GOODBYE SPIKE

Two nights ago I joined The Terence Higgins Trust for a delicious dinner in the middle of nowhere - oh the Artillery Halls, who apparently put up tents in the summer that we can hire out and have a ball in. The "boys" took it over last night to raise money for combating Aids. I sat next door to the blue eyed Stephen Webster whose jewels I love nearly as much as Loree Rodkin's and my good friend Zeta Graff's. In any case all was merry - particularly with Nicky Haslam on the next door table, who thought that we should celebrate how many gay men have fun in our world of today. He as usual looked beautifully dressed in his military garb and sporting a groovy new hair cut. This man adds finesse wherever he goes.
Meanwhile, my deerhound died yesterday. Spike. I remember the day I got him my two sons were so thrilled. I was walking down the Kings Road saying that I had never been happier. I spoke too soon and my whole world fell in that afternoon. Of course that is a long time ago now, but I will never forget walking with him in the sunshine. He hated London. Going up the stairs, his legs were too long and he used to cry at the bottom of them so I would have to go down to give him a cuddle. Spike begged to sleep on the basement terrace in the open air he liked the freezing cold and wet. He ended up in Wiltshire where he lived happily, scaring chickens and thinking he was a whippet. He now sleeps next to Mummy in the woods. I am not sure she would have liked that, but he definitely would.
Talking about death I ended up last night in St Nicholas's Church in Great Munsden where they do concerts. Charles my son sang a Bach. The Byron Consort from Harrow School could be heard through the fields of Hay. I walked around with my pal Mark Brazier-Jones who lived twenty minutes away. The countryside looked beautiful slightly misty and cold. The gravestones covered with ivy the names long gone. He pointed out the Devil door and told me it was opposite the main door. Poor Devil he was only thrown out of Heaven because of Pride. Personally I think Pride is an amazing thing and wish more people had it.