This was the final section of my last blog at the end of May:

To be honest, I think the answer to the question of “when will I get this book written?”  is the same as when I worked full-time as a primary teacher. The summer holidays will soon be here. School events will stop and I will get my head down and have a first draft written by the end of August. It WILL happen. 

Unfortunately, as Burns said in his famous poem,

The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men
Gang aft agley,

An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,
For promis’d joy.

Which is pretty much what has happened. My first draft hasn’t been touched this summer. When the holidays arrived my lovely dad, who hadn’t been in good health for months, began to deteriorate rapidly.  A scan showed that his colon cancer had returned. He died peacefully on the 24th of July.

My father was a special person, a genuinely lovely man. One of his greatest qualities was his ability to believe the best of people. He was a true gentleman; kindness personified and generous to a fault, who gave without expectation of praise or reward.

Dad had a firm moral compass, but he was also hugely compassionate. Whenever his kids or grandkids made mistakes or bad choices, he was always ready to forgive and keen to help us out of whatever pickle we were in.

A short poem by Robert Louis Stevenson sums up Bobby Gibson’s life.

That man is a success
who has lived well,
laughed often and loved much;
who has gained the respect of men and women
and the love of children;
who has filled his niche and accomplished his task;
who leaves the world better than he found it,
who looked for the best in others,
and gave the best he had.

My dad’s life was an unqualified success.

He was the best of men, the salt of the earth. He laughed often and loved much. He gave the best he had.

He has left the world better than he found it, and I will love and miss him forever.

Robert Gibson March 30th 1929-24th July 2025