Not long to go ...
Not long to go ...
Arthur Burton -izquierda- con María Paz de Errazquin y un amigo.
A friend of ours died in September.
I say ours, because although he had friends all over the world, he was also a friend of yours. Pamplona, your city, of which he perhaps felt a part of, (as so many of us do), is a marvellous place. This is how he felt, and this is how so many of us feel about this town that has given us so much.
He was, and always will be, Arthur Burton, an Englishman. Yes, a foreigner, a guiri, like me. But like so many guiris he fell in love not just with a fiesta, San Fermin, but also with a place, with a city and it's people. The people of Pamplona have something beautiful in them, something impecable. He caught your very essence, and it changed his life just as it has changed the lives of so many of us foreigners in a way that seems to defy logic and yet appears to be the most natural thing in the world..
But this is what has happened to some of us and this is the truly important thing. Pamplona can change lives, and it has done. Sometimes a tragedy occurs, as we witnessed last summer, when your most cherished tradition cut short a young life that had only so recently started.
Arthur Burton was married to Mari Paz de Errazquin, one of yours. They met in 1961 at the Argentinian Embassy in London, and after managing to get her phone number, he rang her 7 months later. Well, one thing lead to another and she became Maria Burton in 1970. His business was in obtaining sponsorship and finance in the world of international motor sport, and they spent their time travelling the world attending events in Formula 1 and 2, international motorbike racing, and power boat racing, amongst others. They always missed the Grand Prix in England though, because that was when they were in Pamplona for San Fermin.
He loved everything about your country. He was first invited to Pamplona by Marias' uncle, in 1962. He arrived in the city aged 19, and was told by the uncle "Welcome to Pamplona. See you on the 15th!".
Well, like so many of us have done, he fell in love with Pamplona, its fiesta and its people. He only ever missed one fiesta, and that was in 2006 when he was first diagnosed with the cancer that would eventually take him from us, and from his beloved Maria. To her he was always "Teddy", and to him she was "Angel", or "Pazita". He was in Pamplona for last years fiesta, but I think he was just saying his goodbyes to the places and people he loved so much. Pamplona, your city. He was very brave, as was Maria, who was there not just as the woman who loved him, but as the true and loyal friend she was.
When I first met them they seemed like the perfect couple. Friends. A team. This year Maria will come back, but without Arthur, of course. But his spirit will be with her, and in and around your city, and we will not see Maria without imagining Arthur by her side.
When I first thought of writing this article it was just before the 12th of December, the last day of what I have always thought of as the "d'escalera", the sad counting down of the days post fiesta, when we have the 8th of the 8th, the 9th of the 9th, etc. Well, the real "escalera" has begun, of course, and we've already passed the 3rd of the 3rd and fiesta will once again soon be upon us.
On that happier note, when you are out with friends and family over the next few days, I'd like you to make a toast to Arthur, and to those who can't make it back again. New people will arrive for fiesta this year, but no one will replace Arthur.
Adios, Arthur.
Ya falta menos. ¡Viva San Fermin!.
Tim Pinks.
