[West Ender]

I used to have a neighbour who lived alone. She was a very reserved person, a widow in her late 70s, who "kept herself to herself".

I used to invite her in for coffee and, just occasionally, she would come. It wasn't easy to persuade her but I worried about her. She was about the same age as my late mother, at the time, and I knew Mum was well looked-after by her neighbours (she lived in Blackburn, 40 miles from here, so I wan't on hand for her) and I wanted to do the same. Such was the nature of the lady that once, when she had a flood in her house due to a burst water pipe in Winter, I sent my teenaged son and his then girlfriend over to help her to mop up the mess and she wouldn't let them in.

One day I noticed that her curtains had not been opened by lunchtime. I hammered on her door for 10 minutes but got no response. When I saw that her car was still in the garage I called the police who broke in and found her dead in her front room. She had been there since the previous evening.

The point is that although I did my best to be a good neighbour she resisted. She was just the same with all the other neighbours. It's not always easy.