News – Larry the Lemur: My Wingman, My Drinking Partner, My Friend

I’ve been on the road 3 months today – migrating around the UK, staying in youth hostels and meeting new people everywhere. And while the adventure of it all is fantastic, all seasoned travellers will tell you that travelling alone is hard work – you need to be self-reliant, plan ahead as much as you can, and almost everyone you met will be gone again within a few days. After awhile it can be a pretty lonely and harrowing experience.

Having a travelling partner makes all the difference – sure you’re bound to fight and argue, but having someone else to talk to and watch your back is a real comfort. For those of us that have to travel alone by situational necessity (like yours truly), you have improvise. Some bring a few items that remind them of home, some jump on organised tours of other lost souls, and others fill the loneliness in more bizarre manners. In my case, I invented my own travelling partner – Larry the Lemur.

Larry, hanging from a hostel bunk in Kensington

Larry was the travelling partner I couldn’t have – he was my wingman hitting on girls in hostels, he was there whenever I went out for a big night of drinking, he was there when I needed someone to talk to about life and the universe, he always made sure I didn’t wind up passed out on the floor of a toilet in the basement of a Greenwich hostel, and he made sure I never fucked a fat girl. Larry was such a blessing, he became the inspiration and design template for the new Mighty Ginge logo – his crazed eyes and tiny “flying kung-fu lemur kick” pose summed up everything the new Mighty Ginge is about.

Larry tragically passed-away on Friday morning. And while I hold myself mostly to blame, it was also through a series of unforeseen events and the actions of a few heartless individuals that Larry eventually slipped from this mortal realm. As tragic as the events of the 28th of August 2009 were, in many ways Larry died the way he lived – as the ultimate wingman, protecting me, and having more fun than an absurd soft toy in an Edinburgh backpacker bar should.

In memory of this most wondrous character and friend, I have done two things. The first was a 31km bike ride I completed from Shepshed to Leicester yesterday, wearing a 108lb (49kg) pack that held everything I have on this trip, except for Larry. No money was raised, and no promotion was done – I did it alone, with the burden of his loss on my back the whole way. It took about 3.5 hours, and was one of the most physically and emotionally demanding things I have ever done – I can honestly say I wanted out at the 7km mark, and was getting hysterical at the end trying to find the Leicester train station.

The second tribute to this furred fiend is to be an on-going one. From this Tuesday (September 1st) a new monthly award in his honour will be posted – Larry’s “Bad Ass of the Month”. This award is for those people and creatures to be saluted as being truly incredible – those who re-define awesome on a daily basis not because we want them to, but because that’s simply how they roll. And it is only fitting in Larry’s memory that he be the subject of the first of these awards.

So come Tuesday, the first of our new “Bad Ass of the Month” will be a chronicle of Larry’s short but amazing journey. Many will say of Larry “Just go and buy another one”. But until they read his awe-inspiring story, they will never understand that he was irreplaceable.

Rest in peace, dearest friend
The Mighty Ginge