Tribute to Andreas Kyriakides (Andy)

I remember Uncle Andy listening to my car, closing his eyes for a second before opening them and saying confidently ‘I know what it is’ before he went to fetch a tool to fix it. Sometimes it was small things, sometimes it was a big job, but he always put time and care into his craft not matter what it was. I thought it was amazing….how can someone hear what’s going wrong? Isn’t there a manual that you should consult or some sort of test process? Where do you even start!? He had a talent for dialling into the issue.. The car whisperer! But more than all of this, he could tell with sound - hearing, without seeing, and all of that knowledge and diagnosis would happen in his mind, mapped out, what to do, where to go….all the paths just from the way a car splattered, turned over, or even once hearing how a wheel nut was knocking around. As someone who speaks sound in the form of music, I really gelled with this, and I was still in awe at how someone could do this so effortlessly. I felt like I related to this, that we spoke in the same language, which I really appreciated, as it shaped me. I wish I could ask him more about music, maybe recommend him some records to listen to and chat :( He used to say ‘I’m not into words, or manuals’ as if that made him less. It didn't. I looked up to him for this talent he had and how he navigated this. For years, I taught, and I used to tell my students about him; especially the ones who needed to hear it. The kids who were brilliant with their hands but thought the world only measured intelligence by how well you could repeat what was in a book or with tests. The ones who felt like they were failing, when they weren't failing at all. I'd tell them about my Uncle Andy. About how gifted he was, how the practical, hands-on intelligence he had was something I admired and aspired to. I wanted them to know that what he could do was genius, too, and we’re all measured differently and have different gifts. He *was smart. I wish I'd told him this 😢 I wish I had got to tell Uncle Andy that, inadvertently, he inspired others out there in the world, through how I saw him, and more than that he inspired me too.

I am I and you are you, whatever we were to each other that we still are. Speak to me in the easy way which you always used. Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight? Life means all that it ever meant, it is the same as it ever was.

Thank you for setting up this memorial to Andreas. We hope that you find it a positive experience developing the site and that it becomes a place of comfort and inspiration for you to visit whenever you want or need to.