Big Bad Log

Another dreary day , not much sense in biking in the polluted air so another spin on the rollers. I started reading a new book - Edgar Allan Poe's Complete Oeuvre - and listened to some heavy metal on my MP3 player. While outside it was misty, wet and drizzly I was enjoying a good read, some great music and letting my legs spinning on a very nice recovery rhythm.

Strange how hearing a certain song can make your thoughts spin back to certain moments in time.
When I heard 'Holy Diver' by Dio on my MP3 I had to think back to the time when I still was a deepsea diver. At that time - must have been around 1996 - I had a friend and diving buddy whose name was Remi. He was a paratrooper soldier stationed in Heverlee and we did a lot of dives together. He was a bit reckless and I was mostly diving on the safe side. At that time I usually dived with the gentle people from "De Zeekat" , a diving club of Herentals. I had some friends there and Remi used to know one of the girls rather intimately. Due to me being an experienced diver I was very welcome to help the club out with the forming of new divers. Even though officially I was not a member of that club I was with them during most of the weekends in the diving season. They used to dive in the lesser crowded areas of the Oosterschelde, in Zeeland, and we had some really fabulous dives during that period of my career. I cannot remember exactly when I first met Remi, but we got to know each other and it kinda clicked. Frequenting the same crowd certainly helped. We did some brave dives together. I had all the trouble in the world making him stay attached and close to me during our dives in the Oosterschelde. This was an obligation, both divers are attached with a piece of rope - a buddyline - to avoid losing each other during the dive. With the reduced visibility and sometimes heavy underwater current, getting lost was not a thing to be joked about. Divers dive in pairs because that way, when there is something that goes wrong, you buddy can help you out. Remi had the uncanny habit of clicking out of the buddy line, adding some adrenaline to an already adventurous sport. But I managed to keep him in view and we never had any trouble. The reason I thought of Remi when hering that Dio song today was that before we went into the water - we had to change and get into our diving suit and kit up on the parking lots next to the inland sea - he played this particular song very loudly on his car stereo. It got him into the right mood. And most certainly it is a great song.
I wonder what has happened with Remi. Is he still diving? Is he even alive ? Being in the Army, and the Paratroopers division, he will have been sent to some of the foreign missions. Sometimes I would like to catch up with some of the people from back then. It almost seemed a lifetime ago, strange and distant memories but with some very tangible moments that are written in my soul for ever.

Ride Stats : 24K in 1h

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