Ruaraidh's Passing.

I got the tragic news recently that one of my oldest friends had been killed in a motor cycle accident in Thailand.

Ruaraidh Johnstone was one of those friends that you can't remember meeting. If I told you that he introduced me to the delights of "shove ha'penny", that might give you a clue as to how long ago it was. He bought me my first ever pint in a pub. It was one of those moments that stays with you forever. I felt ten feet tall that night in the Ardlui Hotel after a days fishing on Loch Lomond. Fishing was one of Ruaraidh's great passions. He was a genius with the fly but infuriating at the same time. He was the one who always caught something when everyone else didn't. In our teens we spent many hours walking the hills above Clydebank, fishing the Greenside and the various other lochs en route.

After school finished and we all started our respective further studies, Ruaraidh packed his bags and headed off to his beloved Ardlui. He worked for the railway and forestry commission and laterally ran the Highlander Restaurant in Tyndrum. It didn't matter how much time had elapsed between meeting up with him in the intervening years, within minutes, the banter was back and things carried on as normal. There was always a buzz about Ruaraidh. He was his own man.

I last met him at his 50th birthday party in 2003 and as you can see by the photos, he was on his usual top form. It was at the party he told me was thinking of going to teach in Thailand. My late mother always said of him that he was one of the most academically gifted pupils she had ever taught. She was right. His daughter Nikki told me that he was the happiest she had ever seen him and he was loved by everyone in his new adopted country.

The top photograph was taken in Clydebank back in 1970. His passing has hit me hard and I will miss him greatly.