RIP Reggie the dog walker

[Lee Scoresby]

Sincere apologies if this has long since been posted, but I keep meeting people who haven't heard, now over a month after the event. Please pass the news on.

Reggie Shareef, as he called himself, was from Northern Cyprus, a child refugee of the civil war there in 1974. He walked Yogi, a very calm shepherd-cross, on Peckham Rye, for a good 2 or 3 hours almost every evening thru the year, for a number of years. Short and stocky, always in some type of headgear, Reg was friendly and talkative, with a version of the English language all his own. He spoke Greek but I never heard much Turkish from him. Not just a 'character' but a really nice, caring, gentle, generous guy, without a vicious bone in him - a simple soul. He absolutely loved dogs.

He was certainly the teller of amazing tall stories! - some of which might have been true, more or less. He had had a hard life and a rather strange one.

Reg was also quite lonely, and battling various BS from the authorities, so he really lived for socialising with other dog walkers and park users. A lot of people must have met him, and would recognise him or Yogi if I had a picture to post.

Reg became gradually unwell last year. His eyesight worsened. He stopped driving and by the autumn he was more or less blind. He then walked with a white stick - to dissuade drivers from running him down as he crossed the road, as much as anything. He began loosing sensation in his fingers and toes, so he wouldn't notice when he dropped the stick, 'back there somewhere on the dark, soggy expanse of the Rye . . .' He began to get confused and totally lost on even very local journeys, and would struggle to find his way home.

These symptoms apparently persuaded the doctors that Reg had diabetes and for a time he took medication: which gave him terrifying dreams and changed his personality. Now he was often to be encountered as an angry, stoned-out ranter.

And it was all pointless. The truth, the quacks eventually worked out, was that Reg had a fast-growing tumour in his brain. He went into KC Hospital some time before Xmas, and died on 28 December.

I believe Reg was actually from the Maronite Christian minority, tho he was always vague about this - as much else - but he is buried in Nunhead cemetery in the Muslim section, behind the ruined chapel. The brass plate has his full name: Redjep Hulusi Sherifali. He was only 56.

Yogi loved Reggie. How to explain to a dog the absence opened up by death? Perhaps we don't have to: his son tells me Yogi stands stock still on the grave. (Famously, back in Cyprus, the dog of Reggie's father pined to death on the father's grave.)

People are talking about organising some sort of remembrance event for him.

He was a friend.

Lee Scoresby

[Dulwich Born And Bred]

How awful that the tumour wasn't found earlier . I'm not sure if I've seen him around but that is awfully sad .

[first mate]

Lee, thank you for writing this very moving piece and letting us know.

[fatfightersforever]

So sorry to hear, had some nice chats with him on the Rye whilst do walking and very sad too for Yogi. Thanks Lee.

[VOXPOP]

What a lovely post about such a lovely man. Thank you Lee.

[treehugger]

Lovely post, Lee.

[bonniebird]

I walked with him a few times and was very sad to hear of his death :( Yogi is a fabulous dog and very much loved from what I could see. Thanks for writing this Lee

[The_Abortion_Fairy]

jews did 9/11 for the keks