Bon Voyage Peter

A good friend, Peter, died this week. Most of you won’t know him. We met Peter and his partner Jude in Porto di Roma last winter. Jude is an artist and teacher and Peter had been many different things in his life, including a great swimmer, potter, teacher and financial products salesman. He and Jude had crossed the Atlantic twice in their small eight-metre yacht “Flight”, which they have owned from new for the last thirty years. Even in his fifties he had the curiosity of an eight year old and the guts to look into the abyss and say “hmm, this is interesting”. Peter and Jude were due to visit us in Puglia in their yacht last August, when Peter had a seizure and they had to fly back to the US for treatment. Peter had been living for a couple of years with the knowledge that he was slowly dying from a brain tumour. On returning to the US he declined quite rapidly. Jude documented their trials in regular emails to their many friends around the world. From the mails it sounded as if Peter kept his spirit and dignity to the very end, surrounded by loving friends and family. Bon voyage Peter, if you have to go there are worse ways to do so, but it’s a crying shame you couldn’t have had longer, you had so much to give.