Resurrection of Nic No-Nose

Giving it a rest for a bit on the painting front.

Had a surprise phone call last night from Nic No-nose, an old pal - musician, dealer in violins, wit, raconteur, disgusting drunk and lecher, who sadly moved away from this vicinity quite a while ago. So-called as most of his nose was removed because of cancer. Because he preferred to drink and smoke, he refused to have plastic surgery which would have involved sacrificing these vices temporarily. This lack of compliance really irritated the surgeons. And has led to a somewhat strange appearance.

Rather disgracefully, he and I used to have totally obscene conversations in the pub to see how many other customers we could get rid of, and thought this terribly funny. Very childish, and certainly not suitable behaviour for a couple of oldies. Which was the whole point.

Nic has not been seen for a few years, and was sadly missed as I have always appreciated a colourful figure or two around the place. Seems that he had a pacemaker put in after being mugged and having his violin stolen - he had been drunk and boasting about the value of the violin while waving it around in a pub! Anyway, he has been living in Muswell Hill with Geraldine 'a rich widow' for the past five years. I had a long conversation with Nic and with Geraldine and we agreed to meet if we ever ventured into each other's manor, an unlikely event. I was glad to hear he had settled down with an 'older woman' - she is a year older than me and Nic is 61. He says he is her toy boy. They sound very happy and of course he has managed to insult and alienate most of her friends in his chaotic drunkenness. But it was nice to hear the old reprobate is still around. Even if running out of friends. I think this may be why he rang. Just to prove to Geraldine that he still had one!