Dear Eileen, Ceirah and Kellen,
That's such a lovely photo and perfectly captures Steve's character and love for life. So so many memories of Steve so I'll try and share some with you and the friends on this site who all love Steve. Playing football alongside Steve many decades ago for Wanderers and for Lilley’s teams. Days on Hamariyah Beach with Steve skiing and Fridays on the Hut Beach when Steve would roll out of the car and lie down on the beach to recuperate from a typical Thursday night's entertainment or as Steve said on more than one occasion ‘'I'm preparing for my cribbage match”.
Monday evenings spent at the Wanderers playing Doubles tennis with Vodka and Orange refreshments at the end of each set and Steve's strokeplay was so good he barely broke into a sweat as he had the court covered and ran us ragged. After the tennis it was straight into the Wanderers bar for the Take That Quiz team and Steve was a very very good asset in a quiz and somehow knew that the Falklands flag has a Ram on it (or was it a Ewe Steve)?
On Bonfire Nights Steve would take on the role of Amateur Fireworks Expert trying to light up very dodgy fireworks he had found in the backstreets of Rolla Square and part of the excitement was whether the rockets would actually go up in the air or simply explode on the ground. I remember the first time Steve did his infamous firewalk through the red hot coals of a campfire on Hamariya Beach...... and with everyone cheering he then walked back calmly through the coals again. Although Steve loved a cold beer he could never bring himself to actually buy a bag of ice to put in a cool box to take to the beach. On more than one occasion our birthday present to Steve was a bag of ice. For his 40th birthday his nearest and dearest friends clubbed together to buy him a bar fridge to chill the beers and his reaction was priceless but unprintable.
Steve certainly had his quirky and some might say obstinate side including his battle of many years with the Wanderers committee as he objected to Martin Johnson’s framed rugby shirt being put up in the Main bar at the club……. He wouldn’t let that go and he can rest easy knowing he won that battle as of yesterday it is nowhere in sight at the club.
Desert camps and our first crossing of the Empty Quarter towards Liwa where Steve had managed to borrow a VHS video camera to film the trip including strapping the camera to the roof rack.
Legendary parties in your villas in Ajman and Sharjah and quiet nights that turned into very noisy ones. Upside down Vodka jelly snorting was invented in your Ajman villa. Dressing up in Tartan for Burns Nights and Dancing Reels and Wheels crashing into furniture and Stripping Willows. One garment party with Steve checking at the door that only one garment was being worn. So many amazing Christmas’s together as we all created our ‘extended Sharjah family’ including the Marquee in the desert complete with Albert Abela Stuffed Turkey and Santa Claus arriving over a sand dune which was a true standout memory of expat life back in the 80’s. Steve’s Sharjah version of ‘THE OSCARS’ with unique categories such as most outrageous drunken performance, Most embarrassing moment of the year.
So many birthday celebrations and weddings as we all grew up together with Steve and Eileen at the core of our inner circle of friends and Steve always rock solid, full of wisdom and with a fair and balanced view of life, a big booming laugh that came from his whole body, a proud Scotsman and Bob Dylan’s number one fan. Steve was a true pillar of the expat community, a tremendous Husband, family man and a wonderful dad and although he has left us he will live on in Ceirah and Kellen.
Rest Easy Steve
Dear Eileen, Ceirah and Kellen,
That's such a lovely photo and perfectly captures Steve's character and love for life. So so many memories of Steve so I'll try and share some with you and the friends on this site who all love Steve. Playing football alongside Steve many decades ago for Wanderers and for Lilley’s teams. Days on Hamariyah Beach with Steve skiing and Fridays on the Hut Beach when Steve would roll out of the car and lie down on the beach to recuperate from a typical Thursday night's entertainment or as Steve said on more than one occasion ‘'I'm preparing for my cribbage match”.
Monday evenings spent at the Wanderers playing Doubles tennis with Vodka and Orange refreshments at the end of each set and Steve's strokeplay was so good he barely broke into a sweat as he had the court covered and ran us ragged. After the tennis it was straight into the Wanderers bar for the Take That Quiz team and Steve was a very very good asset in a quiz and somehow knew that the Falklands flag has a Ram on it (or was it a Ewe Steve)?
On Bonfire Nights Steve would take on the role of Amateur Fireworks Expert trying to light up very dodgy fireworks he had found in the backstreets of Rolla Square and part of the excitement was whether the rockets would actually go up in the air or simply explode on the ground. I remember the first time Steve did his infamous firewalk through the red hot coals of a campfire on Hamariya Beach...... and with everyone cheering he then walked back calmly through the coals again. Although Steve loved a cold beer he could never bring himself to actually buy a bag of ice to put in a cool box to take to the beach. On more than one occasion our birthday present to Steve was a bag of ice. For his 40th birthday his nearest and dearest friends clubbed together to buy him a bar fridge to chill the beers and his reaction was priceless but unprintable.
Steve certainly had his quirky and some might say obstinate side including his battle of many years with the Wanderers committee as he objected to Martin Johnson’s framed rugby shirt being put up in the Main bar at the club……. He wouldn’t let that go and he can rest easy knowing he won that battle as of yesterday it is nowhere in sight at the club.
Desert camps and our first crossing of the Empty Quarter towards Liwa where Steve had managed to borrow a VHS video camera to film the trip including strapping the camera to the roof rack.
Legendary parties in your villas in Ajman and Sharjah and quiet nights that turned into very noisy ones. Upside down Vodka jelly snorting was invented in your Ajman villa. Dressing up in Tartan for Burns Nights and Dancing Reels and Wheels crashing into furniture and Stripping Willows. One garment party with Steve checking at the door that only one garment was being worn. So many amazing Christmas’s together as we all created our ‘extended Sharjah family’ including the Marquee in the desert complete with Albert Abela Stuffed Turkey and Santa Claus arriving over a sand dune which was a true standout memory of expat life back in the 80’s. Steve’s Sharjah version of ‘THE OSCARS’ with unique categories such as most outrageous drunken performance, Most embarrassing moment of the year.
So many birthday celebrations and weddings as we all grew up together with Steve and Eileen at the core of our inner circle of friends and Steve always rock solid, full of wisdom and with a fair and balanced view of life, a big booming laugh that came from his whole body, a proud Scotsman and Bob Dylan’s number one fan. Steve was a true pillar of the expat community, a tremendous Husband, family man and a wonderful dad and although he has left us he will live on in Ceirah and Kellen.
Rest Easy Steve
