back in The Isles now aye...He'll never finish his painting... I wanted to sound-board Billy with Allans demise. I probably would have & Billy would have sorted me, in turn, with a great & astute, genuine one liner. Some people can do that. A day later & Annie MacP, mother of 5 boys & official adoptee of myself, which makes me the 6th brother & a daft Irish intake, snapped her ankle on the stairs at 68 years young. Arch opted for getting pished under an excuse, Stewarts trying to calculate the whole thing with his super-brain & Angus & me are just fixng her stone wall...running a brew here & there. It's really fuckin' hard to believe this month is happenning...

Farquhar is playing a solo pipe lament for Billy on the loch tomorrow.

I think I'm gonna clear out with the tent & the dog for a while & be where people are not. The far end of the Coire has a habit of healing, re-arranging your perspective...

Thats another mobile at the bottom of the North Sea I take it?....