We had a man over to give us a price on some building work.
After looking at what was needed to be done we adjourned for tea.
The conversation was formal and he had told us that his brother had died of cancer in the summer.
Then he asked me how David is getting on in the taxi. I said that he is holding on in there.
Then he told me a story which I will remember until the day I die. The family lived in London. Three brothers and his father had died a few years earlier.
So 2 boys living at home and the mother. One night the mother decided to visit an old friend a few miles away and she went over on the bus, they had no car as London is well connected for transport.
When the conversation finished the buses had stopped running, so she hailed a taxi on the street and gave her destination. The taxi was heading in the opposite direction so he made a U turn.
He made a U turn without looking and a Range Rover doing over 60 MPH rammed into the back of the taxi. The impact was so hard that his mother finished up in the boot of the car with a broken neck.
From her purse the police found her address and brought the 2 brothers into the police station. The body was taken away to the mortuary and the brothers stood on the road waiting for a taxi.
Who was there as well? The taxi driver. He spoke to them and suggested that they share the taxi as they were going in the same direction.
A taxi arrived and a couple of miles down the road the taxi driver got out first. No "Here is a couple of bob for the taxi fare," Not even a sorry for the accident. He just got out and walked away.
The insurance company refused to pay.
They just said that she was a widow with no debts so there was nothing to pay.
Later they agreed to pay the cost of the funeral which was around £6,500 at the time.
You would fight it but the big boys have the power.
I am rich, I own my house and my car. I can take a holiday and my health is great.
Count your blessings not your troubles
Good night Sleep well