Alee Enn wrote: ↑Fri, 3. May 19, 14:26
RIP Peter Mayhew.
Just quoting this because it was the last post but.... random story of little import coming up.
There's a chap I know in my local butchers, and I know him because... he works in my local butchers. I've known him for ten years or so. No biggy, I know him by name (George), he knows me by name (RM), he knows the cuts of meat I like etc. And sometimes I see him in one of the local pubs. We're not mates, but there's some friendly acknowledgement, banter about football, rugby, etc.
Anyway, on Wednesday night I had a prospective lodger and her friend come to look at my place, and meet me (do the whole stranger danger thing). It went ok, so I went with her, and her mate, up to the Highstreet, and showed them the local area a bit. We ended up in a nearby local called the Rose and Crown.
George also drinks in the Rose and Crown. And he was sat there with a mechanical Chewbacca head thing doing the whole Chewy "RRRoooooaaaaaRRRRR" thing. So much so fun so whatever (I like Star Wars, but not... that much). A few minutes later George came out of the pub (waiting for his Uber, like all Padawan do) and wandered over. He showed me a bunch of photos on his phone of Star Wars memorabilia. "That's thirty grands worth that wall is" etc.
I'd known he'd had tattooed sleeves for a long time, I'd never really looked at them (why would I?). He was wearing shorts and a t-shirt. His sleeves, on both legs and both arms, were representations of Star Wars characters. Covered in them. Every single last tattoo was Star Wars related.
So I went to the butchers today, partly, if I am honest, because I thought George would be... sad because of Mayhew's death. Nothing I could do about it, but.. a little bit of acknowledgement sometimes goes a long way.
He didin't serve me, but in passing we talked about it. He told me roughly the following:-
Went to a comicon recently where Peter Mayhew appeared.
I (George, not RM) was waiting in line to get some bit of something signed.
The poor man couldn't sign his name, the poor man couldn't sign anything.
A young child walked up, looking for a signature, and this poor, old, enormous, dying, man who couldn't sign his name to anything, was gentle, kind, giving and loving. And tried to sign his name. Failed to do so, but spent ten minutes of his time with this young child being Chewy
.
I can't breathe.
- George Floyd, 25th May 2020
