As a big cricket fan the tragic death of Phillip Hughes the Australian batsman has been at the front of my mind over the last few days as I’ve watched the footage of him playing and talking, and read and watched the incredibly touching tributes to a star of the game. More importantly though in spite of the fact that the world has lost a superb cricketer his family have lost a son and brother.
They will be in that heartbreaking state where disbelief and grief are almost too hard to bear; in time it will be wonderful that they can look back over the coverage that exists of their darling young man. I’d love to tell people who have lost a child that the tears will stop; they will stop happening regularly but no always. It just wouldn’t be right.
I read through one of my blogs last week and looked closely at one of the photos of Luke; I’ve looked at it many times but this time I had a good cry. I still can’t believe I’ll never see my boy again, never hear his voice saying ‘Muuuuuum’ – he said that a lot did Luke! How I miss it!
This evening I’m in the mood for some recollections of Luke; a young man who was to say the least a character. I’ve told the tale of him being mugged and having the phone thrown back; he had another mishap on a train journey from his Grandma’s house.
He’s not here to embarrass with this next piece of info so here goes; how to put this? After having an ‘accident’ when he was a little boy Luke got totally undressed when he went for a ‘number 2’. Jake has recalled that he used to position the TV in his bedroom so he could see it when in ‘session’ so he was fairly shameless about being butt naked.
Being on a train journey and ending to make a stop at Liverpool Street station didn’t stop the ritual – not the TV part! his trousers were on the floor and a passing thief pulled them out and stole his wallet with train ticket and all! I can only imagine what my Mum who got the call must have thought! To say she was a bit special as a Grandma was an understatement!
Luke and Peter made a trip to Amsterdam for Luke’s 19th birthday I think; his good friend Oli has just reminded me that he wore all his clothes on the journey as he didn’t have to carry a suitcase. I think I mentioned that when we got his backpack home from Thailand a fairly large set of speakers were taking a lot of room and there were hardly any clothes. He had his priorities that boy!
While we’re on the music front this young man born in 1987 was a huge fan of Mowtown; hence Aint No Mountain High Enough being played at his funeral. From quite a young age he loved Diana Ross; all a bit strange really! But he he didn’t care what others thought of his choice. When he was about 14 or 15 she visited and Ria the daughter of a good friend took him up to Hyde Park to see her. I’m so pleased he had that opportunity.
Luke loved his brother and sister particularly as babies; however one of the things he did to Jake has left him forever frightened or disliking cats. We had a big mean cat called Mugsie; is family were emigrating to Australia and so he needed a home. He was actually a lovely animal if a tad moody and accident prone!
A big cat Luke decided to throw him at his little brother one day! Not funny at all especially when you have no top on and cats have claws they try to stop themselves falling with! Not a very nice thing to do to either at or brother on Luke’s part.
He was to show a different side the night Mugsie jumped against a broken picture frame cutting what must have been an artery. I could ever imagine just how much blood there was inside what is actually quite a small creature! It was everywhere and pretty much everyone was in a panic apart from Luke. He wrapped the cat up and held him is as I drove us to the vets. A few hundred pounds and a night at the Vets and Mugsie was back home.
In spite of his billing as the second person in Essex to be given an ASBO he had a kind heart that boy of mine; one all of his siblings, blood related or not share. He’d be proud of all 4 of them!
Quite a hard one to write this evening so I’m going to go seeking photos and then sign off.
365 Happy Days 