British Expats - A sad affair.

Received this from our old friend and ex colleague, now retired to Richmond-
Different country-different continent-different hemisphere- yet same name- How weird is that?
Anyways he's funny! Not weird!

As a bagpiper I play many gigs. Recently I was asked by a funeral
director to play at a grave side service for a homeless man. He had no
family or friends so the service was to be at a pauper's cemetery in the
Kentucky back-country.

As I was not familiar with the backwoods I got lost. Being a typical
man I didn't stop for directions. I finally arrived an hour late and
saw the funeral guy was evidently gone and the hearse was nowhere in
sight.

There were only the diggers and crew left and they were eating lunch. I
felt badly and apologized to the men for being late. I went to the side
of the grave and looked down. The vault lid was already in place.

I didn't know what else to do, so I started to play. The workers put
down their lunches and began to gather around. I played out my heart
and soul for this man with no family and friends. I played like I've
never played before for this homeless man.

And as I played 'Amazing Grace', the workers began to weep. They wept,
I wept, we all wept together. When I finished, I packed up my bagpipes
and started for my car. Though my head hung low, my heart was full.

As I opened the door to my car I heard one of the workers say, "Sweet
Mother of Jesus, I never seen nothin' like that before and I've been
putting in septic tanks for twenty years."