Ben – Friends’ Tribute

Friends’ and Colleagues’ Tribute (Kristian Kancleris)

As inevitable as death is, it does not happen without life. And it is here, in our lives, on our own inescapable way to demise, it is here where we had brushed shoulders with Ben. Some only briefly, and some would actually brush shoulders with Ben quite regularly – you lucky people. But we’re all here and now… and Ben… Well, he is there and then – the universes we inhabit have diverged and they cannot be reconciled. But the memory remains. For every one of us a different reincarnation of Ben.

For those of you who knew Ben from his early days it’s perhaps a little wildling Ben dancing around a bonfire with a wry smile on his face. Or a Ben as your confidant at the primary school, or a rebel Ben at the college.

A non-conformist Ben and his wildly creative imagination at the Bristol Diving School art collective. A Ben we all knew and loved at different points in life.

I would like to conjure for you a Ben (the way I remember him)

A chain-smoking Ben scribbling in his notebook. A Ben who hasn’t washed in days because he’s been sleeping in the back of his car. A Ben who wears a pair of pink swimming shorts, a Ben who doesn’t wear swimming shorts at all. A Ben with his yellow travel suitcase. A Ben who very caringly transforms a train ticket into a crane.

A Ben eating cheese, a Ben with a pint, a Ben smoking a fag, a Ben farting after having eaten the aforementioned cheese, a Ben smoking a fag.

A Ben who has finally washed with a bar of Imperial Leather soap. And so – a Ben who gives you a hug, or a kiss, or a tap on the shoulder…

A Ben who’s impossible to get hold of because he lost his phone. A Ben who shows up unannounced with a story to tell.

A Ben who pays for everyone’s dinner.

A Ben who is in debt to HMRC because he forgot to declare his earnings in full.

A Ben skiving work because life is to short… He certainly did well in that department. A Ben drinking a beer and smoking a fag.

A Ben who would never pass an opportunity to urinate off the edge of a cliff. A Ben who smuggles moss on an aeroplane.

A creativeBen endlessly polishing a kitchen table. A Ben going out to buy more fags.

An intellectual Ben explaining in great detail a mathematical idea. A Ben living the life

…And smoking a fag

Writing this down I was wondering would Ben approve of this eulogy? Perhaps it’s not experimental enough. Should I have done a performative art piece instead?

Well it’s not up to Ben but up to us to channel him today. And with that I say so long you dirty rotter: we all loved you so very much.