Diary

I went to Nicky Stone's funeral today. He was an extraordinary man and I was happy to attend.

He was worried in his life that his gender would not be respected after his death. Just as he was also worried about what might happen to him if he had to enter a care home, and how his being trans could lead to embarrassment and suffering.

He'd had to fight a very long and very stubborn fight to have his right to gender reassignment respected and acted upon. Just as he had also had to fight a long and stubborn fight to obtain men's jobs at sea.

It's sad how much unnecessary suffering he had to endure in the process; suffering that left very deep scars.

Yet I knew him as a person whose immense gentleness and capacity for self-effacement concealed a steely strength.

In so many ways his life was heroic and exemplary, and it made me happy to hear that he had documented it himself in his journals and his poems.

The room was full of friends who remembered and loved him; and the funeral was conducted exactly as he wished.

He achieved a very great deal; though I suspect he may not have known that.

Certainly an honour to know him. He was a true gentleman.