I have so many memories of Mat, here are just a few.
Fun with musical instruments
For a short while, 4 of us played ukuleles after work. I have no idea what we played, except I do remember I was keen on "There was I, waiting at the church" which Mat put up with for ages. He was annoyingly better than me, probably because he was a) much more talented and b) went home and worked out how to play stuff. I can't remember if this branched into didjeridoo playing or vice versa, but Mat could circular breathe for ages and make the Didj make all sorts of excellent and alarming noises. Then to my delight he made me my own didjeridoo out of a plumbing pipe and some beeswax, and I made farty noises down it for a good while. I was never as good as him though. I don't think I ever heard him play the piano properly, but I did take my electric piano to work for a year or so, and Mat used to play it wearing headphones. Even just seeing how fast his fingers moved was darn impressive.
Fun with random toys
Mat loved a silly toy, be it a kite or hydro powered rocket, remote controlled helicopter (?) or inflatable canoe. I remember blasting off rockets in Hertford park, where Mat had brought camelpaks full of water and an excellent massive bike pump, and the rockets went soaring sometimes, and other times just blasted off at a funny angle and soaked us all. A few years later he very generously gave me his old inflatable canoe, and it is still going strong, although it's definitely now a deflating canoe. The last message he sent me was "would you like some Indian fighting kites?"
Data Connection - Metaswitch lunch breaks and pub
If he was at lunch, I'd think "Oh good, Mat's here - this is going to be entertaining". It was just fun when he was around. Either he'd be discussing some thought and working it out from first principals with Adrian, or just being funny, or (probably the best times), he was in a rotten mood about something or other. He did an excellent voice of incredulity about whatever he was ranting about - some process or technology that someone had designed that was just stupid, he'd throw in a few expletives and generally be hilarious in his crossness.
He was also a really good listener and took time to ask me how I was, properly, whenever he saw me. Or even, laterly, when I'd pass him in the street but he couldn't actually see me, but he'd hear my voice and immediately recognise me and ask how I was.
In the pub, I remember more merry entertainment and stories, but also how generous he was. He always bought drinks, whereas I am a skinflint, and he never seemed to mind.
Random other memories
- Going to the cinema with Mat without knowing how bad his eyesight was in the dark, and I just left him at the bottom of the steps. oops.
- The marrow vodka making competition? I think this was a thing. I think there were 3 entries, and they all tasted like bile
- Mat giving me the only piece of career advice that ever made a difference to me. He told me to stop worrying about all the things I wasn't good at and asked me what I was better than people at Metaswitch at. I said "standing up in front of people and showing off?", and he said - "exactly, you are. Nobody here's any good at that. Never mind them telling you all the things you're worse than others at, go and do the thing you're good at". So I went and joined the training team and at last found my niche in the company. Thanks Mat.
- A photo of a whole bath full of crayfish that you'd fished out of Hertford river. Terrifying
- That murder mystery party round James Broughton's house where Mat and Helen were the English couple and we also had Russians (me and Phil), Chinese (James and Michelle) and Japanese (Fi and Nic). It was Murder on the Trans-Siberian Express I think. Mat had the most preposterous moustache on ever, and the best colonial British accent, it was brilliant. I have now forgotten the details alas, but didn't Phil's moustache fall off and Michelle spat red wine all over the carpet laughing??
- The best Halloween party EVER in Hertford, where there was horror everywhere you looked. The food was all themed as something gross, there were skeletons everywhere, bloodied hand-smears on the shower curtain, about 1000 other scary things, fancy dress galore and Mat terrifying the trick and treaters. So creative and excellent. Oh, and pumpkins! Yoda pumpkin?? Some amazing carving anyway.
- Hats and wigs at the Metaswitch Christmas parties. If Mat had anything to do with it, we weren't just going in black tie. The most elaborate wig-fest party also involved trying to make a human pyramid. Wearing tuxes and ball gowns. This, it turns out, is inordinately difficult. I don't think much alcohol had been consumed at the time - it was just silly and fun so we did it. We were always put in the corner after that.
