One of my first memories of Ian was celebrating his 60th birthday with him and his friends at a Chinese restaurant somewhere on Denmark Hill. But it wasn't until his 80th birthday that he made it clear that what he wanted was to come round to our flat and celebrate it with our family, Deirdre and Henry and me. Ian was often round for dinners anyway and Boxing Day seemed to be a regular fixture. But an 80th - what a privilege! So, we had a big dinner, plenty of cups of tea, a cake, a bubble machine - all of which he loved. Then we took him in a taxi to the viewing gallery at Tate Modern for a gander at the views over London. He was quite unimpressed! I think Ian preferred to have his feet on the ground on the streets and to marvel at the trees as they came back to life after another winter.

Ian had a mixed relationship with technology - on the one hand, he was well aware of the possibilities for using it to share his stories and artworks, but he also struggled when it didn't work quite as expected. So I took it on myself to be Ian's computer mentor. And the things he made! The most wonderful postcards were created using Microsoft Paint, and poems, stickers and more. And then there were his blogs - if you haven't seen them before I'll put the links below, do check them out, especially the stories, photos and poems from his travels in Scilly.

Ian would have been 83 on the 1st of August this year. I popped round to see him two weeks before as his internet had mysteriously dropped. Restarting everything seemed to fix it and Ian reminded me that he would be round for his birthday dinner on Sunday 1st August. As the day drew near I started thinking about what we might cook and that we would have to design a comic birthday card from him. We were so sad to hear the news that Ian had passed in the previous two weeks, on the day itself I had to almost pinch myself to believe that it was really true - I could still see him standing at our front door having climbed the three flights of stairs and asking when we were going to get the lift installed!

It's lovely to read all the stories and memories from friends and family and to remember what a wonderful man he was.

Ian's blogs:
http://www.recycledbogrollblues.blogspot.com/
http://www.weoweit2ourowngoodselves.blogspot.com
http://www.sonice2bebackinsicily.blogspot.com
http://irishbillyirishjohn.blogspot.com/