Safe voyage, Captain
This writing is a funny old lark.
For years now I have been scribbling my thoughts and rants, and over the years you too have been commenting.
Some people drop in a comment or two while others hang around. Some indeed have been commenting here for years.
Now I have met very few in the flesh as it were. Some I met fleetingly years ago at the Blog Awards, and some I have met many times and enjoyed many a coffee in the village or elsewhere. Some I have made good [I hope] friends with without ever us meeting. Some I have spoken with via Skype while most I have only met virtually through their comments and through reading their own sites.
Captain Ranty was one of those I had never met ih person. He commented on this site many times, and I always read his outpourings, rants and fights with the system as he wrote them over at his place. I always looked forward to his posts and his comments. Indeed we have exchanged quite a few emails in the past as well.
A while ago, he announced that he was quitting his site. I was saddened by this announcement as I knew I would miss his humour, and in fact I wrote to him and told him in no uncertain terms that he would be missed. He recanted and said he would post less frequently and promised that if the time came he would come back at full speed, tearing the system apart and giving us all a chuckle in the process.
Sadly that wasn't to happen.
I heard during the week that he has passed.
It may seem strange mourning the loss of someone I never met, but somehow the Interweb is a meeting. Did I know him any the less because I had never seen him face to face or heard the sound of his voice? I don't think so.
May the winds always fill your sails, Cap'n.
Smile
Seriously GD? Last I heard was that he had gone to South Africa to work, Very sad news as his was one of my favourite blogs.
gosh I'm at a loss here. fair well capt' may your soul have peace.
It's not strange at all to mourn someone you never met especially when you were in constant contact with the person.
So fair weather and wind in your sails, Captain.
I was also very sad when I heard the news, I've no idea what happened. I thought he was through the worst of his troubles and was making a fresh start. I knew he had come back from South Africa and was job hunting again.
I will miss him………
I don't know whether you ever read the Unenlightened Commentary blog, but according to information received by James Higham over at Nourishing Obscurity he was involved in a fatal accident.
http://www.nourishingobscurity.com/2015/03/unenlightened-commentary/
That's two of my favourite bloggers lost within a few days!
I hadn't home across that site before.
Damn! I suppose it is a natural progression of life but death is hard when it hits.
At this point, you know as much as I.
I just hope he found the peace from the demons that haunted him.
It is indeed a sad loss. He really was one of the good guys; honest, humorous and self-effacing. On the few occasions I had contact with him, he always found time to reply in an affable and courteous manner. He didn't suffer fools gladly, and was merciless with trolls.
When I hesitantly joined the Twittersphere, he was my second follower. He had time for all the people with whom he interacted on the web.
Like you, GD, I never met him, but I felt I knew him, and when I heard of his demise I felt a palpable loss. As you say, the interweb is a meeting place, and our lives are richer for it; but it will be poorer for having lost CR.
I will miss him terribly too, we never met but wrote often, I got his last email on 2nd. March and replied on the 5th. He usually answered quickly but had said he was thinking of driving to Scotland to see his sons so I wasn't too worried, although he was in a very dark place. Such a vibrant person I can't believe he is gone. RIP Colin.