Attitudes change, but mum isn't starving now

Taxis don't scare me, but they certainly scare mum. I think it's a generational thing. She's never been what you would call rich, but I think if she was rich she'd still not take taxis in her stride.

If a taxi was ordered to the house, such as on the rare occasion she and my dad wanted to go to the airport for a package holiday - mum would be standing at the window half an hour early, with her coat on. Just so that when the taxi came, she could be out there like a shot and into the car. NEVER keep a taxi waiting seems to be the motto.

One time when I visited, my taxi came early and I said he could wait a minute while I put my coat on and gathered my things. We were in the middle of fixing the video but she made sure I stopped instantly and ran out to the waiting taxi, coat in hand. Even visitors can't treat taxis as a paid-for service should be treated.

After my dad died mum missed the regular transport his car had provided, and additionally she was a bit frail to walk all the way and back from the shops - with grocery shopping.

So she would go to the shops on the bus and carry the very small number of items she could manage, but she would never ever get a taxi to and from the supermarket with a 'big weekly shop'. As a result she ran out of things like milk and bread and tinned foods. When the weather was bad she was like a starving prisoner in her own home, and wouldn't be able to replenish stocks of anything - a taxi would have been an obvious solution, but she chose to virtually starve.

Now don't imagine mum lived in the middle of nowhere, or that she was friendless, far from it. Mum has more friends than anyone I know and they would ask her if she needed anything. But she almost invariably declined these offers, not wanting to be a burden on anyone. I can't rely on other people, she would say, it isn't fair as I could never pay them back for the favour.