It's hard to accept that dear old Detters has gone...

I have been sad this bank holiday weekend. It's hard to accept that dear old Detters has gone.

We had such a lively correspondence over the past sixteen years. Rip-roaring, rollicking good fun I always called it. To the outsider it looked like there was animosity. Not so. Deep down we had the ultimate respect for each other. I think Detters saw me as a loveable rogue. There was throughout a sub-text to our banter that the outsider would miss. Take this exchange from last Christmas Eve:

MIDNIGHT MASS

Inbox

Bobby Slingshot <bobbyslingshot8@gmail.com>	Thu, Dec 24, 2020, 5:28 PM
to James

Detters I know that this is very last minute but I do hope you won't attempt to attend Midnight Mass tonight. It's much too dangerous with this new strain of the virus going through Tyneside like wildfire. 

You are a vulnerable person - with your cardiac and renal problems adding further vulnerability.

Detters we don't want to lose you. We need you around for years to come.

By the way I hope you approve of my new Wanda username on the TES. Myself, I think it adds a certain androgynous  insouciance to my posting.

The most hearty Yuletide felicitations to you and yours,

GENE

 

James Woodforde <kochel525@gmail.com>	Thu, Dec 24, 2020, 11:07 PM
to me

FUCK OFF., YOU SLIMY, HYPOCRITICAL BASTARD.

What Detters is really saying is:

"Thanks Gene. I will take care. I will not go to Midnight Mass."