Murray Johnstone
“I was shocked and deeply saddened by Chris' passing. Chris (or LandooOOOooo!) was one of my best pals and we had so many great times together. I met Chris through Neil but we probably clashed on the rugby pitch before we actually spoke and became friends. Chris and I always got on like a house on fire and I have so many fantastic memories from from our, now infamous, holiday in Benidorm when we were about 20 years old.
We really became close pals when we lived together in London. First, we stayed in Elephant & Castle in a flat in John Maurice Close. We really enjoyed the walk down to London Bridge at the weekend to get some tasty food from Borough Market and then head on to our favourite watering hole, the Southwark Tavern or Suthie-Tav. People said that the Elephant & Castle area was a bit dodgy, but walking home from the pub together no one ever bothered us. Two extremely loud Scotsmen - I can't think why we were given such a wide berth! We then moved to Clapham to our flat at Prideaux Road. This had the benefit of a superb local pub, one which remains one of my all time favourites, the Landor! What a good omen it was that it had 'Lando' in the name . We also enjoyed having BBQs and going for runs in Clapham Park.
I admired Chris for his linguistic abilities and there were many times when he would be speaking to people on a night out and, as I would go to join the conversation, I would realise that it was Spanish or Hindi that he was fluently speaking!
Unfortunately I don't have too many pictures of Chris and me, as I don't generally take many, but I put this down to me and Chris having too good a time to even think about it! As is usually the case, it is the ladies who take more photos and I was delighted when Clarissa sent me this picture that she took of us at the Primal Scream gig in London. Clarissa's boyfriend was playing with the band and she got us in backstage, we had an amazing time.
Although Chris was a massive rugby fan, I had him on the football pitch a fair few times. He had 4 or 5 appearances for the 11-a-side team that I ran whilst working for Deloitte Real Estate in the Surveyor's League and he did really well. Through that and other nights out, he met lots of my friends and workmates in London and always got on really well with everyone.
Although Chris was not the most organised person, he was extremely organised when it came to rugby! I remember when he arranged for his Cambridge college team to come up to Edinburgh and play a team of Chris' pals, (mainly Herioter’s, or 'toenails' as they are known to Watsonians like myself). We played on the main pitch at Goldenacre and had an excellent time in the clubhouse afterwards over a few beers.
Chris invited me along to meet up with Clarissa and Eleanor for dinner/drinks in London a few times which was always great fun. I also remember going out for dinner with Chris and Ray at an Italian restaurant at Embankment which I thoroughly enjoyed.
Chris led a wonderful life. He achieved so much. I always enjoyed hearing about his work, whether it was security audits of hotels in Myanmar or managing the construction of the Auld Acquaintance cairn. Also, his stories about his travels in India were all extremely interesting.
I will miss him enormously, he was a fantastic bloke and I feel very grateful to have had the pleasure of his friendship.”