I penned the title for this post and then stopped. Difficult? For me? Yes! But only a fraction of the distress and mourning of Andy's family and friends.
Yesterday was a horrible day. The initial shock of learning a colleague had died. But not just any colleague. I didn't know Andy very well. I met him as part of the UK national contingent going to France as part of the NATO Exercise Clean Care in Nov 2011. Over that week we worked together - me as the Silver Commander and Andy as a Team Leader of the HART team taking part in the exercise.
"Problem Guv? No problem! We'll get it sorted" - That was his mantra. Big grin, big personality.
Imagine my surprise and delight when we bumped into each other at Clipper Crew Allocation in April this year in Portsmouth. We chatted. We caught up. He told me about the company he was setting up - having left London Ambulance Service.
You don't, for a minute, think that an "event" like Clipper will result in somebody losing their life. But this has shown it can happen.
Like any professional, high quality organisation, Clipper has done everything possible to make this a safe event - but at the end of the day, Mother Nature has the final word.
RIP Andy - You'll be sorely missed.
Yesterday was a horrible day. The initial shock of learning a colleague had died. But not just any colleague. I didn't know Andy very well. I met him as part of the UK national contingent going to France as part of the NATO Exercise Clean Care in Nov 2011. Over that week we worked together - me as the Silver Commander and Andy as a Team Leader of the HART team taking part in the exercise.
"Problem Guv? No problem! We'll get it sorted" - That was his mantra. Big grin, big personality.
Imagine my surprise and delight when we bumped into each other at Clipper Crew Allocation in April this year in Portsmouth. We chatted. We caught up. He told me about the company he was setting up - having left London Ambulance Service.
You don't, for a minute, think that an "event" like Clipper will result in somebody losing their life. But this has shown it can happen.
Like any professional, high quality organisation, Clipper has done everything possible to make this a safe event - but at the end of the day, Mother Nature has the final word.
RIP Andy - You'll be sorely missed.
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