The man in the camel coat

Last year, in April, I was coming out of Waterstone's in Edinburgh's west end and a smiling man opened the door for me with a flourish, he seemed familiar, I knew I knew him but I couldn't place him. He had a kind face. I remember he was wearing a camel coat, though  memory is fragile so I can't be sure. When I got home I looked up Waterstone's and Iain Banks was doing an event that evening and of course it was him who had held open the door. Like many, I was gutted to learn of his diagn...