That's why he's my mate...

With an incredible ability to pull faces and generally act of out synch with the rest of society (only kidding mate!) it's hardly a surprise that I'd still be mates with Steve Brown some 12 years down the line from when we were first at school together. .. and even less of a suprise that sooner or later, our friendship would be condensed into a blog...

Steve's a musician, and it was perhaps this that cemented our early friendship - I had discovered music pretty late at the age of 11 (!) and he shared my admiration for the Beatles. When you're a kid, sometimes friendship really is as simple as that!

Steve went on to perform in bands at school and study music, and he's still going strong. In fact, he's recently set up his own website, which you can access from column on the right-hand side of this page, or by clicking on this link -

http://www.stevenbrown.net/

I've gotta be careful how much I write, because Steve's getting married to Laura next year - and he's asked me to be best man (little does he know what he's letting himself in for!) so I'd better not use up too much speech material...

Perhaps one of the funiest aspects of hanging out at school was that his nickname (virtue of his surname) was 'Brown.' And since I was Charlie, people would laugh about 'Charlie Brown' (as in the cartoon character) roaming the corridors... I'm still traumatised about some of the jibes we took...

Indeed, there was a period of time, when we were 16, when we fell out and didn't speak to each other for a couple of months or so. They were some of the hardest months of my life - and also the quietest, funnily enough..!

Still, one fall out in twelve years ain't bad... although I've got a feeling another fall out might be on the way when Steve reads this... so maybe I'd better big him up a bit!

Steve holds the distinction of being the only one of my friends who learned to sign, going to lessons taught by my Mum when we were 14. Because of that, my youngest brother Edwin (a signer, no less) still asks after him at every opportunity. This is probably also because myself, Ady and Edwin would partake in brutal two-a-side matches at Greystones football pitch in Chipping Norton (where the grass was terribly overgrown), and somehow, Edwin would always win, and the four of us would laugh our heads off hysterically at how bad we were at the game.

They were great times - I remember most particularly Steve always slipping over because he was often wearing trainers... and also Ady's razor sharp tackles... then there was the time when Edwin's nose started bleeding after getting hit by the ball, and we carried him home, blood everywhere. It might sound strange, but we still laugh about it... perhaps because it all turned out ok in the end!

Another fond memory I have of growing up in Chipping Norton and spending numerous Sunday afternoons over at Steve's house is that his Mum, Wendy, always cooked fantastic roast dinners, with the crunchiest roast potatoes I've ever eaten in my life... yes, with me, it always comes back to food...

So that's a few short stories about my mate Steve. Great lad, great lad. I'd better save the better (and more controversial) stories for the wedding next year (no mention of what happened on Chipping Norton School's tennis courts circa 1996 here!) - in the meantime, check out his webpage if you want to hear some juicy tunes!