Brian Warken was never going to win a Nobel prize. He was the kind of guy you watched every time he does something just to see how it would go wrong. However, it was a very nice guy and a very hard worker so I do not mind having as a companion to my driver when I was driving a van delivery of part-time at the end of the 80 actually unique view of Brian the world and events in often provided great comic relief from the monotony hundreds of miles each day package delivery driving. I spent hours to encourage him to explain his views on world politics and pretend to learn and be impressed by his views. I've never been exactly a political analyst willing myself, but even I had a pretty good idea that most of Brian armchair theories were nonsense. For example, I did not believe that Gorbachev has funded the rigging of the US presidential election in 1988, nor did I think he has done to allow George HW Bush to oust Ronald Reagan as president United States because Nancy Reagan once called Raisa Gorbachev a "Russian slut" at a state banquet - "and anyway, Gorbachev believes Barbara Bush" one of his beliefs even more outrageous is that Margaret Thatcher was. reality a man, and that his "so-called" husband Dennis was actually running the country behind the scenes on behalf of a power-mad international oil group and money-hungry barons bent on world domination. Why Maggie had to be a man for the purpose of this theory, I do not know, but it seemed important to Brian. he was probably promoted to companion of high driver now.
the Monday, June 5 1989 I arrived at work at 5am to start charging my van for deliveries of the day. Many of my fellow drivers also prefer to load their own trucks, rather than leaving it to a complete loading bay of Brian because when you know the route well you can load the truck in the right order and locate each package more quickly and easily every Stop. The Brians would just throw everything in the back of the van right (usually) and leave it there.
I remember the day so vividly because it was the Monday after the incredible and terrible massacre in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China which has made headlines around the world. Who can forget the iconic image of the young Chinese protester stop a column of tanks in its tracks simply standing before her? The Chinese government maintains to this day that they never found the young man, but a train of logical thought might suggest that he quickly rose to hero martyr. Thousands of others have done. It is also possible to consider that the most glorious commander of the lead tank, who needed the help of a civilian on a bicycle for his heavily armed war machine past the obstacle presented by a man with two plastic bags, may soon become a fallen war hero. Or maybe the Chinese government has forgiven everyone and sent them a beautiful bouquet of flowers each. Could have happened.
I finished loading the van just before 7 am and I was in the canteen with the other drivers to drink coffee and talk about the terrible events that took place at the weekend in Tiananmen Square, when I saw Brian driving in the car park but its former swollen immaculate Ford Escort Mark III. As he entered the canteen, he heard the tail end of our conversation and, as he poured himself a cup of coffee, he asked a question that caused the coffee out of my nose. "Are you guys about this thing Chinese Square?" He went on to espouse the theory that any demonstration was designed by the Russian arms manufacturers to convince the Chinese that their tanks were crap and they should buy Russian . Classic Brian.