As the first year looms, my memories stir stronger, as I'm sure yours do, too. Everyone who knew Mark will have a fun story to tell, a fond memory always cherished - I'd like to share a story from when we worked together... There were the obvious...em...'misdirections' now and then that generated much laughter between us - and one or two mishaps! We carried out a lot of welding, cutting and grinding (including gouging out my shinbone!) in our time together, but the funniest episode has to be the time when we'd spent all day at Tesco's, Aylesbury, relocating a waste compactor machine and its chute and electrics. First problem was that the concrete floor hadn't actually been laid up to the wall, leaving a one metre gap between the existing hardstanding and the new wall. The builder asked if we could make a pair of new extra legs & footplates to stand the compactor in place, attach the chute correctly and have it ready for use for the next day, once they'd 'floated' wet concrete into the deep hole. They also asked if we could fit a set of securing bolts through the holes of the existing feet, ready to be tightened once the new concrete had hardened. "Okay," I said, and we fabricated a new pair of legs and footplates...and Mark, keen as mustard, bounced up & down as he asked if he could do the welding. Well, by that time, I had full confidence in his ability to weld it very strongly, so I just let him get on with it, setting up the leads, generator, etc, and standing by to help as needed. I turned my back to get more rods as he reached the end of his first 'run', and there was an almighty "WHOOOMPH!!!". I jumped, span around, and Mark was sat on his bott', wide-eyed and drop-jawed...while smoke billowed and puffed from every gap, slot and orifice on the compactor. DON'T PANIC!!! Our own fire extinguisher just went "PFFFT!!" and gave up, we looked at each other in horror, then sprinted about almost like the Chuckle Brothers as we tried desperately to find extra fire extinguishers, and then it was a mad race to assemble our power wrench, the right size socket and also an extension lead on the generator, then whizz-off all the panel access bolts and nuts... Thoughts of wages lost flitted through our minds at the prospect of the compactor being burned out - but pure luck, it was just years' worth of accumulated dried paper and the like that had been badly singed by a pocket of methane gas, just waiting for a hot-spot to ignite it. A few long blasts with water-jet extinguishers, and the situation was back under control. PHEW-EEEE!!! A delightful pong, though... It was only then that we realised that we had an audience who were laughing fit to burst; we couldn't help but join in... There were other episodes, but that's one of the funniest, without a doubt - and definitely a memory in which I'll always see Mark's big grin & sense of humour out front. Miss you, matey - hope you're not setting the clouds alight with your welding up there!!!