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Harvesting of the Grim ReaperDavid Villers-Child reminisces... |
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The grim reaper was an undertaker in a South Coast Town where the population is of retirement age and if you are an undertaker skiing holidays are out, simply because a good cold snap in the early months of the year is very good for business. He was also a very talented small boat sailor, who was renowned for being very careful with his money! He had been up north to an open meeting, he did not drive his car as if it was a hearse. There was a coffin (full) to be picked up in Birmingham, it seemed only natural to kill two birds with one stone and to collect the coffin on the way home. A fourteen foot dinghy has plenty of open space to rest a coffin in! In those days there was a thirty miles per hour speed limit on two wheel trailers even on a motorway, as we have said our hero did not hang about! Inevitably he was stopped somewhere north of the Watford Gap on the M1! He tried the British Standard Dinghy Sailors Excuses, even charm, even showing them his very shiny and smart boat and the cup he had just won! It was then they saw the coffin, they fell about laughing, until one of them made a connection, it was his uncle in the box! History does not repeat how large the fine was but it was common knowledge that the grim reaper had been forced to upgrade the funeral and to make no charge for it. That really hurt. |