Richards death sent me off the rails. For a few years I didn't care what became of me and drank amd took anything on offer. He was the last of a long line of close freinds who died before I was 35. Woody had barely left school when he crashed his motorbike. Wid, a really close freind committed suicide, bleeding himself out of existence. Win died in Richards living room and though he told me they had taken nothing more than speed, it was the time when heroin was starting to flood the cities. Rufus who I had been in Boy Scouts with finally died from organ failure. Animal was like a brother and after leaving the outcasts bike gang rode his bike straight in to a car on the wrong side of the road having just got off the ferry in France. Martin had a hit in Richards living room, walked out as if for the toilet and was found ten minutes later wedged, slumped between the kitchen counters. After two days they turned off his life support system. Turps had recently been deported from Amsterdam and for the last four weeks of his life was a face on the begging scene in leeds city centre. He took a hit and died in st George's crypt, a homeless hostel. John bell house smashed his 550cc bike the day he bought it. All these deaths of my immediate close circle of childhood freinds. It was as if there was a curse on us.
After ten months of living with richard whilst working on the museum fitting and nursing my dad of an evening his brain had begun to recover. He was talking sense again. So I returned to the caravan I was living in prior to his fall in rode and went back to furniture making.
The events leading up to Richards death deserve a few more words. He became entranced by a beautiful prostitute. Sohailor was undeniably gorgeous to look at but she didn't really care for richard. Richard was disabled. His body like ian dury and this caused him to have a complex about women. He was as successful as any of us when he wasn't ruining himself with drugs but he couldn't shake off this perception. Sohailor saw him as a source of drugs. He sold heroin and would give it to her. He became obsessed in a way I have never seen a man become obsessed with a woman. She would be out entertaining punters whilst he bought rings to propose marriage. And whenever she was short she would come and take it from him. He would withhold if she was seeing other men but ultimately he would take any abuse from her. It was as if he wanted her to kill him. One time she rang and he invited her round. On opening the door Mathew, her real boyfriend forced his way in with another. They set about him, trying to break his legs with dumbbell s from weight lifting equipment. But he didn't give up his gear. It was pretty mysterious his spell in hospital immediately before his death. All his freinds were telling him what she was doing to him but he wouldn't leave her alone. One time he raced down her street when he knew she was with another man smashing his car in to five parked up vehicles in an attempted spectacular suicide. What put him in hospital was a broken hip. He was found by the cashpoint where he had just drawn out his disability benefits unconscious. The next few weeks were where his father tried to get me to talk some sense in to him but he was beyond that. He'd sneak out of the hospital in a wheelchair to find off licences.
As I said, when he hadn't been seen for a few days his brother kicked his door in and found him amongst a load of foil, needles and special brew cans. I still cry when I think of his death.
He hung around with some right types. The black widow who had just returned from a seven stretch. They'd seen a lad who had visited their flat going over but rather than call an ambulance they injected him again. Put his dead body in the lift and emptied his bank account.
One time I came up to visit with spiders, a bit of a knob, and Ron tree an old freind of mine. He is currently the frontman for the band Hawklords and was singer for Hawkwind for many years. He lives in frome and they were playing a gig with one of his old bands the Sewersuckers so I drove them up. We went to Richards who had local hard an mick mcnugget staying. I've seen him belt people with iron bars. You don't mess with him. Basically him and his girlfriend were cuckoopint Richards flat and he wanted them out so thought of a plan that we knew nothing about. He had a tendency to try get you to fight his enemies. For those who don't know what cuckooing is, well, a dealer or small gang will move in to some weaker persons flat and use it as a base to deal from etc. before we left for the gig richard said "I'm leaving my gear in the top of the lamp". We assumed mcnugget was a mate and why would richard say this if he thought he might take it. We watched the Sewersuckers then I drove us all back to Richards. Of course mick mcnugget had stolen the eight of heroin and we were supposed to beat him up. Now Ron is a singer not a fighter, and spiders is a glomby so it meant I would have to do battle with this man regarded as amongst the most violent in leeds. To this day I don't know if I could have had him. He was ageing a little and I was fit, but these types use weapons, knives, hammers, anything to hand. Besides I was pretty let down and disgusted at having been put in to such a position. So we all split. Leave them to it.
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