Bolt from the Blue

The greatest honour in life is when someone names something after you. I don’t mean when your kids name things after you. Like 'Daddy’s chair'. Or 'Daddy’s no', which is a firm no that is easily overturned by a 'Mummy’s yes'. (By the way, a Lee Reeve 'Daddy’s yes' is equally brittle.)

Instead, I’m talking about when someone names something substantial after you—like a mountain. I’m still waiting for that to happen. My campaign to get Croagh Patrick renamed was short lived. There’s a Reeve Hill in Antarctica, but I’m not altogether certain it was named after me. And it’s not where I would have chosen, anyway.

But I can’t complain too much. Last month, someone did do me the honour of naming something after me. The Paint Hub in Carlow, who specialise in the Tikkurila paints I rely on, mixed a grey-blue paint for me. Imagine my surprise and delight when I went to collect it and found they’d named the tone 'Reeve Blue'. You could say, it was a real bolt out of the blue. But only if you like terrible puns.

Usually I dispose of the empty tins of paint at the end of a job. This particular one will take pride of place at home—though the wife keeps moving it off the mantelpiece, for some reason.

I can’t recommend The Paint Hub highly enough. I live in Co. Cork, a good two-hour drive away, but won’t go anywhere else for my paints. They have an online shop too at www.ThePaintHub.ie.

There is also this video (yes… that’s me):