The headlines of a mother and two daughters killed in England in a Crossbow killing were enough to make me stop in my tracks and think how terrible.
Then the discovery that it was a BBC Sports Commentator’s family involved gave an icy foreboding that I might know him.
Then the hammer blow of reading that it was John Hunt, who I worked alongside in the world of horse racing for 15 years and who I had a warm chat with in the grandstand at Leopardstown only in February when he was over covering the Dublin Racing Festival.
The grief is unimaginable for him and those closest to him.
Everything else seems unimportant at the moment as those who know him have their hearts broken thinking how and why this could happen to one of the friendliest, most affable and most gentle souls to work in what can, at times, be a tough industry, on the road, away from home too much but doing something you love.
Hug those closest to you tonight, and never take for granted the simple pleasures of family and friendship.
This is a dark day.
