I HEARD a charming little story the other day about man's humanity and consideration. It involved a couple in Croxley Green who were quietly spending their Sunday afternoon in front of the telly when there was the sound of a collision outside.

The couple looked out of the window and could see someone had crashed into their parked car.

They went out to investigate further and discovered an 18-year-old girl, plainly distraught and in tears, sitting in her car.

The young girl apologised for hitting the couple's car but was obviously too upset to drive. The couple invited her indoors and calmed the young girl down with a cup of tea and sympathy.

They exchanged details and the young girl asked if she could telephone her father as she did not feel able to drive any more that day.

The father came round and after being told what happened over another cup of tea, thanked the couple very much. With that, he led his still distressed and apologetic daughter away and later came back and collected her car.

The following day, the couple phoned him to see how his daughter was. She had recovered, they were told. As to paying for the repairs to their vehicle, he further informed them, they could whistle, because they did not have any witnesses and could not prove his daughter's car had done the damage.

He was right too; the police confirmed this to the couple.

As a result, they had to repair their own car.

It warms the cockles of your heart to be reminded there are such nice people about. But doesn't it get your goat to be reminded about the pond life as well.

When I mentioned this to a friend, he recalled, some years back, he purchased a new, green car. He showed it proudly off at the pub that night, only to be told by an older sage: "Get rid of it. Green is unlucky for a car."

He had not heard of this superstition before but it came to mind two weeks later when he was involved in a collision with a car that was coming up the wrong side of a lane.

The driver was most apologetic, admitted he was totally at fault but asked if my friend could do a favour. The driver explained that he had too much to drink and that the woman in the car was not his wife. His career and marriage would be ruined.

My friend opted to settle for the offender paying for the repair-work and agreed to provide an estimate the next day.

Well, the next day, when my friend phoned, the man refused to pay for any damage, contending it was just "knock-for-knock" because nobody was at fault.

The galling thing is that people like that probably sleep easy at night.

July 4, 2002 17:00