A tribute to a beautiful soul
This week’s column is slightly different as I would like to pay tribute to a friend who lost his life to cancer last Saturday.
I met Séamus JuicieJim Beam, known to me as Jim Brindly about 18 or 19 years ago when we worked for the same computer company and I joined the same department. He was a genius when it came to writing scripts and programmes and was an expert in automation.
You couldn’t meet two people more different than the two of us but we got on well together. We were both always in early so we started to spend breakfast time in the canteen.
He showed me how to use a microwave and introduced me to bagels with melted cheese. We talked about our travels and I must have annoyed the bejesus out of him with all my questions.
He tried to teach me Irish but life and work were too busy.
I moved on and we drifted away but kept in touch, especially as I hired him a few times for clients. We bumped into each other now and then in Cork and always stopped to chat a while.
He took me to the HiB bar as a thank you when I hired him. He told me that his dream was to work on a farm and live a life in nature. But every time I met him, he was still working in computers – they just paid him too well.
But a few years ago, I met him in front of the library in Grand Parade, he told me that he started studying permaculture and that he was heading to Wales to work on a farm. He looked happy and full of energy.
That was what you always noticed first – his zest for life and his positive energy. I then saw that he was travelling extensively Europe on his bicycle and kept asking him to stop sending sunny photos in December as the weather at home was dreadful.
The next I heard from Jim was that he became JuicieJim – following up on his permaculture studies, he got into fermentation and juice to keep the body healthy.
The last time I saw Jim was when he came to a Christmas fair I was organising about two or three years back. He looked healthy, tanned, lean and more importantly happy and content.
He told me that he was giving courses on fermenting, attending festivals and growing his own herbs. I gave him homemade cheese and chutney and lost sight of him as the market was busy and I was running around.
I texted that it was great to see him and not to be a stranger. The last I heard from him was when he texted me in February this year to wish me a happy birthday. I asked if he was still in his beloved Gomera (one of the Canary Islands - it was his second home although he loved Ireland) and he told me that he was but was getting bored after 16 months.
Jokingly I said that he wasn’t missing much here as the weather was dreadful. Four weeks later I saw a message posted that he has passed away.
We weren’t best mates but the news shook me to the core. I feel a loss that shows how special Jim was - not only to me but everyone he met.
He was a handsome man, a good person but more importantly, a beautiful soul. This world needs more people like Jim. RIP