Trevor – A lively moment
It was early evening on a bright weekday. Why I was not still coming home from work in London, I no longer remember; but there I was, walking along quite near my home, along a road that always had traffic in rush hour. A car drew alongside with a toot or two: a maroon Mark 1 Cortina, with the windows right down on both sides. Out of it came Trevor’s voice “Want a lift, John?”. I didn’t particularly; but seeing it was Trevor, and I’d recently started going out with his sister, I thought it was a good chance to get to know him a bit better.So in I got and away we went, although we soon had to slow down at a junction ahead of us.
The car in front of us suddenly braked rather earlier than it needed to, and Trevor responded alertly…and then burst out laughing: “OH! The boot lid’s just opened!” Still laughing, he jumped out, went round the back, closed the lid, and jumped back in, as if this was all in a day’s work…but still laughing about it, so infectiously that I started laughing too!
But it wasn’t “all in a day’s work”, for Trevor was on his way home from his job, which was quite physical, unlike mine. So it was all the more impressive how “big” about it Trevor was: not tired and irritable about having to get out and sort the boot lid, not embarrassed about it (though there were cars behind his), and ready to enjoy to the full the sheer funniness of what had happened, letting it be a tonic instead, and a reminder that we were living young lives! How refreshing! When Trevor asked me (still laughing) where he should drop me off, I just had to invent a reason to stay in his car longer, to prolong this happy moment!
I already knew that Trevor could be grown up, correct and formal. Although he was one of the younger members of our church youth club, he had been the ideal choice to play Eamonn Andrews in our spoof ‘This is Your Life’ of the church, and not just because his head could match Eamonn’s, curl for curl! Trevor had the control, the poise, and the ability to stay serious while other players were getting the laughs. But now, on a sunny evening, I was with a free and fun-loving young man, who was quite happy to be as boyish as ever in his enjoyment of life, wanting to live even the little moments of liveliness to the full.
Back then, I didn’t know that this would always be as important a side of Trevor’s adult life as his maturity and professionalism; but by now it is something I know will always show itself, whenever we get together. And it’s a joy to be with him.
John, Trevor’s brother-in-law
