I first met Lee Fortune back in 1989. This was at the telecommunications company based in Cheetham Hill where I met Connie, my long suffering wife. had been with the company just under 3 years when Lee appeared on the scene. The company had grown rapidly since I joined them in 1986. This resulted in an influx of new employees. I had moved on from warehouse work and was now employed in "customer service" along with my erstwhile colleague Julie Thompson. Basically, "customer service" meant dealing with customers to whom we had supplied faulty goods. As I had developed my "blarney" by this time, this was a role to which I was suited. One of the new employees worked in the warehouse so one day I was introduced to the skinny, long haired lad who had just started. His hair was "crimped" and dyed red. Now, don't misunderstand me, I was the master of mullets at the time and was into rock music etc, but his appearance even startled me. He said "Hiya mate, I'm Lee. Lee Fortune".
When I heard his full name I matched this with his appearance and thought this was some kind of stage name. I mean "Lee Fortune", come on do me a favour. It's true, though, Fortune is his real surname. Anyway, over the next few months I got to know Lee quite well and he fully integrated himself into the company. One early chat I had with him was about music and he was telling me that he had gone to see the filming of a live music show called The Tube (presented by Jools Holland and Paula Yates) around a couple of years earlier. It was a "Heavy Metal Special" and Ozzy Osbourne was the headline act. He said he got on camera at least once. I couldn't believe it as I had recorded this show on tape at the time and still had it. I went home that night and watched it again and sure enough there was Lee on camera as someone was being interviewed alongside him. I was impressed.
There was always great banter among my colleagues. We were all of a similar age and of similar interests, mainly drinking and winding each other up. However, one day I had a major sense of humour failure and was being wound up by the warehouse lads, including Lee. Connie (bless her) got involved as she was passing and started giving some stick back to them on my behalf. She then disappeared back into her office. I went back to my desk. Within minutes 3 or 4 of the lads (including Lee) grabbed hold of me and dragged me kicking and shouting to a huge box of shredding in the warehouse area. I was thrown into it, then all kinds of crap was thrown in on top of me. I eventually got out to be taunted about my "bird" fighting my battles for me. Connie ended up leaving this company several months later then I followed around 3 months after that.
Fast forward 10 years and I was now working for a different telecoms company and had completely lost touch with Lee. I then saw him once at a Manchester City home game via mutual friends. I only spoke to him briefly, but he told me he didn't stay at our old company much longer after I left and he had been all over the world for various reasons. e left it at that then in 2001 I bumped into him again at a mutual friend's wedding. This time we had a proper catch up and he told me he was in work but was looking for something better paid. At the same time as this my company were recruiting more staff so I gave him my number and told him to ring me. I mentioned this to my boss and within weeks Lee came in for an interview. This was very strange for me as I was jointly doing the interviewing. I pulled a few strings and within a few weeks Lee had rejoined me in the same employment but with a different company 12 years on from when we were last colleagues.
Just as fate put Lee and I back in touch we simultaneously went through our own individual troubled times in our personal lives. We became really good mates and leant on each other for support over the next 2 or 3 years. My "career" at the company we both now worked at imploded and I departed leaving Lee there. Our friendship continued on unabated, however, and he continued to offer me support.
During 2003 Lee began telling me about another mate of his who lived and worked in Sweden. The quality of life over there seemed a big improvement on the UK and it was somewhere he would like to know more about. To cut a long story short, Lee moved to Sweden, found work, met and fell in love with the lovely Anna and now has 3 beautiful Anglo-Swedish children. I have been over to see him a couple of times in his hometown of Lidkoping (2 hours drive from Gothenburg) and he has been back to Manchester a handful of times also (usually for City games). Sweden really is a beautiful country and a complete departure from the UK. It has fresh air, space, tranquility and multitudes of beautiful blonde (and dark haired) people. It is a cliche but I genuinely found the Swedish people I have come into contact with so much more chilled out than those in our overcrowded nation. I don't mind admitting that at times I envy him but his story to date is a heart warming tale and no one could be more pleased for him than me.
Footnote: Lee no longer has long, crimped, dyed red hair.
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