For bikenut

So, you gave me Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys and in return you got Genesis (sorry about that). But then you’ve always made the right choices. I went to art college. Your university terms were punctuated by another one of my scrapes… While my world was a little bit wavy, yours was always straight down the line: the natural-born pragmatist who could never be – would ever be – anything other than true to himself.

There were so many things you could have done, but you chose the most remarkable. You married, made a home and had a family: a kind, beautiful, funny wife and two happy, healthy, clever sons are the greatest gifts I could ever have wished for you.

You’re like the oak beam that keeps our barn roof up; solid, strong, supportive and protective. So much depends on you and you’ve never let anyone down. And you never will let anyone down.

I’m proud of you, admire you, respect you beyond measure. But most of all, bikenut, I love you.

Thank you for waiting for me to catch up; for being patient while I flailed around trying to work out that the most important things in life are often the simplest.

Happy big birthday, big brother.

And, believe me, I really am sorry about Genesis…