Far Out

Lying on a beach in Thailand, en route to visiting me in Perth, Australia in 1991, Den - my twin brother, and Paul - our best friend, would scribble a few words on a postcard and send it, on a whim, to the bible of pop culture at the time, The Face magazine.

The October 1991 edition of The Face magazine would feature an in-depth interview with Kylie Minogue. After meeting Michael Hutchence, lead singer of INXS in 1989, Kylie had grown up fast in the public eye, metamorphosing from cute, curly-haired sugar-pop starlet to naughty, super-sexy uber-babe. Their relationship would be over before this magazine hit the stands. Six years later, Hutchence would be found dead in tragic, and slightly mysterious, circumstances in a hotel room in Sydney.

The letters page of that October 1991 edition of The Face magazine would include speculation over what mind-altering substances DJ Andrew Weatherall might be partial to and an observation that French cigarettes smell like hamsters.

Beside the header, 'FAR OUT', would also be a few words penned by a couple of blissed-up drifters on a beach in Thailand.

I've thought about those words many, many times over the last couple of weeks since we received the news of Paul's death.

Of how those words perfectly express the essence of how we should strive to conduct ourselves whilst on our journey on this planet.

Of how, sometimes, the simplest advice is so impossibly difficult to follow.