Goodbye Mr Brand

Fame/Infamy preceded him even before I met him. Like all ‘great’ characters, his reputation went before him....

On our first visit to Cairo, a year ago, a long standing pal of his took us to his apartment to give us an idea of the type of accommodation which may be available to us once we moved here. I was struck by the bawab to the building, an ole gnarled boy with a white turban and dusty blue galabiyya. He greeted us with an informal wave brushing the pavement outside the apartment. We entered the darkly lit hall way and went up the lift with three sides exposed to the walls. His apartment on entering was light and spacious and seated at the huge poker table was his mother. She was dressed in sparkling turquoise, and waved what looked like a gin and tonic at us. She was a Dundonian and started chatting to husband who was still working in Dundee at that time. He struggled less with her strong accent than me and soon they were at ease and chatting. I noticed the musical posters along the corridors and the fabulous huge hammock! I did think, ‘Who lives in a house like this?’  Indeed who did live in a house like this? This person clearly had a passion for poker and we were told he was in Vegas as we spoke. His mother said how music was also a passion and he had never had any formal piano training. He played by ear so she explained. Husband said it would be good to meet him. I knew this was not a polite platitude as he respected musicians. From the posters, it was clear he had an eclectic taste in music. From all this, I imagined Gary to be a loud flamboyant character, a showman maybe? Four months later when I met him in person, he came across as anything but. If anything, he was unassuming and rather quiet by nature. His speciality was now ICT and I told him since that was not my forte, I may end up bugging him more than he would maybe anticipate. His reply was a quiet, ‘No problem’. His accent was Scottish, but softer than what I had been used to in Dundee. Years abroad had diluted it and maybe mellowed it too. My own husband’s Scottish accent was more generic than regional Scot from years spent being away.

One day, instructing our dear pupil on how to set their locker security combinations, he said ‘you could use your birthday’. He then selected numbers which seemed to me too uncanny to be purely coincidental! The combination he picked was my birthday. I said nothing at the time. Weeks later, talking about contributing to a birthday fund, I was asked my birthday. Gary was present. After I had passed on my birthday, he looked up and said, ‘that’s mine!’ What year? I shared the year. His response, ‘me too’! ‘What time?’ was his next question. With that short exchange we discovered I was six hours older than him. Of all the schools in the entire world, I walked into one to find a ‘twin’. I delighted in this fact as this had never happened to me before. True to his word, whenever I bothered him about ICT issues, he always had time to help or knew who I should ask. His instructions were, ‘Say Gary said....’ Indeed, that seemed to get things done!

As well as knowing me at school, he was also a wonderful friend to my husband. He introduced him to the Cairo Choral Society and they enjoyed their pub sessions. Husband I know enjoyed his company immensely and I recall Gary saying how he was looking forward to coming over for a Burmese curry night.  That was only a few weeks ago. Then suddenly, one Monday morning, he did not show up at school. The subsequent discovery and realisation of his death has left the school in a sombre mood, the likes of which I have not experienced in any school.  

The evening of his memorial, I began to truly realise the magnitude of the man who lived in that apartment. He was indeed a showman but without any sense of arrogant showiness. He was gifted and talented and like all truly gifted and talented folk, he was quiet about it.  There was never anything annoyingly bombastic about him. His musical gifts were evident to all, young and old, to friends, colleagues, associates and strangers.

Gary Brand bestrode his world a benign Colossus. With his ubiquitous dark shades over his shorn hair he possessed an easy manner putting all at ease. A bon viveur and Epicurean, he had a touch of earthy discernment without ever being a snob. For me, a quality of his I admired above all else, was his magnanimity of spirit. And it is this greatest of human qualities, in my opinion, which now shall make Gary Brand immortal to so many.

Born on the same day, in the same year, Good Bye Mr Brand.