Yeah. I hadn’t realised until his funeral just how popular Simon was. You know, he was our friend. Haddonsman. He came along to RateBeer events, and sometimes he and I would meet up outside of RateBeer, and he was always good company, such as on our weekend up in Burton when Chrissie and me and Simon wandered around Burton and the Bass Museum, which he wrote about on his blog
When I arrived for the funeral I was gobsmacked by how packed it was, and Phocea and I had to stand as there were no seats left. He wasn’t just my friend, it seems, he was everyone’s friend!
It seems he had a big audience for his blog, and he also knew so many people. I love that Thornbridge brings out Otters Tears every year for him, and that people drink it in Wetherspoons and have no idea what its about!
Never knowingly met him, but he certainly seems to have had a lot of friends and no shortage of drinking buddies. I will look out for Otter’s Tears now I know what it’s about.