Fiona died in September 2010. A stunningly beautiful girl, tall blonde and slim. Fit too, she was a runner and a keen hill-walker. She had a lovely sense of humour, and was so good-natured. I remember her laughing as we played Who am I in pouring rain in the Pentlands, using Danny's cigarette papers to write the names on, stuck to our wet foreheads! In the morning we were just as wet but Fiona was still smiling, sticking her head out of her tent to brush her teeth. When she became ill she was very brave, very optimistic, and I can't bear to delete the text she sent me wishing me a happy 2010. The last time we talked last summer she was still hoping to get back to work, and we had a good chat, reminiscing about the ceilidh we all went to at the Riverside Club.
Jim died in February 2011. Another person who loved the outdoors. A family man, proud of his daughters. Kind, helpful, with a great sense of humour, I remember him teasing me because I noticed that a handsome German walker in the Youth Hostel at Crianlarich wasn't wearing a wedding ring! I remember him giving me a help up a hill in the Broughton Hills by pushing the back of my rucksack! That was a day in February 3 years ago and it was a beautiful day, unseasonably warm. Jim said several times as he looked at the beautiful landscape "Blue remembered hills", and that phrase will always remind me of him. He was brave too, he said that he had some dark days when he first became ill, but then looked to the future and he got back on the hills for a while before his illness came back.
Two great people who died far too soon, I am lucky to have known them.
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