February 25, 2020 RIP Sandy Mackenzie

I heard the sad news this morning that my good friend of 50 years, Sandy Mackenzie died of a heart attack while hiking near Puerto Vallarta.

Sandy at my 40th birthday party in Victoria in 1992.  Still smoking and still a bit of hair.

Will miss you Sandy

Some random thoughts about Sandy:

• he always said irregardless instead of regardless
• he had this annoying but endearing habit of saying,"Do you know what I mean?"
• he had a fabulous afro of red hair in the 70s
• he became a real globe trotter.  He got the bug badly after he came to visit me in India in 1988.
• he stopped working and drinking somewhere around 1979
• he was a true friend; always keeping in touch and getting by any small disputes that can arise over 50 years
• we had great times together:
• at his parents house on Earl Grey Crescent in Calgary
• at Flora Carter's house in Calgary
• on an infamous camping trip to Lake Windemere
• in India
• in Sri Lanka just a few years ago
• in Vancouver when we both lived there
• on Vancouver Island on the rare occasion he would visit
• he loved duplicate bridge
• his first car was a rotary engine Mazda that backfired all the time.  We used to say the car was farting.
• he loved to hike and walk having done the Camino de Santiago several times
• he was colour blind.  I often went with him to pick out clothes so they would not clash.
• he would drive 20 miles just to save a nickle
• we smoked a lot of grass and hot knifed at lot of hash

He is the first of a group of close friends that I have known for 50 years or more to die.  I would not have predicted that he would be the first to go.  It really makes you realize that you are closer to the end than the beginning.

I WILL MISS HIM!