Voices on the Air

It was a tweet that started a frantic search for more information:

https://twitter.com/dajbelshaw/status/1157789466532204544

Doug and Dai have been running the TIDE Podcast for some years now, and I’ve listened to every episode. I never had the pleasure of meeting Dai but over the last few years I felt I got to know him through the show. The banter and format of the podcast always leant itself to being something that you might overhear in a pub. In fact I always kind of imagine Doug and Dai supping a whiskey or a nursing pint as they chatted about life and tech and learning. There was an intimacy in the podcast that’s very rare to find. I think it had to do with the vulnerability that was apparent as both men shared aspects of their lives, their mistakes, learnings, misgivings and experiences as teachers and fathers and sons.

It was a great shock to hear about Dai’s passing. I did tear up as I read the news and had it confirmed through some retweet and reply detective work. The notion of human mortality reared its head into the mundanity of family routine on a Sunday evening. Cooking and planning for the week ahead wasn’t quite the same as I was reminded that life is fragile and sometime it’s lost in an exhale and doesn’t return.

I want to thank Dai and Doug for sharing their lives through the podcast and their writings. I’ve felt privileged to get to know them through their work and what they shared. It’s been a privilege to have met Dai through this medium because there’s buckleys I would have run into him at the pub here in Wagga Wagga. It’s a reminder of the power of technology to connect us, to find the others and its ability to share and be intimate even with those you haven’t met.

I wish all of Dai’s students all the best as they cope with his death. I know they meant the world to him and it was evidenced in the way he spoke so highly of them, their ability and their work. To his family who will be struggling at this point in time, my love goes out to you. Losing a father and husband is hard. He always spoke well of you and was immensely proud of what you’d achieved. To Doug, take your time to grieve. Losing a friend like Dai is never easy and the loss might not hit straight away. Take time to remember the connection you had, and the fact that you made that connection available to the wider world through the podcast, and we thank you for it.

Dai made a dent in the universe, its shaped just like his bare foot.

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