I wrote this article on June 29, 2013, in tribute to my mate Peter Morris whom I miss dearly, the man was a talented genius and really nice guy.

They say we all have one in us…..everyday I think of countless things to write about and never get to write them down.  Remember a few months ago?  I started this blog thingy, well I only just remembered I had it and so we try again.  Today is a real sad day for me.  I´m seriously not the best at this emotion lark and the slightest hint and I reach for the tissues..  A close friend of mine succumbed last night to the scourge that is Cancer.  Like many others I will never understand life, maybe one day we will all find out, I just know we have to enjoy what we have while it lasts.  So why is it, they always take the good ones?  Or at least seem to.  My friend Pete was one of the kindest men I ever had the honour to be friends with.  Pete was super talented, intelligent and great company.  He would help anyone when he could and his artistic talents will never be recognised, much to the public’s loss.  Pete could paint a scene with the best of them that’s for sure.  We worked together in our field putting together bars around Europe and we had some great times, we got to meet some great people and we also had some great rows!  If anyone visits a Linekers Bar around the world be sure to know that Pete Morris played a big part in this company and you will for sure, be looking at some of Pete´s designs or handiwork.  Spare a thought as I will everyday when I go to work.   I mentioned Pete was talented, well that’s an understatement really.  He used to build his own cars when he was younger, yes build his own cars and he ended up building his own boat”Dreamaway” in his back garden.  To give you some idea it has got 2 Rolls Royce engines to power it, I´m told it´s 52 long.  It made county news when Pete finally finished and had to get it airlifted out of the back garden and onto the low loader to take to the docks.  Pete sailed her to Spain where he lived happily from port to port with wife Margaret.    In Tenerife we used to have these TV´s, the old ones on top of a bar we wheeled in and out everyday onto the terrace selling beers.  Almost every night it toppled over and nearly crippled someone with the weight of the TV´s. (Now a days we have plasma so this wouldn’t happen)  Pete proceeded to build a new bar. When he wheeled it out the TV´s were on the bar surface and everyone thought WTF has he done.  In position, Pete plugged it in and pressed a button.  Up went the TV´s on hydraulics and were firmly in place.  At the end of the night, press the button and down they came.  No one had a near death experience with the outside bar after that!   It may sound simple but it was a stroke of genius at the time.  Pete was a very very talented man, of that you can be sure.

Pete used to run the teams of builders we had in the bars when we built a new one or carried out a refurbishment, and despite his demeanor he could be quite ruthless when it came to his baby projects.  I wasn’t there all the time but used to visit to give the boss progress reports and carry out admin tasks and the like.  One time in Cala Dór I went out with four of the builders and I´ll admit it now but I did get Moose in a bit of state at the karaoke bar the night before.  When I strolled down the bar at midday Pete let a volley of abuse come my way as his workers were not performing and Moose couldn’t lift a hammer to save his life.  I protested weakly that it wasn’t my fault but I soon skulked off while I could.   We all had dinner that night and Pete had his glass of Whisky that he loved.  We were soon back to normal..  I told Moose to piss off until the work was all finished!

I had many a chat with Pete when and where I could, despite the distances we spoke a fair bit on the phone and we would always put the company to rights, of course we know best whats best for the family, it´s what you do isn’t it?  Whenever I had a problem and felt like talking I could always rely on Pete to be there and would email him or call.  I used to help Pete with his computer over the phone and it was frustrating explaining cut and paste to a man who built his own boat in his back garden!  In fairness we loved a good moan up and always felt better when we came off the phone.

Peter Roger Morris  R.I.P  Dreamaway xxx

TBH this blog title doesn’t have much to do about writing a book but it was the only way I was going to write about Pete without water damaging my keyboard, apologies for that, but glad to give you a little insight into the great talent PRM x  Thanks for reading.

Tuesday 16th July for me now will always be Pete´s Day.  I don´t like whiskey, in fact just the smell of it makes me heave, but I´ll look at a bottle now on this day and think of my mate, our mate Pete Morris.  16th July, the day we said goodbye to a true gent and genius.  In 2013 the UK was covered in wall to wall sunshine with temperatures soaring.  It was more than a two day Summer.  Traffic oddly was good and the journey from Essex to Leicestershire took just under 2 hours.

We were first to arrive in the quaint village of Narborough, Pete´s spiritual home.   Having found the church, neatly tucked away off the High Street, tea and poached eggs on toast from the little village cafe settled the stomach.    The service was at 11-00am and slowly people starting arriving.  The church was splendid and one day I´ll revisit and have a proper look around.  No doubt I´ll have another chat with Pete and tell him how it all went.  The place reminded me of the church in the film Hot Fuzz, although it wasn’t quite as big.  Being part of the Lineker family, there was a security guard hovering around, although I sincerely don’t know why.  Yes Gary was there with the family but there was more than enough weight around to see off any unwanted onlookers, and to be honest, it just wasn’t like that.  The church also reminded me of the magnificent one in Waltham Abbey on a smaller scale.

Sailing was playing as we entered and took our places.  As services go it was as pleasant as can be, the vicar was great and Wayne Lineker produced a fantastic speech about Pete´s life that was both sad and funny but made everyone smile.  It was a fitting tribute for sure.  Myself, I worked hard to keep my emotions in check as I have done on many an occasion such as this.  The odd thing was I was smiling most of the time as the sense of occasion for me wasn’t like any other.  I tend to cringe when Vicars, Priests whatever start to preach about marching into heaven and going to a better place and stuff like that.  I´m there to pay my respects of course but in all honesty I don’t wanna hear that stuff, I want my friends here!  Anyway I´m probably not explaining that very well so I´ll move on.  This guy today was good and so refreshing.  Songs sung and prayers said, everyone filed out gracefully and that was my biggest moment.  I was last to leave and they were playing Sailing again.  As I turned round I saw a montage of photos on canvas of Pete.  Cue the tissues.  The Loros* plate done good that day.

I had to drive like Hamilton to keep up with the cortege to find the crematorium, Gilroes, which was splendid in the sunshine.  The committal was pretty brief, as they are.  Myself and Mark Noble noticed the shelf around the outside and said it would have been a great touch if whiskey shots were placed around the outside for everyone. Sorry Pete, I still wouldn’t have drunk it!   Abide with me always put a lump in the throat and this was no different.  It was back to Narborough and the Dovecot Pub for the wake.

At the pub it was like a mini reunion as the solemn mood changed and the memories came flooding back.  Stories of bar building, bar boozing and bar crawling came out as the Linekers lads all put their two pennies in.  Everything and everywhere from Puerto Banus to Cyprus and back was discussed, even Pete´s dodgy knee!  Each person had their own story to tell and the time flew by.  I read reviews about the pub elsewhere as well and they were non too complimentary but everything was fine today, the Fosters was cool as you like and going down far too easy.  Moose and I were starting to re enact the past and I remembered the car outside.  There´s something about talking about the past and here was a great bunch of people talking about it.  I paused for a moment and said “the one person who should be here with us talking about all this is not here”  Everyone smiled and we raised our glasses once more for Pete.

Tuesday 16th July 2013, the day we said goodbye to Pete

*LOROS  The fantastic hospice in Leicester that looked after Pete in his final days

Photo : Dean Howsam, Lee Brown, John Hughes, Paul Bowcock, Dave Hodges, Wayne Lineker, Duane Lineker, Mark Noble, John Hughes Snr, Neal Joyce

Or

Deano, Taffy, Moose, Bow, Dangerous, Links, Links, Nobby, Pappa Moose, Nelly

I first wrote this article on July 20th, 2013, in memory of Pete