Sighting of “Crazy Mark” aka Spanner

While I was clearing out boxes of my stuff ready for moving away, I found a photo of a friend I have not seen in 5-6 years. We had met when I was working in Newcastle and had just moved out of my parents house into a shared house. We became the best of freinds over time, but when it came down to it, he decided to take a different route. While I was always aiming to become self employed and effectively grow up and become an adult, he seemed to only care about where the next alcoholic drink or pill was coming from.

Over time, these paths caused us to lose touch. I was always working and everytime I met up with him it was a complete psychotic disaster. He would walk into the road to shout at cars etc. After a few drinks it was as if his brain slipped sideways. He was a good friend, he just had too many demons that he refused to fight.

Anyway, after seeing his photo while sorting my stuff, I went to the bank in Jarrow. On my way back from the bank as I was walking to the post office, I saw someone the spitting double of Crazy Mark clearing tables in a streetside cafe, singing as he worked. I took a double take and I’m sure he did the same to me. I was sure it was him, but I was faced with a number of outcomes. Either he had sorted his life out and was trying to get back on track, or he was the same old mark. I had known him for a long time and never saw him change much. My biggest fear was that it was him and he hadn’t changed. My life is going through so much change right now that I do not think I could deal with a train wreck like him.

I came home and kept thinking about it. I was so damn sure it was him. Should I have said something? What if he had no home or needed help? Could I deal with that right now?

I called Darren (see Beer, fight, taxi and a broken leg) to tell him about the sighting. I met Darren through Crazy Mark and together we all had some great nights out and at Darrens old house. Darren quickly replied with “lol we could go and see”.

So, it now looks like we will be going to take a look on Tuesday. If it’s not Crazy Mark, then this poor kid will be getting paranoid that someone is spying on him! lol