This one isn't moving or sad, but it is true none the less
Back in the 60s and 70s my Grandad and his brother in law - Elbert ( i shit you not - he was my great uncle Elbert and his Wife was called Glad) were cheeky theives. They were both working at an engineering firm outside London, up Enfield way as they were Essex London types. Me gran is an Islington girl.

Well the point of this is they managed - as a team - to steal 2 large metal work lathes. They lay unused and covered at the bottom of the factory and carefully, a-la the great escape, they stole them both component by component and had one each. Good wheeze, not for profit and useful too. So on the #cough# inside of being morally illegal. Like it or not it happened. The Feud comes last.

A few years passed, and genuine guilt or fear crept into his nightlies and he convinced himself the long arm of the law would knock his door down. He was moving house, and decided rather than move the contraband he would bury it in a new concrete base for his greenhouse and be done with it. By this time, my grandad had moved to Essex and took his with him.

flashforward another 10 years and the comments start "you never paid me for your lathe" .... all genuinely lost amongst the family as we all knew the story, and knew it was all settled. Then it started happening more regularly. Then it was the mid nineties, and still we got comments. Glad was hitting 80 and not looking a day over 100 and Elberts health was faling. Then they stopped calling. For nearly 5 years Glad and my grandad didn't speak even as brother and sister having been through the tough war years.

Me grandad died about 1998 - and lo and behold Glad turned up at the funeral. In a wheeelchair, looking really old and decrepit - a cross between the Emporer from Star Wars and Davros. We were pleased to see her, we always were pleased to see them all. Considering some of us hadn't seen her in years and a lot of us assumed the worst and no-0ne had told us it was a right old do. My grandad would have been proud of us. First, and last thing out of Glads mouth " Still, we could have been a happy family if we hadn't all had to starve because he didn't hand over his share of the lathe".....

Nice to see a good feud is both ridiculous and serious in measure, emotionally charged and able to transcend death.

Tis a shame they didn't steal 2 honda accords.
( bazza van der trance , ooh baby baby, baby baby. Get up on this., Mon 16 Nov 2009, 16:25, Reply)