You know what's really hard to write? Something that tries to honour a friend, but that you know he would have hated you to do.
John "The Ghost" Miller has joined the Choir Invisible, and he didn't acquire that sobriquet for nothing. As editor of the Ulysses motorcycle club journal, Riding On, for decades, his most obvious characteristic was always that, like Macavity, he was not there - not when anyone was looking for him with praise or approval, anyway. John kept his own standards, and it was a good thing indeed for the Club that they were high; extraordinarily so.
John was not tardy, either, about correcting people and actions that he thought hurt the Club.
John and Old #1 went on the "Editor and Founder" ride together for a few days every year. I would have given good money to be along on one of these trips; what little John did tell me about them often reduced me to tears of laughter, vid the encounter with the allegedly badly brought-up waitress in Young. You'll get no more; my lips are sealed.
There was a very serious side to their friendship. I was involved at the beginning of the Club, so I think I can imagine how important the Ulysses Club was to both of them. When the end was getting near for Stephen, he handed a tough role to John. He told him that he would have to be the conscience of the Club. I'm sure that a lot of the pain that led John to resign was due to the fact that this was made impossible for him.
No names no pack drill, but I hope that the other people involved are still hanging their head in shame.
John and I were also good friends much as Stephen and I were - although John was a lot easier to cope with. Stephen kindly took a lot of time to outline to me all the mistakes I was making with any of the magazines I edited, as well as any other shortcomings in my life. John was rather more reticent, although I would not resile from calling his tongue "acid" on occasion. His attitude can be summarized by the card he once sent me, of a slightly pained-looking young woman with a letter in her lap. The thought bubble above her head read "I try to like people. But they're so f*#king stupid!"
As Editor of the journal for many (20) years, John made an enormous contribution to the Ulysses Club. There is a tendency to memorialise people as kindly and tolerant and thoughtful in the Club, as happened with Stephen. Both he and John were all of that, but those characteristics were not the ones that stood out about either of them. They were both tough, uncompromising, demanding and judgemental. They had to be to achieve what they did.
He's the taller and better-looking one in the photo with me.
- Peter "the Bear" Thoeming, #675.
Anyone can read issues of Riding On here
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