Day: -8 Willy the Wee Free Man

Terry Pratchett is one of my favourite authors. A satirist, humourist, humanatarian and Knight. Sadly he is also a person living with early onset alzheimers.

One set of characters with a recurring role in his books are the Nac Mac Feegle (aka The Wee Free Men). As a a direct descendant of crazed, blue painted celts I can totally identify with them. Terry describes them as "Glaswegian Smurfs. They drink too much, have watched Braveheart too many times, curse and carry on but are incredibly loyal"

Personally I am a believer in the Nac Mac Feegle having met their leader in exile, one of the first men I got to know well at the Dixon shelter.

Willy was a small-in-stature-but-big-in-impact man. He had a thick Glaswegian accent and when he drank (which was everyday) he would become almost inarticulate and communicate through variations on the theme "hey-yah!"

A small network of close friends, and a willingness to defend them against any slight (real or imagined), and in the same breath put the boots to those friends was a Wee Willy hallmark.

One of Willy's great gifts was the ability to accurately identify you after very brief interactions with a nickname that would sum you up completely. Had I been in a position to do so, I would have hired him as our HR department, he was that good at seeing the real you. Pity the poor bastard whose nickname was "goldilocks" or "yon great goon".

Willy and I didn't hit it off at first. It took a near death experience on his part to bring us together.