25th November 2002
Hi all,
It is time to pay tribute to someone. I mentioned this person briefly last week, and now it is time to pay him his full due. He became known to some of us as "Snoop Nikky Nik", and I'll say now so that I am not misinterpreted that what I'm about to write is meant with the best will in the world. You couldn't dislike the man, and I don't intend to drag him through the mud here.
Nick was his real name (as you probably already guessed), and he came to Middlesex University via Holland, although he was originally from Luton (his Dad had to move with his job, which was the reason Nick's family moved to the continent).
In our Hall of Residence most of the people with me on the first floor became sociable with the people on the second floor above us. Amid a range of characters on the second floor Nick seemed quieter, but in time a few of us got to know him and like him. He was fresh faced, had shoulder-length dark hair, and sometimes kept it undercover with a back-to-front baseball cap.
Nick was a music lover. He had one of nicest stereo systems I had seen at the time, and also owned a Fender Stratocaster electric guitar. He loved electric guitars, and owned all kinds of CDs from the kings of the genre. His hero? Eddie Van Halen.
(I almost typed "Eddie Van Helen" there. All of a sudden I was picturing one of Lorraine's Aunts holding an electric guitar, while wearing the "Chocolate Lime wrapper" dress she wore to our wedding. I know you don't need to know that, but it is good therapy for me. If I didn't share that information I would have nightmares - I'm not joking.)
Nick had a capacity to make us laugh like very few others. Whether it came from the legendary "Sensible Soccer" sessions in my room, or his admiration of body piercing. The thing about Nick and body piercing was he was always talking about it, but never did anything about getting anything pierced himself. He was always saying, "I'm going to get my ears pierced, once here," at which point he'd hold his left ear lobe with one finger, "and twice here," at which point he'd hold his right ear lobe with two fingers. This was to become a Nick-trademark, and one which was imitated quite a bit, along with a snapping of the fingers made my flicking your hand very quickly (something I don't remember Nick ever doing, if truth be told).
(Bear with me for a moment... [snaps fingers]... yep, I can still do that. Good stuff.)
What else was Nick famous for? He is indirectly responsible for my nickname (sorry, one of my nicknames - I've got plenty of them, not all complimentary) of "Toneboy". Nick would add "boy" onto everyone's name, and as most people called me "Tone" (which a lot of people still do) "Toneboy" stuck. A couple of things quickly grew out of this:
1) My best mate at Uni was Chris. We had rooms next to each other in our first year, and then were housemates for our remaining two years. After knowing Nick for a while we got into the habit of saying goodnight to each other in the style of "The Waltons".
"Night Chrisboy."
"Night Toneboy."
2) The myth that Nick would even refer to girls as "boy". Chris's girlfriend at the time was frequently referred to as "Kirstyboy". If my memory serves me rightly Nick never referred to a girl as "boy".
3) In our second year at Uni Chris and I had a guy called Roy who lived with us (along with another guy called Dave, who could provide about a decade's worth of Bizarre Thoughts just by himself). Again the myth was that Nick had said, "Hi Royboy. Hey, that's good, 'cos 'Roy' rhymes with 'boy'!" Once again, it was something that Nick never ever said.
As for Nick's nickname? Well, for some reason for a guy who was so into guitar music he was really into Snoop Doggy Dogg. I mean really into him, to the point of gleeful excitement if he heard a Snoop Doggy Dogg track within earshot. It didn't make sense then, and on reflection it still doesn't nearly ten years later. There were two other incidents to do with music and Nick that bring back good memories. The first was after he went to a Joe Satriani concert, and complained about ringing in his ears for about three days afterwards. The second was after a programme was on the TV about the history of the Fender Stratocaster. The following morning Nick was telling me about how the programme left him "inspired", and how he'd been playing his guitar until 1.30am. I was blissfully out of earshot, Chris, right next-door to me, unfortunately wasn't.
(I'm rambling somewhat. Hope you're enjoying reading this as much as I am enjoying writing it.)
Then there was his way with the ladies. One particular lady turned us both down, although my asking and rejection did not even register on the lowest echelons of the Unintentional Comedy Scale (that's all I can say, I'm not out to embarrass the guy). When he needed to, he also shot straight from the lip, offering the simple advice, "She's a bow-wow, Toneboy," about someone else I liked. Cruel, but memorable.
And then there was Nick and his football team, Luton Town. He went to a few games with his grandfather, especially once Luton went on a magical cup run. Luton got to the quarter-finals of the F.A. Cup, where they were drawn against West Ham. At the time everyone who visited West Ham liked to remind West Ham players Ian Bishop and Trevor Morley of a certain incident (which I never heard of first-hand, so I'll decline to comment on it). Chris knew this song well from the days on Manchester United's Stretford End, and tried to teach it to Nick. No matter what Chris did, Nick couldn't get it quite right, but the results were hysterical. One word received an American pronunciation instead of a British one, and instead of ending, "Ian, Ian Bishop is!" he ended the chant, "Ian, Ian, Ian, Ian Bishop is man!" This was something Nick definitely uttered, because I'll never forget it as long as I live.
Come the day that Luton were due to play at West Ham it was announced that both semi-finals would be played at Wembley. "We're going to Wembley!" he pronounced. Chris and I both told him it wouldn't happen. Luton drew at West Ham, and then won the replay. Nick got the last laugh.
Nick ended up being one of those people I slowly lost touch with. However he was a great guy, and someone who gave me a lot of good memories, more than I realised in fact. I don't know where he is now, or what he is doing, but I hope he's doing well, and I hope he's happy.
Have a good week!
Toneboy
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