Good luck, Darcey

...from your sometime friend, sometime enemy, sometime political sparring partner.

Darcey has led a hardscrabble life, and the scrabbling has become that much worse during the recession. You can read about his current situation at his place.

Just a few quick words. With Darcey, what you see is always what you get. No BS, no polite facade, he says what's on his mind, and if you don't like it, tough. I usually didn't like what he had to say, sometimes intensely disliked it, in fact, although on occasion he surprised me. But I always felt that I could give the man my back, and in private conversation he made it clear that he trusted me as well.

It's odd, male friendship. It can persist even at daggers drawn. He was one of the first to offer me his heartfelt compassion when my late partner became ill. I was a Friend of the Broom until he gave me the heave a year or so ago because he disapproved of one of my friends. So we publicly nattered and yammered at each other for a while, both of us enjoying it immensely, I suspect, and had the occasional b/c chat about more personal matters.

Each of us, it seems, could separate our ideas from who we were, not that I'm sure precisely what that means. Darcey stands up, whatever the odds, and sometimes those odds have been staggering, and for his standing up, if not always what he stands up for, he has my respect and my good wishes for the future.

PS: Whoever's minding the store now, can you keep up those wicked Friday blues tracks? You, uh, owe it to Darcey. :)