If there were some feasible way to travel hundreds of miles north to Stornoway, I’d love to be up there to join the people remembering Mark Elliot. Mark was a family friend, not that much older than me, who died unexpectedly a week ago.

We spent a fair amount of time with Mark and his family while I was growing up. There were lots of outdoor activities, particularly walking and climbing, and explorations of all sorts of interesting subjects, particularly ancient cultures. The two things that influenced me most were probably his taste in music, laying a foundation of hard rock and heavy metal from which my eclectic tastes began to grow, and an introduction to fantasy role-playing games, which stimulated me to exercise my imagination.

My thoughts go out to his family and friends, starting the service round about now. The pale rider called for Mark much, much earlier than expected but he will be remembered well.