One of the best memories I have of Calum was a walk went one morning between Christmas and New Year 2006. Myself, Susan, Brian, Ann, Calum and Christine had all decided to meet up and have a wee winter holiday in Competa, in the mountains north of Malaga. On the morning of the walk, I actually managed to successfully drag myself out of bed at the crack of dawn to join Calum for breakfast. It was a beautiful morning but very cold. A short time after setting off, we were blethering away, Calum telling stories and making up intriguing scenarios and complicated back stories about the various dogs we met on the path, or the people who probably lived in the cottages or houses we passed. Calum stories were always treasure.

If ever Calum was travelling to join our company, I would actually hope he would turn up late. This usually meant that he'd got involved in some incredible fresh adventure involving a web of coincidence and synchronicity involving a cast of bizarre characters that seemed to secretly conspire to play their part in the great book of short stories he should have written. He was an anecdote magnet.

Anyway, we walked and talked and laughed, sometimes so much we had to stop walking and really concentrate on the laughing. We hadn't really thought about the distance. As we got back to Competa, there was a wee hostelry open in the town square. We decided to have a pint. Then we decided it had been a lovely pint so we had another. Two of the most enjoyable pints I've ever had. We should have headed back but we were being a wee bit naughty. We estimated that we had walked about 7 miles or maybe 10 at the outside. When we eventually looked at the map, we discovered that we'd actually covered 18miles. 

A walk with Calum is always too short.

I'll miss the sparkle in his eye and how he used to crease with uncontrollable laughter. I'll miss his gentle beautiful voice. I'll miss so much about him. I'll miss him. We'll all miss him. The world was better with him in it. Malky x