Paul Parke
JP and Paul limber up for the kayaking with a fine meal and copious amounts of wine
Paul’s first exposure to Justin was when he turned up uninvited to Paul’s parents house to scrounge a lift with JP to the South of France (1978) JP’s friend Al Colston had gone to school with Justin and could confirm his aptitude to drive the VW combi and drink beer very fast. An ability not lost!
As Justin was hitting the road for a decade of world travel Paul took a wrong turn into the law but quickly discovered that wearing a wig and black gown didn’t go with his skin colouring and so he moved into Solicitoring where he remains today.
Occasional sightings of Justin in between trips around the world led to a memorable camping trip to the Isle of Skye in December 1990. A trip not to be forgotten by either; Justin has still failed to forgive Paul for losing a tent pole on day 1 and Paul has still to forgive Justin for sneaking the grog into Paul’s pack and then drinking most of it on arrival.
Visits to Colorado for skiing went some way to repairing the damage and eventually Paul took the reckless decision to invite Justin to become godfather to his eldest, Isabella. Fears about Justin’s irresponsible nature were confirmed when on a recent camping trip he kept the 6 year old up until midnight and when Isabella’s photos of the trip revealed the extraordinary number of beer bottles present in the camper van. As we write Paul is still pondering if he can once again share a tent with Justin and is perfecting the excuses required to justify his widely anticipated shoddy kayaking performance, to wit almost 25 years spent in offices with zero exercise.
