Kevin and the power of the Internet

Unfortunately Kevin, more commonly known as Nisakiman, passed away last night. Frank has done a blog about it

Frank emailed me earlier today with the news and I was quite surprised at how upsetting it was to read, considering I've only met the chap once. We live in an age though, where you don't actually have to meet a person in order to become firm friends

Just look at some of the comments appearing under Franks blog today, all (mostly) from people who never met him but still feel a loss at his passing

But that's the power of the Internet. It's not just for slagging people off on Facebook or calling people silly names on Twitter, it can also be used for the really good stuff (dirty minds, pipe down at the back)

I don't really post much on this blog anymore, as the fever no longer really grips me, but back in the day, up until somewhere in 2013, I used to post a hell of a lot of stuff and a lot of people used to drop by Moose Meadows to chew the cud

That's when I first 'met' Kevin. He was one of the regular commenters around here and like most of my visitors, we shared very similar views. Many blogs from that time seem to have disappeared and a lot of the conversation has gone over to Twitter, but back then you could hang around the blog and have a chat with people rather than just swapping a few comments

In recent years, Kevin has been telling me lots about Greece, because he lives there and myself and Mrs Bucko want to

And in the even more recent past, since Frank created the Smoky Drinky Bar, I actually got to see him in person

It was talking with him in the SDB, when I managed to arrange a face to face visit with him in Greece. We were talking about the possibility of getting a ferry from Corfu where we are going to stay, over to the mainland port where he was living. If didn't look like there was a ferry option between those two ports, so we decided on a road trip instead

This discussion took place at the beginning of this year and our holiday is planned for next week, but not so long after we planned it, Kevin was back in the UK with the serious lurgie

And now he's gone

I'm very glad I did get the chance to finally go and meet him face to face when Frank, Peter and myself went to visit him after we found out he was ill. I only wish it was under better circumstances, as I was hoping our first planned face to face meeting would be the start of a new friendship in the real world

So as a friend I mainly knew online and only met once, his passing is going to leave a hole, and I'm sure I speak for everyone else who also knew him through the blogs and social media

He was one of the good guys and is going to be missed

Like most others, I have a circle of friends in real life, and like I imagine it to be for most others, they are people very similar to myself in tastes, views etc.

When we went down to visit Kevin I remember thinking that I would never have been friends with people like Kevin, Frank and Peter in real life, as they are so much different to me and move in circles so far removed from my own

When we become friendly with people on the Internet, it's usually because we share one or two viewpoints about something and have ended up expressing those views on some social platform

In life it's usually people who cross your path at work or school and share your interests and you find you enjoy each others company

Kevin, Frank and Peter would never have crossed my path in any situation outside the Internet, but now I call them friends anyway and I'm bloody glad I'm able to. That's the power of the Internet in bringing together the most unlikeliest of kin folk

The trip to visit Kevin was far from good circumstances, but now we've done it, I hope there are many such meetings in the future, not just the three of us again, but hopefully with many more

I for one will now have an open house policy for any bloggers and such folk who fancy a trip to the sunny north for a few scoops and a chinwag and I'll look forward to the opportunity to have more road trips to do the same

So long Kevin. It's been great. I'll raise a glass or two to you this evening