SNAIL mail arrives here with the sad, sad news of John Robson's death from his widow, Janet.

This suddenly, on St. Valentine's Day, while on a trip to their daughter in Edinburgh.

With his wondrously flowing beard and his frequently being tagged "the wise man of Dringhouses", he became, for me during our 15 years of friendship that began on an open-top tour bus, as much an image of the city, "in this corner of a foreign field", as the Minster, the walls and my beloved Micklegate.

Perhaps, on hearing this up there, he is retorting with some hesitant dry wit. By this, giving as much pleasure to the company in which he now finds himself as to those from all over the world who had the good fortune to find him guiding them through the twisting and ancient highways and byways of York.

His humour will also be long remembered by those who read his frequent letters in the Evening Press; and perhaps by now he has been revealed as its Man On The Buses.

Ron Willis (expat),

First Avenue,

Mount Lawley,

Western Australia.

Updated: 09:54 Friday, March 24, 2006