{"id":2617,"date":"2013-03-14T10:00:18","date_gmt":"2013-03-14T16:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/drfumblefinger.com\/wrdprs\/?p=2617"},"modified":"2017-08-14T23:04:44","modified_gmt":"2017-08-15T05:04:44","slug":"pic-of-the-week-march-15-2013-remembering-sir-arthur-c-clarke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/drfumblefinger.com\/blog\/2013\/03\/pic-of-the-week-march-15-2013-remembering-sir-arthur-c-clarke\/","title":{"rendered":"“Pic of the Week”. March 15, 2013. Remembering Sir Arthur C. Clarke."},"content":{"rendered":"

It was five years ago, on March 19, 2008, that we lost Arthur.   He had lived a full, highly productive and wonderfully interesting life — over ninety years on this planet he thought should have been called “Ocean”, instead of Earth (more appropriate, he opined, because our planet’s more than 70% covered by water).  Arthur had been my favorite writer since I read “2001: A Space Odyssey” decades ago, by far his best known work but just one of many great concepts his fertile mind envisioned.   Arthur’s the one who nicknamed me, “Dr. Fumblefinger” after a character by the same name in a short story he wrote (which was never published but which he shared with me — have a signed copy of it somewhere).  The story is about a blind neurosurgeon who, “despite a string of failures that would have daunted a less determined man”, kept trying until he finally succeeded.  I told Arthur the guy’s sense of determination sounded like….me.  Arthur had a good laugh from that comment and from then on I was alternately “Karl” or “Dr. Fumblefinger.<\/p>\n

I’ve previously recounted some of my experiences visiting Sir Arthur on this blog which you can read about here<\/a> if you’re interested.   Arthur was always so kind and welcoming when I’d come for a visit.   He slid me into the daily activities of his life like I was family and left me with some of my most precious memories.<\/p>\n

I’ve been thinking about Arthur and what I might say here, and it dawned on me that I don’t think I’ve ever emphasized how funny he was — a mostly dry British sense of humor that, despite his resolve, often broke into a warm smile and laugh.<\/p>\n

Once while driving with Arthur from Colombo to his vacation villa in Hikkaduwa (about 2.5 hours one-way), I was sitting in the back seat chatting with him the entire way while he was sitting in the front passenger seat enjoying the drive.  I had a notebook in my lap and wrote down some of what Arthur and I were talking about. It seemed like a good idea at the time and, in retrospect, I’m glad I did it.  As we were driving, Arthur pointed out sites like some of his favorite diving spots, a stupa he’d visited in a village, provided historic references, etc.  It dawned on me that I was being given a private tour of Sri Lanka by Arthur C. Clarke, my favorite writer! (It was a thrill!!)<\/p>\n

Here are some of the pearls of Arthur’s excellent sense of humor from that day, as recorded by your humble narrator:<\/p>\n